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What makes a great photo? Is the goal of the image to portray beauty? Is it to be thought-provoking? Is it to surprise or startle the viewer? Whatever the goal, if it communicates your message or idea, it’s considered to be a good photo. To fully achieve your goal, you need to become proficient in…

To become a better photographer, you need to take lots of photographs! As Henri Cartier Bresson said, “Your first ten thousand photographs are your worst.” As with any skill, the more you practice, the more you improve. In photography, that means to go out with your camera and make images! Yes, concepts and techniques are…

Digital cameras give us the flexibility to create a multitude of effects, right in-camera. One of those effects is to change the color temperature of your image by changing the Kelvin Color Temperature Scale. The Kelvin color temperature scale is used to describe the way various light temperatures appear visually. The scale goes from 1,000K…

  An abstract is a work of art that depict natural objects in simplified, distorted, or exaggerated ways. It is a form of expression that does not imitate reality, but uses shapes, colors, and gestures to create meaning and emotion. Whether we realize it or not, we see the world abstractly and only “name” the…

Even the best photographers work on improving their skills continuously to refine their craft. Skills are like muscles — you need to flex them regularly, or they become weak due to underuse. Although you think you’re already comfortable using a camera, it’s always beneficial to learn new tricks and techniques to build your skillset. So…

50mm, F/8, ISO 200, 1/13 second Ready to learn a new photographic technique? Try creating custom bokeh effects! Bokeh is a word with Japanese origins, defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.” The word comes from the Japanese word boke, which means “haze” or “blur.” (The “h” was introduced to help…

Neon signs add color to a night image and are a great way to broaden your night time photography skills by creating abstract images. Some of the most famous locations for neon signs are along the strip in Las Vegas and many of the motels and restaurants along Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona and Albuquerque and…

As we begin to spend more time indoors during the winter months, here are a few photography books for your reading list: Interaction of Color by Josef Albers In 1963, Albers published Interaction of Color, which is a record of an experiential way of studying and teaching color. He asserted that color “is almost never…

  ‘Tis the season for photographing holiday decorations – they’re everywhere you look! Here are some general tips for photographing them: Use a tripod and a remote release. Use a low ISO. Use Aperture Priority so that you can control the depth of field (the amount of the photo in focus from foreground to background)…

Night photography allows the photographer the ability to create a wide range of creative light effects in his/her images by adjusting the three components of the Exposure Triangle – F-stop, shutter speed and ISO. There are many combinations of these three settings which will produce an accurately exposed image, but depending on the settings that…