Many photographers today want to know how to take macro pictures, thanks to a growing number of beautiful images online of small plants, animals, and insects. Macro photography is not always easy, especially for beginners, but it is one of the most rewarding genres of photography you can do. With the right skills, you will be able to capture amazing images even in your own backyard. To learn macro photography from start to finish, you should begin by reading the tips…
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Choosing the Best Lens for Landscape Photography
If you’re a landscape photographer, you care about lenses. That is true even if you don’t know it’s true – a good lens is arguably the most important piece of equipment you can own. It is a common saying, and almost entirely accurate, that lenses matter more than your camera. So, what lenses are best for landscape photography, and how do you pick the right ones for your needs? This article covers some of the most important considerations.
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Canon 80D Review
This is an in-depth review of the Canon 80D, a midrange DSLR released in 2016 and intended for photographers who want a more advanced camera than an entry-level Canon Rebel. We have been testing the Canon 80D extensively over the past couple months, and the takeaway is clear: It is a very solid camera, even in 2018. On top of that, the 80D also represents a good value on today’s market at $1000 new, which is less than other cameras…
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SmugMug Acquires Flickr in Unexpected Move
Two giants in the world of photography – SmugMug and Flickr – have become one. In a surprise move announced Friday, SmugMug has bought Flickr from Yahoo (owned by Verizon) for an undisclosed amount. The two platforms do have obvious similarities, with both built around uploading and hosting your photos online. However, SmugMug is intended more for creating a personal photography website, while Flickr adds a strong element of social media and community to the mix. So, what does this…
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What Is the Limiting Factor in Your Photography?
Everyone has a limiting factor. Everyone has some reason why they aren’t taking exactly the photos they want, 100% of the time. The best photographers in history didn’t capture a perfect result (or even something good) each time they clicked the shutter, and neither will you. But your ordinary or bad work is perhaps the biggest gold mine of information you have at your disposal, and it would be absurd to overlook it if you’re trying to improve your work…
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TerraMaster D2-310 Hard Drive Enclosure Review
Depending upon the number of images or videos you have, you might need to rely upon external hard drives for much of your daily photography work. The biggest issue, though, is that this can result in a significant slowdown compared to editing photos via an internal drive, especially SSD or flash storage. What are your options? One possibility is to use an external hard drive enclosure capable of RAID configurations, letting you speed up your storage or mirror the information…
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What is the Sunny 16 Rule in Photography?
One of the more common exposure tips in photography is called the sunny 16 rule. Although it dates back to the early days of photography, and some would argue that it is obsolete at this point, most photographers still hear about this rule while learning about exposure. So, what is the sunny 16 rule, and does it still matter for taking pictures today?
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Recommended Camera Settings for Landscape Photography
It is crucial to set your camera properly if you want to take the highest quality landscape photos. However, with the large range of menu options and settings found in cameras today, it isn’t easy to find the optimal setup. This article covers the best camera settings to use for landscape photography, including many options that are “set it and forget it” parts of the menu that you rarely will need to adjust. Keep in mind that all of these…
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What is the Rule of Thirds?
One of the most popular ways to compose your photographs is to use the rule of thirds. Although the rule of thirds is frequently used by photographers, not everyone understands exactly what it is or when it works. This article introduces the rule of thirds and explains when to use it for composition (or not). Keep in mind that this rule is a suggestion for beginners and those who struggle with properly composing their pictures, and it is far from…
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Recommended Nikon D7500 Settings
The Nikon D7500 is a complex camera with more than 100 menu options, and it isn’t easy to know how to set everything properly. This guide covers the most important settings and how to pick them for your own photography. Keep in mind that these are personal preferences, and you may end up setting some of them differently, but this is a good place to start. The information below should help you understand how to use the D7500 to its…
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How to Focus in Landscape Photography
Focusing is one of the pillars of photography. If you don’t focus in the right place, at best, your photos won’t be as sharp as possible – and, at worst, they could be completely unusable. There’s a lot that goes into focusing correctly, even in a genre like landscape photography, where your subject tends to stay relatively still. To get the best results, you’ll want to optimize your techniques as much as possible, and that’s what this article covers. So,…
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Nikon D7500 Review
This camera works. That was my thought after testing the Nikon D7500 for two days of sub-freezing photography in Rocky Mountain National Park – only taking breaks from the cold while driving from one location to the next – in conditions that are the very definition of a field review. We’ve now been testing the D7500 at Photography Life for several weeks, but the 48 hours of intense shooting at Rocky Mountain solidified things. This DSLR packs a serious punch,…
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What Is Noise in Photography?
Noise is a topic in photography that seems made to cause confusion. However, it is crucial to understand it if you want to maximize image quality. In this article, we will go into detail about the two types of noise that affect your photos, shot noise and digital noise, and what you can do to minimize them. We will also explain the connection between things like your camera’s ISO and the amount of noise in your photos. So, what is…
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Finding Good Light in Landscape Photography
There’s a reason why landscape photographers like waking up at 4AM and hiking out to the middle of nowhere. (Or, at the very least, there’s a reason why we tolerate it.) Are you a morning person? I’m not. But – countless times – I’ve stood by my tripod as the sun rises, watching the morning light illuminate a beautiful landscape. And that’s the reason. It’s all about the light. If you can get this one right, your photos will be…
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What Is Exposure? (A Beginner’s Guide)
Every advanced and professional photographer today absolutely needs to learn how to use exposure in photography. When you first start taking pictures, you might be confused by the countless buttons and menu options on your camera. However, there is no excuse for using a bad in-camera exposure. By understanding how to expose an image properly, you will be able to capture photographs of the ideal brightness, including high levels of detail in both the shadows and highlight areas. This article explains…
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New Sony Compatibility for Nine Sigma Art Lenses
Along with the two new Art lenses that Sigma just announced, they also introduced something that will make Sony users especially happy: native compatibility for nine prime lenses from Sigma’s Art lineup, including the two new lenses and seven older designs. Sony is really pushing things forward with their efforts to offer a large native lens lineup, and, with the excellent quality of Sigma’s Art lenses, this is an excellent step to take!
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Sigma Announces Two New Art Lenses
The CP+ Camera and Photo Imaging Show starts Thursday, which means it is announcement time across the photography world. Next on the list of new products is Sigma, and they’re debuting some very interesting gear – chief among them, two new lenses for Canon, Nikon, and now Sony mounts (more on that in another article). Introducing the Sigma 70mm f/2.8 Macro Art and the Sigma 105mm f/1.4 Art! The macro lens is Sigma’s first Art macro lens, going up to 1:1 (life-size)…
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Sony Announces the a7 III: Fully Featured at $2000
Sony just announced the newest camera in their a7 series: the a7 III. It has a 24.2 megapixel backside-illuminated sensor, a 693-point autofocus system, and the longest battery life of any Sony full-frame mirrorless camera. The rest of the specifications, which we will cover below, are equally impressive – especially considering the launch price of just $1998.
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Lightroom Classic vs Alien Skin Exposure X3
In the coming weeks, we are planning to review many Lightroom alternatives at Photography Life and figure out which ones are potential replacements. The first on our list is Alien Skin Exposure X3. This software, originally a film simulation plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop, has grown to a standalone software that mimics Lightroom’s post-processing and organization options in many ways. This article covers the differences and similarities between Adobe Lightroom CC Classic and Alien Skin Exposure X3, including which one…
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What Makes a Good Photo?
The simplest question in photography is also the most complex: What makes a good photo? It isn’t enough to say that a good photo comes from its lighting, composition, subject, and so on; this question has a deeper answer. Good images – as different as they may be from one another – all stem from the same roots: The photographer has a strong goal for the photo, then expresses that goal in the most effective possible way.
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