There is so much duality in photography. On one hand, it's the light and the subject, it's the story we tell and the story the viewer sees, it's a feeling, an emotion, a state, a symbol, a metaphor. Sounds poetic, doesn't it? On the other hand, it's pure science, every...
Professional Development: A Different “Rule of Thirds”
As photographers who regularly visit photography web sites and blogs, we all seem to be driven by very personal commitments to learn new things and to improve. Over the years I’ve been using my own ‘rule of thirds’ – not as a composition technique - but as an approach to...
DxO ClearView Anti-Haze Adjustment First Impressions
The purpose of this article is to share my initial impressions of the DxO ClearView anti-haze function which is contained in the Elite Version of DxO OpticsPro 10 software. As many Photography Life readers know, I’ve been using DxO OpticsPro as my main RAW processor for some time. I started...
Underexposure vs Overexposure – A Beginner’s Guide
In this article, we discuss the topic of underexposure and overexposure in photography, with image samples and other relevant information for beginners. Now, on one hand, there's not much to actually discuss - a simple explanation of the terms is what interests most beginner photographers. But here is my slightly-absurd-at-first-glance...
How to Use a Tripod
When dealing with slow shutter speeds, a solid tripod is a must-have tool for eliminating camera shake and capturing sharp photographs. Although setting up a tripod and effectively utilizing it for photography needs at first sounds simple and self-explanatory, I often come across photographers that do not know how to...
What is Crop Factor?
Whether you are just getting into photography or have been shooting for a while, you have probably heard the term "crop factor". With so many different cameras and camera systems available today, this particular term comes up very often in product specifications, marketing materials, articles, books and you might even...
Preparing for a Safari Trip to Africa
In September of 2014, my wife and I had the great fortune to take the trip of a lifetime to South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. The trip was more than a year in the planning which gave me the chance to think about what camera equipment I wanted to take...
Oben CT-3481 Tripod Kit Review
Face it – tripods aren’t as sexy as lenses or camera bodies and shelling out a bunch of dough on a tripod just isn’t that satisfying. After selling my left kidney to pay for my Really Right Stuff tripod to support my super-telephoto wildlife lenses, I wasn’t real eager to...
Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2 Review
This is an in-depth review of the manual focus Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2, a second-generation 35mm f/2 prime lens from Zeiss for Nikon and Canon mounts. The lens samples I tested were for the Nikon F mount, although you can get the same lens for the Canon EF...
Saturation or Vibrance?
Just a few years ago, if you wanted more saturated colors in your landscapes or any other sort of photography, there was one basic adjustment to apply - saturation. Especially for beginner photographers, the Saturation slider in Photoshop was one of the most useful tricks to learn and seemed to...