In advance of my upcoming hands-on review of the 1 Nikon CX 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 telephoto zoom lens I thought readers may like to see some sample bird images. It is late in the season in Southern Ontario and many birds have already migrated. Never-the-less I was able to get a...
Voltaic Solar Battery Charger Review
What to do when you are out in the field with amazing scenery to shoot, a handful of exhausted camera batteries, and no electric outlets in sight? Self-disembowlment comes to mind, but wait, there are better options. I was recently on an 18-day Grand Canyon rafting trip and faced with...
A Shot At Fireworks
So this time of year in the United Kingdom, many people will be enjoying fireworks displays and bonfires to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night. For those who aren’t familiar with the night, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses Of Parliament (Westminster Palace) on the 5th November 1605, but he...
Turn Your Photo into An Artwork
Have you ever wanted to do something a little different with your photographs? Not stop with the simple click of the shutter and turn it into an actual digital painting? That is what I am going to teach you in this article. I know not everybody is a painter and...
The Sin, the Evil, the Horror of Direct Sunlight
Any photographer will tell you - you do not take portraits in direct sunlight. It's ugly. It's much too contrasty. It wreaks havoc on automatic exposure and tests all sorts of other boring technical aspects of a camera to the limit. It's difficult to pose in, difficult to see in;...
The Magic of “7” in Composition
This article will no doubt be the shortest one I will ever write about image composition as it contains only one, very simple idea. And, that is the number “7”. If you’re like me and tend to see the world around you as shapes and angles when you have a...
Confessions of a Photo Sinner
WARNING – this contains adult humor of the PG-13 variety, sassy double entendres, and a bunch of my trademark puerile humor too – read at your own risk. A couple weeks ago Nasim climbed Mount Zeiss with his D810 and returned with Photography’s 16 Commandments (Nasim’s an overachiever, duh). Before...
Introduction to Black and White Nature Photography
What makes a good black-and-white photograph, how do I take one, and why should I try when I have this nifty hypersaturation preset that makes even my lamest photos look awesome? I’ll answer the last question first – your oversharpened oversaturated photos stink. Their gaudy colors may suck the eye...
Photowalk Revisited
Back in May of this year Nasim visited London and kindly invited local followers of PL on a photowalk. All the participants greatly enjoyed that experience and came away with pleasing images. Well, a couple of months ago, I met up again with one of those participants, Theresa, for a photowalk...
Improving Eye Flow by Creating Corner Exits
Back in the day when I was working in corporate life, I gained quite a bit of experience creating and managing advertising, usually print based. When we designed ads, it became second nature for us to constantly think about fundamental concepts like visual depth, dominating elements, and ad balance. The...