After I had retired, and my wife and I had moved to Kelowna, BC from Montreal I became quite serious about digital photography, a luxury I could never have enjoyed while working. Exploring the beautiful Okanagan Valley while hiking with my wife, Jane and our Golden Retriever became a large part of our new outdoor life. Having been married only a short time, I can remember my wife, who knew I was a committed photographer, once asking me why I…
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Five Tips for Improving Your Landscape Photography Compositions
Whether you are exclusively a landscape photographer or simply someone who likes to capture awesome shots of just about anything, landscape photography can be an excellent way to hone your ability to put together a composition. Lots of subjects that result in excellent shots require a photographer to react quickly in order to capture a moment that will be gone in mere seconds. A landscape, on the other hand, comes with a stillness that allows that same photographer to stop,…
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What is Low-Key Monochrome Photography?
With all the amazing new cameras and lenses creating outstanding color, most of us are flooded with saturated images all over social media. But, a few decades back, most of what we saw were gray worlds. Even though current day photography can bring out millions of colors to life, the gray world is calm, peaceful and fascinating on its own. In this article, we shall see how to make interesting monochrome images and bring them to life, in a nutshell.
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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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How to Photograph the Aurora Borealis
Capturing a stunning shot of the northern lights (or southern lights) dancing across the sky surely must be on the bucket list of many photographers out there. On a recent trip into the Arctic Circle, I was lucky enough to see the aurora borealis on several nights. What follows are some tips and recommendations on how to photograph the northern lights and come back with some stunning pictures.
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Recommended Sony A7R III Settings
Sony’s third generation mirrorless camera, the A7R III has been quite a popular choice ever since it came out among photographers who use the Sony camera system. We thought it would be a good idea to provide our recommended settings for this camera, as a number of our readers have been asking for it. With a powerful 42 MP BSI CMOS sensor and a pretty long list of features including in-body image stabilization, native 4K video recording and superb battery…
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Announcing the Photography Life Guest Post Contest!
Welcome to the 2018 Photography Life Guest Post Contest, where we are offering one of our largest prizes ever! The winner of this competition, which is free and easy to enter, will receive a $1500 prize, or your choice of a Nikon D750 (retail value: $1800) or Fuji X-T2 (retail value: $1600). All you need to do is submit a great guest post to Photography Life, and the author of the top post will receive the prize. On top of…
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Recommended Sony A6500 Settings
In this detailed guide, we will be providing the recommended settings for the Sony A6500, an advanced interchangeable lens camera designed for enthusiasts and professionals. We will go over some information on what settings are ideal to use for day-to-day photography and videography needs, as well as explain what some of the important settings do in the camera. Since the Sony A6500 has a myriad of settings that can be confusing to understand, the below information is provided as a…
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IRIX 11mm f/4 Review
This is an in-depth field review of the ultra-wide full-frame Irix 11mm f/4 lens released in 2017. I have tested the more expensive and heavier Blackstone version, but since the Firefly version features an identical optical design, all conclusion made in the review hold for both versions. This glass is the widest rectilinear lens for full frame DSLR cameras. Only the Canon 11-24mm f/4L gets equally wide. Shooting with such an extremely wide lens brings a whole lot of practical…
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Alien Skin Exposure X3 Review
This is an in-depth review of the Alien Skin Exposure X3 software for culling, managing and post-processing images. A couple of weeks ago, Spencer wrote the first article of our “Lightroom Classic vs. Other Software” series. In his article, he compared Lightroom to Alien Skin’s Exposure X3. I’m following his article up with a more detailed take on Exposure X3. Here I will dive a little bit deeper into the user experience I have had with the program while using it…
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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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The Magic of Bali and the Travel Photography of David Lazar
Indonesia is of particular interest to renowned travel photographer David Lazar, having made multiple trips to various islands in recent years. He returns again in the fall, this time to lead his Bali photo tour workshop. Being one of the most artistically rich micro-climates in the world, Bali is an easy and natural choice for the amiable Australian snapper.
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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 Are Shot Noise and Digital 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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Genaray Escort Daylight LED Interview 3-Light Kit Review
Today I am going to review the Genaray Escort Daylight LED Interview 3-Light Kit. As the name implies, this kit contains three LED light panels. Two of the panels are flood lights, while one panel is a spot light. While I feel that these lights are mainly intended for use with video, I tested the lights for both photo and video.
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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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