When photographing the subject, one of the most interesting choices that are yours to make is… shutter speed. You can make artistic choices by shooting in low light or by using a neutral density filter to control light, both options can result in a long exposure image. This is one of my...

When I started in photography my pictures were factual; they fulfilled the “here’s what it looked like” requirement and checked off all the familiar guides: a clearly-defined subject; properly placed leading lines; the rule of thirds obeyed; backgrounds taken into careful...

There are three zoom lenses I consider absolutely essential to provide the versatility that travel photography demands: the 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm. It's no exaggeration to say I don’t leave home without them, and if travel is in your plans for the upcoming season, those lenses can...

Most of my columns for this website concern the ideas and purposes behind the photographs I take. I always include information about the technology used to achieve the photos, which could be as basic as the f/stop chosen to direct your attention, or the use of a ND filter to make a long exposure...

I have never doubted the power of black-and-white photography, and this conviction was confirmed on a November day in Boulder, Colorado. The city was decked in lights and decorations for the coming Christmas holiday, and to make the scene perfect, it was snowing...and heavily. I'm from Florida,...

There’ll always be an opportunity to make a photograph. What makes that photo more than simply a record of a place, what will turn it into a creative image, is how you deal with the opportunity—and sometimes how far you stretch it. In my previous column, I talked about...

It’s sort of a reverse magic trick: now you don’t see it—now you do. Infrared (IR) light is the light we don’t see, but we can photograph its effects—and that’s what got my attention: how I could with infrared photography take subjects I saw every day and...

I know someone who calls these photographs my Alfred Hitchcock Project. You know, The Birds through a Rear Window. Nice touch, but the truth is the Master of Suspense was not in my thoughts when I began to shoot. Cardinals are very cautious—they’re always on the...

I’m guessing the blue moon photo did its job and got your attention. It might surprise you to know that a key element in its creation was a weather app. We’ll get to the details of that shortly, but first, a few words about not-strictly-photographic accessories. You could say that...

The photography essayist, critic, and historian A.D. Coleman once said that the biggest mistake photographers make was “thinking that what they’re experiencing is what they’re capturing in the photograph.” Give that a moment to sink in. I did, and I realized that a key to...

You can create high contrast black and white images easily in Photoshop by using Threshold from the Adjustments panel (screenshot below). It just takes a few seconds, here's how... From the Adjustments panel, choose Threshold. Adjust the slider as shown below in the second screenshot left or...