December 2011

Purchasing a Tripod  Part Two Originally posted March 2010 Review When photographing landscape-scenic-nature subjects after your camera body your tripod is your most important piece of equipment . There is no one perfect tripod, each make and model has it’s good and bad features, and just like your camera you get what you pay for.  An […]

Originally Posted April 2011. This last weekend I was in Madison Wisconsin to teach a two day workshop at Olbrich Gardens. If you have never been to Olbrich you must put it on your list of places to visit. It is a spectacular garden in downtown Madison. While it was early for the outdoor gardens

This last weekend I was in Des Moines Iowa for a two day workshop. We had wonderful light for our sunrise although admittedly it was a tad on the brisk side-at least cold enough to make your hands stiff after a few minutes in the wind, but our group hung tough and made some great

Where are most of the auto focus sensors in your camera’s viewfinder? They are located in the middle third to half of the viewfinder. Where is the least desirable place to put your primary subject in the composition of your photograph? That’s right; in the middle of your frame. In close up or macro photography, when 

Selecting a proper f-stop to give the image proper depth of field is also dependent upon what your plane of focus is. Most DSLR’s are equipped with a depth of field preview capability. If your camera does not have this capability there is a work around for most cameras; push the lens release button like

Auto exposure modes and camera metering systems are programmed to give you an exposure that will is based upon18% reflective grey or middle grey. Point your camera at a white wall and it is programmed to expose so that white wall is middle grey. Point your camera at a black wall and it will expose the

Image stabilization or Vibration Reduction will never produce an image that is sharper than a camera mounted on a stable tripod. While the use of IS or VR allows us to make photographs that are better in some situations than if we don’t have IS or VR, this technology cannot replace the tried and true

Recently, I was in Chicago for the third annual “Art of Seeing ” workshop. We had beautiful light and weather. We started our workshop at the Calumet Photographic Cherry Ave Store in downtown Chicago, a great store packed with lots of toys to drool over. We spent the afternoon photographing at the Lincoln Park Zoo and surrounding