Charles Dharapak’s Instagram photos from the White House
Boston.com’s The Big Picture blog has a great set of Instagram photographs by Associated Press White House photographer Charles Dharapak, a seasoned pro who has seen it all…
Inspire
Today’s photograph: Live Oak tree swings, Long Beach, Mississippi
Here we see the full-width post option for the first time, with another photograph from my photography road trip this past weekend…
Photography road trips
Going on a photography road trip: just the sound of it is exciting and a bit mysterious, isn’t it? Here’s my journal from two photo road trips from last weekend…
Today’s Photograph: Sand dune fencing
Here’s a photograph from my early morning shooting trip to the Mississippi Gulf coast over this past weekend. The light was very, very soft and the fog so thick I couldn’t make out the water…
Web
Nelson Mandela photos at The Big Picture
Boston.com’s photo blog, The Big Picture, has a great collection of images about the death of Nelson Mandela on their site right now. Most of the images are new and do a great job of showing the variety of ways in which the world has noted this seminal event. Take a look, but be prepared […]
Alexandra Boulat: National Geo’s photo blog, Proof, on war photographer
My old boss and friend, National Geographic senior photo editor Kurt Mutchler, has a wonderful remembrance of Alexandra Boulat, a wonderful photographer who covered conflict all over the globe before dying of a brain aneurysm in 2007 at the age of 45…
The Million Page Views milestone passed by The Discerning Photographer!
Something happened on Monday, December 2, 2013 that I think merits notice: The Discerning Photographer passed the million page views mark! It’s actually pretty humbling to think that the content you have written has been read, or at least looked at, over a million times.
How To
Back-Button Autofocus is a technique you should learn
Does your camera have back-button autofocus? Is it an option on your DSLR to switch between shutter-driven autofocus and thumb-driven back button? If you grew up on shutter-driven autofocus and never bothered to relearn, you’re selling yourself short. Here’s why….
How to shoot macro photos in the freeze and frost
This morning I went out and made macro frost photographs, using my Canon EOS-1D X and 50mm macro lens. This is my favorite lens for all things that mostly tell their stories in the details…
Aperture: How It Affects Your Photography & Why You Should Care
Simply stated, “aperture” is the hole in your lens that allows light to pass through to your CCD (charge coupled device) during an actual digital camera exposure. The size of the hole has a big impact upon your photos. Here’s why you should care…
Equipment
Photography Christmas presents for the landscape shooter
Picking the right photography Christmas presents can be really tough. Don’t have a clue what to get the photographer on your list? If they like to get out and shoot nature or landscapes, here are some photography Christmas presents that will work…
How to make an instant photo tripod counterweight
When you’re out shooting in windy and stormy weather, it can help tremendously to have a good tripod counterweight handy. Here’s an old and useful trick that works and won’t be extra weight for you to lug around…
Canon G15 vs. Nikon Coolpix P7700 Camera Review
The Canon G15 and Nikon Coolpix P7700 are both compact, non point-n-shoot digital cameras that offer a lot to like for the serious photo enthusiast. What follows is my hands-on, out-in-the-field comparison of these two machines, a non-technical look at how they operate and perform…
Software
Photoshop Adjustment Layers for great black and white photos
If you know that your final toned image will be in black and white, you need a Photoshop black and white toning workflow that gives you the most power and flexibility to make this happen. Photoshop Adjustment Layers is the best way to accomplish this…
Adobe Creative Cloud, Lightroom and more for $9.99 a month: a deal?
Adobe has just announced a new deal that only runs through December 2: a monthly subscription to the latest version of Photoshop, plus their Lightroom editing product, 20 GB of online storage and a Behance website for $9.99 a month, at least for the first year…
Photoshop Basics: Dodge & Burn, Part II
This second, newer method is a way to burn and dodge that’s become available in the newer versions of Photoshop now on the market. It involves creating a layer to do the burning and dodging upon, thus leaving the original image information untouched…
Video
Microphones: finding the right DSLR mic
Our modern DSLR cameras can shoot amazing video. This has been the biggest change in digital photography in the last 5 years—quality video is now possible with a modest investment in gear. But getting quality results requires some additional equipment, mainly in the form of a different tripod and some decent microphones. Today we’re going […]
Kathleen Flynn wins regional Emmy award!
Remember that post I wrote last week about all of the great video being done these days by newspaper photographers? One of the pieces I used as an example was the heartwarming story by my staff photographer at Nola.com and The Times-Picayune, Kathleen Flynn…
Amazing video work by ‘still’ photographers
One of the big transformations that has taken place within newspaper photojournalism over the past 5 years has been the emergence of video…
Other Recent Posts
The Discerning Photographer gets a reboot, new WordPress theme
You may have noticed a new look and feel to The Discerning Photographer recently. An awful process that started when the site was hacked a couple of months ago comes finally to resolution with this new rollout…
How to Light Absolutely Anything
Studio lighting: where to start? It doesn’t have to be mysterious or complicated. It doesn’t have to be all about lighting diagrams and formulas. What follows is everything you really will ever need to know to shoot successfully with strobe lights…
Pet Photography: how to shoot great photos of your pets
How many really great photographs have you taken of your dog, your cat, your goldfish? For someone that ‘s around as much as they are, you’d think we would have better photos of them! Here’s how…
Archiving your photos, backing up: a cautionary tale
Backing up your photos–properly archiving everything–is something we all say we’re going to do. But how many of us consistently do it? My complacency on this issue recently turned into the nightmare of all nightmares, and I’m here to tell you about it: kids, don’t try this at home!
Photography as meditation
Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO: these building blocks of exposure are still in play here. But when your shutter speed is measured in minutes instead of fractions of a second, you have lots of time to think as your exposure is being made…
Today’s Photograph: Banana plant blossom
Understanding how to control your photograph’s background can be the difference between success and failure. This simple image of a banana plant flower is no exception…
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