Shooting Available Light Travel Photography
My favorite lenses for indoor available light photography are fast prime focus lenses but I still use zoom lenses when traveling because you rarely have the kind of choices for camera locations and positions you have under more controlled conditions. If you care about image quality, forget the digital zoom feature found on some cameras. It simply crops and saves a small portion of the sensor’s data, then interpolates this new,...
A Finding Glamour Models Trifecta
Where do I find my glamour photography models? That’s a question I get asked lot. Finding glamour models is as easy or difficult as you want to make it. If you work at it methodically and consistently, you’ll discover really good models will find you. Today’s Model Monday post is the next in the series that offers some real-world suggestions on some of the best ways to find glamour models. Secret Number 3: Let everybody know you’re...
Photographers Block
Today’s Post by Todd Abbotts If you pursue any creative process long enough you’ll most inevitably experience a “block”. Writers, painters, graphic designers, photographers; all creatives can fall prey to this swirling black hole that eats your fresh ideas and new material. Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, likely quit writing novels altogether from a prolonged bout of the malady. On a personal note, I’ve just emerged from my own...
Tips for Photographing Fireworks
“We’re going to live on; we’re going to survive. Today we celebrate our Independence day.”—“President Bradford” in the (original) film Independence Day Some photographic subjects, such as fireworks or lightening, can’t easily—at least for me—be captured using any of the standard exposure metering systems but some cameras, including some from Olympus, offer a Fireworks Mode that slows the shutter speed and sets the focusing point to...
Getting the Most from a Built-in Flash
These days, cameras have built-in flash but not the so-called Pro models, even though having a small flash available with the click of a button can make the difference between a good photograph and a not-too-good one. If you’re photographing a static subject sometimes the best way to get a properly exposed photograph is not to use flash at all and instead place your camera on a tripod and use available light. If you don’t own a tripod...
Using a Handheld Meter for Portraits
Today’s Post by Joe Farace All modern cameras have some kind of built-in light meters and some even have spot meters but I still occasionally still use a hand-held meter, especially when photographing people outdoors. My current hand-held meter is a Gossen Luna Star F2. Yes it’s old but it’s also small, lightweight and takes reflected or the incident readings that I like to use when making portraits. (Incident metering...
Available Light Tips for Travel Photography
It doesn’t matter what you call it—available light, unavailable light, available darkness, or low light photography—often the most rewarding photographs are produced when working under challenging lighting conditions. Why? First, there’s the thrill of overcoming the ever-present technical obstacles that prevent you from producing a well-exposed image under challenging lighting conditions. Second, photographs made under lighting...
