More Satisfying Photos

Just a quick notice to our regular site visitors and subscribers. I’m sorry there haven’t been any recent new articles. They are coming! I briefly went on a short vacation — a long weekend, really — to Washington, DC for American Independence Day. I not only wanted to see the fireworks over our nation’s capital [...]

Those looking to do photo editing on the cheap frequently cast about for the most Photoshop-like alternative they can find. More often than not, that ends up being “the Gimp”. The Gimp (yes, “the” is part of its official name) is a very powerful and completely free photo editing program. Because I am asked about [...]

I used to think that the question of which is better, film or digital, had long since been resolved. Apparently not, because it still comes up from time to time in my photography workshops. In all honesty, there are still a few areas where film is arguably better than digital. So here are ten measures [...]

Some people think that, because I teach photography, I’m beyond the point of learning. Or that some things are “too basic” for me to learn. That’s absurd. It is impossible to ever know everything. Also, I speak from experience when I say that skills deteriorate when left unused. I gave up shooting for a few years when [...]

This isn’t about hedging your bets, such as always keeping a UV filter on your lens to prevent damage to the front element. It actually is literally about an insurance policy. Having recently had to update my homeowner’s policy, my agent asked me about a special “Inland and Marine” policy to cover my camera equipment. [...]

The question came up recently about why there is sometimes a horizontal line visible in photos taken off a TV screen. The horizontal line is caused by the progressive scan of the TV screen itself. TV images don’t just magically appear, fully formed. They are built up one line at a time. Try taking a [...]

I sometimes shoot with more than one camera. Normally, I like for each of the pictures I take to stand on its own merit. Most often, my photos are auto-sorted by file name when I look at them on my computer. Once I’ve graded them, they are sorted by ranking (best ones first) and sub-sorted [...]

I love flowers. I don’t have much of a greenthumb but I still love flowers at least as much as anyone else. Though it always amuses me when I see an optical illusion in an indoor plant. Houseplants are full of optical illusions. Here I present a bunch of orchids which, if you look closely, [...]

Even if you’re not a fan, you’ve no doubt seen a Food Network show or two. You’ve seen those mouth-watering pictures of entrées on the menu at your favorite restaurant. But have you ever tried photographing food yourself? It’s not as easy or straightforward as you might think. Vegetable frittatas (basically just a fancy name for omlettes) [...]