Fill The Frame For Greater Visual Impact

The first step in creating any image is knowing what you want to say about a subject or location. Be clear in your own mind what is important and what is secondary. Then make it clear to your viewer by …

The 4 Piece Photo Challenge

It’s raining outside, you can’t go out and play and you’re developing cabin fever. What to do? Assign yourself the 4 Piece Photo Challenge! Sounds silly, I admit, but it’s a great tool for building up your photographic creativity.

Delicious Food Photography: The Basics Of Cooking Up Mouth Watering Images

I was shooting an article on Monterey, California, known for Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and great seafood. Dungeness crab is at the top of the areas epicurean list and I had already photographed a display of crabs on …

Forced Perspective: Add Drama And Depth To Your Photographs

Standing in the middle of Taos Pueblo, I was trying to decide how I would photograph the impressive five-story North Building. I knew I would use a technique called Forced Perspective to emphasize the scale of the building and create …

An Exciting Photo Shoot At The Lively Farmers Market

Shooting strong images at a busy farmers market is a test of concentration. A photographer is forced to create order out of chaos, still lifes out of produce and portraits of people who are too busy for a portrait shoot. …

Window Light, An Amazingly Elegant Photography Light Source

We all have that lighting system available, of course. I use window lighting for a wide range of photographic subjects, but I have noticed in my classes that many students seem to ignore it. It’s a seemingly easy light source …

Great Looking Historic Photographs In 4 Easy Steps

I was able to create a lot of great images, but all that color seemed jarring in that historic setting. I decided to sepia tone all of my photographs.

Mastering The Rule Of Thirds For Beautiful Compositions

When I first started to get serious about my photography, I would go out for a few days photographing landscapes and come home totally exhausted. Just the mental process of creating a balanced compositions with my 4x5 view camera would …

The Challenge Of Creating Visual Impact In A Photo Essay

A photo essay is essentially a story told with minimal words and, hopefully, lots of photographs. The trick is creating a diverse range of images that are all necessary to fully explain a subject or location.

Have Fun Searching For Colorful Photographic Details

For me, these intimate photographic details often say more about the culture of an area than more general shots and they always add a spot of strong color during a drab part of the day.