composition

Article: Read each scene's "fine print".Watch out for—and immediately correct—visual gotchas

A discerning eye should be every photographer's goal. A discerning eye catches the smallest of details, details that otherwise would have a negative effect on the overall composition.

Article: Color, Contrast and Composition—AdoramaTV. You Keep Shooting

AdoramaTV Presents You Keep Shooting with Bryan Peterson.

Article: Compelling and Creative Images—AdoramaTV.You Keep Shooting

In this episode, Bryan Peterson goes to a Canadian junkyard and produces three great images.

Article: Five Creative Ways to Shoot The Tree.Decorated a tree? Get some great pictures of your work!

During the month of December, millions of people across the country have an evergreen tree sitting in their living rooms, bedecked with colorful lights and ornaments befitting the holiday season.

Blog: What a creative writing teacher and an Apple iPhone taught me about photography.A smart phone camera requires a thinking photographer

When you come across a great scene, use the edges of your frame judiciously...but make sure you have a camera with you!

Article: Clean Composition—AdoramaTV.You Keep Shooting

Bryan shows us the difference between a macro shot and a GOOD macro shot. Watch as he uses a wider aperture to clean his compostion.

Article: Creative Primary Flash—AdoramaTV.You Keep Shooting

AdoramaTV Presents You Keep Shooting with Bryan Peterson.

Article: Garbage In, Art Out.Mining the Mundane for Great Photos

Just like mining for real gold, mining 'gold' images seems to be a goal shared by most photographers, yet some of the finest gold to be mined is often overlooked. These images remain 'buried', hidden in some truly mundane locations...and sometimes, in a heap of garbage!

Article: PhotoZAP 70: Shall We Dance?.Our critics praise and pan your pictures

"The dancer's gesture is dramatic and nicely timed, but unfortunately, the figure is hard to 'read.'"—Russell Hart

Article: Shooting Reflections—AdoramaTV .You Keep Shooting

Bryan Peterson shows how to use the Pro-Optic 14mm super-wide-angle lens to transform a scene by adding a reflection from a small shiny surface and making it look like a shiny lake.

Article: Interesting Point of View—AdoramaTV.You Keep Shooting

In this week's episode of You Keep Shooting, Bryan Peterson demonstrates how to improve pictures by adding something interesting to the foreground when you're shooting with a wide-angle lens.

Article: Composing Portraits—AdoramaTV.Digital Photography 1 on 1

What are the rules of composition for shooting great portraits? Mark Wallace explains it all.

Article: The 60 Minute Photo Challenge—AdoramaTV .Digital Photography 1 on 1

How to spend an hour practicing your photography skills with the 60-minute challenge.

Article: Choosing the Right Lens—AdoramaTV.Digital Photography One on One

AdoramaTV presents Digital Photography One on One. In this episode Mark Wallace answers the question, "which lens should I buy?"

Blog: Rediscovering my 50mm lens.Getting back to basics

With all the recent comparison tests pitting 50mm lenses against zooms and each other, it was only a matter of time before I’d reach for my own 50 and take it out for a spin.

Article: Composition—AdoramaTV.Digital Photography 1 on 1

In this episode Mark will show us some tips for becoming a better photographer using the basic elements of composition.

Article: PhotoZAP 60: What’s a Dog to Do?.Our critics praise and pan your pictures

"The intersection of the humpback's tail fluke with the edge of the frame is an unfortunate compositional faux pas."—Jack Howard

Article: PhotoZAP 55: Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.Our critics praise and pan your pictures

"If you can’t reposition yourself to eliminate the distracting, mood-busting building, brown grass, and playground, you should cede this shot to the pro."—Mason Resnick

Article: Picture-taking techniques - Outdoor portraits in the sun.What gear you need to get great outdoor pictures, and how to fight harsh outdoor sunlight...and win!

Whether you're traveling, enjoying a backyard barbecue, or recording your graduate's moment of glory, everyone ends up shooting outdoor portraits. And most are less than satisfied with the results. But a few simple picture-taking tips can soften and flatter those harshly-lit, squinty-eyed faces.

Article: PhotoZAP 44: Step Lively.Our critics praise and pan your pictures

“There’s huge potential in the moment, but it is lost in the technical details.”—Mark Lent

Article: PhotoZAP 33: Y-M-C-A!.Our critics praise and pan your pictures

"Shooting in a photojournalistic style is a great and popular approach for wedding photography, but to do it successfully, a photographer needs to remember the lessons of good composition, and moving your location to capture the action." –Monica Cipnic

Article: PhotoZAP 4: Go, Speed Racer.Our critics praise and pan your pictures

“I’d have shot this so the yellow-and-blue line was a more pronounced diagonal, because diagonal lines are visually more active.”—Mason Resnick

Article: Beware distracting backgrounds: Fix the Pix, Episode 6."Hey, what's with that tree growing out of my head?"

When taking photos of your friends and loved ones with your digital camera, pay attention to what’s going on behind them. Otherwise, unintentional hilarity might ensue.

Article: Five things I’ve learned about photography.40 years of picture-taking experience, boiled down

I’ve been doing photography since the late 60s, when I was 10 years old. I’ve learned a few things and they have little to do with f/stops, shutter speeds, or the latest gizmo. Here are five things to think about and discuss.

Article: How to shoot heavenly sunrises and sunsets anywhere.Composition Basics: Gifts from the Sky

Follow these helpful picture-taking tips to get the best shots at the beginning and end of the day. If you've seen one sunset photo, you haven't seen 'em all!

Article: The magic of the mundane.Don't overlook tiny beauty

Expand your creativity and refresh the joy of taking pictures.

Article: Activate the camera-Photoshop partnership.Think like your digital camera. What does that mean? Read on!

Photographers from the darkroom ages learned to take pictures in a way to facilitate further improvements in the darkroom. They would "expose for shadows and develop for highlights."

Article: Driven to abstraction.Look for patterns and colors everywhere.

If you are driven, visually, to abstraction, you’ve got plenty of material. Just look around you.

Article: Leave 'Em Laughing.Is something funny going on? Photograph it!

Humor has always been a theme for photographers, be it funny signs, juxtapositions or situations. Look for contrasts, visual non-sequitors, or just moments that make you go, "huh?"

Article: Shoot Your Food.A delicious subject!

As photographers we're always hungry for interesting subjects. Often, some of the best photo opportunities are right there under our noses—on the dinner plate. Food evokes visceral responses from us all, and special events are often tied to certain special meals.

Article: Selective Focus.A clear look at a compositional element

A viewer's eye is always drawn to the subject that's in sharpest focus. If everything except your main subject is considerably out of focus, you've created what many think is the most beautiful effect in photography– that of "selective focus." In selective focus, the main subject is sharp, and everything in front and in back of it is blurred.

Article: Revealing Reflections.Mirrors, windows and shiny surfaces can add a new dimension.

Here's a technique for you to use whether you have a simple compact digital camera or a sophisticated digital SLR. Add an element of surprise, color, and abstraction to your photographs with reflections!

Article: Stack the Composition.Add layers of depth to your photos

"Stacking the Composition" is a technique, often used by photojournalists and by wedding photographers who take a photojournalistic approach to their subject, in which one or more secondary subjects are placed strategically within the photograph, usually at a different plane.

Article: The Vanishing Point.Show depth and perspective

Let me give you my perspective on perspective.

Specifically I want to tell you about how single-point perspective, also known and vanishing point perspective, works in photographs.

Article: Different Gets Attention.Composition tip

Here's a tip that applies whether you're using a simple compact digital camera or the the most sophisticated Digital SLR!

Article: Add A Splash of Color.A composition tip to help you spice up your pictures

Colors draw our attention, and certain colors do so more than others.

Article: Cluttered Shots? Simplify!.Pay attention to the background

Here's one thing that separates snapshots from great shots: Clutter. It could be a distracting background, a tree seeming to grow out of Aunt Doris's head, or irrelevant elements distracting the viewer from what you want to emphasize.

Article: Extra Texture.Read all about it!

An important aspect of photographic composition is texture. The texture of skin is important in portraits (if a portrait subject’s skin texture is too rough, you may need to add a softening filter or do work in Photoshop), while objects in photos may have textures that set the mood of the image.

Article: Window Treatment.Go ahead...let your photographic subject be a real pane.

I do windows. No, not Microsoft's operating system, but actual windows. Windows range from common to unusual, and can be a source of photographic inspiration.

Article: Mellow Yellow.Tame this strong color and soup-up your shots

Yellow is a tricky color with a split personality. It can be warm, evokes springtime, and is a sign of happiness and optimism. But it can also indicate tension, danger (why do you think hazard signs are yellow?) and cowardice. (Ya yellow-bellied varmint!)

Article: Horizons: High or Low?.Beyond the rule of thirds

The rule of thirds--that a time-tested compositional tool--says that in a scenic, you should place the horizon either a third or two-thirds up in the image. Well, sometimes, that's neither high nor low enough.

Article: Foreground is Key When Shooting Scenics.What's up front counts

Nothing says “boring” in a scenic more than just showing the scene. No matter how dramatic the vista in front of you, making sure there’s an interesting element in the foreground will almost always transform it into a more interesting photo.

Article: Show off your subject!.Eight great tricks to point viewers to the most important part of your photos

You’ve focused your camera on an adorable child . . . or a glorious autumn tree . . .or a vase of flowers, and now you want to be sure you compose the photograph so that subject is emphasized.

Article: When To Use Extreme Apertures.The f stops here

There are few, if any, interchangeable lenses that give the highest resolution when used wide open or when fully stopped fully, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use those apertures.

Article: Sunsets Without The Sun.It's all about light and shadows

When you think of a sunset photo, do have a preconceived image of a red-and-orange sky over a luscious shoreline, or perhaps some people palm trees silhouetted against it for good measure? Yeah, I know: Been there, done that.

Article: The Rule of Thirds.A basic composition concept

It is often tempting to put the subject in the center of a shot, but in many cases moving it off-center can produce a more interesting image.

Article: The Picture Within the Picture.Think you got a great shot? Maybe so--but you're not done.

Within many photographic situations there are other not-so-obvious photos hiding and waiting to be discovered by you.

Article: Look Down!.Look down and soon your photography will be looking up

Sometimes the best photographs are lying at your feet.

Article: What is Depth of Field?.Digital Camera Basics

If you've ever wondered why some photos have a sharp subject but everything else in the foreground and background are out of focus, but other photos are sharp from near to far, it's all about depth of field (DOF).

Article: Composition Basics: That's Deep.Create the illusion of depth in landscape photography

One of the creative problems inherent in all photographs is that they're flat.