Guest Author

Articles by Guest Author

Testing the Apexel 200X LED Lens: A Microscope for Your Phone

I received a request from Apexel to review a phone accessory that connects to microscopes, telescopes, or binoculars. I replied to inform them that I had none of those pieces of equipment but I might be interested in reviewing a macro or microscope attachment to mobile phones.

This Photographer Captures Rarely Seen Side of Australian Nature

Australia presents some serious challenges for landscape photographers, like lighting. For most of the day, the Australian landscape is bathed in a very harsh, bright light, which amps up contrast and washes out colors.

My Strange Ongoing Troubles with the Canon R5

I’ve been a Canon shooter since I moved into digital about 15 years ago. I had been using Mamiya and Minolta cameras with film and at that time the Canon 50D came out and I decided to give it a go. Since then I worked my way through the 5D lineup to the 5D Mark III and built up a collection of glass that has served me well.

A Beginner’s Guide to Zone Focusing in Photography

Zone focusing (ZF) is a great way to pre-set your camera's focus and aperture, then use that setting for multiple shots. Street shooters love it. And it's also great for sports, pets, jumpy kids, parties, or any subjects in motion.

How to Shoot Headshots That Show Personality and Connection

We all know that headshot photography is all about capturing the essence of our subjects - their personality, character, and unique qualities that make them stand out. As headshot photographers, how do we really capture that magic?

Good Hobby vs. Great Hobby, and Why Photography is One of the Best

What makes a great hobby? Most people don’t have to ask themselves this, they just naturally gravitate to activities they enjoy and make time for them–but I’ve had to think about this for years. It’s an important question, particularly when your time is being pulled in multiple directions!

Leica M3: The 35mm Film Camera That Became a Legend

During the century-or-so that film was the dominant medium in photography, a handful of cameras made a mark deeper than the rest and became legendary for their impact and legacy. One of these was the Leica M3.

Why Film Photography is the Antithesis of AI Art

The camera is a reasonably recent image-creation tool; compared to millennia of paintings, drawings, carvings, and illustrations, we have only a few hundred years of photographs and photographic development. What photography offers compared to those ancient arts is (relative) immediacy and accuracy.

How to Deal with Extreme Dynamic Range in Landscape Photography

No doubt most of us have found ourselves in the following situation... You’ve discovered a beautiful landscape scene that you’ve carefully composed in your camera’s viewfinder. Your camera is on a tripod and there’s no wind, so you’re feeling confident that you’ll be able to capture everything in one shot with both a small aperture and a slow shutter speed. Things are looking great!

How Photo Mechanic Was Born at Super Bowl XXXII in 1998

It was Sunday morning January 25th, 1998, and I was in The Associated Press’s trailer in the parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego. Last-minute preparations were underway for coverage of Super Bowl XXXII between the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos – Favre vs Elway. Perfect!

Tourists in Our Own Reality: Susan Sontag’s Photography at 50

This year marks 50 years since Susan Sontag’s essay "Photography" was published in the New York Review of Books. Slightly edited and renamed In Plato’s Cave, it would become the first essay in her collection On Photography, which has never been out of print.

What is Focal Length in Photography?

One of the most basic and common terms in the world of photography is the focal length of a lens. In this guide, we will dive down deep into what focal length is and how it works.

I Picked Up My First Camera in 2008, and It Has Changed My Life

For anyone who isn’t interested in this wonderful art form we call photography, it might seem pretty straightforward: using a camera to capture an image. However, as many of us know, photography is so much more, once you go beyond the surface level.

Will AI Destroy the Professional Headshot Industry?

The world is ablaze with talk of ChatGPT, one of the latest AI (artificial intelligence) applications revolutionizing everything from research and copywriting to blog and ad creation to college essays. Noticed or unnoticed, these applications have seeped into nearly every part of our world.

The Limits of ‘Computational Photography’

My name is Will Yager, and I'm a software engineer. I was recently discussing laser etching with an engineer/font-designer friend of mine, and I wanted to show him a picture of some really good laser etching on a particular piece of optical equipment.

How to Photograph Sun Rays in a Forest

The Speulderforest (“Het Speulderbos” in Dutch) is a beautiful and serene forest, and one of the best ways to capture its natural beauty is through photography. It’s one of the more popular forests when it comes to woodland photography in The Netherlands.

Shooting the Landscape at 70 Miles an Hour

Landscape photography at 70 mph. Is it even possible? For years the idea of landscape photography was to put your camera on a tripod, frame very carefully, then wait for the light to be perfect before you shot. But what if you had to do everything in exactly the opposite way?

What is an Intervalometer?

An intervalometer is an important tool for photographers that is useful across a range of photography genres and techniques, including timelapses, focus stacking, and long exposures.

Add the Dimension of Endurance to Your Digital Pics

Let’s get physical and unlock new levels of photographic enjoyment. The key is online printing. Whether you capture your world with a smartphone or the world’s greatest mirrorless camera, you could be missing one of the biggest thrills—holding your printed images in your hand.

What is Dynamic Range in Photography?

We’ve all heard the term "dynamic range" when reading the latest and greatest offerings of camera manufacturers -- "this camera has the highest dynamic range in its category!" We understand that a greater dynamic range is generally a good thing to have.

Using the AstrHori 18mm f/8 Low-Cost Shift Lens

Low-cost lenses started appearing in the market in the last twenty years or so, with prices coming down steadily. When I saw another inexpensive lens in an article a couple of months ago, it grabbed my attention not with its price but with its core feature. It was a shift lens. An 18mm, fixed-aperture at f/8, shift lens at $119 was worth trying.

The Best Photos from GuruShots’ ‘Incredible Sunsets’ Challenge

GuruShots, the "World's Greatest Photo Game," has announced the winners of its "Incredible Sunsets" challenge, which received thousands of entries and over 56.2 million votes. The "Top Photographer" winner of the contest is Xavier Boulenger of France (whose photo is seen above).

UV Filter: Should You Use One on Your Camera Lens?

Photographers use a range of different filters on their camera lenses for different effects and purposes, and one of the most common filters found in a camera bag is the standard UV filter.

Human vs AI: Who’s Better at Turning Marcel Proust’s Words into Photos?

In July of 2022, my partner Annabelle Matter and I traveled to Normandy, France, to shoot a project for the weekly Le Figaro Magazine that we’d been researching for months: translating into photographs a text by French writer Marcel Proust, renowned for his highly detailed and soulful descriptions.

Are You Really Starting a Conversation With Your Photography?

The social aspects of social media, the propagation aspects of propaganda, and the “logos” aspects of dialogue all depend on one thing: communication. A photograph can be a very powerful medium for communication, using visual symbols to represent what a photographer saw, or created, containing in part or in whole their message.

How to Develop B&W Film at Home: A Simple Guide for Mere Mortals

The film photography revival is going strong but these pictures don’t just magically appear out of thin air! Eventually you need to develop your film so I put together this step-by-step guide to process black and white negatives at home. It’s easier than you might think!

Tips for Studio Photography, Using the Sony a7R IV

The Sony Alpha a7R IV released in July of 2019 as the successor to the popular a7R III. While the early Sony mirrorless cameras had a limited lens selection, by the time the a7R IV came out, the lens selection had blossomed. Nowadays, there’s a lens for every purpose from manufacturers like Sony, Tamron, Sigma, Samyang, and Tokina.

How School and Sports Photos Made Me a Better Fine Art Photographer

When first starting my photography like many people, young and naïve, I immediately googled "how to be a paid photographer" almost immediately I found a job opening for a local school and sports photography business. I had been dreaming of being a successful artist my entire life and here was my chance!

Make Your Photos Look 3D with Dodge and Burn in Capture One 23

One of the challenges of photographing landscapes is creating images that reflect the right amount of depth and dimension. But sometimes it seems no matter how hard you try and how often you hear well-meaning advice from other photographers, the photos you take almost always come out darn flat.

How to Title Your Photography Work

Titling a photograph or body of photographic work can be a daunting and often draining task. In many instances, a title will represent the work before someone has even seen the front cover, or leading image of a series, which means a punchy title can make all the difference in catching someone’s attention or losing it. There are many ways you can go about assigning a label to your work that not only identifies it but also can enhance and frame an entire experience for your audience.

Film Photography: A Complete Guide

Film photography. It’s coming back, and more and more photographers are dusting off their old film cameras or going out on a search to purchase one. Many people don’t see the appeal and feel quite comfortable with their phone camera. But for others, it’s becoming the only way they create images.

Capturing the Moon in the ‘Crown’ of the Bank of America Headquarters

Charlotte, North Carolina, is nicknamed the Queen City, after Queen Charlotte. I moved to Charlotte from Frankfurt, Germany in July 1992. That was not just the year but also the month that the Bank of America (BofA) building was completed. The 871ft (265m) skyscraper is the tallest building in the Southern United States outside of Atlanta or Texas, with its “royal” crown on the top.

Dora Maar: A Great Photographer Hidden Behind the Master of Painting

In the inevitable tide of recognition of so many women artists of the past 20th century who passed simply as muses, lovers, wives or companions, when their work was truly as strong, beautiful and original as that of their partner, Dora Maar, for many reasons, occupies a special place.

Light Painting: A Complete Guide

Light painting has become a popular technique in the age of digital photography. If you have always wondered how to do light painting photography yourself, you've come to the right place.

RAW vs. JPEG: Which Image Format is Best?

We all have been there at some point in our photographic journeys: Our cameras, set to AUTO, pointing and clicking, saving JPEG images that we perhaps edit a little and put in an album to archive. Maybe we throw on an Instagram filter to fancy it up for social media. Then we forget about these images for a while.