One of the most important abilities you can have as a photographer is deciphering how other shooters captured their photos.  It's not always the easiest thing to do though, so here we'll look at three great photos and explain how they were taken.Photo by SergioTudelaRunning water, the beach and sunsets are all subjects that make for wonderful photographs, and this one has them all!  Taking a page almost from the difficult lighting article, this shot was done on a tripod with a wide angle lens.  Because a longer exposure was needed, 1/2 second for this shot, the risk of blowing the highlights in the surf or the sky were fairly high.  The shooter used a graduated ND filter to help prevent this from happening.  Waiting for the water to come in and then start to rush back out to see before pressing the shutter button gives a great sense of motion to the foreground of this photo while the rest of it remains sharp, with great color.Photo by nickwheelerozOne of the most popular collections here on Light Stalking was that of Bokeh Photographs.  Going one step further, this is a studio shot with self created bokeh. This stunning butterfly photo ...

Anyone who's ever been a Boyscout will tell you their motto is Always be prepared. Their motto isn't just for them, it's applicable to everyone, in just about every aspect of your life.  Planning ahead of time helps reduce problems during an event and when mishaps, accidents and problems arise, you'll have everything you need ready to deal with them.Take note here, we don't want problems to happen, but there is no way to avoid unforeseen issues which are bound to happen.  Photo shoots, especially involving people, can be very strenuous and when the photographer is stressed out, it tends to bring the whole mood down.  This is true from your hometown baby portrait photographer to a high end wedding photographer to a commercial photographer and even weekend warriors who like to go out and take landscape pictures.So, always be prepared, what does that mean exactly?  How should you be planning on what to bring?  The better question to ask yourself is, how do you envision the shoot going and what mishaps could potentially happen? For the sake of this article, let's examine an on-location portrait shoot in someone's home.You've met with the client, they like your work and they ...

For a lot of us, a trip to the zoo is going to be one of our few chances in life to photograph some fairly exotic animals from up close. The unfortunate thing is that a Zoo actually presents a fairly challenging shooting environment. Now we have covered zoo photography before, so let's concentrate on the main challenges and delve a little deeper into what they are and how you can overcome them.Wire and Fences - The probability is that you will be shooting in a city zoo and for the most part that means that many of the animals will be behind wire fences. As wire fences are usually a pretty ugly object to have obscuring the view of an animal in a photograph, you are going to want to minimize their visual impact. There are two main ways to do this.Get close enough to the fence to put your lens between the wires. This probably won't be an option for many of you with larger lenses, but you would be surprised how many different types of lenses will fit between the wire of a chicken wire fence. Remember too that some animals are territorial and doing this might ...

Photography is a fun and exciting hobby, and for many of us a job too.  Once only seen as a hobby that took a lot of money and some proper schooling to enjoy, the continuing price drops in gear that consistently gets better each year combined with the wealth of information online has seen a surge in the photography industry like never before.  With the surge comes lots of new photographers, and that means lots of bad habits can be formed.  Avoid these 5 habits that could negatively affect your photography and photos and enjoy the hobby so many of us love.Shooting RAW means we don't need to expose everything perfectly.  We've covered this over and over again, but RAW is not an excuse to be a sloppy, lazy photographer.  Shooting with the intention of fixing the exposure after the fact makes you a poor photographer and a decent post-processor.Not taking the time to learn how to properly set a custom white balance.  I've shown you how to do a custom white balance, not doing so is the same as shooting RAW with the anticipation of fixing it in post.  All you're doing is creating more work and losing the ...

Shooting wildlife can be some of the most exhilarating photographic experiences of your life, it can also be downright frustrating and boring.  Wildlife photography doesn't need to happen on a safari in Africa, you can do it in local parks and wooded areas, but there is a lot to know about approaching the area, choosing your gear, setting it up and waiting for the wildlife to come to you, then actually exposing each shot.Photo by Jan Tik Because this specific field of photography has so much to learn, we've found 12 great online tutorials to help you with with your wildlife photography (in no particular order).Photo.net's Wildlife Photography Nigel Dennis Wildlife Photo Tips and Techniques Tutorial 9 Wildlife Photography Tips WildlifeExtra.com's Wildlife Tips Nature Focused Wildlife Photography Tips Digital Photography School's 4 Tips for Better Wildlife Photography Paul Burwell's Top Ten Wildlife Photography Tips BetterPhoto.com's How to Shoot Wildlife Photography Photo How To | How to take Wildlife Photographs Birds in Nature Photography Tutorial Wildlife and Nature Photography Hints, Tips and Tutorials Photo NaturalistThere is no one better then the other tutorial or tips guide here, they are all valuable.  Perhaps this is why we love the Internet so much; information has been set free.  Imagine the time spent in libraries, ...

It's been said that to become an expert at something, 10,000 hours of time needs to be invested.  That's a lot of time, over a good number of years and I feel photography is something that is always evolving and there's always room to learn and improve.  That leads into how I improved my photography in one evening.I sat down and looked through some boxes of prints I had from my film days and then started looking at photos on my computer and external hard drives.  I noticed that, along with some editing issues (particularly with digital) that was kind of period-dating my work, for the most part I was shooting kind of loose.  By loose I mean, either not close enough or zoomed in enough, or not cropping enough in post production.Composition is a key element to a successful photograph and by simply re-cropping some of my photographs to eliminate wasteful space they looked new and fresh to me.  I posted a few up onto some message boards and the feedback was overwhelming.Since almost every camera I shoot is 2:3 proportion, that's how I've been cropping.  Missing my beloved medium format TLR that shoots square images, I set my ...

Photo by Sharp Sh00ter Product photography can be fun and challenging, it can also be very profitable.  The need to photograph small objects well can lend to any number of reasons, including:Selling stock photography Shooting for a client's website or printed catalog Craigslist ad eBay listing ...and more!But you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a light tent or box to achieve great results.  For around $10 you can build a simple and effective light box with stuff you probably already have laying around the house.Start with a decent size cardboard box. Leave the top flaps in place and cut out the three sides, leaving one to two inches.  With the windows you now created to allow light in, a diffusion method must be put in place.  This will help reduce shadows and the harshness of light.  Virtually anything white and semi-transparent can be used.  The above photo used sketch paper for the two sides and top, but muslin would work well, an old, clean white sheet would even work.Cut the pieces to fit and tape them to the outside of the box.  Your diffusion panels are now complete, onto the next step.Line the inside with a piece of white, non-reflective paper from ...

America is the land of the free, home of the brave and we are generally really proud of our freedom.  Over the last decade or so, many of our rights have been limited, partially due to the attacks on September 11th, and partially as people continue to become more private as social networking and sharing grows.Photo by uhuru1701 One of the most important things you can have on you and know, is The Photographer's Right, printable PDF you can download put together by Attorney Bert P. Krages II.  It's a comprehensive, foldable article that he suggest you keep on you or in your camera bag at all times.  The entire PDF has been transcribed into this Flickr discussion, with examples of photos people have taken.Andrew Kantor has a nice rant on the misinformation of your photographic rights, some of it is rather comical.  Fredrik Silverglimth also covers your rights as a photographer a little more in depth, and provides some sample model release forms for download.What all of these articles cover is the same basic subject matter though.  Your rights as a photographer in America are pretty loose, and there are really only a few legal reasons for you to ...

The three spots you see in the photograph below are sensor dust.  Small pieces of dust, fiber or hair that are sitting on the sensor of your digital camera.  The most common reason dust shows up on your sensor is from changing your lens.  It's nearly impossible to stop dust from getting in, so at one point or another you're bound to see these little demons.Photo by Peter BakerCleaning your sensor has always been something most people are afraid of as they don't want to ruin the sensor.  Being afraid isn't a bad thing, you can do some serious damage if you aren't careful.Photo by infomatique There are a few different techniques to cleaning your sensor, each has a fan base over the other.  The most popular methods are:Air blower Dry swabs Wet swabs Dust pickerWhen you are ready to clean your sensor, choose the method you feel most comfortable with, I personally prefer wet swabs.  Clean an area of a table that you can sit at and ensure no nearby windows are open.  Also make sure you are not on carpet so you don't accidentally discharge static electricity.  Before you remove the lens, clean the body and lens of your camera of all ...

This is a guest post by Karl Johnston that originally appeared in Slave River Journal. You can find out more about Karl and see more great shots of auroras at his photography website.Seeing as it is what I'm famous for, I thought it only fair that I share some techniques for getting successful photographs of the Aurora Borealis. It's no secret, and anyone can do it. There are three things that you need to start with; a sturdy tripod including tripod head, a camera (of course), and a wide angle lens. A wide angle lens technically refers to anything under 50mm of focal length. Essentially this is what enables you more field of view when you look through the viewfinder or LCD screen of your camera.It is possible to work with 50mm but I recommend having a lens that has a focal length of 35mm or less. Next point to make is the tripod and tripod head. The tripod and it's head are usually purchased separately and there is a large variety to choose from. I recommend, while a bit pricey, it would be worth it to invest in a tripod and head made of Carbon Fiber or Basalt. Try ...