A Source of Photography Inspiration

This is the first article of a two part series about the world of rectangular filters. These are the ones you use along with a filter holder instead of screwing them to the lens. The most popular filter used from a holder is the graduated neutral density filter (grad-ND) and I will discuss a basic setup and a few tips.

If a neutral density filter isn’t a part of your photography gear collection, perhaps this side-by-side comparison will convince you of its value. Visuals speak volumes, and although you may read of the many benefits of an ND filter, it’s always nice to see the difference it can make.

When I first started photographing landscapes, I thought buying an SLR would instantly provide me with deeper, more colorful landscape photos. In theory, I was right – it provided me with the means to capture more vibrant landscapes, but I still needed to take extra steps to make it happen.

Sometimes the beauty of an insect goes unnoticed, but when shooting in macro, you can see the details that bring out their amazing side.

I have nothing against JPGs but I think a photographer should only shoot RAW except in special circumstances where JPGs are needed, for example when having to shoot burst speed. In this short article I will list my top 7 reasons to shoot in RAW.

Venus is the third brightest natural object in the sky behind the Sun and the Moon. It can be hundreads of times brighter than the other planets and the brightest star.

In the coming days the Sun will get a lot of attention. On May 20th, the US west coast will be able to see an annular eclipse of the Sun and then on June 5/6 Venus will transit the disc of the Sun, an event that will only be repeated in 105 years. In this article I will present basic information on how to photograph these events and the Sun in general using a DSLR camera.

In general terms the wise advice is to remove all filters when you are shooting at night. There are several good reasons to do this.

Photographing our own galaxy: The Milky Way is a great experience. From a dark location without light pollution the dusty band of the Milky Way is a wonderful sight to the naked eye and it looks even better in long exposure photographs.

Cloudscapes show the beauty of clouds in the sky. Sometimes clouds can take unusual shapes or colors and sometimes they are just beautiful against the blue sky. A panoramic format can be  a good tool to show the sky because to our eyes it will look more natural.