Quote: Part of taking photographs is the enjoyment you get with sharing them.  Along with sharing, comes learning, and along those lines are criticisms.  This article will show you how to handle the three types of photographic criticisms without getting overly frustrated.

Quote: So if you are like me and you haven’t yet considered composition, here are a few rules to get you going. Naturally, rules are made to be broken. But you can’t break the rules until you have mastered them. More on that another time. Here are four hard and fast rules of composition

Quote: I’ve been looking for an answer for over thirty years, ever since I picked up a camera and decided to make it my career. I remember all to clearly leaving a night college class and thinking out loud, “What’s the answer?” And here’s the problem. I don’t know the question. Seriously, I know the answer is out there, the one that will make it all work, make it all right, the one that will solves all the problems and put everything in its right place. But if there is an answer, shouldn’t there be a question?

When many beginners pick up a camera for the first time, it sort of seems like an automatic first step to begin photographing flowers. They stand still and do as they’re told while you practice. For some photographers, they begin feeling more comfortable with the camera and move from flora and fauna to people or other. Although for others, they really sharpen their talent and just get better and better at photographing flowers.

There are many ways and many things you should consider when launching your photography business. This post is just a little idea starter. I’m not including every single thing I can think of here on purpose. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Instead, I am concentrating on some things that are generally easy to do and that have worked for me. Give them a try.

Quick, what’s the difference between the light from your flash, the sun, those crazy, twisted light bulbs and the not so crazy twisted light bulbs? Easy answer: degrees Kelvin, or the color the lights give off.

If you want to improve the quality of your photography, one thing you can do right away is learn to use natural light better. The good news is that unlike good quality lenses and camera bodies, natural light is free. The best photographers seek out the best quality light for their subject. Their quest for better photos is paralleled by a search for better light.

Quote: Indoor photography is perhaps one of the most challenging places to shoot for new and experienced photographers.  Natural and artificial light combined with natural light reflecting and refracting through windows and off walls can lead to some funky photographs.  Mastering indoor photography can be one of the most frustrating things to learn.  These seven deadly sins of indoor photography should be avoided, doing so will result in far better photographs.

Quote: Ah, the comfort of having a backup plan.

“The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

Experimenting with shutter speed on your camera is a simple way to achieve some great effects. We’re moving beyond the idea of simply capturing more light today, and showcasing three ways in which you can do something a little different with a slow shutter speed.

Learning to visually deconstruct light, its qualities, its temperature and direction can help you to better develop your photography skills. As light makes up such a fundamental part of our lives we tend to become used to it as it becomes part our subconscious understanding of the world. To develop your photography skills and your ability to identify suitable photographic situations, settings and composition, begin to deconstruct the light you see around you, and the light in other peoples photographs.

Earlier this week I had a chance to listen to Jeremy Cowart speak at Escalate Live and to read his guest blog over on Scott Kelby’s blog. One of the things that I heard from him (and other speakers at Escalate) was to get out there and “just do it”. This included practicing our craft as photographers, trying new things and being creative with out experimentation.

There have been some great articles and interest lately on long exposures so I thought I would put together a hodgepodge of techniques and then turn it over to DPS readers to see what they can come up with. I’ve broken this slow shutter shoot-out into 3 categories. When you submit your photograph, do it under one of these styles. I’ve thrown in a few of my own as examples into the article just to give you an idea. Get a tripod, set your cameras to shutter priority and fire away.