Articles by Keith Jones9 articles

Everyone loves a great New Year’s fireworks show and it seems that lots of people take pictures while they are at the show. Here is a question for you. How many great pictures of fireworks have you seen taken by any of your friends or relatives? I’ll bet your answer is not many. Now, have you ever wondered why everyone doesn’t have at least a couple of really good shots of fireworks? The following are a few tips that might help when you are photographing fireworks.

Holiday lights brighten the mood no matter where they are. They might be in a downtown area, at a mall, or even at your own home. For those who love taking pictures, those lights can represent an opportunity to capture some beautiful, out of the ordinary images. Taking pictures of holiday lights can be fun and exciting as well as a little tricky at times. So in this article, we will cover the most important things to know about photographing holiday lights.

It seems that some folks are determined to make photography more difficult than it has to be. You might hear some photographers say, “I only shoot using the manual exposure mode”. That is fine and well for those who understand the basics of camera exposures. But is it really necessary to fumble with exposure controls for every shot? No, not really. Let me introduce you to the Program mode. The Program or “P” mode is similar to your camera’s automatic mode.

Why do so many casual and amateur photographers shy away from taking pictures once the sun goes down? Haven’t they seen the great pictures taken at night by other photographers? Maybe they think those type pictures can only be made by professional photographers with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Well that line of thinking is not true at all. Taking night shots is not as difficult as some may think. If you have a camera, a tripod, and a subject you can take some great night shots.

Have you ever been browsing through your cameras’ menu and noticed something called ISO and just ignored it because you didn’t know what it was for? Well, in this article we will explain what ISO is and how to use it to your benefit when taking pictures. ISO is a rating number that indicates how sensitive your cameras’ image sensor is to the available light. Just in case you didn’t know, the image sensor is the device in your camera that gathers the light from a scene when you are taking a picture.

We all love to see fireworks displays with the bright colors displayed against the night sky. Some of the displays can be quite spectacular. If you like taking pictures, there is no doubt that you will see the fireworks display as a great photo opportunity. However, if you just pick up your camera and point and shoot, you might be a little disappointed with the results. The reason I say that is because each individual fireworks burst only lasts a couple of seconds at best in its fullest brightness and shape.

Photographing sunsets and sunrises can produce some of the most beautiful images you will take. Surprisingly, these wonderful scenes are not that difficult to photograph. This article will give you a few tips to make your sunset and sunrise images the best they can be. The best places to take the pictures would be beaches, plains, deserts, or anywhere there is less obstruction of the views. However, you can get great sunset and sunrise pictures anywhere if you are creative and know a little about picture composition.

Every digital camera has a White Balance or Automatic White Balance (AWB) setting in the camera menu. But how many of us actually use it or even know what it is for? Fortunately, most manufacturers have the Automatic White Balance pre-set in their cameras when they are shipped out. So most consumers are using it even if they are not aware of it. The purpose of white balance is to eliminate the discoloration in an image due to certain colors in the scene having more intensity and/or a higher or lower “temperature”.

Ever wonder how your camera picks the right exposure (not too bright or too dark) for most of your shots? That is because most cameras have built in light meters. The purpose of the meter is to measure the amount of light being reflected back into the camera from a particular subject or from a whole scene. The camera then calculates the best shutter speed and aperture opening combination to yield a properly exposed image. (or you set it yourself if you have the option of making manual exposure settings).