I’ve written about The Photographer’s Ephemeris before: it’s a free desktop application that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
It’s a tool that helps show you the exact position of the sun and moon on a particular time of day, overlaying their azimuths on top of a Google Map.
It’s hard to explain the entire program in one sentence because it does so much. But, it’s a tremendous tool for landscape photographers, because it can help you scout out areas and determine ahead of time if the sun will shine on a particular mountain peak at sunset.
Well, this great tool is now available for the iPhone too! Here’s a list of the app’s great features: [read more…]
You hear it all the time: if you want sharp photos, you gotta use a tripod whenever possible.
Well, if that isn’t reason enough for you, here’s the other benefit of using a tripod: it forces you to more carefully create your composition.
When you handhold your camera, there’s a tendency to snap away photos as soon as you spot your subject. Then, after you got a few shots, you’ll just move on.
But, add a tripod to the equation, and all of a sudden you’ll be carefully adjusting those knobs until the camera is exactly where you want it. Sometimes this will take a considerable amount of time, but during this extra time there’s a good chance you’ll notice something new about your subject that will take your composition into a whole new direction. [read more…]
When I started this website, I listed a few great resources on the right sidebar, but I just realized that I’ve never written about them in a post before. So, I thought I’d take a moment to list them here and explain how each one can be helpful on your journey to photograph the wonderful natural world:
This website will show you the moon phases for the current calendar month. It’s helpful when you’re trying to plan a landscape shot and need the moon to be in a specific phase (mostly likely full). I usually just use it as a sort of “quick look” planning tool, and then move on to the next site for more details. [read more…]
Mirror lockup is one of those little things you can do to get sharper photographs. Sure, by itself you may not see a big difference, but combine it with a few other little things, and you’ll begin to notice that extra sharpness.
It makes sense to use mirror lockup when you have a somewhat controllable subject, like a landscape or wildflower. But, when you need to take shots quickly (like when you’re photographing wildlife or insects), then mirror lockup doesn’t make much sense because it only adds more time to your shots.
You should also avoid using mirror lockup when you’re photographing a bright light source (like the setting sun). After reading Canon’s white paper on the XTi, I’ve learned that this can actually damage the shutter curtains. [read more…]
Photo by Steve Berardi
We’re starting to get a good layer of snow on the mountains here in southern California, so I figured now’s a good time to start getting ready for some winter photos.
There are a few unique problems with winter photography because of the bright white snow and cold weather. So, here are a few resources to help you deal with these problems and capture some great natural light this winter season: [read more…]
