Outdoor Tips

The world looks different from the air, and aerial photography thus offers some unique photo opportunities.

If you're not a pilot, probably the best way to get aerial photos through a flight school at your local general-aviation airport. Training planes can fly fairly slowly, and the instructors will be familiar with the area's airspace, and experienced at...

You should always shoot with your eyes wide open (at least, the one looking through the viewfinder). But often it pays to shoot with your lens wide open, too.

Wide apertures let in more light, so you can use a faster shutter speed in any given light level. This is handy for anything from low-light photography to action shooting.

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When you focus your camera's lens on a subject, the point focused upon is sharp. Objects in the scene closer or farther than that point appear progressively less sharp as their distance from the focused point increases.

Depth of field refers to the area in front of and beyond the point focused upon in which things appear acceptably sharp in a photograph. Depth of...

When you view a smooth, shiny surface from the proper angle--such as glass, metal or water--you'll see a reflected image. These reflections provide you with a great opportunity to add interest to a photo by showing two different aspects of the environment at the same time. Since the reflected portion of the image is almost always distorted, it often lends a surreal...

Anyone who loves shooting scenics probably enjoys capturing the grandeur of mountains. As with most landscapes, it's best to photograph mountain scenery very late in the afternoon or very early in the morning. Some of the best high-country photos are shot by photographers who get up before daybreak or stop shooting only after dark. You'll find that an otherwise...

A lot of photo enthusiasts say, "The sun's out--time to take pictures," and put their camera away come nightfall. But if this is your philosophy, you're missing half the fun of photography. You can take some exciting night shots of colorful neon signs, the streaked taillights of traffic in motion, or shadowy figures silhouetted by street lights.

All Photos by Mike Stensvold

Proper exposure is important. Color-print film has a lot of "latitude," and digital images can be manipulated extensively, but a properly exposed image will always look better than a "corrected" poorly exposed one.
What is "proper" exposure, anyway? Well, it's the exposure that gives you the...