Photo How To

Lately we’ve been featuring tutorials from a helpful series explaining the inner workings of a camera, intended to help photographers take better photos. This new episode, from Christian Tudor of the Academy of Photography, reviews the concept of exposure time and explains how and when to use a camera’s Shutter Priority exposure mode.

Most professional photographers are meticulous about keeping the sensors on their cameras clean, because it’s far easier to do that than use Photoshop to remove every speck of dust on an image. In the quick video below, pro Tony Northrup demonstrates his favorite sensor-cleaning method, after experimenting with several others.

There’s no faster way to pet-owners’ hearts than a beautiful photograph of their furry, loyal companions. In the quick video below, you’ll find 10 DIY camera hacks for shooting creative photos of man’s best friend.

Most of us are familiar with the use of out-of-focus, seamless backgrounds by studio photographers, especially those who shoot portraits. Often, these backgrounds are a single color, such as white, black, or gray. In other cases, the backgrounds are a muslin material, adding texture to the background. The sole purpose of these backgrounds is to create a cleaner overall composition, giving the viewer no choice but to look at the man, woman, or child.

When the creative juices stop flowing, it’s time to try something different. And the five fun photo hacks in the video below will definitely give you a boost.

You’ve probably heard someone boast that, “You’re not a real photographer until you switch your camera’s mode dial from 'Auto' to Manual.” While we don’t intend to debate that claim here, there’s no doubt that shooting in the Manual mode offers far more creative control.

OK, be honest here: Let’s say you plan to arise at dawn tomorrow for a day of photography. But when the alarm clock rings and you look out the window, it’s a gloomy, foggy day. So what do you do? If your decision is to “wait for better weather,” the video below is for you.