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Last week we featured a very popular tutorial, explaining several reasons why landscape photos may be unsharp, with a foolproof technique for solving the problems. Today's lesson takes a similar approach with regard to capturing crisp images of birds.

All photographers strive to create photos with accurate focus, and most of us prefer to get things right in the camera. This saves time during the editing process, and helps avoid the temptation to take things too far—ending up with an unsightly, “crispy” effect.

Capturing tack-sharp images of birds in flight can be a real challenge, even for professional photographers. Regardless of your skill level, we’re going to help you up your game with some great advice from two experts.

Photographer Matt Higgs says he’s a firm believer that the best way to become a better photographer is to “go out and do things that would normally be outside your comfort zone.” With that in mind he challenged himself to hit the streets and shoot 30 portraits of complete strangers in just two hours. As you’ll see in the video below, he learned a few things along the way.

Our Weird Lens Guru Mattieu Stern is at it again; this time with a review of a Jupiter 21M 200mm f/4 “tank lens” that he says has “astonishing contrast and bokeh.” Stern adds that the first time he used this lens he was “blown away by the quality.”

The latest video from the Cooperative of Photography (COOPH) takes you on a psychedelic, three-minute journey on how to create some really amazing UV blacklight images. All you really need is some imagination and either a simple UV flashlight, lamp or specialized head for your flash unit.

Outdoor scenes often appear less impressive on the computer than they did through the viewfinder, and the problem never seems to be better colors and contrast than we remember. The opposite is usually true, which is why most photographers edit their work.