Outdoor Photography How To

The April 8 total solar eclipse is just around the corner and many people across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are excited about this spectacular event. Here's an extremely important warning worthy of careful consideration—whether you plan to photograph the eclipse or just marvel at the celestial beauty with your eyes.

The failure to attain precise focus is a sure way to ruin an otherwise great photo, but fortunately there are post-processing methods to sharpen blurry images IF you use the right tools. Taking the wrong approach, however, will only make things worse.

There's nothing more frustrating that capturing a beautiful landscape scene, thinking that you totally nailed focus and exposure, only to return home, view the image on the computer, and discover that you didn't get the light right after all. Sure, you can fix many exposure problems during post processing, but wouldn't you rather get things right in the camera?

We all know that skillful composition is the key to capturing great photos. And this is especially true when it comes to complicated landscape scenes that are full of competing elements. Today you'll learn a simple technique for making outdoor images significantly more appealing.

There's an interesting dichotomy when it comes to adjusting color during post processing. Most of the time our goal is to use various techniques to make an image appear exactly as it did through the viewfinder for a believable, natural looking result. Other times, however, our intent is to is to employ lens filters, camera settings, or editing enhancements to achieve special effects or change the mood and feeling of an image.

Photographers love their affordable, fast, and easy-to-carry "nifty fifty" lenses that can be used to capture a wide range of scenes from landscapes and portraits to nature photos and more. When your images fail to meet expectations, and you're not sure why, it's likely because you're making one or more common mistakes when shooting with a 50mm prime.