Videos

Let’s face it: Unless you’re a pro on assignment with the time and resources to scout out great locations, it's often necessary to shoot under less-than-ideal conditions. But in this four-minute video from photographer Manny Ortiz, you’ll learn how to make the best of a bad situation.

Back in the “old days,” photographers determined winning images from losers by examining transparencies on a light table, or spreading out prints on a desk. In the digital age, this culling process is equally tedious, but it’s accomplished on a computer. In the video below you’ll see one pro’s unique approach to the task.

Focal length is a simple but extremely important photographic concept, and in this quick video you’ll learn all you need to know to make the most of the lenses you have as well as those you acquire in the future.

Inexperienced photographers typically strive for maximum sharpness from foreground to background in every image they shoot. A more sophisticated approach often involves strategically adding lens blur to accentuate a key subject within frame. And you'll learn an effective way to do exactly that in this tutorial from the Park Cameras YouTube channel.

"Lens diffraction" is a term you've likely heard before, but do you really understand the concept and how it can impact your photos? If not, it's time to get up to speed, and this lesson from the Visual Education YouTube channel will do exactly that in less than nine minutes.

We typically turn to lens guru Mathieu Stern for tips on cheap, vintage lenses that can be adapted for use with today’s modern digital cameras. But in the helpful video below, Stern provides a simple solution for the often-vexing problem of mold and fungus that is often found inside older lenses.

Scientists at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are working on a high-efficiency, ultra-thin single planar lens that could revolutionize photography by replacing the multi-element curved lenses used for cameras, smartphones and telescopes.