Outdoor Photography How To

Autofocusing is one of the best things that's ever happened to the SLR camera. I didn't think so while testing early examples when the AF SLR era began back in 1985, but a lot of progress has happened in the ensuing two decades. Today's AF SLR cameras, film and digital, will focus more quickly and accurately than most photographers can. Naturally, the higher-end...

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...

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...

It's winter, and with the season come wonderful opportunities to produce some great snow and ice photos. On the following pages are a few tips to help you do just that.

The basic idea is to have the brightest areas of snow or ice appear white, but with a trace of detail. Very small areas can be blank white, but large areas should have some texture and detail.

Autumn is a season of change, accompanied by colorful foliage, pumpkin patches, and costumed children decked out for Halloween. Days become shorter and the sun is positioned lower in the southern sky, creating warmer light than in the summer months.

If you want to photograph fall colors, find out when the peak time will be.

Beautiful scenic views rank among our most popular subjects to photograph, but surprisingly, they can be one of the most challenging subjects to capture on film or a memory card. The human eye perceives a scene differently than the camera does--we tend to see selectively, while the camera lens simply takes it all in. Also, there are elements that add to our experience...

All photos by Jay Dickman unless otherwise indicated.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jay Dickman has covered assignments internationally as a photojournalist for the Times-Herald in Dallas, Texas, and as a contributor to National Geographic, as well as shooting for most...