Soft focus photographs present themselves with a tranquil and almost dream-like effect. They have become quite popular, and can be found to some extent in many genres of photography, from portraits to landscapes. In reality, what many of us think of as soft focus photos, aren’t actually soft f

Since the advent of digital photography there has been one program that has been the penultimate of all image editing – Adobe Photoshop. There is no denying that it is powerful, but many find it confusing and hard to learn. Another aspect that some people aren’t sure about is the new sub

Image Rights (imagerights.com) is a middleman for those of us not in tune with the various legal systems, as they pertain to unauthorized use of our images. It’s an opportunity to go after copyright infringement (entities who use your photo work without your permission) and effectively hire a

Win one of 10 Copies of AfterShot™ Pro 3 Photo Editor from Corel! Enter the After Photography Contest Today! After dark, after thought, after noon, after work, after school, after life, after all… You pick your after theme and have fun with it. Over the last few years here at dPS, we&r

One of the most difficult and frustrating parts about shooting with film, back before the days of digital photography, was the limited amount of attempts you had to get the photo you wanted. I remember carrying around spare rolls of film in a fanny (waist) pack on a trip to Walt Disney World ye

Early last year I collaborated with a friend who is a professional circus performer and hula hooper to create the unique images that you see in this article. There are lots of good light painting photos around, but the factor that sets these ones apart is that my friend Tess used something called a

I remember seeing a poster on the wall of my fourth grade elementary school class that said, “What’s right isn’t always popular, and what’s popular isn’t always right.” The quote is attributed to Albert Einstein, and while he was most likely speaking with regard t

I know you’ve done it. It’s okay to admit it. I’ve done it too! We all have! You’ve shot some terrible photographs. Perhaps you shot the whole time in the wrong white balance, or you didn’t pay attention to shutter speed and everything is blurry. When this happens it&rs

Have you ever taken a picture and then been disappointed, because it didn’t capture the moment? Maybe it looked exactly like what you saw, but when you viewed the image afterwards it was lacking something. This is one of the greatest challenges photographers face, to express a feeling or visio

When I put my hand up to write an article about photographing men, it didn’t occur to me (until I sat down in front of a blank screen) just how big a topic it actually is. While much could be written about photographing men, from lighting ratios to posing, post-processing and more, there seem

In this digital age, where we wander about with thousands of digital images held captive in our smart phones, there is something special about printed photographs. They represent something tangible and reverent – something that was worth transforming into an enduring p

Boneyard Beach, Botany Bay Plantation, South Carolina. Edited in Macphun Intensify Creative Kit. My philosophy on photography has always been that photography starts with the push of the shutter button, but it does not end there. Back when film was king, I spend a lot of time in the darkroom, learni

Whatever level of photographer, you are sure to have gathered a stockpile of pixels. It’s just the way it is nowadays. Whether you are the kind of person that clogs up their hard drive, gradually slowing your Mac or PC down until you are forced to do something about it. Or perhaps you are alre

I make a lot of really, really, horrible photos. It’s an odd thing to say isn’t it? But I do. Thousands of them every year, and that is totally okay with me. I know that most (even all) of those really terrible, poorly composed, exposed, or focused shots, are just practice. They are pra

When going out and photographing you put your heart and soul in to capturing that special moment, and later, you may pay great care and attention to finishing the image off in post-processing. You are so proud of the results you simply cannot wait to share it online, or add to your portfol

The Google Nik collection (now owned by DxO) has been considered one of the top photographic effect plugin suites for a few years now, and it just got better in a big way – as of March 24th, 2016, it’s available free of charge. This move has been applauded by many, yet accompanied by cau

Reflections can be great things to add to your photographs at any time, but they are particularly cool at night. Adding reflections can solve compositional problems you face at night. Further, the steps you have to take to capture photos at night – such as having your camera on a tripod and us

The effect of the clouds streaking across the sky is a very popular look now, but not everyone has ND filters and can get those photos. However, there are other ways of getting similar results. Cloud stacking can give a similar look. The process is much like what you do for stacking car light trails

Over the past five years or so, HDR (high dynamic range) has become a huge part of my photography. Even with the latest advances in camera sensor technology, the dynamic range of the human eye is much wider than any modern camera sensor, and as a result, can only partly interpret the human experienc

Why you need to calibrate your monitor If there one thing that’s certain about photos on the internet, it’s that nobody is seeing exactly the same thing as you. In general, most screens are too bright, and have whatever default color the monitor happens to ship with. Some are great, othe