A distracting background can seriously detract from even the most beautiful or interesting subject. But, with a little help from Photoshop, its possible to take the edge off of an annoyingly cluttered image. By Peter Kolonia | Published Mar 11, 2011 11:14 PM EST

In November 2007, Time magazine put Philadelphia pro Bill Cramer on a plane to Ohio, charging him with producing an outdoor location portrait of Christin Anson, a high school soccer player. When he arrived at her Lancaster home, it was clear the shoot would be no piece of cake. Under a dense, rainin

For his evocative photo at New York’s Ground Zero, Jay Fine followed a few basic rules for shooting architecture By Peter Kolonia | Published Mar 14, 2011 9:20 PM EDT I love photographs of old New York and am reminded of them as I walk the street

Why you don’t always get the lighting you think you will By Dan Richards | Published Jan 6, 2012 2:11 AM EST Background 5 feet back Flash can illuminate a brick wall thats close behind the subject. By moving the subject away from the wall, th

Great wildlife images take more than just good fortune. By Laurence Chen | Published Mar 11, 2011 9:31 PM EST An ultra-wide angle and a lot of prep work got Peschak close to this Aldabra giant tortoise. Thomas P. Peschak/ Save Our Seas Foundation

With a little help from a fisheye lens. By Laurence Chen | Published Mar 11, 2011 10:53 PM EST SHARE April11creativethink Burkard used a Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye on his EOS 20D in

You don’t need a filter for this special effect. By Pop Photo Staff | Published Mar 9, 2011 1:33 AM EST SHARE Kevin McNeal shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and 17– 40mm f/4L Canon EF lens. Expos

Go ahead, throw caution to the wind and shoot to thrill. That’s what retired foreign-exchange trader Julian Cohen and wife, Ildi, did when they signed on for a six-day dive adventure to the Yucatán. His goal? Capturing nature’s biggest fish in stunning pictures. Up to 40 feet long and weighing as mu

Gage Young photographs a musician in a tough lighting situation. By Peter Kolina | Published Mar 5, 2011 3:05 AM EST Singer/songwriter David Mellino. Gage Young SHARE In the summer of 2009, Orlando-based pro Gage Y

Susheel Chandradhas offers some “obvious” (but totally helpful) street photography tips at BeyondPhototips.com. Here are a few: • Get In close. All too often the actual ‘subject’ of a street photograph gets lost in the activity going on around… Get close to the subject, make them the primary object

Professional photographer Arthur Drooker shares the tips and tenchniques he employed in his newest book, Lost Worlds: Ruins in the Americas By Interview by Dan Richards | Published Jan 19, 2012 2:41 AM EST Drooker shot this mission church façade

How To Photography Tips More from Adorama’s 100 tips in 100 days, how to do color solarization with an abstract image. Click here to read the article. By Popphoto Staff | Published Nov 12, 2008 10:05 PM EST How To SHARE

Fashion photographers are road warriors, traveling from New York to London, Milan, Paris and other points east and west to capture the latest runway looks. Yeah, it sounds glamorous but, in reality, shooting fashion shows can be challenging and there are no second chances. Before you hit the photo p

Welcome to a land of awe-inspiring mountains, jaw-dropping glaciers, and stunning wilderness. By Ian Plant | Published Feb 16, 2011 9:57 PM EST THE ANDES FROM PASO DEL CUADRADO The author did an overnight backpack to a high mountain camp and clim

We always say it helps to get close to your subject, and Erik van Hannen of the Netherlands did just that while vacationing in Råda, Sweden. To take the shot shown here, he firmly braced his Pentax K20D against the trunk by throwing his arms around and hugging his subject. You can’t get much closer

For lighting portraits, you can accentuate the shape of a subject’s figure, bring out the texture or drape of the clothes, or, as in environmental portraits, adjust the light so that the subject and background are of equal importance. Or you can light for character. Joey Lawrence, a young New York a

You’ve probably seen examples of “light graffiti” on social media. A creator skilled in this photographic art form can conjure circles and orbs by swinging a light source around their body, or “draw” on a real-world canvas with a laser pointer. With the right setup, you can, too. Gather your gear Us

Learn the tricks of the trade from a portrait master. By Laurence Chen | Published Feb 10, 2011 1:25 AM EST Portrait photographer Brad Trent gives a behind the scenes look at how he makes a powerful corporate portrait. Brad Trent SHARE

Lens flare is caused when light enters the lens at such an angle that the light rays do not completely flow through the lens, but instead are reflected back and forth between lens elements. The sun spots created typically show the shape of the diaphragm (aperture blades) the came

Andy Teo, a family physician from Yateley, Hampshire, UK, has a thing for 1950s sci-fi flicks—the ones with flying saucers that were really pie pans swinging from strings. Teo’s Flickr stream (flickr.com/photocillin) has dozens of pictures in which he transforms kitchen utensils and children’s toys