DIYPhotography.net

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've almost certainly heard that the ancient Maya long-count calendar rolls over in December this year. Along with spurring the release of a frenzy of apocalyptic books, this event is also helping spawn renewed tourist interest in Maya ruins. Not to miss out on the opportunity (and free publicity), Mesoamerican communities are hosting a number of special events to celebrate the historic occasion. And governments in what was once the Maya realm have funded a new wave of restoration projects at ruin sites.

So regardless of whether your driving interest is culture or history, art or archaeology, you may well be considering (if not yet planning) a photography trip to the Maya realm. If this is the case for you, please allow me to pass along a few pointers based on my experiences in the area. Click to continue ›

One environment that I never tire of photographing is the deserts of the southwest United States. While the desert may look drab and gray during daylight hours during the golden and blue hour the desert transforms into a colorful and often surreal landscape. Mix in a little bad weather and you can capture some amazing landscape photos. Since the desert is an extreme environment I prepare for my shoots there with more scrutiny. Over the years my approach to desert photography preparations have bled into my general landscape photo shoot prep.

Here are 10 tips to prepare for your next adventure in the desert including 4 very important steps to ensure your safety: Click to continue ›

One of the first lessons in almost any photography course will probably have a section about perspective.

This is done for an obvious reason, perspective is one of the tool we, as photographers have to control on how our photographs look.

Though this is a well chewed subject and is familiar to all, some photographers tend to forget it in the passion of shooting. The solution to that problem is prime lenses.

2011 definitely has a foot in the door. How's it treating you? Nicely? I hope so.

[This is not going to be a how to shoot this or that post, but rather a challenging post for you that I hope will help you push yourself more this year as a photographer pro or amateur. (If you just want the how to stuff, feel free to skip this one, some great stuff coming on the next post).]

A while back I spoke about how important it is to have a plan in place if you want to  meet your goals. Of course, It helps to have a goal that you want to meet if you are in the plans making business. And often a goal is the first part of any plan. [picture courtesy Zeke Kamm] Click to continue ›

This one's a quick tip that many of you may know, Still I thought it is worth mentioning for the sake of fun and anyone who does not know it yet.

You know they say that you must have the eyes focused on a portrait shot? You know how they also say all rules were meant to be broken? I'm about to combine the two. Click to continue ›

A few days ago I was shooting Brith Party. Actually, I was not shooting the Brith itself, but an after party taking part a few days later. (Heavens help me if I had to shoot the actual ceremony).

Since I get a lot of how/what-to-pack questions, I thought that my preparation process is worth sharing via a post. While this may be very trivial for some, it can be a life saver for others. And even if you are doing this for a long time, it is a still a great thinking experiment.

Well the uncomplicated truth is that I use Check Lists. Read on to hear how and why. Click to continue ›

It was this time of the year when my wife decided I need a new scent. It happens every now and then. This is a fundamental difference about the two of us. It takes me so long to get use to a new fragrance that I rarely want to make a switch. Wify, however, want a refreshing hubby twice a year, so fragrance shopping we go.

This year's winner is Adventure By Davidoff. Not sure she liked the fragrance as much as she liked the fact that Ewan McGregor was on the cover sleeve of the box.

Good thing he was too. He reminded me of an exercise we used to do on my photo club. (Really, you don't have to do it with Ewan McGregor, but it adds so much more fun to the exercise that you really don't want any other model).

As you may have guessed from the title of this post this exercise is all about framing.

You will need a camera, and a cardboard box. Ewan McGregor is optional, but hard to resist. Click to continue ›

As many of you know, I moved to a new place a few months back. (And took down a ten ton wall when doing so). Now remember that story about Thomas Sawyer and the fence?

It starts as Tom got a punishment to whitewash his fence on Saturday. Bummer. However, Tom finds a clever way to both avoid the task and profit from it. He pretends that this whitewashing is so much fun that his friends want to take part in the mission. But our clever Tom, he charges his friends to whitewash the fence. How cool is that?

Anyhow, my story is kinda similar. I got the task from my wife, which is similar. But in my story none of friends paid me to build the fence and there's a very nice dinner involved.

While putting is fence up is definitely DIY, you must be asking yourself what it has to do with photography. Find out after the jump. Click to continue ›

I had the honor and the pleasure to give a talk at my daughter's kindergarten on Friday. We recently moved to a new place and once the kindergarten teacher heard I was a photographer, she asked me to come down and talk a bit with the kids about what I do.

Of course I said yes. I also offered to take some portraits of the kids and stuff - just for funzees. I asked the teacher to tell the kids to bring a favorite toy or set of clothes. It was amazing to hear what 5 year-olds think about photography and I am going to share some of this discussion here.

Click to continue ›

How many times have you driven in a car in an African safari, mounted your top-ultra-tele-zoom and waited for that giraffe to come by?

Never? You must be kidding! 

Ok, so how many times have you driver a car with your zoom lens and wanted to take a shot, only to find out that your window is not a good enough tripod to take a shot?

Click to continue ›