If you’re like me, you don’t own a single lens longer than 55mm. But then you get a chance to take some photos of wildlife. In this video, Spencer Cox will help you make the best out of the lens you’ve got. His five tips will guide you towards taking some gorgeous wildlife photos with a 70-200mm or even an 18-55mm lens.
When and how to ditch HDR and use image averaging instead
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When photographing scenes with tricky lighting and high dynamic range, many photographers use HDR. But in some scenarios, it’s far from being the best option. In fact, you should better ditch it and use image averaging instead. In this video, Spencer Cox gives you some examples of this technique and suggests when you should use it instead of HDR. He also shows you how to use it, but objectively points out some of its downsides as well.
Here are seven macro photography ideas you can shoot at home and on a budget
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When the weather is bad or you’re in a lockdown, taking some shots at home is one of the best ways to spend time. And there can never be enough ideas to spark some inspiration if you ask me. So, Spencer Cox has created a video to show you seven low-budget ideas for macro photos you can shoot at home right now. He also shares a bunch of useful tips for getting the best results, which will be especially useful if you’re new to this genre of photography.
Times are hard, but don’t give up on photography
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This corona-madness has lasted for far too long, and it will probably last for a while more. There’s no doubt that 2020 has been hard. Even if we haven’t contracted the virus, many of us have been depressed, anxious, out of work, unable to travel… Because of all that, we may not really feel like shooting, or we just don’t think there’s anything to shoot. If you’re a hobbyist like me, maybe you feel like giving up photography at this point. Well, this video from Spencer Cox addresses this feeling, and it could be exactly what you need to hear right now.
Spencer kept it short and sweet, and straight to the point. If you’ve felt like giving up photography lately, this is definitely something to watch, and I’ll give you some of my thoughts and experiences from this weird year as well.
How to master using wide-angle lenses and take your photography to a higher level
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It’s hard to imagine shooting landscapes, cityscapes or architecture without wide-angle lenses. Of course, photographers of many other genres use them as well. However, it’s easy to make mistakes with a wide-angle lens that will make your photos, well, less than impressive. In this video, Spencer Cox of Photography Life guides you through some tips for mastering wide-angle lenses and using them to make the best out of your shots.
What it’s like to photograph a sandstorm
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One of the windiest nights I’ve ever taken pictures turned into perhaps the single most rewarding — and frightening — landscape photography experience of my life. I was on the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley, a place I had visited twice in the past, though under much tamer conditions. This night, the gusts of wind were far greater than I had seen before, and they kicked up a layer of sand that made for amazing sunset photos. But as the day came to a close, it was clear I had entered uncharted waters.
The Importance of Ethical Landscape Photography
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I’ve wondered for a long time what it means to be an ethical landscape photographer. Sure, this field isn’t known for its wide-reaching moral dilemmas or particularly sticky situations, but the question still deserves attention. As landscape photographers, we are in a rare position to show the Earth’s most amazing places to an audience of countless people. It makes sense to me that we should do so with respect. One of the most important rules? Don’t cause harm — not in the field, and, perhaps, not even in post-production.
Why Leveling the Horizon Isn’t Easy
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It might seem like one of the simplest parts of photography: leveling your horizon. Most photographers want their horizons to be straight, of course, but this isn’t an area of photography that gets too much attention. And why would it? Leveling the horizon is a very easy task — right? In practice, though, it requires more care than many people think. You can’t just rely on your camera’s “virtual horizon,” or your post-processing software’s “auto straighten” tool. Our perception of a level horizon is more complicated than that.
How to take sharp photos in the wind
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Normally, if you’re using a tripod, camera shake isn’t something you’ll have to worry very much about. However, there are some obvious exceptions. If you’ve ever found yourself taking pictures in heavy winds, you’ll know the difficulties of capturing sharp photos — particularly if you’re using a telephoto lens. This seems like an impossible situation; what do you do when a tripod isn’t enough to stop your camera from shaking? Luckily, there are ways to improve sharpness even in windy conditions and come away with photos that are completely usable. I’ll cover some of the most important here.
Why the Technical Stuff Matters in Photography
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Along with normal how-to articles and essays, I’ve always liked reading and writing very technical, nitty-gritty articles about photography — sometimes, articles on topics that rarely come up while actually taking pictures. In fact, I usually don’t even use my own sharpest aperture charts in the field, as useful as they are, since I don’t like carrying around charts. So, then, does all that technical stuff matter? Is it even worth talking about in the first place? These questions are very important to ask, since most people don’t want waste their time on topics that are unnecessary for their photography — do these articles actually help? There are no easy answers, but a recent trip I took to Death Valley makes a compelling argument for why some of this highly-technical information really does matter.
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