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Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

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RAW vs JPEG – The Only Guide You Will Ever Need

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I did not plan on writing a dedicated article on RAW vs JPEG. Why? I thought this ship had sailed long ago and the time of heated debates over which format is better was well into the past. But, what I realized in teaching photography is that this topic is still confusing and unclear for every generation of newcomers who decide to join the exciting and wonderful realm of photography.

Here is my attempt to write the only article you will ever need to understand the difference between RAW and JPEG. Hopefully, you will have a profound Zen experience and move forward with your photography never having to think about the issue again!

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Top 18 tips for taking magnificent sunset photos

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When you read or hear the expression, “Photography is all about light,” you clearly understand the definition of each word; however, the true meaning from a photography perspective can be elusive. It takes time to fully grasp.

I clearly remember my first true photography experiment that accelerated my understanding of the basics of photography in regard to light.

It was a family camping trip. We had our campsite set on the beach of a small lake nestled in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal. I had plenty of time to experiment with my new Canon Digital Rebel. I set the camera on a tripod and took one picture every hour without changing the camera’s position or settings.

I took a total of 17 shots.

Back home, I transferred the photos to my computer and started analyzing them in Photoshop (Lightroom did not yet exist). I was completely astonished by the results of my seemingly simple experiment. Depending on the time of day, the location was completely unrecognizable. Any photo taken during the middle of the day looked washed out and quite boring. On the other hand, the photos taken during sunset and sunrise looked vibrant and full of energy.

This is when I realized that photography is defined by the quality of light and, contrary to common belief, that location is the secondary component of the equation.

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Making sense of aperture, shutter speed and ISO with the exposure triangle

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How important is exposure in photography? What are the components of exposure? What is the “Exposure Triangle”? These are the questions I will attempt to answer in this introductory post about ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed – the components of achieving a properly exposed photo.

Understanding the purpose and value of exposure is a must for photographers, particularly beginners who are serious about developing their craft.

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Shutter Speed Chart as a Photographer’s Cheat Sheet

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When we talk about the Shutter Speed in photography the first thing that comes to mind is its is relationship to Exposure. The Shutter speed is the essential part of Exposure Triangle (Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed) and it helps photographers to get perfectly exposed photos.

But my belief is that to understand and to master Shutter Speed for taking the perfectly exposed images is the easiest part of the equation. The more exciting but at the same time more challenging part is to learn how to use Shutter Speed as the artistic tool in our photography. By using different settings of Shutter Speed we can achieve some amazing effects.

The goal of Shutter Speed Chart is to summarize and illustrate the different aspects of Shutter Speed to help photographers to master Shutter Speed to get well-exposed photos and to embrace it as an artistic tool.

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