Expert advice from our photo editor.
Landscape photographs, such as those you might take on your summer vacation, sometimes fall flat because they don’t give viewers a sense of “being there.” Include a foreground, middle ground and background to make the photograph appear three-dimensional. It helps to crouch down to a low vantage point, making smaller foreground elements appear larger. Photo: Fred Weymouth (photo contest submission)
June is an ideal time for night-sky photography. Obviously, the farther you get from man-made light sources, the brighter the stars will appear in your photos. But don’t forget to take a flashlight or headlamp to help you hike to your location and assemble your gear. You can also use that light source to “paint” the landscape beneath a starry sky, adding depth to your photographs. Photo: Jeff Kida
Being able to accurately measure light for a given scene is critical to making correct exposures and successful photographs. Most of today’s cameras come equipped with built-in light meters, which can be used in a number of different modes. Evaluative, or matrix, metering is the default metering mode of most DSLRs. It samples light from a number of “zones” within the frame, then analyzes each zone for highlights and shadows, giving you a readout based on those calculations. This mode works well in evenly lit scenes that don’t have a lot of contrast, and it’s a great place for beginners to start.
Want to make double exposures in-camera, without using Photoshop? You can, and you just might get a creative boost in the process. Go into your camera’s shooting menu, find “multiple exposure,” then choose the number of exposures you’d like to capture. If you’d like the exposures to be balanced, choose “auto gain.” If not, leave it off.
When it's time to photograph a distant object, photographers will reach for their telephoto lenses, which have a focal length of 70 mm or greater. But those lenses aren't just for distance — they can also be used to compress elements in the frame. The narrow angle of view on a telephoto lens means that the relative size and distance between objects appears smaller, creating the illusion that elements might be closer together than they really are. Photo: Derek Von Briesen
Some photographers — like contributor Paul Markow — have turned the tilted horizon into a signature style. While a slight tilt is often reason for a straightening of the horizon during editing, a deliberately skewed angle is referred to as a Dutch angle or Dutch tilt. This technique can add a dramatic quality to an image or create tension and uneasiness, depending on how the new lines lead the eye through the image. However, this unusual perspective is not for everyone, and whether you experiment with angles is based on personal taste and style. Photo: Paul Markow
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