ah, photography. it is such a joy for me, and so much fun. often i get asked how i get the effects i want, and other questions by friends looking to pimp their shots, so to speak, and so i thought i would offer a few thoughts here on how i like to play with my camera.
- if you are totally new to photography, or have been working with a point-and-shoot but now what to play with an SLR, Digital Photography School has great tutorials on learning about the relationship between shutter speed and f-stop, and about playing with depth-of-field. The Pioneer Woman also has a whole site devoted to photography, with great tools and tips there, too. certainly worth a gander.
- don't be afraid to play with focus. sometimes a soft shot can leave a little something to the imagination, which i like in this world of crisp and crystal-clear digital images.
- that being said, if you are shooting digitally, don't be afraid to adjust levels and curves in a photo processing program, like photoshop. although i am all for getting it "right" in-camera, the fact of the matter is that these are digital images, and often the white balance or something needs to be corrected for. i think never adjusting digital images is silly, since this is entirely different than shooting film.
- if you have an DSLR, and you find that your shots are always incorrectly exposed, try shooting with the histogram appearing on the LCD screen. this helped me when shooting my children with super blonde hair: their heads were always reflecting so much sunlight!
- when processing, play with sharpness and saturation to get the effect you want.
- but above all else, play! and don't forget to give film another go. you'll be happy you did!


















