So I’m going on a bit of an adventure! By the time you get this I’ll already be in Medellín, Colombia. I’m going to be taking intensive Spanish lessons, four hours every day, for four weeks. I’m really dedicated and committed to taking my Spanish skills to the next level. I want to be able to converse in Spanish and I might even start doing some articles or videos in two languages!
What that means is I’m going to be pretty full on with classes and just keep up. So here on Digital Photo Mentor you’ll see a few different things over the next few weeks, starting today.
Top 30 articles of all time
This is something we do over at dPS annually in a year-end round-up. But I haven’t done it here so I want to present to you the most popular articles ever (sorted into categories for you) here on Digital Photo Mentor. These should keep you busy for a while!
Beginner topics, or good for a review:
- 5 Mistakes Beginners Make Using a Wide-Angle Lens and How to Avoid Them – learn how to use your wide angle lens effectively, not just to “get more stuff” in the shot.
- Using Shutter Speed to Freeze or Blur Motion – great for beginners.
- Avoid These 9 Beginner Photography Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images – for beginners or a good review for anyone.
- How to use Depth of Field – for beginners to intermediate.
- Panning: How to Add a Sense of Motion to Your Shots – this is fun to do anywhere!
- Easy Guide to Night Photography – for beginners to shooting after dark.
Image quality:
- Six Tips for Getting the Best Quality Images Every Time – get the most out of your camera.
- Why shoot in RAW format – if you shoot in the JPG format, here are some things to consider.
- Which Camera Settings to Use for Sharper Images? – everyone wants sharper images right?
- How to Use a Gray Card for Custom White Balance and Metering
Gear related topics:
- What Lens Should I Buy Next, and Other FAQs About Camera Gear – I get asked this a LOT by email. If you are considering a new lens, read this first.
- 7 Questions to Ask Before You Upgrade to a Full Frame Camera Body – read this if you’re considering an upgrade!
- How to Choose the Right Lens – this is not about buying the right lens, but USING the right lens in the right situation to get the images you want.
Lightroom tips:
- Clarity Versus Contrast and How to Use Them to Make Your Photos Pop – how they are different and when to use each.
- Tips for Setting up your Lightroom Preferences – set up your LR preferences for optimal performance.
Special subjects:
- 3 Tips for Creating Spectacular Sunset Photos – who doesn’t love sunsets?
- How to turn your 50mm into a Macro lens for under $20 – a really inexpensive way to do macro.
- How to Use Extension Tubes for Macro Photography – another relatively inexpensive way to get into macro photography. – NOTE: see also The Ultimate Guide Macro Photography for more.
- Three Special Effects for Night Photography – one of my favorite things to do is night photography. It’s not all that hard, you just need the right settings. This will show you what’s possible and get you started.
- 6 Street Photography Tips – you can apply these tips anywhere you are shooting, whether traveling or at home, so you return with more interesting images.
- 5 Beach Photography Tips for a Glamour Shoot
Light – glorious light!
- Quality of Light – What is it? How do you use it? – light is the key to good photography. Learn this and you’re on your way to better images.
- Tips for Low Light Photography – shooting in dim light can be challenging. These tips will help you.
- Silhouette Photography Tips – 3 Keys to Great Photos – guest Erika Thornes does a lot of silhouette portraits. Here are her tips for success creating a silhouette. Apply them to people photography or an object to create a dramatic image.
Portrait topics:
- How to Use Off-Camera Flash for Outdoor Portraits – for intermediate photographers.
- Off-Camera Flash Techniques For Dramatic Portrait Lighting – intermediate.
- How to Create a Dramatic Profile Portrait Anywhere Without Using Flash – see how I created a dramatic portrait in a classroom using just window light and a reflector.
- Balancing flash and natural light – how to do a portrait using added flash and natural light combined for a natural or dramatic look.
General topics and creativity:
- Mission Possible – Find Your Lost Creativity with Six Exercises – for anyone in a rut or feeling uncreative. See how my image above applies by reading this article and doing the exercises yourself!
- 25 Famous Photographers in History – I believe it’s important to know about the history of photography. Apparently, you do too as this is THE most-read article on the site!
Bonus:
Two others that didn’t make the top 30, but I think you may want to check out if you’re interested in doing portraits are:
- Portrait Lighting Patterns a Free Lesson from our Portrait Course – this is one of our lessons in the Portrait Fundamentals course. We have opened this one up for you to watch for free to get an idea of whether the course may be right for you or not. Even if you do not purchase the course there is lots of value and information in this one video.
- Portrait Retouching Using Lightroom in 10 Minutes or Less – this is something I demonstrate in my classroom when I’m teaching. Many students think portrait retouching can only be done using Photoshop. In this video I show you how I do it in under 10 minutes, using Lightroom only. This is my most popular video on my YouTube channel with over 200,000 views!
What’s coming next
Over the next four weeks or so I’ll try and keep you updated on my adventure, share some images from Colombia, maybe I’ll even do a little video in Spanish for those of you; que hablan español. ¡Háblame en español en los comentarios abajo y dime de dónde eres! Te responderé en español tambien.
Watch for a newsletter coming soon, and possibly an article from a guest author.
So, you can take my lead and delve into learning some new photography tips and tricks. I truly believe that there is always something new to learn, no matter who you are, your experience, or age. I will be using my language skills in my travels, on my tours to Nicaragua and Cuba (possibly coming soon again for 2018, stay tuned), and communicating with many friends I’ve made in Latin America.
How will you enhance and use your photography skills?
Cheers,
