Five Common Photo Mistakes

Learning from the pros is always a great way to improve your skills. That's why we read books and watch videos, like the ones I highlighted in "Treasure Trove of Photo Tutorials." It's always instructive to see how the masters work and try to emulate them. But there's a lot to learn we can learn from the exact opposite--by studying the things that can go wrong.

Today, let's look at the five most common mistakes I see in everyday photography, and learn how to avoid them. And while you're at it, you might want to peek back at my recent "Getting Started in Digital Photography" for some more basic tips.

A Crash Course in Lightning Photography

“We interrupt the 100 Steps broadcast to give you this crash course! We do not regret the inconvenience and are pretty sure you will agree!”

Okay, enough jokes

The other day, the weather here was very stormy. Thunder, lightning, strong winds and cars flying around! Alright, I’m kidding about the flying cars, but seriously, it was awesome weather. I love this kind of weather and am not one to rush inside. And I’m glad for that, because staying outside; I was able to witness spectacular lightning like I’ve never seen before with my own eyes. And standing there looking at yet another one of nature’s many wonders, I was reminded of a time when I used to look at pictures of lightning and say to myself, “WOW! How the hell did they manage to capture THAT!?” 

The Optics Of Photography.

PHOTOGRAPHY is the joint child of optics and chemistry. All that has been discovered about the influence of light upon the salts of silver and analogous substances might have been known, and yet, without the "dark chamber," the art of photography would have remained non-existent. It may even be said that the prior discovery of the camera obscura made photography possible. This simple instrument was the invention of Giambattista Della Porta of Padua in 1569. The principle of it will be best understood by the simple experiment of darkening a room by closing the window-shutters, and admitting a ray of light through a small hole in them. If a sheet of white paper be fixed at a little distance from this aperture, the figures of external objects will be seen delineated upon it; and, by putting a small lens over the aperture, they are rendered much more evident from the condensation of the rays by the spherical glass. This will be readily understood by the following diagram (Fig. I). Let C D be a window-shutter having a small aperture at A, and E F a piece of paper placed in a dark chamber. If now an illuminated Object, R G B, be placed on the outside of the shutter, we shall observe an inverted image of this object depicted on the paper E F at B G R.

10 Easy Steps To Advanced Photography Skills

A camera does not work like an eye; film does not work like memory. There is a fine line between a photo that is quite nice and one that is quite breathtaking. At some unknown point, a photo can cross the Rubicon and be forever a piece of beautiful art. That hinterland between a regular photo and evocative art is a shifting area from person to person and taste to taste. However, that zone can be narrowed a bit once you start to consider the way the brain stores memories and emotions.

And yes, it gets a bit touchy-feely here trying to determine if your work has crossed that line. With rigorous practice and peer feedback, you can start to appreciate where that zone is and, consequently, improve your hit ratio.

The back of the Taj Mahal during a summer sunset.

The good news is that divining your way to more beautiful photos does not require rune rites of scapulimancy. There are some basic things and mantras to keep in mind as you practice and fail, then practice and succeed, then practice and fail, then practice and succeed, and rinse and repeat. We’ll detail a few of these below.

First Steps Towards Photography.

THE history of photography is a curious one. It shows how important discoveries are the outcome, not of one mind, but of the investigations of numberless men, working entirely independently of each other, and to ends altogether diverse. It falls to one man perhaps, by a lucky hit, to put the finishing touch to an edifice at which others may have been working for years, but who are liable to be forgotten in the success and fame of the one who achieves the completion of the structure. This is peculiarly the case with photography.

It has been observed that the tanning of the skin by exposure to the sun's rays is as much a photographic action as is the blackening of Luna cornea, or horn silver, the observation of which may be said to have been the first step in the science of photography. This horn silver is found in the mines of Freiberg. It is a vitreous, dully shining silver ore, and consists of silver and chlorine in chemical combination, and hence is known to science as chloride of silver. It can be artificially produced by passing chlorine gas over metallic silver. In its native state horn silver is completely colorless, but as soon as it is exposed to the light of day it in the course of a few minutes assumes a violet tint.

What is photography?

The art or process of producing images by the action of light on surfaces sensitized by chemical processes.

Photographic prints can be made from photographic negatives, positive transparencies, or digital images, and printed on a wide variety of substrates, including photo paper, fine art paper, and canvas. They can be black and white or color. Many artists, especially those whose works appeared early in the 20th century, are highly collectible. A number of contemporary artists also specialize in photography.