Discover Digital Photography

One of the phrases you hear quite often in photography, particularly from a landscape photography perspective, is the Golden hour. This refers to the period around sunrise or sunset. Slightly less common is the phrase Blue hour, which means the period shortly before sunrise or after sunset.

Neither of these periods are precisely an hour, and their length varies with the seasons. But both periods are important to many photographers in the terms of the natural lighting found at these times of day.

Most photographers don't modify the appearance of their cameras at all. However, you may sometimes see a photographer (typically a professional) with the logos on their camera covered by black tape. Why would they do this? Are they testing exciting new camera models before they're released?

cc licensed ( BY ND ) flickr photo shared by Rocco P Hill

While this could be the case, there are actually quite a few good reasons why some photographers might want to cover their gear in black tape.

Fungi don't seem to be as popular a subject as flowers. Maybe it's that they're not so easy to find, or that many of them are quite dull in coloration compared to flowers. Or maybe it's that photographing them often involves getting down in the dirt.

The fact is that fungi do actually make great subjects for photos, and I want to share a few tips on photographing them in this article.

Mushroom Mosaic by Red~Star (off & on--taking care of Jasmine) on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

In the previous article Product photography on the cheap with only one light pt. 1 - Taking the photo, we looked at taking multiple photos of a product using only one light, and lighting each shot differently. The next step is to combine those images into a single image, which will look like it has been shot with multiple lights.

The final photo will look like this:

I've written a few articles regarding product photography previously. In this article I want to look at how to achieve a good product photo on a white background (suitable for catalogs, websites etc.) at the lowest cost.

Because the aim is to produce a good product photo as cheaply as possible, we'll be using just one light. We take multiple photos of the subject, focusing on getting the lighting we want just in one single area at a time. These photos can then be combined into a single image that looks like it has been lit with multiple lights.

When thinking about new purchases to help capture better photos most people will probably think of filters or a new lens if they own an interchangeable lens camera. But a speedlight flash can have a great impact on your photography, and should not be overlooked.

In this article we'll look at why you would want to use a speedlight flash, what advantages it has over the pop-up flash built into most cameras, and what the disadvantages are as well.

Insects and other creepy-crawlies such as spiders make great subjects for macro photography. When we normally see a fly buzzing around, it just looks like a black blob. But on the macro level it looks very different.

Horsefly portrait by Gilles San Martin on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

Many creatures can have an almost otherworldly look about them when captured up close. In a sense, they are of another world - the macro world.

In this article we'll look at some tips on getting close to insects (and other invertebrates) without scaring them away, finding them, and how to photograph them.

When considering a new camera, you may be looking at a superzoom (sometimes known as a bridge) camera, and comparing it to a DSLR or other interchangeable lens camera. Superzooms and consumer DSLRs are often similarly priced.

The specs for the superzoom might show it as having a 24-1200mm equivalent zoom. But you can't buy a lens with this specification for the DSLR.

The DSLR might come with an 18-55mm lens, so that covers the wide end (roughly) equivalent to the superzoom. But how about that long end? Nope, it seems like you can't buy a 1200mm lens for a DSLR. Well, maybe you'll have to settle for a 600mm lens instead. But then you notice the price - as much as a small car.

So, why is a DSLR with equivalent lenses so much larger and more expensive than a superzoom camera? And why would anyone purchase a DSLR over a superzoom?

Plants and flowers are one of the most popular subjects for macro photography. They are naturally appealing the eye, and can be found easily. Even in winter you can still buy cut flowers to practise your photography skills on indoors.

Rose 7623 by Kain Kalju on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

In the last couple of articles we've looked at lighting for macro and close-up photos, and the different flash configurations available. In this article I want to look at a couple of problems you are likely to come up against when using flash to light your macro photos. These issues with are black or dark backgrounds, and harsh lighting.