May 10, 2013
Capture the hustle and bustle of the city at night. Place your camera on a tripod and use a long exposure (slow shutter speed) to blur the movement of cars and people. Try shooting for about 10 seconds first, and then adjust creatively to catch the motion of the lights and the feel of the city.
May 9, 2013
Make a great team picture. Get the team together in front of a nice background—maybe the goal, the net or the team logo on the field or floor. Shoot the ordinary, and then let the kids have some fun, making faces or funny poses. That’s the one they will always remember.
May 8, 2013
Try shooting panoramas if you’re at a sport stadium, beach or park, for more interesting images. Some Nikon Digital Cameras have an Easy Panorama mode or a Panorama Assist mode, which make these photos easy to shoot.
May 7, 2013
When photographing animals of any kind—pets, birds in flight, animals at the zoo—try to zoom in as close as you can or use a longer lens to isolate the animal from its background. By getting a close-up view you have a greater chance of capturing a wonderful expression on the face of the animal, which will give you a more interesting photograph.
May 6, 2013
Want a unique video of sports action? Use the slow-motion mode that many Nikon digital cameras offer. By shooting the action faster than normal and played back at normal speed, your subject’s movements are slowed down and look more deliberate.
May 5, 2013
When celebrating Cinco de Mayo, take plenty of photos of the colorful decorations in addition to candid photos of everyone having a great time.
May 4, 2013
Change your white balance during a sunrise or sunset. Take your camera off auto white balance and switch to Cloudy or Shady white balance. This will add more strength to the reds, oranges and yellows. Auto White Balance tries to keep colors neutral.
May 3, 2013
To get a shot of someone at sunset, turn on your flash and place the person with the beautiful sunset behind them. With the flash on, they will be illuminated. With the flash off, they will be silhouetted.
May 2, 2013
Spend a day capturing images only in black and white. You have to look at the world differently to take a good-looking photo in black and white, and that will help sharpen your artistic skills.
May 1, 2013
May is National Photo Month! Celebrate by taking photos every day. Give yourself an assignment such as taking a self-portrait each day of the month, or photographing an object every day.
April 30, 2013
If your camera can capture images in both RAW and JPEG format, do so even if you don’t work with RAW images now. These RAW files have the highest image quality possible, so you can edit them years from now and be sure you’re getting the best looking image possible.
April 29, 2013
Set your Speedlight to Rear Curtain Sync. This fires the flash at the end of the exposure, not the beginning, and can create interesting streaks and effects in moving subjects. Experiment with the different flash modes your camera and Speedlight offers.
April 28, 2013
Pick a day and use a fixed focal length lens instead of a zoom (or only one focal length on your zoom, like 35mm). By practicing moving you and the camera to re-frame your images you’ll become more engaged with your subject.
April 27, 2013
If you are photographing out of the window of a plane be sure to keep from touching the window, walls, armrests or other parts of the plane. The vibrations caused by the engines are transmitted through the fuselage and can make your photos blurry. Instead, sit up in the seat and hold the camera as still as you can, close to the window.
April 26, 2013
Arbor Day, which celebrates the planting and caring for trees is celebrated across the USA at different times of the year. Some states celebrate in February while others celebrate the holiday in April, so we decided to celebrate it twice! Use this holiday to take some cool photographs of trees.
April 25, 2013
Frame your storm photograph before it happens. Remember that the sky is your subject, so dramatic clouds are what you’re framing for, and then you hope that lightning will happen in that space. Keep the horizon in the lower third of the frame with the sky the top two-thirds.
April 24, 2013
Shooting a lightning storm can be exciting. Use a tripod and set you camera to record a long exposure. With D-SLRs, 15 seconds is a good start, but you may have to use up to 30 seconds, or bulb setting (where the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter button). Because you never know when the lightning will occur, keep shooting for best results. And don’t forget the tripod! Otherwise you’ll have blurry photos.
April 23, 2013
Try different kinds of framing with your flower shots. Instead of centering the flower, try placing it off to the left or the right of the frame. This will allow for you to be creative with the negative space (areas without the subject). Look for the patterns of other out of focus flowers in the background.
April 22, 2013
Celebrate Earth Day by taking photographs of nature, or of Earth Day Events in your neighborhood.
April 21, 2013
Try photographing flowers early in the morning when dew is on the petals. If there’s no dew, make your own. Take a small sprayer and fill it with glycerin and water and spray the flowers for those natural looking dewdrops. You can also use just water.
April 20, 2013
If you accidentally delete your images or see a card error message, stop using the memory card. There is software that can recover your “lost pictures” even if they don’t show up on the camera. Continuing to use the card before running that software on it can ruin your chances of saving those photos.
April 19, 2013
When you can, transfer your photos from the camera to a computer using an external memory card reader. Take out your memory card and insert it into the reader. It doesn’t rely on battery power (like the camera does when using it to download image and video files) and often can transfer the files faster. Plus your camera is still ready to shoot, even while you’re downloading.
April 18, 2013
Set your camera’s display (playback) to show you highlight problems. This is a simple feature that will cause blinking of areas that are overexposed on the rear LCD screen when reviewing the photos you’ve shot. If large or important areas are blinking, you will need to reduce the exposure, often by using the +/- Exposure Compensation and applying minus compensation.
April 17, 2013
If you have a tripod and lights or stands, get your gear, your background and exposure figured out for the portrait before the subject gets there. That way when the subject arrives, you can pay attention to them. This will allow you to be more interactive with your subject and get them in the right pose instead of fiddling with the equipment.
April 16, 2013
When photographing a landscape scene, include a point of interest. An item that stands out, like a tree or a cliff edge, will give the viewer's eye somewhere to rest. It will also provide a sense of scale.
April 15, 2013
When photographing animals, isolate them with a longer lens. A longer lens (or zoom lens) allows you to narrow in on your subject and create a clean, soft focus background. It will emphasize the subject and make it special.
April 14, 2013
If your subject is backlit, you may end up with a silhouette. If this is the effect you are going for, great! If not, add fill flash or use the exposure compensation (try +1).
April 13, 2013
You can try a few different techniques to freeze motion: panning (which blurs the background while freezing your subject in motion), using a flash, or zooming out to a wider-angle view.
April 12, 2013
If you’re shooting into the sun and are getting lens flare, a quick way to get rid of it is to ask a friend to place their hand above the camera, to block the flare from reaching the lens. You will be able to see if it is working. Just make sure you don’t see their hand in the frame when you take the photo.
April 11, 2013
Need some inspiration? Take out your camera’s manual and read about a shooting mode or setting that you don’t normally use. Spend a day practicing how to use it.