Cross polarising technique

The cross polarising techniques is a simple one to create. Just place a polarising filter in front of the lens and photograph a stiff plastic object in front of an LCD computer screen.  To illustrate the tip I attached a Hoyarex Linear Polarising filter* to the front of a digital camera.   I then positioned …

Tilt Shift Bellows

Large format photographers using cameras with bellows have always had the luxury of being able to adjust the lens and/or sensor plane so they are not parallel. This technique is performed to alter the plane of focus. While a conventionally parallel set-up provides front to back sharpness from a focus point parallel to the sensor, …

How to photograph snowflakes

An amazing selection of snowflake macro photos and a article showing how to photograph snowflakes can be found on Alexey Kljatov’s ChaoticMind blog If you have an SLR you can reverse your lens on the body using a reverse adaptor, or reverse a lens on a lens using a coupling ring (which has filter threads …

David Noton and Joe Cornish discuss grad filters

There’s an interesting series of videos appeared that were produced by Lee Filters with conversation between the revered landscape photographers, Joe Cornish and David Noton. Epsiode 2 sees them discussing the changes digital photography has made in capturing the moment, and why they still use graduated filters. It’s not like the usual manufacturer produced media …

How to process scanned colour negatives

In the last article we showed you how to make a custom slide duplicator for 35mm negatives and transparencies. And the first problem you will encounter when you start scanning your colour negatives  is how to convert the result to a positive digital file. When you use a proper film scanner it has built in …

DIY negative copier for Olympus OM-D

If you’ve moved over to digital from film, chances are you will have a collection of film based photographs – either negatives or transparencies.  If you don’t have a film scanner you can use your digital camera to digitise these old films. I decided to do that using my Olympus OM-D. The problem I had …

Bird photography

To be successful with bird photography you either need a very long lens or a shorter lens with a remote control (or hide) so you can position yourself far enough away to avoid frightening the creature. The long lens approach needs to be around 500mm allowing you to magnify the bird so it appears substantially …

How to Photograph the Moon

The best camera to use to photograph the moon is a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera. With this type of camera you usually have the most manual control, allowing you to fine tune focus and exposure to ensure a sharp and bright photo. The moon photographed with an SLR and telephoto lens An SLR usually …