Photography tutorials and how-to articles

Articles aimed at helping you improve aspects of your photography

There are a growing number of entirely free tutorials and ‘how to’ articles on this site. This page provides links to all of them.

They range from photo composition to ‘photo-hacks’ or building your own specialist lenses from discarded camera equipment.

Many of our articles and reviews are also written to help explain how and why you would use different equipment and techniques, not just a list of a product’s functionality.

Never miss new articles/reviews – sign up for our Newsletter (2-4 max. per month)

If you think of something that might be useful, please let Keith know – many articles have come from questions asked by readers.

The sections below split all the articles into three broad categories.

Specialist index pages

• Keith’s photo blog
• Articles and Reviews
• Camera and printer rumours
• Digital Black and White
• Colour Management
• Photography book reviews
• The business side of photography
• Keith’s ‘gear list’ for his work
• Gallery of some of Keith’s prints
• Some of Keith’s travel blogs
• Some of Keith’s link choices

For even more detail, check the category listings and search box at the right of the page

Editing your photos. Tools and tips

• Fine tuning black and white photo printing Fine tuning black and white photo printing with a flatbed scanner when using using monochrome print settings such as Epson ABW or Canon Black and White photo print modes. Test for optimal media settings. Print linearisation with curves.
• Upsizing and sharpening for making a print Editing, sharpening and upsizing part of an old digital photo from a 10MP camera to make an A2 sized print. Image resizing for larger prints and why your editing workflow matters.
• Adapted lens – Soligor 300mm f5.5 Adapted lens experiments - Soligor 300mm f5.5 on an RF mount EOS RP mirrorless camera. Using adapters on a manual focus telephoto from 1975 on a modern mirrorless camera
• A simple black and white print A simple black and white print workflow aimed at showing just how easy it is to create a black and white landscape print, with a few simple edits.
• Setting the tilt axis for tilt-shift lenses Setting the tilt axis for tilt-shift lenses to an arbitrary angle other than vertical or horizontal, so as to match the desired plane of focus for subjects. ideal for product photography where simple untilted depth of field is not good enough.
• How to use a shift lens on your camera How to use a shift lens on a camera, the results you get and why you should use one. Perspective control and changing your viewpoint with specialist lenses, Why doing it in camera beats software
• Keith Cooper’s City Light Luminar presets Keith's 'City Light' presets for MacPhun's Luminar photo editing software. Developed for architectural images when converting from colour to B&W. Before and after examples, and how they differ from 'straight' B&W conversions. Also using them as a luminance adjustment for colour images.
• Macro photography for a trade stand Macrophotography setup for producing photographs of small electronic components for the Electronica trade show. Photographs of components along with brightly coloured gummy bears on a polished metal surface.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• >>

Using equipment in non-standard ways. Hacks and mods.

• Using effects lens filters After being given some assorted lens filters dating back to film days, Keith wonders if they are still of any use with modern digital cameras and how B&W film 'emulation' has its limits.
• Adapted lens – Soligor 300mm f5.5 Adapted lens experiments - Soligor 300mm f5.5 on an RF mount EOS RP mirrorless camera. Using adapters on a manual focus telephoto from 1975 on a modern mirrorless camera
• Using old lenses on a modern DSLR/mirrorless camera Lens adapters allow you to use old lenses on a modern DSLR or mirrorless camera. Many old lenses work very well if you can live without autofocus. Performance varies, but it's possible to learn lot of use for the rest of your photography
• Fotodiox tilt-shift lens adapter Review of the Fotodiox TLT ROKR tilt-shift lens adapter for mounting medium format lenses on mirrorless cameras. M645 to Canon RF tested. Available also for M645 to Nikon Z along with many other lens/body combination.
• Canon SDK updated Canon Europe announces a new SDK and API Package for Developers. Software Development Kit (SDK) adds SX70 HS to supported cameras. incl. camera control API
• Lighting CRI with i1Profiler and the i1Pro Lighting CRI measurement using X-Rite i1Profiler software and the i1Pro spectrophotomenter, with the free Osram LED ColorCalculator software
• Book Review: 52 Assignments Experimental Photography Book Review: 52 Assignments, Experimental Photography. 52 project ideas to help you explore different aspects of photography, film and digital. with low and high tech ideas and hacks
• Novoflex lens adapters for EOS R and Nikon Z Novoflex announce a range of new lens adapters for manual lenses with Canon EOS R and Nikon Z mirrorless cameras.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• >>

Ideas for developing photographic skills and aspects of photographic composition.

• The Paragon 500mm f8 lens Testing a manual focus Paragon 500mm f8 long focus lens on a Canon RP mirrorless full frame camera with adapters. Is it worth the few pounds paid for it
• Upsizing and sharpening for making a print Editing, sharpening and upsizing part of an old digital photo from a 10MP camera to make an A2 sized print. Image resizing for larger prints and why your editing workflow matters.
• Book Review: 52 Assignments Landscape Photography Book Review: 52 Assignments, Landscape Photography. A collection of 52 project ideas relating to Landscape photography. Lots of suggestions to help expand your photography and experiment.
• Book Review: Everything about taking Photographs Book Review: 'Everything you always wanted to know about taking better photographs', '50 images and 50 explanations' by Antony Zacharias. £12.99 Ammonite press October 2019
• Detailed Panasonic S1R camera review Panasonic Lumix S1R usage review. Using the 47MP full frame mirrorless camera with special emphasis on the 187MP multi-shot high resolution mode and support of third party specialist lenses.
• Reverse grad filter 100x150mm Using the K&F Concept Reverse graduated neutral density GND8 3 stop filter 100x150mm. Rectangular filter with graduated filter density
• A simple black and white print A simple black and white print workflow aimed at showing just how easy it is to create a black and white landscape print, with a few simple edits.
• What are you doing with your photos How do you decide what to do with all the photos you take, why did you take them and who gets to see them. A process any photographer should think about. Yes, this means you...

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
...
• 15
• >>

Training – for companies

These are aspects of training that I provide (on location, not at our offices) as part of Northlight’s business.

We also have a training directory that is freely available for any professional photographer who offers training.

It’s arranged by location, so as long as you are a pro photographer, a free link is available

Never miss a new article or review - Sign up for our occasional (ad-free) Newsletter

Enjoyed this article?

Other areas of our site that may be of interest...

All the latest articles/reviews and photo news items appear on Keith's Photo blog 

We've a whole section of the site devoted to  Digital Black and White photography and printing. It covers all of Keith's specialist articles and reviews.

Categories include Colour management and Keith's camera hacks - there are over 1100 articles/reviews here...

Articles below by Keith (Google's picks for matching this page)