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.

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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
• All about using tilt and shift
• 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

• How to use a shift lens on your cameraHow 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 presetsKeith'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 standMacrophotography 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.
• Print of a photo of a sunset from my loftPhotographing an interesting sunset out of the loft window at home. How a simple photo, basic processing and printing produces a 22 inch by 33 inch print. Why any problems in making great prints probably doesn't come from deficiencies in equipment and software.
• Tutorial: A large black and white print of the harbour at StaithesLooking at the whole process, from photography to printing, Keith's tutorisl shows how he produced a 22" x 43" wide angle view of the harbour at Staithes in N. Yorkshire. Includes details on image stitching, B&W conversion and using masked adjustment layers.
• Better scenic and landscape holiday photosKeith was recently asked for a few quick and -simple- tips for better scenic vacation photos by a local business group. A few basic ideas that have stood the test of time and help create better looking landscape photos.
• Kaiser tabletop photo kit review'Easyfit' tabletop product photography kit with shooting table and two continuous lights with diffusers. Basic product photography setup along with examples of use showing how care with lighting impacts even basic product photos
• Basic Photoshop Elements tutorialsBasic image adjustment tutorials with Photoshop Elements. Using just the most basic tools that are essential parts of image editing

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

• Jessop zoom slide duplicator lensTesting a 35mm zoom slide copier on a modern digital camera with some slides from the 1970's. Includes image processing and lighting concerns and a quick look at photo image quality from the 70's
• Using old lenses on a modern DSLR/mirrorless cameraLens 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
• Using effects lens filtersAfter 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 f5.5Adapted 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
• Fotodiox tilt-shift lens adapterReview 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 updatedCanon 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 i1ProLighting CRI measurement using X-Rite i1Profiler software and the i1Pro spectrophotomenter, with the free Osram LED ColorCalculator software
• Book Review: 52 Assignments Experimental PhotographyBook 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

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Ideas for developing photographic skills and aspects of photographic composition.

• Book Review: 52 Assignments Landscape PhotographyBook 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 PhotographsBook 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 reviewPanasonic 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 100x150mmUsing the K&F Concept Reverse graduated neutral density GND8 3 stop filter 100x150mm. Rectangular filter with graduated filter density
• A simple black and white printA 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 photosHow 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...
• Using the Canon EOS RPKeith looks at the EOS RP. A Canon DSLR user tries out the Canon EOS RP 26MP FF mirrorless camera - how is it to use, what settings work, and what needs doing for 'pro' use
• K&F Square 100mm ND1000 filter reviewReview: Testing the K&F 100mm square filter holder and 100mm ND1000 10 stop neutral density filter for longer exposures. Comes with adapters for lens filter sizes from 52mm to 82mm

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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

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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.
For All about using tilt and shift - articles/reviews about tilt/shift lenses

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

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