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

• When Hyperfocal focusing is no goodWhy hyperfocal focusing often fails to give the depth of field that some suggest. A much simpler method that can be of more general use
• Printing greyscale images and removing unwanted colour tintsAddressing problems with black and white printing. Some subtle changes in print colour casts with lighting changes, and removing colour tints from monochrome prints.
• Which side of the paper to print onSome fine art papers look almost the same on each side. How to tell which side to print on if you are unsure
• Photography training directoryPhotography training directory - professional photographers who offer photography training and courses. Submissions welcome
• Full width printing Epson 3800 and OSX 10.6Solving full width (17") printing problems with the Epson SP3800 and Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard). tested with Epson Traditional Photo Paper
• Out at night with the 7DOut at night with a Canon 7D. How does it handle shooting at high ISO and how should you process the images you take with it
• What tilt and shift lenses doTilt and Shift lenses. The Canon TS-E 24mm lens review and discussion. What do tilt/shift lenses do? Why they can be so useful and how do you use them?
• Jane Fonda and Me…Jane Fonda and me... digitally printing 35mm photos taken on the set of Barbarella. Turning a scanned negative into a 42" print of Jane Fonda in Barbarella

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

• Photosniper 300mm with Canon 100DUsing the Russian Tair 3 phs Photosniper 300mm f4.5 lens and rifle stock with a Canon EOS 100D/SL1 DSLR. Includes modification to use external trigger
• Cleaning Canon printheads – iPF8300 – PF05Cleaning and replacing the printheads - on a Canon iPF8300 large format printer, with the PF-05 printhead. Canon large format print heads are a user replaceable part. Whilst cleaning might help, it could be that you need a new print head.
• Macro on the Canon EOS 100D SL1Using the 18MP Canon EOS 100D (SL1) for macrophotography. Tested with extension tubes and a tilt/shift lens and the specialised MP-E65 Macro lens. Showing some benefits of a crop sensor camera with small pixels
• Use a survey tripod for the GigaPan Epic ProMaking use of a survey tripod and tribrach with thread size adapters to level and mount a GigaPan Epic Pro. Very solid and easy to set up and accurately level for GigaPan photos
• Testing add-on tele and wide angle convertor lensesTrying out a range of tele and wide angle converter attachments for the front of lenses. Converters increase or decrease the focal length of a lens. Quality differs widely, but the effects can be interesting
• Canon 5D mk2 Infrared conversionUsing an Infrared (IR) modified DSLR camera for digital infrared photography. Looking at exposure and lens choices, along with image processing options. Testing an IR modified Canon EOS 5D mk2 - it it just about luminous trees
• Make your own macro lensesUsing old lenses and equipment with modern digital cameras to make a high magnification macro lens. Reversing a lens and making a mount for it. Macro photography without the expense of buying a specialist macro lens
• The wonders of bad lensesHome made DIY lenses are easy to make for your camera and a great way to see what really matters to you when photographing subjects. A simple lens made with cardboard

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Ideas for developing photographic skills and aspects of photographic composition.

• Why I use the Fisheye-Hemi pluginFisheye lenses are great, with their extreme wide angle and their distinctive perspective, but sometimes you want a bit more. The Fisheye hemi plugin provides some interesting variations
• Is digital too easy? – that film thing (again)Has digital photography taken the 'real skills' out of photography? I'm very much inclined to say no, but it has made it more difficult for many people to know why they are taking photos and what they want to achieve.
• Review of Kuuvik Capture V1.3Review of Kuuvik Capture V1.3 camera tethering software. Apple Mac app that allows for direct control of Canon cameras, with many novel workflow features
• Macro on the Canon EOS 100D SL1Using the 18MP Canon EOS 100D (SL1) for macrophotography. Tested with extension tubes and a tilt/shift lens and the specialised MP-E65 Macro lens. Showing some benefits of a crop sensor camera with small pixels
• Using a shift lens – why not just fix verticals in softwareUsing a shift lens to correct image geometry, such as converging verticals, seems like a lot of expense. Why it's better than doing it in software
• Using Silver Efex Pro for colour printsUsing software to create monochrome images that are blended with colour images using luminosity blending to give more punch to dull photos
• On site product product photography setupBasic colour management and photography options for photographing large numbers of products out of the studio. Efficient setup reduces the processing needed
• PPL TSE-Adapter – lens shift reviewThe PPL TSE Adapter attaches Canon TS-E shift lenses directly to a tripod mount. This lets you shift the camera not the lens, eliminating parallax errors

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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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