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

• 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
• 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

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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.

• Architectural photography lens choicesLooking at lens choices for architectural photography. How Keith Cooper uses a nearby award nominated building to explore options when testing lenses - not on the time of clients
• K&F ND1000 filter reviewReview from testing the K&F Concept ND1000 10 stop neutral density filter for longer exposures. 82mm low profile glass lens filter
• Rogeti TSE frame reviewReview of the Rogeti TSE frame - lens mount for Canon TS-E 17mm and 24mm tilt/shift lenses. Attaches lens directly to a tripod for parallax free image stitching. Accurate image stitching for wide coverage
• Book Review: The photography exercise bookBook Review: The photography exercise book by Bert Krages. Training your eye to shoot like a pro. Subjects to study and photograph that will help train your photographic vision and produce the photos you want (and know why)
• Architecture and the Sigma 12-24mmUsing an ultra-wide zoom lens for architectural photographs. Testing the Sigma 12-24mm F4 DG HSM Art lens on a 50MP Canon 5Ds DSLR for architecture photography
• A shift lens at 50mmUsing a shift lens at 50mm - adding rise and fall to a standard focal length. Tilt/shift lens use at longer focal lengths. A Mamiya medium format lens used with a shift adapter
• Moving back to film photographyReturning to film? Rediscovering old film equipment offers a simpler more direct world of photography. Is it time for Keith to buy some camera batteries and rolls of film?
• Ultra high resolution view of Leicester city centreAn ultra high resolution view of Leicester city centre from the roof of St George's tower, that you can zoom in to and explore - approximately 4700 megapixels

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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 

Keith explains tilt and shift lenses

Keith has written a book that looks at the many ways that tilt/shift lenses can benefit your photography from a technical and creative point of view.

ISBN 9781785007712

Book now available

There is also a specific index page on the site with links to all Keith's articles, reviews and videos about using tilt and shift.

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. Other sections include Colour management and Keith's camera hacks - there are over 1200 articles/reviews here...

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