Writing
Notes on how photographs are made, and longer pieces that take one idea apart. Most of it is easier shown than said, so most of it moves.
- 01Why golden hour is not only prettier, it is easierWarm light is the side effect. The real reason to be out at seven is that the scene finally fits inside the camera.Light · Technique · Basics
- 02Amsterdam canals: where to stand and when the light worksWhich bank keeps the sun, why the middle of the bridge is the worst spot on it, and the twenty five minutes after sunset that everything is built around.Amsterdam · Light · Technique
- 03Focal length: what 24mm does to a face and what 200mm does to a mountainAngle of view, compression, and the wide-angle face. All three turn out to be one thing: where you stood.Lenses · Basics
- 04ISO, and what grain costs youThe third dial. What it actually amplifies, where the grain lands, and why a grainy sharp picture beats a clean blurred one.Exposure · Basics
- 05Buy the file, print it locallyPaper against canvas, matte against gloss, and the six lines to send a print shop so it comes back right.Printing · Buying
- 06What resolution do you actually need for a 40 × 60 cm print?Pixels, DPI, the 200 line and how far away you stand. The number is smaller than you think.Printing · Buying
- 07Photographing animals at a zoo without it looking like a zooWire, glass, painted walls and the keeper's door. Almost none of it is a settings problem.Wildlife · Technique
- 08Shutter speed vs apertureTwo ways of letting the same light in, and why choosing between them is the whole of photography.Exposure · Basics