starter photography playbook
FREE ebook!
Befriend your camera and capture your world as it feels like with expressive photography projects for beginning photographers.
- Finally, stop shooting in Auto Mode and discover the 5 essential steps to shooting in Program Mode.
- Learn quicker with a project-based approach and have fun while you become best friends with your camera.
- Practice your skills and expand your creativity with 5 thought-provoking & expressive photography projects.
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Photography 101
thinking about going manual? Intrigued by shooting in raw? Puzzled what to do in low light situations? Frustrated by blurry photos? Here’s where you’ll find the answers to your burning questions.
5 Easy Steps to Quick & Safe Camera Sensor Cleaning
Understandably, diy sensor cleaning can feel a little intimidating because your sensor is such a fragile part of the camera. And I get it. But I also think it’s good to get to know the insides of your beloved camera and be able to take care of it outside and in. When you follow these steps and guidelines you have a solid plan for how to clean your camera sensor.
7 Surprising Tips On How To Learn Photography The Right Way
Did you just buy yourself a brand new DSLR? Or you’ve had one for some time now but it’s collecting dust? Are you’re wondering how to learn photography as a beginner? I’m gonna be honest with you. There’s no fast track to learning photography. It takes a lot more than reading a blog with photography tips or watching a video about the exposure triangle.
How To Choose A Camera: The No B-S Guide To Buying Your First Camera
Buying a digital camera for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. But it doesn’t have to be. It should be a joyous occasion. After all, you’re finally ready to take your love for photography seriously and wanna invest in an equally serious camera. This guide will help you to make the right decision in choosing the camera that is the perfect fit for you.
8 Critical Steps to Get Super-Sharp Focus & Brilliant Crips Pics
Don’t you just hate it when you think you’ve taken a great photo only to come home and discover it’s out of focus? Getting sharp focus depends on your skills to get it right in camera. There’s no second chance and no do-overs in Lightroom. Although the term Auto Focus implies it’s done automatically it is not. For razor-sharp photos, you need to take control.
People Photography Tips & Tutorials
Photographing people is often considered as one of the more challenging subjects. you’re in luck…photographing people is my specialty! so I’ve got you covered with these articles full of people photography wisdom.
8 Best Candid Photography Tips for Beautiful Natural Shots
We all know how to make a selfie or to pose in front of a landmark. Smile when told to and jump when prompted. And it’s great to have those posed pics from the one and only time you did that awesome hike with your newly found friends. Nothing wrong with that. But having authentic shots from your friends and family while you’re traveling is …….. well I would say even greater.
8 Top Tips for Expressive Portrait Photography in the Outdoor
Outdoor portrait photography brings more of a candid vibe into the process of photographing. But they are not the same. The biggest difference is that with portrait photography outdoor people are aware they’re being photographed. Sometimes that awareness turns into a little roadblock because people don’t feel comfortable being photographed.
15 Badass Street Photography Ideas To Get You Started
Street photography is unpredictable and spontaneous at its core. You can prepare all you want good things start to happen when the surprise element introduces itself. Being present and ready to receive the unexpected is all we can do in street photography. That is what makes street photography so challenging and exciting! There are a lot of ideas and misconceptions about what is ………
7 Steps To A Powerful Self Portrait & A Confidence Boost
At the tail-end of 2019, some seemingly random events came together for me resulting in a power photo shoot and a breakthrough moment. It all started with an email I received a few months ago. The topic was the number one ‘posing for females’ mistake beginning photographers make. My curiosity was tickled. Are you ready? Apparently, the number one mistake is ……….
Travel Photography Tips & Tutorials
Be sure to read these articles before your next trip! It’s all there…the most common travel photography mistakes, stunning sunset photography, wildlife photography, how to keep everything safe, etc.
10 Sure-Fire Tips for Stunning Sunset Photography
There’s a universal quality to sunrise and sunset. No matter where you are on this earth, no matter your circumstances as long as you live you can be sure of 2 things. The sun will rise and at the end of the day, the sun will go down. It’s one of the many things that bind us all together. No wonder we want to capture the sun come up or go down in all its glorious beauty.
15 Badass Street Photography Ideas To Get You Started
Street photography is unpredictable and spontaneous at its core. You can prepare all you want good things start to happen when the surprise element introduces itself. Being present and ready to receive the unexpected is all we can do in street photography. That is what makes street photography so challenging and exciting! There are a lot of ideas and misconceptions about what is ………
11 Travel Photography Mistakes and How to Easily Fix Them
Making mistakes is how we learn, right? Nothing wrong with making mistakes unless you’re not aware you’re making them. Which is why I thought it would be a great idea to approach improving your photography from the angle of the travel photography mistakes you might be making.
9 Travel Photography Safety Tips: How to Keep Your Gear and Pixels Safe
We all love to travel. And we all want to bring our cameras to create lasting memories of the wonders we encounter. But when we’re traveling we’re usually more relaxed and carefree making us an easy target for people with bad intentions. With these travel photography safety tips, you can develop some safety habits and come home with your gear and precious pixels.
Editing & Organizing Tips & Tutorials
From organizing to editing. we will leave no stone unturned with in-depth lightroom & snapseed tutorials, organizing on your phone and laptop and how to make a photo album.
25 Lightroom Hacks That Will Save You a Ton of Time and Frustration
With this list of awesome Lightroom Hacks, I want to dive deeper into Lightroom and reveal some features you’re probably not aware of. These Lightroom tips are gonna make your editing life so much easier. They range from simple keyboard shortcuts you really should be using every time you edit to more advanced features that will save you time and frustration while keeping your edits consistent.
How to Best Edit Your Travel Photos in Lightroom
In the previous Lightroom photography tutorial, I walked you through the very important process of importing and selecting your files. If all is well by now you have a couple of pics selected that you wanna edit. In this Lightroom tutorial, I’m gonna show you how to edit photos in the Develop Module in Adobe Lightroom. Let’s first talk about why editing your photos is super important………..
How to Navigate the Library Module in Lightroom With Ease
Lightroom fundamentally changed the way I post-process my images. When I started in digital photography there was only Photoshop. And yes I could do great things with my images in Photoshop. However, Lightroom is the game-changer. It saves me a ton of time, it doesn’t require huge amounts of memory and it runs a tight ship.
How to Create the Perfect Black and White Photos in Snapseed
What is it about Black and White Photography that makes it sort of indestructible? It is as old as photography and although photography has been through many changes and developments Black and White Photography is still here. And it will never go away. By taking away color somehow the underlying qualities emerge. It stirs a feeling of timelessness and emphasizes the things we share over time and place.
Phone Photography Tips & Tutorials
Need help making the best out of your phone camera? That always by your side camera can do much more then you think! Discover here how to make great photos with your smartphone.
8 Essential Apps for the Best Travel Photos
For me, photography apps are my friendly little helpers and you can never have enough of those. Whether I’m traveling with my DSLR or I rely on my iPhone for my travel pics travel photography apps will help me to create the best images possible. I’ve put together a list of travel photography apps I’ve come to rely on when I’m traveling to help you do the same.
Best 10 Tips for Authentic Instagram Photos of Your Travels
Instagram is the perfect way to share your travel adventures with your tribe around the world. The sharing part is not the most difficult aspect of Instagram. It’s the making of Instagrammable pictures that is. Because making inspiring Instagram photos is a little more complicated than just snapping around.
How to Create the Perfect Black and White Photos in Snapseed
What is it about Black and White Photography that makes it sort of indestructible? It is as old as photography and although photography has been through many changes and developments Black and White Photography is still here. And it will never go away. By taking away color somehow the underlying qualities emerge. It stirs a feeling of timelessness and emphasizes the things we share over time and place.
7 Reasons Why Your Smartphone is the Best Camera for Travel
As a photographer, I welcomed the opportunities a smartphone camera gave me. I can still remember the first time vividly. It was more than ten years ago so it was a crappy camera of course. The images were pixelated and blurry. For most of the time, I still photographed with my DSLR. But there was something different about the images I took with my phone.
Photography Quotes
The words from our greatest photographers inspire me to write more in-depth about a certain photography topic resulting in articles about quotes by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt and others.
My 15 Favorite Photography Quotes from Master Photographers
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes we need words to give expression to what we think and feel around a single photograph or photography in its entirety. So I actually feel that pictures and words go hand in hand most of the time. When we see a photo there’s an infinite number of reactions to that single image. We need words to articulate our reaction.
Are You Taking Or Are You Making?
So, a funny thing happens every time I write about photography which is like on a daily basis. I make it a point to write Make Photographs and not Take Photographs because well, that’s what it actually is. A photo is made. But the spelling checker on my laptop keeps highlighting the word Make wanting me to correct it to Take. It annoys me because it’s wrong on so many levels and I always ignore the suggestion.
Come A Little Bit Closer…..
Photography Quotes to Inspire and Delight, a monthly series on Photography Playground. This month’s quote is by Robert Capa: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” I’ve always believed this is true for the actual physical closeness to your subject. But there’s also a deeper level to his words. It’s about the connections you make with the people and the places you photograph.
How To Nurture Your Creativity Back To Life
This month’s quote is not by a photographer but by a writer. Oddly enough I never read anything by Maya Angelou but this quote has always had a special place in my heart. Because it’s so profoundly true. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” The other day I was teaching a photography workshop with a deep focus on creativity. We talked about our relationship with creativity, memories ……
Photography Projects
Need a little inspiration? Don’t know what to shoot next? Reading these interviews will spark your motivation & imagination! come along while we discover the intriguing worlds of photographers just like you.
10 Reasons Why Photography is Beneficial for Mental Health
Mental Health Benefits of Photography According to a study by QJM International Journal of Medicine, mental health problems escalated during this pandemic due to the generalized fear and relentless anxiety over the COVID-19 spread. The media is considered as...
5 Simple Mindful Photography Tips to Connect You to the Now
Mindfulness is about slowing down, being fully present in the moment, and receiving that moment. The exact same words apply to the process of making photographs. For me, to photograph is to be fully present in the moment. Because when I photograph nothing else enters my mind. I’m in a state of flow where worries, the past, and the future have disappeared.
7 Fantastic At Home Photography Ideas to Ignite Your Creativity
I’ve compiled a list of 7 at home photography ideas designed to honor the mindful nature of the photographic process. All photo projects have one ingredient in common. They revolve around the art of seeing and will, therefore, develop your observation skills. Examining your outside and inside world allows you to get into that much-desired mindful state.
Creative Photography Project: 9 Different Photos of the Same Object
Whenever I feel lost, I pick up my camera and start to photograph. The simple act of picking up my camera in the midst of what feels like chaos creates a little overwhelm free island of time. I’m focused on creating something and when I’m photographing there’s not much else that can enter my mind. It’s what I call the mindful nature of photography and it’s healing.