Better Compositions With Simplified Backgrounds

Five Techniques for improving pictures by simplifying the background

William Sawalich

Beginner photographers don’t pay enough attention to backgrounds. They end up with frenzied compositions and frames filled with distracting elements or, even worse, telephone poles and palm trees growing out of the tops of heads. One of the most effective ways to take better pictures is to clean up backgrounds and make them less distracting. Here... Read more

5 Smartphone Photography Tricks to Help You Capture Head-Turning Images

All you need is your phone and a few props to shoot photos that will stand out

By Dan Havlik

The fun thing about smartphone photography is that anyone with a smartphone camera can do it. The downside is that many smartphone photos start to look the same. For example, whenever there’s an impressive sunset in your area, image after image of it will inevitably turn up in your social media feed until it begins to get a bit boring. If you... Read more

Distortion Correction With Any Lens

Techniques for correcting distortion in architectural photos without the need for a special lens

William Sawalich

When an architectural photographer is hired to photograph a structure, chances are he’s going to use some specialized equipment. Namely, he’s going to employ a tilt/shift (or perspective control) lens in order to minimize the distortion that occurs when a camera is tilted up to photograph a building. Any time the film plane (or sensor plane) isn’t... Read more

5 Flash Photography Tips for Shooting Portraits

Get the most out of your next portraiture session when using flash

By Dan Havlik

Using flash when shooting portraits can be a hit or miss scenario for some photographers. Get your flash settings and set-up right, and your subject will look like a movie star. Get things wrong, and it could look like someone dropped a nuclear bomb in front of their face. Fortunately, there are professional photographers like Scott Kelby who is about... Read more

Photoshop Selection Tools

A look at our favorite Photoshop selection tools and what sets each of them apart

William Sawalich

As most every photographer surely knows, Photoshop image editing software is capable of doing incredible things. From complex composites to unbelievable photorealistic art, Photoshop makes anything possible. And in many cases, all those special effects start with selections—choosing which pixels a given effect will apply to. The better the selection,... Read more

5 Easy Tips to Help You Shoot Beautiful Portraits from Pro Photographer Jerry Ghionis

New monthly how-to series on Digital Photo features photo tips & tricks from top pros

By Jerry Ghionis

(Editor’s Note: This portrait photography tutorial by professional photographer Jerry Ghionis is the first in a new monthly series on Digital Photo where top pros from Nikon USA’s Ambassadors program share their simple tips, tricks, and advice on how to be a better photographer. You can read our 2017 profile of Ghionis here.) I have been... Read more

Warming Pictures In Post

Many photographs can benefit from added warmth—particularly landscapes and portraits. Here’s how to warm pictures digitally

William Sawalich

Warm colors, which are typically found in the orange and red region of the color wheel, are found in nature during the magic hours near sunrise and sunset when the light takes on a golden, orange glow. By starting with a light source that’s already warm, anything photographed under that light looks warm too. This works wonders for travel photos and... Read more

Here’s a Simple Way to Whiten Teeth in Photoshop in Just 10 Seconds

This quick trick will get those chompers beaming in your portraits

By Dan Havlik

Photoshop is a wonderful tool for editing your photos but if you sometimes feel it’s overly complicated or too time-consuming to use on a regular basis, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are many Photoshop tutorials available that help take the pain out of image editing with Adobe’s pioneering post-processor. One of the best resources... Read more

Lightroom vs Photoshop 2021: What’s the Difference Between These Two Adobe Programs?

Learn the basics of what these iconic Adobe apps do so you can create your ideal photo editing workflow

By Staff

Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop are both powerful image editing tools. In this tutorial you’ll learn what each piece of photography software specializes in so you can create your ideal photo editing workflow. A head-to-head comparison While Lightroom and Photoshop are both digital photography editing programs with a lot of functional crossover,... Read more

Cookies And Image Resolution

Important lessons about digital image resolution can be learned in the kitchen

William Sawalich

One of the most important things I know about digital image resolution I learned from baking cookies. Here it is: four tablespoons equals one-quarter of a cup. What does that have to do with resolution you might (logically) inquire? Allow me to explain. Too many people get all hung up on the wrong detail: the dots per inch (or DPI) of an image file.... Read more

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