It is that time of year when we look back on the hottest photography tips and tutorials that featured on Digital Photography School in 2008. This list is compiled purely looking at which of our tips and tutorials got the biggest number of visitors to it over the 12 months.
1. 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits
This compilation of tips for portrait photography was viewed around half a million times in 2008 and was a clear winner in terms of popular posts.
The post contains a variety of tips ranging from altering your shooting perspective, to different options for ‘eye contact’ with your subject, to tips on lighting to using props (and lots more).
It was linked to by hundreds of sites and as a result we followed it up a day after it went live with a 2nd post 10 More Tips for Stunning Portrait Photography.
2. How To Make Digital Photos Look Like Lomo Photography
This post first featured on DPS in 2006 so I was a little surprised to see it ranked so highly for traffic in 2008 but it had a resurgance in popularity mid year when it appeared on a variety of social media sites.
The post talks readers through the steps of taking a normal digital image and giving it a lomography looking effect using photoshop.
The tutorial continues to attract lots of visitors and is regularly mentioned on other photography resource sites. Enjoy.
3. How to Photograph Light Trails
Light trails are one of the more spectacular types of shots and yet they are also one of the simplest to take (if you know what you’re doing).
This tutorial contains some inspirational examples of light trail photography and talks readers through a variety of tips on getting the full impact of this technique.
It covers everything from camera settings to equipment and tips on setting up the shot and composition. There are also some great comments on this thread with lots of readers sharing links to their own examples of light trail photography.
4. How to Reduce Camera Shake - 6 Techniques
Written by one of our most popular authors - Natalie Norton - this tutorial talks readers through 6 different techniques for keeping their camera as still as possible while taking a photo (all without using a tripod).
This topic sounds pretty basic but it is really important to get right or you’ll end up with ‘camera shake’ and blurry images.
Natalie always injects a little humor into her posts in this one was no different with some amusing illustrations of her showing how to do each technique.
Readers responded warmly to this tutorial and it spread like wildfire through social bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon.
5. How to Make An Inexpensive Light Tent - DIY
This is another of those older tutorials on the DPS blog that just keeps on growing in popularity.
Do it Yourself type articles are always popular and in this one of our forum members (Jeff Bail) talks us through the simple process of creating a light tent out of common every day (and cheap) materials.
We’re all looking to save a few dollars these days so its no wonder that this tutorial was popular. Not only will it save you money but it works and can help you create professional looking images!
It’s the perfect project for the holidays.
6. DIY Flash and Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers
This is another Do it Yourself post that focuses upon lighting that was actually inspired by #5 (the DIY Light Tent) on our list above.
When we realized how many of our readers enjoyed making their own light tent we began to scour the web for other DIY lighting projects and came up with 10 great ones.
Readers keep mentioning this post to me as one of their favorites and quite a few of our members have been going through the list one at a time to try them all - some with fantastic results.
If you’re on a budget and love to DIY - this is a post for you.
7. Wedding Photography - 21 Tips for for Amateur Wedding Photographers
Some of the most common questions I get from readers are about wedding photography.
As a result I decided earlier in the year that I just had to write this post - a comprehensive guide to wedding photography for Amateur photographers.
What I love about this tutorial is that there are as many good tips in the comments section of the post as the post itself - DPS readers are a wise group of people and collectively have an amazing amount of wisdom, experience and advice.
8. The Rule of Thirds
One of the most common ‘rules’ or tips in photography is around the Rule of Thirds.
Every photography student is taught it in their first composition class (in fact it is taught in art classes, design classes and other disciplines too).
Of course this ‘rule’ isn’t always necessary to follow - many photographers take stunning shots that dramatically break this one - but it is always a good rule to know and keep in mind as you shoot.
9. How to Photograph Fireworks Displays
Every year in the lead up to 4th of July and to a lesser extend New Years Eve - the chart that we use to graph traffic to DPS spikes - as a result of this post.
Photographing fireworks is a lot of fun and in this tutorial I share my top 10 tips for getting great fireworks shots. I’ve also updated the post with some great tips from our reader community who have some excellent experiences and advice to share.
I hope you find this post useful this new years eve!
10. Top 10 Point and Shoot Digital Cameras - DPS Reader Favorites
A number of posts listing popular digital camera have featured among our most popular ones this year and this one was particularly popular.
The post was put together as a result of a poll we ran with readers where we asked them to tell us what cameras they used and loved. This post was a summary of the most used point and shoot cameras.
We also put together a list of the most popular DSLRs used in our community. Keep in mind that both of these lists are a few months old now - for a more updated list of what gear people are buying check out our Popular Digital Cameras and Gear post and our Popular DSLR Lenses compilation.
Happy New Year
I hope you’ve enjoyed tracking with us at DPS in 2008. Whether you’ve been with us all year or only just discovered our community we want to thank you for visiting and wish you and yours a Happy New Year.
We’re looking forward to producing more photography tips and tutorials like the ones featured above as we move into 2009 and look forward to learning more with you in the new year!
Original post by Darren
There’s a very interesting Photoshop filter plugin from Redfield Plugins called Fractalius. It’s only available for Windows at the moment. According to the site, the Fractalius plugin creates unusual, eccentric artworks in a single step. The effects are based on extraction of so-called hidden fractal texture of an image. You can also simulate various types of exotic lightings and high realistic pencil sketches. You can see a large samples gallery at the Redfield site. (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)
Original post by site admin
John Nack reports that there is a cool contest with some very nice prizes going on. Here’s the scoop: Feel like winning an Alienware Area-51 PC, or perhaps one of several NVIDIA Quadro CX graphics cards? Then get cranking creating some killer Pixel Bender code for use in Photoshop, Flash, and After Effects. Here’s the official blurb… (posted by Jennifer Apple for www.PhotoshopSupport.com)
Original post by site admin
Digital Cameras seem to be one of the gifts of choice this year for Christmas if the questions in my inbox are anything to go by.
As so many new camera owners are starting out with photography in the new year I thought I’d compile a list of photography tips and techniques that new camera owners might like to work through in the coming weeks.
Some are very basic while others go a little deeper - but all have been selected from our archives specifically for beginners and new camera owners. Enjoy.
Introductions to Useful Modes and Settings on Your Digital Camera
1. Digital Camera Modes Explained - I spoke with a family friend recently who had just bought a new point and shoot camera. She came up to me with her camera when no one was watching and embarrassedly asked me if I could tell her what all the little icons on the dial on top of her camera meant. This article explains what each of these most common digital camera modes means and does. Knowing them can take your shots to the next level.
2. Aperture and Shutter Priority Mode - this introduction talks you through these two very useful settings that can be found on many digital cameras. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes take you out of Automatic mode giving you more control over your images - but don’t thrust you fully into manual mode - they are great settings to explore and master.
4. Introduction to White Balance - one of the most common problems that I see in beginner photographer images are shots with incorrect color. We’ve all seen them - portraits where your subjects teeth and eyeballs (and everything else) has a yellowish tinge. Learn what causes this and how to combat it with this tutorial on White Balance.
4. Understanding Histograms - ‘histograms are scary’ - this is what one reader said to me recently when they discovered that they could view these little graphs or charts on their camera. While they might seem a little technical it is amazing how simple a histogram is to interpret. Know what you’re looking for and with just a glance you’ll know if your image is under or over exposed. It’s a useful tool to master.
5. Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) - this feature is another of those often unexplored settings that many cameras have built into them that will allow you to get well exposed shots in even the trickiest of lighting situations.
Other Basic Camera Techniques
6. How to Hold a Digital Camera - this beginner tutorial covers a topic that most camera owners skip over without realizing that it is a foundational lesson in photography. Get this wrong and it can impact the quality of your shots.
7. Shutter Release Technique - another ‘basic’ or ‘beginner’ type tip that many do intuitively - but which can drastically improve your photography if you don’t do it.
8. How to Use Focal Lock - yet another beginner technique that many of us take for granted yet which is at the core of how all digital cameras focus automatically. Get this wrong and you’ll take a lot of shots of out of focus subjects and in focus backgrounds!
9. How to Take Sharp Digital Images - ‘my shots are fuzzy’ - it’s a common problem that we’re asked about at DPS so we wrote this tutorial to refer people to to help them get the sharpest images that their camera can take.
10. Shooting with an In Camera Flash - flash photography with an in built flash can lead to some terribly blown out images - here are a few tips on how to avoid them. On a similar topic - here’s 7 Strategies for Avoiding Flash Blow Out.
11. How to Get Shallow Depth of Field in Your Digital Photos - a great technique to learn if you’re into many types of photography (portraits, macro etc) is how to control the depth of field in your shots and make your main subject ‘pop’ out by making your background nicely blurred - this tutorial talks you through how to do it.
12. Understanding Exposure - this post talks new camera owners through the three main elements of Exposure. Once you’ve read it also check out our introductions to ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.
Camera Care and Maintenance
13. How to Avoid a Dirty DSLR Sensor - one of the fastest ways to ruin every single shot you take with your new DSLR is to end up with a dirty image sensor. This tutorial gives some basic tips on how to ensure it stays as clean as possible.
14. How to Clean a DSLR Lens - as much as you try to protect them - lenses tend to get a little grimy over time. This tutorial shares some basic tips on how to clean them up so that your shots will be as clear as possible.
15. 7 Digital Camera Predators and How to Keep them at Bay - this tutorial talks you through 7 of the most common ways that digital cameras get damaged - what to look out for and what preventative action to take to avoid them.
Composition Tips
16. The Rule of Thirds - whether you know it to follow it or break it - it’s something you should at least know about.
17. Points of Interest - an image without some visual point of interest in it is unlikely to hold the eye of anyone viewing it.
18. Getting Horizons Horizontal - the perfect way to ruin that lovely sunset or landscape shot is to make it lean to one side. Get your Horizon Horizontal!
19. Fill Your Frame - this is not applicable to every shot you take but many photographers could drastically improve their photography by getting in close to their subject and filling their frame.
20. Getting Backgrounds Right - the background of your shot can make or break your image. This tutorial talks you through a number of things to look out for and techniques to use to get them just right.
21. Adding Randomness to Your Photos - learn how to set your images apart from everyone else’s by injecting creativity, variety and a little randomness into your shots.
Of course the above 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules for beginner camera owners just scratch the surface of all there is to learn about the art of photography. Subscribe to our blog here (via email or RSS) to get more free daily tips to help you keep improving and learning.
Original post by Darren
