Category Archive: Photography Lessons

Mistakes make great photographers

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Why mistakes are good, and how you can use them to develop your own personal style.

Young olive skinned girl crouching by partially shown stools with an intent look on her face as she takes a photograph through a window. It looks cold and bright outside, there are people walking past and the butterfly logo of Itsu is clearly visible on a temporary fence around tables

10 Uses For Your Photographer’s Workbook

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Uses of the photographer’s workbook for beginners and improvers

To Crop Or Not To Crop

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This post discusses cropping and helps you understand the pros and cons of cropping for those who are learning more about photography

Five Fundamentals of Composition for Photographers

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This post explains the five fundamental rules of composition and how you can develop your own personal style.

10 ways to incorporate the background into your photograph’s narrative

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One of the things that differentiates a ‘snap’ from a professional-looking photograph is how the photographer deals with the background. This post discusses how awareness of your background can make your photographs better.

What Settings Should Be Used for Motion Blur?

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This post builds on the last two #togtips posts. It discusses how to achieve motion blur and gives a few practice questions

In this shot from Thessaloniki I've selected an aperture and exposure that means your eyes first fall on the graffiti and its message, and composed the shot so that your eye is then drawn to the man in the wheelchair. The idea is to give you a bit of a shock.

Getting The Light Right – understanding exposure

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This builds on the last how-to post with a way of thinking and useful practice tool for getting to grips with how aperture, shutter speed and ISO can be combined to get the narrative you want.

I got this lovely motion blur with a slightly longer shutter speed than would have frozen the motion.

Why there are no ideal camera settings

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Don’t let the camera take the artistic decisions in your photography! This post for beginners talks about basic camera settings and how to get the correct exposure.

Fishermen in Goa at sunset, this image is a temporary choice as I can't access my safari images right now.

Starting Safari Photography

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An increasing number of people on my regular City Academy photography courses want to learn to take better shots for an upcoming safari. Shooting on safari is very different to a London-based travel,… Continue reading →

Portrait before (left) and after (right) running the image through free selfie 'improvement' apps

Don’t like your selfie? Copy the stars and use some apps!

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Back in August I did a little consulting on selfies for Closer Mag. As is normal, the journalist concerned synthesised what I said and selected quotes to fit the flow of their features.… Continue reading →