I’ve been doing professional travel photography for a bunch of years now, and I’m pretty often pleased with the images of people I’ve captured. So the inevitable questions I am asked are “How do you do it? Do you have any tips for the amateur photographer that you’re willing to share?”

How shooting at sunrise and sunset will improve your photography.

After more than 30 years in photography, I’ve come to understand that our art consists of two major distinctions. The first is creative vision, the second is technological. I’ll be writing a lot about the creative aspects of photography – the right mental attitude, the vision, the motivations- but in this blog I’ll discuss one technological issue that seems to plague amateur photographers. That is the decision to shoot in aperture priority, shutter priority or fully automatic.
I’ll be the first to admit that today’s DSLRs do a pretty fine job …

…backing up is a good idea even if you are a newbie photographer. You certainly don’t want to risk losing your images from your 3-week European family vacation.

One of the thorniest challenges for professional and advanced amateur photographers alike is packing for a trip. Every year the situation seems to worsen. Airlines are not only more restrictive than ever, they are also arbitrary and capricious. One time I’ll be let through and on a different leg of the same trip I’ll be stopped and told I cannot take my bag onto the plane. Or I’ll be in a remote location where a bush pilot will severely limit my carry-on bag.
One not-so-humorous incident (at the time) happened on …

How would you like to increase the dramatic impact of your photography by an order of magnitude? I’m not exactly sure what that last phrase means, but it sounds impressive. This is what I do mean, though. If there is one photographic technique that can put your images on steroids, it’s shooting tight.

By shooting tight, I’m referring to zooming in on the subject so that you remove distracting elements and instead highlight its most salient feature(s). Take the photo below as an example. I shot it on one of my …

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a senior photographer. Not senior as in jobsite seniority. I’m old. Maybe even ancient (well, 60 no longer seems as old as it did when I was thirty).
For us photo geezers, I offer the following: my favorite accessories that I employ in the field, whether I’m shooting landscapes in Ecuador or wildlife in Africa. I’m a professional photographer, so use or modify these suggestions to suit your photographic needs. And, send in your own suggestions which I will post on my site and credit to …

I don’t mean to be sarcastic… no, I take that back. I do mean to be sarcastic. Here goes. There is no rule that says you must hold your camera at eye level, in a standing position, with the camera in landscape orientation every time. There, I said it!
As a professional photographer and former editor, I figure that about 98% of all photos taken by amateurs are in landscape orientation. That, in itself, would not be so bad. But when you couple that with the dreaded eye-level perspective, the results …

If there is one question that amateurs most often ask about my images, it’s: “How do you get those clouds to pop out so much?” The alternative question is how I get the blue skies to render so… well, blue.
Use a Polarizing Filter
The short answer is that I use a polarizing filter probably 80% of the time when I’m shooting outdoors during the daytime. It’s the not-so-secret ingredient that pros use all the time because our editors, and people who buy our images for their home or office, want to …