Nikonians Articles

I often hear Ansel Adams invoked during discussions on photography. Many times, it is apparent that the person invoking Adams knows little about him or his life, but read a few lines somewhere written by some obscure person who said whatever it was about Adams that they then repeated as true. Read more...

Sometimes I cannot get outside in a location that will allow me to take interesting photographs or the weather just won’t allow it. But, I still want to use my camera to take photographs so I’ll try setting up a still life of some sort. At one point, I read about light box photography and saw some beautiful flower images that a photographer, who teaches the technique, had taken. Read more...

My goal, with every photograph I take, is to make each image be the very best that it can be by my standards and by general artistic standards. Read more...

Learning to photograph animals in action takes effort, time and patience and, at some point, will result in successful action shots. Read more...

Most photographers are not natural planners. If you come from a landscape background, you expect to be inspired by what you find. Photojournalists look for the decisive moment. Press photographers were always told ‘f8 and be there’. But even the most spontaneous photographer needs at least the basic planning of having their equipment ready when the moment happens. Read more...

Photographing on the slopes. Of course we can records our walks, our resort, our after-ski parties and other festivities. You'll find more than enough hints about it in articles about nature, street or night photography. And to make writing and reading easy, I speak about skiers and skiing. Snowboarders are of course included in these terms. Read more...

Many people advocate that we “throw away the rules,” or use them “with a grain of salt.” But it is imperative to learn all of these compositional rules and to know them so well that they can be used without conscious thought. Then, and only then, can you forget about the rules and toss them to the wind. Read more...

The factor which can disrupt whole shoots or, equally, turn dross into gold, is what we call in the trade ‘the human factor’. Read more...

Nikonians co-founder J. Ramon Palacios (jrp) comes back to us with what he has learned about the third of the seven deadly sins in photography: Incorrect focus. Read more...

Concept beats everything else in studio photography. I want to share with you an image shot outdoors, in the dark, with no lights, no photographic equipment apart from a camera and a tripod, but which epitomises the studio method. Read more...

This is the first in an eight part series that looks at studio photography. I’m going to look at Concept, Working With People, Planning, Composition, Lighting, Shooting and Post-processing. Read more...

It is said that “familiarity breeds contempt”. We live in a world that demands constant change if we are to remain engaged or interested. Today, children’s attention spans are measured not in hours or minutes, but in seconds. As a culture, we are continually bombarded by imagery designed to challenge, confront or confuse our senses. Read more...