This post has been updated. It was originally published on July 23, 2019.

A well-curated photo bookshelf can be an excellent source of inspiration when it comes to your own photo projects. Cracking open a nicely bound photography book focuses the eye in ways that just can’t be duplicated when scrolling through Instagram. These famous photography books are essential for any kind of photographer.

Related: Paris streets in B&W, Meyerowitz’s classic ‘Cape Light,’ and other books worth viewing

Nan Goldin, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency

SEE IT

Nan Goldin describes the photographs inside this book as a visual diary. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was first published in 1986 and captures the photographer’s personal encounters in a time when New York City was still very rough around the edges. Her photographs are intimate but also candid and document a way of living that largely disappeared by the 1990s. The work has become a cultural touchstone for generations of photographers since.

Gordon Parks, The New Tide: Early Work 1940-1950

SEE IT

Gordon Parks was the first African-American photographer to have work appear in LIFE magazine—he’d go on to spend more than two decades working as a staff photographer. Throughout his career, Parks was known for documenting stories related to the arts, civil rights, and poverty. This book collects photographs from the first decade of his career including work from his days in Minnesota, Chicago’s Black Renaissance, and images depicting segregation throughout the South. The New Tide gives an in-depth look at Parks’ groundbreaking photojournalistic vision.

Mary Ellen Mark, Tiny, Streetwise Revisited

SEE IT

In the early ’80s, while working on a photo story about unhoused youth in Seattle, Mary Ellen Mark met Tiny, a 13-year-old victim of human trafficking with big dreams. Mark ended up photographing Tiny for thirty years and documented her transformation from a fierce 13-year-old to a middle-aged mother of ten. Tiny, Streetwise Revisited captures the way that Tiny’s life has unfolded and speaks to issues of poverty, race, and addiction.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment

SEE IT

Henri Cartier-Bresson is easily one of the most famous and influential photographers ever, and this is among his most famous photography books. Originally published in 1952, it catalogs work from the early days of his career. The “decisive moment” is a term that gets thrown around in photo circles constantly, and it’s all about watching and waiting for that visual peak of a scene. This book gives photographers a chance to dig into the frames where Cartier-Bresson captured just that.

Robert Frank, The Americans

SEE IT

Although critics panned it after its 1959 release, The Americans, Robert Frank’s B&W photographs of the United States have had an undeniable influence on the medium. The book contains 83 photographs captured during a road trip across the USA that reveal a less-than-rosy perspective of the so-called “American dream.” The photographs that make up The Americans have an asymmetrical and impressionistic style that still influences shooters to this day.

Lynsey Addario, Of Love & War

SEE IT

Of Love & War is the first photography book from prolific photojournalist Lynsey Addario, and includes images that span her career as a photographer documenting war-torn regions of the world like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan. Her arresting images are interspersed with diary entries from her assignments, letters back home to her family, and present-day reflections on her career as a photojournalist. It’s an in-depth look at what it takes to be a conflict photographer in the modern era.

Gregory Heisler, 50 Portraits

SEE IT

Too many instructional portrait photography books get caught up in technical details like lighting and composition without delving into the intangible elements that make a good picture of a person. Heisler has spent decades photographing high-profile subjects for prestigious outlets and this book tells the story behind some of his most famous images. There’s not a lot of talk about shutter speeds or flash positioning, but you do get a look into his process for getting to know his subjects and envisioning what the final shot will look like.

Neil Leifer, Relentless

SEE IT

Neil Leifer led an amazing life. He started his career by sneaking his camera into baseball games as a volunteer. He went on to capture some of the most iconic sports—and general interest—photos of all time. The book is worth the read just to learn the backstory of the famous Muhammad Ali photos alone, but the real draw is the perfect mix of his eccentric personality and his impeccable photographic mind.

Ansel Adams, The Print

SEE IT

The photographic process has changed profoundly in the decades since Ansel Adams released his trio of iconic instructional books. While The Print has a lot of darkroom information that may not apply to digital shooters, it also perfectly sums up the concept of pre-visualizing a final image before you take the shot. Adams knew that “getting it right in camera” meant giving yourself the best possible raw materials for the print—or in modern times, the Instagram post. Even just the intro may change the way you think about photography if you’re trying to level up your skills.

Other famous photography books

This list, of course, only scratches the surface of famous photography books. Looking for more inspiration? Check out some of our other photobook recommendations right here.

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Consider time-lapse photography the anti-slow-motion video: With it, you can watch morning turn to evening in a minute, see a structure being built to completion by superspeed workers, and be a spectator at a very fast snail race.

You probably already have everything, or most everything, you need to make a time-lapse sequence. “Really, all you need is a tripod, a DSLR, and an intervalometer,” says Andrew Geraci, who confesses to using a “very cheap” intervalometer with his Canon EOS 5D Mark III and 15mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss ZE lens to make this time-lapse of the Manhattan skyline.

An increasing number of DSLRs and ILCs have built-in intervalometers that allow you to set the frequency and number of frames to be taken. If your camera lacks this feature, you can connect an accessory intervalometer to most any DSLR.

STEP 1: Size it down!
You will likely play your time-lapse sequence at standard video speed, 30 frames per second. This means that for every second of video, you need to take 30 still frames; for every minute, you will need 1800 frames (30 X 60 seconds). So don’t take 12- or 16- or 24-megapixel images, but JPEGs close to your largest playback resolution—640×480, 1280×720, or 1920×1080.

STEP 2: Time it out.
For a 1-minute (1,800-frame) video of an event unfolding over the course of 1 hour (60 minutes), 1,800 frames divided by 60 yields 30 frames in a minute—or one every 2 seconds. So set your timer to an interval of 2 seconds and a duration of 60 minutes.

STEP 3: OK, guesstimate it.
A simple guideline: For slow-moving subjects, use longer intervals, for faster moving subjects, shorter intervals. For a time-lapse of changes to a tree over a month, you might want to use an interval of a full day. For an hour’s worth of that morning-blooming plant, maybe 1 frame a second.

STEP 4: Power it up.
Your camera has a rated battery life of 500 shots per charge, and you’re shooting a 3,000-frame sequence. No go. If you’re shooting a sequence with long intervals, you can simply swap out batteries for fresh ones as they drain. Accessory battery grips can double or triple your shot capacity. Shooting near an AC outlet, your best bet is an AC adapter for power supply.

STEP 5: Set the camera.
For most subjects, keep the lens on manual focus. Use autoexposure, unless you want to record the changing light over several hours, in which case try a manual exposure for noon daylight. Andrew Geraci manually changed the aperture every time the light changed +/– 1 EV.

STEP 6: Put ’em together.
You may already have the software you need to assemble your frames into a video. If you have a Mac, you can do it in iPhoto. Many enthusiastic time-lapsers recommend Apple Quick Time Pro ($30 direct, for Mac or Windows). You can also do it in a variety of other still- and video-editing programs.

You may already have everything you need for a basic time-lapse shoot; plenty of recent cameras—including numerous point-and-shoots—have built-in intervalometers.

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The popular technique called painting with light treats your camera’s film or sensor as a blank, black canvas on which you “paint” in your subject by applying light something like the way artists apply paint to a white canvas. “One of the wonderful things about light painting,” says Harold Ross, who “painted” this idyllic scene, “is that it can transform the mundane into something greater.” Most light paintings are in one of two styles. You can illuminate your subject with a handheld light source, applying light to bring out its color, shape, texture, and dimensions. Or, you can turn your light toward the camera, and move it to create line drawings, patterns, or even words that become your subjects. Light paintings can be done outdoors after dark, or indoors in a darkened room, and your light source can be broad (LED panel) or focused (LED flashlight).

ENTER OUR MAY 2014 PHOTO CHALLENGE: OUTDOOR LIGHT PAINTING

Step 1: Shop Your Closet
Use a camera that lets you manually set long exposures, a tripod, and a remote release. For painting big scenes, use a large, soft light and a portable battery to power it. And wear black!

Step 2: Scout Location
Assuming you’re going to paint your scene with light (rather than make the light itself your subject), find an isolated subject that you can approach and apply light from all sides to bring out its dimensionality. Select locations with minimal ambient light contamination.

Step 3: Set Up Your Gear
For subjects like trees and water, wait for a windless night, preferably one with a full moon to light up your backgrounds. Go at least an hour before nightfall so that you can compose the scene and set up your gear while you can still see. Since histograms are of limited use in night shooting, consider tethering the camera to a laptop; this can help you evaluate and adjust the scene’s exposure as you paint. To add some extra color to your composition, use acetate gels over your light source.

Step 4: Practice Your Moves
Perform a dry run, without opening the shutter, to determine how long it will take to apply the light, then set an ISO and mid-range aperture that will allow you to set that length of time as your shutter speed.

Step 5: Shoot Your Scene
Open the shutter with a remote release or self-timer, step into the scene and start painting. Move quickly and continuously. If for some reason you need to pause, turn off your light source. Don’t aim the light straight at the subject, especially from the camera’s position. Instead, angle or “feather” the way the light strikes your subject to bring out shape, texture, and dimension. Painting the background around your subject can help define its outer contours. When finished, quench the light and close the shutter.

Kris Holland/Mafic Studios

Harold Ross used multiple exposures for his finished image, but you can make successful “paintings” in long single exposures. In twilight, Ross made ambient-light exposures for the water and background with a CamboWide RS body with Phase One P45+ digital back** (A)**. In full darkness, he opened the shutter and painted with two attached 10×10-inch LED panels (B), making separate exposures for each element. Later, he merged the exposures in Adobe Photoshop CC.

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Thanks to an electronic flash’s ability to produce instantaneous bursts of light lasting about 1/15,000 sec or shorter, most photographers can capture a moving subject with absolute sharpness in ways that the human eye can’t see. Tom Smith, a 15-year-old from Lytham, England, did just that when he set up two off-camera accessory flashes in his Lancashire kitchen to capture this orange plunging into a fish tank.

While Smith timed the flash firings using his own reflexes (and lots of trial and error), electronic flash trigger kits make it much easier to photograph balloon pops, BB pellets flying through apples, or whatever else you can dream up. These kits work with sound cues (like a balloon’s pop) or infrared beams with controllers that let you fine tune flash firings to the millisecond in order to capture action at its most perfect peak.

STEP 1: 
Pick a subject

It could be a splash, like Tom Smith’s orange, a liquid droplet, or a water balloon in mid-pop. And once you get the lighting and trigger technique down, you can apply it to anything that moves fast.

STEP 2: 
Collect your gear

For a shot like this, you will need a camera that lets you manually set long (or Bulb) shutter speeds, a tripod, wireless radio flash triggers, a mid-range telephoto lens, remote shutter release, accessory flash units (two, with feet), a fishtank, black backdrop, and plenty of towels. For more consistent and predictable results, consider an electronic flash triggering kit like those from Cognisys.

STEP 3: 
Build your set

Work in a room that allows total darkness. Use your flashes in manual mode, at the lowest power for the shortest flash duration—
usually 1/32 or 1/64 power. Place the flashes as close to your subject as possible, arranged so they light the subject evenly. Dial in a mid-range aperture (Smith used f/11) and the lowest ISO that you can.

STEP 4: 
Fire away

Turn off the room lights, open your camera’s shutter, and set your subject in motion. If firing the flashes yourself (with radio triggers), perform test drops to fine-tune the timing. Smith was rewarded with a handful of keepers across hundreds of exposures. With a flash trigger such as the IR-based StopShot, you can up your success rate—set it up according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If you’re working with water, protect your flash units with plastic wrap.

STEP 5: 
Fix things later

Smith applied a few basic adjustments such as increasing Clarity (for more midtone contrast), adding Vibrance, sharpening, and cropping to a tighter composition. His most time-consuming task was cloning out debris, out-of-focus bubbles, and grit as he retouched in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

A typical strategy for capturing a fruit splash involves a darkened room and a tripod-mounted camera (A) with its shutter held open by a remote shutter release (B). The photographer then drops the fruit into a tank, breaking an infrared beam (C) cast by an infrared transmitter/receiving sensor (D). When the beam is broken, an electronic controller (E) fires two hardwired flash units (F) after a user-set delay measured in milliseconds.** Graphic: Kris Holland/Mafic Studios**

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Software Workshop: How To Edit Video in Adobe Lightroom

Software Workshop: How To Remove a Person From a Photo

Software Workshop: Convert A Photo To Black-and-White

Software Workshop: Maximize Depth of Field by Focus Stacking

Software Workshop: What’s New in Adobe Lightroom 5

Software Workshop: How To Scan Film For Great Digital Photos

Software Workshop: Simulate Film with Alien Skin Exposure 5

Software Workshop: Photoshop CC’s Filters Take the Blur out of Shaky Shots

Software Workshop: Fake Infrared Photography Using Adobe Camera Raw
[**

**](https://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2013/11/software-workshop-fake-infrared-photography-using-adobe-camera-raw/)

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Photo: Brian Klutch

The cost of photo equipment can add up quickly. We scoured through all the gear we saw this year and found the best values, so you can pay attention to your exposures instead of your bank account.

Cameras

Nikon D3300

Nikon has been delivering lots of resolution in its DSLRs over the past couple of years. In the D3300’s case, this resulted in an Excellent image quality rating in our lab tests from ISO 100 through 400. With faithful color reproduction and speedy autofocus, this **$547 **entry-level could be just the thing for great shots of your active children. Its fast burst rate of 5 frames per second matches our suggested minimum for shooting sports.

Panasonic Lumix GH3

Panasonic hasn’t stopped selling the GH3, despite releasing the GH4 this year. Why? We think it’s because the company knows that some shooters don’t need to step up to the GH4’s 4K video recording, and the GH3 is a very capable still and video camera in its own right. It earned an Excellent image quality rating from ISO 125 through 400, has Excellent color accuracy, and can capture up to 18 RAW images (or fill your SD card up with JPEGs) at 6 frames per second. With a rugged, weather-sealed body, it’s a bargain at $1,098****.

Olympus PEN E-PL5

This mid-level ILC boasts a 16MP Four-Thirds-sized sensor and sensitivity up to ISO 25,600; its 3-inch tilting LCD touchscreen lets you tap your subject to snap the picture. There’s no pop-up flash, but the PL5 comes with Olympus’s small FL-LM1 hot-shoe flash. It’ll record video at up to 1920x1080i60 and its sensor-shift image stabilization will work with whatever lens you mount on the camera. You can pick up the PL5 with a 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens for $600.

Samsung NX Mini with 9mm lens

Lots of street shooters will go out with just a single prime lens, typically a wide angle between 24 and 35mm. With its 1-inch sensor, the**** **$400 **NX Mini’s 9mm lens has a field of view similar to a 24mm lens on a full-frame camera. It scored an Extremely High image quality rating in our test and has built-in Wi-Fi that lets you change camera controls and trigger the shutter remotely; it’s also easy to transfer images to a smartphone for sharing.

Canon EOS Rebel SL1

If you want a small camera, you might consider an ILC, but Canon’s SL1 is nearly as small as some mirrorless cameras. In our lab tests it achieved an Extremely High image quality rating from ISO 100 through 1600, delivering enough resolving power to make large prints and with solid noise control, so you won’t see much grain unless you want to add it in after the fact. It’s missing Wi-Fi, but you can add an Eye-Fi Mobi card to port images to a smartphone. With an 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6 IS STM kit lens, the SL1 streets for**** $599.

Pentax 645D

When first announced, Pentax’s 645D seemed a bargain in the medium-format digital world. Now that Ricoh has dropped the price to**** $4,997, it’s as bargain as you can get for a 40MP medium-format SLR body. Its CCD imager can’t offer the massive sensitivity range of the 645Z, but its range of ISO 100–1600 is what one might have expected before CMOS invaded the medium-format world.

Sony a5000

While Sony’s fancy a6000 has been making more headlines this year, its a5000 lets you get into mirrorless for $448 with a 16–50mm f/3.5–5.6 kit lens. Its 20.1MP APS-C-sized sensor is plenty for the average shooter. It sports Wi-Fi for image sharing, 1920x1080p60 video capture, and a 3.0-inch 460,000-dot tilting LCD that flips up for selfies.

Photo: Brian Klutch

Lenses

Rokinon 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC CS

Made for APS-C bodies, this fast, manual-focus, ultrawide is available in 10 different mounts, including the rarely seen (non-Micro) Four Thirds. The well-damped focusing ring turns 170 degrees and the depth-of-field scale covers all whole stops from f/4 through f/22. The lens is bit large and heavy for its class, uses 77mm filters, and showed visible barrel distortion; but, you’d have to spend hundreds more than this optic’s $379 price to find something comparable with minimal distortion.

Nikon 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G DX ED VR AF-S

Covering an equivalent focal-length range of 27–210mm on Nikon’s APS-C bodies, this utili-zoom can cover most of the casual shooter’s needs. In our tests it showed distortion on par with other lenses in this class, but it got slightly better SQF results than comparable lenses from Canon, Pentax, and Tokina. Nikon’s Vibration Reduction gave our testers 3 stops of hand-holding leeway in lab tests. Since our test in April of this year, the price has dropped by $100, making it a steal at $497.

Sigma 18–200mm f/3.5–6.3 DC Macro OS HSM

This compact, light, big-range zoom had excellent SQF numbers at all tested focal lengths when we reported our lab results in August. Labeled macro, it has a maximum magnification of 1:2.59 and focuses as close as 12.53 inches. Its optical image stabilization gave us an average of 2.66 stops of shutter-speed leeway, which should help when racked out to 200mm. We described its autofocus as “responsive, accurate, quiet, and in every way satisfying.” What else is there to say? It costs just $399.

Tamron 16–300mm f/3.5–6.3 DiII VC PZD Macro

We dubbed this lens the “Zoom King” in our July 2014 test due to its monstrous 18.8X range. Covering an equivalent of 24.8–465mm on the APS-C bodies it was designed for, it showed a very impressive magnification of 1:2.30, and near-lack of distortion in macro range. We saw no vignetting in the macro range, or at 35mm, 100mm, or 300mm. Even at 16mm, light falloff was gone by f/4. If you’re going to buy one lens to keep on your camera at all times, this **$629 **optic is the one.

Photo: Brian Klutch

Flashes

Cactus RF60 flash and transceiver

Wireless flash control for multiple off-camera flash units can get pricey quickly, since most manufacturer’s systems won’t work together. The $140 Cactus RF60 has a built in 16-channel transceiver with a maximum range of 328 feet, thanks to its 2.4GHz RF transmission, and a guide number of 183 feet at ISO 100 when zoomed to 105mm. Best of all, it can control multiple brands of flash units simultaneously in up to four groups. If you don’t want to use the flash as a controller, you can add the V6 transceiver for $55.

FlashPoint**** ****StreakLight 360 Ws Flash

For an event photographer, nothing’s more helpful than a powerful, long-lasting flash unit. If you can’t abide the over-$1,000 price tag of a Quantum Instruments Qflash, Adorama’s $390 FlashPoint StreakLight 360 Ws unleashes photons with faster recycling times than most shoe-mount flashes, and it’s adjustable from full power down to 1/128 power in 1/3-stop increments. It has an AF-assist beam, two sync jacks, an optical slave trigger, and a stroboscopic mode. It also comes with two diffusion discs and accepts Lumedyne and Quantum accessories.

Phottix Mitros+ and Odin Trigger

An off-camera radio frequency (RF) wireless flash with a shoe-mounted controller lets you place your flash anywhere within hundreds of feet and control the unit from your shooting position. Though slightly less powerful than Canon’s Speedlight 600EX-RT, the Mitros+’s 190 guide number at ISO 100 is plenty powerful. Plus, this flash/trigger combo’s $550 price tag is the same as the cost of the Canon flash alone. Adding Canon’s trigger would bring you up over $800.

Accessories

**

**

Canon Pixma MG3520

If you’re a photographer who wants an all-in-one printer/scanner at a great price, you should definitely turn your eye toward a unit made by a dedicated imaging brand such as Canon. This model will scan at up to 1200×2400 dpi, and its AirPrint system lets you print directly from an iPhone or iPad, while the built-in Wi-Fi allows printing from anywhere in your home. It’s only a two-cartridge ink system (black and multi-color) and is limited to letter-size paper, but it’s compatible with a large array of paper types and can be had for just $60.

Epson Perfection V550

If you’re only an occasional 35mm film shooter, it might not make sense to get a dedicated film scanner. A flatbed such as this Epson, which can scan both negatives and slides, will likely prove more versatile in the long run, especially if you and your family also have prints that need digitizing. With 48-bit color depth and 6400X 9600-dpi resolution, the V550 will pull all of the detail out of those prints and its Easy Photo Fix and Digital ICE technology can help speed up any retouching needed. It goes for only $170.

Lomography 100 Negative film

We’ve got a positive outlook on this negative film. At $7.90 for a three pack, that’s just over $2.50 per roll. While it costs about the same as drug-store film, this film probably hasn’t been sitting on a store shelf since the Clinton administration. Plus its high contrast gives you that special Lomo aesthetic that compensates well for old fixed-lens cameras or old lenses that often yield low-contrast images.

Monoprice 27-inch IPS WQHD display

LCD monitors that use in-plane switching (IPS) technology can display more consistently accurate colors across wider viewing angles compared with those using twisted nematic (TN) technology. While IPS monitors usually cost extra, this Monoprice will set you back just $460. According to the company, it can recreate 1.07 billion color combinations.

**Quantum Turbo 3 Battery **

Though it may seem pricey at $624, the Turbo 3 will reduce your shoe-mount flash’s recycle time to around
a second and can make it last for upwards of 1,000 shots. It can charge up to two flashes at once and has a gauge to let you know how much power you have left. You can also use it to power a wide variety of camera bodies, and it can power your camera and a flash at the same time.

**Monoprice 41.3-inch 5-in-1 collapsible reflector **

The company that made its name by selling well-made audio-video cables has quietly turned its attention to photo accessories. We were floored by this $14 reflector. It can function as a diffuser or you can use the zippered cover to turn it into a silver, gold, white, or black reflector. The steel frame collapses into a 16-inch storage pouch.

Slik Pro 700DX A.M.T Super Titanium Alloy Tripod

Think of it as the Mongoose BMX bike of tripods. Using titanium alloy instead of aluminum, this $100 three-footed camera support is 40 percent lighter than aluminum tripods with the same 15-pound weight capacity, according to Slik. And while its maximum height is 74.8 inches, you can use its three-step leg angle adjustment to get it down as low as 15 inches. Meanwhile, the 700DX weighs in at a meager 7.05 pounds.

LumoPro LP605 Portable Light Stand

When you’re carrying around a lot of gear, every ounce counts. This light stand extends up to 7.5 feet, but weighs an easy-to-tote 2.6 pounds. Three removable, retractable spikes on the legs can be pushed into the ground to help secure the stand when shooting on location. Made of sturdy aluminum and containing five telescoping sections, the **$40 **LP605 is topped with a standard 5/8-inch stud with both 3/8-inch and 1/4-inch 20 threads.

**3Pod V2AH Video Tripod **

A tall, sturdy video tripod is not easy to find. With a smooth-turning pan/tilt fluid head, 77.56-inch maximum height, and load capacity of 14 pounds, this support from Adorama seems like it should cost more than $150. The legs and head each have their own spirit level, the quick-release plate has a nifty safety lock, and the panning arm is reversible to accommodate both left- and right-handed shooters. The ‘pod weighs 13.5 pounds and comes with a padded carrying case.

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beachscene

Pinhole photography cameras is as minimalist as the art gets: All you need is a light-tight box with a tiny hole on the front, and something light-sensitive fastened onto the inside rear of the box, and you can take a picture. In the process, you will get weirdly beautiful results, including infinite focus from near to far (or, often more accurately, equal slight fuzziness from near to far). “Once you realize that there are no knobs, no flashing lights, no buttons, dials, or digital displays to distract you, making pictures becomes fun again rather than a technical chore,” says Andrew Watson, who made this photo of the beach in Brighton, England on Kodak Ektar 100.

You can make your own pinhole camera (out of practically anything), build a kit camera, buy a ready-made camera, or, simplest of all, use the camera you already have, whether film or digital, SLR or ILC, with a pinhole body cap in place of a lens.

STEP 1: 
Learn the basics

The focal length of a pinhole photography camera is determined by the distance of the pinhole to the film or sensor, and there are optimal pinhole sizes for adequate sharpness. Optimum pinhole size for 50mm would be no bigger than 0.3mm, for example; the f-number would be about f/160. So you’ll need a tripod, or at least a solid perch for the camera.

STEP 2: 
Make your pinhole

You can turn a camera’s body cap into a pinhole with a little fuss. Drill a small (1/8-inch) hole in the center of the cap. For the pinhole itself, use soda-can aluminum. Cut an inch-square piece of the can with a snips, and pierce the center using the smallest needle that will go through. Then tape the pinhole over the hole you drilled in the body cap.

STEP 3: Or buy a pinhole

Commercially made pinhole photography body caps have the advantage of being properly sized and well machined. Companies such as Rising, Holga, Wanderlust, and Lenox Laser make them, available through camera retailers or direct. Most body-cap pinholes give you a focal length of about 45mm on DSLRs.

STEP 4
: Figure exposure

Your DSLR or ILC metering system will go blind at f/160, although you will be able to compose the picture with live view on a digital camera body. Starting exposure in bright sunlight for ISO 100 would be about 1 second, or ¼ sec for ISO 400.

STEP 5: 
Exploit the look

Place objects or subjects very close to the pinhole photography camera to have them loom against the background (wider focal lengths work best for this effect). Photograph bodies of water in lower light to smooth the water out to glass—no neutral-density filters needed.

STEP 6: 
Do it with film

Many like the look of pinhole photography with film, but you won’t be able to review your exposure in the field. A Black Cat Exposure Guide can be very useful here: it has f-stops to f/1024. We’d recommend color-negative film (used by Andrew Watson for this beach scene) as it has great latitude and can tolerate a lot of overexposure.

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Popular Photography is looking for an editorial intern for a 10-week program from September-November 2013. The position is based in our New York City office, part-time (15-20 hrs/week), and must count for course credit. The internship is unpaid, and exact dates are flexible.

Interns will be tasked with:
-researching new photography gear
-helping edit content
-fact-checking
-photo research
-proofreading

Interns have the opportunity to:
-Learn and assist with a monthly print magazine production cycle
-Learn and assist with a constant Web production cycle
-pitch editors story ideas and blog posts
-accompany editors on shoots

We have a small staff, and we encourage interns to pitch ideas and chase down their own work from editors. Interns will attend meetings, help judge photo contests, and have opportunities for bylines and photo credits in print and on the Web. Interns interested in photo technology can assist editors testing the newest, most advanced lights, cameras, and lenses in our world-class test lab. You will not be fetching coffee. Interns are expected to develop their own long-term projects. Ideal candidates are motivated, curious, and eager to learn—whether it be about photography or magazine publishing. Each internship will ultimately be crafted to suit the needs and skills of each intern.

Interested parties should send a resume, clips and a cover letter that explains why you want to work at Popular Photography (and not just “some photo magazine”) to Matthew Ismael Ruiz. All submissions must be received by September 16. A decision will be made by September 20.

Physical submissions:

Popular Photography
2 Park Ave., 9th Fl.
New York, NY 10016

Digital submissions:

PopPhotoIntern@bonniercorp.com

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When Heather Collins settled her gaze on the breathtaking Point Lobos scene above during a Mentor Series trek to the California coast, she knew she’d arrived at some kind of photographic heaven.

That doesn’t mean the picture took itself. This Greenville, South Carolina, mother and community volunteer faced some hard photographic decisions. She liked the way the strong lines of the foreground fencing and its shadows pulled her eye deep into the scene and out to the glorious seascape beyond. Shouldn’t she include it?

Upon sharing the picture with fellow trekkers in a lively discussion later that evening, however, she was almost convinced that much of the fencing had to go. It actually blocked one’s view of the magical beyond. What to do? She ultimately kept the leading lines, but learned in the process that it never hurts to frame a shot in multiple ways.

Collins’s Mentor Series excursions, which have also included forays into New York City and northern Arizona, have taught her the importance of thinking before she shoots. “Is the subject conveying my message [about it] and have I used my camera to capture it in the best, most expressive, and telling ways?”

Almost as important is spending time before each trek really getting to know her camera. “I don’t want camera settings or equipment to hold me up when I’m out in the field,” she says. “I want to be ready to grab the moment when it happens.”

Collins has also discovered that shooting in RAW gives her far more flexibility than other formats when editing her files. “I find that the more data there is in an image, the better it will be,” she says.

Another reason these photo safaris are important for Collins? She’s shared all three with her father, a talented photographer himself. “He and I are a package deal on these treks,” she says. It’s almost like a family reunion.

Heather Collins of Greenville, SC, gardens and, along with her husband and children, is an avid fencer.

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A is for Action

Photo by: Stu Collier/Fotolia.com

Want to enliven your action shots? Blur is the key. For simple blur: Drop the shutter speed one or two notches below action-freezing speed to blur the hands and feet of runners, the spokes and pedals of bicycles, etc. Add flash for ghosting: With flash on relatively close subjects, you can lower the shutter speed even further. Use second-curtain sync to get a ghost trail behind the subject. Pan with the motion: Use very slow shutter speeds to blur the background into a streak.

B is for Boat

Photo by: Jon CornForth

Nature photographers Jason Hahn and Jon Cornforth (who shot the photo above) offer advice for keeping steady as she goes. Activate image stabilization: A first line of defense against wave-induced shake. (Nikon users: In very rough water, engage the Active setting on your VR lenses.) Set higher ISOs for fast shutter speeds—better a bit of noise than blurry shots. Roll with the waves: If you try to counteract the boat’s motion with your body, you’ll be less steady. Stay seated when possible. Use support: A monopod with a flat swivel foot is usually the best bet. Tripods can be cumbersome, especially in small boats.

C is for Camera Presets
Use custom settings for the types of shooting you do. Make the default settings (the ones that come up when the camera is turned on) those you use when shooting in a hurry. And fine-tune individual settings: Adjust a custom white balance to match the bulbs in your living room, for example.

D is for Diopter
If the view through your viewfinder is always blurry, check the diopter adjustment. Leave your lens cap on, turn on the camera, and adjust the diopter until the info display in the finder is as sharp as it can be.

E is for Exposure
The black cat on the black sofa. The kid in a white parka on a snow bank. These kinds of scenes fool through-the-lens meters into making these scenes gray. Fix 1, squash the histogram: Enable the histogram display on your DSLR, and use whatever meter and exposure mode you usually do to make a reading and/or exposure. Now set exposure compensation so that the histogram’s pixel pile gets shoved hard one way or the other: negative compensation to shove it to the left for dark scenes, positive compensation to shove it to the right for light scenes. Yes, you want clipping at the edge. Fix 2, ditch the camera meter: Use a handheld incident exposure meter to measure the light falling on the scene rather than reflected from it. In either case, shoot in RAW for extra leeway.

F is for Fog

Photo by: Stan Horaczek

Next time you’re literally in a fog, grab a camera and start shooting. Make flattering portraits: Fog can erase wrinkles, as well as wash out cluttered backgrounds. In really dense fog, use it for high-key portraiture—dress your subject in white and bump up the exposure. Add depth: Moderate fog can suggest depth in land- and streetscapes. Compose so that you have foreground elements close enough so that they are almost sharp, with background elements blurring out. Use it as a scrim: In the shot above, the photographer aimed a remote flash at the backs of the couple, letting the fog diffuse the beam.

G is for Gel

Even shooting RAW, you can run into white balance issues when foreground color temperatures are radically different than those of the background. There is an easy, cheap fix. Green-gel it: If you’re shooting with on-camera flash in fluorescent ambient light, pop a green gel over the flash, and set the camera white balance for fluorescent. Amber-gel it: Same situation, except tungsten ambient light? Use an amber gel on the flash and tungsten WB on the camera. Visit stickyfilters.com for a nice selection of gels.

H is for Hold Steady
In holding a DSLR, the left hand provides primary support; the right hand operates the controls. With a short lens, rest the camera on the base of your left hand; with a long lens, rest the lens on your hand so that focus and zoom rings are within reach of your fingers. Brace your left elbow against your body for stability.

I is for Image Stabilization
Maintain a half-press on the shutter button to activate stabiliza-tion, which needs a moment to settle down. Concentrate on keeping your eye on the subject. Check tripod compati-bility: With some lenses, you should keep IS on.

J is for JPEG
Yes, we recommend shooting RAW for maximum image control, but sometimes JPEGs rule. Stick with them when you want to… Shoot fast action: Many cameras reach their maximum burst rate only in JPEG mode, and can take far more shots in a burst than with RAW. Conserve memory cards: RAW files can take up to 3 to 5 times more bytes than a JPEG of the same image. Ignore the computer: If you’re uploading without editing via a camera’s Wi-Fi connection, unprocessed RAW files can look flat, while JPEGs don’t need to be converted, and upload much quicker. Not overdo quality: For a product shot for eBay, or a photo for a fishing license, RAW is overkill. Make a panorama or composite: Combining multiple photos is a serious workout for your computer; using smaller JPEGs can save you a lot of time in editing.

K is for Kit Lens

Kit lenses (typically 18–55mm in APS-C, 14–42mm in Four Thirds) perform really well for the price, but they do have drawbacks, notably slow speed. Here’s how to get the most out of them. Look sharp: Our tests show the sharpest apertures are f/5.6 at wide angle, f/8 at mid focal length, and f/8–11 at tele. Don’t neglect the mid focal lengths: With an APS-C lens, 35mm gives a normal perspective, and 50mm a very nice portrait tele view. Distortion is lowest at these settings, too. Get better bokeh: Depth of field decreases with magnification, so step closer, zoom farther, and get your subject as far from the background as you can. Move to put a plain background behind your subject.

L is for Live Music

Photo by: Dan Bracaglia TheLondonBroil.com

Concert venues are notoriously dark, so fast prime lenses and flashes (if allowed) are the way to go. Crank up the ISO: Without a flash, your shutter speed will be slow, but 1/60 sec is the low limit. Noise is better than blur. Set your aperture wide open: For tight shots of individual band members, set aperture priority mode and lock an exposure on a spotmeter reading of the faces. For wide shots, use evaluative metering to get the proper exposure, and shoot in manual to keep that setting locked. Get facial expressions: Staying on the sides of the stage is a great way to do this, but remember to move around throughout the show to get photos of the crowd.

M is for Monochrome HDR
One of best ways to learn the basics of high-dynamic-range imaging is to start with monochrome—it is more forgiving than color and free of the artificial color shifts that often mar newbie HDRs. Contributor Jim Shoemaker (see this month’s Traveling Photographer, page 42) advises the following steps. Tone-map the image: In Photomatix Pro, use very low settings to avoid an “overbaked” look. The result will be pretty flat, but with full detail. Bring out midtone contrast: In Adobe Photoshop, use the Tonal Contrast adjustment in Nik’s Color Efex Pro plug-in. Fine-tune: Use Nik Silver Efex Pro to adjust contrast, shadows, highlights, brightness, and toning.

N is for Newborn

Photo by: Chloe Ramirez

Too young to smile or hold up their heads, newborns are a challenge to photograph. Here are some strategies. Make babies comfortable: Be sure they are fed, but wait about half an hour for postprandial gassiness to subside. Most newborns (until about 14 days old) will sleep through anything, so you’ll have much more freedom to position one than you will an older baby. Get blankets and fabrics with great textures, and place the baby in and on whatever you can find—baskets, mixing bowls, cushions. Turn up the heat (as warm as 85 degrees): Make sure the baby is toasty so you can get the all-important bare shots. Bonus tip: If baby gets the hiccups, grab a camera. Shoot in burst mode—if you catch the right moment, a hiccup can look like a smile.

O is for Organize
To figure out which memory cards are empty and which are full, create a system. Store cards right-side up and facing out if they are empty. Flip them upside down if they are partly full, and upside down and backwards when they’re spent.

P is for Pop-up Flash
This can be harsh, so diffuse the output: Tape one or more sheets of single-ply tissue over the flash head, or use an accessory modifier such as the Lightscoop, a mirror that snaps in front of the pop-up to bounce its blast to a ceiling or wall.

Q is for Quiet
When a situation demands a silent camera, pros use pricey soundproof camera housings called blimps. For a gadget-free solution, use quiet mode (for instance, Canon’s EOS 5D Mark III has one). If your lens is noisy when focusing, go manual. And in a pinch, you can always wrap your camera in fabric.

R is for Ring light

_Photo by: Anastasia Abramova-Guendel _

Ring lights produce cool portrait effects beloved by fashion and beauty shooters—spooky ring-like catchlights in the eyes and a glowing, halo-like shadow behind the subject. Use a close-focusing portrait lens: The closer you can get your rig, the larger those impressive catchlights will be. Keep the ring light parallel to the subject: This will give you the halo-like shadow behind a subject who is close (but not immediately against) a white background. The halo will have more of a glow-like appearance if it’s defocused, so shoot at or near maximum aperture with a high-speed lens.

S is for Star Trails

Photo by: SeanPavonePhoto/Fotolia.com

Contributing Editor Ian Plant offers his best tips for capturing stars at long exposures. Find a remote spot: Any place near an urban area will have sky glow that can suppress star trails. Use a freshly charged camera battery: Hour-long exposures eat batteries. For very long exposures, consider auxiliary power like a Quantum flash power pack. Use a wide-angle lens: Make sure to include a foreground element. Shoot at ISO 400 to 800: It’s high enough to record stars, and low enough to suppress noise. Set an aperture around f/5.6: It will provide pretty good depth of field; smaller apertures will make the star trails faint. Aim at the North Star: This gives the classic vortex effect. Cut noise: In cold weather, noise is much less of an issue than in warm. Long-exposure noise reduction can work, but it doubles the exposure time; consider reducing noise in editing.

T is for Tone
The split-toning tool in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop Lightroom is aces for adding tone to black-and-white images, but it is cool for color, too. Make faux-vintage looks: Add warm tones to shadows and cool tones to highlights (and vice versa), or just go selectively sunbleached by warming up shadows and highlights separately. If you’re working in Lightroom, you can create presets to easily replicate favorite effects.

U is for Uploading
Photo-sharing sites can be cruel to your images, skewing their colors and adding artifacts. Give them a fighting chance by prepping them beforehand. Downsize them: Use Photoshop’s Save for Web option, which will make for quicker uploads. Make them to measure: Website auto-sizing functions often degrade image quality. So size an image as closely as possible to the dimensions at which it will be displayed. Sharpen after resizing: You’ll see more accurately than you would at full-res how sharpening affects the final image. Save images in the sRGB color space: Web browsers prefer this over alternatives such as Adobe RGB.

V is for V-Reflector
One of the most effective reflectors can’t be found in stores. Make your own: Tape together two same-size white foamcore boards along the long edge to form a hinge and let them stand freely. Modify light: Place the source within the V-reflector and adjust contrast by opening or closing the hinge. For hard light, place the source close to the hinge and close the doors. For softer output, open them and pull the light back from the hinge. Bonus: A large V-reflector makes an intimate background—see Irving Penn’s portraits of Truman Capote or Igor Stravinsky.

W is for Weight Loss
Portrait subjects can be sensitive about their bodies, so try these slimming strategies as needed. Use short light: Turn your subject away from the main light or turn the light away so that it illuminates just one-quarter to one-third of the face, letting the rest fall into shadow. Angle the subject to the camera: Never have subjects stand or sit with the body square to the camera. Use short tele lens: Set it for 75–100mm, but no longer—the flattened perspective of very long lenses can appear to add weight. Raise the camera slightly above subject’s eye level: This de-emphasizes drooping chins. Dark clothing, please: Light clothing adds apparent weight; white adds the most. Avoid light backgrounds, too, since they define body mass. Watch the arms: Have women keep their arms slightly away from their bodies to keep them from adding to torso mass—especially with sleeveless and strapless dresses.

X is for X-Sync

Photo by: Jan Kraus

X-sync is an old term for electronic flash synchronization. Your DSLR or ILC can sync flash at a wide range of shutter speeds—and the shutter speeds does not affect the flash exposure. “Drag” the shutter: In indoor portraits with flash, slow down the shutter so that ambient background light is seen. Boost backlight: When using flash fill in outdoor portraits, adjust the shutter so that the background illumination is a stop or two overexposed. Saturate sunsets: In a flash portrait on the beach at sunset, speed up the shutter so the sky is underexposed by at least a stop for a dramatic backdrop.

Y is for Yourself
For better self-portraits, use a tripod and a self-timer or remote release. Frame, light, and focus with a stand-in. Focus manually, or lock the AF after framing. Then set a small aperture to keep your features sharp. Mind your expression: Set up a mirror at the camera position, use a camera with an articulating LCD that can face forward, or shoot tethered and use your computer as a live-view monitor.

Z is for Zoo

Keel Billed Toucan, from Central America.

_Photo by: Eduardo Rivero/Fotolia _

With a little planning, you can capture images of animals in your local zoo that have the mystery and majesty of portraits made in the wild. Plan your shooting day in advance: Visit the zoo’s website to discover feeding times, baby animals on exhibit, and any special rules or programs for photographers. Look at the website images to see which enclosures offer good backgrounds and light. Arrive early to beat the crowds: Do a quick run-through of displays and lighting. Leave your family at home to avoid distractions. Preset your camera: Use continuous shooting mode, high ISO, and aperture priority with a large aperture. Crop and defocus: Try to eliminate anything that says zoo—worn paths, concrete backgrounds, anything plastic or man-made. Include lots of natural color: Blues and greens suggest locations in the wild.

The post Photography A-Z: 26 Tips For Better Photos appeared first on Popular Photography.

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