There’s a fun accessory in the photographic world that has gone out of favor due to the prevalence of zoom lenses that claim to also be macro lenses. I say “claim” because a lens that tries to be a jack of all trades tends to be master of none. I bought this little accessory for…

Since I am one of those photographers with no “off” switch, I have a camera with me pretty much all the time. At work, that’s obvious, since taking pictures is my job. But it’s that way for me at home, too. One of the cameras I sometimes grab at home is my very old Minolta…

This holiday season I had opportunity to photograph my grandson and our family in several different situations, including low-light and very-low-light scenarios. As a news, sports and magazine shooter for a living, I am accustomed to reaching into a pretty standard toolbox for making pictures: a very wide angle zoom, a big telephoto zoom, and…

One of my photography students told me recently that he wanted to start exploring the potential of bokeh. Anyone who reads the photography press or photography forums on the internet knows that “bokeh” is a variously-pronounced Japanese term that means “blur” or “haze.” It is used to describe the character of the out-of-focus region of…

With football season on the way out, the schools around my coverage area are a gearing up for basketball. Thus, so am I. I’ve already shot a couple of games, and with some success. It is not, after all, my first rodeo. I chose for my first few games one of my favorite lenses for…

A student in my most recent photography class was very interested in getting a macro lens, as was a friend and fellow photo blogger Greg from Albuquerque. It’s possible that by now they have both settled on a Canon lens, since they are both Canon shooters, but for future consideration, I offer my choice, the…

In response to a recent post about the sharpest lens I own, in which I talked about cheap or bad lenses being capable of good imaging in certain circumstances, Robert commented, “I’m wondering what would be an extreme example of ‘some of the world’s crappiest lenses are sharp in certain circumstances.’ ” While I own…

As any decent photographer knows, there are a lot of factors that go into making a good lens. Handling, color rendition, bokeh, focus speed, flare, build quality, and so on. One significant factor is sharpness, and it’s significant for two reasons. Sharpness can help you make sharp photos. Sharpness is one of the most over-emphasized…

When I was 15, I bought my first Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, a Fujica ST-605n. At the time, I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever held in my hands. The camera arrived one July day with a light, small 50mm f/2.2 lens mounted on its even-in-1978-archaic screw threads. It was a decent…

When I teach my Intro to Digital Photography class at the Pontotoc Technology Center, the second night is usually lens night. I show my students wide angle lenses, telephoto lenses, macro lenses, and so on. One thing they notice right away is that none of my lenses are wearing lens caps. The reasons for this…