How-To

Valuable tips, tricks and techniques for every step of the photographic process.

Giving Back Through Photography: 12 Great Ways to Use Your Camera For Good
We rounded up some of our favorite photo-related charitable organizations
Shooting Video With Your DSLR: An Introduction
With today’s DSLRs, all photographers have the built-in potential to make beautiful movies.
Tips From a Pro: Build a Better Photography Portfolio
New York Film Academy Photography School Chairman, Brian Dilg shares some tips for impressing editors and admissions

Most Recent:

How to Shoot Museum Quality Images

You don't need lots of training and an expensive apparatus to take great architectural shots. Just spend time finding the right angles.
- By Bill Falk on December 16, 2008
Few types of photography are more specialized than shooting architecture. The pros use complex, large-format cameras with distortion-free and perspective-controlling lenses that cost thousands of dollars, and their careers usually start with years of apprenticeship to other pros.
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The Photoshop Heretic

Cole P. Thompson breaks every rule in the book, but he makes digital black-and-white prints that will take your breath away. Just don't try this at home.
- By Debbie Grossman on December 16, 2008
Cole P. Thompson, a 51-year-old executive who lives in Laporte, CO, has never taken a class in Adobe Photoshop. But you wouldn't know it from his digital images or final prints.
Counting as influences such black-and-white greats as Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams, he spent many an hour in the darkroom when he was young. But it wasn't until he went digital that he really found himself as a photographer.
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Digital Toolbox: New Quick Fixes

Five easy ways to use the newest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements for fixing and sharing digital photos.
- By Debbie Grossman on December 16, 2008
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5, the latest upgrade, is great for photographers who love digital, want to fix photos with minimum fuss, and are keen on sharing images. Check out these five new tools for better, faster improvements to your pictures and a cool way to showcase them.
Color Curves

Before

After
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Ansel in Your Pocket

A journey in the footsteps of the master shows how you can capture beautiful landscapes -- with just a $330 compact camera.
- By Ian S. Frazier on December 16, 2008
A lot of people judge photographers by their gear. The more bulk and bucks, the better. I don't believe that. I judge shooters by their shots. And to test this thesis, I took a $330 compact digital camera to Yosemite National Park and trod the photographic sacred grounds of Ansel Adams.
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5 Reasons to Shoot Film

Five cases when film beats digital hands-down.
- By Russell Hart on December 16, 2008
Digital is the earnest child of photography, always striving to better itself. Film is the adult, having had more than a century to mature. That's why there are times when film -- and only film -- is the best insurance that you'll get the result you want. Here are five arguments in its favor.
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The Camera Of The Year 2006

Each year, our editors choose the camera that best refines or redefines photography. This year's winner is...
- By The Editors on December 16, 2008
Our Editors' Criterion:
The camera that best refines or redefines photography
Our Editors' Choice:
The Sony Alpha 100 DSLR
The math alone is impressive -- a 10.2MP digital SLR with built-in image stabilization for just $650 (street). But the Alpha 100, Sony's first DSLR, is far more than just a numbers play. After all, soon after this camera's debut this past summer, other photographic powerhouses started entering the fray with big megapixels and small prices.
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The 2006 POP Awards

Photography's Outstanding Products: Our editors pick the 25 best of the year.
- By Pop Photo Staff on December 16, 2008
Every year hundreds of new photo-related products enter the market. A few are instant hits, most do relatively well, and the remnants gather dust on store shelves, warehouses, or on eBay. At Pop Photo, we're constantly on the lookout for products that improve our chances of taking great pictures, make it easier to share our photos, or provide a service that solves a critical photo-related problem. And we're also impressed by innovative designs, ease-of-use, and bang-for-the-buck.
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DSLR Truth Squad

Get the facts before you buy: 10 secrets of digital SLRs that you absolutely, positively have to know now.
- By Dan Richards on December 16, 2008
1) Megapixels Lie.
The more megapixels a camera can capture, the better the pictures, right? Wrong.
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How I Shot This Flight School

A look at what's behind those funny little hats
- On December 16, 2008
Born in Houston, TX, Brian Finke, 31, photographs subcultures. Though he has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York, he considers himself a documentarian, and has chronicled the lives of body builders, cheerleaders, football players and, for the past two and a half years, flight attendants. His personal projects and his editorial work often intersect (these images were shot for CITY magazine), and his photographs have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and Time, among others.
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Marooned Leica M8 Lovers?

Flaws in the new Leica M8 spark colorful debate.
- By Michael J. Mcnamara on December 16, 2008
Leica's long-awaited 10.3MP M8 ($4,800, street price, body only) went on sale earlier this month, just days after most magazines (including Popular Photography and Imaging) and online reviewers got their final production samples for testing. Shortly thereafter, at least one major web-reviewer posted his positive review of the camera without mentioning a serious image quality flaw that had reared its head during field tests -- apparently doing so at the request of Leica.
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