Photocritic photography blog

If you’re used to manual lenses, you know how easy it is to stop them down. If you are a little bit more advanced than that, and have ‘graduated’ to more advanced lenses, stopping down a lens (i.e making the aperture smaller) while it is not attached to a camera body can get a little problematic. There is a way to do it, however… Read the rest of the article »

#1: Take Advantage of Digital Features For Children Photos
Sometimes posed shots do not turn out the best.

#2: Get in Close!
Don’t cut out someone’s face when taking portrait photos.

#3: Shoot From a Kid’s Eye Level
Let your digital photo show the world as it is seen by the eyes of a child. Read the rest of the article »

The Palette is your single most important point of contact with Adobe Photoshop. Your palette might look slightly different from the picture on the left, depending on your version of the software, but most of it will be very similar or the same.

Step 1 towards becoming a true Photoshop wizard is to master the tools - so here’s a rundown of all of them, what they do, and how they can help you. You’re welcome… Read the rest of the article »

I quite frequently get e-mails for people who want me to promote their site, and I can’t blame them. After all, this website rules more than words can possibly describe (I guess I’ve been reading a little too much of Maddox‘ work recently).

A large proportion of the sites I get e-mails about are various competitions etc, and most of them are complete and utter rubbish. So when I got an e-mail from Will, suggesting I have a look at his photo of the day competition website, I was elated - finally, a decent example of how it should be done! Read the rest of the article »

So, I have a shitload of photos. I don’t know how many, actually, but there are a fair few - about 35 thousand, i reckon. And somehow, I manage to keep them organised. Mostly.

I’m a strong believer in finding your own way of working, and my system isn’t without flaws, but if you can draw any experience or help from any of this - all the better! Read the rest of the article »

Blah-blah-Photocritic doesn’t write about products-blah-blah-whatever. I’m excited about the launch of the new Nikon D40, and I’m a self-professed Canon man, so god knows you should be excited too!

The D40 is the newest, most inexpensive member of Nikon’s entry-level digital SRL range, announced only a few days ago. To reduce cost, some features of the D50 have been simplified to give a suggested retail price of only US$600 with the 18-55mm G-II kit lens. Read the rest of the article »

One of the many ways you can make money as a photographer is to specialise on events. Weddings, christenings, and all sorts of other events where people make memories can be lucrative business. The great thing is that all you need is a good camera, lots of memory cards, and some business cards.

Let me show you how… Read the rest of the article »

So, you’re a fan of independent cinema, are you? How do you feel about turning your photos into what could have been still frames from an indie movie?

I found a tutorial that does just that over on Art World, but to be honest, I thought it wasn’t well enough thought through, and in addition, I immediately spotted a couple of possibilities for improvement… So here’s my take on the same subject! Read the rest of the article »

I’m not one for lame internet acronyms, but I think OMG is in order in this case. Photocritic - also known as the very page you are reading right now - is about to celebrate its 1st birthday! Keep reading for statistics, tidbits, big thank-yous, and other soppyness.

Follow me, if you will, for a quick stroll in our archives, and note in particular the oldest entry, about Photo Matrices. The year was 2005, the month was November, and the date is a little bit fuzzy, because I have since imported all the posts into WordPress - the blog software powering Photocritic - but give or take a couple of days, Photocritic in its current inception was born a year ago today. Read the rest of the article »

One of the first things I started doing when I started shooting digital images, was thinking of ways of doing digital double exposures - adding one part of an image to another - for a greater impact of my digital shots. It turned out to be relatively simple, but carrying high impact. All it takes is suitable photos, photoshop, and a bucket full of time…

Have you made any cool images using this method? Post them somewhere on the internet - your blog, perhaps - and add a link to the comments, so we can admire the photos! Read the rest of the article »