Photography Tutorials and Resources

The web is a massive resource for finding information about photography.  How to do this, where to find that, best practices, etc..  but while it is a lucrative source of knowledge it is also a giant dumping ground for crap.  So much of the information out there is wrong, recycled and incomplete, thus tracking down the quality material is more work than your average person wants to deal with.  

Good news for you!  Since it's my job to stay up on the latest trends, skills, blah blah blah…  I have no choice but to plow through this sea of material looking for quality information.   I see no reason why you should have to do this when I've already done it, so I'm creating this page where I will list anything of value I find, as I find it.  Bookmark this page and come back to it whenever you're looking for new tutorial resources to read. 

These listings are all related to photography tutorials.  If you're looking for interviews, gear reviews, resource sites, blogs or cool galleries.  Please click the sub-category "Resources, Lists & Reviews" under the "Articles" menu item.  

The tutorials are broken down into the following categories:  Photography Concepts | Lighting | Printing | Marketing | Hardware | Miscellaneous

Photography Concepts Training:

• Bernies better guide to depth of field – This is hands down the best tutorial I've ever read on the subject of depth of field.  It is clear, concise and most of all, you really understand depth of field when it's done.
• Photography 101 – Bernie does it again.  This tutorial is quick and easy to read and helps get the basic concepts of photography laid out to beginners.  From f/stops to shutter speeds it is a great jumping point for beginner photographers.
• Hyperfocal Focusing - learn to get the most depth of field possible out of your lens.
• Landscape Photography Bible – this is compilation of lots of tutoring.  Basically its an online book about landscape photography.
• Macro Photography – a beginner level description of what macro photography is and how to get started.
• 10 Tips to better black and white photography - usually these "ten tips" things are not so good.  I found this one to contain good ideas.
• Mastering the Art of Black and White Photography – this will NOT make you "master" anything, but it has sound tips and is worth a look.

Lighting Tutorials (natural and flash)

• Speedliting with multiple flashes - this is a long and in depth video seminar describing how to work with multiple speed lights.  Good stuff.
• A simple three "hard light" setup - In this lesson we will look at lights that don't have any soft boxes or light modifiers. I used heads with reflectors only. In the right setting and with the right subject this can look very good. We did cheat and use 3 pieces of foam core and one umbrella, but looking back now we could have not used the umbrella and been fine.
• The Art of HDR Photography - This is not strictly lighting, nor is it strictly anything else.  HDR covers a gamut of different topics, but since it's main purpose is to overcome lighting issues I've place it here.  

Software for Photographers Tutorials

• Blending modes for Photography – learn how blending modes in Photoshop can help to improve your photography.
• 3 Fun was to use the "highpass filter" – I think the title explains itself.
• Poster tutorials – a quick easy method to produce poster layouts for your photographic images.
• Sharpening in Lightroom 3 – this tutorial describes best practices for using the new (and very good) sharpening tool in Lightroom.
• Optimize Photoshop – instructions from Adobe on how to make your Photoshop program run it's fastest and with less troubles.
• 8 Bit vs. 16 Bit - This tutorial will help you understand the difference and to decide which option is best for your purposes.
• Surreal Forest - a fun tutorial to create a surreal looking forest scene.  It's easy to do and a great little starter tutorial for beginners to explore several key photoshop tools.

Printing Tutorials

• Print Workflow for Digital Photography – don't know how you should move from one step to another?  This tutorial will help guide you through the best workflow for printing your images.

Hardware Tutorials:

• How to fine tune AF in your camera lens - this useful tutorial describes how you can make your lens auto focus … super focused!  It's not hard and requires only a very inexpensive piece of equipment.
• Spherical Aberration – this tutorial help explain how aberrations occur within some lenses.
• Astigmatism and Field Curvature - more information about how your lens can loose clarity.

Marketing Photography

• Google Plus the Survival Guide – Google plus is becoming a hotbed for photographers to share and learn from each other.  This guide leads you through how to set up your own Google+ account and attract other photographers.
• The Cost of Doing Business – This is a helpful calculator which can consolidate your expense information and help you figure out what you need to be charging your photography clients.