technique

"Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who take pictures, you know, carry a camera. Because if I did I'd have stacks and stacks and stacks of different acts." -Edwin Starr You've been outside enough to know that the deepest photos of the Universe -- of the night sky -- aren't quite the same thing you see when you open your gaze on even the darkest nights; there's often a lot more visible in the photos than there are to the unaided eye. As Earth, Wind & Fire would sing you (how's that for one from the vault), it might feel like you find yourself in a land called Fantasy. That's…
My early bug photos, the ones I don't show anyone anymore, are poorly-exposed affairs that now sit hidden in my files. If I had to put my finger on the single biggest problem with these embarrassing first attempts, I'd say that I lacked an eye for composition. I was so intent on getting the bug in focus somewhere in the LCD that I paid no attention to what else ended up sharing the frame. Turns out, all sorts of extraneous crud. Bits of grass. Dust. My finger. Many of these images are so crowded that it just isn't clear what I ought to be looking at. Understanding why busy compositions…