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How to Reduce Noise in Your Photos

March 18, 2014 by Steve Berardi 9 Comments

Noise is that ugly discoloration that makes your photos look “grainy” (like in the image on the right, where the noise has been exaggerated to make it more clear). It’s one of the most annoying things you’ll have to deal with in digital images.

Although you’ll never get rid of noise completely, there are a few things you can do to reduce it so it’s barely noticeable by the viewer: [Read more…] about How to Reduce Noise in Your Photos

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: despeckle, exposure, grain, grainy, histogram, how to, iso, long exposure, noise, noisy, photos, ratio, reduce, reduction, sharp, sharpen, signal to noise, speck, speckle

Why You Should Read Your Camera’s Manual

April 11, 2011 by Steve Berardi 7 Comments

Canon 7D (instruction manual)The instruction manual is probably the most boring thing you get with a new camera.

It’s funny: you spend a few hundred (or thousand) dollars on a nice camera so you can take brilliantly colorful photos, and all it comes with is a tiny, poorly printed and poorly written instruction manual full of black and white photos!

Your first instinct might be to just ignore that manual, or even throw it away before even peeking inside.

But, buried inside that thing might be some cool features of your new camera that you’re totally unaware of. [Read more…] about Why You Should Read Your Camera’s Manual

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: 7d, back button, book, camera, custom functions, dslr, features, how to, instruction, landscape, level, manual, read, slr

7 tips for photographing waterfalls

May 5, 2010 by Steve Berardi 6 Comments

waterfall
Photo by Steve Berardi
Hiking trails to waterfalls always seem to be the most popular trails. There’s a good reason for this: as humans, we’re naturally drawn to water. It’s one of our most basic survival instincts. Not only do we love the sight of water, but we love the sound of water falling against rocks, and we love the feeling of cold water on a hot day.

So, naturally, waterfalls are also a popular subject to photograph! Here are a few tips for capturing them: [Read more…] about 7 tips for photographing waterfalls

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: composition, exposure, falls, how to, photographing, polarizing filter, sharp, shutter speed, slow shutter, streams, Tips, tripod, water, waterfalls, wind

How to create intimate portraits of nature

March 15, 2010 by Steve Berardi 13 Comments

Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Which of the two photos above do you like better?

They were both taken of the same flower, with the same camera settings. The only difference between the two shots is the position of the camera.

I’ll take a wild guess that you like the first one more. And, I think this photo is better because it has more of an intimate and friendly feeling to it. [Read more…] about How to create intimate portraits of nature

Filed Under: Macro, Philosophy, Tips, Wildflowers, Wildlife Tagged With: camera, close up, composition, emotion, eye level, eye-to-eye, eyes, feeling, friendly, how to, intimate, Macro, nature, photo, photography, photos, plants, portrait, position, wildflower, Wildlife

New eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography, is now available!

March 2, 2010 by Steve Berardi 16 Comments

Digital Wildflower Photography (cover)Today I’m happy to announce that my new eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography, is now available.

The first thing you’re probably wondering is how it’s different from the free eBook I released last spring. Well, this new one is over twice as long at 55 pages, and has a ton of new content.

While the free eBook was really just a collection of a few tips for getting better wildflower photos, this new ebook is more of a complete guide that will teach you how to take stunning wildflower photos and how to post-process them in Adobe Photoshop (CS and Elements 8). [Read more…] about New eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography, is now available!

Filed Under: Photoshop Tutorials, Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: aperture, book, digital, ebook, examples, exposure, how to, learn, pdf, photographs, photography, photos, spring, Tips, tutorial, wildflower, wildflowers

How to reduce noise for long exposures

June 14, 2009 by Steve Berardi 10 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
If not handled properly, noise can really degrade the quality of your photographs. Those pesky little dots can become a big distraction in an otherwise great photo.

You can usually avoid noise problems by shooting at a low ISO (400 or lower for most cameras), but noise becomes a problem again when using a long exposure (anything longer than one second). [Read more…] about How to reduce noise for long exposures

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: astrophotography, exposure, how to, lake, lake tahoe, long exposure, low light, low light photography, motion, nature photography, noise reduction, noisy images, star photos, water

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