Sunflowers look wonderfully simple until you point a camera at them. The petals are bright, the centers are dark and highly detailed, the stems move in surprisingly little wind, and a field can contain everything from deep green shadows to…
How to Photograph a Sunflower Field
Walking into a sunflower field can be visually overwhelming in the best possible way. Hundreds or even thousands of bright yellow flowers stretch toward the horizon, green leaves overlap in every direction, bees move between blossoms, and the entire landscape…
How to Photograph Moths at Night
Moths are among the most fascinating subjects to photograph after dark. Their patterned wings, feathery antennae, unusual colors, delicate scales, and extraordinary variety can turn an ordinary summer evening into an unexpected macro photography session. The difficulty is finding them…
How to Photograph Insects With an iPhone
Photographing insects with an iPhone sounds simple until you actually try it. A ladybug settles on a leaf. You bring your iPhone closer, expecting a beautifully detailed photograph. Suddenly the view changes, focus jumps to the background, your phone casts…
How to Photograph Insects With a Macro Lens
Photographing an insect with a macro lens can reveal extraordinary detail. Compound eyes become intricate patterns, tiny hairs catch the light, wings reveal delicate veins, and ordinary garden visitors suddenly look like creatures from another world. Getting that close, however,…
How to Photograph Bees on Flowers
Bees can turn an ordinary flower photograph into a tiny wildlife story. One moment, a bee is hovering above a bloom. Seconds later, it disappears deep between the petals, emerges dusted with pollen, moves to another flower, and flies completely…
Best Camera Settings for Dragonfly Photography
Dragonflies can look wonderfully cooperative when they are resting on a reed, flower stem, or garden stake. Then, without warning, they launch into the air, change direction almost instantly, hover for a fraction of a second, and land somewhere completely…
How to Photograph Dragonflies
Dragonflies can be surprisingly difficult to photograph. One moment, one is resting perfectly on a reed. Seconds later, it launches into the air, changes direction almost instantly, circles the water, and disappears before your autofocus has decided what to follow….
How to Photograph Butterflies Without Scaring Them Away
Butterfly photography can become frustrating surprisingly quickly. You spot a beautiful butterfly resting on a flower, carefully lift your camera, take two steps closer, and suddenly it disappears. Then you follow it. It lands again. You approach again. Off it…
How to Photograph Butterflies in Flight
Butterflies floating through a summer garden can look graceful and effortless. Photographing them in flight feels very different. One butterfly may suddenly leave a flower, another may cross behind it, while several more move between blooms at completely different distances…
How to Photograph Butterflies
Butterflies seem like perfect photography subjects until you try to photograph one. For a moment, a butterfly rests beautifully on a flower with its wings completely open. By the time you raise the camera and focus, it has moved to…
How to Photograph a Carnival With an iPhone
A carnival can feel almost overwhelming through an iPhone camera. Ferris wheels tower overhead, rides spin in every direction, bright signs compete for attention, people constantly enter the frame, food stands glow beneath colorful lights, and everything seems to happen…
Creative Carnival Photography Ideas
Carnivals are almost designed for photographers. Brightly painted rides spin against the sky. Games are covered in oversized prizes. Food stands glow beneath colorful signs. Children race from one attraction to another, while Ferris wheels rise above the midway and…
Best Camera Settings for Carnival Photography
Carnivals are deceptively difficult to photograph. During one visit, you might encounter brilliant afternoon sun, rapidly moving rides, people walking through deep shade, colorful booths, reflective metal, blinking LEDs, glowing signs, and eventually a scene illuminated almost entirely by artificial…
How to Photograph a Summer Carnival
Summer carnivals and fairs are almost designed for photography. Towering Ferris wheels rise against blue skies, brightly painted rides spin through the frame, food stands glow after sunset, and strings of bulbs transform ordinary fairgrounds into colorful nighttime scenes. Yet…
Summer Photography Ideas Beyond the Beach
When you mention summer photography, the beach usually comes up almost immediately. Ocean waves, colorful umbrellas, footprints in the sand, and brilliant sunsets certainly make beautiful photographs, but they represent only one version of the season. Summer is happening everywhere….
How to Photograph an Outdoor Concert
Outdoor concerts give photographers something indoor performances cannot: an entire evening of changing light. The same performer might begin a set under bright afternoon sun, move through warm golden-hour light, become silhouetted against a colorful sunset, and finish under saturated…
How to Photograph Summer Street Scenes
Summer changes a street’s personality. Sidewalks become busier, café tables move outdoors, storefronts catch brilliant sunlight, children race through sprinklers, bicycles appear everywhere, and long evenings keep neighborhoods active well past dinner. Even an ordinary block can feel completely different…
