Kelsey Fox, Author at Phowd

Traveling is one of life’s many pleasures and you will likely want to capture every cultural dif-ference, change in scenery, and culinary perfection you can with your fancy camera. Here are some tips to make traveling with your camera as carefree as the rest of your trip. Read more...

How Properly Holding Your Camera Can Lead to Better Photos

The way you hold your camera is almost as important as choosing the right kind of camera to shoot with in the first place. Think of it this way: a chef can use the fanciest of pots and pans, but if he doesn’t know how to properly stir the contents of those pots and pans, his food is not going to be his best work. While a tripod is the easiest way to ensure your photos come out crystal clear, lugging around and setting up a tripod before every shot is simply unrealistic. Here are 9 tips for holding your camera for the perfect shot. Read more...

Even if it’s not your chosen specialty, sports photography is something every photographer faces at one point or another (and another and another...). We photograph our kids’ soccer games for posterity, professional sporting events for the interest, and other fast-moving subjects because they’re right in front of us and we have a camera in our hands. Many of us even shoot children’s and amateur sporting events as an opportunity to sell our photos to proud parents. Whether it’s kids or professional athletes running down the field, knowing how to photograph fast-moving subjects is key to getting great action photos that can be shared and enjoyed. Below are ten useful tips for photographing sports that are sure to increase the quality of your action photos. Read more...

Tips for Overcoming the Challenge of Landscape Photography

If you’ve ever had to look through a friend’s vacation pictures, you likely already know that landscape photography can be incredibly boring. Out in the world are too many indistinguishable photographs of well-known landscapes: mesas in the American southwest, the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco skyline, any waterfall - you get the idea. As a photography instructor (okay, my dad) once told me, “You’re not Ansel Adams, so don’t try to be him.” Harsh, but correct. As soon as I realized I needed to find a different way of approaching landscapes, my landscape photography improved dramatically. Here are ten tips to help you take your own landscape images to the next level. Read more...

A new spouse, a new last name, and photos - the three must-have takeaways of any wedding. Though every couple wants the obligatory wedding shots such as the posed family photo, the newly-ringed hands intertwined, or the bride getting dressed before the long walk down the aisle, photos of the big day should also include shots that are as unique as the couple themselves. Below are eight fun and unique wedding photo ideas that are sure to keep the memories alive for years to come. Read more...

Whether they dabble in photography or shoot with the pros, most photographers know that there is no better time than early morning or early evening to take a gorgeous photograph. These are the “golden hours,” when warm light angles through clouds to reflect rich, textured color. Unfortunately, these “golden hours” could be more accurately described as “golden quarter hours” or, better yet, “golden ten minutes” for all the time they allow us to head outside, set up a shoot, and snap a publishable photograph.

This means that for most photographers, shooting in the middle of the day is inevitable: this is when we’re out with friends, our kids‘ sports games are played, or we’re out exploring our vacation surroundings. It’s true that there are plenty of amazing photos that were taken outside of the so-called “golden hour,” but it’s likely just as true that the photographers of those amazing photos had to make some adjustments to deal with the inevitably harsh natural lighting of an afternoon. Here are a few tips to help you battle harsh lighting on your own mid-day shoot. While you won’t need to use every tip for every photograph, it’s worth being aware of them for the time when the perfect scene presents itself.