Next to poor focus, the biggest killer of sharpness in your images is vibration.  Not just the kind of vibration that comes from hand-holding your camera at too slow a shutter speed.  That kind is more properly referred to as camera shake, and the solution there is a sturdy tripod.  But, even if you use the biggest bad-est tripod you can carry, vibration can still affect image sharpness under certain conditions.

Read more »

I just read an article elsewhere on the web in which the author proclaimed (in effect) that digital colour management was a waste of time for most people; colour management was for “dweebs”.  Sure: if your only interest in photography extends no farther than family vacation snaps printed at your local Price/Costco.  If on the other hand you’re reading this article, I suspect that your interest runs a bit deeper, in which case he is decidedly wrong. 

Read more »

With apologies to John Huston (Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948), yes you most certainly need backups. 

Let’s go out on a limb for a moment…. it’s a pretty sturdy limb, so we’re not taking much of a risk.  Over the next few years, if you haven’t already you’ll hear with alarming frequency, horror stories of people losing years worth of photos stored on their home computers. 

Read more »