Tom Wiggins

High-Dynamic-Range Photography

by Tom Wiggins
February 2, 2019February 14, 2024

What is High-dynamic-range (HDR) photography? HDR is a photography technique where you use Exposure Bracketing (EB) and then combine the photos using special software to obtain a single photo. Why would you do this? Think about photos where you had extreme lighting conditions: a photo with bright sunlight and dark… Read More »

How to Make a Photo Better #2

by Tom Wiggins
December 30, 2018August 11, 2023

In the photo above you can see the sun was shining directly into the camera. It would have been better to have the sun shining on the sign, but this blog is about getting the best possible photo in the camera. Often on vacation, you will find yourself at a… Read More »

How to Make a Photo Better #1

by Tom Wiggins
December 21, 2018August 11, 2023

Two Saturdays ago, I held the last of the three lessons in my “Introduction to Digital Photography” course, a photo walk in the Fells Point area of Baltimore. It was a bit cold so we took refuge at the end of the lesson in The Daily Grind, a local coffee… Read More »

Sunrise and Sunset Photography

by Tom Wiggins
September 7, 2018August 11, 2023

I hope you all had a good summer and had the opportunity to get outside and use your cameras. Sunrises and sunsets are popular subjects for photographers. Recently I came across several articles on sunrise and sunset photography. I have included those links below. When taking photos of a sunrise or… Read More »

Shooting Panoramas

by Tom Wiggins
June 9, 2018August 11, 2023

Ireland has many beautiful landscapes. However, the normal lens is 14mm on my m4/3 camera (28mm effective focal length, crop factor 2.0) which is not wide enough to take the photo in a single image. The only way to capture the entire landscape is to shoot several consecutive overlapping photos to create… Read More »

Learning to Use Your Digital Camera

by Tom Wiggins
May 29, 2018June 11, 2024

Many beginners rely on the fully automated features of their cameras. These automated features often don’t provide satisfactory or desired results. By learning how to select the right camera control settings, beginning photographers can achieve better photographs, but it takes time to master the controls. Beginning with the right instruction… Read More »

Composition

by Tom Wiggins
February 27, 2018August 11, 2023

In the “Introduction to Digital Photography” lessons, there is an emphasis on learning the basic camera controls all photographers need to know, along with how the controls effect/influence the photograph taken. The end results, hopefully with practice, are that the student will no longer rely on the camera’s Auto Mode and… Read More »

Getting the Exposure Right in the Camera

by Tom Wiggins
December 22, 2017February 15, 2024

There are several things I would like to share in this blog. Recently, I held a photo lesson in a park near a student’s home. The photos used were taken just after sunset. With this type of lighting situation, it is difficult to get both the sky and the foreground… Read More »

Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO The Mystery Decoded

by Tom Wiggins
August 8, 2017August 11, 2023

Recently, it become apparent that some students have trouble understanding the relationship between Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO and how they effect exposure for a given photograph. First let’s define each: Aperture or f Stop – is the size of the opening in the lens that allows light to hit… Read More »

Metering Modes

by Tom Wiggins
July 29, 2017August 11, 2023

Today’s digital cameras have several available metering modes. Below you will find the most popular. The icons shown are typical on most cameras. Metering Modes: Evaluative/Matrix/ESP/Pattern (Overall)– Determines exposure based on the entire image. Most cameras have a bias to the exposure at the point of focus. I’ve found for… Read More »