Short and sweet

1. The convergence of vertical lines in a photograph is most obvious when using a wide angle lens, and when the camera is angled upward. We have come to accept this type of view, but this isn’t what we see. To make vertical lines vertical, you must use a perspective control lens or Edit > transform > distort in Photoshop. 2. An interesting juxtaposition of components is to combine a subject taken with off-camera flash with a twilight or night scene. The subject can be photographed either in the day or night, but the artificial lighting on the subject works well with the artificial light on the background scene.

3. Side view of animals and birds translates into more depth of field. When I photographed this muscovy duck, I waited for it to present this side angle to insure the unique head as well as the rear feathers were sharp. Even with a large lens aperture, all parts of the bird could be made sharp with this view. 4. To capture sharp pictures of birds in flight, even taking into account the tips of the fast moving wings, I use a shutter speed of 1/3200. For very small birds whose wings flap extremely fast, I find that 1/4000 works well. Some photographers like wing tips blurred because, they say, it implies motion. I prefer the sharpness. §