I have learned through both college and work experience that one of the best ways to learn anything is through critiques of your work and other’s work. That is why, in the spirit of teaching through this blog, I am happy to critique the work of submissions from readers. If you would like a professional critique from me and learn how to better your artwork, be it photo, design, painting, et al, just read these submission guidelines and submit an image through my critique contact form. You can also email your submission to photocrit [at] chrislanephoto.com.
It’s been a little while since I’ve had a critique on the blog, so it’s about time I got back to it. This time I have a photo submissions from Elizabeth M.

I’ll be critiquing this photo of an orangutan in a zoo. First, the metadata. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: artifacting, bokeh, camera, Critique, depth-of-field, digital, GIMP, JPEG, noise, Paint.Net, photo, Photoshop, point-and-shoot, post processing, posterization, retouching
Posted in Critique, photography, Retouched | 2 Comments »
I have learned through both college and work experience that one of the best ways to learn anything is through critiques of your work and other’s work. That is why, in the spirit of teaching through this blog, I am happy to critique the work of submissions from readers. If you would like a professional critique from me and learn how to better your artwork, be it photo, design, painting, et al, just read these submission guidelines and submit an image through my critique contact form. You can also email your submission to photocrit [at] chrislanephoto.com.

Today I have a photo from Sarah S. She said she took this photo of Prairie Smoke (aka Old Man’s Whiskers or if you are really hardcore Plantae Tracheobionta Spermatophyta Magnoliophyta Magnoliopsida Rosidae Rosales Rosaceae Geum L. Geum triflorum Pursh) in the North Dakota Badlands handheld in a shady ravine. Looking at the metadata, it was taken with a Canon PowerShot S3 IS
at f/2.7 at 1/60.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adjustment, alteration, aperture, Badlands, Critique, curves, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, flower, levels, light, natural, North Dakota, photo, photography, Photoshop, Photoshop CS3, Praire Smoke, process, Retouched, shadows, Training, white balance
Posted in Critique, photography, Retouched | 3 Comments »
Today I will be critiquing a photograph by Lori Lindholm. You can find her on facebook. While you are there, add me on facebook also.
Lori sent me this photograph of an abandoned old Ford pickup. A great subject matter, especially for me because I both like abandoned stuff and old automobiles. So this definitely piqued my interest.

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: abandoned, adjustment, aperture, Before & After, curves, decay, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, Ford, grass, grid, highlights, levels, light, midtones, old, photograph, Photoshop CS3, pickup, process, Rule of Thirds, shadows, shutter, specular, truck
Posted in Critique, photography | 2 Comments »
Used to be…

Older SLR (single lens reflex) cameras, pre-digital info screen, had aperture adjustment on the lens itself. The image shows an example from my Minolta X-700 with a 50mm f/1.7 lens, made in 1983. This camera does, however, have a full auto setting, so that it can adjust the aperture for you. Unfortunately, you cannot tell what it is adjusting to without the digital screen that the somewhat more modern film Canon Rebels had. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aperture, Canon, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, lens, light, Minolta, photography, SLR, X-700
Posted in Camera parts, Training | 1 Comment »
Aperture, in my opinion, is one of the simplest things to set apart a great photograph. In this first of a two part series I will talk about aperture, what it does and how it works. Part two will cover what you should do with aperture and how to use it effectively with both an SLR and a point-and-click camera.
What aperture is
Aperture in photography is the opening in the lens which lets through light to reach the film or sensor. Inside the lens is a series of metal wings that make up a diaphragm that can be increased or decreased in diameter to let through more or less light. It works like the iris of the eye, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aperture, depth-of-field, f-number, f/, lens, light, photography, SLR
Posted in Camera parts, Training | 9 Comments »