From the article:

There’s some confusion as to what the RAW photo format actually is, and, like any good photographic fact, it can incite forum flame wars as quickly as the mention of the words Leica and Bokeh in the same sentence. Although it comes in various flavors – seemingly one for every different camera model – RAW is essentially the raw data from the camera’s sensor, hence the name.

If your camera has a RAW setting, you should be using it, no excuses. Here’s why….

Read the Full Article: Why You Should Be Shooting RAW

There’s a great article titled 9 Lighting Types to Harness & Improve Your Photography. Here’s an excert from the article:

In my previous article “Make the Best of Bad Weather - 6 Challenges for Photographers” I noted how photography is all about the light. Sounds easy enough on the surface but as photographers we tend to be subject focused rather than light focused. What I mean by that is we’ll see something unique or different and focus on that rather than the lighting and resulting exposure needed to transform your subject. The right lighting can make or break an image setting the stage for others to see it as a snapshot or a photograph.

It’s a great read offering a lot of lighting tips and reiterating some thing that you may already know, but perhaps have neglected. The article is written by Jim Goldstein (of JMG Galleries), a regular contributor to my favorite photography site, The Digital Photography School.

Read the full article: 9 Lighting Types to Harness & Improve Your Photography

Inexperienced photographers are easily overwhelmed by the volume of information and experience that must be attained before they can consider themselves a good photographer. Hungry to learn as much as possible, many new photographers read a lot of books and articles. Sometimes, I feel that they read too much. Faced with all the information about your camera and the features new users should avoid, knowledge about ISO, Aperture, Shutter, White Balancing and the like, information overload is quick to be realized. The result is a massive army of photographers with a lot of technical know-how but not an impressive portfolio. The problem is that all of this information without a great deal of experience confuses new photographers, and their priorities aren’t in order. For that reason, I have created this list of what I will call The Skill Priority Tree.

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