Top 10 Photography blog picks - Nov 09 Digg it Bookmark it Stumble it Email to friend Share |

DPStudent brings you 10 hottest photography blogs out there, starting this November and this time our subject of choice revolved around beginners advice. We have looked for photography tips and tutorials that teach basics in choosing a camera, taking photos, avoiding rookie mistakes, learning how to improve your photography skills, photographer's mindset, little about photo editing,  ideas how to profit from your photos, and finally how to use social networks to find like minded enthusiasts.

1. Digital Photography School - One of the pillar photography blogs out there, written by Darren Rowse, aka ProBlogger. It covers all aspects of the digital photography. It is well divided into three main sections: Photography Tips, Camera and Equipment, and Post Production. It is well written and contains a wealth of useful information, and we definitely recommend to check this one on a daily basis. The article we have decided to feature is titled: "Should you buy a DSLR or Point and Shoot Digital Camera ?", since this is one of the first choices that a future photography enthusiast has to face. The article lists strengths and weaknesses of each camera type, and as such is a great read before the buy.

2. Howitookit.com - Another great resource with a lot of useful content. Although launched in 2009, this blog features clean-style template, and already a nice collection of digital photography tips and tutorials. It appears to have a premium section as well, which does look promising, but for the final verdict we will recheck it once more content is posted. Since our previous featured blog post hopefully helped you decide on whether to buy a point and shoot camera or full fledged dSLR (we vote for the latter), we decided to feature this excellent in-depth, 4 part article titled: "Choosing a Digital SLR Camera". The article is well written, and covers many of the aspects that are easy to ignore with your first dSLR buy, but are painful and cost a lot of money to correct afterward. Honestly, I wish I have read this article before I bought my camera, as it would save me a lot of rethinking.

3. Lightstalking.com -An interesting blog with some very interesting photo tutorials, and also some inspiring photo galleries. This blog has frequent updates and some really cool how-to guides. With this blog we have opted to feature a how-not-to article, that warns of some rookie mistakes when taking photos. The article is called: "Do you make these 5 photography mistakes ?". Check it out and see how you score. As for myself, i'd say my sentence would be:

  1. Not Guilty (but was first 2 weeks),

  2. Guilty (it appears I love clutter :-( ),

  3. Guilty as a sin (still correcting photos from 2 years ago, lesson learned),

  4. I disagree with author, see details in comments section,

  5. Still Guilty (but not for long, i hope).

4. Smash&Peas -  A blog with minimalistic, yet very effective layout, leaning mostly towards landscape and action photography. We found many interesting photography tips here, backed up with a very impressive set of photos. The articles are well written, containing few diagrams as well for better understanding, and the photos are inspiring. The article we have decided to share with you is titled: "10 Tips to Help You Become a Better Photographer", which we considered as a natural succession to the list. However, be sure to check out the rest of the photo tutorials on the page, especially if you need new and fresh ideas.

5. Photo Naturalist - This blog is devoted to nature lovers. Landscape photography, wildlife photography, flowers photography, macros...it's all there. In addition, they have a photoshop tutorial section as well, focused mostly around fixing lighting issues, which can help you significantly increase the quality of your photos with some simple tips. We have liked the most section about Philosophy, such as which approach you need to take in your mind in order to get the best results. Here, we have decided to feature a post titled: "Wow, you must have a really good camera", describing in a funny way a well established mindset, that a PRO spec digital camera will automatically make you a PRO photographer. Too many people forget, that a camera is only a tool, and that the most valuable tool a photographer has, is a pair of photographer's eyes. It also describes what does it take, to make such fantastic photos.

6. Photocrati - A blog "by photographers, for photographers" as they say in their slogan. In short, and excellent blog, full with great content, and very useful tutorial section. They cover a few niches such as camera and gear reviews, photography techniques, and tips about photography business being the main ones. Do not their simplistic theme fool you. There is a wealth of great photography tips to be found here. Instead of featuring a single article, we have decided to feature the whole section regarding composition, called: "The Tuesday Composition", since we thought it would benefit our readers. Composition is vital ingredient of a great image. It can make or break the photo. This section is well worth following on a regular basis.

 7. Photo|tuts+ - A photography tutorials blog, that is actually a part of a much larger tutorial network named tuts+. This network hosts tutorials on: Adobe Photoshop, Web Development, Adobe Illustrator and Vectors, Photography, Music and Sound, Computer Graphics, Flash and ActionScript and Adobe After Effects. Phew, there, we said it. Photo|tuts+ is a great blog packed with great articles, and on some occasions they have freebie giveaways. Also be sure to check out their Video Tutorials section. Since we have covered photography tips to enough extent with previous blog descriptions, here we opted for a tutorial explaining the file formats titled: "An Introduction to Photo File Formats". It is a great tutorial with an in-depth explanation of pros and cons of different file formats used in photography, and it will help you decide which is the correct file format for you. This blog (as the matter of fact the whole network) is well worth seeing.

8. Metavo Photo - A small, yet promising blog about focusing mostly around Adobe Photoshop on how to fix up your images, as well as a few around workflow. Their postings do not have much text, but they do not need to since everything is covered using video tutorials. We have decided to feature their "Learn the Power of Curves in Photoshop", as it is our firm belief that understanding color curves is one of the most important photoshop skills that any photographer needs to master. They have the power to bring dead images back to life, change the mood of the photo, and much, much more.

9.  PhotoPreneur - A blog litteraly loaded with useful tips on how to make money by selling your photos and marketing your photography business. If you ever had a question in the back of your mind, on how you could profit from your photos, this site is a place for you. Since we are fans of nature photography, we have chosen for you an article titled:"Sales Outlets for Nature Photographers" that provides a wealth of ideas, where and how to market your flower and animal portraits, as well as some landscape shots. While you are there, you might also want to check out their new book "99 Ways To Make Money From Your Photos".  Although we admit, we have not read it yet, it appears to have gotten good reviews from the readers, and since it is on our Christmas shopping list, we will come back to you with our own review on DPStudent.

10. Fuel Your Photography -An interesting blog providing news, interviews with photographers, some beginner photography tips, and a whole lot of inspiration. We have to admit, we loved the inspiration section. In addition we have stumbled on an interesting article describing "How Twitter Can Help Your Photography Business", discussing on how to find like minded photography enthusiasts by using Twitter. However, the article would not be complete per se, without the second article "Twitter: It's Not About the Numbers", discussing the importance of meaningful conversation on Twitter over the follower count. An interesting read, and a good point to remember.

There it is folks! We certainly hope that you have enjoyed our blog picks for now, and if you do come across interesting photo blogs, please post it in comments of this post, or contact us at contact@dpstudent.net