Product Review: What magazine is best?

Today's tip is very simple. If you have thought about getting a magazine subscription, I strongly recommend Popular Photography & Imaging. I have had a subscription to it before, and after glancing through it tonight at a local bookstore I want to get it again.

There is no other photography magazine on the market today that is more jam-packed with photography tips, reviews, and how-to's. About three years ago they re-designed the magazine. Not only did they add Imaging to the title (to show digital photography's impact on photography) , but they have put more focus on cramming each issue full of concise, well-written articles.

Their reviews and tips cover a wide range of knowledge and experience levels, from beginner to advanced amateurs/semi-pro.

Check out their website (www.popphoto.com) for a taste. Or pick up a copy at the news stand.

Photo Tip: Shoot vertically for sports action

When shooting sports action, the best way to get the photo is to shoot vertically. Unless your sport involves someone laying down (like wrestling or swimming), shooting vertically will almost always give you the best composition.

Look at these two photos. Which one is better?





The horizontal one has too much wasted space on the sides. Even if I zoomed in to fill the frame from head to toe of the ballcarrier, there would still be plenty of wasted space. But the one shot vertically uses much more of the frame.

Sure, you could crop the horizontal photo, but unless you have a camera that shoots 10 megapixels or more, you will not get enough image information in a tight crop to make good prints. It may look fine on the web, but never framed and on your wall.

Photo Tip: Shooting through the fence

Even if you get access to the field, sometimes the best angle for capturing a great photo will have a fence between you and your subject. A lot of people will stand a few feet away from the fence and take the shot, but that results in a bad photo.


Instead, take advantage of your lens hood and put your lens right up against the fence. The lens hood will prevent the glass element from getting scratched, and your lens will be close enough to the fence that it will focus right through it. Be sure to line the lens up with one of the diamond-shaped gaps.

If you are not using a SLR with a telephoto lens, then the lens on your point and shoot camera will likely be small enough to actually fit through the gaps in the fence.

You can get some pretty amazing shots this way. For instance, in baseball and softball games, I will line up behind home plate and get a lot of great shots of the pitcher going through their complete windup and pitch. I have also shot batters and catchers this way.

All of these were shot through the fence.








Try it and you'll see -- it's not as hard as you think!