A fairly typical scenario when I'm out photographing with a group of people is that we head out an hour or two before sunset to catch that early morning light. Later, in mid-morning, we head back for breakfast and some non-photographic time while we wait for the evening light. For the work I love to do, this is exactly backwards.

Image and text combinations are a tricky business. The text needs to expand the content of the image without overpowering it. I'm reminded of potatoes and gravy. Potatoes are fine; gravy is fine; but it's the right ratio of the two that makes it magical.

As painful as it is for us photographers to admit, most of our images could benefit from an attendant story. A few tell their own story, but most seem naked or inadequate without a bit of context.

Photography is an expensive hobby. Cameras cost money; computers cost money, printers cost money and no one outside of billionaire status can afford ink. That said, the most costly part of photography (at least for landscape photography) is the cost of travel. When equipment failures ruin the results from travel, it's particularly costly.

It is well-known among landscape photographers that Nature is most often stubbornly uncooperative. What does that mean? It's not that Nature is plotting against us, but it might point to the fact that we are trying to impose our will upon the world based on an acquisitive predisposition.

LW1429 - Darkroom Work in My Jammies

In my film days, it was not uncommon for a darkroom session to last 5-10 hours. One of the advantages I love about the digital workflow is that I can be productive with my first cup of coffee while still in my jammies. In both the analog and digital workflows, a most important part of the process is the warm-up period when we transition from everyday mind to our creative mind.

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Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com.

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"How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

I had a fascinating experience yesterday that I think offers us photographers something to think about. I went to a live performance of the Metropolitan Opera of New York that was streamed to our local movie theater.

In workshop and photo group critique sessions that I've observed over 50 years, almost all the comments offered are about technique, composition, or gear related. Such comments might be useful for beginning students, but a much more helpful kind of comment has to do with the content, the feelings the photograph generates, metaphors that come to mind.

A lens captures a finite amount of detail in a finite image circle on the film plane. Increasing the size of that circle through digital zoom does not increase the amount of detail that was captured; it just makes it bigger. This is known as "empty magnification." Optical zoom from the same position, however, captures smaller detail as the subject gets larger in the field of view.

A universal rule in photography is to get closer to the content. This may not mean getting physically closer. The idea of getting closer means different things for different subjects. For example, getting closer to a distant landscape probably implies using a longer lens. Conversely, getting closer in street photography probably implies using a wider lens.