Do you feel completely in the dark about setting your prices? Do you have a formal price structure or are you just coming up with numbers? Do you constantly change your price list? Then you’re just like me. Well…me a few months ago anyway. It’s funny – you can be the best photographer, but knowing what to charge can be an un-slayable dragon. And when you’re not quite sure why you charge what you charge, it’s hard to remain firm on your prices when your clients want to haggle you down to nothing. I learned everything I needed to know about setting my prices from Alicia Caine’s eBook. I’m not getting paid for telling you that. I swear by that book. It changed the entire face of my …

Weekly Assignment
This week’s assignment was to capture Motion Blur with People or Animals. We wanted you to try to keep the background steady, but blur people or animals in your shot in order to show movement. Our winner this week was highwayman‘s “Static in the Ebb”. This shot was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the static person in the shot really adds to the concept of the movement of the crowd. This shot had an almost cinematic quality to it, with the lone still person seemingly oblivious to the outside world. Our first runner up this week was SarahRachel‘s Soccer (or Football) Player. Another great action shot here. There was room for the player to move …

Image by Norma Desmond

As a followup to our post this week on Motion Blur – I thought it might be a good this week for our challenge to be on that topic. As a result – your challenge is to take a picture that has motion blur in it.

You might like to tackle one of the 13 places we suggested where you can catch Motion blur or try a project of your own (pretty much anything that moves could create that effect). Also check out our previous tutorial on the topic of how to capture motion blur to give you some practical tips on how to do it.

Once you’ve taken your best “Motion Blur” image, upload it to your favourite photo sharing site and

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Rolling hills and vales, enchanting areas of woodland, rugged shorelines and a dappled spring meadow can all become the most obvious of subjects for the landscape shooter, often yielding strongly emotive and awe-inspiring results.

Image by Garry Schlatter

The recipe for success however is less obvious and so here at Digital Photography School we aim to provide a list of the most necessary ingredients for capturing that captivating landscape.

Step 1: Finding the perfect spot

To minimise petrol costs scouting out that prized location, do a little preparation work before you head off. Research nearby or far-flung locations online, in the library or at your local tourist information office to discover what has been captured and decide how you can better it. There is no shame in looking at the work of photographers who you admire or who inspire you, and attempting to learn from the work they’ve achieved.

You could also try looking under resources for hiking, camping, mountain climbing, biking and canal boating, as well as many other outdoor pursuits, as these are likely to highlight scenic areas of interest. Talk to other photographers in person or on forums for their advice about where to try and where to avoid. Once you’ve created a shortlist of must-see locations, take a trip out to judge its potential in the flesh.

Image by Harold Hoyer

Step 2: Getting the right light

A landscape can be transformed with the right light and depending on the size of your scene it’s likely you’ll be dependent on the one obvious light source: the sun. Many landscape photographers believe the best light comes with the early morning light; a window that lasts an hour so before and after sunrise. Others argue that sunset provides more vivacious colouring, whereas some declare winter sun to be the best for shooting during the middle hours of the day.

Whatever your preference, photograph with the light behind or to the side of you and be prepared to get their ahead of the ‘window’ to find the best position, program settings and wait for the show to start. With that in mind – pack a comfortable chair, flask of warm beverage and warm clothing. Revising sunrise and sunset times for that particular location can be of great benefit, particular if you have a great distance to travel.

Image by Brent Danley

A Guest Post by Pamela Aurino.

1) Camera Settings – Burst mode, Focal Points & Aperture Priority

When shooting any sports, make sure your camera is set to burst/continuous mode to keep up with movements of the players. This will save you having to press the button manually for every shot. Have your camera’s focus mode to AI servo mode which is made to shoot continuous movement & for panning.

Also ensuring all your focal points are active will make sure you have optimum chance of focusing on the player with the ball. When shooting sports it is ok to have the camera in Aperture Priority mode as we’re dealing with a really fast game and you need to be on the ball with exposure rather than having to always toggle the shutter speed manually.

2) Camera

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