This blog is all about learning and I try to share my vision on photography education with you. Then I thought, “hey, I know many other great photographers that could share their knowledge and skills right here on my blog!” I thought it would be great for you, my fellow photography buffs, to get as much information about photography as possible. I am but one man and I do have to shoot once in a while. I can’t just play around on my blog.

So, once in a while, I’ll be inviting fellow photographers to share tutorials with us. So let’s get the ball rolling shall we. Continue Reading »

If you were curious enough to check out my Useful Links section you would notice a link to the Digital Photography School created by Darren Rowse. I find this blog/forum to be a treasure chest full of fantastic information for both amateur and professional photographers. When I have a few minutes, I like to browse the forums and soak up information. Maybe even post a comment or two if I feel that I can contribute useful information. Here are the details…. Continue Reading »

Welcome to another Photoshop™ video tutorial.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to adjust the contrast and saturation of an image using the Soft Light Layer mode. This is a quick and easy alternative from using our traditional Levels or Curves adjustments. I’ll show you how it can be applied to a nature landscape photo or a Continue Reading »

On my trip in western Canada I took a few days to connect with nature’s majestic beauty by camping around Kananaskis Park. I borrowed my good friend’s Camping gear and off I went ooing and awing at every turn on the road. (If you haven’t seen my musical slideshow of my trip, you can view it here.) So I get to the Lower Lake camping grounds, find my spot and take out the “2-man” tent. Once up I though they had made a mistake as it should have read “2-infant” tent. The thing was so small that the blow-up mattress had to be blown up inside and once fully inflated was bulging on all sides. I though the tent was going to explode! The great thing about such a small tent is that you can lug it around with Continue Reading »

My favorite camera review site, DPReview.com, has just posted their in depth review of the new Canon Rebel XS 1000D! Remember that “in depth” really means IN DEPTH; 35 pages worth. To read the whole thing just click HERE.

Here are some links to the pages I find most useful: Continue Reading »

I’ve been using the EV (Exposure Value) button on my camera more than any of the other buttons so I thought I would share with you why and when I use it. Remember that I shoot with a Nikon so shutter speed and aperture are controlled with the front and back wheels not buttons ;). But before I get into that, let me briefly explain to you WHAT the EV button is and what it does.

To put it simply, the EV button allows your to quickly underexpose (darken) or overexpose (brighten) your image. How it works is pretty simple. When you’re taking a photo, the camera’s job is to adjust itself by changing the shutter speed and/or apperture to properly expose your shot so that it’s not too bright or too dark. Some cameras do this better than others but that’s another story. When you play with the EV button, what you’re doing is telling the camera to Continue Reading »

Are you always on the go? Do you surf the Web with your Iphone, Blackberry or mobile phone? Now, thanks to technology from Mofuse.com, you can view Yanik’s Photo Blog in a mobile-friendly format! Woohoo! If you’re accessing the site via a mobile device, the blog’s will automatically reformat itself to fit your screen. How cool is that! No more awkward scrolling.

Here’s a sample Continue Reading »

Summer is here and when we say summer, we think holidays, weekends at the cottage and romantic walks in the park. And what better opportunities to take sunrise and sunset photos! You’ll probably be taking quite a few sunsets (and maybe just a few less sunrises ;)) so why not get a head start. Lets go through some of the basics together. Feel free to post your sunset/sunrise photos to share.

I’ve listed 7 steps to make it more “userfriendly” and easier to Continue Reading »

I’m back from Calgary! It was a lovely 2 weeks out West. The best part is that I played a lot with my SB-800s both in nature and in studio setups and it has given me great tutorial opportunities for you! You’ll be seeing them very shortly I promise. In the mean time, try to guess where and how the SB-800s were used and feel free to post your answers in the comments.

Posts will get back to normal now that I’m back and I’ve caught up on my email backlog. So you should be seeing at least 2 post per week with a video tutorial on Mondays.

I had the opportunity to set up and demonstrate a creative lighting studio setup using only 2 or 3 SB-800s at the workshop. I played with colored gels and the effects were very interesting.

I would like to take a few minutes and thank Peter and Roz for organizing the event. They did a great job! The models were Continue Reading »

It was press release day yesterday for Nikon. After the announcement of the new D700 camera, they just announced the new SB-900 off camera flashgun. The SB-900 is the latest off camera flash following in the footsteps of the Nikon SB-600 and Nikon SB-800. It will be available at the end of July and the price will be roughly $500.00.

Major Features

• Multi-step auto zoom covers wide 17-200mm zoom range (24-105mm?SB-800)
• Three illumination patterns (standard, center-weighted and even) are available to match each shooting environment
• Automatically detects Nikon FX and Nikon DX formats and selects suitable light distribution
• Improved booster circuit for high-speed recycle time: Recycle time using four AA-size batteries is almost equal to the SB-800 with five AA-size batteries Continue Reading »