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Why is it important to learn the fundamentals of photography ?

Today, photography is characterized by a rapid growth in the development of technology and ideas. Each year, millions of pictures are taken and an astonishing array of new cameras and imaging systems enter the market.

One of the great attractions of photography is the ease with which basic skills can be learned. Unlike some of the arts that take years of training to produce an acceptable product, anyone can quickly learn how to take a picture; however, fundamental photographic techniques must be mastered before you can become an accomplished photographer.

I owe much of my success as a photographer to the training I received at the U.S. Naval School of photography. This training gave me a solid understanding of the fundamental principles of photography allowing me to easily take on assignments as diverse as photographing a wedding or high speed motion picture photography of missile tests.

The photographic techniques presented in the lessons and articles on this website are essential to producing quality photographs. You can apply each of these fundamentals, to some extent, each time you create a picture.

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Photographing the Great American Eclipse

Annular Solar Eclipse May 20,2012. The moon partially obscures the sun during the eclipse.Taken at Lassen Volcanic National Park. (Paul Dileanis)
Solar Eclipse partial phase photographed from Lassen Volcanic NP during the Annular Eclipse of May 20, 2012

Below are some highlights from my “How to Photograph a Solar Eclipse” talk on Friday July 28th, 2017. Please be safe and enjoy this incredible experience.

Paul

Here is a link to the PDF of the presentation from the talk;

How to Photograph a Solar Eclipse 

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Understanding Neutral Density Filters

Using Neutral Density (ND) and Graduated Neutral Density Filters (GND)

The purpose of standard photographic neutral density filters is to allow the photographer greater flexibility to change the aperture, exposure time and/or blur of subject in different situations.

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How to choose your next lens.

A lens primer for beginning photographers

One of the questions I am often asked by new photographers is “What lens should I buy next?”  The answer to this question is both simple and highly convoluted.  It is a personal decision based on your needs, your photographic style and your budget. Between the marketing hype and the fan boy forum diatribes research on the internet can often be confusing. If you are just starting out in photography you should start by using your kit lens, the one that came with the camera. 

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Welcome Photographers!

This site is dedicated to the sharing of knowledge about my favorite topic, photography.  I thought about calling it “L’École de la photographie et de l’art” because things sound cooler in french, but I decided that Digital Photography Learning Center sounded less elitist. Please feel free to bookmark and visit this site often for updates and new articles to help you with your photography.

Thank you for visiting .