New York Whale Watching with the Sigma 150-500mm

New York Whale Watching with the Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 lens. Top tips for capturing great photos of humpback whales off New York City.

Somewhat Secret Superpowers of Camera lenses

The greatest thing about interchangeable camera lenses is the variety of optical designs, from ultrawide to supertelephoto and everything in between, that offer an incredible amount of variety for visual expression, creativity, and optical performance optimized for different photographic situations. And while it may be sometimes completely and totally obvious what types of photography a certain lens excels at—for example, everyone knows that Macros are designed to capture close-up details; telephoto lenses are great for long-reach wildlife and sports from the sidelines—many styles of camera lenses have lesser-known secret superpowers that can be called upon to make a photo. Let’s take a look!

Video Quicktips for Photographers

Our new video quicktips for photographers series offers advice for anyone who is looking to understand more about the techniques and technology that can help them make better pictures. Each episode is just a few minutes long and looks to explain and offer advice in an easy-to-grasp way. Check back all month long as we add new episodes to this series.

Single-Shot Autofocus, or Continuous Autofocus, Or…

Learning how and when to use different settings and options for image capture is one of the most important parts of becoming a stronger photographer. There’s no setting or camera function that’s going to be perfect for all situations, while is exactly why there are so many options. For example, every DSLR offers a couple variations on Autofocus for either a Single-shot or Continuously tracking autofocus.

Each has it strengths and purposes, and even with that, there’s still times when switching the lens to manual focus is the best way to ensure that your chosen subject and focal point is sharp in the image. In this piece, we’re going to look at three photos of seagulls to briefly explore and explain the reasons why to choose one type of AF or manual focus over the others.

Introducing No Fear Photography

Welcome to the newest section of our blog, No Fear Photography! We’re here to help photographers learn to make the most of their cameras, to take creative control, to explore, and capture amazing images all along the way.

Sigma Photo Pro 5.5 Monochrome: First Look, First Photos

Sigma Photo Pro 5.5 is a significant update to the raw processor for X3F Raw files from Sigma’s cameras featuring the unique Foveon X3 Direct Image sensor as there is a completely new, dedicated monochrome processor for raw files from the original Sigma SD1 and all Merrill generation cameras, the SD1M, DP1M, DP2M, and the brand-new DP3M. And it is now available for download.

Sigma Photo Pro 5.5 Monochrome: Video Tutorial

Sigma Photo Pro 5.5 now offers dedicated Monochrome processing for X3 raw files from the original SD1 and all cameras in the Merrill Generation, the SD1 Merrill, the DP2 Merrill, and the new DP3 Merrill.

A Bit about Bokeh, Background Blur and Selective Focus

The holiday season is a great time to make photos with gorgeously softened backgrounds and shallow depth of field for painterly, creative, and festive results. Indoors and out, the Christmas trees bedecked with tiny lights, Menorahs, and decidedly secular seasonal displays that brighten the world each December present the perfect opportunity to experiment, explore and create. While we’ll obviously be featuring a number of Sigma lenses in this how-to, much of the information here is universal.

Treat Yourself to Cool Halloween Shots With These Tricks and Tips

Halloween can be an amazing time to make all sorts of cool photos. Between the Jack O’Lanterns, people of all ages in silly or scary costumes, and haunted houses, there’s something great to shoot pretty much everywhere you turn.It’s also a great time of year to throw so many of the hard and fast guidelines of photography aside and have some fun by breaking some rules, and employing some cool photo tricks to make Halloween photos that’ll turn some heads. In this blog posting, we’re going to have some fun and give you some ideas on how to capture the spirit of the season.

Fireworks and Bright Lights in the Night For the Fourth of July and Beyond by Jack Howard

The fourth of July means many things, and for photographers, one of the most exciting and challenging aspects of this holiday is capturing amazing photos of fireworks. The bright lights in the night paint the sky with multi-colored flames in a way that can be spectacular to witness and capture with your camera. And while it may seem that fireworks–and articles about how to capture fireworks with your DSLR–only appear for a few nights in early July, there are actually tons of nights from coast to coast all summer long when the skies are illuminated with fireworks.