At it’s most basic, a reflector is a flat, reflective object—generally white or silver— that adds light to a picture. It’s usually held by someone barely out of the frame directing light onto the subject. The ones sold by camera equipment companies come in a variety of sizes. I own one that can collapse and fit in a pocket and one that’s six feet in diameter when it’s opened up. The collapsible ones are nothing more that a piece of shiny cloth stretched over some kind of springy frame to keep it flat. In the hands of a skilled….

Santa Claus wears red. Superman wears red. (Then again, so does Satan and so do Ladies in Red—sorry, bad examples.) But in case, red things are difficult to ignore; there’s a reason the Red Cross isn’t the Beige Cross. When I was young, an old National Geographic photographer told me that back in the old days, Geographic photographers carried a red sweater with them in case they got into a situation when a human being in the distance wasn’t popping out of the background. No problem; break out the red sweater. I’m sure you’ve seen an old photograph of an….

Yes, there are some amazing point and shoot cameras out there and yes, cell phones are the point and shoots of the future, but neither one of them can do what a single-lens-reflex camera can do and probably won’t be able to for the foreseeable future. Among other significant benefits, a single-lens-reflex (SLR) is the only way to get that shallow depth-of-field that looks so professional—and beautiful. If you think you’re going to get even a little serious about photography, there’s probably an SLR in your future. (The other benefits include faster motor drives for shooting action, better performance at….

All of a sudden your pictures take on a surprisingly shocking professional look. I actually remember the moment it dawned on me that I could compose my pictures any way I wanted to—that is to say “creatively”. My subject didn’t have to be in the middle of the frame. Eureka! I was probably about fourteen. A local photographer was telling us about his job at a church youth group meeting. He had us each take a picture of the woman who played the piano for the choir and the next week he brought back a pile of photos and put….

Packing camera bags is an art. You want to bring everything you could ever possibly need to get that great picture and you don’t want to carry it around—it’s a never ending compromise. Professional photographers have finely polished lists of cameras and lenses and all the related paraphernalia. But there’s a whole subset of really useful stuff that doesn’t take up too much space and weighs close to nothing that can make a walk with your camera a much more enjoyable experience—and most of it is not for sale at your camera dealer. So here’s my little survival kit that’s….