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Jeffrey Kontur

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Jeffrey Kontur is the author of two books on photography. He has been involved with professional photography for nearly 25 years. In addition to teaching workshops on photographic technique, he continues to actively take pictures as a freelance writer/photographer. You can find more tips at his web site MoreSatisfyingPhotos.com.
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Photography Kick-Start Guide: Adjusting Your Camera’s Settings for the Photo You Want

Jeffrey Kontur on Jul 6th 2011 with 40 comments

Every two weeks, we revisit some of our reader favorite posts from throughout the history of Phototuts+. This tutorial was first published in September of 2009.

Cameras vary in terms of functions offered. There are differences from one brand to the next and even from one model to another of the same brand. By necessity, this tutorial will have to generalize but let’s try to de-mystify some of the more common settings found on cameras today, what they mean (to the camera) and how to use them.

Let’s start with the core shooting modes, then we’ll move on to the more common preset scene modes and finally to some other general information about camera functions.

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This entry is part 4 of 10 in the Exposure Session
Best Photo in a Series

How to Choose Your Best Photo in a Series – Every Time

Jeffrey Kontur on Dec 7th 2010 with 29 comments

Twice a month we revisit some of our reader favorite posts from throughout the history of Phototuts+. This tutorial was first published in August, 2009.

When we spot a great photo waiting to happen, photographers often take many shots of the same thing to better their odds of doing it justice. But how often have you viewed your shots later and ended up with 5, 10, or 20 photos of the same scene or subject that are, well, pretty darn good! You can’t put all these duplicates in your portfolio or your ‘Favorites’ set on Twitter, so you are left with the challenge of needing to pick your best photo from the set. How do you do it?

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The Fundamentals of Photography
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Photography Kick-start Guide: How Your Camera Works

Jeffrey Kontur on Nov 11th 2010 with 47 comments

Twice a month we revisit some of our reader favorite posts from throughout the history of Phototuts+. This tutorial was first published in August, 2009.

Most photography tutorials, including most of the ones you’ll find here on the Tuts+ network of web sites, assume a certain base level of knowledge. But what if you’ve only just decided you want to make the leap into taking photos with manual settings?

In this tutorial you’ll start to begin to learn the fundamentals of photography – fundamentals that will allow you to start reading and using more advanced tutorials, and manipulating the manual settings on your camera. Here we cover exposure, how the camera works, the shutter, focus, light, depth of field and ISO.

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telephoto

How To Choose the Perfect Lens and Consider “Angle of View”

Jeffrey Kontur on Oct 1st 2009 with 9 comments

Many photographers, even some fairly advanced amateurs, misunderstand how to properly employ lenses of different focal lengths. Although selecting a lens isn’t really a step-by-step process, for purposes of keeping everything organized and showing you how to evaluate a scene, that’s how it will be presented here. This tutorial will explain the reasoning behind choosing a particular lens, and highlight how considering the angle of view can lead to a fantastic photograph.

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Photographing Parades

How to Capture the Perfect Parade Photo

Jeffrey Kontur on Sep 16th 2009 with 15 comments

Everyone loves a parade, but they can be very difficult to photograph. Very few people end up with satisfying parade photos. Let’s look at some relatively simple things anyone can do to get more effective, more satisfying photos of parades.

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