Stop. Go. Insert your card. Enter your pin. Remove your card. No entry. Wait here. Fill this out using ALL CAPS. Be nice. Be polite. Do unto others… and yada yada yada.
The number of rules we deal with on a daily basis is quite exhausting. At what point do we get to make up our own minds anymore. Answer me!
Luckily, photography is one of the few activities where you can break the rules. With camera in hand you have an immense amount of free will and choice at your disposal - and with that in mind we arrive at the theme of this week's tutorial: the rules of photography and how to break them.
While we celebrate photography for its freedom to break the rules, we should point out that those photographers, famous or otherwise, who have done this most effectively are those who have learned and understood these photographic conventions in the first place.
This week our friends at Digital Camera World have selected some of their favourite tutorials showing how to do a technique properly… and then how to break it or fake it.
1. In the 10 Commandments of Landscape Photography (and how to break them), you'll learn all the fundamental elements of a good landscape photograph and how you play with these conventions for a more creative effect.
2. The night (all night) belongs to photographers just as much as it belongs to Lionel Richie. But shooting long exposures in low-light conditions can be a recipe for disaster - or at least blurry images. Discover the 12 errors of night photography and how to fix them, and soon you should be taking better moonlit landscapes, light paintings and star trail photos.
3. Or if you don't feel like spending all night long (all night) in the countryside, here's how you can make fake star trails in Photoshop from the comfort of your sofa.
4. As the weather warms up you may find yourself gearing up to shoot more action photography. Here's a quick and easy panning technique that will let you introduce blur to your cycling, running and other sports photos to give them more drama.
5. Or if you're too tired to go outside because you've been out all night long (all night) shooting star trails you could have easily faked, well why not fake this panning effect, too? This quick Photoshop tutorial on how to recreate a panning effect will make it look like you were down in the pits at every race.
6. Finally, don't fret over dull landscape photos. Here's another easy tutorial that shows you how to replace boring skies in Photoshop.