Photography Explained Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Tired of feeling like you need an exotic location for great photos? 🎒 The truth is, the most amazing photo spots are often right outside your door. The key is learning how to see like a professional photographer . 🎁 Host Rick McEvoy gives you his essential 11-Point Checklist for training your eye and taking captivating photos, no matter where you are. Stop just looking, and trul...

Send us Fan Mail What transforms an average photograph into a stunning one? It’s light . Photography literally means "drawing with light" ✍️, but simply having light isn't enough—you need to understand how to use it as a creative tool 🎨. In this essential, practical guide, host Rick McEvoy shows you how to stop fearing "bad" light and start seeing it as an opportunity. We...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered what gear you need beyond your camera? 🤔 The answer isn't a new lens or a bigger flash; it's a few simple, affordable accessories that can make a huge difference. ✨ They protect your gear, make shooting easier, and help you get better photos. 📸 In this episode, your host Rick dives deep into ten must-have items that professional photographers can't...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered why some photos come out looking dark 🌑 and others are sharp but grainy? 🌾 The answer lies in one simple camera setting: ISO . 📸 It doesn't let more light in; instead, it's the digital amplifier of your photo's data. 🔊 Mastering this one setting lets you get a sharp, correctly exposed photo in any situation. 🎯 We’re diving deep into ISO , showing...

Send us Fan Mail The Secret to Amazing Photos Isn't a Camera. It's How You Use Your Eyes. ✨ Have you ever wondered what separates a simple snapshot from a truly captivating photograph? It’s all about composition —the art of purposefully arranging everything within your photo frame to guide the viewer's eye and tell a clear story. In this episode, your host, Rick, demystifies this p...

Send us Fan Mail 🏞️ Photography Explained Podcast - Episode 213: Your First Five Steps into Landscape Photography (Even in Your Local Park!) 📸 What if you could take stunning landscape photos without traveling to exotic locations? In this episode, your host Rick McEvoy makes photography accessible by showing you how to find beauty right where you are—even in your local park. We’ll get straight to...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered how some photos make the subject leap out with a dreamy, soft background, while others keep every detail crystal-clear from front to back? That, my dear listener, is the magic of Depth of Field (DoF) ! ✨ In this episode, Rick McEvoy, your plain-English photography guide, unlocks this fundamental concept, showing you how to wield it for stunning, professional-looking...

Send us Fan Mail Are you tired of your camera making all the decisions? 😫 Want to take control and unlock its full creative potential? This episode is your straightforward guide to understanding camera modes and transforming your photography from guesswork to glorious! ✨ 💡 Why Camera Modes Matter (Beyond Auto!) Ever wondered why some of your photos are perfect in Auto Mode , and others just......

Send us Fan Mail Is your camera secretly plotting to make your photos blurry? 😈 You know the feeling: that perfectly composed shot, only to find it looks like it was taken by a ghost. A soft-focus nightmare! 🤦‍♂️ Well, my dear listener, I'm Rick McEvoy, your humble host, and I'm here to banish that blur for good! In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the true secrets to...

Send us Fan Mail 🌞 Is Harsh Sunlight Ruining Your Photos? Not Anymore! 🌞 Ever look at your beautiful outdoor scene and see only blown highlights , dark shadows , and squinting faces ? You're not alone! Direct sunlight can be a photographer's biggest challenge, turning vibrant moments into high-contrast headaches. But what if you could turn that harsh light into your secret weapon? In E...

Send us Fan Mail Polarising filters attach to camera lenses and reduce reflections and glare, and can improve colour saturation. They can simply make your photos look better. What is not to love, eh? And they don’t cost a lot either. And I have a couple of these that I absolutely love. In this episode, I will tell you when, how, and why I use my polarising filters. So let me tell you all you need...

Send us Fan Mail Neutral density filters attach to camera lenses and reduce the amount of light getting through to your camera sensor without affecting the colours (hopefully). Neutral density filters allow you to take long exposures in daylight, allowing you to flatten water and make clouds super cool, streaky, blurry, amongst other things. Neutral density filters allow you to use wide apertures...

Send us Fan Mail Do you want to take better-composed, more interesting photos of buildings? So do I. And in this episode, I will give 12 things that will help you take better photos of buildings. And here they are. Take one photo and get the best composition you can Use the rule of thirds Take a photo, then try a different focal length to get a different look Take photos from different angles Move...

Send us Fan Mail Do you want to take more interesting landscape photos? Well, I do, and I hope that you do too. It is too easy to go somewhere and take average, boring photos of something you never do anything with. I have taken loads of these myself, so don’t worry. And it is so easy to take the same photo of something we have all seen a thousand times. Let’s not do any of that. No, there is so m...

Send us Fan Mail Do you want to take more interesting travel photos? Well, I do, and I hope that you do too. It is too easy to go somewhere and take average, boring photos of something you never do anything with. I have taken loads of these myself, so don’t worry. And it is so easy to take the same photo of something we have all seen a thousand times. Let’s not do any of that.  No, there is so muc...

Send us Fan Mail The focal length you use to take a photo will significantly affect the photo you create. It will determine what is in a photo, what is not in a photo, how small or large the elements of the photo are, and how the elements in your photo relate to each other. The focal length you use will also determine the depth of field, or as I like to call it, depth of sharpness, that there is i...

Send us Fan Mail The rules of composition are not rules. The rules of composition are guidelines, ideas, things that we can use to help us. But you need to know what the rules of composition are so you know which rules you are going to use, if any. You don’t have to use the rules of composition, and you will never use all of them. Certainly not in the same photo, but you will see why, so don’t wor...

Send us Fan Mail Photography is about more than just taking a photo—it’s about taking the best photo you can every time. A rubbish composition will give you a rubbish photo. A great composition will give you a great photo. Create better compositions, and you will end up with better photos – and in this episode, I help you to do just this – what is not to love? So, if you want to learn how to creat...

Send us Fan Mail The single most important thing we can do to improve our photos is to think about what we are taking photos of before we take them. We need to take the time to get the best composition every time we take a photo. The success or otherwise of any photo starts and ends with what is in the photo. Photography composition is what you include in a photo, what the light is doing and how t...

Send us Fan Mail Photography Explained Podcast Episode 199 - Top Tips To Help You Manage Your Digital Photo Catalogue You need to organise your photos on your computer so you can find any photo quickly and easily. Once you have done that, you have the small matter of looking after that precious collection of photos, which, as a photographer, is your everything. I don’t want to overstate this—as a...

Send us Fan Mail You need to organise your photos on your computer so you can find any photo quickly and easily. You need to come up with a filing system that you can add to over the years as you take more and more photos. And you need to be able to keep track of all the photos in the catalogue so you know which photos you have edited, the good stuff you have not yet edited, your best stuff and an...

Send us Fan Mail I want to get straight into taking better photos, beginning with taking fewer photos. We can all take fewer photos and, in the process, take better photos, and in this episode, I am going to tell you how. And yes, I will revisit my one photo rule. And here it is. “Take the time to take the best one photo of one thing.” Yep, that is my one photo rule in twelve words. Splendid. In t...

Send us Fan Mail I want to finish 2024 with a light-hearted look back at my favourite things from 2024. Why not, eh? So join me as I pick up on some stuff from the past year, which has been an excellent year for me and my podcast. so thank you for being with me, dear listener. In this episode, I tell you  What was the most popular episode of the Photography Explained Podcast in 2024? What was the...

Send us Fan Mail I have loads of rubbish photos cluttering up my computer, clogging up my hard drives, and preventing me from finding the good stuff that must be in there somewhere, surely? We all take rubbish photos every now and then, so it’s okay—not every photo we take is a masterpiece. But if a photo is rubbish, get rid of it. If you have photos that you are never going to do anything with, w...

Send us Fan Mail RAW and JPEG are file formats. Photographers use both. JPEG images have an amount of processing and compressing done to them when a photo is taken. RAW photos have no processing done to them other than creating the file, that is. JPEG photos can be viewed by anyone straight off the memory card. To view RAW photos, you need specialist software. JPEG files are smaller than RAW files...