Many people believe the Loch Ness Monster, commonly referred to as “Nessie”, is an evolved Plesiosaur. These dinosaurs were carnivorous aquatic reptiles with long necks and the body in the shape of a turtle, but without shell. They were first found in England, so it is possible that one or more survived through the […]

One of the most exciting things about digital photography is not the camera itself, but what you can do with the photo after the fact using various software programs such as Photoshop Elements or CS3.
A popular thing to do is to take 2 or more images and merge them together forming a composite image. […]

We have a 20 foot tall blue spruce in the backyard that’s about 20 feet from our back porch, which is raised off the ground about 10 feet.
This year, we’ve shared our tree with family of robins. My wife has been busy photographing the progress of the baby birds from eggs to where they’re […]

Villages and small towns are great for photographic opportunities. The latest contest has just begun named Village Photography, and is meant to get you out of the big city and capture great moments of rural and small town life. Existing images are ok, but what a great excuse for a road trip, […]

I’ve recently made a few changes to the gallery image pages to make it a little more logical.
This logic started bouncing around my head since I added the 3 ‘related pictures’ to the bottom the gallery page.  The first version had 3 related pictures from the site, but not the person.  After criticism of this […]

When posting pictures on the Internet, I’ve often said to people, “This picture is way better when viewed full size because so much of the detail is lost when it’s reduced to fit on a webpage.”
And it’s true, so to counter that, members of The Lens Flare can now upload multiple views of the same […]

A few months ago, I added a camera review module to The Lens Flare, and people have been adding their comments about various cameras, software, and other important equipment.  Canon, one of the most popular camera brands used on TLF, is well represented.  There are over 25 different cameras and lenses now listed on the […]

When you’re just starting out in the world of photography, the camera can be a little scary to try and figure out. Most people put their cameras on Auto and never learn how shutter speeds, apertures, ISO, and light sources affect their pictures. Without getting too far into the more complex aspects of your […]

As a follow up to my previous article titled, Nature Photography Equipment, I asked some other nature photographers what equipment they carry when out in the field.
Ned Levi, a professional photographer from Philadelphia, gave me permission to quote him and had this to say:
I’ll tell you a little of what I carry for my nature […]

NEF files are the Nikon RAW format.  Canon and the others will have their own RAW format, which might have the extension RAW or something else; however, they essentially work the same.
RAW files are not compressed, which allows you to ultimately print them bigger with better quality than JPG files.  For example, I can print […]