The Lens Flare has steadily declined in readership and activity for the past several years. Recently, it has become the target of spammers, who have added nearly all of the new images for the past several months. Removing these images has become more of a chore than the site is worth. Years ago, the site had a lot of traffic, but the need for The Lens Flare has been replaced with sites like Flic...

Because there are so many options, it's hard to make the best decision when purchasing a digital camera. Factors such as camera size, weight, photo quality and even the color of the camera all play their part. So, which type of camera is right for you? Unfortunately, the answer is that it depends on what you're going to use it for. If you want a camera that you can take around in your pu...

Nature photography is one of my favorite summer activities. I really enjoy going for a hike and trying to capture the beauty of the landscapes and wildlife. This article will explain some of the things you should consider taking with you, when you're in the backcountry shooting pictures of nature. Water: First and foremost, you're going to need water. If things go badly in the outdoors,...

ISO is the value that represents the speed in which a photographic negative is exposed. In other words, the higher the number, the less light is required to properly expose the image (and the grainier the picture is, which we'll talk about in a minute). This concept has been translated to digital cameras as well. Back in the old days of film photography, each film canister would have a numbe...

There are many factors that play into the minimum shutter speed, but the simple rule of thumb is that you need to be faster than your effective focal length if you're holding the camera. For example, if you're using the equivalent of a 50mm lens, your shutter speed needs to be faster than 1/50 sec to get a crisp photo, and if you're using the equivalent of a 200mm lens, your shutter...

Understanding Depth of Field The next concept to understand is depth of field. This represents the portion of the photo that is in focus. A shallow depth of field or DOF has the subject in focus but the foreground and background is blurry, and a wide depth of field has most, if not all, of the photo in focus. There are two things that affect depth of field: focal length and aperture. Focal Lengt...

Understanding Aperture The aperture is literally the hole in the lens that allows light to pass to the film or digital sensor, and the camera's lens is able to control how big that hole is. This is represented as an f-stop. For example, you might see the camera display a value like f/2, f/4, f/8, etc. The easiest way to grasp what an f-stop is, is to think of it as a fraction. Replace "...

Welcome to The Lens Flare! We want to see the world from your perspective! Our goal is to offer a family friendly community for amateur and professional photographers to share their photos and art. We've recently upgraded the site to make it easier to navigate and use. All of the features have changed from the last version: some have been dropped, while others are new. New and Updated Featur...

Review by Pinetree3 This is my fun lens. Best use is for macro shots, but also can be used for portrait work. After using strictly zoom lenses, getting used to a prime lens takes a little practice. Does excellent macro work. I really like the lens, but at this time it is the least used lens in my bag. Review by Whoismikey Excellent lens for portrait. Very lightweight for long durations of shooti...

Review from Sgbrown I've recently upgraded from my D200 (itself a wonderful camera) to the D300. The key improvements that matter to me are: The new 51-point auto-focus system. This makes relying on the camera's "choice" of focus a much more practical affair. Unlike the D200 where I tended to select the central focus point, focus on my subject, and then with the shutter release...