Photos that you want to email someone, post on a photo sharing site or maybe even a blog, should be resized or shrunken. The smaller they are sized, the faster they will upload on your end and the easier it is for the recipient to download on the other end. Nobody wants to try and open an attachment with your 8 or 10 Megapixel photo and wait 10 minutes for it to

Any time I think of Japan, and to a greater extent Asia, I cannot help but think of food. Not because I love it or hate it, but because it is frequently unrecognizable to that kinds of foods I normally eat. I love cheese and meat lots of vegetables with a little butter and salt. I like eating both junk and really healthy. In Japan, forget it. There will be

ITKT fans can expect a whole lot of Japan in the coming weeks as I have just returned from tour that included Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama and Tokyo. The trip was a bit of a whirlwind but mostly reminded me how much I love visiting Japan. Moreover, I visited Japan as part of a group that included another ITKT writer, Jenny Block (she can bee seen here opening a can

I have taken many, many baths in my lifetime. And I have been naked among strangers more than once. Yet somehow – despite having dressed in kimono and eaten root vegetables ground into powder and refashioned as jelly noodles – taking a dip in the public bath seemed the most foreign moment of my recent trip to Japan thus far. Perhaps it was my

Now several days into my Trip into Japan and from the 14th floor overlooking Tokyo’s Bay, It turns out there is more to bowing in Japan than simply greeting one another. There is an etiquette that gets taught to young Japanese. Here is the breakdown as it has been explained to me today. There are four bows in total * Leaning forward at a 15º angle is

If I timed this right, this will be my final Camera Talk for the year 2009. The Christmas and New Year Holiday seasons keep everyone pretty busy and I’m fairly certain no one wants to read a complicated camera lesson at this point in time. So, here’s a simple rule to apply, sometime, during your travels. FILL THE FRAME. When you have a scene you’d like to

Take a second of your time when shooting a treasure discovered during your travels. Yes, a full second, that’s what it takes sometimes when you are trying to capture a sharp photo in difficult lighting. Museums, caves, art and sculpture exhibits, anything that lacks a bit of natural lighting can present challenges to the digital camera. The most important one:

Natural light is always the best choice when using your camera outdoors. Camera flash is always my last resort for eliminating harsh shadows, but sometimes it’s the only available solution. Had this Queen been modeling for me, I’d have used a reflector board and bounced some of the bright sunlight outside her carriage into the scene to lighten the dark

Many people ask which type camera or lens they should buy and I always answer them with a question or two. What is your level of experience and what type of photography are you interested in? The truth is a disposable film camera can capture an award winning photo for under $20 and the top of the line DSLR equipped with a lens that cost more than my first

Catching these eco-tourists kayaking alongside a mangrove stand and the birds in flight was no accident; it was planned. Standing on a bridge over the river, I saw the egrets perched in the trees. I didn’t bother taking a shot because, to me, it just wouldn’t have been that interesting; I have way too many photos of egrets already. But, I looked behind me

Even professional photographers get caught without a camera, sometimes. Sometimes it’s intentional, other times: batteries go dead, you left your SD card in the computer at home, or, just didn’t bring a camera and that’s when things happen. An opportunity for a great photo smacks you right between the eyes! This photo was taken at a place called Manzamo

Landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes and sunsets lend themselves to the use of wide-angle lenses. This photo was shot at the Dragonboat Races, an annual event in Nago Okinawa, Japan. My intent, here was to capture the crowd, sky and clouds and the three dragonboats finishing the race, all in one wide-angle shot. A scene composed like this draws the viewer’s

Anywhere in the world you travel, you’ll come across a crowd. They are at every major tourist attraction with their cameras in hand, clicking away trying to make postcard-perfect photos. What few of them realize is, they are not making best use of the available light and when they get home from their trip and view their snapshots, they’ll be horribly

Probably one of the worst compliments you can give a wildlife photographer is, “Wow; what a lucky shot”! After all, we spend every dime we have buying camera gear and wake up between 4 and 5 everyday to get out before sunrise in search of the million dollar photo. I have climbed trees, spent hours lying on a boulder in the hot sun, low-crawled along beaches

An annual event held at the Kumoji intersection of HWY 58 in Naha Okinawa, Japan has been awarded the Guinness Book of Records certificate for the biggest rope in the world made of rice straw, several times over the years, starting in 1995. A rope that is close to 600ft long and weighing over 40 tons is placed right in the center of the most heavily traveled