This website started as a hobby to explain photography (posts listed here), but over time expanded to provide (hopefully) useful information about Japan and the Japanese language. I also run edonoyu.com with a friend—a site that covers onsen in the Tokyo region.
Live View: Why It Matters
Live View or Live Preview is a function on just about all modern DSLRs and mirrorless cameras which…
Image Stabilization: Lens & Sensor
Image stabilization in a wider sense simply refers to the methods or techniques applied to still the camera…
Histograms in Photography
The histogram is one of the most under-utilised photographic tools. It shows the relative distribution of tonal values…
Filters: Advancing Your Photography
Filters are pieces of glass or plastic that are inserted in front of the lens to produce photographic…
Extenders & Teleconverters
Teleconverters or Extenders are attachments placed between the camera and lens that increase the focal length of the…
Exposure Triangle: The Basics of Photography
Despite the huge technological advances in digital imaging in the past few decades, the basic mechanics of taking…
Exposing to the Right
Exposing to the right (“ETTR”) is, in some circles, a pretty contentious issue—in part because there have been…
Electromagnetic Spectrum
The visible spectrum represents only a tiny proportion of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. There are three important properties…
Dynamic Range & Clipping
The dynamic range of a camera (or printer, or monitor) is the ratio between the minimum and maximum…
Diffraction in Camera Lenses
The effects of diffraction can be seen in the right-hand image below (point of focus was identical in…
Depth of Focus
Depth of field refers to the distance behind and in front of the point of focus that appears…
Crop Factor & Sensor Size
With 35mm film cameras, the “sensor” size was the size of the film negative itself—36 x 24mm (incidentally,…
