My Best Advice


A collection of things that can really make a difference.




My Best Advice

I've been publishing advice about photography for several decades now. Some of it is definitely worth reading, probably not all of it though :) My website is now a cumbersome tranche of blog entries, full-length articles and links to YouTube videos. I wanted to create one pocket of the website where my best advice might be easy to find.

Perhaps to make life easier for beginners who are still carving a path with the craft. Perhaps for my regulars who wish to look back on older posts and reflect a little more. Perhaps as a last ditch attempt to curate meaning from the noise, before AI scrapers render my life's work into their random-word calculator and drown out the signal once and for all.






For Beginners


YouTube
Aperture Priority
A simple setup to make the most of in-camera metering without giving up creative control.


YouTube
Do I Have To Shoot Manual? No.
Anyone who tells you 'You must shoot manual to be a real photographer' should be pushed into the sea.


YouTube
Portrait Lens
Telephoto is a poor choice for portraits. It limits your options. A fast 50mm or 35mm is a far more powerful lens for portrait work.


YouTube
Black & White Seeing Light
Why I love B+W and why it's a powerful way to explore photography and learn to see light better.


Blog Feature
Food Photography with a Very Small Camera
You don't need the best camera in the world to take photos of cupcakes. Affordable small cameras with a good lens can also do that job.


YouTube
The 50mm Problem
Why every photographer needs this lens in their kit.


Photography Not Cameras


YouTube
12MP Is Plenty
More pixels does not always mean better pixels. I wanted to demonstrate just how far you can go even with a mere 12MP camera.


YouTube
Portrait Lens
Telephoto is a poor choice for portraits. It limits your options. A fast 50mm or 35mm is a far more powerful lens for portrait work.


Blog Feature
Why We Ask First
Seeking permission before taking someone's photo is not just about respect, it's also the path to a better photo.


YouTube
Auroras vs Cameras
On a big night the Northern Lights are a stunning experience to behold, but the camera always sees more than the human eye can.


Blog Feature
Butterflies In Bhutan
Stepping into the world of macro is an absolute joy, and all the more rewarding when Butterflies are involved.


YouTube
Time-Lapse Made Lovely
Taking a tonne of still photos and compiling them into a timelapse video is a special kind of magic.


Freelance Careers


YouTube
ADHD and Photography
I've made it through 25 years of being self-employed, and it turns out that my ADHD Brain has been a big part of making this gig work.


Blog Feature
Creative vs Compromised
Ditch the shitty clients before they spoil your joy. Do it now.


YouTube
People Will Steal Your Photos
Trying to stop people from stealing your work can hurt yourself more than the theif.


Blog Feature
Do_You_Care_About_AI
Photography is about expressing your experience, which is hard to do when your only experience is stealing images off the internet.


YouTube
Stop Looking For Shortcuts
There's a reason the easy option sucks.


YouTube
Video for Photographers
You need a seriously good reason to step down this path, because video is a tonne of extra work and extra learning.


Polar Night Aurora Workshop

Tours & Workshops
Himalayas, Australia,
The Arctic and beyond.
Learn More
Photographer Ewen Bell

The Photography Blog
Information & Inspiration
For over 20 years
Explore The Blog
Photographer Ewen Bell

Aurora Workshops
Arctic Adventure and
The Northern Lights
Start Exploring



  Keep Watching

Join Ewen's newsletter for monthly updates on new photography videos, articles and tour offers...

Subscribe Here