Holidays can be hell as every year it becomes more difficult to find another great gift for the photo geek…  uh… photography fan in your life. To help out, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite things.

Spotlighting can add a touch of drama to your images, but it doesn’t work with all types of crafts. This lighting technique can easily be used with matte and flat-surfaced work, while shiny surfaces can be nightmares to get just...

Wood is funny stuff. While it would seem easy to photograph, it is actually rather tricky. Wooden crafts are all over the map when it comes to contrast, tone and shape. In fact, the starting place to decide how to light a wooden...

When we had to shoot film for slides of craftwork, framing was a big decision. You set up your art, turned on the lights, carefully framed the work and took your shot. The resulting slide was the final word on the craftwork. Then you made a few dozen copies of the slide, which were often off in contrast and color. Yet these were the slides you submitted to shows and hoped to get them back undamaged.

There’s nothing as dull as a jury submission image of an unlit candle or lamp. A turned-off light doesn’t impress jurors or Web buyers. Realistically, craftwork that involves lighting sources (objects like candlesticks, candelabras, lanterns, table lamps, etc.) is often difficult to photograph. If you create work that lights up, this column is aimed at you.

It has been an amazing year for photography. While film will still be the media of choice for some, digital photography will open up all sorts of possibilities for artists. Just look at the Internet and the opportunities it offers for artists. Through it, they can reach a global marketplace and share their experiences and knowledge with other artists. With this year winding to a close, let me review some of the things I’ve explained over the year and expand on a few others.

I suppose digital photography will be perfected about the same time as flying cars hit the skies. Somehow, despite onboard computers that could drive a starship, folks are still having trouble getting really good photos. Rather then bemoaning an industry that put features over performance, let me focus on how to troubleshoot some of the most common problems people have with their digital photos.