Like many other human activities, photography can easily evolve into an extreme sport. Will your photographs be visibly better with that 100 megapixel camera? Or that 10 gigapixel stitch? Do you really need 60 frames per second in order to capture just that perfect instance? Can you not succeed in wildlife photography unless your lenses is long as the elephant's trunk you are photographing? What is there about extremes that become so seductive in so many walks of life?
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HT2509 - Where DOF Fails
21/1/2026 | 2min
HT2509 - Where DOF Fails
A while back I did a research project looking at almost 10,000 raw captures in my Lightroom catalog. I wanted to determine what caused a failed image to fail, technologically. I did not consider aesthetics but rather the mechanics of photography. My hope was that I could eliminate or at least reduce those technical failures. Two primary failures dominated all others. The number one failure was camera movement, easily resolved with faster shutter speeds or tripods. The second most common reason for failure was related to depth of field, and in a surprising way.
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HT2508 - Mastering the Craft vs Photography
20/1/2026 | 2min
HT2508 - Mastering the Craft vs Photography
Let's talk about feelings. As I think back to all the workshops and classes that I've taken in my 50 years of photography, I can't remember a single one that centered on what I felt or wanted to express. Instead, all I can remember are endless discussions and demonstrations about the craft of photography. There is only one exception that comes to mind and that moment was a question from Bruce Barnbaum I'll never forget. What do you want to experience, and why do you want to capture it and share it with others?
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HT2507 - You Must Create Your Magnum Opus TODAY
19/1/2026 | 2min
HT2507 - You Must Create Your Magnum Opus TODAY
Wouldn't it be lovely if we had a switch we could throw that would turn on our creative genius at a moment's notice? Flick goes the switch and your best ever photograph is produced because you commanded it into existence. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. Our magnum opus happens in the midst of lots of other work that, well, isn't your magnum opus. Our magnum opus is the result of plowing ahead and simply doing our best with every effort.
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LW1489 - Your Own Voice
19/1/2026 | 12min
LW1489 - Your Own Voice
In so many ways, we have entered a new era in photography. It's getting harder and harder to be visually unique. Google is photographing everything. Now more than ever we need to find a way to use our own voice in our artwork.
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You might also be interested in. . .
Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com.
and...
"How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.
Sobre LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 50 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work, and building an audience.
Included in this RSS Feed are the LensWork Podcasts — posted weekly, typically 10-20 minutes exploring a topic a bit more deeply — and our almost daily Here's a thought… audios (extracted from the videos.) Here's a thought… are snippets, fragments, morsels, and tidbits from Brooks' fertile (and sometimes swiss-cheesy) brain. Usually just a minute or two. Always about photography and the art life.
Brooks Jensen is the publisher of LensWork, one of the world's most respected and award-winning photography publications, known for its museum-book quality printing and luxurious design. LensWork has subscribers in over 73 countries. He is the author of 13 books on photography and the creative life -- the latest books are The Best of the LensWork Interviews (2016), Photography, Art, and Media (2016), and the four annual volumes of Seeing in SIXES (2016-2019).