Do you understand the interplay between the focal length of a lens and angle of view? It’s an important relationship to understand, and this video from a German pro will bring you up to speed in the next seven minutes.

Rainer Hoffmann is an excellent photographer who specializes in travel and landscape imagery that has appeared in numerous publications, books, calendars and the like. He’s also a very experienced educator—conducting workshops, in-person classes, and numerous online courses for over 20 years.

He introduces today’s explainer like this: “The focal length of a lens is an important parameter, however it tells us nothing about what we’re really interested in when we use a specific lens. Therefore, the angle of view is more important.” There’s also a link in the description beneath the vide for downloading a helpful chart of typical focal lengths for different sensor sizes.

Hoffmann illustrates today’s lesson with excellent graphics that make both concepts very easy to understand. Unlike with angle of view, all lenses are marked with their focal in millimeters— either on the barrel or at the front. Zooms offer a range, while prime lenses are limited to a fixed focal length and tend to be much faster.

The lesson begins with some quick physics before moving on to practical matters and Hoffmann puts it like this: “Focal length is simply the distance from the central plane of the lens to the focal point (the point where all the light rays converge).” But Hoffman says that what we really want to know is how much of a scene will appear within the frame when we use any given lens.

Hoffman demonstrates why this is where angle of view comes into play, as does the sensor size of your camera. Thus, an image made with a 50mm on a full-frame camera appears significantly different from photos shot with the same lens on an APS-C or M/43 camera.

Fortunately there’s a simple relationship between focal length and angle of view: “A short focal length means a wide angle of view while telephoto lenses have a much narrower angle of view (expressed in degrees).” And, as you’ll see, here’s when sensor size factors into the equation.

The good news is that you needn’t member all the numbers and degrees, because all this will quickly become second nature once you get the hang of it. And don’t forget to download the helpful reference chart mentioned above. Then head over to Hoffmanns popular YouTube channel where there are many more straightforward primers available.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could dramatically improve your photos by simply changing four camera settings? This sounds like a tease but it’s actually a fact, according to professional photographer Jared Collins, who specializes in teaching less-experienced shooters how to avoid common mistakes.

Collins begins with a discussion of your camera’s Aperture Priority exposure mode. When first getting started with a DSLR he listened to the chatter and used Manual mode instead. As a result, “I spent several years turning dials and changing settings completely unnecessarily.” He then experienced a eureka moment after someone convinced him to try Aperture Priority.

He doesn’t deny that Manual mode provides maximum control in some situations, and he occasionally takes this approach himself. But if you hear him out you’ll better understand the many benefits of switching your camera’s Mode dial to AV (without any feelings of guilt).

Next on the list are your camera’s drive settings and Collins makes a prediction “I believe that you should be shooting in Burst mode more often than you did in the past.” He explains his reasoning with a question: “How many times have you been on location, thought you captured the moment perfectly, only to learn later that the subject blinked just as you pressed the shutter button?”

In other words, a high-speed burst can come in super handy if anything moves at the decisive moment, which is why Collins says he configures his camera accordingly 90% of the time. It’s better to be safe than sorry, “even if  you have to sort through more images because storage is cheap.”

As the episode progresses you’ll learn when and why Collins recommends shooting at high ISO values without taking things too far. He also explains why the Continuous AF mode can really pull you out of a jam.

So go grab your camera and experiment with configuring it differently based upon Collins advice. Then pay a visit to his instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find a variety of straightforward tricks and techniques for upping your game.

And don’t miss the explainer we featured recently with another popular instructor who demonstrates how he captures photographs with maximum depth of field by setting his lens to the “hyperfocal distance.”

You’re in for a surprise if the important concept of “diffraction” is unfamiliar because this optical phenomenon, or spreading of light waves, has likely degraded some of the photos you captured in the past. The problem typically occurs when shooting with small apertures and image softening is the result—especially in areas of high-contrast.

The good news is that this unsightly problem will be a thing of the past after watching the video below from the My Photo Journey YouTube channel. Instructor Dawley Lad is an accomplished British outdoor photographer whose behind-the-scenes tutorials are always revealing and perhaps what you’d call transformational.

In today’s episode you’ll follow Lad strolling through Lincoln’s historic Bailgate area with a DSLR in hand as he photographs two picturesque spots, the well-known Whiskey Shop and the Wonky Shop. He poses this question for starters: “If you’ve ever wondered why your photographs aren’t sharp at very small apertures, I’ll show you exactly why this happens and how to avoid it.”

The video begins with a quick theoretical discussion of when and why diffraction becomes a potentially image-killing problem—no matter how many megapixels your camera has. In simple terms, diffraction occurs because light tends to disperse or diffract when it passed through a small opening like f/22.

Lad clearly illustrates how diffraction works by shooting multiple images of his subjects—some with his lens opened up to f/4 and others stopped all the way down to f/22. Then he returns home, opens the photos side-by-side in Lightroom, and evaluates them carefully.

As you’ll see, shooting at minimum aperture resulted in a significant loss of image quality and sharpness. Bottom Line: Don’t bend it like Beckham!

There are many more behind-the-scenes instructional videos on the My Photo Journey YouTube channel so be sure to take a look.

We recently posted another helpful primer for beginners that’s closely related to this one. So take a close look and learn how to master your camera’s ISO settings so you can capture stunning photographs in all lighting conditions.