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All photographers love camera hacks, especially when they're a lot of fun to do and involve using common household items as props to create awe-inspiring images. Today's lesson from photographer Daniel Aucoin provides seven great ideas for capturing amazing macro photos that really grab attention.

Here are 7 photo accessories that offer high value and very attractive prices. All have been selected from Amazon’s stable of private label products, Amazon Basics. And all cost less than $30.

Environmental portraits are all the rage these days in photography because they are far more revealing than a basic portrait of an individual or a simple headshot. As the name suggests, environmental portraits capture a subject within his or her typical environment such as a workplace. 

You’re hiking in the forest and stumble upon a friendly grizzly bear who’s seated comfortably on a fallen log. You left your big camera at home to lighten your load, and the anemic lens on your smartphone just won’t do the situation justice. Without having a real camera with you to document the scene, how can you answer, once and for all, that age-old question, “Do bears sit in the woods?”

Since scratching the first drawings of animals onto cave walls, humans have been compelled to create images of their world for others to see and understand. During the past 150 years, the shape, size, and technology of the tools we have used to produce photographs has changed drastically. To capture sweeping landscape vistas, we no longer need to drive a mule-drawn darkroom wagon into the wilderness. Now a camera that fits in a pocket can do the job. During the coming year, the means that we will use to capture photographs may change but not the motivation to share a view of our world with other people.

Most experienced photographers are familiar with the Rule of Thirds and how it can help to create interesting image composition. There's a lot more to composing a photo than just the Rule of Thirds though.