Lighting How To

Photography is all about maximizing light, and landscape photographers are always at the mercy of prevailing conditions. The quick tutorial below demonstrates how to make necessary adjustments in Lightroom when Mother Nature fails to cooperate.

Motion blur is a very popular technique in which slow shutter speeds are used to give photos a sense of movement, and appropriate subjects span the gamut from flowing water, clouds blowing across the sky, and even action shots of athletes. This effect can be achieved in the camera or during post processing.

One of the primary goals of landscape photographers is to arrive at a “correct” exposure, and we regularly post tutorials on this subject to help get the job done. But in the quick tutorial below you’ll see why certain types of scenes look much better by adding a bit of intentional overexposure during the editing process.

Camera technology these days is amazing; it’s practically magic. The problem, though, to my way of thinking and photographing, is that the magic offers a very wide and deep comfort zone—you might call it a zone of automatic decisions, and it’s probably best not to spend a lot of time there, certainly not if you want to create individualistic images.

Regardless of how you pronounce “bokeh” (see our hilarious video on this topic), it’s an important concept to understand if you want to shoot photos that grab attention by making the primary subject in a scene really stand out against a soft and pleasing background.

All photographers are looking for an edge when it comes to shooting in mixed light outdoors, where there’s often a wide range of tones from bright highlights to deep shadows. While arriving at a balanced exposure can be challenging in these situations, there’s a way to use varying light levels to advantage.