Ask a bunch of inexperienced photographers to name the easiest editing task they tackle, and most will likely give you a one-word answer: "Cropping." Yet, as you'll see in this eye-opening video from Landscape Photography University, incorrect cropping can spoil an image forever.
You don't need to head out to the country to shoot landscapes. Actually, city folks can find great landscapes right in their own urban environment. You just have to go off the beaten path a bit.
Curves are a fundamental component of Photoshop's editing toolbox, and one pro says, "if you're not using them you are seriously missing out." These tools have the ability to significantly enhance dull photos, accentuate mood and drama, and fine-tune color balance with precision.
Landscape photography is one of the most popular genres among Shutterbug readers, and the tutorials we post typically involve shooting and editing techniques for achieving great results. But today we’re taking s step back, with an important preliminary task you should perform before pulling a camera out of your bag.
Many of us tend to forget that Photoshop isn’t designed exclusively for photographers. In fact, graphic designers, those who design websites, and many other content creators, use this powerful software.
One of the challenges to home or professional photographersthese days is trying to keep every portrait set from looking the same. In a world where “freshness” counts a lot, being able to mix things up from one session to another, from season to season, all without jumping through too many hoops to change the set, is an advantage for many. A current trend is the ability to not only change backdrops but flooring as well, and with that in mind we recently had the opportunity to work with products from a division of the pro lab White House Custom Colour called “Backdrops by WHCC.” They have a wide range of interesting offerings in both fabric backdrops and rugged “rubberized” studio flooring.
Soon enough, your camera will join the ranks of the well connected. That’s not to say it will be invited to A-list parties, but only that it will become a participant in the highly touted Internet of Things, now coming ’round the mountain.
Russian model Viki Odintcova has created quite a firestorm for a recent Dubai photo shoot in which she is seen hanging off the roof of the 73-story Cayan Tower skyscraper with no means of protection.
No human being is created perfect, and photographers probably know that firsthand. Still, everyone wants to look best in their portraits. That desire usually translates into hours of tedious retouching with Photoshop or the likes of it. Whether you are a fashion, an event, or a wedding photographer, you probably wish to make portrait enhancing a breeze. Well, there is software that can grant you that wish.
The holiday season is in full swing, and with it come numerous once-a-year opportunities for dazzling photos. And regardless of where you live, now is the perfect time to take a drive and photograph the festive lights and decorations that brighten up your neighborhood.
If landscape photography is a primary areas of interest, you're likely familiar with the conventional "wisdom" that f/11 is the optimum aperture to use when shooting this genre of imagery. But many accomplished pros consider this "rule" nothing more than a useless myth, and the tutorial below explains why.
A camera enforces a “framing” of the world before you. While you can choose various aspect ratios (from standard to panoramic, from 3:4 to 6:19) the fact remains that you always have to choose what to include and what to leave out of the photo. It’s like constructing a box and deciding what to put inside it. Making those decisions often involves utilizing certain compositional guidelines and tools that artists have used in the past, although like any rules they “are made to be broken.” When deciding which guidelines to apply always remember that content rules, and that context helps tell the tale.
One of the primary differences between a photograph and the real world is that reality has three dimensions: height, width, and depth. Your photos, of course, only have two—height and width. Any depth that exists in a photograph is purely an optical illusion. Even if you were able to create a print that was the exact same size as the scene (and wouldn’t that be fun) it would still pale beside the real thing because of the lack of that third dimension.
Photography has taught me to be aware of color, design and patterns, and I am always looking for something interesting to photograph. A few years ago when my wife was making a marble cake, I was drawn to the design in the swirling chocolate and thought it would make a successful abstract shot. I liked the images I took, but I felt more color would make the pictures a lot more interesting.
All good photographers strive to make images that stand out from the crowd, whether they shoot landscapes, sports, wildlife, or another genre. And the best way to do that is by developing a unique (and hopefully recognizable) style you can call your own.