Outdoor Photography How To

Have you ever wondered why so many of the best landscape photos from yesteryear and today are presented in b&w? Personal preference aside, it’s a simple fact that some outdoor scenes are more compelling when rendered in monochrome.

Colorful sunset scenes and moody long-exposure photos are among the most popular subjects for nature and landscape photographers. But what if you’re at a great location in bright light during the day, and can’t wait around for the sun to drop below the horizon.

Today’s Photoshop tutorial is all about analyzing boring photos carefully before relegating them to the trash. That’s because a drab image with good composition and a compelling subject can often be transformed into a beautiful scene with a few thoughtful adjustments in Photoshop.

Most outdoor photographers love shooting at Golden Hour, when soft warm tones bath the landscape before the sun disappears below the horizon. Unfortunately it's not always possible to control when we come across an epic scene, and sometimes that happens earlier in the day when light is less than ideal.

Some photographers shoot landscapes, while others concentrate on wildlife or travel imagery. But you can take your outdoor photography to the next level by being less of a purist and combining two or three of these disciplines in your work.

We’ve all had the misfortune of traveling to a beautiful destination with a lake in the foreground of a stunning landscape, only to discover boring light, a drab cloudless sky, and water devoid of the brilliant reflections we anticipated.

There are numerous way to render outdoor scenes during the editing process, depending upon the subject. Sometimes your goal is maximum depth of field throughout the frame, while other times a soft background blur will separate an important foreground object from a cluttered background.