Nature Photography How To

Think back to when you were first getting started, and what you were told about ISO settings. If you’re like most of us, you were imbued with the notion that using ISO 100 (or lower) was the only way to obtain clean and noise-free images. Right?

Most photographers understand why shooting in Raw provides maximum image detail and other key attributes that contribute to ultimate image quality. Another benefit of using this format is that it delivers far more control during the image-editing process.

If you’ve visited Shutterbug’s galleries, you’ve likely seen Douglas Croft’s splendid work. A specialist in nature, outdoor, and travel photography, Croft’s gorgeous images have received glowing remarks from fellow Shutterbug readers.

Making natural-looking photo composites used to be somewhat difficult and time consuming, even for those with advanced editing skills. But as Photoshop has evolved, this task has become quick and easy as you’ll see in the tutorial below.

One way to improve the overall “feel” of landscape photographs is to adjust white balance to achieve either a subtle or more dramatic effect. You can often do that by selecting the appropriate camera settings, or in the case of this tutorial, by making a few adjustments when processing an image.

What if you arrive at a location, only to encounter atmospheric that obscures important objects in the background, reduces details throughout the scene, and basically ruins your shot? You can either return on a better day, or take a few photos and fixed them in Photoshop with the simple technique below.

Have you ever spent a day in the field, thinking you captured several great photographs, only to discover on the computer that some of the images are dull, noisy, and boring? If that’s happened to you, like it has to the best of us, the following Photoshop tutorial will set you straight.