Most of my columns for this website concern the ideas and purposes behind the photographs I take. I always include information about the technology used to achieve the photos, which could be as basic as the f/stop chosen to direct your attention, or the use of a ND filter to make a long exposure possible. That approach is not incidental or coincidental; the stories are planned along those lines because my ideas come first, and technology’s purpose is to support those ideas.
So what exactly is an “Adjustment Layer” in Photoshop, and what does it enable you to do? According to Adobe it’s “a layer that lets you apply color and tonal values to your image without permanently changing pixel values.” In basic terms, you can use various layers to experiment with color, tones, and more.
Let’s face it: Most of us are passionate about gear, and we regularly update our equipment. The medical term for this affliction is Gear Acquisition Syndrome—commonly known as G.A.S.
The great thing about cityscape photography is that when you run out of ideas, there’s always a city or town nearby. By following the straightforward advice below, you’ll be able to capture “perfect” photos wherever you live.
Given a choice, most outdoor photographers prefer to shoot at the beginning or end of the day. At Blue Hour, just before sunrise, the landscape is bathed in soft, cool tones, while at Golden Hour, just after sunset, beautiful warm tones prevail.
There are two basic genres of macro photography. One is shooting tiny subject like jewelry and stamps with supplemental light indoors. Perhaps more popular, especially this time of year, is capturing outdoor close-up photos of both inanimate and living subjects.
If you’re a regular visitor to our website you know we frequently post shooting and editing tutorials from German landscape photographer Christian Mohrle. In the quick-and-easy episode below you’ll see how Lightroom’s Masking tools play a big part in his beautiful imagery.
We’ve all marveled at long-exposure landscape photos with soft feather-like clouds and cotton-candy water. The challenge when shooting during the day, is that light levels are usually too high to permit using the slow shutter speeds necessary,
Independence day is right around the corner, and with it comes a great opportunity to capture spectacular images of fireworks—whether you’re shooting in a stadium, astride a lake or river, or in the comfort of your own backyard.
Whether you’re an accomplished wildlife shooter or you just enjoy photographing birds in the backyard, it’s likely you pop off dozens of images when an interesting subject appears. If so, the video below will be a big help.
One of the challenges facing landscape photographers is dealing with the wide range of tones from deep shadows to bright highlights that often exist in outdoor scenes. With this broad dynamic range, high-contrast edges are very common.
If you’re a wildlife photographer, you’re bound to have some close encounters with animals. Recently we shared a video where a photographer was stalked by a bear in the woods and now here’s a (slightly) less frightening encounter with a group of baby elephant seals.
Today we’re going to discuss lens fogging—a serious problem that plagues outdoor photographers this time of year. When this occurs you’ll either miss a spontaneous opportunity while waiting for a lens to clear up, or you’ll snap the shutter and end up with a worthless photo.
This is the perfect time of year for macro photography, with vibrant flowers, colorful insects and other creepy crawlies just about everywhere you look. In fact, you can often find great subjects in your own backyard.
Do you ever get in a rut with your landscape photography? Do your images of nature start to look the same? Or even more importantly, are they starting to look boring?