Nature Photography How To

From my perch on a rock outcrop above the Arctic River, I could make out every detail of the valley. The autumn tundra was a mosaic of red, orange, and yellow. The river flowed pale blue below the gray of storm clouds that were, in turn, lit with just a hint of sunset light. 

We’re all familiar with the common dilemma when shooting landscape photos in which a compromise has to be made between a blown-out sky and an overly dark foreground. In the video below, image-editing expert Nick Page demonstrates why an exposure-blending technique is far more effective than global highlight/shadow adjustments or using an HDR plugin.

Color Flow

Last October Shutterbug reader Neil Williams planned a two-day trip to Asheville, North Carolina, “to get some fall color on the Blue Ridge Parkway but the weather didn’t cooperate (heavy rain and complete lack of visibility).” So, he decided to change course slightly and make a quick trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee instead. 

Born in 1829, Carleton Watkins was perhaps the greatest of early American Western photographers, yet his images are largely unknown today. His photographs of Yosemite Valley and throughout California’s Sierra Nevada mountains have been compared by some to those of Ansel Adams that followed.

Greg Benz is a Minneapolis-based photographer known for his stunning landscape and cityscape images, and he creates some real magic by using his camera’s Live View mode and a neutral density (ND) filter.

Greg Du Toit is a South African nature photographer and winner of the 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. He recently made these amazing images of elephants taking a bath while he was submerged in their watering hole at Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve.

While it may not seem that way in some parts of the country, spring is in the air and it’s time to start thinking about shooting some macro images outdoors. Florida-based photographer Matthew Cicanese has a varied portfolio, but his close-up work is really special—despite the fact he is blind in one eye.