Outdoor Photography How To

Whether you’re shooting landscapes, street photos, or cityscapes, something magical happens when the sun dips below the horizon. Colorful lights abound, and less appealing components of a scene tend to fade into obscurity.

All outdoor photographers are at the mercy of Mother Nature, especially when shooting landscapes. That’s because sometimes you scout out a perfect scene in advance, prepare your gear, and arrive at the right time of day—only to confront disappointingly dull skies.

Have you heard the term “non-destructive” to characterize certain editing methods, but you’re unsure what it means? If so, we’re going to clear that up today. You’ll also learn how easy it is to get the job done using Adjustment Layers to process photos.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska consists of 19,286,722 acres along the Alaskan North Slope, and supports a greater diversity of flora and fauna than anywhere else in the Arctic Circle. It was established in 1960 and is governed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It receives only about 1,500 visitors a year.

I learned photography in the film days, and when the huge change to digital came along, I changed not only my gear but the way I see. I used to have to see in terms of very specific criteria of what would work within the ISO range of my film and what the film could record in terms of light and shadow. Low ISOs meant I couldn’t get enough depth of field, or a tripod was needed, or I had to light something because there wasn’t enough information in pictures that had incredible shadow detail. High ISOs often meant an unacceptable level of grain and bad color rendition. As a result I passed up a lot of situations that got my attention but were beyond the capability of my film to capture.

If you ask a bunch of photographers what they found most exciting about the recent Photoshop update, you're likely to receive this two-word answer: Generative Fill. Nonetheless, professional photographer Nick Page begs to differ, claiming the Remove tool is a real game changer and the best new capability.