Fine Art Photography How To

Getting the light right is perhaps the most essential component of all great images, whether they're captured indoor or out. But there's another crucial component that can really add depth and impact to a photo, namely the thoughtful use of shadows.

If you're a regular Shutterbug reader you know that we constantly preach the value of developing a unique photographic style, and this is true for beginners and advanced shooters alike. In the tutorial below from the Street View YouTube channel, you'll learn how to get started today.

Photographer Nick Carver says, “There’s no better satisfaction than framing a print to hang on the wall. Creating a tangible, real-life piece of wall art is far more rewarding than uploading a file to Instagram or Flickr.” In the video below, Carver takes you through his process and describes the equipment he uses.

We’re a little surprised—but maybe we shouldn’t be—that Fine Art Photography was one of our most popular and most competitive assignments yet. Maybe it’s because fine art photography, as a category, can encompass so many different subjects, including landscapes, cityscapes, macros, wide angles, long exposures, abstracts, portraits, nudes, semi-nudes, black and whites, color photos, surreal photos, hyperreal photos, nature photos, and on and on and on.

If we could describe Steve Bronstein’s trademark shooting style it would be: keep it real and keep it small. Bronstein is a wizard at breathing life into miniature sets and adding an air of believability to each one.
His mastery of perspective and scale is only a small part of that. He also knows how to make his lighting work for him to deliver one-of-a-kind masterpieces. And he has the most talented people working with him to ensure that each step in a project is taken on the surest footing.

One of the hallmarks of fine art photography is the production of archival prints. Which begs the question, does the social media generation care about a print’s longevity or photographic prints at all? Maybe that changes when you drop five figures on a fine art print or hire a high-end photographer to create a portrait you expect to last as long as a traditional silver-based print.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That was the motto of fine art landscape photographer Michael Ryan while trying to capture this scene at Salt Point State Park in Sonoma County, California.