Landscape photography takes numerous skills all coming together at once to create successful images. We talk a lot about various camera techniques and post-processing methods, but there are other skills you need to have beyond what you do with your camera and computer, and this fantastic video tutorial discusses three of them that can improve your work in the long run.
Ash wants to take up photography. Never having owned a camera, besides the one on their phone, it’s something they have always had a hankering to do, especially after seeing all those great photos on Instagram. This is a cautionary tale, telling what can go horribly wrong for photographers.
One of the most recognizable aspects of any visual artist's style is their color grading, and it is a fantastic way to really level up your own work. If there is a painting, movie, photo, or some other visual piece that you really love the color grading of, this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to copy it directly to one of your own photos using Photoshop.
When we learn about lighting in portrait photography, we mostly focus on where to add light and how to shape it, but the presence of light is only made impactful by the mutual presence of shadows. Shadows can be a fantastic tool not just for contrast but to create a sense of drama or to tell a story with your images.
Wedding photography is a highly demanding genre, both behind the camera and at your computer. Given the intensive post-processing requirements that can often stretch into a multi-day process for a single event, it is crucial to have an efficient and well-structured workflow.
Autumn is just about upon us, and soon, the leaves will gift us with show-stopping vibrant colors that beg to be captured. If you are getting ready to head outdoors with your camera, check out this fantastic video that will give you seven great ideas for fall photos.
Along with aperture and shutter speed, ISO is one of the three fundamental exposure parameters, and mastering it is crucial to being able to produce successful images. If you are newer to photography, this helpful video tutorial will show you what ISO does and why photographers sometimes use high ISOs.
Knowing how to light, pose, and shoot a portrait is only half of what it takes to create a successful final image. It takes strong processing skills at the computer to complement your technique behind the camera. This comprehensive video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to retouch a portrait to a professional standard in Photoshop.
An ethereal, dreamy landscape photo can be a nice change of pace from the common ultra-sharp, super-vibrant photos we are used to today, and it can invite the viewer to find their own meaning and message within the image. If you are looking to create such photos in your own work, this great video tutorial will give you five tips to make it happen.
Becoming a proficient landscape photographer takes a tremendous amount of technical skill both behind the camera and at your computer, but even flawless technique is not enough to make a compelling image. It takes creative vision as well, but that is something that is a bit more difficult to learn.
There are a lot of reasons why people pick up cameras and become photographers, ranging from making a living to simply wanting to document life around them or explore their creativity. So, what type are you? This fun video features a photographer discussing the two types of people that head outside with their cameras.
If a business does not charge a production fee, they are leaving money on the table. It's standard, and your commercial clients are accustomed to paying an additional fee. We call it a production fee, but others industries may call it a convenience charge or kit fee, among other terms. Either way, it's standard and you are entitled to this fee.
When we are first learning how to work with artificial light, we generally focus on getting things right with the subject, but the mark of a professional is controlling light across the entire frame, including the background. This helpful video tutorial will show you three different ways to light your studio backgrounds to produce better images.
Now and again, we all get the desire to buy new kit; it’s only to be expected with the way new tech is marketed, combined with our desire to improve our craft. Do you need that new piece of equipment? Is it time to jump from a cropped sensor to a full frame? Should you move from DSLR to mirrorless?
When it comes to landscape photography, the sky is a crucial part of almost every image and something that you will spend a good proportion of time working on in post. If you are looking to improve your sky edits a bit, this helpful video tutorial will show you both how to isolate and process them in Photoshop.
As an educator working in the college sector, I find this topic incredibly interesting. There is so much information out there that we can digest. So, what's the way forward?
Apple's iPad line, particularly the iPad Pro, is more powerful than ever and features fantastic displays paired with useful accessories for creatives on the go, making them a more viable solution for post-processing work than ever before.
For the longest time, my favorite lens on any camera system was a 35mm wide-aperture prime. The focal length forced me to get "in the action" for impactful portraits, yet it was wide enough to capture wide angle scenes.
Wedding photography is a highly challenging genre, requiring the ability to put your creativity and technical skills to the test in a variety of quickly evolving scenarios, all with no second chances. As such, when you are new to it, it can feel a bit overwhelming to all take in.
Most of us do not particularly enjoy being out in the rain, especially with expensive camera equipment, but enduring the elements can bring about magical moments if you are willing to put in the time and effort. The neat video follows a photographer as bad weather rolls in and shows the interesting images he was able to create.
Learning artificial lighting is something that strikes fear in the heart of a lot of photographers, but it does not have to be a scary, unknown thing. If you are new to working with off-camera flash, this helpful video tutorial will get you up and running in no time.
With all the sharpening techniques available to you in Photoshop, sometimes, it can be hard to find the right one for you to use. And I am always amazed when someone finds a new way of doing something that we all thought we understood.
Landscape photography is a tricky genre in which to make money, as unlike most other genres, there is rarely a direct relationship in which a client pays you for a specific brief. As such, making money with it can be a bit trickier than in other cases. This great video tutorial will give you three ideas to make some money with your work.
There is so much to think about and keep track of in photography, even more so if it is your career. As such, it can be easy to get caught up thinking about the wrong thing or focusing too much on something at the expense of another. It is important to remember what really matters at the end of the day, and this worthwhile video discusses that.
It used to be that if you wanted to do serious color grading, you needed to head over to Photoshop, but in recent iterations, Lightroom has gained some easy-to-use and powerful color grading tools that make it easy to accomplish what you need right there. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use Lightroom's color grading tools to create better images.
When most people think of Leica cameras, they think of their iconic rangefinders and associated lenses, but the company actually maintains several different camera systems.
Hop on Instagram, and you will probably get the impression that landscape photography is the sort of thing where you travel from epic place to place, enjoying jaw-dropping views and beautiful weather.
The season of colorful leaves and pumpkin spice everything is upon us, and just like those orange coffee drinks, the vibrant foliage of fall is a fleeting presence. Are you and your camera ready for it? The time to prepare for autumn photography is now.
When it comes to landscape photography, a wide angle lens is most often the tool chosen for a given scene, simply because most scenes have a lot to take in. However, wide angle lenses come with their own unique challenges and pitfalls. This great video tutorial will show you five helpful tips for improving your landscape images when working with a wide angle lens.
A free piece of software that looks and runs like Photoshop sounds too good to be true, right? Here's what you need to know about this potential "Photoshop killer".
The majority of photographers simply take their pictures, pop out the memory card, and import their images into their computer. If you are working in a studio, however, tethering can be a real improvement to your workflow, and this great video tutorial will show you why and help you troubleshoot common tethering issues in Lightroom and Capture One.
I’m currently just casually reading about Deleuzian philosophy. Gilles Deleuze, a French philosopher, and Félix Guattari wrote about truth as coming from multiple sources.
A portfolio review is a great way to get feedback and direction for your photographic practice. It’s also a great way to connect with industry professionals. If you have been considering getting your work professionally reviewed, this article can shed some insights on what to expect and how to prepare.
Improving your keeper rate is desirable, but it also usually plots out your growth as a photographer; the higher your skill, the better your keeper rate. However, there are tips and tricks that are developed for the sole purpose of improving your keeper rate regardless of skill.
Have you had the client you're convinced is pure evil? Why do they behave like that? It seems they like to spread misery and just make life difficult for everyone in sight. Believe it or not, there's a method that I use to help bring them back down to tolerable levels. In some cases, they've become my biggest ally and supported me over the years.
It is important to work with one light at first so you can master all its fundamental properties and techniques, but once you feel comfortable with that, you can really expand your creativity by experimenting with more complex multi-light setups.
In a previous article (Easing into Astrophotography with a Telescope), I listed a few resources for stepping up to telescopic astrophotography.
While portraits with a narrow depth of field that isolate the subject against a wall of blurry colors and ill-defined shapes are quite popular, they can sometimes be a bit one-dimensional. Environmental portraits are a chance to increase the nuance of your images and tell stories about your subjects.
One of Photoshop's most useful and classic techniques is the ability to change the color of any object convincingly. This can come in handy in a wide variety of situations, such as adjusting the color of your subject's clothing, and this great video tutorial will show you how it is done.
Back before we had spectacularly capable modern sensors and advanced post-processing programs, photographers had to turn toward more involved techniques for reducing noise, and those methods are still useful today.
Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration. Something like a tornado would probably qualify as bad weather. However, if the weather is not threatening your very safety, I would go so far as to say it is good weather for landscape photography, rain, shine, or anywhere in between, and this great video demonstrates why.
You shoot perfect pictures. But are they the photographic equivalent of fast food? Maybe it’s time to consider changing the way you shoot and reject sausage machine images.
Fall is also upon us, and with it will come numerous opportunities for photos of vibrant leaves and landscapes. The time of best color often passes unexpectedly quickly, though, so it is important to be ready and have a plan in place if you want to get the best possible photos.
No doubt, we would all love to travel to the world's most epic and popular photography destinations, but there are thousands (if not millions) of nearly identical shots from each spot, and it can cost a lot of time and money to plan such a trip.
There are plenty of articles to give you the basics on how to shoot soccer or baseball, but what about sporting events that are a little more unusual, such as parkour or rock climbing? Here are a number of tips that might well carry over to lots of other different shooting scenarios.
Thanks to a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop, your dog portraits can be drastically improved with a little bit of editing, so follow along.
Starting in any new genre of photography can be daunting. Each comes with its own challenges, and landscape photography is no different. If you are a beginner landscape photographer and looking to get started with it, check out this helpful video tutorial that will give you a basic three-step process for creating images.
If you look at the work of a lot of the best photographers, their images go beyond technical quality and novel creativity by drawing you in with the stories they tell. The concept of storytelling in photography is a bit nebulous, however. So, how do you do it?
If you have ever looked at the product page for a lens, you may have noticed some strange graphs called MTF charts. Though they look a bit unusual, they are not particularly hard to read once you know what data they convey, and they can tell you a lot of useful information in a short amount of time. This helpful video will show you how they work.
Most photographers' workflows consist of taking the photos, removing the memory card, putting it in a reader, and importing their images. There is nothing wrong with that, but shooting tethered can be a real boon to your workflow if you are working in a studio, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to do it.