Have you ever made a shot list for a landscape photography location only to end up disappointed or disconnected from your final images? Maybe you need a new approach.
Has the rule of thirds influenced your compositions? It has mine at times. Yet, with each application I wonder, why should placing things near the thirds of an image be appealing? In fact, it turns out that the link between the rule of thirds and aesthetic appeal is weak. Is the rule of thirds dead?
Are you a patient person, able to delay gratification for the sake of something bigger and better down the road? Do you think you could wait two years to get the exact photo you wanted? This awesome video follows a photographer on the quest to make an image that took two years of careful planning and waiting for just the right moment.
Are you struggling with photographing in forests? Here are five tips to get you started.
Many times, when we go to places that are exceptional for their landscape photography potential, we may not be arriving at the most optimal time frame. What can you do to still take exceptional imagery that recreates the look of beautiful light?
Landscape Photography can be quite intimidating especially to new photographers. Aside from the fact that it entails quite a bit of leg work, it can also seem as if it requires a lot of unique pieces of gear.
Landscape photography is a genre that requires a lot of time and dedication to even the most subtle nuances to master. This excellent video will give you six lessons a landscape photographer has learned on his journey that can help you on yours.
Instagram influencers have been accused, among other things, of caring more about perception than reality. But maybe there's some justification for that and something we can learn from it. The problem may not be the idea itself, but only that it's sometimes taken too far.
The best analogy for photographing well-photographed locations is to make covers of famous pieces of music. Just like a musician practices his guitar skills with “Nothing Else Matters” and makes his own version, a landscape photographer might do the same at Skogafoss in Iceland or Mesa Arch in Utah. When you are done practicing, or made enough covers of the same location, you might want to make your own original pieces.
A lot of us do not like the rain for one reason or another, whether it is the fact that we simply do not enjoy getting wet (that would be me) or because we want to protect the thousands of dollars we have invested in sometimes delicate equipment. Still, there is a lot to be gained by occasionally venturing into the rain with your camera, and this awesome video discusses why you might want to try it yourself.
For those interested in landscape photography, you may be selling yourself short by exclusively using wider angle lenses. Telephoto lenses deserve just as much use, if not more.
In late September 2019, I joined up with three other wildlife and landscape photographers to take on Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a few days surrounding the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) WildSpeak West symposium. In this video I review my best images taken with my new gear from this short but productive three-day trip to the Tetons.
There are not a lot of people who are photographing landscapes in black and white. Most of us prefer a nice color presentation of a landscape. Nevertheless, black and white conversion can help a lot when processing a color photo.
Landscape photography is a tricky genre that takes the confluence of multiple threads of technical prowess, creative thinking, and a bit of luck from the elements to create a successful image. This helpful video will give you lots of great tips to improve your landscape photography.
A strong composition is the holy grail of landscape photography, and there are always new things to learn.
It's been exactly a year since the release of Nikon's flagship full-frame mirrorless camera and the camera has been tested in so many different genres. For this review, I test out this camera for compatibility in the exact kind of photography that I do: urban photography.
Autumn has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes the opportunity for vibrant, colorful photos of the changing leaves. It is often just a few weeks that we get with those brilliant colors, however, so it is important to do some scouting and planning to be ready when the times arrives. This great video will give you some helpful tips to be ready to take some excellent images of the fall leaves.
Do you have a location where it seems no matter what you do, you just can't seem to take a good picture? This great video explores what happens when you have a nemesis location, why you should keep pursuing it, and what you can do to get past your difficulties.
The bright reds, oranges, and yellows of trees in autumn make for compelling subjects, but it can be tricky to plan travel around nature. If you want to give yourself the best odds for success, you need to plan ahead. Crowd-sourced foliage maps and reports can let you know when and where the color is at the peak.
Like them or not, medium format cameras are the truth when it comes to image quality. The latest 150 megapixel juggernaut from Phase One is another example of what these systems are capable of, but there's far more to this back than just sheer resolution. Ever shot long exposures at 1/125s?
Around this time last year Phase One released the IQ4 line of digital backs. The IQ4 expanded on the IQ3 and introduced a new Infinity Platform (the UI and operating system in the backs), as well as two brand new sensors: the 151 megapixel full frame medium format IQ4 150MP and 150MP...
The Masters of Photography courses are aimed at offering instruction from those who have mastered their genre, to those who are entering it. The Albert Watson course covers his whole career, working in portraiture and commercial advertising as well as shooting landscapes and personal projects. Here’s what I thought after giving it a go.
It can get exhausting, inefficient, and even expensive constantly trying to find new photo locations for your landscape work. But with a little bit of work and creativity, you can get numerous shots and looks from a single location. This great video discusses why it is important to keep returning to the same location and how it can improve your work.
I guess you will have a zoom lens in your camera bag. It is a very handy tool that allows you to zoom in, and to zoom out. But you can also use it to manipulate the size of the background compared to your subject. Let me explain.
Do you like to plan your location shots? Will you be visiting a location and want to know where the sun is going to be at a particular time of the day? Will the building or mountain block the sun right before sunset? Well, if you're like me, you want to know these answers before you get to the location, and that's why you need this app.
The Dehaze tool in Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Lightroom is fantastic for landscape photography. Here are some examples of its use.
Landscape photography is a difficult genre that combines a lot of technical ideas with nuanced artistry and detailed vision, making it a challenge to create a successful image. So, what should you be thinking about as you are standing behind the camera, readying your shutter finger? This excellent video explores that exact question.
Most panoramas can easily be shot by hand but what happens if you want to shoot a multi-row pano? What if you want to create a truly "gigapixel" image that could require over 100 images? You're going to need some hardware to help.
Watch enough YouTube and photography tutorials, and you might start to think that accomplished photographers do nothing but take spectacular shots day in and day out. But the truth is that even the best among us have days where things just don't go right or the creative juices just aren't flowing properly. This great video takes an honest look at what happens when things just aren't going the way you had hoped.
The wonderful thing about trees is that every single one is unique in texture, shape, curvature, structure, setting, and more, making them excellent subjects for landscape photographers. This excellent tutorial will show you how to create eye-catching photos of trees.
When the weather gods do something crazy, don't ask questions; just say thank you. You can try and plan your outdoor photography until you're blue in the face, but sometimes, when it starts to look like the conditions might be epic, you need to be spontaneous and just get out there.
Composition is an essential part of any kind of photography. It is something many photographers struggle with, so why not do something about it?
Laowa is one of the first to create a wide lens for Nikon’s Z and Canon's RF mount, with their 15mm f/2 Zero-D. The lens is also available in Sony's FE, representing a unique option for full frame mirrorless users. With an impressive aperture and focal length combination, is it a lens you should consider?
Fstoppers recently covered a vlog that detailed the benefits of repeatedly photographing the same location. And now we have further proof that repetition can pay off in photography, this time from the Scottish countryside.
Ansel Adams loved editing his images in the darkroom and often spoke about it. More importantly, he saw it as an important role in creating the final image that he had visualized when he took the shot.
One of the neat things about landscape photography is that you can produce vastly different images from the same scene simply by varying the choices of your basic settings. This excellent video discusses numerous situations you might encounter as a landscape photographer and the best camera settings to consider using in each of them.
Shooting cityscapes is something many people never get tired of. The urban jungle is an ever-changing landscape that never ceases to amaze many people with its often grandiose theme and bright, distinct, and often colorful details.
The 24-105mm lens is rarely the one you think about first when the subject is landscape photography. However, this lens is one of my most used lenses and has been for several years.
In this YouTube video, Brendan Van Son discusses with us the feelings and thoughts of what happens when you are working on assignment and your photos suck.
The combination of vastly increased living standards for many people around the globe, individualism and social media has created a boom in tourism never seen in the history of humanity. Towns, areas and countries such as Venice, Dubrovnik, The Isle of Skye, US national parks, Iceland, The Netherlands and The Faroe Islands are feeling it (and that is just to name a few). The Faroe Islands seem to do something different.
One of the more nuanced and difficult aspects of landscape photography is composition. This excellent video features a professional landscape photographer as he talks through how he chose the compositions for two of his images.
Some days, you spend the day hiking in beautiful weather, the sun shining on your face and a light breeze dancing through your hair while you capture arresting images of Mother Nature in all her glory. Some days, it rains all day, and your camera falls into a river.
Landscape photography can be very challenging in a lot of ways, particularly when it comes to creating effective and compelling compositions. This excellent video will show you some common compositional mistakes in landscape photography and what you can do to avoid them in the first place.
Midday sun can be very difficult to work with, but that does not mean you can't get great images during the middle of the day. This helpful video will show you how to take better landscape photos when dealing with midday sun.
Even though you are cold, wet, and tired, it might be a great idea just to check what is around the corner. That was what I did, and I was rewarded with several photos.
Perhaps one of the key things that an aspiring photographer needs to learn is that the quality of light is one of the most important elements in making a great photo. Often, it's the light that makes or breaks the photo.
The most ridiculous claim I have ever heard about not going to Iceland was “it is over-photographed and it is not possible to get an original photo”. Challenge accepted. I got four in one day.
We published the announcement last month when Skylum told us that the upcoming Luminar 4 included AI sky replacement. No layers, no masking. One click.
Photographers love their advanced and expensive gear; it makes our jobs much easier and can produce some absolutely stunning results in the right hands. But what can you accomplish with a $79 camera that's over a decade old? The results might surprise you.
Everyone who is photographing landscapes knows how important light is. With the right light situations, a boring landscape can transform into something magical. It is not only choosing the golden hour, but also waiting for the right moment. You need to be patient.
Landscape photography can be a tricky genre, full of subtle aesthetic and technical choices that can really make or break a photo. This excellent video details seven tips that can help you to improve your landscape photos.
