Landscape Photography

"Undisturbed Places" is a time-lapse film by Maciej Tomkow. This breathtaking four-minute film transports you to some of the most beautiful uninhabited places in the world. Tomkow presents them in a way that creates a sense of awe that I didn’t think possible. I had previously seen another award-winning film created by Tomkow, "Treasures of Zakynthos." This film covered a relatively small area, focusing on the Greek island of Zakynthos. Tomkow has taken that same masterful vision and technique and applied it to a vast array of locations around Namibia and Botswana.

Zen photography comes naturally with an empty mind. It’s both waiting for a moment where light, shape, and dynamics fall into place, and being devoid of planning in advance. Instead of checking the weather online before a shoot, you just venture out and essentially wing it. It’s all about being in the moment. As a landscape photographer, I want to share the ways of this minimalist sub-genre.

Photographing The World Behind The Scenes continues today with Episode 15. In this episode, we are finally able to leave Hong Kong (after our disaster with Vietnam Air in last weeks episode) and we arrive in Cambodia. We captured some amazing images and lessons in Cambodia and Elia almost gets his face bit off by a monkey.

Even though I am not a landscape photographer and I have never attempted any sort of astrophotography, I have always appreciated beautiful photographs of nightscapes. Recently, I borrowed the new Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD lens and tried to photograph an interesting night scene here in Charleston. Truth be told, it was quite the learning experience. In this video, I will share my first ever approach to shooting the night sky and hopefully give you a few things to think about when tackling this interesting genre of photography.

For the past few hours, I've been on a timelapse video marathon. One video on Vimeo led to the next, and two hours later, I've probably skimmed through 60 videos. Most of these timelapse videos were pretty mediocre but five of them were so beautiful I had to share them.

Our second tutorial with Elia Locardi: Photographing the World: Cityscape, Astrophotography, and Advanced Post-Processing was all about different types of cities. We started in Cinque Terre, a region of Italy where cities are basically built into the side of a natural landscape. We then moved on to Rome to shoot ancient architecture. Next we moved on to Singapore and Hong Kong for something a little bit more modern.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), based in Pasadena, CA, recently released a 360-degree video of a vista of Mars' Namib Dune from their rover, Curiosity. On one hand, it's an all-encompassing, but static, noiseless video. Yet, on the other hand, it's the most realistic, hands-on, feels-like-you-were-there video of another planet that we have. If you think about it for a moment while you're watching, it suddenly hits you: we're really there. We have a presence on Martian land.

Neutral density filters seem to be all the rage these days. If you are a landscape photographer, ND filters are a crucial tool for smoothing out rough water and giving your skies a nice blurred effect. For portrait photographers, neutral density filters are great for maintaining wide open apertures in super bright situations while using strobes. Recently, we tested five different brands' filters to see which one produced the sharpest and most accurate color renditions. The results were pretty shocking.

You may have come across his videos on Vimeo or YouTube, or even stumbled upon his captivating landscape and astro work on popular sites like 500px. Photographer and Videographer, Michael Shainblum, has revealed his latest work after his recent hiatus in videography. And he did not disappoint.

In Episode 12 of Photographing The World Behind the Scenes, we spend our final three days in Singapore. Elia teaches one final lesson for the Cityscape photography tutorial, but the highlight of our time in Singapore was spent with the locals.

The behind-the-scenes series of our cityscape tutorial with Elia Locardi continues with episode 11. In this episode we fly on one of the longest flights in the world, from N.Y.C. to Singapore. We enjoy seeing the sights of this amazing city and we also try eating some chicken feet. Spoiler: they were awful.

In 2014, time-lapse photographer Jesse Attanasio set out on a two-year mission to shoot as much as he could possibly shoot, and explored some of the most beautiful and unique locations on earth. His stunning newly released video, “Exhale,” is the final product of intense planning, lengthy travels, and focused postproduction work. Prepare yourself, this one is a treat for the eyes.

Sit back and relax with this one. It takes a lot of time and talent to create a final work of time-lapse art this breathtaking and impressive. It turns out it takes about two years of planning and dedication to achieve results like these. The Northern Lights have rarely been captured in this amount of splendor and beauty.

The authenticity of those #wild #liveauthentic social media photos of the outdoor adventure types is questionable at best. But some people really do walk around in the forest with bright colored puffy jackets for more than just snazzy photos and all the likes. Unfortunately, the "take only photos, leave only footprints" model of Leave No Trace principles still leaves many remote and protected areas of the wilderness trampled and exploited by outdoor enthusiasts.

Our behind the scenes journey around the world continues today with episode 10. This episode takes place in Rome Italy as we film three separate lessons for our "Photographing The World" cityscape tutorial.

I recently had the pleasure of picking up one of the first final production models of the Inspire Pro and X5 Micro 4/3 Camera, and immediately took it to one of the most beautiful photography destinations in the world to test it out: Meteora Greece. I spent the better part of a week there getting the hang of flying and capturing both photos and videos and I was able to come away with some stunning results. This review is meant to showcase what I was able to capture and give you an idea about the capability of the new X5 Camera and the key differences between the Inspire and...

This is the fifth film created as part of the "More Than Just Parks" project by Will and Jim Pattiz, who we've featured before on past films. This new short takes place all the way out east, in Acadia National Park during the fall, where the changing colors of leaves dot the landscape alongside cliffs, hills, and bodies of water.

When an opportunity presents itself, be prepared. That’s what Syracuse photographer, Jody Grenier, found himself in three weeks ago. Every morning Grenier stops by one of the iconic locations in Syracuse, Clinton Sqaure; always looking for a photo op if it arises. At 5:30 AM on November 30, he had his camera at his side for a special capture.

I have been following and reporting on Vincent Laforet's "AIR" series since its first round was released. I came across an early printing of the book itself in the waiting area of San Francisco's Storehouse startup while I was about to take on another interview. I knew Storehouse and Laforet had a good working relationship, and I knew the images so well. But I didn't have time to look inside -- not that I felt I had to, however, since I knew the work inside and out. So when Laforet offered me a copy of the book to review, I simply had to say, "Of course," even if it was with mixed feelings. What could I, objectively speaking, really get out of it? Hadn't I seen it all?

When looking at urbex photographer's work, one can only wonder how they get in some places. Often these photographers will go to crazy locations just to get a single picture. Sometimes risking their life – or so it seems like – to get that adrenaline spike and a picture no one has ever captured before.

Last year we teamed up with Elia Locardi to film 2 separate tutorials on Landscape and Cityscape photography. We flew around the world twice with Elia, filming for 3 months in 7 different countries. We wrapped up the first season (episodes 1-8) a few months back and today we begin season 2 (episodes 9-18)

MacPhun released Aurora HDR just a few weeks ago and touts it as the most advanced high dynamic range (HDR) software in the world. Certainly, veteran users of Photoshop and Lightroom might be skeptical. But if your sole purpose is to create HDR photos on the Mac, Aurora HDR might be the best option out there, seeing as it was created with the close consultation of HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff. In this video, Ratcliff dives deep in a first-hand look into how to get the most from Aurora HDR.

Earlier this year we teamed up with Elia Locardi to produce the most in depth photography tutorial on landscape photography: Photographing The World: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing. Today we are excited to release the next installment of Photographing The World.

Dave Sandford is a professional sports photographer from Ontario, whose roots in photography keep him coming back to bodies of water, capturing images that move him personally. What he found close to home in the shallow water of Lake Erie turned out to be some of the most dramatic waves he’d ever seen, and Dave came away with an incredible series of images to share.

If you have ever learned anything about the history of photography, chances are you have at least heard the name Ansel Adams. Adams was a landscape photographer who worked with the U.S. Department of Interior to capture images of the national parks. He is most well-known for his work with large format monochrome landscape imagery. Recently, the Department of Interior has posted a job opening that would allow someone to follow in Adams' footsteps.

Epic sunsets seem to kind of sneak up on us. While a sunset happens every day, you need nature to cooperate and give you the right conditions for an out-of-this-world finale. One of the struggles many photographers face with landscape photography is if the conditions will be right for the shot. Will clouds block out the sun? Will it be too clear? What if you knew ahead of time that the upcoming sunset was going to be amazing and worth the drive or hike to an epic viewing point with your camera?

The Syrp Genie caught everyone's attention with its contemporary design and advanced automation features that made it a time-lapse photographer's best tool in the field. Today, photographer Mark Gee shares tips on how to set up and use the Genie while offering a few great suggestions that apply to all methods of landscape photography, from what apps he uses on his phone to help him plan every shot to how to edit for final output. Need to shoot a time-lapse soon? Whether you're experienced or just starting, there's undoubtedly something in here for you.

No stranger to unique and challenging photography pursuits, Ben VonWong's latest adventure sent him across the Western United States in search of summer thunderstorms, with an entourage of assistants, filmmakers, and models helping along the way. VonWong shared this behind-the-scenes video, but also some insightful information as to the conversation he hopes to start– one about the seriousness of climate change.

If you have been on Instagram lately, there is a good chance you have seen "urbex" photography. Urbex, short for urban exploration, is where people venture deep into cities, exploring areas such as the tops of skyscrapers and depths of subway tunnels where the public isn't allowed to go. Victor Thomas, known as his Instagram name Vic Invades, is a kid from Brooklyn with a love for urbex.