Nature Photography

I've recently returned from Hokkaido, Japan, where I spent a week doing research for my 2019 photo tour.

Long exposure photography has a special place in my heart and arguably has been where I spend most of my time when creating landscapes as it allows a greater amount of control over a sometimes chaotic scene. Adam Karnacz from First Man Photography expresses similar sentiments and explains some great tips for photographers interested in expanding their creative options by adding long exposure photography to their landscape arsenal.

When it comes to taking a great photo, many photographers argue that it starts and ends with great composition. I’m not sure I’m so black and white in my outlook, but good composition is hugely important without a doubt. And one of the most overlooked parts of great composition is adding foreground interest. Today I will discuss how foreground interest in your photos can really improve your end results, and what you can do to nail the foreground every time.

Who knows how many new videos and articles are put on the line each day talking about the gear you should own as a photographer? And, more importantly, when was the last time that you read an article about gear that promised to get you closer to the action, help make you more energetic, and it can charge all of your batteries too?

Winter is coming. Scratch that — winter is here. Are you prepared to brave the cold to keep shooting? Check out these cold weather photography tips.

Have you ever wondered how people start full time in photography and even take it one step further by working and living as a full-time landscape photographer? Dave Morrow is one of those people and he spends his days in the middle of nowhere to capture the best images.

My social media feeds are full of awesome photographs at epic locations taken by talented photographers. So, why don’t any of them want to tell the Internet where they got the shot?

In the frozen depths of Canada, The Camera Store TV joined up with Wildlife Photographer Joe Desjardins to try out the Panasonic G9 for outdoor nature photography. Can this Micro Four Thirds camera stack up in a genre traditionally executed with DSLRs?

Cruising in an airplane high above Earth you sometimes get to see places that are nearly impossible to reach, or even view, from the ground. Taking photos of those sights is not only fun but it can serve as a memory that you were sort of there in the first place. If you like geography, geology, or history in general it can also be an excellent reference so that you can investigate the area further once you’re back on terra firma.

One of the most spectacular natural phenomenons to photograph, this year’s Horsetail Fall “firefall” event at Yosemite National Park is host of a new pilot program that will require one of a limited number of permits in order to access closed roads leading to the best vantage points.

Before watching this black and white thunderstorm video from Mike Olbinski, I had never considered if time-lapse could ever be considered “fine art.” It’s a term that varies depending on who you ask, but if fine art landscapes or fine art portraiture can be a thing, why couldn’t time-lapse video be included as well?

Photography of any kind at night can be a slow process getting started. Photographing the Milky Way, however, may require a little bit of extra technical knowledge ahead of time before really letting your creative side take over. In this video from PhotoRec TV, Toby Gelston breaks it all down before jumping into it.

If you're a photographer living in a coastal city, hobbyist or otherwise, it's almost a given you've taken your camera seaside to snap what you were hoping to be some stunners. This has been the case for me, and I was sorely disappointed when my photos were nothing like what I had imagined they would be. If only there were an extensive, nit-picking guide to creating the photos you see in your head. Anton Gorlin has created just that: an impressively in-depth guide to seascape photography that really gets down to the nitty-gritty.

Two weeks ago I wrote an article concerning Zion National Park's even stricter guidelines for their commercial use authorization permits for photography workshops operating within the park and this spurred a great deal of debate in the photographic community as well as among other professional photographers operating out of the park. Many photographers were upset at the changes to not allow tripods on trails while others were confused as Zion had explicitly stated photography on a tripod was allowed in these areas. Zion National Park has finally officially responded to the concerns in the new CUA.

Photographers all over the world have found something absolutely incredible happens when you blow soap bubbles in the freezing winter temperatures. As these delicate bubbles freeze almost instantly, inside each one a unique universe of patterns and shapes comes to life right in front of your eyes. If you're lucky enough to be enduring the worldwide cold front we're having, give this a shot to make the brutal winter more fun and beautiful.

If you have just under an hour to kill then Benjamin Jaworskyj has your back with an epic travel and landscape photography video that's worth the watch. Take a visual tour to the beaches, mountains, and castles that lie tucked away in the German countryside with some landscape photography tips to boot. Feeling more like an adventure vlog than just another YouTube video, from the production values to the accompanying music, this video makes for a relaxing watch.

With Christmas solidly in the rearview mirror and that shiny new camera that Santa brought screaming for some action, it is all on you to shake off that excess holiday cheer and head outside to see how you and your gear performs.

Landscape photographers get up early and stay out late. It's all about the light with sunrise and sunset being the ideal times of day to capture images. Thomas Heaton's latest video takes us to the Namib Desert as we watch him search for the perfect shot of the dunes at dawn and dusk.

One of the most epic documentary series ever created, BBC Earth’s “Planet Earth II,” is now available to stream on Netflix in the United States. Debuting in November 2016, this six-episode cinematic wonder reflects on our diverse planet and its most fascinating and unusual inhabitants.

We’ve had our first snowfall of the year here in the Netherlands. It’s one of those instances when most people stay indoors, while just about every landscape photographer is aching to feel the snow on their face. One of them is acclaimed British Landscape Photographer Simon Baxter, who I've asked to help me analyze the introvert mind.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between a technically accurate photograph and one that has been modified, enhanced, composited (you pick the word) in order to give it a broader audience appeal. Nature is both stunning and surprising in its raw magnificence which begs the question: why should we mess with it at all in photographs?

Our behind-the-scenes series on the creation our photography tutorial "Photographing The World 3" continues today with Episodes 5 and 6. In these episodes, we continue to struggle to film a usable lesson in Pietrapertosa, Italy.

With the 2017 Geminid meteor shower peaking this evening, I put together a list of 10 things to think about before you head out into the cold, dark night to enjoy the show. Whether you’re an old pro or a complete rookie at photographing meteor showers, it never hurts to review just to make sure you are at the top of your game.

For first time travelers to Kyoto, it can be a bit confusing to choose where to shoot. Unlike my previous posts on Madrid and Barcelona which are about three-hour photo walks, this article will be similar to my Tokyo article which involves five different locations. Here is a link to a great website to give you a better overview of each location and other locations worth a look. For those of you who have been to Kyoto, I would expect you to share your photos or suggest other locations.

This week will have one of the most amazing astronomical events of the year (besides that continent-crossing solar eclipse this past August). The Geminid meteor shower is streaking across the sky this week on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. If you didn't know or maybe just forgot, it's time to make plans to get to a dark sky area for a once a year celestial show that many astronomers call the best meteor shower of the year.

Photographers across social media channels chimed in late this week as leaked documents were made public by the Washington Post on Thursday detailing the proposed size reductions and restructuring of both the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as well as the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

Creating landscape images in wintertime is always a unique challenge filled with its own obstacles and rewards. Chasing after that one composition that you've been dying to capture, trying to get out and capture that crisp winter scene before any of the snow becomes filled with the footprints of other photographers and adventures, and simply having the opportunity to see familiar views in a completely different season is something that many photographers look forward to.

Over twenty years ago Chuck O'Rear took a photo that soon became part billions of peoples everyday lives. He captured Bliss on his way to see his girlfriend, he pulled over when he spotted the perfect scene in Sonoma County California. On the side of the road with his medium format camera, he took what would soon become the most viewed image of all time as a staple of Microsoft. After twenty-one years of unimaginable fame, O'Rear is back with a tribute to the epic American nature and a reminder for us all to cherish our earth's beauties.

I’d like to introduce you to the Shimoda Adventure Camera bags, specifically, the Explore 60. It’s a backpack that’s built for outdoor adventure photographers and filmmakers, and has options for 60L and 40L versions. Never heard of it? Well, I’m sure you have used or seen some of the gear that Shimoda’s lead designer has previously worked on. I’ll tell you about this and more in my full review.

Thomas Heaton created a new set of videos last week about one of my favorite topics and shooting styles: landscape panoramas. I love photographing night skies and landscapes this way and the technique overall is very simple yet can give fantastic results. The best time to start learning how to shoot panoramas is during the day and Heaton takes us through his photography of a great autumn scene and explains what, why, and how he is capturing the images before he goes into his post processing.

The latest in the “More Than Just Parks” video series has just been released and was worth the wait. On display in beautiful 4K is the vast 400-square-mile Rocky Mountain National Park teeming with mountain vistas and hardy wildlife.

In a recent series about people, technology, and nature, Vice highlighted the growing problem of poachers who are using photographer’s GPS data to locate, harass, and kill rare animal species. In the US, one of the more prevalently poached species is the rattlesnake, a species that is almost exclusively North American.

A near-ubiquitous access to digital photography and a connection to the rest of the world has given this generation of humans unprecedented ability to share a heavily curated lifestyle with the world and vicariously live the lives of others. Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms offer a way to share only what you want with the world. Nobody needs to see anything outside the frame you present. The image and the story you tell are all that matters in a world where people cannot see outside your post. But just what is happening outside that post? What impact does it have on the world at large?

This week the Natural History Museum in London will hold the ceremony to announce the winners of the Wildlife Photographers of the Year. The winning images are powerful reminders of life beyond cell phones, Facebook, and other daily routines we have become accustomed to. Notably, some of the most impressive categories are from those not even old enough to drive.

A few months back, I was getting the feeling that I needed to start traveling to see more of the beautiful world we live in. At the time it was just a thought until my buddy Tom Harmon called me up and asked if I'd want to go out to Oregon with him. Of course I had to take him up on the offer and I was excited to leave New Jersey for once. I knew that if we were going to be in Oregon for just three days, we'd better plan a hell of a trip to fit in all the spots we wanted to go see. Finally, it was the night before the trip and we had finalized the locations we were going to go. With everything planned out, we were ready to get out to Oregon for some droning.