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Ray Sheffer
Friday Harbor, WA, WA

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3 Helpful Tips to Improve Your Forest Photography

As a sub-genre of landscape photography, forest work shares a lot of similarities with its larger parent genre, but there are some distinct differences one must be aware of to create the best possible shots. If you would like to improve your forest imagery, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you three helpful tips sure to improve your work.

A Practical Beginner's Guide to Using ISO to Balance Exposure

Along with aperture and shutter speed, ISO is one of the three fundamental parameters that control the balance of exposure in your images, and as such, mastering it is crucial to becoming a competent and confident photographer. If you are new to photography and looking to improve, check out this great video tutorial that will give you a practical guide to ISO and how to use it in your work.

Using Positive and Negative Space for Composition in Photography

There are a lot of ways for a photographer to make a composition. Although some won’t like to accept it, the rule of third often fits quite nicely. But no matter what you use as a basis for composition, we always use negative space. Most of us just don’t realize it.

How Far Has Image Quality Come in the Last Decade?

When it first came out in 2013, the Sony a7R was one of the most powerful and impressive mirrorless cameras ever made, particularly at a time when the technology was still fledgling and finding its footing. Now in its fifth generation, the a7R V is widely regarded as one of the most advanced mirrorless cameras on the market. How far has image quality really come, though? This great video takes a look.

7 Common Beginner Landscape Photography Mistakes

With all the different aspects that go into creating a successful image, landscape photography can be a daunting genre to get started in. If you are new to the genre and looking to improve, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you seven common mistakes new photographers make and how to fix them or avoid them in the first place.

A Beginner's Guide to Luminosity Masks in Photoshop

When it comes to post-processing, one of the most useful tools at your disposal is the luminosity mask, which can help you create more precise and efficient edits. If you have not tried luminosity masks if your work before, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you the ins and outs of creating and using them.

A Bit of History About the Golden Ratio and Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is the first thing that is taught about composition in photography. It seems to have some similarities with the golden ratio, but in reality, it’s something completely different. Let’s have a closer look at the history of these so-called rules to get a better understanding.

On the Increasing Number of Photography Subscriptions

Around 2010, I upgraded computers and was very disappointed that I’d lost my CD of Photoshop. I was even more disappointed when I went to the store and remembered how expensive it was. Begrudgingly, I did re-purchase Photoshop.

Everything You Wanted to Know but Were Too Scared to Ask: Product Photography

In our biggest FAQ about product photography yet, we discuss some of the most common questions a photographer at any skill level might have, from simple ones about settings to complex ones about the type of reflection a leather surface produces under hard light. This article was created to help you create better product images.

An Effective Technique for Waterfall Photography

Waterfalls are some of the most popular landscape photography subjects, offering the ability to add a sense of motion to otherwise still scenes and to leverage natural leading lines to bring your viewers' eyes through the scene. If you are new to the genre and looking to improve, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you some helpful tips and techniques for improving your waterfall photography.

How One Photographer Used Continuous Lighting to Photograph Actress Vivica A. Fox

There are several timeless photography debates that are fun to engage in but will probably never be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. There’s film versus digital, zoom lenses versus primes, small compact minimalistic camera versus fully featured monster-sized pro camera, and of course, continuous lighting versus strobe lighting. This article will not seek to determine whether strobes or constant lights are better for portraiture, but we will take a deep dive into how one photographer used continuous lighting on a recent celebrity shoot.

The Truth About Landscape Photography

Landscape photography can become frustrating if you get too focused on results and constantly compare yourself to other photographers. While browsing the web and visiting social media sites, you see countless photos of spectacular sunrises and sunsets. But getting truly awesome conditions is rare, even for those who are pros at planning. Let me share what the reality looks like.

How to Make Better Sky Selections in Photoshop

Since Lightroom and Photoshop introduced their automatic sky selections, changes to the sky in landscape and architecture photos have become very easy. But, how good are those automatic selections? If you edit photos for web representation alone, they are mostly good enough. But if you intend to print your photos, you might want to improve them, which is what I show in this article.

An Advanced Lightroom Technique for Adding Drama to a Sky

In recent versions of the program, Lightroom's masking features have made major steps forward, and you can now perform far more advanced and precise operations with relative ease, enabling new and more powerful edits. This helpful video tutorial will show you one such technique that leverages Lightroom's masking features to add a bit of drama to a sky.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (November 2022): Karthik Subramaniam

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2022, we're featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

How to Take Better Portraits in Bright Sunlight

Bright, harsh sunlight sitting far overhead is the bane of many portrait photographers' existences, but it is not impossible to create compelling portraits with flattering light in such conditions. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to take bright sunlight and harness it for worthwhile images.

How to Edit Landscape Photos in Black and White

We are used to seeing landscape images with vibrant, eye-catching colors, but of course, that does not mean you can't create compelling photos in black and white. It takes more than simply pulling all the saturation out of a file to create worthwhile shots, though. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to edit landscape photos in black and white to get the best results.

A Beginner's Guide to Flash Photography

A lot of photographers feel a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of learning how to work with flash, but once you learn the fundamentals of how light behaves and how to control it, you will find strobes are not that great a mystery and that they can open an entirely new creative world. If you are new to working with artificial light, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will get you up and creating images in no time.

What Is Color Depth and Why Does It Matter?

Color depth (also known as bit depth) is one of the properties of photos and video that is discussed less often than marquee features like resolution, but it has a deep impact on the quality and appearance of your work. If you are new to photo and video work, check out this great video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know about color depth.

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