I admit it…I’m not perfect. Sometimes the simplest things can come back and bite you. A few months ago, I made the trek up to Crescent City, California for a photo adventure in Redwood National Forest. The day I arrived, we checked into the hotel and went to find the beach for sunset. Being from the East Coast, I’ve dreamed of shooting a beautiful Pacific Coast sunset. It was getting late when we checked in. I asked the hotel front desk representative what she recommended for seeing the sunset. Very nonchalantly, she responded that the … [Read more...] about How To Ruin A Sunset Shot (And Save It In Lightroom)
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I Snuck Away from my Job to Photograph Redwood National Park
Ok...so not entirely true. But made you click, right? Sometimes I'm afforded opportunities to travel the country with a video production group and recently I was out in the Mountain West region of the United States: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, and California over the course of 17 days. Though I only had 5 events, it was my job to transport the truck between locations. My co-pilot Teddy and I trekked through the straight and lonely highway in Wyoming that seemed to stretch forever. We took the truck up and over mountains near Lake Tahoe, … [Read more...] about I Snuck Away from my Job to Photograph Redwood National Park
HDR 101: Shooting Brackets
Human eyes are incredible for viewing the world and seeing into shadows and highlights all at the same time. The basis of HDR photography is making several exposures at varying brightnesses and combining them in a powerful software app like Photomatix so we can view a photograph the same way we view the real world--into the shadows and highlights at the same time. We call it “bracketing” or “shooting for HDR” or “shooting brackets.” Every interchangeable-lens camera I’ve seen for sale in the last seven years offers automatic bracketing, but … [Read more...] about HDR 101: Shooting Brackets
Black and White at First and Last Light
I invited Jason and his wife Nicole Hahn to hang out on a special photo shoot I had lined up with about 20 people. Jason--a very talented nature and adventure photographer--expressed interested in seeing my group portrait workflow. He traded in his swamp boots for the day and traveled 3hrs on a Sunday just to spend a few hours watching me shoot portraits. Afterwards, we relaxed and had a nice dinner. He started talking about how he creates black and white sunsets images. After seeing a few samples of his work, I was hooked. I asked him to be a … [Read more...] about Black and White at First and Last Light
Creating Better Sun-Flared Images with Photomatix Pro
Have you struggled to make a great image when shooting into the sun? Our cameras can't see the dynamic range in a scene as well as our own eyes can, so we have to shoot a series of bracketed images and merge them into an HDR. In this tutorial, I walk you through exporting to HDR from Lightroom to create two sun-flared images with Photomatix Pro. https://youtu.be/WQXuPuE1-5c … [Read more...] about Creating Better Sun-Flared Images with Photomatix Pro
Five Tips to Improve Your Beach Sunset Shots
It is summertime and you are off to the beach. Here are some tips to improve your sunset shots. 1. Bracket. Sunset exposures can be tricky. With bracketing you have a better chance of getting a properly exposed image. Or you may decide to merge images by blending layers or using HDR software such as Photomatix. Spot meter on the sky, not the sun. If you don't want to bracket, slightly underexpose your images to bring in richer colors. 2. Move around, get your feet wet. Don’t just stay on the dry part of the beach. Wear water … [Read more...] about Five Tips to Improve Your Beach Sunset Shots
How To Take Better Sunset Pictures
The other day I went to the beach with the idea of taking pictures at sunset. When I arrived at the beach the sky was covered with clouds that seemed to grow larger and darker by the second. At first, I started to grab all my marbles, turn around and head home to wait for another day but something told me to stay and wait a while. I pulled out my camera and tripod and began to set up when a guy walked up to me and said, "I don't think we are going to get a sunset today." He was also planning on taking pictures of the sunset that evening but had … [Read more...] about How To Take Better Sunset Pictures
Photographer of the Day: Chris Utano
Category: Nature Photographer: Chris Utano Title: Rocks I am a sucker for a well-composed shot of a shoreline. As a nature photographer, it has all the elements: land, sea and sky. This image is not only well composed. It is deftly processed. With sunsets and sunrises, there is always a temptation to pump up the saturation. Utano resisted that temptation. Still, there is enough punch for me to suspect a bit of HDR sweetening, but not so much that it feels unnatural. As a result, the photo feels like one is looking out the window … [Read more...] about Photographer of the Day: Chris Utano
Shooting Landscapes? Go the Extra Mile
Landscape photography brings its own rewards. Being in a beautiful place at a tranquil time of day is therapeutic. Add good company, and it doesn't really matter if you make any good pictures because the experience alone was worthwhile. For instance, I visited my parents, recently, and my dad and I awoke early to photograph the moon setting over one of our favorite places, Garden of the Gods. Due to a small cloud that wouldn't move, the moonset was a bust, but I exercised a few tips I've learned to make the most of the experience anyway, and … [Read more...] about Shooting Landscapes? Go the Extra Mile
Photo of the Day: Chicago Sunset
Category: Architecture Photograph: 3/365 Chicago Sunset, by Jeremy VanderMeer. Originally shared on the Photofocus Flickr community, right here. To learn how your work can be featured on the site, please read this article. … [Read more...] about Photo of the Day: Chicago Sunset
What Does Daylight Savings Time Mean for Photographers?
When I was a kid in Sister Tonis 4th grade class, she gave us a handy way to remember Daylight Savings Time. Spring forward; turn the clock ahead lose an hour. Fall back, turn the clock back gain an hour. For years this little saying has helped me remember which way to turn the clock at 2 a.m. But what does it really mean for Photographers? For starters, make sure your camera has daylight savings enabled and check to make sure it automatically adjusted the cameras time. If not. change it manually. Set Your Cameras Clock Your cameras … [Read more...] about What Does Daylight Savings Time Mean for Photographers?
Miami Sunrise HDR Post Processing
This video goes through the process of post processing the 5 bracketed HDR image in Lightroom and Photoshop, and how Graduated Filters can spice up your images! Disclaimer: This is just one way to edit sunsets For more tutorials go to . ______________________ … [Read more...] about Miami Sunrise HDR Post Processing
PhotoPills: Two Thumbs Up!
Editor's Note: PhotoPills is 50% off today only November 28, 2014 All I can say is that PhotoPills is the single most useful photography app on the planet, and I highly recommend it. Here's a link to their website, and the Apple app store. Want to hear more? Ok. I'll start with the only two downsides, and they are minor. First, it's only for iOS; they are making the Android version, but no release date, yet. Sorry, gang. Second, it's designed by Europeans, so as an American using it I feel it's not always as intuitive as it could be. … [Read more...] about PhotoPills: Two Thumbs Up!
Tracking the Sun’s Position
Let Rich show you how to track the sun's position when shooting outdoors. In this case he's creating time-lapse photography, but it works for lots of shooting styles. Disclaimer: This is just one way to track the sun. ______ … [Read more...] about Tracking the Sun’s Position
My Favorite App for Shooting Sunrises and Sunsets
I'm getting ready to go shoot time-lapse photography, and one of the most important things I need to know is where the sun will be (closely followed by where is it going). Even if you're just shooting sunrise and sunset its still useful to know where the sun will be coming and going. In fact, I find myself opening this app on just about any shoot that not happening in the middle of the day. I present to you, the essential and indispensable Sun Seeker: 3D Augmented Reality Viewer By ozPDA. It has saved my bacon time after time. This app can … [Read more...] about My Favorite App for Shooting Sunrises and Sunsets
Wow Shots – Master Photographer Jerry Ghionis Does Sunset Wedding Photography
--- Camera: Canon EOS 5D MKII Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Focal Length: 165mm ISO: 50 Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/1000 WB: Cloudy Light Source: Daylight As I was driving home after shooting a wedding in country Victoria (the state I live in) I noticed a beautiful sunset forming in the distance. I drove back to the reception, picked up the bride and groom and drove back to the field overlooking the sunset. We all jumped the fence and I asked the couple to walk up to the gap between the trees. Our timing couldn't be more perfect! I … [Read more...] about Wow Shots – Master Photographer Jerry Ghionis Does Sunset Wedding Photography
The Early Bird Gets The Photograph
Post & Photo by Joe Farace Follow Joe on Twitter It is 3 AM and a clanging alarm jolts you into semi-consciousness. Its pitch black outside; last nights storm has subsided but its still five degrees below zero. Ten inches of fresh snow covers the countryside. No other creatures are stirring, yet you are planning to go out and to make photographs. To be comfortable you'll need to put on every warm piece of clothing you own (long johns, wool socks, heavy boots, layers of shirts and pants, gloves, perhaps a scarf, and a hat with ear flaps), … [Read more...] about The Early Bird Gets The Photograph
10 Sunset Photography Tips
Sunset photographs are amongst the most commented on over at Flickr. They're very popular just about everywhere. Once in a while I like to write a quick tips sheet for sunset photographers in the hopes that I'll help someone get a real keeper. This is NOT an exhaustive list - it's just a starting point. So here's a quick list - 10 Sunset Photography Tips. WARNING: Never look directly at the sun through your viewfinder - this can lead to serious eye damage. 1. Use a tripod. You'll be dealing with low light situations. This means that you'll … [Read more...] about 10 Sunset Photography Tips
Include People in Your Sunsets
Rick Sammon and Juan Pons talk about shooting sunsets that include people in them. _______________ … [Read more...] about Include People in Your Sunsets
Sunset Silhouettes
NOTE: Cross-posted at ANPW/F.64.com _______________ … [Read more...] about Sunset Silhouettes
Simple Sunset Trick
There are many ways in post to make your sunset photos sing. But what if you don't like to mess around in post? Here's a simple way to jazz up your sunset photos in the camera. Under-expose. If you purposely under-expose, you'll over-saturate the colors in the sunset. When I made this image, the color spectrum wasn't as full as I'd like it to be so I simply under-exposed by one and one half stops and boom! Out came the color. You'll have to experiment with the proper amount of under-exposure. Too much under-exposure and everything will get … [Read more...] about Simple Sunset Trick
