My wife and I were visiting Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. The sun had just dropped below the horizon and we were preparing to return to Little Makalolo, our base camp, when I heard “thrashing” sounds that were unmistakably those of an elephant herd.

We could barely make out the silhouetted movements of the herd on the far side of the river. I knew not to use a...

I shot this image casually, as a friend and I relaxed in a nearly empty waterfront café after a shoot. I can’t tell you why I shot it, but I can tell you why it gradually has become a sort of personal favorite. Although it contains nothing dramatic, it says something very basic about photography.

We don’t know whose sunglasses these are, how they came to be...

Our Picture This! assignment this month covered one of the metering patterns, spot metering. Spot is a great choice when you want to saturate a distinct color, or when you want to get the bright white highlight right, with compensation. Readers sent in a variety of images, some with color in mind, others when they wanted to open up shadow details that would become too dark using evaluative...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Red Rock, and we were treated to wonderful images from all around the great American West. If you’ve traveled the many roads and trails through Red Rock Country you know what a photographic treasure it is; if you haven’t, plan a road trip soon! Readers sent in photographs from the Southwest and parts north that showed the amazing shapes...