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Quite a few photographers prefer making portraits with available light—either because they prefer the look, or they don’t own supplemental light equipment. It’s possible to do that indoors, like when using window lighting, but the typical approach is to shoot outdoors.

Winter is here, which means it’s finally time for us to cozy up by the fireplace and review your best “Winter” shots. Yes, Shutterbug has teamed up with GuruShots for another amazing photo challenge, this time with the timely theme of Winter.

One challenge with all forms of outdoor photography is that we're always at the mercy of the weather and prevailing lighting conditions. That fact is particularly evident when you wake up on a nice day, pack your gear, and travel to a favorite location—only to confront a pretty scene with a rather boring sky.

Outdoor photographers often encounter lighting situations with such a wide range of tones that it’s difficult or impossible to capture a properly exposed image in just one shot. Under such conditions, if you expose for the highlights, shadows are crushed. Conversely, if you expose for the shadows, highlights are blown out.

One frustration when reviewing images on the computer is that we see things we missed when making the shot. A common belated observation has to do with faulty composition, and not positioning a key subject for maximum impact.

Even if your landscape photo has a lot of things going for it, an overcast or flat sky can make the image look dull. Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can do in Lightroom to make a boring sky in a landscape photo go from drab to fab in no time.

If the headline above strikes you as a bit crazy, join the club. We were more than a bit skeptical when we stumbled upon this quick tutorial because of the conventional wisdom that using a lens hood is one of the easiest ways to improve outdoor images.