Abe Ordover is a nature photographer who combines his camera work with Adobe Photoshop to create images that are uniquely his own; photographs that reveal to the viewer what Ordover felt when he shot the scene.
He's traveled worldwide to...
One of the most challenging—and gratifying—subjects to photograph is wildlife. The primary obstacle is getting close enough to wild animals to take dramatic photos of them. Your best bet is a telephoto lens—a few point-and-shoot film cameras offer built-in zooms as long as 200mm at the telephoto end, and...
There are lots of special-effects accessories on camera-store shelves, and they are well worth checking out if you're into special effects. But you don't need a lot of fancy accessories to create some interesting and unusual photographic effects. In fact, if you have a basic SLR (single-lens reflex) camera—film or digital—there are several special effects you can produce with no...
For over 30 years Petersen's Photographic Magazine has been recognized as the leading instructional magazine for photo enthusiasts. Our goal has been to inspire readers with dramatic imagery, and to offer clear and simple instructional articles to help photographers improve their skills.
To further this mission, we have created the Photographic Faculty; a team of seven...
As the subject of a photograph, texture speaks to our sense of touch. The way that things feel is very ingrained in our consciousness. Texture tells us about the nature of a subject, whether it's the rough surface of a straw hat, or the silky smoothness of satin. The light that reveals an object's texture also gives us a sense of...
Low-light photography can yield some amazingly striking and unusual images. But it also presents a problem. You need a fast enough shutter speed to prevent camera-shake-induced image blurring, and sometimes to "freeze" a moving subject. You often need to shoot at a small enough aperture to provide adequate depth of field. You want to use the...
Some ways to help offset the cost of your favorite pastime
There are lots of way to make money in photography, including selling and trading photo gear, processing film and making prints for other photographers, scanning images (slides, negatives and prints) and putting them on CDs for others, retouching photos, copying and restoring old photos, collecting collectible photographs...
According to nature photographer David Schultz, "Spring and Fall are my busy times for picture-taking." Aspen and maple trees adorned in fall colors are big sellers at West Light Images, Schultz' photo gallery located in Park City, Utah. People also enjoy decorating their walls with spring wildflowers, he observes.
1. Sun Stars
Your wide-angle lens at its smallest aperture can turn the sun into a star in your photos—fitting, since the sun actually is a star. The effect occurs because the tiny aperture diffracts the incoming light rays a lot. This diffraction causes the star effect. You can include the sun as a compositional. Photo by...
Have you ever embarked on an exciting wilderness adventure that promised great photo opportunities, only to be disappointed with your images after you got home? Maybe the skies in your pictures weren't as blue as you remembered them, or the colors as vivid. Perhaps the grand vistas you experienced appeared a little washed-out in your...
There are a number of ways to portray "heat" in a photograph. First of all, you can use color. Perhaps more than any other design element, color determines the mood of your pictures. You can establish the entire mood of your photo by emphasizing a particular color scheme—reds, golds, and oranges are...
Here are seven more ideas for some great shots this summer
1. Magic Moments
It's not just a summer thing, because a photographer should always be on the lookout for those intriguing sights of life being lived, but summer seems to produce more of them. Put your camera in full-auto mode, stay alert, and fire away when you come across something neat, be it people at work or...
It seems that everywhere you look, you see nature photos that include water in its many forms, whether they're waves crashing on a rocky coastline, snow on a hillside, dewdrops on flower petals, or a simple ripple on a pond. For outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy taking pictures of water, the possibilities are...
Adding a filter or two to your camera bag is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to improve your photos
How can you tell if you need filters? Take this quick test: Do you take photographs? If the answer is yes, you very likely need some filters to get the best possible images. Here are some that can really improve many of your future photos.
You've probably seen the photos of these exquisitely sculpted sandstone buttes; like colorful waves set in stone. You may have assumed--as I once did--that this area was part of some out-of-the-way corner of a national park.
For a long time, I couldn't find much documentation on this region, nor any information in guidebooks of the...