Outdoor Photography How To

Sparkling nighttime skies offer a great opportunity for capturing eye-popping images, but many photographers shy away from astrophotography because they think special gear and complicated techniques are required to do it right. If that sounds like you, the straightforward tutorial below will likely change your mind.

One way to achieve perfect exposures under contasty lighting conditions is by applying a bit of post-processing wizardry. The problem is that some methods can be either convoluted or unsatisfactory, unlike the quick and easy approach you’ll see below.

Dealing with ever-changing light and maximizing depth of field are two of the biggest challenges when making landscape photographs. Tonal values often range from dark shadows to bright sunlit areas, and some scenes call for sharply rendered areas from foreground to background.

So you forgot to bring a polarizing filter, and the blue sky in your photograph doesn’t look as awesome as it did when looking through the viewfinder. This is a common concern that can be easily fixed with a few quick clicks in Lightroom, as you’ll see below.

Landscape photographers tend to head out in the field with a bunch of gear—everything from filters and a sturdy tripod to an assortment of lenses. The challenge often occurs when you come upon a beautiful scene and can’t quite decide on which lens to pull out of your bag to get the best shot available.

Those serious about bird photography often travel far and wide, sometimes to exotic locations, to find and photograph their subjects. But as you’ll see below, you can often capture great images near home at a local park or nature reserve.

Photographing animals can be a lot like making outdoor portraits of people. Many of the same composition and lighting principles apply, as do techniques for crafting an image that conveys feelings and moods.