Photo How To

Have you ever been on location with a beautiful model and great scenery, only to be foiled by a drab, overcast sky? In this two–minute video, celebrity/sports photographer David Bergman explains how to combine creative color-balance control with off–camera flash to get some stunning results on a gray day in Belize.

BMX rider Daniel Coriz comes in at speed from the right side, launches himself up 10 feet, touches both tires, pulls the handlebars to pop a wheelie off the wall, then turns the bike for a clean exit. He lands a foot in front of adventure sports photographer Michael Clark, who’s been hand-holding his camera, tracking and firing to capture every turn and twist of the trick.

Do your friends often tell you that your photographs are so good you should become a professional? Do you sometimes stare blankly at the pages of National Geographic and hear a voice inside your head that says, “I can do better than that!”? Do you post on Instagram more than 70 times a week? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, read on—and unleash the master picture-taker that’s lurking in your soul.

Depth of Field has a lot in common with gravity. You don’t have to fully understand the physics behind it to make it work for you. Managing depth of field is a critical component of mastering photography. This article should get you well on your way.

Scott Kelby is a photographer, Photoshop Guy, award-winning author of more than 50 books, and CEO of KelbyOne, an online education community dedicated to helping photographers take the kinds of images they’ve always dreamed of.

What’s normal? Not asking about your weird uncle Walter who puts mayonnaise on his French fries—and his spaghetti. When photography went digital, understanding focal lengths became much more difficult. Let’s unravel a few of the mysteries so that we can make better educated decisions about lenses.

Imagine you find a great location to capture a landscape and as you set up the light goes from nice to extraordinary, as it did along the banks of the Merced (#1). Your body tingles with excitement, you lock in your exposure and shoot, but when you return to view your shots, you aren’t pleased. Producing high-quality nature photography is a result of learning technique, knowing your equipment and the having the ability to react to a scene in a creative fashion at a moment’s notice. In this chapter we’ll look at the importance of mental preparation and applying your own composition sense to the creative process.