Ask any experienced landscape photographer to identify the most important tool in his bag, and the answer is likely to be, “My ND filter.” Or more accurately, “My set of ND filters.”
Widely regarded as the father of Canadian photojournalism, Ted Grant is also the father of one of our favorite quotes: “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in b&w, you photograph their souls.”
When professional landscape photographer Ian Plant says there are “five photo accessories I never leave home without,” we stop and pay attention. That’s because of his unique approach to shooting in the field.
One of the most difficult challenges when photographing landscapes is balancing the wide range of tones from deep shadows to bright highlights that often occur in outdoor scenes. In fact, sometimes the density range is so great that’s it’s impossible to precisely exposure the image.
Most of my columns for this website concern the ideas and purposes behind the photographs I take. I always include information about the technology used to achieve the photos, which could be as basic as the f/stop chosen to direct your attention, or the use of a ND filter to make a long exposure possible. That approach is not incidental or coincidental; the stories are planned along those lines because my ideas come first, and technology’s purpose is to support those ideas.
Let’s face it: Most of us are passionate about gear, and we regularly update our equipment. The medical term for this affliction is Gear Acquisition Syndrome—commonly known as G.A.S.
The great thing about cityscape photography is that when you run out of ideas, there’s always a city or town nearby. By following the straightforward advice below, you’ll be able to capture “perfect” photos wherever you live.
Given a choice, most outdoor photographers prefer to shoot at the beginning or end of the day. At Blue Hour, just before sunrise, the landscape is bathed in soft, cool tones, while at Golden Hour, just after sunset, beautiful warm tones prevail.
We’ve all marveled at long-exposure landscape photos with soft feather-like clouds and cotton-candy water. The challenge when shooting during the day, is that light levels are usually too high to permit using the slow shutter speeds necessary,
If you’re a regular visitor to our website you know we frequently post shooting and editing tutorials from German landscape photographer Christian Mohrle. In the quick-and-easy episode below you’ll see how Lightroom’s Masking tools play a big part in his beautiful imagery.
One of the challenges facing landscape photographers is dealing with the wide range of tones from deep shadows to bright highlights that often exist in outdoor scenes. With this broad dynamic range, high-contrast edges are very common.
Today we’re going to discuss lens fogging—a serious problem that plagues outdoor photographers this time of year. When this occurs you’ll either miss a spontaneous opportunity while waiting for a lens to clear up, or you’ll snap the shutter and end up with a worthless photo.
If you’re having trouble nailing exposure and ask a few friends for help, you’re likely to be told, “it’s time you mastered Manual mode.” While that’s certainly an option, there’s another (and often easier) way to consistently achieve perfectly exposed photos.
Most photographers are gadget freaks and love buying useful accessories, especially when they can’t afford a new camera or other expensive gear. In the video below we’ll help you scratch that itch, with “must have” gadgets that are easy on the wallet.
Summer offers many opportunities for landscape photographers, one of which is dramatic lightning that often accompanies thunderstorms this time of year. With a few basic techniques for photographing electrical storms, it’s easy to capture truly epic landscape images.