Outdoor Photography How To

Summer means stormy weather, with threatening thunderstorms that offer great opportunities for dramatic landscape imagery—especially when lightning is involved. The challenge to coming up with dramatic photographs is dealing with the complex lighting conditions that electrical storms present.

If you've ever photographed a spectacular rainbow and were disenchanted with the results, well, join the club. This seemingly straightforward task is actually quite challenging because of how White Balance works against you. Fortunately, there's a straightforward workflow that will quickly transform a ho-hum image into something super special.

Everyone knows that shooting during the sweet light of  “golden hour” makes for better landscape and nature images. But in this tutorial from innovative photographer Manny Ortiz you’ll learn how to take great portraits when the sun is low in the sky.

We recently featured an eye-opening tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel, explaining a four-step process for streamlining your workflow with any Raw editor you use. The video below demonstrates a practical example of using this straightforward method to make the subjects of your images really stand out.

Regardless of the type of images you shoot, without sharp and precise focus your efforts will likely be for naught. There are a variety of methods to use, and the one you choose depends upon a number of key variables.

Don’t wait! Plan your fall foliage photography forays now. Here are four interactive maps that help you predict when the fall colors peak in your area, plus a recommendation of three glass screw-in camera filters that make autumn colors more vibrant.

German pro Christian Mohrle is a favorite among Shutterbug readers for two reasons: His imagery is stunning and the tutorials he posts are extremely effective and to the point. So when Mohrle identifies a Lightroom tool as the software's "most powerful feature," it's time to pay attention and learn how it works.