Nature Photography How To

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Ron Leach  |  Apr 26, 2023

It’s not uncommon for photographers to adopt a “set-it-and-forget it” mentality when configuring their cameras, thereby ending up with photographs that aren’t as good as possible. Whether you call this habit lazy or uninformed, there are times when the choice of a custom setting results in more creative images.

Ron Leach  |  Jul 11, 2023

Photographers often turn to Lightroom's HSL sliders as the first step in editing landscape and nature photos. But what do you do when this technique falls short? As you'll see in the tutorial below, there's often a better solution that's very easy to accomplish.

Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Oct 07, 2022

Photographers revere the Golden Hour, but when does it actually get dark? You have a rough idea of when night falls where you live, but what if you’re traveling to a distant location in another time zone? Here’s a link to a US Navy website that will fetch all pertinent sunrise and sunset information that you need.

Deborah Sandidge  |  May 07, 2021

Before I answer the question above, a few words about the kinds of pictures I like to take. Simply, they are pictures that are different—different from what others might be shooting at a particular location, even different from what I might have shot at that location the last time I visited.

Ron Leach  |  Jun 22, 2021

Conventional wisdom is that autofocus is the best mode to use for photographing birds, especially when your subjects are in flight. But every so often manual focus is a better choice, as you’ll see in the tutorial below.

Ron Leach  |  Apr 02, 2021

If you’ve been around the block more than once you’re no doubt familiar with many of the “rules” of composition. Budding outdoor photographers are told to use the Rule of Thirds, always include the foreground to create a sense of depth, and never position a subject in the middle of the frame or bisect a shot with the horizon.

Ron Leach  |  Jul 20, 2023

Many photographers set their camera for Auto White Balance and never modify the setting regardless of the subject at hand. If that sounds like you it may explain why the colors in your photos don't accurately convey the colors in a scene.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 14, 2021

Most photographers are familiar with the Rule of Thirds, a popular compositional aid that helps determine where to position the key element of a photo within the frame. But as we all know, rules are meant to be broken, and when it comes to composition there are often better options for composing a shot.

Ron Leach  |  Dec 28, 2022

There are numerous “rules” of photography, many of which apply to shooting landscapes. There’s the Rules of Thirds, certain “must have” filters, the importance of paying attention to hyperfocal distance, and many more.

Ron Leach  |  Apr 26, 2024

Most experienced photographers turn up their noses at the Program exposure mode, preferring to shoot in Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Manual. But as you'll see in this quick video from the Great Big Photography World channel, there are situations under which this "beginner" mode makes total sense—even if you have advanced skills.

Ron Leach  |  Mar 20, 2023

One of the primary goals of landscape photographers is to arrive at a “correct” exposure, and we regularly post tutorials on this subject to help get the job done. But in the quick tutorial below you’ll see why certain types of scenes look much better by adding a bit of intentional overexposure during the editing process.

Ron Leach  |  Nov 03, 2021

One of the first things most photographers learn is to avoid high ISO settings whenever possible. That’s because the more you crank up ISO, the more image quality tends to suffer.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 20, 2021

Spot Metering is an extremely powerful tool for all types of photography, especially when shooting backlit subjects, scenes with extremely light or dark backgrounds, or under other difficult lighting conditions. When used properly, your camera’s spot-metering mode almost always guarantees a proper exposure.

Ron Leach  |  Jul 21, 2022

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.”

Ron Leach  |  Mar 12, 2021

One question we’re frequently asked is, “Should I buy a zoom lens or a prime?” And like many age-old questions, the answer is “It depends.” To give you thoughtful response we’d want to know your budget, the type of photography you do, whether or not you frequently shoot in low-light conditions, and how much gear you’re willing to lug around in the field.

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