One of the banes of outdoor portraiture is that you’re always at the mercy of prevailing lighting and weather conditions. Equally challenging is the fact that, whether you’re shooting images for a client or photographing a model for your portfolio, you don’t always get to choose the time and location of a session.
It may not seem like it, given the horrendous winter weather that swept across the country last week, but the onset of spring is barely a month away. And the new season brings with it a variety of interesting opportunities for macro and close-up photography.
Many photographers consider beauty retouching a difficult and arcane art. And while you can make this task as simple or as complicated as you want, with the proper tools photographers of all skill levels can dramatically increase the quality of their results.
Most of our tutorials involve tips, tricks, and techniques you can use to capture more compelling images. But today we’re going to switch things up by describing what NOT to do when shooting landscape, travel, and nature images.
Sometimes you capture a really nice landscape photo that needs just a bit more punch. And that what you’ll learn to do in this quick Photoshop tutorial from one of our favorite image-editing instructors.
Lens Filters were more commonly used back when everyone shot film, perhaps because some digital photographers are imbued with the notion that “You can always fix it in Photoshop.” And that’s a shame because putting a filter on your lens is an easy way to “get it right in the camera,” rather than resorting to post-processing enhancements.
One of the many benefits of modern mirrorless cameras is that they enable you to use vintage lenses of various brands with the use of simple and affordable adapters. So if you have an assortment of old legacy glass gathering dust, it’s possible to get started as soon as you acquire a new camera, without immediately investing in native lenses.
Wildlife photography provides a number of unique challenges, not the least of which is locating the subjects you intend to shoot. One often has to deal with difficult light, whether it’s midday sun, deep shadows, or impending darkness when some species are most active.
Using long exposures during the day is a great way to create unique landscape and nature photos. This technique results in an ethereal look, with soft, dreamy water and cotton-like clouds. The typical approach is using ND filters to dramatically reduce the amount of light entering the camera, but there’s a post-processing trick for getting the job done.
One of the great things about photographing birds, especially during these days of relative isolation, is that you needn’t travel far to capture amazing images. In fact, with the proper skills, you can often shoot spectacular photos in your own backyard.