Outdoor Photography 101: Tips for Photography in the Great Outdoors

Photography in the great outdoors is a wonderful experience for any type of photographer. Breaking away from the daily hustle and grind and making photographs out in nature is both relaxing and rejuvenating to your creative spirit. The fresh air, open spaces, and the excitement of the unknown make outdoor photography a great exercise both […]

The Truth About Social Media and Photography

When you think about it, the very idea of social media is beautiful. People who would have otherwise met one another can now seamlessly network and share ideas like never before. For photographers, social media has fostered an extremely complex relationship. We can share our images with enormous audiences. Our work is perpetuated globally over […]

How to Add Instant Contrast in Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a beautiful thing. It allows an incredibly wide range of artists, designers, creatives, and especially us photographers to inject a little bit of creative juice into their work and see it come to life. And while Photoshop can be enormously complex there are so many simple, straightforward edits you can use to […]

The Case for Black and White Photography

Brace yourself because here it comes…it’s another discussion about black and white photography. Don’t worry, it’s not going to be the same old “which is better?” or even worse, another “how to convert your photos to black and white” type of articles. Admittedly, I have written on both of those subjects extensively before but this […]

How to be Successful in Photography

Up until the late 90’s there was a growing trend in television infomercials…. Always something like “it’s so easy!” Or… “in only 12 minutes a day you can achieve the results you want!” You may be asking “What do infomercials from 1999 have to do with being a successful photographer.” Just bear with me here. […]

First Look at K&F Concept Large Professional Camera Backpack

When K&F Concept was first brought to my attention I will admit that I had never heard of the company before. The world of camera gear and gadgets is of course, “saturated” to say the least. So, when I took a closer look at K&F, I was pleasantly surprised at the apparent quality of many […]

Previsualziation: Knowing Before the Shot

Previsualization, or simply “visualization”, is one of the most simply yet alarmingly difficult aspect of making your own photograph become more than just the some of their parts. When we “previsualize” our images it means that the appearance of the final outcome before we ever click the shutter button. The method of previsualization was championed […]

Smarter Sharpening with the High Pass Filter in Photoshop

What if I told you that sharpening as we know it in photography isn’t real? That might be a little hard to believe but the truth is that it is actually impossible to make an image physically sharper after it has already been made. Sharpening a photo is simply an illusion. We can make a […]

Mastering the Graduated Filter in Adobe Lightroom

Graduated neutral density filters, or GND’s, have been a mainstay in the gear bags of landscape and nature photographers for years. The filter consists a piece of glass which is stained to darken only one half. The purpose of this is to give the photographer a tool to control extreme differences in exposure latitudes. Frequently, […]

Four Ways to Rekindle Your Photographic Spark

As you progress more and more on your photographic journey you will encounter problems and challenges. Some of those challenge you expect while some can take you fairly by surprise. You will go through ups and downs, strikes and gutters. This cycle of peaks and valleys can affect you creatively, financially, even physically. Most common […]

Making Fall Colors Pop with Adobe Lightroom

Here in the Northern hemisphere Autumn is in full swing. The colors of the leaves are changing and giving their last big show as we head into winter. The frosty mornings and golden hues offer outstanding opportunities for photographers to capture these beautiful Fall colors before they’re gone until next year. In this article we’re […]

A Simple Explanation of Aperture

If there’s one thing about photography that confuses newcomers(and often the rest of us) it’s the idea of aperture. What is it? Why is it so complicated? How does it affect your photos? Well, aperture isn’t complicated or impossible to understand, it’s just unfamiliar. And like most unfamiliar things the more you learn to about […]

Understanding Basic Lens Anatomy and Terminology

The lens is the eye through which a camera sees. No matter what kind of camera you use, the lens is one of the single most important investments you will make. So in the spirit making wise decisions and minimizing buyer’s remorse the gear-savvy photographer will make it a point to understand the basics of […]

Editing Secrets Revealed!: Five Lightroom Tricks

Adobe Lightroom is one of the most widely used software programs out there. When it comes to editing your digital photos it’s extremely difficult to beat Lightroom when it comes to ease of use, versatility, and powerful post processing tools. It’s safe to say that most of you reading this likely have had some experience […]

A Quick Guide to Local Adjustment Presets in Lightroom

If you use Adobe Lightroom, I’m sure you’ve heard of develop presets and how they can jump start your creativity. But did you know that you can also create and save local adjustment presets just as easily? In this article I’m going to show you how to create and save your own local adjustment presets […]

Discovering Your Own Photographic Style

The internet seems to be bursting at its virtual seams with creative ideas and tips on photographic methodology. In my opinion there’s no such thing as knowing too much about making photos and I urge you to learn all you can from as many places as you can about the technical side of photography. Still, […]

Simple Ways to Improve Your Astrophotography

For eons, mankind has looked up into the night sky in wonderment. All the stars and celestial bodies which hover over our heads have always held a nearly indescribable allure. Since the advent of photography we have looked for ways to photograph all the beautiful happenings of our galactic home.   You might think that […]

The Great Minor White and Infrared Photography

Born in 1908, Minor White was something different in terms of how and why he photographed. He incorporated as much of his own beliefs and philosophies into his work as he did photographic technique. His work is a mix of his mentality and the emotion he felt towards a scene or subject. He injected a […]

Remembering Why You Shoot

There are times when the most simple of explanations eludes us. When it comes to photography, or more specifically to the point of making strong photographs, we must be fully aware. Not just aware of our settings and camera placement but also our intent. Oddly enough, it’s frightfully easy to lose this awareness during the […]

Going Vintage with Adobe Lightroom

Retro Made Easy When we think of “vintage style” photographs what we may be actually envisioning is a photo that bears many of the characteristics of analog film photography. These characteristics include subtle nuances in film grain and development, toning, and contrasts. The variations and combinations of these traits are quite literally too many to […]