Photography Tutorials

After shooting in salt water and sand in Hawaii, our tripods were badly in need of cleaning. Here is how we clean our tripod.

If you’re building a business as an photographer, you want your brand to stand to your clients. Here are tips on how to build your brand.

A step-by-step Photoshop tutorials that walks you though the process of creating creating tiny planets from panoramic photos.

In Photography is there anything such as bad light? Or just plain bad imagination. Lets explore what can we photograph in bad light.

I start by taking a look at my finished color image and thinking about what I want to accomplish with my conversion to black and white.

A complete photography workflow including a brief Photoshop tutorial that shows how to fine tune a complex photo using iHDR workflow.

Tips for making a single element stand out in your photographs. ;) When you shoot, do you take a moment to consider the most important element in your photograph? For this shot, I wanted to get in really close – and show off the beautiful, reflective droplets clinging to the leaf. I also wanted a ...

This was the view outside our tent when we went camping deep in the Grand Tetons. Composition: I wanted to capture the late evening light and the foreground flowers. So, I set up the camera very low to the ground to fill the frame with the flowers in the foreground. This also required me to ...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – color balance is critically important. No matter how carefully I compose my shot in-camera, I will always – ALWAYS – check my color settings during post processing. I recommend that you do the same. Even if you set your white balance in-camera. Even if you ...

The moon is a gorgeous subject, but it can be tough to get the shot you want. Have you ever taken a photograph of the moon at night only to discover that it is so bright in your photograph that it appears as a bright, white spot? Do you want to capture a landscape photograph ...

Jay and I visited the Big Island of Hawai’i  over the holiday season this year, and hiked out to see the lava for ourselves. This was, without question, the highlight of the trip. We spent a couple of hours photographing the lava on the first night, and we were so impressed that we returned for ...

This is a shot from Bean Hollow State Park in California. It’s not one of my favorite shots – and it won’t make it to my portfolio or my website. So why am I posting it here? Well – I believe that we can learn as much from images that don’t appeal to us as ...

Sometimes, I can finish post-production work in just a few minutes… and sometimes, it takes a lot longer. This shot from Snowmass Wilderness in Colorado was a real challenge. Let me see if I can give you an idea of… Read more ›

This is a composite shot I took several years ago in Death Valley National Park. I took the first shot with a wide angle lens. Then, I switched to a long lens and photographed the full moon as it rose… Read more ›

I love aspens. Who doesn’t? But if you’ve tried to photograph trees, maybe you know that getting a shot you really like isn’t as easy as you think it’s going to be. You pull out your camera in front of… Read more ›

Over the last three years, we have seen a dramatic increase in mobile traffic to our web sites. Mobile traffic on our sites went from less than 2% in the first eight months of 2010, to more than 13% for… Read more ›

When I am planning a composition, I am constantly thinking about leading the eye. How can I make sure that my viewer is noticing the most important elements in my image? How can I keep my viewer’s eye from jumping… Read more ›

Landscape photographers love to shoot pristine scenes that seem to be untouched by human hands. I believe that humans are part of nature, and sometimes a human element can add an interesting or emotional point of interest. Here are some… Read more ›

When it comes down to it – wildlife photography is about being willing to wait. You aren’t likely to just walk up a get that fantastic shot you were hoping for. Start by doing your research – find our where… Read more ›

When I teach photography to beginners, I try to use clear visual examples to help make a point. So, when I’m in the field, I’m often thinking about how I can use an image to help explain concepts… either here… Read more ›

Here’s a shot from Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. In an earlier post, we talked about using histogram to capture details in the highlights. Here, we’re going to talk a little bit about bringing out details in every part of… Read more ›

Take a look at the workflow I used to process this photograph from Eagle Creek in Oregon. Take a look at the RAW image above on the left – the trees look just right, but there are some blown highlights… Read more ›

One of the things that people ask us about a lot is sharpening. So, here’s a quick tutorial on how we do it. There are lots of different ways to sharpen an image – and lots of tool available. Right… Read more ›

Teaching photography to kids is tons of fun. They pick up on concepts very quickly, and have no preconceived ideas about photography to hinder their learning! Here are some photographs that our kids took. There are some really good tips… Read more ›

Have you ever photographed a subject that is either very dark or very bright? Is it easy? Nope…it’s not. There are several factors that make it difficult to photograph subjects that are mostly white or mostly black. Exposure The camera’s… Read more ›

In today’s world, social media invades all parts of our lives: both personal and work-related. On the one hand, social media can seem like a pretty big time-waster. We spend hours uploading photos, responding to comments, looking through our streams…… Read more ›

Waking up to this? Priceless. This is the view of the island of Molokai from Napili Bay on Maui. It’s not difficult to get out of bed when you are in a place like this. :) You want to get… Read more ›

I love shooting water droplets. They are tiny and perfectly formed, and light plays within them , making them seem to possess a life of their own. Here are some of our water droplets. Studio photography gives you fine control… Read more ›

Abstracts may lack a clear point of interest. They are often about form, color, or mood. When you shoot abstracts, think about what you want to convey with your image. Here are a few examples to get you thinking. This… Read more ›

This shot required very little special post-processing… just setting the correct color balance, and a bit of subtle mid-tone contrast. The real work of creating this particular image happened in the field… well… on the beach, actually. :) This is… Read more ›

Today, we have a little gift for you. We’ve added a couple of new actions to our free collection and you can download the whole set for your own personal use! Feel free to adapt and change the actions to… Read more ›

Autumn is coming soon to a region near you! We wanted to pull together a few examples for inspiration – and some tips to help you make the most of your time in the field. This image taken from top… Read more ›

When we’re on location, we spend a lot of time looking for foreground. We’re looking for something more interesting than scrub or gravel. We want to convey a sense of location – not just distant, untouchable beauty… but the feeling that you are a part of this place. You can feel the air on your ...

…be ready to answer the call. In nature photography opportunity doesn’t always knock at the most convenient time, or in the best location. On more then one occasion, we’ve found ourselves under perfect skies while in the car between destinations…… Read more ›

Photography is all about capturing a moment in time. Sometimes, we use shutter speed as long as several minutes, and sometimes we need something much faster. In order to capture this bizarre image, I used a shutter speed of just… Read more ›

It’s always fun to try something new. Although both of us have been wanting to do some night photography for a while now, it’s difficult to actually get out there and DO it. Not too long ago, we finally did… Read more ›

Dramatic sunbeams like those in the photographs you see here, occur only under certain conditions. Sunbeams appear when sunlight passes through – and is scattered by – particles in the air. In order to effectively photograph sunbeams, we need to… Read more ›

Take a look at this shot of the Toadstool hoodoo from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The light was really nice – the sky was changing color a few minutes before sunrise, and very soft morning light kissed the… Read more ›

We have heard it a thousand times… “Those colors must be Photoshopped.” Just recently, we received yet another similar comment on one of our posts – the color looks “over-cooked” in Photoshop. I’m willing to bet that most of you… Read more ›

In photography…great light is fleeting. Sometimes, it last for just a few minutes – or even a few  brief seconds. The challenge is to be ready to shoot when the light is just right. We arrived at Chanticleer overlook as… Read more ›

So what is vignetting? Take a look at the image below. The corners are darker than the center of the image. This was intentionally done – in order to help draw your attention towards the subject. This is a pretty… Read more ›

Jay and I usually shoot together – and sometimes we find ourselves standing side by side, tripod legs crossed one over the over as we prepare to shoot. Sometimes we come away with shots that are pretty similar, but most… Read more ›