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Practice makes perfect, or so the old saying goes. That’s not actually correct as I’ll explain later, however. But generally, if you want to get better at doing anything, from improving your golf swing to nailing that karaoke rendition of Whitney Houston, you’re going to have to practice.
In this video from photographer Ben Harvey, he talks about getting outside more so that you can practice with greater motivation and productivity.
Filters – no, not the Instagram kind – have been a part of photography and filmmaking for decades. Back in the days of film, particularly with black and white, they were often used to eliminate issues like excess UV light from the sun, to wrangle the brightness of the sky down to the relatively dark land for an even exposure, they were used to add contrast between different colours to black and white film or one of a multitude of effects.
These days, most of the problems we used to solve or effects we used to create with filters are done in post, on the computer. Now if you want to add contrast or alter the balance of colour in a shot, you just drag a slider. But there are some filters that are still valuable and useful in this digital age. And in this video, Mitch Lally talks about three of them and why he brings them to every shoot.
Whenever we turn our hand towards photographing a landscape, I think most of us tend to go for the widest lens we own. Or at least, if not the widest, something pretty wide. It’s a logical and natural choice to make, though. We’re confronted with this beautiful view and we want to be able to capture as much of it as possible. But is it potentially doing more harm than good for your photography?
In this video, Mads Peter Iverson talks about this issue and that we really need to start breaking out of the mindset that we need a wide-angle lens in order to be able to shoot good landscape photography. It’s an interesting discussion that not only discusses the benefits of using longer focal lengths to shoot landscapes but the downfalls of only using wide angle lenses.
If you love timelapse films of landscapes and nature then you’re in for a treat. Into the Mountains is a short, experimental time-lapse documentary film created by photographer and filmmaker Christophe Anagnostopoulos.
It’s a simple premise: capturing the beauty of the mountains of Epirus, Greece in different seasons. “The goal was to avoid capturing anything that was not created by nature”, says Christophe.
Now that spring is finally here we are entering (hopefully!) wildflower season. Not only is this a beautiful time of year but it also lends itself to a host of wonderful photographic opportunities. Landscapes can be transformed into a colourful patchwork and it’s often worth going back to a place at this time of year to see how different it looks.
In this video, Leigh “Snap Chick” takes us through a few of her tips for getting the most out of the outdoors at this time of year.
Long exposures, particularly of water, are something that almost all of us either have tried at some point or will try and some point in the future. Sometimes we might get lucky and nail it on our very first attempt but often we’ll find ourselves struggling to get the image we see in our head. The image we’d like to create. This is because it’s not usually as simple as just sticking an ND over your lens and increasing your shutter speed. There’s a little more to it than that.
In this video, photographer Andy Mumford walks us through the elements of creating long exposure waterscapes to add dynamism to our scene. He gives us the reasoning behind the decisions made when shooting one so that when you face potential problems in your shots or aren’t happy with what you’re getting, you’ve got some idea of what you can change and how they’ll affect your photography.
The winning images from the Storm Photo of the Year Awards have been announced. All the images were taken over the course of 2021, and the competition is divided into three categories: Photo of the Year, Tornado Photo of the Year and Photographer of the Year. The first two sought to find the most incredible, single photos taken from the prior year in their respective categories. And the third (portfolio) award looked to recognize the achievement of putting together an amazing set of 10 images taken in 2021.
There are some pretty impressive images, some of the tornado shots are quite incredible considering the fact that most of us would be turning to run in the opposite direction. But Storm Chasers are an entirely different breed it seems. You can see the top winning entries below.
“As landscape photographers, we often dread seeing a week-long clear sky prediction for our photography trips…” goes the voice-over at the beginning of this video. Honestly, after more than a month of rain every day lately I’d take a clear sky any day. We’ve had the wettest March since 1950. In fact, the weather has been so un-Spanish that authorities are considering changing the official language to English to stay in line with the precipitation levels*. But I digress.
Back to the video and those elusive bright blue skies. What on earth are you going to do as a landscape photographer should you ever encounter them? Well, Michael Shainblum has the answer in this excellent video.
How do you avoid the dreaded ‘identikit’ landscape image problem? You know, when you think you’ve found an epic location and then check Instagram and discover hundreds of almost the same but possibly better images?
What you need is a new method of location scouting, and in this video photographer, Dave Morrow walks us through a few ideas on how he finds amazing locations that aren’t already all over everyone else’s feeds.
We all make mistakes in photography, especially when we’re new to it and still learning. The sad thing is, no matter how long you choose to pursue photography and no matter how good you get, you’ll keep making mistakes. The important thing is that we are able to recognise them, acknowledge them and learn from them in order to keep improving.
That’s the focus of this video from Nigel Danson, who goes over seven compositional mistakes he often sees from beginners. And he’s not judging, because he admits he’s made these mistakes himself and provides examples of where he’s done it. But he also shows how he identified the problem and how he went about solving things.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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