Sharpen Your Photography Skills, Knowledge and Passion

Photography News September 6, 2021 Quote: “I try to make a connection with the people I’m photographing and then I try to disappear” – Deanne Fitzmaurice    Articles:  Master Curves from Start to Finish in Photoshop – 23m Visual Design Of A Photograph – 1h 40m Better Photographic Composition – Beyond the Rule of Thirds – 2h 3m How to Create Portraiture that is a Work of Art – Lindsay Adler – 1h 59m (I’ve taken a couple of classes from her, I really like Lindsay’s work) Fashion Shoot Without Fashion Clothing – 17m 7 Steps to Master Forest Photography – Mads Peter Iversen 22m Thought for the day: Chances [...]

Photography News August 30, 2021 Quote: “A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” — Edward Steichen Articles: How to See a Photograph and Mentally Frame It As You Shoot – 1h 12m An Intro to Photographing the Planets How to Create Artistic, Dreamy, Soft Focus Flower Photography – 8m 31s Negative Space at Beaches – 6m 30s Why Your Photos Don't Have to Be Pin-Sharp Astrophotography from $100 to $10,000 – 35m 16s Thought for the day:  There is a subculture on the Internet concerned with the ‘right’ set of gear to carry every day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyday_carry. Some of what [...]

Photography News August 16, 2021 Quote: “All I have done before the age of 70 is not worth bothering about” – Hokusai Articles: Is Ansel Adams Still Relevant? Promoting Passion: Speed Edit – Brooke Shaden – 2m 23s Scott Kelby’s 10 Amazing Landscape Editing Tips – 25m How to Create Depth in Color Images Using Black and White Night Photography Webinar with Jeff Sullivan & Harold Davis – 1h 28m How to Use an Optical Snoot – 16m 35s Thought for the day: Why Study Paintings? You are a photographer. So why study paintings? Paintings have been around much longer than photos and especially today [...]

Photography News August 9, 2021 Quote: “The three elements I look for to make a photo: Light, Layers, Subject” – Deanne Fitzmaurice Articles:  Symbolism in Fine Art – Brooke Shaden – 9m 14s Creating Artist Books and Portfolios – Harold Davis – 1h 18m How to Make the Best of a Bad Location 'My Camera's Not Good Enough' and 7 Other Stupid Things Photographers Say Shot on iPhone 12 – Everyday Experiments: Full Bloom – Apple – 3m Photographing the Heart of an Active Volcano – 20m Thought for the day: What is a Great (Photographer/Photograph/etc)? I was struck by a comment by someone commenting on an [...]

Photography News August 2, 2021 Quote: “There should be nothing in the image that isn’t helping the story” – Deanne Fitzmaurice Articles: The Black & White Still Life, Part 2 - Harold Davis – 1h 2m How to use textures in Photoshop – 14m 25s Shoot and Edit Otherworldly Photos in Night Mode with Maria Lax – Apple, 8m 15s Landscape Photography Tips for Better Photos with Colby Brown – 8m Why Better Edges Make Better Photos Fine Art Master Photographer Reveals His Thoughts Behind Two Scenes Thought for the day: Live Photos Ever take a picture of a baby/child/cat/dog/deer/teen/whale and when you take the picture they are [...]

Photography News July 26, 2021 Quote: “There use to be a joke among ‘serious’ photographers that in order to get into the Sierra Club calendar you had to have blurry water” – Stephen Johnson Articles: The Use of Reflections in Your Photography The Window Seat: 36 Tips for Taking Amazing Photos from Airplane Windows Landscape Photography in the World's Most Boring Location – 22m How To Remove POWER LINES in Lightroom – 8m An odd lens, STF (Smooth Transition Focus) Creating a bold fashion image using a fisheye lens! – Lindsay Adler, 10m Thought for the day: Dynamic and Static Range of a Camera System II There [...]

Photography News July 19, 2021 Quote: “However, once you've satisfied your index finger's first impulse, you need to step back, think, observe, and analyze. There's almost always a better shot lurking, but to get it requires your brain to be fully functioning, not just reacting.” – Thom Hogan Articles: How the Light Placement Alters Your Subjects 8 Things You Should Do Before Going to a Photography Workshop Thom’s Buzz Wave Theory – background on camera release dates, etc. Peak Interest, not Peak Camera – Thom Hogan on features vs number sold Using Google Earth to Plan Landscape Photos Art Wolfe’s Intimate Landscapes Thought [...]

Photography News July 12, 2021 Quote: “…above all else, take the shot.” – Thom Hogan Articles: All the Ways to Get to Black and White from Raw – Thom Hogan B&H Photo class (2 hours) The Perils of Certainty – Thom Hogan What is duotone? Artistic v Technical Balance in Photography – John Greengo The 2021 Audubon Photography Awards: Winners and Honorable Mentions Is Dynamic Range Important in Landscape Photography? Thought for the day: Leading Lines The current contest in the FB group “We Love Half Moon Bay” is on leading lines.  There were a number of questions by photographers as to what is a [...]

Photography News 6 July 2021 Quote: “If everyone loves your work you are playing it much too safe.” – David Carson and many more Articles:  Colour Theory for Black and White Photography Part 1 – long, useful A Photographer's Guide to Color – Master Colors Part 1 – 7m What is a Corner? – on reviewing and testing lenses, or not – Thom Hogan Skin Retouching in Lightroom Tutorial (or ACR): Getting Soft Skin – 10m Duotone Color: Tips & Examples for This Vibrant Trend  Learn The Key To Seeing 'Secret' Photos All Around You – 9m Thought for the day: Quick Thought on Cropping I [...]

Photography News 28 June 2021 Quote: “It is better to have soft images (due to high f-stop of 16 or 22) than out of focus images” – Jeff Schewe Articles:  Photography in the Rain - Bright Ideas for Dull Conditions – 15m A Beginner's Guide to Fixing an Underexposed Photo in Lightroom The 2021 International Portrait Photographer of the Year Winners Learn How to Light and Shoot This Dramatic Portrait Understanding Light Control – Photographing Black on Black and White on White How Astrophotographers Shoot (Very) Long Exposures Thought for the day: Lou Jones Lou Jones is an interesting expert photographer.  Best know [...]

Photography News June 21, 2021 Quote:  "We can't waste a sunset, we only get a finite number of them.” – Galen Rowell to Thom Hogan Articles:  What Is an 'Art Photographer’?  Are You Losing Interest? – Thom Hogan (poor title, material is important) Wrong Shutter Speeds in Landscape Photography – Mads Peter Iversen 19m Planning, Scouting, and Revisiting: The Hard Labor of Seeing – Roman Loranc Elements of a Photograph: Texture  Lighting to Photograph Textures Thought for the day: What does Text Add? A picture of a pair of children’s shoes Maybe a nice picture, maybe boring. No real feelings without context. Add in [...]

Photography News June 7, 2021 Quote:  “If you will just give me two minutes, fully committed, we can get a great photo.” - Paul Elledge talking to Willie Nelson Articles:  D-Day in Photos: Heroes of a More Certain Time   7 Steps to Master Forest Photography - Mads Peter Iversen 22m Sunset Photography Tips - Digital Photo Magazine Learn ALL About Your Camera's Focusing Modes & Focusing Areas 8m Telephoto Minimalist Photography 11m Minimalist Photography with Judy Hancock Holland 37m Thought for the day: When will your lenses be too old? If not damaged by dropping, fungus, sticky aperture and focus, lenses can be used [...]

Photography News June 1, 2021 Quote:  “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” — Don McCullin Articles:  Everything You Wanted To Know About Contrast (But Were Too Afraid To Ask) Digitizing Your Photos with Peter Krogh – TWiP Talks – 50m Vintage Lenses 10 Mistakes Beginner Photographers Make  – 21m 7 Simple Forest Compositions Tips – Mads Peter Iversen How to Focus in the Fog – 21m   Thought for the day: I’ve been taking macros of flowers using [...]

Photography News May 24, 2021 Quote: “We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us.” — Ralph Hattersley Articles:  Total Lunar Eclipse early on 26 May 2021 – PhotoPills Things You "Can't" Shoot From Behind – Thom Hogan How to add an Etherial Glow to Landscape Photos – 16m Vintage lenses on digital cameras. How good are they in reality compared to modern lenses? – 23m No One Cares How Hard You Worked – Ctein Minimalism / Long Exposure Landscape Photography Tutorial – 17m PhotoNinja Thought for the day: Other Ways of Comparing Lens Focal Lengths Often a 50mm ‘standard’ lens on a full frame camera [...]

Photography News May 17, 2021 Quote: "Screw out the bolts of your life, examine and work on yourself, fix your life again and get going." – Israelmore Ayivor Articles:  Orton Effect Tutorial – 7m How To Create the Dragon effect in Photoshop 7m 22s (Suggested use: Older men) Tips for Photography in Harsh Light – 21m When to Use (and Not to Use) a Polarizer Why museums hide masterpieces away – 6m Thought for the day: Yet a Third Way of Comparing Lens Focal Lengths Two weeks ago we considered if 2mm makes a difference in lens focal length. Here is another way. Let’s compare different [...]

Photography News May 10, 2021 Quote: “If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it’s already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.” — Eve Arnold Articles:  Photography Composition Tips: The One About Interesting Point of View – 18m How To Blur Backgrounds in Photoshop – 11m The Fastest Way to Cull Your Photos? Fstoppers Reviews Narrative Select Make Your Landscape Photos POP Using Your iPhone (or Android) (Orton) A Journey Toward The Sacred Print With Stephen Johnson Black Pro-Mist Filter Effect in Photoshop – 4m Fixed bad links from [...]

Photography News May 3, 2021 Quote: “Color photography is vulgar” – Walker Evans Articles: Landscapes – Make It Successful with The 4-Step Simplicity Framework – 15m Fine Art Seascape Photography at Midnight – 20m Gary Gough Olympus Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Awards 2020 Drastically Reduce Noise in Milky Way Foregrounds Using Photoshop Thought for the day: Does a 2mm difference in focal length matter? The ‘standard’ prime lens is often considered to be 50mm. If measured it may be 50mm, or a bit less, or a bit longer that the advertised focal length. And some vendors have [...]

Photography News April 26, 2021 Quote: "Good bird photography consists 30% of equipment, 50% of knowing the subject, and 70% of luck. All 150% is needed; that has been shown in practice many times.” —Hannu Hautala, the most famous Finnish bird photographer Articles:  Fine Art Seascape Photography at Midnight – 20m Gary Gough How the 2020 Landscape Photographer of the Year Photo Was Taken How to Photograph the Milky Way: The Preparation – 1 of 3 Using Your Personal Life to Inspire Photography Projects – B&H 1h3m Photoshop Tutorial Adding Textures to Photos – 10m – Good intro, clear and easy to understand Easy Window [...]

Photography News April 19, 2021 Quote: “The picture that you took with your camera is the imagination you want to create with reality.” – Scott Lorenzo Articles:  You Want Great JPEGs? Here’s the 411 – Thom Hogan 10 Tips for Shooting Beautiful, More Creative Portraits – part 2 – 12m Photography Is A Lie: Tricks People Use To Create Professional Photography Food Photography & Food Styling with @Veggiekins – B&H 41m Talking About Photographic Lenses – 49m – John Cornicello Texture and Clarity Sliders in Lightroom Classic CC: What’s the difference? Thought for the day: Which new camera should I get? A person I [...]