While our KeepSnap contest ended a while ago and we have previously identified the 1st place winner, the winner of the second place has not yet been announced and we have not yet run a poll to choose the third place winner. I definitely let this one fall through the cracks and it has been my fault all along for making such a late announcement. Due to lack of time and my mailbox overflow issues, I have been having a hard time with catching up with everything that’s going on. But, I don’t want to blame it on anything other than myself, so once again, for those who participated in this contest/giveaway, please accept my apologies! So for those who have been waiting, the winner of the second place has been identified – congratulations to Owen Clarke for being randomly selected for the second place!
How Was This Picture Made #11?
It is great to finally be back to posting regularly on the site! It took us a while to finally wrap up our second video course, and despite my attempts to keep the site fresh with new content, things have been quite hectic to say the least. And now that most of all that is behind us, I cannot wait to start posting great content again. I have a lot of things lined up for this month, and next month is going to be even more exciting, because we will be hosting another guest post month, where our readers will get a chance to submit content for a chance to win a camera, in addition to getting paid for writing and sharing the content with others (we will post the announcement later this week). On top of that, a number of big reviews are coming up – with the Nikon D500 review being the first. The review is 95% done (written by our very talented team member John Lawson and co-written by Tom Redd and yours truly); I just need to add ISO comparisons and notes to finish it up. I have to say, this one is well worth the wait! I know many of our readers have been waiting for us to review the camera and we have put a lot of time and effort into it. We did not want to review this camera without spending a lot of time in the field! Anyway, today I wanted to share an image that I captured when I visited the Great Sand Dunes NP with Spencer Cox. He has already posted an image of his own in the last “how was this picture made #10?” article, so I am posting mine. This one was interesting, as it is something I did for the first time in my life.
PL Level 1 Workflow and Post-Processing Announcement
We are very excited to announce the release of our second video course, Level 1: Workflow and Post-Processing. After months of hard work and many sleepless nights, we were finally able to wrap the course up and make it available for purchase. After receiving a lot of positive feedback on our first video, we decided to take it up a level and deliver something we are truly proud of. The result is a 14-hour educational course that will surely satisfy your hunger for photography knowledge for quite a while. In this course, we pick it up right where we left off last time; from the moment you insert your memory card into your computer, all the way to the image export process. We go over each step of the photography workflow process, provide detailed information on different post-processing tools available on the market today (along with the overview of the most popular ones), and give you in-depth coverage of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In addition to the above, you will also learn how to properly organize your images and your Lightroom catalogs, find out about computer hardware required for post-processing, and even learn how to properly backup and export your images. To make it easy for you to follow the course, we are providing all relevant raw images, so that you can try all the tools we teach you to use. Without a doubt, this is one of the most detailed and complete courses you will find on both workflow and post-processing!
After the Rain
One of my favourite times to photograph garden plants and flowers is first thing in the morning after a fresh rain. All of the colours and textures seem richer after the rain dapples them with water droplets.
Photographing Birds-in-Flight with Nikon 1 J5
I’ve been quite busy with client work lately and I decided that I needed a break. So, today I headed out to photograph birds-in-flight with my Nikon 1 J5. As most folks know, this camera does not have a viewfinder, so I used four, thick elastic bands to attach my Zacuto Z-Finder to the rear of the J5. It ended up being reasonably snug against the back of the camera. While not particularly elegant looking, it did get the job done.
A Local Car Show
Now no one’s ever going to accuse me of being a motorhead any more than they could accuse me of being a gearhead. Cars don’t provoke a tachycardic enthusiasm from me in the same way as other subjects do. But there happened to be a car show at a summer festival nearby yesterday so I ambled along with my camera to see the display. I was certainly tempted by the beautiful lines, form and colour of classic car anatomy.
Adding A Splash Of Color With Your Post-Processing Tools
Most of you are probably already familiar with the different tools that are available to use while editing your images in post-processing software. I’m referring to the various brushes and filters that can be found in Lightroom, Capture One Pro and other similar programs. Well, did you know that in addition to using these tools to adjust things like exposure and saturation, you can also use them to add a bit of color to your images? In this post I’ll show you a few of my favorite ways to use these tools along with some subtle additions of color, which will make your image editing a bit more colorful. Keep in mind… I’m a Lightroom user, so I can’t promise that these techniques are available in all post-processing software.
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How Was This Picture Made #10?
This is the tenth post in our “How Was This Picture Taken” series, and this one features a photograph I took at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Since this is the tenth installment in our series, and because we have a number of exciting projects coming up, we’d like to do something a bit special this time:
The reader with the closest answer will receive a free copy of the eBook that Nasim and I are writing: “Creative Landscape Photography: Light, Vision, and Composition.”
A Day in Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park. That is really all one needs to say to get the message across. What could very well be the most photographed National Park in the world needs no introductions. Yellowstone harbors all of the elements that make the “West” of the United States such a compelling area for photographers. It’s combination of landscapes, geothermal activity and wildlife is a photographers dream. And yet, for a place with so many splendors, you would think I would not get so many questions on how and when to photograph massive park.
My Self-Imposed 23mm Challenge with a Fuji X100T
The past few months I have fallen victim to a creative slump, a rut, a lack of enthusiasm around my photography. Call it what you want, I felt uninspired. Although I love nature and bird photography, I found myself struggling to make time to get out and shoot. We live on the gulf coast of southern Mississippi. There is an abundance of wonderful birdlife, beautiful sunsets and unique cypress swamps full of wildlife begging to be photographed. When I did get out, I found I was not very motivated to download my images, let alone take the time to process them. I needed a change. What I really needed was a challenge. I decided to try something I had heard of, but have never tried before, in the hopes that it would relight my photographic passion.
