Outdoor Photo Gear

Using Lines in the Landscape to Improve Your Photo Compositions.

Jerry Monkman — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:22:56 PDT

Monument Cove and Otter Cliffs in Maine's Acadia National Park. The curve of the shoreline in this photo adds a peaceful line that leads the viewer's eye to the cliffs.

Lines, real and implied are an important component in any photo’s composition. Lines can be straight (horizontal, vertical, or at an oblique angle,) or curved. All lines work to divide your image into distinct parts, so you need to study your compositions carefully to see how these divisions work. Do they cut an image in half, creating a static feel, or do they divide the image into unequal parts which can provide an asymmetrical balance and more dynamic feel?

In general, horizontal lines are relatively calm. Vertical lines possess more energy, and diagonal or oblique lines are the most energetic of all. Lines also take the viewer on a journey through your photographs, as they provide a natural path for the viewer’s eye to follow while looking at your photo. Diagonal lines in particular, move your viewer along at a quick pace. Curved lines also give this sense of motion to a photo, but in a more peaceful, gentle way than a straight diagonal line.

Dawn over the Atlantic Ocean at Wallis Sands State Park in Rye, New Hampshire. I repositioned my camera for this photo so that the lines in the rock were at an oblique angle to give the photo more energy.

Whenever I’m composing a photo, I’m constantly repositioning my camera to take advantage of curved lines, and to change vertical or horizontal lines to oblique angled lines. The only exception to this is that I generally try to keep my horizon line or the vertical lines of trees, plants, and buildings straight (although purposely angling these lines can add more energy to a photo, and I’ll often choose that energy over a straight horizon line in an adventure photo.)

Exporting Images with Metadata

John Batdorff — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:24:45 PDT

I get a lot of questions regarding metadata, so I thought I would throw together a quick tutorial explaining how I generally handle exporting images with metadata. If you have any questions feel free to email or leave a comment below.

Scott Goldsmith: The Kentucky Derby

Chris Klapheke — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:21:49 PDT

Our hometown of Louisville, Ky is going crazy right now. Roads are clogged with traffic, restaurants have long lines, and limousines are everywhere. Tourists are everywhere, getting ready for the huge party that is dubbed "the most exciting two minutes in sports". Talk about photo opportunities!

My Morning Walk

Denise Ippolito — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:35:18 PDT

Image © 2012/Denise Ippolito Photography
Tulip ~ Canon 5D Mark III, 100mm Macro lens

I passed by a local Real Estate office to admire their beautiful garden bed filled with a variety of tulips and thought I would create a few images. In processing I toned down the bright red tulip behind the left petal with the clone tool set to approx 30% opacity. This is very easy to do using a simple layer and mask:

Bring your image into Photoshop and then create a duplicate layer by hitting Control J or Cmd J for MAC. It will show up as Layer 1.
You can now clone as you normally would using the Clone Stamp Tool without worrying that you will clone on your subject because if you do you can easily clean it up with a layer mask. To do so add a regular layer mask to Layer 1. The Layer Mask should be filled with white. Now select a soft brush so that it feathers the paint slightly. Make sure that the foreground (the top color square- which is the color you will be painting with) is set to black. Touch up as needed. Note you can paint with white if you revealed too much from the bottom layer.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION

Image © 2012/Denise Ippolito Photography
Tulip ~ Canon 5D Mark III, 100mm Macro lens

Learning to Recognize Relationships in Photography

Robert Rodriguez Jr. — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:16:43 PDT

“Hudson Valley Trail, New York” In landscape photography we often discuss the many different ingredients that go into making a successful image. Things like composition, color, mood, light, and of course subject. And while these are all essential parts, the aspect I think is underestimated and not talked about enough is the relationships between these [...]

Creativity with John Cleese!

John Adkins — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:00:00 PDT

One of the hardest things for many photographers to develop is a sense of creativity. You might be the most technologically proficient person with your gear and know how to edit photos better than the best Photoshop gurus out there but what about making interesting pictures? Creativity, according to John Cleese is not a talent, but [...]

UX For #togs – The Conundrum of Choice

Theodore Stark — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:58:54 PDT

Note: This is the second post in a series about User Experience for photographers by Ted Stark. You can see the first article here.

In life, people are barraged with choices. Ask any person, how many choices they want and they will say "a lot" (or some derivative of that). Physiology tells us that people equate choices with control. Choices are not always sensible. And control (or the illusion there of) is fleeting.

This is not a new concept. Applied to websites, users have tons of options (or choices). Everything from how many items are in a menu, to seeing a year's worth of blog posts in an archive. On most photography websites, there are ample choices in terms of photographs on display in a portfolio or for sale.

But, there's a limit to the effectiveness of "a lot" of choices.

How people decide is a topic that many researchers delve into. During their graduate studies at Stanford, Sheena Iyengar and a colleague posed as store employees manning a booth where they offered samples of fruit jam. Half of the time, store customers were presented with six choices of jam and the other half were presented with twenty-four. This study is now known as the "jam" study.

Iyengar and her colleague wanted to know how likely people were to sample based on the number of jam choices available. Additionally, they were curious if there was a correlation between number of jam choices and a customer’s decision to purchase one of the sampled jams from the booth.

With twenty-four choices, sixty percent of passersby stopped and sampled. Only forty percent of passersby stopped when only six choices were available. Probably not surprising, right?

When Iyengar and her colleague looked at how many people actually purchased jam based on the number of choices they encountered at the sample booth, things got a little more interesting. Customers who encountered six choices for jam, purchased thirty-one percent of the time. When customers faced twenty-four choices, it resulted in a sale only three percent of the time.

Developing Efficiencies in Lightroom’s Develop Module

Jerry Monkman — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:07:47 PDT

Synchronizing develop settings in Lightroom.

I find the one of the big reasons photographers do not want to shoot in RAW mode is that they fear spending too much time on the computer. One of the great things about Adobe Lightroom is that it gives you several ways to be very efficient in managing your digital photo archive. One part of Lightroom that all photographers should master is the develop module. While most shooters love the ability to easily make tone and color corrections to their images in this module, the ability to create develop presets and to apply changes to many images at once make “developing” in Lightroom one of the biggest time savers that digital photographers have in their arsenals. And in my opinion, the less time I spend on the computer, the better.

Anticipate The Action

Steve Gettle — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:30:52 PDT

One of the things I really enjoy about photographing wildlife is “the chess game”. What I mean by that is when I am photographing an animal I am always thinking a few moves ahead. So I can be sure to be in the right place at the right time. I try to get in the animals head, to figure out what its next move is going to be. This is why it is important to spend time with a subject. The more knowledge you have about an animal, the better you will be at anticipating its next move.

Many different behaviors and actions are preceded by visual cues. Some examples are. If a duck, goose, loon, or swan dips its head in the water and runs water down its back it is going to rear up and flap its wings. If a coyote or fox stares intently at the ground and turns its head side to side, it is likely getting ready to pounce on a vole. If a bird turns toward the wind and defecates it is more often than not going to fly away. During the rut a male deer, bighorn, elk, or pronghorn, will always do a lip-curl after it “checks” a female. Knowing your subject and paying attention to these visual cues will help you to anticipate the action and get some of these exciting action shots.

Just A Peek

Denise Ippolito — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:25:34 PDT

Image © 2012/Denise Ippolito Photography CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION Sometimes it is good to leave a little to the imagination. Some of the most intriguing movies or books are the ones that make you wonder or keep you guessing. I remember an image of a wolf that I saw a [...]

The Real Value of Time Well Spent

Robert Rodriguez Jr. — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:05:56 PDT

This great info graphic has been making its rounds on the internet, first on Seth Godin's blog, and also on Chase Jarvis’ blog, and I recommend you read both for their individual takes on this subject. When I saw it I immediately smiled because it proves that a picture is worth a thousand words! The vast majority of my time is spent away from doing what I love most, which is exploring ways to be creative and tell stories with my camera. The longer I do this, the more I have come to realize and appreciate this is exactly what it is. And it is this clarity of defining it that helps me stay focused and motivated to handle the other aspects of the business where I spend the majority of my time. Would I love to out source some if this as Seth recommends? Sure I would, and I am slowly moving in that direction. Being smart about what you should do vs what you should get someone else to do is a vital aspect of running any business where time is the most valuable resource, and I would dare anyone to find a case where that is more true than in landscape photography.

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the other “stuff”, on the contrary I do. The realization that I am living my dream life, and that each day I have to pinch myself that it is for real makes dealing with the “stuff” a little easier. For sure there are some great benefits – the greatest for me is that I get to spend much more time with my family. I was a stay at home Dad for the first 3 years of my son’s life, and that alone is something I would not trade for anything.

Five Ways to Improve Your Images

Bret Edge — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:50:56 PDT

Autumn Palette, Utah, by Bret Edge.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what steps I’ve taken over the last 11 years to become the world’s most reknowned landscape and adventure photographer. Clearly, I’ve also been daydreaming quite a bit. Seriously though, here are a five things I’ve done that have contributed to making me a better photographer.

1) Be Studious

I’ve looked at a whole bunch of photos. Thousands of them. And I don’t just look at them. I study them. I pick them apart and try to figure out what makes one photo stupendous while another one just sucks. How many times have you seen a photo of Half Dome, Delicate Arch or the Tetons from Snake River Overlook? Of all the images you’ve seen from these iconic locations which ones stand out and why? Was it the light or some nuance of the composition? Next time you’re sitting at home with nothing to do, scoot on down to the local bookstore. Grab a few coffee table photo books by your favorite photographers, sink into one of their comfy chairs and analyze a few of your favorite photos. Do this often enough and you’ll soon find yourself making the same analyses as you compose images in the field.

2) Photograph Often

Spend as much time as you can in the field. In 2000, just over a year after getting serious about photography, I had the opportunity to spend 5 weeks on the road.

Tim Grey posts 10 Videos on CS6–for free

Chris Klapheke — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:02:41 PDT

OPG friend and instructor extraordinaire has posted tutorial videos on his top ten features of the new Photoshop CS6 beta. Tim describes the new features in each video and he teaches us how to use them. Here’s a look at the videos: #10: Paragraph and Character Styles (04:57)#9: Panel Updates (01:42)#8: Auto Brightness/Contrast (01:32)#7: Auto Curves and [...]

Tips For Photographing Waterfalls

Juan Pons — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:22:11 PDT

Our pal and frequent contributor Juan Pons brings us tips on photographing waterfalls this spring. Juan has a wonderful workshop on photographing waterfalls in North Carolina. Get more info on this killer workshop here, and get $50 off the workshop price if you mention OPG when you sign up!

Finding Fox Dens

Steve Gettle — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:14:16 PDT

A late winter wildlife project that I like to do is to try and locate fox dens, which I can return to and photograph after the pups are born. This time of year the female fox is in a maternal state of mind. During the course of her daily travels she will often visit her [...]

Developing in Lightroom 4

Jerry Monkman — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:36:26 PDT

If you follow photography at all on-line, you probably have noticed that Adobe released Lightroom 4. Surprisingly, they’ve lowered the price dramatically from when Lightroom 3 was originally introduced (from $279.00 to $149.00!) The upgrade price is down to $79.00 from $99.00. (By the way, if you’re a member of the North American Nature Photography [...]

A long exposure night in Chicago

John Batdorff — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:17:17 PDT

This past weekend’s warm weather made for some great night photography. I’ve lived in Chicago for nearly 15 years (on/off) and it’s a very rare evening that you can see the stars, given all the light pollution, but this past weekend was spectacular.

I decided to focus on taking a few long exposures to capture the energy and beauty of the city. The great thing about a long exposure is there’s very little that can go wrong once you have the setup nailed. The key of course is having a sturdy tripod, cable release, and lot of patience. There’s a lot of math that you can do to help achieve the right exposure, but I’m a simple kind of guy (that means math dumb) so I prefer to set my camera on B (bulb exposure), select a higher f-stop and start taking test shots. I usually start at around a minute and work my exposure time up or down depending on available light.

City of Lights

City of Lights (ISO 100, 268 secs, f/16, 20mm focal range on Canon 16-35) — This image took a significant amount of time to expose properly, tipping the scales at nearly 5 minutes. Now, I could have stopped the exposure at around 3 minutes, but I wanted an image that almost appeared overexposed, because it’s much easier to add black back into an image like this versus bumping up the lights (highlights). Later I finished this image off in Color Efex Pro 4 using several filters to bring my vision into focus. In terms of composition, I decided to leave the airplane lights in the image because I felt it added to the overall “big city” feel and energy.

UX For #togs – Your Site Is For Your Customers, Not You

Theodore Stark — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:34:59 PDT

Hello there OPG folks! This article is the first in a series called UX for #togs. What is UX? Well, it stands for User Experience. UX focuses on research and the design of easy to use software (or websites). Aside from my photography, I also work as a User Experience Engineer. My [...]

River Docks, Hudson River in Lightroom 4

Robert Rodriguez Jr. — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:17:20 PDT

River Docks, Hudson River Canon 1DS Mk III, 24mm, 25sec @ f/11, ISO 100 I processed this image entirely in Lightroom 4, and I’m really loving the new tonal controls and soft-proffing. I’m working on a video tutorial of my workflow, and some of the features I like best about this new version. If you use Lightroom, [...]

Fotobug Everglades Podcast Video

Jim Caldwell — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:01:01 PST

Follow Jim Caldwell and Fred Rogers as they make a two day dash through the Everglades, with Chris from OPG tagging along! You won’t want to miss the footage Jim took from his remote control quad copter. Jim is leading a workshop to Costa Rica this May for an unbeatable price! Check out the details here: [...]