Photographing Architecture Without Special Equipment

Three techniques for making great shots of structures while traveling or any time you find yourself without specialized equipment on hand

William Sawalich

From simple tripods to more specialized perspective control lenses, there’s lots of equipment that’s standard for photographing architecture. So, what do you do if you don’t have access to these special pieces of equipment—while traveling, for instance? Here are a few useful techniques when you find yourself photographing architecture without... Read more

Balanced Illumination

Two ways to balance ambient light with fill flash for beautiful portraits

By William Sawalich

Low-light flash photography can be frustrating, especially when you’re new to it. Balancing ambience nicely with flash seems like the mark of a masterful photographer, but it’s actually fairly easy once you know the basics. The trick to balancing ambient light with your flash is to think of these two types of light as two separate exposures that... Read more

Find A Favorite Selection Tool That’s Hidden From Photoshop’s Menus

Frustrated by Select and Mask? This simple tip lets you access the Refine Edge tool that’s still hiding there in Photoshop.

By William Sawalich

If you want to cut a subject out of a background, there’s no better way than with Photoshop, of course. And within Photoshop, the Select and Mask tool is the obvious choice for making a highly detailed selection around fine image elements such as hair. But the Select and Mask tool is, well, not as great as it should be. And frankly, in my opinion,... Read more

Getting Hands On With Detailed Metadata

Digging into EXIF data can be very helpful for sorting and organizing images, as well as for finding out facts about your cameras. Here are three ways to easily access and view that metadata.

By William Sawalich

Every digital camera records all sorts of information about each exposure in text-based data that’s embedded into each image file. This EXIF metadata includes everything from the exposure settings (such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance) to the camera details (make and model, number of shutter actuations, whether or not a flash was... Read more

Creative Portrait Lighting

12 time-proven lighting techniques for making pro-quality portraits

Text & Photography By Rick Sammon

Anyone can “take” a portrait. “Making” a portrait—which involves working closely with the subject, seeing the light and controlling the light—is a different story. In this article, I’ll share with you some of my favorite portraits along with 12 time-proven portrait techniques. Let’s go! 1. Balance The Light I took the photograph that... Read more

Magic Hour Lighting Variations

Not all sunsets are equal! Understand the nuances of sunset, dusk and twilight to determine the ideal time for your photo.

William Sawalich

Everybody knows magic hour lighting makes for beautiful pictures because the color is warm, full of glowing gold and pink tones, and the angle of the light produces more interesting illumination with shadows that show shape and build drama. Or, after the sun dips below the horizon, it produces a beautiful softbox of diffuse illumination across the sky.... Read more

Make Lightroom Library Filters Permanent

How to make your preferred filter settings sticky to see exactly the images you want by default

William Sawalich

One of the most powerful capabilities in Lightroom’s Library module is its ability to show you the images you want to see and only those images you want to see. Used in combination with ratings and flags, you can create filter presets to winnow down your project gallery quickly to show you all four-star rated images, for instance, or only those images... Read more

Noise Reduction Tools In Lightroom, Photoshop And Beyond

High ISOs are cleaner than ever, but they still create noise. Deal with that noise by using a software fix in post.

William Sawalich

With high ISOs come increased noise. And even though that noise is much less pronounced in current cameras than in the earlier days of the digital revolution, increased noise still correlates with increased ISO. And while ISO 6400 is very easily usable, under close inspection you’ll still see noise. So why not learn to minimize this noise and make... Read more

Five Tips For Better Low-Light Photos

It’s never been easier to make great photos without great light. Here’s how.

William Sawalich

Halloween is almost here, and lots of folks will be taking pictures after the sun goes down. But how many of them will succeed at making great photos after dark? Use these five tips to take better pictures in low light, both indoors and out. 1. Use the Maximum Aperture Opening up to the widest available aperture—denoted by the smallest f/number—allows... Read more

Optimize Lightroom’s Performance

Make Lightroom work as fast as possible with these settings and suggestions

William Sawalich

Lightroom works fast out of the box. But if your computer isn’t up to par and the application isn’t configured correctly, you might find the software isn’t performing as efficiently as it should be. When it comes to optimizing Lightroom’s performance, it comes down to ensuring your hardware is top-notch and that the computer and application... Read more

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