Backyard Birding With A Super-Telephoto Zoom

See birds in a whole new light. Try a long zoom lens to get up close and personal with the your local feathered friends.

William Sawalich

I don’t know much about birds, but I know lots of them inhabit my yard. I hear a woodpecker on occasion, and I can identify a blue jay and a cardinal when I see them, but that’s about the limit of my avian expertise. So, when I rented a super-telephoto zoom lens to get a better glimpse of the birds in my backyard, I was amazed by the world of detail... Read more

Sports Photography

Hit a home run on your next sports shoot when you shoot with passion—and with these tips

Text & Photography By Sol Neelman

I’m a big fan of photographing what you care about. The experience will be better and the imagery usually stronger because you’re invested emotionally into what’s happening. It doesn’t matter if it’s landscapes or food or documentary projects or your family pup. Make photos of what you love. My love happens to be sports. While this article... Read more

Crop To Open Images As Same-Sized Layers

Automatically open multiple images in a single Photoshop file while keeping each layer the same size

William Sawalich

One of my favorite shortcuts when working with images in Lightroom that I want to open in Photoshop is the “Open as Layers in Photoshop” option in Lightroom. With it, you can select as many images as you’d like and then, in much the same way as you can right-click and choose “Edit in Adobe Photoshop” from the popup menu’s “Edit In” heading,... Read more

Creating Unique Portraits

These unusual portrait-taking techniques will help you unlock your creative potential and capture images in a new light

Text & Photography By Tom Bol

No matter what type of photography you like, at one point or another, you’ll find yourself shooting a portrait. I know landscape photographers who swore they would never shoot a portrait in their career, and one week later they were shooting a portrait. Weddings, graduations, holidays or even a day at the zoo all present great opportunities to photograph... Read more

Fixing Moiré In Lightroom

A simple and straightforward fix for unappetizing interference patterns known as moiré

William Sawalich

As someone who photographs a lot of corporate portraits, I’ve seen my fair share of business suits. And one of the most common things you’ll find in these suits is very fine patterns and woven textures—the kind of thing that’s perfectly suited to causing moiré. (These patterns can be found in all types of clothing, however, and other surfaces... Read more

Landscape Photography

With these techniques and gear, you’ll be able to capture anything, from a local park to a majestic mountain range, just like the pros

Text & Photography By Brian Matiash

Can you imagine all of the jaw-dropping photos you’ve seen in magazines and online of this planet? Think about it for a minute. The diversity in ecology and landscape that our planet offers is so magnificent and varied, it’s stupefying. And how lucky are we as photographers to have opportunities in travel and technology—unlike any time in history—to... Read more

Look Up To Portrait Subjects

Create a hero angle by getting low when shooting portraits

William Sawalich

I’ve been studying the work of master portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz lately and something finally caught my eye. Not about her pictures, which are consistently great for going on five decades now, but about her process. No, it’s not about how she typically uses a single light source balanced with the ambient light. And no, it’s not about... Read more

It’s The Little Things That Matter Most

Macro photography can open up a whole world that’s hiding right in front of you

David Schloss

My introduction to “real” macro photography came more than a decade ago when I was reviewing the Canon MP-E 65mm F/2.8 1-5x Macro lens and Canon’s macro strobe setup. I had shot macro before, but this was my first time shooting with a lens that captured images greater than life-size, and it was a mesmerizing experience. I remember buying flowers... Read more

DIY Studio: Build a Faux Brick Background

Make your suburban garage look like a downtown loft with a whitewashed faux brick wall

William Sawalich

I have a big, empty wall adjacent to my shooting space that is ripe for transformation into something more usable for photography. This wall typically collects clutter; lights and stands end up leaning there, as do tables and chairs and really anything that needs an out of the way home for a little while. In an effort to turn the fairly plain space... Read more

Travel Photography

Capturing the journey and the destination with these pro tips and techniques

Brian Matiash

When traveling, I’m always looking to capture moments that normally get overlooked, like an elderly man taking in the setting sun in Essaouria, Morocco. I’ve long battled with myself over how to accurately define the genre of travel photography. Is it about taking photos of the vehicle you’re using to get from where you currently are to where... Read more

Use Color Fill For Mood Modifications

From vibrant to subtle, toning an image with color is a great way to impact the feel of a shot

William Sawalich

I regularly add a subtle color overlay to my images in order to help influence the mood of the finished photo. For a portrait in which I want to convey a sense of warmth and comfort, for instance, I’ll use a warm color like yellow, red or orange, applied ever so lightly. I like to use an adjustment layer in Photoshop in order to add this hint of color... Read more

Customize Photoshop’s Info Panel

Fine-tuning the information displayed by Photoshop’s Info Panel puts all sorts of useful data at your fingertips

William Sawalich

One of the many windows you can have open in your Photoshop workspace is the Info Panel. By default, this window shows you RGB and CMYK color values of pixels as you mouse over them, along with the mouse coordinates on X and Y axes and width and height measurements of any selections or transformations. This information can be very useful, but it’s... Read more

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