Colorado will just not transition into spring. Right now we have a full on blizzard outside the office window, 12 inches of snow and still falling heavy. But I always look at bad weather as good weather when it comes to photography. Unique images are often created in unusual weather. We teach a lot of Read More
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Nikon Creator’s Hour
With so many of us at home and looking for things to do, companies are taking notice. Nikon first offered their online classes for free this month, and now they are live-streaming events. The creator’s hour will highlight a Nikon ambassador discussing their work online. Folks like Joe McNally, Dave Black and Ami Vitale are Read More
Macro indoors; Oil and Water
We woke this morning to 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground outside, so we had to hold off on more macro flower photography in our yard. But that is not to say you can’t keep shooting some macro images, just move indoors. And one of the easiest, and most interesting, macro subjects indoors Read More
Replace white sky using Lightroom
Earlier this year we were in Texas photographing birds from blinds on a workshop…you can see the trip report here. One day we had overcast skies, and the question came up can you replace gray skies using Lightroom. The short answer is yes. I know some photographers are cringing at the though of swapping out Read More
Lightroom; Snapshots versus Virtual Copies
One of the advantages of developing images in Lightroom is the ability to quickly and easily monitor your develop steps. Many of us are familiar with the History palette in the Develop module of LR. Just look on the right side and you can see all your develop steps. If you want to go back Read More
Sparkling macro backgrounds
As we are all watching the flowers come up this spring, hopefully some of this time at home can be spent on macro photography. Cree and I have daily macro sessions in our yard, and each day new flowers seems to appear. This is a great time to try focus stacking, selective focus and Read More
Lightroom; Keywords or Collections?
I got a question after my workflow blog post about keyboarding. Or better put, do you ever add keywords? Adding keywords does take a little more time. You have to type in or use a preset of keywords at some point in your workflow. Depending on how specific you get, this could take an extra Read More
Nikon Online Classes free now
If you are like me right now, you are spending a lot of time at home. I’ve been watching some great online photo content, everything from gear reviews to destination guides. Nikon just announced that during the month of April their online classes will be free. Go to this link and start watching today. Many online Read More
Singh-Ray Filters on sale
I use Singh-Ray Filters constantly in my photography. From polarizers to solid ND filters to graduated ND filters, they are in my bag when I go out the door. My favorite filters are the LB Color Combo polarizer, a 10 stop Mor-Slo ND filter and a 2 stop hard edge graduated ND (100x150mm size). Check Read More
Focus stacking for landscapes
Focus stacking (Nikon calls it focus shift) is very popular for macro shots…you can see my earlier post here. If you want to increase your depth of field on macro subjects, this technique does a fantastic job. More and more cameras are now offering this function in their shooting menus. But what about using focus Read More
My fastest workflow
In my last post I talked about a sample workflow using Lightroom. The advantage is you only use one program, from download to culling to developing to database storage. For most photographers, this system works great and you may not want more speed. But what if you do want more speed? Wouldn’t it be great Read More
My workflow in five steps
Workflow is important for every photographer. Designing an efficient system to download, cull, develop and backup images is central to all digital photographers. Everyone’s workflow will be different depending on their situation. As long as it works for you, then that is what matters. Often we can improve our workflow by learning quicker ways to Read More