Photo How To

Not everyone has an opportunity to go on safari to photograph rare and wild animals, but most of us have a zoo nearby which is often the next best thing. The problem is that most images shot at the zoo look like were shot at the zoo.

The practice of dodging and burning to manipulate exposure in different areas of an image dates back to the early days of film photography and the wet darkroom. Today we do the same thing in the digital darkroom to add drama and depth to our photos.

Photoshop has a number of tools for accomplishing similar tasks, and sometime the approach you take is a matter of personal preference. Other times, however, like in the case of Flow, Fill and Opacity, tools may appear to control the same variables but the differences are worth noting.

There are a number of ways to portray sunset scenes, from images with a natural-looking effect to those that are more vibrant and intense. You can sometimes achieve the look you’re after in the camera, but other times a bit of processing is required.

By now you probably know that the current trend in camera technology is strongly in favor of mirrorless models. In fact, apart from Pentax, all manufacturers are avoiding new DSLR models while continually upgrading their lineup of mirrorless cameras and lenses.

Spring is long gone, and summer ended almost a month ago, but that doesn’t mean the time for capturing great macro images is over. There are many opportunities to pursue close-up photography year-round.

We all fall into a creative rut on occasion, and that’s often because we take the same approach to whatever we shoot. For portraits we typically reach for a short telephoto, and a wide-angle lens is usually our choice for landscape photography.