Pro Techniques

Comprised of almost 390,000 square miles (slightly bigger than France and Germany put together), Patagonia is located in the southernmost third of both Argentina and Chile. Here the Andes Mountains plunge into the Pacific Ocean, leaving a trail of glaciated valleys, rugged granite peaks, ancient glaciers, jade green lakes, and endless plains. This stark and surreal landscape is also rich in...

SBA means “Shake Begins At”—the level at which camera movement makes your images lose the sharpness battle.

The who, what, when, and where of the story are easy.

Commercial and advertising photographer Charles Orrico was commissioned about two years ago by an ad agency to photograph at the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Kings Park, New York, on behalf of a holding company that planned to develop the site. Building 93, the main structure in the complex, was of special...

The Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Southwest Florida has been left virtually untouched by man, except for the construction of one of the world’s most beautiful boardwalks that wanders through the heart of this ancient bald cypress swamp. In July 2007, the discovery of a ghost orchid at Corkscrew was very big news. Ghost orchids are rare; it’s estimated there are only 1000...

Whenever you place a call to tech support—for any reason—take notes. Get names and of course dates and jot down a summary of all conversations. Nine times out of 10, when a customer complains about the behavior of a tech support agent, the conversation begins “I don’t know who I was talking to but…”

When you’re on hold and hear: “Your call...

“Understanding the genres, history, and style of the music is a huge part of my success,” John Scarpati observes. “I work very closely with the bands and artists to make sure the cover art reflects what they want to say.” Scarpati (www.scarpati.com), as he prefers to be called (“when someone yells Scarpati on set...

It’s common to see blinking buttons and scrolling banners and other animated graphics on websites that look pretty much the same as those on every other website. I want to show you how you can do something different with animation: blur an image, then use animation to grab your viewer’s attention by bringing the blurred photo back into focus.

I’ll be using Ulead...