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Whether you’re a novice or an experienced shooter, precise composition skills are important for virtually all types of photographs. But when shooting complicated outdoor scenes, proper framing techniques are absolutely essential.

Set to take place June 1 through August 31, 2005, the Turks and Caicos underwater
photographic competition will give scuba divers, free-divers and snorkelers
the chance to win exciting prizes based on their underwater photographic skills,
according to Lindsey Musgrove, director of tourism for the Turks and Caicos
Tourist Board.



"The waters off the coast of Turks and Caicos are some of the most undiscovered
in the Caribbean, and perfect for underwater adventurers and photographers of
all skill levels," said Musgrove. "We are home to one of the largest
coral reef systems in the world, creating an aquatic ecosystem full of eagle
rays, black coral, sea turtles, reef and nurse sharks, grouper and barracuda."




With over 40 islands to discover, the Turks and Caicos has a variety of unique
dive sites. Providenciales features fabulous coral gardens and sand ribbons.
Grand Turk and Salt Cay feature distinctive wall diving, an incredible fish
population, and countless manta rays in the summer. With a starfish-scattered
white sand bottom, West Caicos is best known for its famous sponge formations.
During the months of July and August, French Cay is frequented by mating nurse
sharks, between December and March hundreds of migrating humpback whales call
the waters of the Turks and Caicos home.



The competition will award prizes in two categories: Amateur and Professional
Photographers. Individuals participating in the competition can submit their
entries to any participating dive shop or the Tourist Board offices. All entries
will be evaluated by an expert team of judges and must be received by August
31. Participants are encouraged to submit entries prior to departing the Islands
to ensure authenticity.



To receive more information on travel or learn more about diving and photography
in the Turks and Caicos Islands, visit the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist
Board Web site at www.turksandcaicostourism.com
or call 1-800-241-0824.
...

The Swiss photographer known as “Yuri Fineart” specializes in shooting landscapes and he offers weekly tutorials on using Lightroom to improve all types of images. In the video below, he demonstrates a few simple techniques for turning a “bad” Raw file into a really nice image.

Are you unhappy with the photos you shoot in b&w, or convert to monochrome from color files? If so, don’t feel too bad because this is a common occurrence among those who typically view the world in color and capture their images accordingly.

We're always looking for unique post-processing techniques that transform mediocre images into money shots with an eye-catching and totally unexpected effect. This Photoshop tutorial begins with a concise question that gives the technique away: "Do you want to transform a bright, sunny day into a dramatic night scene?"

What if you want a sunset image of a particular scene, but the sky is overcast or you’re not in the right place at the right time? The answer is simple: Watch this eight-minute tutorial and do it in Photoshop.

While we don’t have any data to back up our intuition, we’d guess that sunrise scenes are among the post popular images captured by outdoor photographers. And while many of your shots may look pretty good straight out of the camera, there are a few simple editing tricks for making them look great.