Outdoor Photography How To

[Column Note: Most people come to professional photography by traveling a familiar route: from an early fascination with cameras, to photo classes and courses, followed by assisting a pro to gain some real-world experience. Then comes striking out on one's own as photographer, which, if all goes well, is followed by the frequent printing of invoices. Others, however, arrive at a pro career sideways—that is, coming at it from another occupation. The stories these "second career" pro photographers tell tend to be quite interesting, even inspirational. And those stories are what this new online column, titled Going Pro, is all about.]

While this image by 18-year-old photographer Dylan Meffan might look beautifully tranquil, capturing it was a bit of a nerve-wracking experience for him. The reason? The dog.

In these days of HDR, Lightroom, and Photoshop, is there still any point in carrying around Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters? Often at photographic overlooks I hear photographers banging away with their cameras, shooting multiple exposures for future HDR images, while I nail the same scene in a single shot. More than once I have had one of these photographers scoff at me for using my “old school” GND filter, asking, “Ever heard of HDR?” While I am a firm believer in using all the tools available to me, including HDR, I feel that HDR is either unnecessary or won’t work in situations where multiple images are not possible, such as an action shot.

Summer is a good time to get outdoors and shoot macro photographs of insects, flowers and other tiny critters. And best yet, you rarely have to venture beyond your backyard to find a variety of interesting subjects.

One reason tutorials from photographer Vincent Ledvina are so fascinating, is that he uses his animation skills to make camera settings and shooting techniques understandable—usually in two minutes or less. In his new video below, the Minnesota-based photo instructor explains how to make enchanting photographs of the moon.

Photographers are known for chasing the latest and greatest gear, despite the adage that, “It’s the photographer—not the camera—that creates the image.” I’ll admit to owning a couple “state-of-the art” digital cameras myself. But my photo cabinet also includes a few “obsolete” models dating back to 2009.