Outdoor Photography How To

Blue hour, that magical time just before sunrise or sunset, is usually a great time to shoot. With the sun just below the horizon, beautiful blue tones bathe the landscape and create a dreamy soft glow.

There’s so much to learn about landscape photography that the path toward success can be a long and arduous one. In fact, even accomplished pros say the quest for improvement is never ending.

Summer means stormy weather, with threatening thunderstorms that offer great opportunities for dramatic landscape imagery—especially when lightning is involved. The challenge to coming up with dramatic photographs is dealing with the complex lighting conditions that electrical storms present.

This is a great time of year to make macro magic, as there are flowers, insects, and other small creatures just about everywhere you look. All you really need is a close-focusing lens and the following tips from Swedish pro Micael Widell.

Every so often we come upon a simple-and-effective processing technique that will make a big difference in outdoor photographs. And that’s exactly what you’ll find in the seven-minute tutorial below.

Rebirth and renewal, new beginnings and love. What is it about spring that brings out our inner romantic, and what does it do to our photography? This is what we asked you to show us when we announced Shutterbug’s Spring “Time of the Season” photography contest back in May. And you delivered in spades!

When one of our favorite nature photographers says he “had a bit of a light bulb moment” this week while judging the World Landscape Photographer competition, examining over 6,500 images, we stop and listen. And you should too, because in the video below he shares a few ideas on composition that will greatly improve your outdoor photography.