It has been a very exciting week in the world of photography as writers and photographers have been posting great content online for photography enthusiasts with every type of interest.
This weeks list of carefully selected links includes a variety of tutorials, special features and great photography all hand-picked by the Toad at Toad Hollow Photography.
We really hope you enjoy perusing this weeks list as much as the Toad did in bringing it to you.
TUTORIALS
Bite Size Tips: How to Clean Your Lens – there is definitely a right way to clean your lenses as they have coatings on them that are sensitive to chemicals and other foreign matter. Check out this short article posted right here on Light Stalking that shows you how to care for your investment in your glass so you can enjoy creating great pictures for years to come.
Wireless Flash – off-camera flash is one of the most powerful ways you can control lighting in photography, and for many who are looking to dive into this aspect of photography can feel a bit daunted by the myriad choices available. This article goes into some pretty good detail about this topic, giving you a great jumping-off point to explore this exciting avenue of photography on your own.
Ten Helpful Tips for Posing Women – this is a great, short video that talks about several very helpful tips for posing women for photography. As with many things in life, little details make all the difference, and this topic is no different.
How to Color Correct with One Click in Photoshop – this video shows us how to color correct very easily in Photoshop using a simple technique that is easy to remember. We see several different ways of going about the same thing as well, allowing you to incorporate the concept into your workflow with minimal complexity.
Creating Impactful Black and White Imagery for Instagram – compelling black-and-white photos targeting Instagram may seem like a simple look to achieve, but as always the truth of that lies in the nuances. This short video presentation takes you through the steps of creating a great looking monochromatic image for social media.
Panning For Beginners: Learning the Importance of a Master Technique – panning is a great technique that can express a strong sense of motion while keeping the main subject of the shot in clear focus. This primer article talks about how to get started and also includes some great sample shots.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Lazy Summer Afternoon – as spring gives way to summer here on Vancouver Island, we begin to take our camera to the air once more with our aerial drone photography practice. We have successfully renewed our license with Transport Canada for another year and are enjoying the incredible views our camera can enjoy from an elevated perspective. This latest feature post from Toad Hollow Photography shares a selection of shots we took at Maple Bay near our home and includes a short video presentation showing you the 4k video quality of the new DJI Mavic Air.
Grizzly Bear Photography in Khutzeymateen British Columbia – Part 1 | Part 2 – the majestic and beautiful Grizzly Bear is an often maligned creature that has a reputation for being rather scary, and yes they do deserve the ultimate respect. Yet, with that being said, for those who get to witness them in their natural habitat these trips are once-in-a-lifetime experiences that leave you changed forever. Check out this pair of amazing posts from Anne McKinnell who takes us along as she explores this amazing part of the west coast of Canada and comes away with some absolutely breathtaking images of these glorious bears being bears.
How This Photographer Is Capturing Iceland in a Way You Wouldn't Expect – the far northern parts of the world are on many photographers must-visit list, mine included. The sweeping and dramatic landscapes almost seem to emerge from the earth, sourced from planets that sweep their way through the universe far away from our home here. This special feature is published on Time’s website, one of the most well-known publications in the world, and shows us the incredible and sometimes unreal beauty of this region through the eyes of a photographer.
Car Photography: Photographing the new Volvo S60 – great car photography can be quite compelling, finding harmony in the marriage of light, shape and form in the embodiment of a vehicle. This article shares shots captured for Volvo for marketing purposes, and all the shots share a common style and compositional approach that makes for a great feature to see and enjoy.
This Photographer Climbed 300-Foot Radio Masts to Capture Africa – some people go to great heights, literally, to capture great shots. This special feature showcases one photographer in Africa who is doing so and creating very unique images of his country that are standing out.
11 outstanding images from a new show celebrating the incredible heights that landscape photography can reach – the world is a huge place with natural features in all corners of the globe that are worthy of consideration for landscape photography. This post showcases a set of great landscape themed shots that are a little out of the norm from what we typically see on a daily basis.
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Into the Canyon – fine art emerges from the dramatic landscapes found in Iceland in this breathtaking shot captured and shared by Iurie Belegurschi. In this shot, we find our eye following a deep canyon that is flanked by beautiful waterfalls that flow into the dramatic cutout created by millennia upon millennia of erosion.
Haunting images of life on the St. Lawrence River in Canada – the St. Lawrence River in eastern Canada is both a geographical landmark as well as a historically important place that has been an anchor of transport and a food source for those who live nearby for countless years. This set of black-and-white photos reveals a highly contrasted look at life on the river with a series of monochromatic shots that are poignant in their grainy film look.
Drama in Hamnoy – blue tones dominate this frame that reveals a cold landscape emerging from icy waters in the heart of winter in this shot from Daniel Fleischhacker. Snow covered outcroppings reveal details of life as you spend time visually exploring the picture to see all the great facets that are captured.
Blair Bridge NH – covered bridges in the United States are truly a thing all their own, creating glimpses of character against the beautiful backdrops of the region they inhabit. This post features a set of photographs from Michael Criswell that explores the architectural beauty of one of these wooden bridges.
The road to the top is never straight – warm tones of light cover the rocky landscape as a ribbon of highway cuts through it all, creating a perfect leading line. This shot from Mindz.eye is a great example of how lines can draw a viewer into a picture, and in this case, the composition is finished off with a terrific vanishing point in the distance.
Smell – prepare to have your heart melted as you see a pair of Cheetah cubs smelling a flower together as they explore the world they have found themselves in. This wonderful photograph is posted on Your Shot on the National Geographic website by majed al zaabi, and is a really cute shot you will not want to miss in this week’s list.
Close Up – snow covers the ground as a locomotive pushes through the white landscape throwing a thick screen of smoke around it to create a great ethereal feel. Alexander Riek also takes advantage of the red accents of the locomotive to add a touch of color to an otherwise monochromatic image.
At the altar – Frank King takes us inside an incredibly beautiful cathedral in Quebec, Canada, where the architectural wonder and opulence of the place comes to life on our screens. The cathedral was built in the early 1900’s and represents a wonderful historic location to visit and see in person.
Blizzard – thick snow creates a natural light diffuser as a lone person makes their way across a bridge in this winter scene from Kai Ziehl. The bridge creates a perfect frame for the image and the pedestrian, leading you right into the picture where rich artistic tension leaves us yearning for more.
Hallstatt – this often photographed community in Austria seems to take on a unique character with each composition and interpretation I have seen over the years. This photograph comes to us from Ole Steffensen during the seasons when lush greens dominate the scene as the tiny hamlet sits under the watchful eye of the incredible mountains that surround it.
Those awesome red phone booths – Jim Nix captures one of those great red phone booths we’ve all seen in photographs and movies over the years from England. Jim’s shot was captured in the dark of night at the tail end of sunset, making the red phone booth pop from its surroundings.
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres (intérieur et Crypte) – Mathias Lucas showcased the outside of this amazing historic cathedral in a link we shared in one of our weekly lists previously, and today we get taken inside where many of the details that make this place so special come to life for us all. Mathias does it once again as he captures all the wonderful vignettes of the place with his terrific style, making us all feel like we’ve been there with him.
The ARC – this is a complex image to shoot and create in post-production, featuring a large cityscape lying below as we look down from a 63rd story perch. Dany Eid uses a masterful technique to pull it all together in a multi-frame stitched vertorama, delivering a shot that is a great representation of his unique style.
Stanley Park View – Len Saltiel shares an awesome shot of the Vancouver city skyline from his vantage in Stanley Park, voted the “top park in the entire world” by TripAdvisor in In 2014. Len does a stellar job of capturing the essence of this community on the west coast of Canada, showing why it’s such a great destination for those who both live here and those who choose to visit.
The stare… – Arno van Zon captures a tight and intense portrait of a raptor in flight, showcasing the natural beauty of these amazing birds in their natural habitat. This shot features a very shallow depth-of-focus, helping the terrific details in the bird’s face and features really pop right out of the image.
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music til you die! – I seem to never tire of the terrific artistic tension that is found in abandoned places, especially rooms that have piano’s left in them. Urban Vagabond shares a great urbex themed shot of one such room presumably found in Europe somewhere that has a terrific black piano left in the middle of a room that has not enjoyed the sound of music for quite some time.
The Lighthouse – warm tones linger over a craggy shore as a long exposure turns the waves into a silky smooth surface to accent the lighthouse in this stunning image from Ricardo Mateus. This shot shows the best effects that can be captured using a long exposure, with a dynamic sea and sky highlighting the sharp details in the structure and rocks.
