Another terrific week in the world of photography has flown by us all, and here we find Toad Hollow Photography has been looking in every corner of the internet for photography links to share for tutorials, special features and great photography.
As always, we find a wide variety of different topics and themes covered in both the images and the articles listed with something here for everyone to enjoy. We truly hope you savor this list like a fine cup of coffee as much as the Toad did in bringing these links to you.
Tutorials for Photographers
4 Important Post-Processing Steps That Are Often Overlooked – this tutorial is published right here on Light Stalking, and discusses 4 key steps that should be considered in your post-production workflow to get the most out of your images. These processes are often overlooked by many, and if you truly want your work to stand out it’s these fine details in the post-production realm that are so critical.
Light is KING! 10 Tips on Handling Light in Street and Urban Photography – taking advantage of the available light in a setting is a core talent that helps to bring photographs to life, particularly those captured candidly out in the world. This incredibly insightful list of 10 tips and tricks will help you to see this light better as you explore your surroundings, and also includes an amazing set of sample shots to highlight the effect this light has on the final piece.
Lightroom Mobile's Amazing Raw Editing Workflow from Start to Finish – check out this terrific 30 minute video presentation that covers the powerful tools made available on the Adobe Lightroom Mobile platform. This is most certainly a new way of doing things, and this tutorial covers some of the key features you can leverage in your own workflow.
5 Off-Camera Lighting Techniques for Wedding Photography – shooting a wedding can be very stressful unless you’ve got a concise plan in place for the shots you want to capture, and the equipment and techniques you will use to capture them. This great article discusses the importance of off-camera lighting in this regard, and includes some terrific sample shots to give you ideas of what to expect, allowing you to be totally prepared.
Lighting Basics: How to Shoot Portraits With a Softbox – this article is a great primer on the application of a softbox while shooting portraits. You will see how and where to use a softbox to achieve the best results, and again here we find terrific example shots that illustrate the concept be covered in the post.
How I Photographed a Model with Fire and Water – everyone likes fire, right? In this post we take a behind-the-scenes look at an amazing conceptual shoot that required creative planning, a remote creek and a truck-load of gear to complete. The result is terrific, a moody and eerie shot that features a model in a creek surrounded by a backdrop on fire, and we get to learn a lot about how it was accomplished.
104 Photo Editing Tools You Should Know About – this week's list contains a link to a very helpful list, one that will have you editing your photos in new and exciting ways due to the rather complete nature of the list. This compendium includes links to all sorts of tools that can help in post-production, with something here for everyone.
Special Photography Features
‘Faceless, Forgotten,' A Photo Essay On The Refugee Crisis by Photographer and Storyteller Paul Choy – join photographer Paul Choy as he shares his profound work in the field of capturing the stories of refugees from many different places in the world. This special feature includes a powerful set of photographs framed around a 30 minute video presentation that will turn the masses of refugees into individuals with their own struggles and story, and will leave you forever changed. This is the power of great photography.
A Historic View On The Square Photography Format – we’ve all wondered at some point about the history behind the various formats we have seen over the years in the field of photography. This very interesting article covers this topic by discussing the history of the inherent aspect ration, and includes some terrific shots that show you how this works in the fine art sphere.
Shaping Your Photos With Lighting – if you have ever wondered about what goes into a shoot that involves intricate costumes, great makeup, a stunning location and incredibly planned out light sculpting, you will definitely want to check this post out. Over the course of two highly planned days, this session came together exactly as planned, and here we get to see some of the shots from the shoot along with a short behind-the-scenes video.
Great Photography Links
Light and Shadow Play – if ever you have wondered about what makes the west coast of Canada so special, look no further than this wonderful post from Laurie MacBride. Laurie explores a very dramatic part of the coast through her lens, showing off the epic and majestic beauty of the mountains, the forests, waterfalls and ocean scenes that can only be found in this part of the world.
Hidden Village – follow a gentle ribbon of road as it leads you into this landscape shot where a church sits on the bluff overlooking a small village in the valley far below. İlhan Eroglu’s shot also features beautiful light coming down from a warmly toned sun as it peeks through a soft cloud layer that adds great drama to the scene.
Debod – this dramatic black-and-white image by O. R.G. uses a wide angle lens to take advantage of the setting where a stone series of features sit in a row, creating a leading line and a vanishing point at the same time. The application of monochromatic tones to the post-production of this shot delivers a strong sense of drama, as does the low perspective used in the composition.
Reflections of Maassluis – the power of good composites graces our screen in this great image that was created through the merging of two different pictures. In this image by Herman van den Berge, we enjoy the warm tones of a golden sky overhead as the incredible architecture of the community below sits alongside a canal which creates terrific reflections.
Mesa Arch Revisited – the incredible natural features of this locale are often captured in vibrant color, taking advantage of a low sun as beams of light play off the edges of the arch and create a sense of joy in the viewer. In this shot by Bob Lussier, he focuses our attention on the raw drama of the setting by creating his image as a black-and-white, delivering a vista that appears somewhat otherworldly.
Fire in the Hole – as I understand it, this phenomenon only occurs for a few weeks a year during winter solstice at Keyhole Arch on Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, California. During this time, the sunset streams through a naturally occurring rock formation, streaming beautiful warm tones into the scene that seem almost magical. This rendition of the occurrence comes to us from Daniel F.
Moultons View – Michael Criswell brings us along as he shares a landscape shot from near the southeast corner of Grand Teton National Park where early pioneers set up farms that became part of the historic vernacular over the course of the years. The beautiful Teton Mountains stand ruggedly in the distance, creating a sense of wonder and drama for the viewer.
~ Hello (from)Dubai ~ – David Gomes creates a striking image that finds a dominant color palette in purple, featuring the dramatic contemporary architectural features of the city of Dubai. The finishing touch for this shot comes in the form of a silky reflection that is cast back from the waters that lay in the foreground.
Pantheon – incredible architectural details combine with great tones to create an almost abstract feeling piece in this shot posted by Pascal Schirmer. The rich details highlighted in this shot express strong textures visually, adding a great element to this strong image.
Dunes – Death Valley National Park, California – Len Saltiel captures a stunning landscape shot that features the sand dunes of California as the first light of day casts color over the abstract layers that create so much depth. Undulating patterns converge against the pastel colors of the morning’s sky here to deliver a piece that is a true delight to view.
Gold Rush – I have a weakness for my love of old steam powered locomotives, finding appreciation in the inherent romance this method of travel showcases as we fondly recall years now past. This incredible photograph by Alexander Riek finds one such locomotive as it heads straight towards the camera, under a golden canopy of autumn leaves that add a feeling of happiness to the overall composition.
Relicta – CJ Schmit shares a black-and-white piece that reveals a glimpse into a room in a presumably abandoned home. Textures from years of weather and wear work flawlessly with the haunting setting, leaving an image that will follow you long after you’ve seen it.
Autumn ! – deep contrasts add to the artistic tension explored in this great frame by Patrice Thomas that reveals a pathway in the forest with a couple of people walking away. The natural leading line from the path creates a great vanishing point here, accenting the overall sense and feeling of the picture itself.
the morning commute – vibrant light trails from the fast-moving commuters of the morning converge against a backdrop of incredibly dramatic architecture from the city of Calgary in Alberta one cold morning. Frank King braves incredibly cold temperatures to capture this piece that takes advantage of the early blue hour to create incredible tones that underscore the overall aesthetic of the shot as a whole.
Jersey Views – a cinematic feeling image is revealed in this picture by A Frenchman In NY that exposes a view of the city in the distance under an interesting sky. Dabs of muted color highlight the dramatic architecture, as does a silky reflection from the waters that create interesting light trails across the foreground.
Night at the Moulin Rouge – Jim Nix shares a great shot of this world-wide landmark in Paris, captured at night while all the neon was beaming and people were moving around the scene. Light trails from the moving vehicles add a great sense of motion to this shot, finishing it off just perfectly.
Spiral Staircase, Hilton Nordica, Iceland – this architectural study features a great vanishing point, highlighted by the abstract nature of the image created by the repeating patterns of the staircase as it winds ever downwards. The red carpet adds a splash of color and interest to the aesthetic of the image, captured and shared here by Dale Johnson.
Dante’s View – Death Valley National Park, California – Len Saltiel shares a wide-angle view of incredible salt flats that lie thousands of feet below his vantage point in this great landscape shot. The true scale of the area is hard to appreciate at first, but as you spend time taking in the details you begin to see just how big this region is.
Light Bulb – David Abbs takes advantage of something as simple as a light bulb to create a dramatic composition of the subject against a backdrop that adds a great deal of interest. The blending of the backlit with the filament in the bulb itself combine to share terrific visual elements in this frame.
Further Learning
Want to learn how to create amazing HDR images in post production? Of course you do!
Check this resource out HERE.