The world of photography continues to delight and amaze us all with the work produced by some of the leading photographers working in the field today. This weeks list of tutorials, special features and great photography is a selection of posts and pictures hand-picked by Toad Hollow Photography. We really hope you enjoy these weeks list as much as the Toad did in bringing it to you.
TUTORIALS
A Quick Guide to Panning to Get Great Photographic Compositions – panning techniques in photography can be a powerful tool in your arsenal, allowing you to capture shots of subjects that are clear and in sharp focus while their surrounds are blurry with a sense of dynamic motion. This creates pictures that convey the speed of the subject frozen in a frame. Great samples are included here to show you what you can expect if you apply this concept to your own photography.
The Basic Principles of Using a Bounce Flash (And One Advanced Technique) – you can expect awesome results when using a speedlight, particularly in the situation where you use bounce techniques to create a softer, more natural looking light source. This brief tutorials discusses these techniques and shows some sample shots.
How to Change Your Background Color in 30 Seconds – I love quick and easy fixes for problems that present themselves in an image, such as this case where the background color for a fashion shot needed to be changed to reflect the season. As promised, this video will show you how you can make this change easily, in less than 30 seconds.
The Noob Photographer’s Guide to Shooting Backlit Portraits With Natural Light– this is a great primer on how to best utilize natural light in an outdoor setting that is creating backlighting on your subject. Sample shots are included throughout the article to help you see firsthand the results you can expect to achieve in your own photography if you apply these principles.
Optical Slaves and Why They Belong in Your Camera Bag – using remote radio triggers for off-camera lights can be problematic in certain shooting situations, and here we find that remote optical slaves are a great way to get around this problem. This article shows you how to source inexpensive ones, and how to apply them in your photo session to get consistent results.
Creating Infrared Images in Color – Joe Farace is widely considered by many to be an expert in the field of infrared photography. This brief tutorial shares great tips and tricks, as well as links to other articles that are pertinent to the topics, showing you how adding some selective color in an infrared shot is a powerful element.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Forget Selfie Sticks – There’s a New Pocket-Sized Flying Camera Drone on the Market – the drone craze continues here as advances in technology and applications for it further grow. This tiny flying drone is a great idea, particularly for those who like to take selfies, as it reveals how quickly this space is advancing with new designs and products.
Incredible New Aerial Photos Reveal Tribe Living in Isolation in South American Jungle – in a modern world where living as an isolated community is becoming more and more difficult, a tribe in South America has found a way to live under their own terms and conditions. This community is fragile, to say the least, prone to all sorts of things including attacks from rogue miners, disease and other survival challenges, yet even in the face of all this they find a way to persevere.
Student’s iPhone 6s Photo Makes the Finals of NatGeo Photo Competition – this is a great concept and execution, ultimately winning this photographer an award with a shot that was captured with a smartphone. Check out this great picture, and read about it in the accompanying article, to get an idea of how it was captured and processed, and why.
10 street photographers worth following – for those who love candid street photography, here is a list of 10 great artists working in the field today that you may wish to consider following. Samples of their work is included here, giving you an instant idea what their style looks like, and the settings they work in to capture their iconic shots.
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Texas Wall Cloud – head deep into the heart of Texas here with Derek Burdeny as we face a massive storm cell headon in this amazing and dramatic photograph. A huge rotating cloud lingers overhead above a rural landscape in this amazing piece, revealing the true power of nature when unleashed in a weather event.
Cirque du Matin – wildlife can provide perfect photography fodder for those who are in the right place at the right time, often performing candid acts that are a delight and wonder to see. Laurie MacBride shares a delightful interaction with a squirrel in this post that includes a series of shots featuring this acrobatic wonder as it goes about pilfering some seeds every morning in their bird feeder.
Into the barrel – find adventure in the heart of a huge curl created by a breaking wave in this action shot from Red Bull Photography. This perfectly timed capture showcases the drama and excitement that comes from the sport of surfing, frozen forever in time in a single frame.
Wandering in Rome – Jim Nix shares a wonderful shot captured in Rome that features the cobblestone streets of the city framed by old architecture. The tight streets of this ancient city create perfect photo opportunities, allowing Jim to capture a slice of the city’s character.
Bright fishing rorbuer – the epic Norwegian landscape creates a perfect backdrop in this beautiful photograph from Andrey Bazanov. Tiny wood houses sit on wood piers on the side of the shores in this picture that literally exudes the character and spirit of the region.
Teton Cabin – Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming – the rugged and dramatic Teton Mountains form the perfect backdrop for this photograph from Len Saltiel that focuses on an original cabin that was built in the region by one of the founding families. Life on the open plains at the time must have been very difficult, tempered by the incredible beauty that surrounds the homestead at every angle.
Cougar – Milan Zygmunt captures a stunning portrait of this large cat as it looks over it’s shoulder and stares back intently at the camera. The shallow depth-of-focus that Milan used to photograph this amazing animal isolates it perfectly from its backdrop, making it pop out of the frame.
classic German castles – a very eery mood encapsulates a large old German castle as it sits in a thick layer of fog in the countryside. Johannes Hoehn finds the perfect conditions for this image, creating a picture that is mysterious and alluring.
Capitol Ellipse – this architectural study takes a close look at the dome of the Texas State Capitol building, as captured and shared here by Michael Criswell. Michael uses a bit of an unconventional composition with this piece, which highlights the scale, depth and details of this amazing piece of history and architecture.
The 6 – A Frenchman In NY gets airborne for this terrific cityscape photograph that features downtown Toronto on a clear and bright day. The portrait format used to create this shot showcases a lot of depth and the true scale of this large Canadian city as it reveals the dramatic architecture of the booming metropolis below.
Abandoned Factory – the control room in a long-abandoned factory gets a second life in this amazing photograph from Urbex Diary. Years of neglect and weathering have this facility paying it’s toll, with vegetation and rust being the only element left behind now.
Owl – an extremely shallow depth-of-focus creates a striking portrait of this owl as it stands in its habitat in this shot from JH Alata. The bird stares straight back at camera in this photograph, sharing a glimpse into its wonderful personality as it leaves us all wondering what it is thinking about.
Butter church . . . – this old historic church sits in the heart of the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island and is a place we visit ourselves frequently to photograph. Having sat unused now for well over 100 years, the remains of this stone building speak to the character of the region and here we find that ƊƦคƓ๏ƝŦlץƊгєคɱʂ88 has returned in the spring to capture a wonderful portrait of this old beauty.
Curves – fans of leading lines and strong vanishing points will find that this is a must-see shot in this week's list, brought to us from Alfon No. The winding road draws the viewer into the heart of the frame where the curves eventually disappear into the distance.
Gray Fox Close-up – this shot comes to us from Ron Niebrugge, featuring a wonderful portrait of what appears to be a young Gray Fox in it’s natural habitat. This shot is full of details and captures the essence of this terrific animals character and spirit.
Foggy Bled – the medieval monastery on the tiny island in the middle of Lake Bled is a compelling photography subject that I enjoy seeing time and time again. Bruno Pisani’s version of this setting finds us looking at the old facility through the thick veil of a fog, adding a terrific cinematic feel to this amazing location.
Burrowing Owl – these small owls seem to have a personality all their own, tending to look at the camera with a gaze of indifference that is rather comical and delightful, both at the same time. Wayne Beauregard captures a terrific portrait of one of these owls as it looks back at camera, using a shallow depth-of-focus to ensure this amazing bird is perfectly isolated from it’s backdrop.
An Evening To Remember – a panoramic format reveals the raw fury and power of a supercell storm in this stunning photograph from Derek Burdeny. The sheer and massive size of the storm is fully exhibited when you see the details of the landscape below which adds a ton of context and scale to the cloud formation.
2 Comments
Thanks for sharing these links (and the photography of the city in Toronto is amazing).
Thanks for visiting and commenting here Ronda, it’s great to hear from you!