There has certainly been a lot of excitement in the field of photography this week with many great photographers and writers sharing content online that is of interest to enthusiasts from all over. This weeks list comes to us from Toad Hollow Photography, and it features a hand-picked selection of links to tutorials, special features and great photography. We really hope you enjoy this weeks compendium as much as the Toad did himself in creating this list for you.
TUTORIALS
5 Simple Ways to Take Impressive Self-Portraits – join us right here on Light Stalking where we take a close look at 5 different genres of self-portraits. Each style is explored by discussing the merits and creative thoughts behind them and are accompanied by incredible sample shots that are sure to inspire.
Adorama and Joe McNally Teams up to Show us Lighting for Portraits – learning from masters is a powerful way to learn quickly and see how to put together a picture to create stunning results. Join Joe McNally and the Adorama team and see how he uses strobes in various configurations and settings to create his signature style photography.
How to Create a Bokeh Effect in Photoshop – a great tutorial that shows you step-by-step a process to create a distinctive bokeh effect in Photoshop with an image. Each step is comprehensively covered, including screenshots for Photoshop, as well as the image in each step of its transformation.
8 Top Tips: How to Photograph Interior Architecture – shooting interior spaces can be a terrific yet challenging genre of photography to master. This list gives us a set of tips and tricks that can help you get started in this field, with sample shots included for each point to help you visualize the concept being shared.
How to Light a Black and White: A Complete Guide for Beginners – black-and-white portraits can be a powerful medium when created effectively, and this guide is a great place to get started down this path. Sample shots are included here to show you the various points covered, allowing you to see the tips and tricks in action.
Learn How to Restore Vintage Photographs – restoring old photographs is a challenge all its own, and this 20 minute video will take you through a process you can follow to do this yourself. Each step is explained in-depth by the author who also shows you the results as each process in the technique is applied.
Video: A Simple Visual Explanation of Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO – there is a lot of information packed into the short video presentation, showing you in an easy-to-understand way how the three components of exposure (shutter speed, aperture and ISO) work together in harmony. This is often referred to as the exposure triangle, and understanding how this works is a key component to mastering photography.
SPECIAL FEATURES
15 photos of abandoned bedrooms show their dusty remains – urbex photography remains one of my personal favorite types of photography, revealing rooms and buildings that have been long forgotten along with the textures and details of natural decay. Each of the spaces tells a unique story, yet leaves a lot of questions unanswered which creates distinctive artistic tension within the frame. This feature article takes you inside a collection of various bedrooms that haven’t been used in many years.
Long Exposure Photos of ‘Fog Waves’ – a long exposure process is applied in this stunning series of photographs that shows how nature can produce natural abstracts. Fog events forms undulating waves across the landscape in this series, with some shots including epic colors in the sky to accent the overall shapes and lines being captured in the landscape below.
A Photographer Dives Into Norway’s Underwater Atlantis – in this week's “you’ve got to see this to believe it” file, we have this incredible special feature. Under the surface of a lake created by a rockslide that submerged a valley that was once hosted homes and farms we find the remnants of the original society, forever frozen in time and now revealed by this photographer during a series of dives.
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Sunrise at the Opera House – Jason Row takes his Phantom 4 drone to the air to capture this incredible shot Odessa Opera House in Ukraine. Wonderful details in the beautiful architecture are explored as the blue hour creates perfect natural light to highlight this incredible subject.
Wizard's Hat – Bandon, Oregon – Len Saltiel visits the west coast of the US where he finds an amazing natural rock formation sitting near the shore by the ocean. Depending on your perspective the formation takes on different shapes, and from the angle chosen for this great shot it does indeed resemble a wizard’s hat.
Eye of the West – world-famous Mesa Arch creates the perfect frame into the endless distance in this stunning image from Elia Locardi. The starburst effect in the sun as it peeks back just under the archway adds the ultimate finishing touch to this amazing composition.
The Colosseum – the incredible history in Rome is something that stretches back countless hundreds of years, revealing artifacts and architecture that have been uncovered from countless archeological digs. In this post from Jim Nix we get a chance to see the ancient colosseum, and for those who look closely to see the people wandering about in the frame a distinct sense of scale begins to emerge.
The Black Church – the epic landscapes of Iceland form the perfect backdrop for this terrific photograph by wim denijs. This quaint black church sits in the foreground here as a thick fog swirls over the landscape in the background and beautiful colors in the sky dance far overhead.
What a Difference… – for those who love to boat, the west coast of Canada can be both beautiful and daunting, sometimes in the space of a few short hours as weather descends upon the seascape quickly here. This post from Laurie MacBride shows a scene captured on the water late in the evening and then again the next morning as a thick layer of fog envelopes the rugged shores.
Tower Guard – this beautiful image depicts a romantic scene with a lighthouse overlooking a dynamic ocean as the sun begins to set. Alexander Riek uses a long exposure for this shot to also feature a sky full of color that shares a distinct sense of motion in the clouds.
The Plantation re-visited – rows of trees carefully planted in formation create the perfect subject matter for photographer Andy Hooker (LensScaper) to explore with his camera. He creates a great series of shots from this place, using the trees to create natural leading lines that guide you through the various frames that have a touch of the abstract to them.
Sinclair Lookout – a high vantage point creates the perfect lookout spot for this moody shot from Nicholas Yee that showcases a beautiful landscape that is filled with a soft fog. The perfect finishing touch comes in the form of a ribbon of roadway that creates a leading line through the shot, culminating in a great vanishing point in the distance.
Rippy Ranch Supply – Michael Criswell takes us deep into Texas where he captures and shares four great shots of a local supply store along with a pair of the characters found at the site. Michael’s black-and-white portraits, in particular, in this post are really great, revealing the character of the men photographed.
Blondinrikard FröbergDark mode – still waters fill the foreground in this shot that was captured in a very low light condition by Johannes Hulsch. A tiny wood home sits on the side of the water with the lights inside creating a welcoming feel as the landscape behind forms the perfect canvas for the picture.
Day 115: The Waterfront – the Boston waterfront is featured in this monochromatic shot from Bob Lussier that he processed with a bit of a nostalgic film feel to it. The great architecture of the city stands tall on the horizon as we look over a cobblestone walkway and a rippled body of water towards downtown.
Pragser wildsee – the turquoise waters of a still lake create the perfect mirror for this shot from Michiel Pieters that features a boathouse sitting near the shore with a rowboat tied to the structure. In the backdrop we see rugged mountains as the entire scene is perfectly reflected in the silent waters.
Ginza, Tokyo – Yoshiro Ishii shares a great overhead shot of a busy street in Japan below as people busily scurry about their lives in the bustling city. Crosswalks form great patterns and leading lines to pull you into the frame where many terrific details are waiting to be discovered.
the view from Lighthouse Park – Frank King’s shot features a historical landmark in the form of a well-known lighthouse in the Vancouver region on the west coast of Canada. A patch of trees form a great frame to peer through for this shot as the lighthouse stands guard and in the distance we see a boat moving across the waters.
Blue Hour Mist – for those who love the abstract in photography, this is a must-see shot shared here by Bruno Pisani. Bruno uses a panoramic format to accent the drama of the shot that finds a thick forest hiding in the flowing mist of fog in what looks to be a remote setting.
Over the Hill at Montefiore – Dave Wares really takes advantage of the artistic tension that presented itself in this scene with a lone man creating a silhouette as he looks outwards to the endless expanse of the ocean. A lovely finishing touch is created with the lens flare and the starlight effect created by the vibrant sun hanging above the horizon line.
Tunnel – Kai Ziehl shares a dramatic black-and-white shot in this piece that was captured from a very low perspective to highlight the scale and artistic tension in the picture. As we look through a tunnel, with terrific leading lines, we also see a girl walking away into the light.
Perryton – a lightning strike creates tendrils across the dark skies, casting nature’s force upon the landscape below in this great shot from storm-chaser Mike Olbinski. A series of windmills on the horizon in the distance adds the perfect finishing element to this piece, sure to be enjoyed by everyone who enjoys dramatic lightning themed images.
