We've had another great week in photography with photographers and writers of all areas of interest sharing great articles and pictures with everyone online. Toad Hollow Photography has actively been searching for links to tutorials, special features and great photography to share here with everyone, and this week's list is comprised of a very wide variety of topics and subjects. We really hope you enjoy the content shared here as much as the Toad did himself in bringing you this week's list.
TUTORIALS
13 Incredibly Useful Articles For Getting Started With Black and White Landscape Photography – this list of great articles is hosted right here on Light Stalking and covers some of the basic tips and insights that can help you captured stunning black-and-white landscape shots. These links are sources from a very wide variety of sites and cover very useful aspects of this specific style of photography.
How to photograph wine bottles with speedlights and a kit lens – photographing highly reflective surfaces, such as glasses or bottles, has its own set of challenges to overcome to ensure the final shot looks clean and professional. This video presentation is embedded in an article that covers how to do this with a limited set of gear to work with and shows you the steps as you work, allowing you to easily see how effective the techniques are.
3 Levels of Sharpening You Should Be Applying in Photoshop – tools like Photoshop are so powerful they offer the user many different methods and techniques of performing similar operations. This typically results in a plethora of different looks with some being more applicable to a specific image than others. This detailed tutorial takes you through one detailed method, and includes screenshots all throughout the process to help you visualize the results.
Tips and Tricks for Using a Light Meter – with the prevalence and ubiquity of built-in light meters in today’s cameras, the concept of using a manual light meter seems redundant for many photographers. This is not always true, however, and learning how to use and apply a light meter can be a powerful skill to add to your repertoire, as shown and described in this short article.
Beginner’s Tips: Getting the Most out of Golden Hour Landscape Photography – this short primer feature takes you through some of the basic concepts of great landscape themed photography. Various topics are discussed here, including a selection of lens filters, and sample shots allow you to see the end results.
How to Direct Your Subject Indirectly in Travel Photography – getting candid shots while traveling can be a very fulfilling activity, whether it’s for professional or personal purposes. This article gives us some great tips on how to accomplish this in foreign places, and shares some great shots as the article unfolds.
5 Tips for Taking Unique Pictures of Fish – this is a terrific article on some of the nuances involved in capturing stunning fish photography. These tips and tricks will help you avoid some of the common issues encountered while photographing these wonderful and fast-moving creatures in their habitats.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Winning Photos of Nat Geo Nature Photographer of the Year 2017 – National Geographic continues to set the bar in the field of photography, receiving countless entries from photographers from all over the world who are striving for recognition with their work. This years collection features an amazing set of images taken from all over, cultivating a collection of work that exhibits the best that photography has to offer for the year.
How I Shot the Holi Festival in India – the annual Holi Festival in India is an amazing spectacle of light and color, and due to it’s incredible size can be a difficult venue to fully explore photographically. This special feature takes us along on the exploration and shows us how to take advantage of a dynamic event like this, and also shows some absolutely stunning photographs that showcase the delight and wonder being there in person presents to those who attend.
‘You need to be fearless': Why photographing architecture is harder than it looks – this article is published on Canada’s CBC website and shares the highlights of an interview with a successful architectural photographer. The insights shared here are well worth the time to review for those who like to work in this field, and the accompanying shots are all terrific.
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Pearl of Paris – Manjik photography shares a highly stylized image of an opera house in Paris, France, bringing out all the details and architectural features of the interior of this grand place. The colors and tones expressed in this shot add to the overall feeling, along with the textures explored in the fine details.
Bullock Museum – a landmark in Austin, Texas makes for the perfect photography opportunity for Michael Criswell, who shoots the front of this museum to feature the giant star that is on display. The distortion from the ultrawide lens Michael used highlights the drama found in the sharp angles of the feature, finished off perfectly with the museum itself in the backdrop as a canvas to the frame.
~ Back ~ – the incredible and dramatic buildings of the contemporary mecca of Dubai come into focus in this great black-and-white shot from David Gomes. David uses the monochromatic feel of the image to accent the incredible shapes and lines, all brought together with the muted mirror reflection of the waters that fill the front of the frame.
Luis Alvarez MarraBass Harbor Light – Acadia National Park, Maine – a wonderful lighthouse sits perched on the edge of a rockface looking out towards the ocean as it relentlessly warns sailors of the dangers in the area. Len Saltiel does a great job in getting oriented for this perfect composition, delivering a shot that expresses all the tension and romance found in an old lighthouse.
Preikestolen, Norway – prepare for a vertigo inducing perspective in this shot from Europe Trotter that takes us to Preikestolen (The Pulpit-Rock) the most famous tourist attraction in Ryfylke, Norway. This shot was captured in portrait orientation to highlight the vast distances between the tops of the rock face to the waters that sit far, far below.
Anan Brown Bear – as salmon season descends upon the wilds of Alaska, the brown bears fish the streams and rivers for fresh salmon to catch and enjoy as a meal. This great shot from Ron Niebrugge features a bear doing just this, capturing this frame at the exact moment the bear clasps it’s massive jaws around dinner and pulls it from the cold waters.
Another day at the Marinha Beach – the wonderful beauty of the shores of Portugal are explored in this great landscape shot from Paulo Nogueira. Incredible natural rock formations create rugged features along the coastline that benefits from the beautiful colors in the sky.
The rooftops of Prague – a sea of red rooftops in the old city of Prague comes to us in a series of great photographs from Jim Nix in this post. The architecture of the city is quite unique, captured eloquently here by Jim as he takes in the old buildings with his camera to share here with everyone.
Edge to Edge – Dany Eid creates an extremely complex panoramic shot of the cityscape of Dubai at night in this shot that is composed of 12 single exposures blended and processed as a single image. As a thin fog lingers over the city, the lights of the buildings twinkle through the ethereal covering, adding to the incredible drama of this composition.
New York, New York – Barbara Youngleson makes her way to the very top of the Empire State Building just as the weather breaks for a brief moment, allowing her to capture this classic composition of a city that never stops. The lights from all the buildings create splashes of color and interest in this shot that also benefits from Barbara’s composition.
Down by the Creek – Adrian C. Murray shares a heartwarming shot that takes on a Norman Rockwell feel as a boy and his dog sit on a culvert as a small creek flows below. The boy and dog are looking out towards frame left, leaving us all wondering what it is that has caught their attention and imagination as such, adding a great feel to this shot.
the soaring ceiling – here on Vancouver Island it’s hard to find buildings that are over 150 years old, so seeing a wonderful cathedral like the one that Frank King shares here that is almost 1,000 years old is hard to comprehend. The incredible space and details of the old architecture are a delight for the viewer to take in, especially when considering the efforts required to design and build a structure like this so very long ago.
Field of Dreams Farm House – Evan Gearing visits this classic farmhouse that was featured in the movie of the same name, coming away with a bucolic shot of a white farmhouse with a white picket fence. A layer of clouds hangs overhead in this shot that appears to be taken during the blue hour, casting a perfect light over the entire scene.
Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard – an amazing color palette dances across our screens in this terrific photograph from Wayne Beauregard that takes an outward looking view from the shores of Martha’s Vineyard. A lighthouse sits in the opening of the bay as the sun begins to rise behind it in this shot, creating an instantly classic scene that beckons the viewer into the heart of the frame for a moment of tranquility.
Prague Castle Sunset – several people mingle about as the fading light of day gives way to twilight as Jason Row captures this shot that features the incredibly dramatic architecture of this old city. The wonderful details of the stonework of the buildings is accented in this photograph, showcasing the history and wonder that the city holds.
What’s in front of us… – Sherry Galey takes advantage of various items in her collection that come together in a still life composition full of subtle beauty and interest for the viewer. In this shot, she takes a beautiful yellow flower and places it in a cup sitting on a book, creating an image that is reminiscent of the compositions of the masters.
Old fisherman – the fishermen of Guilin, China are well known for centuries of fishing using cormorants as fishing companions, passing the skills down from generation to generation. Shots of this amazing scene take on an old-world feel, transporting the viewer back hundreds of years in the blink of an eye, as shown in this terrific photograph from Daniel Metz.
Hiwassee Union Baptist Church – old wood churches are wonderful photography subjects, creating a strong sense of artistic tension for the viewer and capturing the incredible character the buildings have stored in their walls from years of service to the community. This shot comes to us from Michael Glover and features a church built at the end of the 1800’s and it still stands tall and proud today as a landmark in the area.
The autumn morning of the red dawn – jae youn Ryu shares a great shot of a rolling landscape that is just awaking to greet the vibrant dawn as it emerges in the distance. An old wooden house sits near the foreground of this image, creating a great anchor for the viewer that leads off into the far distance.
After Dark – there are so many different opportunities for the photographer to capture unique shots in the city after the sun sets, as shown in this great set of images captured here by Andy Hooker (LensScaper). Andy focuses on light emitting from various styles and types of windows in this photography study, bringing out all the inherent artistic tension found in these compositions.
