These Photography Links Will Make You Happy

As the holiday season winds it's way to an end we find that Toad Hollow Photography has been focused on finding the best tutorials, special features and great photography to share here with everyone.  This weeks compendium of links features a wide variety of subjects both in terms of articles as well as photographs, covering a wide spectrum of interests for photography enthusiasts.  We really hope you enjoy checking out these links as much as the Toad did in bringing this weekly list to you.

TUTORIALS

3 Ways to Take Better Images in Glary Conditions – glare is a common problem most photographers face at some point, and learning how best to manage this situation can be extremely helpful in capturing the shot just the way you want. This great article is posted here on Light Stalking and covers several different methods that you can use in your own work to combat this problem.

Lukas Schlagenhauf
Lukas Schlagenhauf

Using Light to Create Separation – using light to create separation from a backdrop when shooting portraits is an important contemporary skill that produces terrific results. This video tutorial is just over 10 minutes in length and covers this topic in good detail allowing you to see how to apply these techniques yourself.

Don't Be Afraid to Take Creative Liberties in Your Photo Editing – after spending countless hours learning and practicing all the rules of photography, the next logical step is to toss that rulebook right out and explore your vision in your own way. This fantastic article shares an awesome set of shots that each employ a personal and specific style, and the overall article shows you how to spread your wings with your own work to work towards this goal.

Ilkka Jukarainen
Ilkka Jukarainen

Get a Better Video Image: Learn How to Set Exposure – check out this terrific video tutorial with accompanying article that covers the topic of getting a proper exposure when shooting video. Many of the concepts are applicable to both still and video photography, and overall this tutorial will leave you with a stronger understanding of how to properly expose for video.

Getting the Perfect Family Portrait: Cool Tips on Taking Cute Photos – shooting family portraits can be a terrific personal activity, and can also be vocationally fulfilling. This article covers some of the high-level concepts behind getting great shots every time you set out to photograph a family, whether it is indoors or outdoors.

Martin Brigden
Martin Brigden

How to Get Perfect Lighting When Photographing Artwork – this video tutorial shows us how to use static lighting in conjunction with a light meter to properly expose a piece of artwork to be photographed. Each step is carefully shown throughout the tutorial, giving you a very detailed look at the behind-the-scenes steps utilized.

DIY hacks for stabilizing video when you don’t have the right gear – stabilization for shooting video is critical for most shoots, creating smooth footage that is easy to follow and pleasing for the viewer. This great tutorial gives us some great easy hacks that can be applied that can make a big difference with little to no investment in gear.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The Year in Pictures – NBC News – this profound review takes a look at some of the best iconic photographs captured during 2017, ranging from the politically themed to the ravages of nature as storms sweep through regions and everything in between. Collections such as this serve to remind us of the events over the past year as well as form an important bit of documentation to note this time in history.

Snapdragon1959
Snapdragon1959

Pete Rezac: Large Format Has Changed Me as a Photographer – shooting using a large format film medium is a unique process that produces absolutely stunning results, as shown in this set of photographs captured by a professional. This post also includes an interview with the photographer, giving you some great insight into how he goes about getting these great shots.

13 Beautiful Examples of Minimalist Photography by Julian Schulze – architecture can create some amazing photography opportunities, giving the photographer wide perspectives along with tight perspectives that can reveal different personalities of the building in question. This post features the minimalistic work of an architectural photographer who creates stunning abstracts through the study and form of the buildings explored visually.

GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY

The View From Here – Lisa Gordon takes to the sky in a helicopter and comes away with an awesome set of aerial shots that showcase her area from a very unique perspective. Shadows and rolling hills play off of each other in this set of shots, visually expressing the depth of the landscape along with contextual details that help to create anchors in the shots.

Visit Lakeland
Visit Lakeland

Li river fishermen – the world-famous cormorant fishermen of Xialong, China create an almost surreal set of subjects against a truly amazing backdrop in this shot from Daniel Metz. These fishermen come from an ancient line of people who have practiced this craft, and this image freezes a moment in time that reaches back across untold years.

ATX Capitol – for those who love dramatic architectural studies, this post is certainly one you won’t want to miss in this weeks list. This pair of compositions comes from the studio of Michael Criswell and features two different perspectives of the very dramatic Texas State Capitol building in downtown Austin Texas.

tdlucas5000
tdlucas5000

Tuscany Mood – Adnan Bubalo shares an ethereal look at the beautiful landscapes found in Tuscany, Italy. This shot uses a muted color palette and the natural eeriness of a veil of fog to highlight the dramatic and mesmerizing scenes found in the region.

Golden Bridge – Baker Beach, San Francisco, California – the iconic Golden Gate Bridge is the focus of this stunning shot by Len Saltiel who takes advantage of the warm golden tones of light to accent the bridge and its surroundings for context. Waves crash upon the shore in the foreground of this composition to give a unique feel to an often-photographed landmark.

PROWVTROUT
PROWVTROUT

Secret Hope – a still sunrise paints the sky in beautiful colors as rows of boats sit moored in the marina below waiting the promise of a new day. This incredible shot comes to us from videophotoart com and exemplifies a wonderful marine themed image.

Columbia River Gorge, Oregon – Ron Niebrugge shares a pair of shots he took many years ago that feature the natural beauty of a region in Oregon, in the United States. Ron notes that when he made this post, the area was being ravaged by forest fires that might have left the entire locale looking quite different from the great shots posted.

pierre-alain pannatier
pierre-alain pannatier

~ Morning lights ~ – David Gomes blends three images to create a stunning sunrise themed shot that takes advantage of an incredible bridge that creates a natural leading line out into a stunning vanishing point. Incredible blues and purples finish off the shot as the morning sun casts a wonderful set of colors and tones across the sky.

Vancouver sparkles – the beautiful skyline of the city of Vancouver pops to life in this great shot from Jim Nix captured in a highrise he stayed at during a visit to the city. In the backdrop you can also see the mountains in the distance that surround this oceanside city, helping to make it the world-renown destination that it truly is.

Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park

Red Fox – Jon Albert captures a great portrait of a red fox making its way across a snow-covered landscape. The shallow depth-of-focus used to get this shot highlights the great character and detail found in this fox’s face as it makes its travels across the cold ground.

Retour à Lisbonne – Mathias Lucas has a wonderful way of finding vignettes within a larger context when photographing any particular spot. In this post he shares a stellar set of photographs captured in this iconic city, featuring various aspects of the city the give it the character it is so well known for.

Palatine hill – thousands of years of history are explored in this terrific shot from Manjik photography taken in Rome. Various structures that go back centuries in terms of history are interspersed with more recent buildings, making for an image full of rich details that encompass an important part of human history.

Snowy Owl Takeoff, Minnesota – Mark Paulson captures a great shot of a Snowy Owl just as it takes off from a snow-covered landscape on the way towards some form of adventure. The beautiful bird has its wings spread wide in this shot, revealing great detail in its face and form as it gracefully flies out of frame.

70023venus2009
70023venus2009

Aurlands Fjord, Norway – Simon W Xu visits this amazing part of the world during the time of year when the sun almost never seems to set, finding a wonderful landscape he was able to enjoy and explore on his own. This particular shot features a still lake with dramatic mountains in the backdrop and a great wooden boat and red boathouse in the foreground to create a perfect anchor into the image.

Heater Sunset – while on an ocean adventure in the Kunghit Island in the southern Gwaii Haanas region, Ehpem captures a gorgeous sunset that is indicative of the natural beauty found on the coast of Canada. The mountains on the surrounding islands create terrific silhouettes that reveal the epic and mysterious beauty of this remote location.

Vee
Vee

Budapest Rush Hour – Jason Row captures a great shot that features the juxtaposition of contemporary motor traffic against the setting of old architecture that can only be found in an ancient European city. As you explore the image, details begin to emerge, like the discovery of a cruise ship under the intricate and dramatic bridge that forms the basis of the photograph.

Koala – Wayne Beauregard heads over to the zoo where he captures a great portrait of one of these really cute creatures as it hangs about in a favorite tree. The composition Wayne used to capture this shot does a great job of showing off the incredible character these animals possess as they enjoy their lives in their habitat.

Paul Balfe
Paul Balfe

Autumn foggy – muted fall colors and reflections form a perfect subject matter for this ethereal shot by Anssi karilahti. The backdrop falls off into the thick fog in this image, adding to the mysterious feel of the overall landscape that only reveals glimpses of itself to the viewer.

Here’s Finn! – this is the ultimate “scratch my ears” shot that we can feature here in our weekly lists in this wonderful photograph from Edith Levy. In this portrait, we find Finn staring back at the camera with a twinkle in his eye as he appears to eagerly await his next jaunt out and about on a great adventure.

Yoshiko Egan
Yoshiko Egan

Potala Palace – a monochromatic color palette that is dominated by blue accents the rich artistic tension and drama of an incredible palace sitting on the top of a hill in this breathtaking shot by Qiye 赣州柒爺. Due to the limited colors expressed here, a highly cinematic feeling image is presented, drawing you further and further into the frame as you spend time with the finer details.

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About Author

I am a fine arts photographer that specializes in HDR techniques. Please feel free to visit our Limited Edition Prints site, our Online Gallery or our lively Photoblog.

Harassing Snowy Owls so that they will fly, just to give you an opportunity to get “that shot” is a NO-NO!! Do NOT harass Snowy Owls – they have a hard enough life without spending extra energy trying to escape a photographer who approaches too close.

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