Top Photography Tips From Our Best Selling eBooks (Part 2)

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Here’s part 2 of our Black Friday tips series. Click here for part 1.


Composition is Like Leading a Pony with a Rope

(Tip from the Advanced Composition Guide – 58% off today)

You want the viewer to go in the direction you’re leading them. You want them to stop when you say stop. And, you want them to understand the meaning of the visual trip when it’s over.

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We are going to talk about the “antonym of photography” – juxtaposition!

When you want your viewer (the pony) to stop and take notice of something- juxtaposition is a perfect tool!

What is an antonym? It’s an opposite.

What is juxtaposition?

Juxtaposition means placing objects of a contrasting purpose, color, tone, etc. close to each other in a photograph. Like the many tools of composition, it jars the viewer to attention.

Let’s look at an example from the Advanced Composition premium guide…

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Photograph by Jonathan Kos-Read

This simple photograph relies completely on juxtaposition to create visual power.

You have the juxtaposition of subject matter: the tree versus the wall.

You have the juxtaposition of texture: the vertical flowing tree bark versus the horizontal flow of the brick and plaster.

Finally, you have the juxtaposition of tone: light areas contrasting against dark areas.

Juxtaposition has turned this into a powerful, and artistic, photograph that is worthy of a viewer’s attention!

Maybe the tree image doesn’t really click with you? That’s okay. The idea behind our premium guides is to supply you with the information, so that you can then apply it to your own photography- in your own way!

If you’d like to learn more about more about juxtaposition and other cool tools of composition– Click here to check out our Advanced Composition Guide now » (58% off today)


A Simple Method to “Spice” up a Landscape Shot on a Dull Day

(Tip from the Complete Landscape Photography Guide – 66% off today)

White Balance.

99% of the time you’ll capture Mother Nature’s rainbow of colors perfectly while in the auto white balance setting. In fact, trying to set your white balance manually could have an adverse effect by washing out the colors you’re seeing with your eyes.

Sometimes, you can utilize the “White Balance” setting on your camera to add some colorful zing to an otherwise dull day

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Photograph by Antoine Gady

On this VERY gray day- the photographer accidentally set his white balance to the tungsten setting. The result was a much more interesting photograph (than he would have had at a normal white balance setting).

As you can see, manually setting the white balance can really change the look of your photograph.

Many photographers would argue that if you are shooting in the camera raw format, (and you should be), that the camera white balance setting doesn’t really matter because it can be corrected in the raw processing window.

To some degree this is true.

BUT-

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The camera white balance setting does get transferred into the ACR window via the EXIF data. This gives you a starting point to check and/or correct the image color.

The TWO important points to this Quick Tip-

  1. Consider using the White Balance setting for creative alternatives in your landscape photography.
  2. Be sure to play with the white balance drop down menu in the ACR window, as it will provide some guidance as to how you want your color to appear in the final image. Perhaps, you want to change the color balance for creative purposes.

If you want to learn exactly how to enhance your landscape photography today– Go here to check out our Complete Landscape Photography Guide now » (66% off today)


Are You a Connoisseur of Light

(Tip from Understanding Light Book Two – 66% off today)

Anyone can take a picture. You know that.

Anyone can take that picture, bring it into an editing program, and probably breathe some life into it (although that will never fool the experts).

What really separates photographers is their understanding and use of “light”.

Think about this question carefully.

How can you use light to change the composition of your photograph?

Write down your answers.

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The following answers are a sample of the techniques discussed in our premium guide, “Understanding Light: Book II”

Light can be used in many ways to enhance a composition. Some ways include:

  •  A change of camera position 

  •  A change of positioning of the light source relative to the subject

  •  Eliminating the light altogether 

  •  Partially eliminating the light

  •  Altering the color of the light 

  •  Squeezing the light into a tighter light source 

  •  Painting with light 

  •  Artificially introducing light in post-production

Any of the above options could be used to drastically change (and improve) a photographic composition.

Most photographers only think of about 1/3 of the answers on that list. Almost no one ever says eliminating the light. If that was on your list- kudos to you!!

If you would like to learn more about light and composition, or even just learn more about how you could use light to improve your photography– Click here to check out the understanding light guide now » (66% off today)

About Author

Ritesh has been photographing since 2010 and his photographic interests have varied from nature and landscapes to street photography. You can see his photography on Flickr or on his website.

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