Before and After
Mixed lighting (lighting with different color temperatures) can be a real color nightmare, especially if you are shooting JPEG files. Shooting RAW files and processing them with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is one of the best solutions to the problem. ACR comes with recent versions of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.
Sometimes getting the right color balance is easy with the right camera settings. When I opened this image in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) I didn’t need to change a thing. After the bride’s portrait, this was a relief.
Moment of Birth
There are very few moments on earth that match the birth of a baby. Such wonder, awe, and love. It was a privileged to be asked by the parents to be there and photograph the big event.
Footprint
Baby’s first footprint. The story behind this delivery room photo shoot (lighting, metering, color temperature issues, RAW file conversion) is here.
Baby Boy, A Few Minutes Old.
I had the happy privilege of being asked to photograph the birth of a baby boy. The mother found some of my photos on the internet, she was impressed with my work, and sent me an email asking if I was interested in photographing the delivery of her son. Of course I was!
Sunstar Over Turnagain Arm, Alaska
If I had submitted this photo to the 2012 National Geographic photo contest it would have been disqualified. Why? It hasn’t been digitally altered in any way. And the “sunstar” isn’t the problem.
Kristina – Business Headshot
A business headshot requires pretty even lighting.This portrait was created with three studio lights against a black backdrop, a main light, a fill light, and a hair light.
Christmas Tree Impressions (iPhone 4S)
I never thought I would sell prints from my iPhone. I was wrong.
The Las Vegas “Strip” from the Air at Night
There are serious challenges to photographing city lights at night from a commercial jet. Here are some suggestions that will help.
Southwest Jet Over Las Vegas at Dusk
I was getting impatient as our flight was delayed over an hour. I was anxious to get a photo of the Las Vegas Strip from the air before the sun set. But impatience turned to gratitude when our delay made this photo possible.
Night Sky Over the Mojave Desert.
How do you photograph the Milky Way, that milky band of light across the night sky that has our galaxy’s brightest concentration of light? With a wide angle lens and a tripod it is simple if you know a few tricks. Finding a dark enough sky is more of a problem.
Kristina in the Snow
The snow in a winter scene will often fool a camera meter into underexposing a photo, so here are the steps to take to get the right exposure. I throw in a few portrait suggestions too.
Elk in the Snow, Horseshoe Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Metering dark toned wildlife in the snow is a major exposure challenge. It is usually best to avoid large “burned out” areas (washed out, featureless white) in a nature or landscape photograph, but with properly exposed snow, the wildlife can be so dark as to lose all texture. On other hand, metering for the wildlife can burn out the snow.
Snow Hummocks, Merced River
Just like metering daytime winter scenes, the key to metering evening winter scenes is knowing what to meter and deciding how much exposure compensation to use.
Mount Hunter from a Bush Plane. Denali National Park. Alaska.
Metering for scenes with a lot of snow can be tricky since the snow fools the camera meter. I see a lot of winter photos online with gray, underexposed snow, which means the camera meter did what it was designed to do and the camera owner didn’t know how to use exposure compensation. The solution is quite simple provided you know what to do.
Sunset, Vermilion Lakes, Banff National Park
Bad weather can lead to great sunsets. It was rainy day with a leaden gray sky when I picked up my coat, photo backpack and tripod to leave the “fireplace room” at the bed and breakfast in Banff. Some of the other guests asked if I really expected to get any good pictures in the bad weather. “I hope so!”
Last Light on Mount Rundle
This is a lesson in patience. Most photographers missed this sunset. I was on location four separate evenings hoping to capture stunning sunset light on Mount Rundle. It only happened once. It also helps to know where to be, when, and how to meter in high contrast lighting situations.
Bobcat, Before and After a Tonality Adjustment
With the right software, you can do amazing things. There are some lighting situations where it is almost impossible, and certainly not practical, to get the correct white balance setting in the camera. This bobcat photo is an example. The best, fastest, and simplest solution is to get the right while balance setting after the fact using software like Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). A few minutes work with ACR can make a huge difference in the look of your photo.
Bumble Bee and Flowers
There are a lot of apps that claim to jazz up your iPhone and Android photos. A few of them will actually do wonderful things to your photos. If you want to turn some of your photos into “paintings”, there is a great app that will do that for you.
Lightning over Yukon
The unique photo above was taken during a thunderstorm over Yukon Oklahoma. The view is looking west on old U.S. 66, “the Mother Road”. You can see the lighted sign over the “Yukon’s Best Flour” mill. The sign is no longer on, so the Friends of Yukon are raising funds to relight the sign. To support this project, I am donating 20% of all sales of my Yukon Oklahoma prints to relight the sign.
War of 1812 Ceremony
When doing photographic coverage of events, it is important to do some closeup portraits of people involved in the event. I always look for participants with interesting faces.
The Strip, Las Vegas with Fireworks
You can point your camera at the sky in auto exposure and autofocus modes and fire away whenever you see a burst of fireworks, but for the best quality photos, it helps to know a few tricks of the trade. It’s easy when you know what to do.
Kristina, portrait on a covered front porch
On a sunny day, a covered porch can be ideal for portrait photography, especially if it is facing south. A covered porch gives you nice soft light which is ideal for portraits.
National Geographic’s Kurt Mutchler, Executive Editor, Photography
OK, admit it. If you are serious about your photography, you would like to see one of your photos in National Geographic. Sadly, the odds of that are about as good as they are for starting in an NBA basketball game. So the next best thing is to meet one of National Geographic’s photo editors. That dream came true for me last week.
Jumping Spider living in an Iowa kitchen
I visited my two sons over Memorial Day weekend, and coincidentally, both of them have spiders living in their homes (with their blessings).
Fountain Kiss, Bicentennial Park
I was working on my last photo of the day for the “Picture Today, Inspire Tomorrow” project on May 15 at ADAY.org (more info here). When I planned my day, I wanted to end up at the fountain at the new Bicentennial Park in Columbus, Ohio. It is a great place to take pictures. As I visualized the image ahead of time, children would be playing at the fountain, creating blurry silhouettes. I already have a “children in the fountain” photo in my files, but all photos had to be taken on May 15.
Portrait in the Park
May 15 was “Picture Today, Inspire Tomorrow” day. All around the world people were invited to take pictures of their day and upload them to ADAY.org. All photos had to be taken between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm local time. Uploads were limited to a maximum of 10 photos.
Balanced Rock, Arches National Park
If you are heading for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks (and you should if you are a photographer), I highly recommend you read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey before you go. No other book will give you quite the feel that Abbey does for what this harsh and unforgiving land was like more than a half century ago before it became more accessible to the average tourist.
Hands on the Keyboard
Tomorrow, May 15, is “Picture Today, Inspire Tomorrow” day. It is the day to take pictures of your daily life and be part of an international photo day. This is kind of like the “Day in the Life” books, except anyone can participate, it is international, and it is non-commercial. All photos must be taken on May 15 between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm local time.
