View Post

Compensating for Something?

In The Craft, Tutorials &Technique, Uncategorized, Workflow & Technical Issues by David39 Comments

This is another long one, but if you’ve ever struggled to understand Exposure Value Compensation (or never used it), this might help. Put the coffee on and settle in for a bit. Skipping past the inevitable moment when I’m walking around with my 600mm lens and someone asks if I’m compensating for something, the answer is generally yes. I am. But it’s …

View Post

Refine Your Mood in the Darkroom

In Lightroom & Workflow, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique by David19 Comments

In my last post (August 06), I discussed a few ways to improve the mood in our photographs, namely by finding stronger mood in the first place, usually by looking for more interesting light or more interesting weather. Just getting out there earlier and staying later helps. Some weatherproof gear and a willingness not to baby the camera so much …

View Post

Find the Light, Find the Mood.

In The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique by David19 Comments

“How do you photograph that great light?” is one of the top three questions I’m asked about how I make my photographs. It’s a good question because the camera sees light differently than we do, and unless you know what’s possible, you’ll struggle with retaining the mood of beautiful light. That struggle is more difficult for photographers who are still chained to …

View Post

One Photograph, Many Choices

In Photographically Speaking, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique, Workflow & Technical Issues by David56 Comments

Being able to dissect an image is a helpful skill. Looking at a photograph and identifying the various choices that led to the look and feel of that image, even when it’s your own (maybe especially when it’s your own) makes us stronger photographers that are more fluent in the visual language. I’ve been talking a lot lately about the …

View Post

Masking and Lightroom Presets

In Lightroom & Workflow, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique, Workflow & Technical Issues by David46 Comments

What I’m about to show you is my favourite discovery of the year in terms of my workflow. I tend to do a lot of the same kinds of adjustments to similar photographs, especially when creating a body of work. I might globally add some exposure and contrast, tweak some colours, and then apply a mask to my main subject …

View Post

3 Ways To Give Your Images Their Best Chance

In Lightroom & Workflow, Resources, The Craft, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique by David36 Comments

Watch the 7-minute video above, or keep reading if you prefer the written word. In my last video I resumed a conversation I’ve been dying to come back to. Specifically: Why do photographers get so intimidated by the edit and the “now what?” that comes once we put the camera down? And are we missing important creative opportunities? For years, …

View Post

A Better Edit Makes Better Photographs

In Lightroom & Workflow, Resources, The Craft, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique by David69 Comments

Take a few minutes to watch the video above or, if you’re more of a written word person, keep reading. When I came home from Kenya last year, I had a hard drive filled to busting with 30,000 images. I’d been photographing for 30 days, so that’s a daily average of 1,000 photographs which, it turns out, is really easy …