The end of any year provides a great opportunity to reflect—time to reflect on goals, dreams, aspirations, progress, setbacks, hopes, and challenges. Keeping goals and a clear vision in your mind of what you want to create can be a powerful tool in bringing them to reality. This visualization has helped me progress in multiple aspects in my life, perhaps...
"Like many successful people, Gage Thompson didn’t wait for work to come to him—he sought it out." Perhaps this is why PDN Magazine recently named Gage an "All-Star Assistant." Gage was recognized not only for his array of photography skills, but also his unwavering work ethic and great sense of humor. Gage has worked with many notable photographers, including widely...
Typically when we think of spiders and insects, or "bugs," we get a little squeamish, anxious, and even panicked. However, if we were to get up close and personal with these little critters, we may find that they’re not quite as menacing as we think. Just ask macro photographer, Colin Hutton. Colin is photographing these creatures in a whole new light. And...
In the world of photography, there never seems to be a year when there’s not something on our wish lists. Holidays are often the time we hope to see that new DSLR under the tree, more memory cards stuffed inside our stockings, or perhaps unwrap a gift to discover the latest version of our favorite software. As photographers, we all...
When it comes to action sports, there are a few basic camera settings and features that cannot only make or break an image, but with a little planning can help make an outstanding image. Let’s talk about four camera features that I use often to create distinctive action sports images: a high framing rate; high ISO settings; rear curtain sync...
Like most people, I am not lucky enough to be independently wealthy, so I must go to work every weekday. As I sit in traffic I get to enjoy the beautiful golden hour light on my hour long commute over the mountains near Los Angeles. I've witnessed many great sunrises and sunsets as I am driving along I-15, and although...
Marc Muench (www.muenchphotography.com) has been a professional landscape and sports photographer for over 20 years. Marc is now the "artist in residence" at dgrin.com for Smugmug, where he contributes on a regular basis to the "Muench University" critique thread. He is currently the photo editor of the National Parks guide, published by The American Park Network, which contain many of...
Dissecting Italy with highly selective cropping is an approach that makes your images more intimate. Less post-card-ish. Choosing this less-is-more attitude is a first step to showing your personal style in your travel images. Here are some ideas that will help you get selective. First you find yourself attracted to a door (we photographers have strange attractions), and you photograph...
David Cleland (www.flixelpix.com) is a landscape and reportage photographer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is best known for his landscape and documentary photography, which has been featured in a number of photographic exhibitions. David also teaches film and animation applying the rules of still photography to the art of moving image. David’s work has been accepted by Getty Images...
Marc Muench (www.muenchphotography.com) has been a professional landscape and sports photographer for over 20 years. Marc is now the "artist in residence" at dgrin.com for Smugmug, where he contributes on a regular basis to the "Muench University" critique thread. He is currently the photo editor of the National Parks guide, published by The American Park Network, which contain many of...
Photographer Andy Williams (www.muenchworkshops.com) has been a photographer all of his life. Andy has been teaching professional workshops since 2005, covering some of the major national parks in the West: Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. His horse workshops with Lynne Glazer have become favorites of photographers of all levels. His work can be seen on Moon River Photography. Long fascinated...
Adrian Parkinson (www.adrianmarie.com) is a freelance food and lifestyle photographer based out of Utah. Her love for photography has pushed her in several directions, including portrait photography, which has combined in interesting ways with her photographs of people and the food they love. ADRIAN'S PHILOSOPHY OF FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY Adrian: "I believe in a simple, direct approach to food photography that...
The roadside photographs must continue, and an area that is best visited in the winter, spring, and fall is Tucson, Arizona. Flooded with snowbirds in the winter, people who move to the warmth during the cold months from the northern United States, Tucson sits in a fairly flat valley with the famous Saguaro National Parks on both sides. Sitting just...
Bryan Peterson has updated his book "Understanding Exposure" (Amphoto, 2011) yet again, and has successfully created a methodology by which a beginning photographer can start to understand the techniques of using the in-camera metering system in a dSLR or film camera. Overall, this is a perfect book for people who have recently picked up photography or who have advanced...
Although not the first national park in the United States (to which Yellowstone has the honor), Yosemite National Park was the first area set aside by the United States federal government for preservation and protection, an action raised in the 38th US Congress and signed off by Abraham Lincoln. This was the beginning of the Yosemite Grant, which set aside...
