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Winter is Coming
When you’re shooting, do you lose track of your physical self?Bryce Canyon National Park is gorgeous at any time of year – but there’s nothing quite like shooting there after a heavy snowfall. We made...
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A Complicated Blend: The Coming Storm
Sometimes, I can finish post-production work in just a few minutes… and sometimes, it takes a lot longer. This shot from Snowmass Wilderness in Colorado was a real challenge. Let me see if I can give...
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What Sells: Collections
When you present your images for sale, consider using gallery features that allow you to group your images into categories based upon similarities. For example, I have a gallery that is dedicated only...
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Making Targeted Adjustments with Masks
I use masks in Photoshop all the time. Take a look at the layers and masks I used to process this photograph from Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. You can see that I used a mask on all but my...
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Critique Your Own Work
This is a shot from Bean Hollow State Park in California. It’s not one of my favorite shots – and it won’t make it to my portfolio or my website. So why am I posting it here? Well – I believe that we...
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Color or Monochrome?
When I decide to convert an image to monotone, it’s usually because I want to change what the image is about. What does that mean exactly? Well, take a look at this example.Here’s a photograph of a...
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Goodbye to Winter
I stood by the window a few weeks ago, watching new snow fall on the snowdrops by the door. The tiny, white flowers were tightly closed against the chill – waiting for a moment of warmth. They were a...
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Varina and Jay on This Week in Photo #307
Check out TWiP episode #307, where Varina and Jay Patel talk with Frederick Van Johnson and Topher Martini. We talk about the latest mirror-less cameras, our individual post-processing workflows, and...
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Landscape Photography: Maximizing Sales Potential
You never know what a buyer will want – and each buyer is different. But, over the past several years, we’ve learned a few things about maximizing the potential of our portfolios. Here are a few tips...
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Getting Ready to Shoot Autumn
When I was a child, autumn was my favorite season. I loved the appearance of the first colored leaves – and the inevitable explosion of red and gold as the maples shifted their hue. And shooting fall...
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Smooth Curves
This shot is about color and form. I chose a very narrow depth of field to simplify the image as much as possible, and give it a smooth, ethereal quality. I chose the composition to accentuate the...
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Lower Grinnell Lake
I love Grinnell Glacier Trail. The hike is about 12 miles, with about 1500 feet of elevation gain – so it’s not an easy one… but with breathtaking view like this one along the way, it’s well worth the...
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Into the Light
I love to shoot at Cannon Beach. I fact, I spent some time experimenting with low light photography right on this very beach with my good old Canon 10D (this photograph was taken with a Canon 5D). I...
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Leading the Eye
When I am planning a composition, I am constantly thinking about leading the eye. How can I make sure that my viewer is noticing the most important elements in my image? How can I keep my viewer’s eye...
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Composing Photos with Leading Lines
Leading lines are one of those elegant elements of an effective composition that lots of photographers are eager to use. Leading lines direct the viewer’s attention through a photograph or toward an...
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Circles in the Sand
This is a shot from White Sands in New Mexico. I found this lonely little bush at the base of a huge dune – and noticed that it had drawn circles around itself… with a little help from the wind. As...
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Mirror, Mirror
If you are willing to cross Calf Creek at the end of the Calf Creek Falls Trail, you’ll find this pretty little reflecting pool. We arrived there at the height of the fall season – when the trees were...
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Spots
Arizona’s soil is a crazy mix of pink and orange and yellow and brown. The sandstone is made up of shifting forms – hoodoos and cliffs and gullies and buttes and canyons – and they are textured with...
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Echoes of the Wave
While I was photographing seals on a beach in Redwood Forest National Park, I noticed this glowing ridge about two miles away. I got in the car and drove closer to see if I could get a photo. This...
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Composition: Why Size Matters
If you have ever taken photographs in a forest, you know that it can be challenging to find a good composition in a cluttered environment. One of the techniques we use for cluttered scenes like these...
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