It's always a good idea to look back before heading forward. So as is tradition, we end 2012 with a rundown of your favorites and my favorites from the year.
As is not tradition (and because of a special circumstance) this likely will not the last post of the year. Pics, posts and an explanation, below. Read more »
Strobist
Christmas has come and gone and being based in Australia – where Summer is in full swing – the dPS team are all feeling the call to the beach after what’s been a busy year!
Image by Kennymatic
I know it might be hard to hear for some of you snowed in in the Northern Hemisphere but the sun is shining and the temperature is rising over here and most Aussies take a couple of weeks off at this time of year.
But don’t fret – while we’re at the beach we’ve lined up some great content for you here on dPS so you can get your photographic ‘fix’.
Here’s what will happen:
Over the next week we’ve lined up a bit of a look back on the year that has been. In 2011 we published over 500 tutorials here on dPS – too many to have really taken in. So over this next week we’ll be presenting some ‘best of’ posts where we’ll publish themed collections of our best stuff from the last year.
Later today we’ll kick it off with a collection of our hottest landscape photography posts written this year. Each day there will be a new theme.
In our second week (10 days actually) we’ll be posting some great new content – but we’ll just post once a day instead of our normal twice a day schedule.
Also please note: over the next two weeks you may not see a newsletter from us – but we’ll make the following one a great one!
All will be back to normal come 10th January though! In fact it’ll be better than ever as we’ll hopefully be returned relaxed, healthy and with a bronzed healthy ‘we’ve been in the sun look’.
Lastly – let me take this opportunity to wish the wider dPS community a very Happy New Year. I hope that 2012 has been a good one for you and would like to send you our best wishes for 2013!
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
dPS Summer Series Starts Today
Some of the most popular posts on dPS this year have been those covering the topic of Landscape photography.
From the post ‘Composing Dynamic Landscape Images’ by Todd Sisson
So as part of our ‘best of 2012′ series I thought I’d look back on the hottest landscape tutorials for the year gone by.
Here they are – in no particular order.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
What Everybody Ought to Know About Landscape Photography [Best of dPS 2012]
On the 12th Day of Christmas dPS gave to me – one last chance to get all previous deals PLUS the chance to win $ 1200 in photographic gear!
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been launching a series of great daily photography deals to dPS readers. The savings this year were bigger than we’ve ever had before and we’ve had some really encouraging feedback from our readers – thanks so much for participating in the fun this year.
As our final deal we’re opening all of the deals in this years campaign back up so that those of you who may have missed one have one final chance.
And because it is Christmas Eve (and in some parts of the world is already Christmas Day) and many of our readers are away for a few days we’ve decided to leave all of these deals open until the calander clicks over to 2013 (Eastern US time).
Not only that – we’ve also convinced 9 of last years partners to reopen their deals for one last time too as a bonus.
We’re also excited to share with you a prize that’s up for grabs to anyone who has snapped up one of more of the deals (more on that below).
So if you head to the 12 Days of Christmas page you’ll now see a whopping 2 deals are open!
Here’s what you can get your hands on as a last minute Christmas gift for a loved one (or yourself)!
Note: we’re hearing from a lot of readers that they’re giving our eBooks as gifts by downloading them onto USB sticks and wrapping the USB sticks up as the present – loaded up with some great photography education.
And don’t forget we’ve also re-opened 9 of last years deals too. There are some really great deals in this lot!
Every purchase made gives you one entry into the draw to win a photographic prize to the value of $ 1200 USD.
You know what your kit need the most – so we thought we’d let you choose. You can put it towards a new DSLR, a new Lens (or two), a Flash, an Apple computer, Photoshop or anything else (based upon recommended retail price on Amazon, Apple or B&H Photo).
To enter – simply pick up one of the deals featured on the 12 Deals page. Pick up two and you’ve got two entries in the draw (each purchase gives you another entry in the draw).
If you’ve already picked up a deal or two – you’re already in the draw with one entry for each purchase.
This competition is open to all international reader – if you win we’ll get you your prize wherever you are.
So head over to the 12 Days of Christmas Page and pick up yourself some great photographic deals!
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
20 Amazing Photography Deals and a $ 1200 Prize: Open for 1 Week Only
The clock has ticked over to 25 December here in Melbourne Australia and I wanted to take a moment on a day that means a lot to my family to wish you and yours a peaceful end to the year.
Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, another holiday or are just looking forward to New Years I hope that this time of year is one in which you find rest but also manage to find some time to get out and about with your camera!
Thanks for your readership and support of dPS – without you dPS would be just a shadow of what it is!
For those celebrating Christmas – here’s some of our past tutorials that might come in handy today (some specifically Christmas related while others might help you capture different aspects of the celebrations):
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Christmas Greetings from dPS [And some Holiday Reading!]
Lightroom is a powerful editor with a huge set of tools, though we usually need a limited set for specific photo types. So I’d like to go through editing of a landscape photo to see what cool things Lightroom 4 offers us. Let’s see what we can do on the example of one of my photos I took in the Continue Reading
The post How to Process Landscape Photos in Lightroom 4 appeared first on Photodoto.
You’ve been reading their articles for months or years, have you ever wondered “Who are the photographers who write for dPS”? We thought it would be a good time to introduce them to you through a series of interviews. No worries, Darren will get his turn too!
Today meet Peter West Carey, Seattle and LA based photographer and long time contributor for Digital Photography School.
I became addicted to photography about 22 years ago. I started shooting professionally five years ago.
I live a freelance lifestyle, which means a little of this and a little of that. I earn my wages from writing about photography on DPS and other sites, teaching photography through local and international workshops, leading photography tours to Nepal, Bhutan and Hawaii (and sometimes Alaska) as well as shooting occasional weddings, portraits and products. It’s a mix of all things photography.
I’m going to go broad on this one and call it “Outdoor”. That’s mostly landscape photography but in my mind that also includes travel photography, which some people consider a separate genre. The majority of my travel photography includes landscapes. Can I call it “Outdoor Travel” and cover it all?
I started writing for DPS in the Spring of 2008 when the blog had about 30,000 subscribers.
I shoot with a Canon 7D and 28-300mm L lens most of the time. I also use a Canon EF 10-22mm wide angle lens. Throw on top of that a Tamron 90mm Macro as a kick around lens I picked up for doing some work for them. I use f-stop bags (the Satori and Guru being two excellent bags) and have recently fallen in love with a Think Tank Aviation Navigator roller bag. That bag will help keep my back from bending out of shape. I have three flashes (580 EX II, 580 EX and 420 EX) and some gel filters and Gary Fong adapters for them. I use Singh Ray graduated filters and Hoya haze filters. I also test a variety of gear throughout the year, thanks to shops like BorrowLenses.com and often use Nikon and Pentax gear. I’m not one to be a brand snob; I’ll use whatever is handed to me as long as it produces quality results and won’t take me five hours to read the manual.
My number one tip to a new photographer is to look at light all the time, not just when you have a camera. Start asking questions about how light is falling on the street where you walk to work, the trees above you or the buildings. How does it reflect off surfaces and what is the quality of the light at different times of day. Also, how does the same subject (building, for instance) look in different light? Photography is about capturing light and the sooner you start thinking critically about the light around you every day, the sooner you can improve on capturing that light.
I am hell bent on finishing a series I started on my blog in October called 31+ Days Of Photography Experiments and then turning it into an ebook for those taking my photography classes. The best way to learn photography is to do it, all the time. And to keep learning by experimenting. I am halfway through the series with 20 days of free photography experiments already listed, but I need to hammer out the remaining 15 or so.
I am on the normal slew of sites: Facebook, Twitter, 500px, Google+, Flickr, Etsy, Pinterest. I have a blog and a professional site where people can learn more about the photo tours I lead. I love to help people learn more about photography and that is the main reason I write for DPS. If you have a specific photography question, drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer it either here or on my blog. And lastly, a link to the 31+ Days Of Photography Experiments previously mentioned. http://thecareyadventures.com/blog/2012/31-days-of-photography-experiments/
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Meet The Photographers Who Write For Digital Photography School ~ Peter West Carey
The Color control in Lightroom is a powerful tool for selective color adjustments. This tool allows photographers to adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance of individual color tones. One application of this functionality is enhancing blue skies:
Photo of the famous Sydney Opera House with blue sky enhanced in Lightroom
In Lightroom 4, the Color control allows separate control of red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue, purple, and magenta:
Lightroom 4 Color Controls
A quick way to emphasize a blue sky is to lower the luminosity and increase the saturation of the blues and aquas in the image:
With and without color adjustments
For this image, here are the settings I used:
Aqua
Blue
For extra credit, save these settings as a develop preset so that you can quickly apply them later. Note that settings that work to bring out the sky in one photo won’t be perfect for all photos, but this should give you a good starting point.
Here are the settings you need to capture for a sky enhancing preset:
Settings for a sky-enhancing Lr preset
For more detailed information on creating Lightroom Develop Presets, check out this post: 5 Tips for a Faster Lightroom Workflow.
I hope this technique proves useful next time you have a sky that needs just a little more oomph. I’d like you hear your thoughts on this article, please comment below or feel free to connect with me through Facebook or Google+. I’ll do my best to answer questions and reply to comments.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Enhancing Blue Skies in Lightroom
Every time we survey our readers about their photography the #1 thing that they tell us that they are pointing their cameras at is… PEOPLE.
So today in our 12 Days of Christmas we decided to put together a bundle of 3 eBooks to help you perfect your portraiture.
1. The Essential Guide to Portrait Photography – struggling to take portraits with that WOW factor?
This ebook will help you achieve your true potential as a portrait photographer (learn more about it here).
2. The Art of Self Portraiture – Self Portraiture is something that many artistic greats have engaged in both as a way of honing their craft but also as a way of expressing themselves.
Self-Portraiture in photography can similarly help improve your photographic technique as well as give you a way to show off who you really are (learn more about it here).
3. Click: How to Take Gorgeous Photos of Your Kids – Kids are one of the most photographed subjects by users of digital cameras – however they’re also one of the most challenging.
Click! is an eBook all about empowering parents, grandparents and others with kids in their lives to take kid portraits that are both beautiful and reflect the personalities of the children in the shots (learn more about it here).
These 3 eBooks normally retail for $ 70 but today we’re offering them for just $ 19 – that’s 73% off (our biggest discount of the whole 12 days). You can order your bundle of 3 Portrait eBooks here – for 24 hours only.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
DEAL: 73% Off our Perfect Portrait Pack [Today Only]
Today’s deal in our 12 Deals of Christmas features a great eBook from one of our regular dPS writers – James Brandon.
‘Tack Sharp – A Step By Step Guide to Nailing Focus‘ is all about – as the title suggests’ getting consistently sharp images.
There’s nothing worse than getting back to your computer to look at your shots after a day of shooting only to have that sinking feeling when you realise your shots were not quite in focus.
This eBook will identify small things that you can build into your shooting style that’ll eliminate that sinking feeling and help you achieve consistently tack sharp images for years to come.
For today only it is just $ 5.97 (40% off the normal price) if you use the coupon code of CHRISTMAS during the checkout process.
In this eBook you will:
Tack Sharp was written for anyone who has ever struggled with getting sharp images in different situations. Maybe you recently purchased a fast lens, but can’t figure out why the camera keeps focusing on the wrong part of the subject. Or perhaps you feel as if you’re doing everything right but still come out with slightly soft images. This process can be extremely frustrating and hard to deal with.
Within the pages of this ebook, you’ll discover the tips and tricks used by the pros to take full control over the advanced systems of focus within today’s digital camera systems. Along the way you’ll see actual examples of images where these practices were put in place, often times in situations where focus would have been next to impossible to achieve otherwise. If you struggle with getting consistently sharp images then look no further, this ebook is for you!
Grab your copy today for just $ 5.97 (40% off) when you use the coupon code of CHRISTMAS during the checkout process.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Tack Sharp – A Step By Step Guide to Nailing Focus: 40% off Today Only
