PhotoTube.info is a website dedicated to photography videos containing tips for producing HDR, infrared, landscape, portrait, flash, macro, night, and product photographs. It is a relatively new website but already contains hundreds of instructional videos. Here is a list of some of the most viewed videos:
DSLR Tips: Night Photography
Strobist Preliminaries
DSLR Tips: How to blur backgrounds on portraits
DSLR Tips: How to blur water for a dreamy effect
Merge to HDR in Photoshop
Long Exposure Turorial
DSLR Tips: Using polarizing filters
Secrets of Amazing HDR Photography
Night Photography: Finding Your Way in the Dark
HDR Photography
Strobist Softbox Technique Tutorial
In-Camera HDR Using Multiple Exposure
Photoshop Tutorial: Creating an HDR Image from a Single RAW File
Canon T2i 550D HDR Tutorial
Shooting the Moon
Landscape Photography Tips: Creative Composition
20 Essential Things for Landscape Photography
It is easy to see which videos have been Recently Added, Most Viewed, and Top Rated as well as many categories. PhotoTube is definitely worth checking out! Oh, by the way, it is completely free!
Summary: I highly recommend Digital Landscape Photography by John and Barbara Gerlach. If you are at all interested in landscape photography, get this book! Digital Landscape Photography covers cameras, lenses, exposure, composition, HDR, and panoramas.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Landscapes are Everywhere
Chapter 2. Cameras and Accessories
Chapter 3. Choosing and Using Lenses
Chapter 4. Mastering Exposure
Chapter 5. Techniques for Sharp Images
Chapter 6. Light on the Landscape
Chapter 7. Composing Pleasing Images
Chapter 8. Special Subjects
Chapter 9. High Dynamic Range Images
Chapter 10. Panoramas
Review: The chapter on cameras and accessories emphasizes investing in a camera system not just the camera. The authors recommend Canon and Nikon cameras because both brands have an excellent selection of lenses and accessories. This is the same advice that I give my students. The book is filled with excellent tips such as how to use a back button to auto-focus rather than having the shutter button initiate the auto-focus function. 34 out of 36 customer reviews on Amazon, give Digital Landscape Photography 4 stars and above with 26 5 star reviews. This is an outstanding book that is clearly written and informative. Click to continue »
Warning! Even though burning steel wool creates spectacular effects, it is dangerous and you need to take safety precautions for yourself and everything around you!!
The first video does a great job of giving you a brief rundown of how to take photographs of burning steel wool but I highly recommend that you also view the second video before trying out the technique. The second video goes into much greater depth about the process and the reasons for needing to be safe.
Night Photography: Finding Your Way in the Dark is a amazing book that has many examples of fantastic night photographs as well as step-by-step instructions for how to get the same kind of results.
Crafting Reality: Painting with Light is an inspiring eBook by Eric Curry. The photographs in the eBook look like HDR images but they are created in quite a different way. Small sections of the subject are illuminated from different directions then merged together with Photoshop. Eric goes into detail about how to take the photographs and the settings to use in Photoshop.
Throughout his eBook, Eric emphasizes that you should think and plan your shots.
So often during my public presentations and coaching new photographers I advise them to think in terms of “concepts.” Do not just go out into the environment and photograph neat stuff you happen to see, but take the next step and envision an idea first, then try to create that vision you see in your mind’s eye.
This is good advice and Eric spends a lot of time telling you how to plan a photoshoot. He tells you what he does and why as well as which equipment he uses. Crafting Reality: Painting with Light is an extremely thorough how-to book and I highly recommend it.
Summary:The Digital Photography Book, Part 4 by Scott Kelby is a worthy addition to his series of digital photography books. It picks up where volume 3 left off and, like the other books in the series, contains many useful tips written in a non-technical, conversational style.
Scott Kelby, author of The Digital Photography Book(the best-selling digital photography book of all time), is back with another follow-up to his smash best-seller, with an entirely new book that picks up right where volume 3 left off. It’s even more of that “Ah ha, so that’ s how they do it,” straight-to-the-point, skip-the-techno-jargon stuff people can really use today, and that made volume 1 the world’s best-selling book on digital photography.
Best Digital SLR Cameras is a new website that I have created dedicated to spotlighting Amazon’s best selling DSLR cameras. The cameras are broken down into entry level, enthusiast, and professional categories. If you are in the market for a new DSLR camera, this is the place to shop!
My Take: If you are thinking about going pro, read this post by Nigel Merrick. Nigel is a professional photographer, blogger and business coach for other working photographers. Nigel’s blog ( http://www.zenologue.com/ ) helps professional photographers find peace in their business, love from their clients, and happiness in their personal lives by clarifying their focus on business and marketing.When you create your business plan, you must target your market and determine what services or kinds of photography you plan to sell. “Everyone and everything” are not the correct answers to these questions. The way you promote yourself will be determined by how you answer these questions. If you aren’t targeted, your efforts will be unfocused and ineffective.
As something of an interesting experiment, I asked my Twitter followers to answer the question: “What are the top business errors by ‘rookie’ photographers?” Within just a few minutes I had several great responses, and thought they would make a great article.
It’s one thing to be a great photographer, but very much another to be the owner of a successful photography business. In fact, I’ve seen far too many technically talented photographers suffer through difficult times, while observing others who seem less qualified sail right on by.
The main difference in these two outcomes lies in the photographer’s understanding of the importance of business knowledge.
You’re A Photography Business Owner – Not A Photographer Click to continue »
The Photographer’s Ephemeris is an application that will let you know when the sun and moon rise and set plus a lot more than you might expect. Here is a list of key features:
Time and direction of sunrise and sunset
Time and direction of moonrise and moonset
Phase of the moon and % illumination
Times of civil, nautical and astronomical twilight
Graphical display on a map
Save any location you want – no fixed lists
Automatic time zone detection for any location on earth
Determines elevation above sea level
View azimuth and altitude of sun/moon for any time of day/night
Distance, bearing and elevation angle between any two points
Find when the sun/moon will appear from behind a hill
Compensation for atmospheric refraction
Compensation for elevation above the horizon
Does not require network connection for rise/set times and azimuths. (Note: maps and elevation do require a data connection)
Being able to see the direction that the sun and moon will rise and set is extremely helpful. Rather than scanning the horizon, you know in advance where to look. It is also helpful that The Photographer’s Ephemeris takes into account your elevation. The higher you are, the sooner you will see the sun and moon rise and the longer they will be visible when they set. Being able to save locations is another feature that I appreciate.
The desktop application of The Photographer’s Ephemeris is free. The iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch version is $8.99 via iTunes and the Android version is $4.99 through the Android Market. I don’t know why they have such a price difference between the iOS and Android versions. I have an iPhone and iPad so ponied up the $8.99 and am glad I did. It runs well and solves some frustrations when I am trying to shoot the moon and sun. I can now plan way ahead and predict exactly where the sun and moon will be on the horizon. If you only occationally need information about the sun and moon, you can stick with PhotoBuddy on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and just download the free version of The Photographer’s Ephemeris.
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DSLR Tips: Night Photography
