Photo Tip - How To Create Better Landscape Photography!

At some point in our photo lives, we all give landscape photography a try. And when we see the results, for the most part we are disappointed. Today's photo tip will help you move your landscape photos to a new level, and give you something you can hang on your wall with pride.

Landscape photography isn't easy! It would seem that all we have to do is find a pretty location, set up our camera and voila! We start winning contests left and right.

Not going to happen. In fact, I once read a quote from one of the greatest landscape photographers of all time - Ansel Adams - who said he felt lucky if he could get one good shot A MONTH!

By the way, the negatives of some of his best known works are almost unprintable. My personal opinion of Ansel Adams is that he was a pretty good photographer, but nothing extraordinary. His genius was in the darkroom.

Did you know that he didn't use a light to expose the negative onto the photo sensitive paper? He had some sort of convoluted setup of mirrors etc., where he funneled actual sunlight down onto his negatives. If it was nighttime or heavily overcast, he couldn't print!

Then he created an actual book of how long each individual section of the negative needed to be exposed and so forth. For example... the clouds for half a second, the trees for 3 seconds the foreground for 1 second and so on. It took a LONG time to work out how to print each negative.

After all that, he wound up throwing out as many prints as he kept. His printing standards were pretty high!

I say all of this to point out that even with digital cameras giving us immediate feedback, and Photoshop giving us a LOT of opportunities to fix mistakes, we STILL have trouble getting that "WOW" factor into our landscape photos.

Here is a way to immediately move ahead to the next level...

Light.

Perhaps more than any other style of photography, landscape photos rely on the quality of light to give us that "wow".

Look through all your photo magazines, books and courses and one common element is that almost NONE of the photos were shot around noon. Take a few minutes to check it out - it's true.

When were they shot?

Photo tip... Typically the best light you are going to get is at dawn through to about an hour past dawn - and sunset through to about an hour after the sun dips below the horizon.

You may have a terrific eye for landscape photography composition, exposure and so forth - but if you don't shoot at these optimal times, you are out of luck.

If you are a budding (or even a professional) photographer and the sun is out when you wake up in the morning, you have forever missed an opportunity. It's the same with watching the 6 o'clock news on television. If the sun goes down and you are at home...

For most of us, even if you have to be at work in the morning you will usually have enough time to get out there and practice your landscape photography - and still get to the office on time.

It's the same with kids. Leave them with the sleeping spouse, roll out of bed (while it is still dark) go to your pre-selected location, shoot from dawn to about an hour past and you can still get home before most of them even wake up!

Note: you don't need to drive to some distant mountain range. Just go to a local park, or shoot a nice looking building. You are learning to work with light. Then, when you are on vacation, you will have the skills needed to get the landscape shots you've been dreaming of.

I know this photo tip is basic, but this is just the first of a series. Keep reading the daily Photo Tips articles on landscape photography and you will be build a skill set to be envied! for more information, check out the resources box!

To learn more and enroll in a FREE "photo tips" course, go to: http://ontargetphototraining.com/

Bonus... You will also get YOUR free copy of "7 Secrets To Stunning Photos!" AND you'll get a FREE daily photo tips newsletter! Check it out right now while you are thinking about it!

Dan Eitreim has been a professional photographer in Southern California for over 20 years - his data base exceeds 6000 past clients, and he says that learning photography is easy, if you know a few tried and true strategies.

View the original article here

Photo Tip - How To Create A Three Light Portrait Photography Set, With No Lights!

In today's portrait photography photo tip we are going to wrap up our discussions of the three light set with a quick review and an example of how to build it set - with no lights! Just because you don't have any studio lights, doesn't mean you can't shoot quality images.

Here is a quick review... Most good portrait photography requires three lights.

Light #1 - this is the main (key) light and is used to establish the pattern and overall exposure settings.

Light #2 - this one is the fill light and is used (or not used) to fill in the shadows created by the main. This one should be set at the same or less intensity as the key light so that it doesn't cast its own shadows.

Light #3 - this one is the background (separation) light and is used to visually separate the subject from the backdrop. It is placed behind the subject and can be aimed either at the background or at the subject.

When aimed at the backdrop, it creates a lighter area behind the subject so they don't blend into the background. Adding colored gels can make the backdrop any color you desire.

When aimed at the subject it creates a "halo" or "rim" of light around the subject. It's this rim of light that separates the subject from the background. The exposure value is generally a bit brighter than the main light.

The vast majority of amateur photographers never attempt the three light setup and their portrait photographs suffer because of it. Give it a shot! Once you are comfortable setting up and shooting with a three light set, you will never go back.

By the way... if you have been avoiding the three light set because you don't have three lights - that's no excuse! Here is an example of a three light set...

First we set our model so that the sun is at her back (out of view of the camera). This will create a rim of light around her and visually separate her from the background. This is light #3.

Then we use a reflector placed in front and to the side of her. This will reflect the light from the sun back into her face and - depending on where we put it - will create whatever light pattern we want and establish the main exposure settings.

We can move the reflector closer or further away from our model to get the exposure we want. Ideally this is an exposure of half a stop or so less than the separation rim of light. This is light #1.

Another reflector set at the correct angle and distance from the model will fill in the shadows and become our fill light - light #2.

The above three light set is easy to create - costs next to nothing - and will give you professional quality portrait photography. Add in the fact that commercially made reflectors can fold up to a very small size and you can toss a few into the trunk of your car and you will always have them available!

Your mission - should you decide to accept it - is to give it a try. Practice this until you are comfortable working with a three light set - THEN go out and buy whatever lighting equipment you want. You'll know what you need and it won't end up in the closet where you store all your unused photo gadgets!

Today's portrait photography photo tip is that you don't need actual lights to create a three light portrait photography set! Reflectors and the sun will do the job very nicely!

To learn more and enroll in a FREE "photo tips" course, go to: http://ontargetphototraining.com/

Bonus... You will also get YOUR free copy of " 7 Secrets To Stunning Photos! " AND you'll get a FREE daily photo tips newsletter! Check it out right now while you are thinking about it!

Dan Eitreim has been a professional photographer in Southern California for over 20 years - his data base exceeds 6000 past clients, and he says that learning photography is easy, if you know a few tried and true strategies.

View the original article here