Klass Photography Article Archive
Photo Location: South of the Border
South of the Border is a classic icon of American kitsch. The amazing color and subject matter make this fertile ground for any photographer. During a recent trip this spring, this tourist trap along the side of Interstate 95, in South Carolina, made for a rewarding shoot.
Photographing in the Dark
As nature photographers, we often don't think of venturing outside after the sun has set. While ordinarily this is true, there are some exciting images that can be made without the sun's light. This article explores some techniques like painting with light, and shooting star trails that can open up a whole new world of photogenic subjects. From my beginnings photographing low-light scenes in the world's longest cave, to applying these techniques to night images, several techniques for successfully capturing images in the dark are explored.
Digital Photo Archiving
With some of the recent advances in digital technology, it is easier and more affordable than ever to keep your images safe. By protecting yourself from hard drive failure with a simple method of automatic backup, you can make certain that your best images are around for years to come. This article explores some of these new technologies, and how they can be applied to your daily work-flow.
Understanding the Unsharp Mask
Sharpening your images in Photoshop can sometimes be a topic of confusion for photographers. The Unsharp Mask tool can be a powerful help to give certain images that extra zip they need to pop off the page, but used with a heavy hand, and the resulting halos can ruin your print. This article presents two popular methods for sharpening your images, and gives step-by-step instructions for when and how to use both techniques.
Developing Your Vision
We spend time learning new techniques, mastering digital tools, but how often do we concentrate on developing a personal style. Nurturing your creativity isn't an easy thing to do. It's a long road to travel, but there are some methods that are useful in making the trip a success. By redefining how you look at the process of creativity, and how you approach your subject, you can work towards crystallizing your personal vision. This article presents some practical tips to get you jump-started in the process.
Photographing From Your Canoe
A canoe can be a great tool to "sneak" up on wildlife, capture images from just off the water's surface, or begin a grand photo adventure. During my time and Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota and the Buffalo National River in Arkansas, my canoe was integral to my photography. This article focuses on some tips and tricks that can help you make the most of this unique tool. You'll learn to keep both yourself and your equipment safe, while you explore the new creative options possible.
Using the Shadows and Highlights Tool
The Shadows and Highlights tool in Photoshop is great for bringing life to images whose tone is difficult to correct with conventional color correction tools like levels or curves. This special tool targets the bright and dark areas of your image separately, allowing you to bring detail back into these spaces. It is a quick and easy way of dealing with the often high-contrast lighting of sunrises and sunsets.
Understanding Your Hand Held Flash
In this first part of the upcoming series on better understanding the flash, we begin with the basics. This article gives a well grounded description of how the modern flash "thinks", and how to program it to achieve both full and fill flash. Examples of images using fill flash are shown, and the article aims to give readers a good understanding of the basics of flash use. Next month, we'll look into some more advanced techniques like shutter drag and creative manual flash use for low-light scenes.
Photo Destination: Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park can best be characterized as a land of extremes. It is the largest national park south of Alaska, and at over 3 million acres in size, offers a lot for photographers. From the amazing Badwater Ultra-Marathons to patterns in the Sand Dunes and the great salt flats, this park is one of our hidden gems. Come and explore this unique and beautiful park.
Print Your Own Holiday Cards
Create your own holiday cards with this video and printed article outline all of the steps involved. This is a great project if you send cards during the holiday season, or if you want a special gift to give others. Using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Bridge, I explore techniques for arranging both images and text to create your custom card.