Pierre Steenberg

Luminosity Masks

May 01, 2016 • Leave a Comment

I must admit that I am more of a photographer than an image editor. I come from shooting slide film. Nothing could be corrected or fixed after the development of the film. Many people process images using luminosity masks today. Luminosity masks are masks made by brightness not color. The masks are already feathered. So if you want to just impact t...

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Slow down

April 24, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Slow down. Slow down with your composition decisions - a tripod kind of forces you to slow down. Slow down in your planning so that you do not forget to think about something. Slow down and make sure that every setting on your camera is right for the situation. Now when the light changes you have to work and move fast, so there is a time for slowin...

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Foreground, middle-ground, and background

April 17, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Not all images require a foreground (especially when using telephotos in your landscapes). Not all images require a background (we sometime deliberately blur the background). Not all images need a foreground, middle-ground, and a background all in one image. When you find an opportunity to get a good foreground with a good middle-ground and a good...

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Use your feet

April 10, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Ansel Adams was reported to once saying something like "the difference between a great image and a good image is a few feet". Moving a little this way or that way can impact an image greatly, especially so when using a wide angle lens. This is also one of the reasons why so many landscape photographers prefer prime (fixed focal length) lenses. They...

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After the rain

April 03, 2016 • Leave a Comment

When a storm is through get out to shoot. Water adds interest to most shots. Go to locations where the water forms ponds. This is why it is important to know your surroundings well. When the storm is through the water will not stay above ground for long, especially given California's drought. You will need to know where to go, now is not the time t...

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Spring is in the air

March 27, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Spring is in the air. The flowers are out. Have you been out to shoot? To get the shot you have to be out there... I typically drive during the middle of the day checking out possible locations before returning in the good light, quickly hitting many spots. On this particular day it was overcast and the light was defused so I decided to shoot. I...

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Shooting forest streams: Part III

March 20, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Have a look at this image: Here we are not really shooting upstream or downstream, although you do look downstream as the water turns back into the image (top left). This is an image where we shot more across the stream, just with a little angle applied to it. I really like this image because it combines a lot of elements. We have a nice strong f...

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Shooting forest streams: Part II

March 13, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Most of the time we shoot forest streams by either pointing the camera downstream or upstream. This makes a lot of sense since the stream forms a line for the eye to follow. However, as we said last week, these images can get repetitive. Rather than just point the camera, as we said many times before, look for interesting foreground elements to add...

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Shooting forest streams: Part I

March 06, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Part of the reason I love landscape photography is actually not about getting images but being there; enjoying the scenery. It just seems to recharge me. It is so peaceful and often very quiet. At other times I love shooting forest streams because of the pleasant noise the streaming water makes. As still (versus video) photographers we do not captu...

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Look for and add interest

February 28, 2016 • Leave a Comment

We enjoy a great walk in a forest. Forest footpaths make for some good photographic subject matter, but how many footpath shots can you shoot before they become repetitive? A forest footpath is a forest footpath. To increase the photograph's appeal we look for different footpaths; perhaps one that is winding, or one that has a nice S curve, or one...

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