We constantly preach the necessity of trying new techniques and expanding one’s vision if you want to broaden your skills and capture images that look different from most of what you see. Today’s episode demonstrates a quick-and-easy method for doing exactly that.

Eva Polak is an accomplished pro whose beautiful work is immediately recognizable for the breathtaking, impressionist style she employs in a variety of ways. One reason her photos are so unique is that she often uses techniques (like in the tutorial below) that run contrary to conventional wisdom.

This six-minute episode is devoted to the artistic potential of shooting images with slow shutter speeds. She discusses the power of this “magical” method for capturing motion, creating abstract images, and conveying a sense of time and movement in your photographs. In other words, making your work stand out from the crowd.

As Polak says, “Join us as we take a trip back to the early days of photography and discover the artistic possibilities of slow shutter speeds in the digital age.” By following her advice you’ll embrace a whole new eye-catching style and your photos will never be the same.

We’ve all been taught that shooting with fast shutter speeds is the key to capturing sharp and clear images, and that’s absolutely true if you want to stick with the same-old-same-old approach you’ve used in the past. As you’ll see, however, this emphasis on speed causes us to overlook a variety of creative opportunities.

Polak begins with a quick history lesson and a discussion about how photographers’ goals have changed over time, thanks to ever-evolving camera technology. As exposure times shortened, for example, photographers became more creative by experimenting with time exposures “to achieve fantastic artistic effects.”

Today, those with a creative bent are experimenting with both time exposures and slow shutter speeds to expand creativity even further. Polak demonstrates how easy this is to do, and she uses her stunning imagery to illustrate her straightforward tips. She also provides practical examples of various applications for this oft-ignored technique.

Bottom line: If you slow down, both literally and figuratively, you’ll be surprised by the great images you’ll capture in the camera (no special editing techniques required). There’s a whole new world out there, just waiting for you to give this a try.

There’s much more to see and learn on Polak’s very popular YouTube channel, so make a point to take a look. And be sure to check out another of her tutorials we posted in the past, explaining how to use intentional camera movement (ICM) to give your photography a creative boost.

Photoshop Actions are extremely helpful when editing images, whether you’re a novice or an experienced user. As the folks at Adobe explain, “Actions are a user-based series of recorded tasks or commands that you can play back and record on single or multiple files.”

In other words, these timesaving tools are similar to shortcuts or macros because they automate common tasks and achieve consistent results. Unfortunately, many photographers shy away from the important backup process because of a misconception that it’s very complicated to do.

The must-see tutorial below from the Joy Of Editing YouTube channel explains a surprisingly easy and effective method for backing up and reinstalling your actions— and we recommend doing so as soon as possible. Why is this so urgent? Well, if you suffer a crash you may end up holding an empty back.

Instructor David Kelly puts it like this: “Saving Photoshop Actions can be a very time-consuming process; not only saving them but reinstalling them.” The good news is that by watching today’s episode you’ll learn how to get the job done in less than a minute after watching the explanatory discussion.

Kelly says he uses this method frequently to streamline and safeguard his workflow. He also notes how easy it is to make custom actions so you can do the same. You’ll learn where these tools reside within Photoshop, how to change the location, and how to make them visible when they unexpectedly fail to appear.

You can even pull your actions into the working area of the photo being edited so they’re literally under your fingertips. In short, it’s easy to customize the workspace so it meets your specific needs.

Kelly says, “before I show you the easy way to back up and reinstall Actions, I’ll show you the normal way”—just so you truly understand the power of this method (that we trust you’ll employ frequently from now on). So watch it and do it today before it’s too late

There’s much more of interest on Kelly’s popular YouTube channel, so be sure to pay a visit when you have time,

On a somewhat related note, don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently, explaining what another image-editing expert says is “the smartest and easiest way to import photos into Lightroom.”

The Olympus 300mm f/4.0 IS PRO is a high-performance telephoto lens built for the Micro Four Thirds system. This lens impressed me in every way, from sharpness to design, and its fast f/4.0 maximum aperture is good even in low light. In this review, I’ll go through my full experience with the Olympus 300mm f/4.0 IS PRO and give you my recommendations if you’re considering this lens.

I wrote some of today’s Photography News within this small, cozy office I set up near a kingfisher’s nest. The period when the kingfisher parents incubate their eggs is a slow one for photography. It can take up to three hours between two rotations on the nest while you wait for action. The first rotation occurred before sunrise – not much light, but it provided me with some samples for an upcoming article about the Nikon Z9 and high ISOs. You can read that one next week; for now, here is the week’s news in the world of photography.