As crazy as a loon, as dead as a dodo, as wise as an owl, as mad as a wet hen… You’ll find bird-inspired sayings in nearly every language. Yet it’s curious that one of the largest bird families of all — the hummingbirds (Trochilidae) — seems to have been left out. And frankly, I think they deserve one.
Today’s eye-opening tutorial from expert Ken Evans is for those of you who are disappointed by your monochrome images, and is all about understanding how to view outdoor scenes in b&w. The unique video below describes how restraint, tone, and structure can be used to shape meaning within the frame.
Ken’s impactful work explores the important relationships between imagery and emotion; namely, synergy of what’s seen and what’s felt. In his view minimalism is a key consideration, and he describes his approach like this: “In black and white photography simplicity isn’t about what’s missing—it’s about what remains when everything else is purposely removed.”
In other words, less is not a path to emptiness, but rather a straight road to attention-grabbing images with impact and clarity. Ken illustrates his tips and techniques with compelling outdoor images of subjects like fences, winter fields, solitary trees, and the single curve of a lonely country lane.
Ken’s approach to minimalism begins with removing distractions and unimportant elements in a way that guides the viewer’s eye through the frame. Be sure to use a link in the description beneath the video to download a free guide that delves deeper into everything you’ll learn in the seven-minute episode below.
As you’ll see, minimalism is not just a mindset. The appropriate techniques require that you slow your roll, breathe a bit deeper, and embrace the quiet and solitude, while concentrating on clean compositions, subtle light, and wide-open spaces.
Shooting b&w with intentional simplicity can be a welcome relief in our crazy world full of floods of information and noise. You may just discover that your camera will enable you to slow all that down while creating order out of chaos when shooting in b&w. Just click on “Watch on YouTube” in the black box below.
If this lesson strike your fancy, be sure to visit Ken’s instructional YouTube channel that offers an abundance of straightforward videos for monochrome shooters of all skill levels.
And don’t miss the tutorial we featured earlier with a notable British pro who explains reasons why your images may be soft. Then he reveals several easy tips that will enable you to capture photographs with maximum sharpness every time.
Today’s post-processing tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel illustrates a powerful Lightroom workflow that’s guaranteed to transform how-hum landscapes into spectacular images that simply can’t be ignored.
The technique is accessible to users of all skill levels, and Instructor Christian Mohrle walks you through a step-by step process that involves introducing side light in a way that boosts depth and adds an atmospheric effect. We encourage you to follow along and make the adjustments yourself by downloading Mohrle’s demonstration Raw file with a link beneath the video.
Mohrle is a globally popular German landscape photographer and image-editing expert. This lesson relies on a bit of thoughtful cropping and several simple global adjustments to prepare the original shot for the awe-inspiring look created with his side-lighting effect, selective edits with masks, and a few color-grading tricks.
After straightening his image with a quick crop and rotation, Mohrle opens Lightroom’s Basic panel and changes the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard. This slightly brightens dark areas within the frame, and Mohrle then extracts even more shadow detail by pumping up exposure.
The basic portion of the edit continues by bringing down highlights to protect the sky, while increasing shadows and blacks. He also adjusts white balance for a warmer autumn look, boosts vibrance, modifies tint, and enhances both sharpness and. midtone contrast by adding texture and clarity. Then Mohrle creates a subtle glow effect by gently dropping dehaze.
The image now appears about as good as possible when relying solely upon basic adjustments that effect the entire scene at once. And this means the fun part begins as you watch Mohrle selectively enhance the image with masks, introduce his attention-grabbing slide light effect, and finishes it all up with final color grading and sharpening.
And don’t skip the earlier tutorial we featured with another post-processing expert who demonstrates a simplified approach to Photoshop’s Blend Modes so that beginners can enhance their images with these transformational tools.
A few weeks ago, I led a short weekend workshop focused on wildlife photography in Šumava National Park. As I sat in a hide, I started thinking about which technical question I get asked most often. At the top of my mental survey was: “Libor, will we need a tripod today?” Closely followed by: “Libor, what shutter speed would you recommend?” While my answer to the first one is rather short — “yes, we will” — the second deserves a bit more attention. I’ve turned that answer into an article you’ll be able to read very soon. But for now, let’s move on to the most recent happenings in the world of photography.
