Shooting The Stars, Part 2: Techniques
By Ron Risman– Let’s Get Ready to Shoot: In Part 1 of this article, I gave you an understanding of where and when to capture the night sky. Now let’s discuss HOW to do it. Since starlight is very dim, we need to set up our camera so that it can see in the dark. This is done by using a “fast” lens and through proper camera settings. For best results, set your camera’s capture mode to RAW. This will give you the widest dynamic...
Shooting The Stars, Part 1: The Night Sky
by Ron Risman– Ever since I can remember I have had a fascination with the night sky. As a young child I would stare up at the stars while on summer vacation and when my daughter was old enough I would take her out during meteor showers to see how many shooting stars we could count. For me, night sky photography is what photography is all about – that is the ability to capture something in a way that most have never seen with their...
Add Value and Security to Your Images
By Arthur H. Bleich– If you currently sell (or would like to sell) prints of your best work here’s a technique I’ve used successfully to assure buyers that if they resell my photographs some day it can be proven that they are genuinely mine and not unauthorized copies. I began doing this a few years ago when a friend who sells prints at art shows and fairs in this country traveled overseas and found copies of his work being sold...
Get Maximum Shadow Detail in Your Prints
By Tim Grey– In many cases a print will not reflect the full level of shadow detail as actually exists in the image file. Instead, that shadow gets “blocked up,” similar to the way shadow detail gets clipped in an exposure that is too dark. You can compensate for this issue by essentially brightening the value of black, causing all neighboring tonal values to be brightened up accordingly. With the vast majority of printers I find that...
Fuse Your Photos to Stone and Tile for Unique Gifts and Stunning Displays
By Christine Pentecost– Finding a unique niche in today’s world of photography is not the easiest thing to do. Fortunately, something as simple as making your own coasters, trivets or hanging wall decorations using inexpensive tile, Mod Podge and Red River photo papers is an easy yet wonderfully creative way to share your photography. I begin by sizing my images to fit the stone or tile I will be using. For a 4-inch square...
How To Shoot Prize-Winning Photos, Part 2
by Arthur H. Bleich– We continue with Part 2 of How To Shoot Prize-Winning Photos. In case you missed it, Part 1 was posted on 8/1/16. Stash the Flash. Nothing kills a picture quicker than lighting it with on-camera flash. Pasty, washed out faces and big black shadows guarantee it will never achieve prize-winning status. Unless you’ve mastered the use of off-camera sophisticated flash units, just turn the flash off and shoot with...
How To Shoot Prize-Winning Photos, Part 1
by Arthur H. Bleich– Over the years, I’ve analyzed what separates prize-winning images from the rest and I’d like to share with you what I’ve discovered in this two-part series. Even if prizes are not your goal, you can take a creative leap forward if you keep these suggestions in mind. Every pro has them burned into their thought processes and all photographers who want to improve their work can benefit from them. Let’s begin. Look...
Exploring Light
By Bryan Peterson– You can do one of the best exercises I know near your home whether you live in the country or the city, in a house or an apartment. Select any subject, for example, the houses and trees that line your street or the nearby city skyline. If you live in the country, in the mountains, or at the beach, choose a large and expansive composition. Over the course of the next twelve months, document the changing seasons and...
Photos To Art Prints In Eight Simple Steps
By Brady Wilks– A digital inkjet wet transfer print provides a look that no other process can achieve. Due to the variations that an artist can use to manipulate the print and its unique visual aesthetic, this alternative photographic process is a powerful and viable option for an artist’s expression. The process is simple and your supply list is short. You will need an inkjet printer; wax paper or a pack of printer labels (address,...
FREE GIFTS! The Nik Collection from Google and Nik Tutorials from GreyLearning
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know just how coveted Nik imaging software programs are. Google bought Nik in 2012 and has announced that as they focus on long-term investments in building photo editing tools for mobile use, including Google Photos and Snapseed, they’re going to make the Nik Collection desktop suite available free. Actually, insiders say Snapseed was the prime target but Google had to...
Tri-Fold Brochures Can Yield Big Profits
By Arthur H. Bleich– My first introduction to tri-fold brochures came in pre-web times when I was on an extended assignment to Alaska and based in Sitka. The Chamber of Commerce had placed some small ads in travel magazines to promote their beautiful town as a tourist destination. The response was overwhelming but when readers requested more...
Paper Crafts: Make Your Own Valentine Puzzle Purse
Red River’s greeting card papers are perfect for Valentine’s Day cards but for something really special, use Red River’s 12×12-sized paper to make a Valentine Puzzle Purse that will enthrall your beloved and endear you to them forever. Puzzle Purse Valentines made their first appearance in Jane Austin’s time and were the rage from 1700s until the mid 1800s.Back then, when romance was an art,...
How To Survive If Your Drive Takes A Dive
By Arthur H. Bleich– There are few things more chilling than to see this message pop up on your computer screen during startup: “This disk is not readable by this computer.” Is your data still on the hard disk? Is it a software problem? A hardware problem? A connection problem? What happened? If it’s your internal drive that’s gone south, you won’t even be able to get online for help. You get that numb feeling of fear. Well, hang in...
Cash In On Greeting Cards!
By Drew Hendrix– Electronic greeting cards may be click ‘n easy but the public still has a voracious appetite for printed cards; all it takes to enter the market and start making money is a printer, the right Red River Paper card stock and, of course, your best images. The Greeting Card Association estimates that more than 7 billion paper cards were sold last year at prices ranging from $2 to $10 and that women accounted for...
Richard Baker: War and Peace
By Arthur H. Bleich– In 1966, Richard Baker aimed his M-16 at the Vietnamese; today he uses an arsenal of analog cameras to shoot them. His goal is to photograph all 54 ethnic tribes in the country where he was once sent to fight. Now 68, the twice-wounded Army veteran has been back to Vietnam about 15 times since the war ended; he jokes that he’s done more tours of duty there than any other soldier. Capturing images on pin-hole and...
What To Think About BEFORE You Shoot
By Arthur H. Bleich– Chances are you already know about different post production work flow techniques that can be used in Photoshop and/or Lightroom after you’ve shot your pictures. But it’s equally important to establish a workflow you can follow before you even make the shot. Here are nine things you should think about before you lift the camera to your eye. I’ve grouped them so when you begin to follow this recipe you only...
Quickstart Guide To Inkjet Papers
By Drew Hendrix –Today’s selection of inkjet papers provides amazing creative opportunities for photo enthusiasts by offering quality, control and cost savings previously unknown to photographers who worked with conventional photo papers. There are many more options to let you match the paper’s surface to suit your photographic style. Weight, texture, shade and more can finely tune the look and feel of your prints. Never in the...
Frame Your Images for Maximum Impact!
By Arthur H. Bleich– Throughout history, great works of art have been showcased in frames and your best images deserve no less. It’s amazing how they’ll stand out and gain stature; a framed photograph seems to announce: “Look at me, I’m worthy of viewing!” But how do you choose the right frame? For years I’ve put off framing my best images for two reasons. First, I wasn’t up to learning how to frame from scratch; for example, making...
Backup Therapy for Paranoid Photographers, Part 2
By Tim Grey– Variability. I am often asked whether it is best to use a full backup solution where the backup is replaced each time you perform a backup, or an incremental backup where only changes made since the last backup are copied. My answer is to use both of these approaches. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of backup, and so I encourage you to use more than one approach to help make up for the limits of each...
Backup Therapy for Paranoid Photographers, Part 1
By Tim Grey– To me a big part of why I capture photographic images in the first place is to preserve memories that are important to me. By definition, if I intentionally pressed the shutter release button on the camera then the photo I captured is important to me in some way. Therefore, I want to make sure that my photos are stored in a way that minimizes the risk of loss. Hard drives fail—all too often—and I want to ensure that a...
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