April 2012

Lens flare can be a major problem when photographing wide-angle scenics, especially through large groves of trees. Sometimes the sun is close enough to the frame that it isn’t possible to completely block it out without changing the composition of the photograph. Removing it after the fact is difficult if not impossible with traditional photo editing tools. One common approach is to use the Patch tool in Photoshop. Fortunately for all of us, the new Photoshop CS6 Patch tool can be made content-aware, and does a remarkably solid job helping fix lens flare…

David has been featured by PC Magazine in their "Connected Traveler" section. You can read about his travel exploits, what he carries and why, as well as how he gets it all where he is going online at their site. If you'd like to join him on one of his trips, he has a pair of great ones to photograph grizzly bears and puffins in Alaska coming up in July, and one to Botswana later this year.

Each generation of Nikon flash systems has become more powerful and flexible, but also more complex. Understanding how the latest version, dubbed Creative Lighting System (CLS) works, and how to make the most of it, can be a daunting task, especially since each Nikon flash unit has slightly different controls, and works in a slightly different way. Fortunately, Mike Hagen’s new book, The Nikon Creative Lighting System, provides an easy-to-read, soup-to-nuts, dissection of CLS and specific, detailed instructions on how to use it with just about every model of Nikon flash – both on and off camera.