Photography Techniques, Tutorials and Tips

To create awesome travel images you don’t need to spend a fortune. Let us show you how to get amazing photographs with our film and digital photography techniques, tutorials and tips.

  • The joy of Darkroom Printing Darkroom printing of Black and White images used to be the main way most photographers created their work. It was a rite of passage and everyone who did it will probably have a host of stories to tell. I know...

  • Finding the Jurassic coast To photograph the Jurassic coast where dinosaurs used to prowl, incredible plant-life grew, and the steamy swamps took the life of many an unwary creature, you would think we would need to travel to an exotic Island. Maybe somewhere where people...

  • Editing in Camera Raw This is how we edited the steam train cab image of the Umgeni Steam Railway train from the before and after post.  The following screenshots show the process of editing in Camera Raw to finished photograph. The image was taken on...

  • Before and after photographs Do you ever look at your images and wonder why they just don’t have the ‘pop’ that you see on other people’s shots. There are many reasons that this could be, but we have found that the main one is down...

  • How to photograph steam trains to get great images To paraphrase Mr Toad. “There is nothing quite so awesome as messing around in steam.” We love steam trains. Old, new, big, small – we don’t care. To be perfectly honest we don’t even know much...

  • What is aperture – why it is important to travel photography Aperture is one of the ways we control how much light gets to the film or sensor but it is is just so much more useful than that. In this article we will look...

  • What is Bokeh and why it is important for travel photography Bokeh! Got to be one of the weirdest terms in photography It is only beaten by scheimpflug (ability to get your focus plane to any angle you like on a large format camera) and mackie...

  • Using panning to create camera motion blur (or how to photograph like J.M.W. Turner) This is Creative use of Shutter and Aperture series no 1 We are great fans of super sharp images and usually do all we can to get things razor sharp. This...

  • Photographing Contre-jour : Shooting into the light What is shooting Contre-jour? Well Contre-jour is a French term for “against daylight” and it is a technique where you photograph directly into the sun. The technique has been used for decades as it was originally a painting...

  • What is the best camera bag as a present for the photographer in your life? Well whether it’s Christmas, birthday or any time of year there are always things that most photographers need so a special occasion is the perfect opportunity to treat yourself or...

  • Phone camera tips to improve your photography As an experienced photographer I would have laughed about using my smartphone as a camera a few years ago but all this has now changed. Although it’s not ideal some very good images can be made with an...

  • Is it possible to get Adobe Photoshop free online? I often get asked about free online Photoshop and my stock answer is that if you can’t afford or don’t want to pay Adobe the monthly rental then there are a few options. My first option...

  • Why you should sharpen your photos “BUT MY CAMERA IMAGES ARE SHARP! Why should I sharpen my photographs?” This is a common question I hear all the time as an Adobe Photoshop trainer and lecturer. The other question that goes with this one is, “Why...

  • How do you get Beautiful Low-Light Photography in Churches & Cathedrals? Churches and cathedrals provide some truly extraordinary lighting. The glow from the altar candles, the multi-coloured light reflections onto stone textures from stained-glass windows or even the delicate light rays visible

  • How to Photograph Reflections So, you’re out with your camera and you come across a really interesting landscape or scene. It looks good from every angle, but it’s not awesome. We’ve all been there and struggled with making an eye-catching image from a great, but...

  • How toast can teach you how to create Awesome B&W images with the Dodge and Burn tools “TOAST! Tim and Ally…. Really?” “Erm yes…It really does help with Dodge and Burn tools. We’ll get to that later but first things first.” Dodge and burn tools...

  • 5 professional techniques to make a photo look old Occasionally, in your photographic life, you will find that creativity comes to a grinding halt. A bit like writers’ block! You are bored of looking at super sharp, over-saturated, perfectly grainless travel images and your creative...

  • How to photograph a panorama Have you ever seen a scene that is so expansive and beautiful and thought to yourself something like “A single image with my wide angle lens just can’t do this beautiful vista justice”? On the other hand, maybe when you’re...

  • How to photograph like Michael Kenna Learn from the Masters Some days we look at well-known photographers images and something in us just cries out “I wish I could create images like that”! At first I thought it was just me but I have discovered...

  • Best Black and White films for travel photography So, you’ve bought your beautiful film camera and are ready to take a trip to give it a jolly good work out. Now you need to feed it with Kodak, Ilford or Fujifilm’s finest offering. So what...

  • 5 essential filters for black and white photography you should own When you walk into a camera store or look at an online photographic shop there are so many filters for black and white photography that you could buy. The problem is, which one?! What...

  • Texture Photography More than once, Ally and I have arrived in a new town to photograph, all prepared and excited however things don’t go always go according to plan. The weather is dire, the scene itself is spectacularly awful due to building work, there are...

  • How to photograph like Edward Weston So you’re out travelling and all prepared to go out to photograph that amazing landscape you noticed on the drive to the hotel yesterday. Unfortunately, the weather has other ideas and it’s pouring with rain. What can you do?...

  • How to make the sky dark in a photo Everyone has seen the images of scenes where the sky looks really dark and the clouds stand out and look awesome. From a slightly darkened down adjustment to an almost black sky these skies just bring...

  • How to load film into a camera So you have bought your first ever film camera and want to get a new box of film ready to pop in so you can join the world of analogue photography. Let us show you how to load...

  • Make a digital Cyanotype photo easily Have you ever seen beautiful old photographs with a blue tone and wondered how you could create the same? A romantic cyanotype photo can look so stunning yet is so easy to do digitally. Let me take you through...

  • Convert Colour to Black and White Why would you wish to convert colour to black and white? After all, we all see in colour. There are so many reasons. Maybe the original image has too many clashing colours? It could be that the weird mix...

  • Where’s my dramatic sky gone? Very often you may photograph a dramatic sky but when the image is straight out of camera, you look at it and think, I know the sky looked way more interesting that that!   Example! Dramatic Sky not as dramatic...

  • Embocraft and Low Light Photography Embocraft are the the local South African heroes who are empowering local entrepreneurs with skills training. Making portraits of these amazing people was a bit difficult due to the low and very extreme lighting conditions involved and required low light...

  • Best Camera for Travel Photography Very often people will ask us, “what’s the best camera for travel photography?” So, we’ve decided to write a post to cover a few of those questions.   Whilst it has been quoted, “The best camera, is the one that...

  • Top 10 Essential Photoshop Shortcuts Photoshop shortcuts can really speed up your workflow, so we’re going to share our favourite top 10.       1. The Tab Key The tab key will show and hide all of your panels and toolbar. This is one...

  • Vatican Museum staircase photography – multiple image edit The problem with the Vatican Museum Staircase photography is people. From opening time until closure during the summer, there is a constant stream of tourists descending this beautiful architectural masterpiece. A plethora of photographers a

  • Tombs of the kings before and after The Tombs of the kings before and after image is of a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 2 km from Paphos Harbour. Many of the tombs date back to the 4th century BC. It has nothing to do with...

  • Many people ask me how to photograph the moon. A lot people who try to photograph the moon get problems with an overly bright moon, but not enough detail around it. The main problem is when you take a photograph of the moon at night,...

  • Photoshop vs Affinity Photo – What is the difference? When you are looking out for editing software the usual choice is Adobe Photoshop. The industry standard is everywhere and image manipulation is now even known as “Photoshopping”. But what are the cheaper options and are...

  • Why Your Camera Lies to You – Exposure Compensation The light meter in your camera is a very useful tool, but there are times when you need to know that it’s actually lying to you. So how you can overcome it? Exposure compensation to the rescue....

  • Photographing with a Neutral Density filter (ND Filter). Why do it? A Neutral Density filter reduces the amount of light coming through the lens thus giving you longer exposures that you are unable to get in bright light even with an ISO of 50. Why would...

  • Ever wondered why your black and white images look a bit flat? Watch Tim explaining the best practice to convert your colour images into black and white in only 30 seconds. Adobe Photoshop has so many different ways of converting colour images to B&W. These...

  • Aerial photography landscapes Very often as you fly over somewhere interesting you can be blown away by the view, but it can be quite hard to get a reasonable image through the nasty scratches and cloudy window. Have a look at how we create interesting aerial...

  • Tourist Free Photography – How to photograph Venetian Gondolas without the crowds? Tourist free photography! Impossible you cry! Not impossible we say! During our short Italian trip, we had a few days in Venice and were desperate not to “just photograph” the gondolas but to...

  • What is it? Queen Caroline’s Temple is a classical style summer house overlooking the Long Water, east of Lancaster Walk in Hyde Park, London. When I saw it at sunset I envisaged a beautiful temple with all the detail of the brick work against a...