Posted on September 23, 2018, 4:50 pm, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
Summary: One of the photographer’s greatest fears is to lose a significant chunk of images from a big trip or event. In this long-form article, find out how a memory card failure caused a week of photographs to disappear, what I did to try to recover them via software, then physical data services, and the […]
Posted on August 20, 2018, 11:01 am, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
Modern zoom lenses are quite amazing compared with what was available a few decades ago. A lens such that the Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS (reviewed here) offers a great combination of sharpness and versatility in trans-standard focal lengths, all in a relatively compact package – consistent with the appeal of their A7 series […]
With more than 10 million visitors per year, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited of the national parks, and its most popular area is Cades Cove which receives over 2 million visits per year, more than many large entire parks. Cades Cove is so popular because it has a bit of everything […]
Posted on June 10, 2018, 12:58 pm, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
There is no denying that photos look great on a computer screen, because of the transmissive nature of it, like a slide or transparency. However, in an all-digital workflow, it is all too easy to produce images whose tones are too dark. Often, photographers who do not often make prints realize that their images are […]
Posted on June 3, 2018, 12:38 pm, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
Despite a few contrarian voices, the overwhelming consensus is that the RAW format should be the choice for creative photography. A drawback is that RAW images look flat by design, so if you are shooting in RAW, you need to process the image to restore some of its brilliance. Unfortunately, when you are sitting at […]
Posted on June 21, 2017, 6:29 pm, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
I have often been asked about the processing I apply to my digital images. For the first time, I will provide two examples. The first one exemplifies the light processing typical of most of my images, while the second one illustrates how just a few processing steps can transform a difficult capture. My processing tools […]
Posted on March 24, 2016, 11:29 am, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
Last week, I posted three images of the Death Valley landmarks, the salt flats, sand dunes, and playas. I invited you to think about how those images, which somehow defy the conventional landscape photography wisdom of not shooting at midday, could work. In this post, I am providing my answer to the question. Most images […]
Posted on August 20, 2015, 4:05 pm, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
The only way to get some of the most striking cityscapes and city skylines is to shoot through windows, often from high-rise hotels. The techniques described in this post will let you overcome the obstacle posed by the glass to get a technically perfect image. The day after I returned from a trip during which […]
When you think about natural subjects for night photography, things like the rock formations or bristlecone pines of the southwest often come to mind, not the redwood forest. In old-growth groves, the dense canopy obscures most of the night sky. I made so many visits to Redwood National Park in the 1990s that I haven’t […]
Posted on June 20, 2014, 10:29 am, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
I’ve been asked how I created my 360 spherical panoramas (360s). By the way, if you haven’t, be sure to check the latest ones from the Grand Canyon. A detailed tutorial would take several posts, so instead I’m going to try and explain just the finer points I’ve learned – information which doesn’t seem to […]
