My phone buzzed – “are you going anywhere with bright lights and deep shadows soon?” was the question. It was the guys at Phase One, with a new “toy” for me to play with – an incredible enhancement to the IQ4 medium format digital back which would allow for shadows to be recovered, virtually noise-free, with a 3-stop difference to the highlights in what appears to be one single shot. In other words, the “natural […]
It’s that time of year again! While others are looking to Black Friday sales, Cyber Monday deals and the start of panic-buying for Christmas – many of us in the photography world are instead looking out for the very latest release of Capture One Pro to land, the amazing raw processing and image editing software from Phase One. And today, after many months of beta testing, it’s finally here! Say Hello to Capture One 20 […]
It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally been released: The Phase One Guide to Long Exposure Photography You can now get your virtual hands on our free interactive guide to getting the best out of your camera when it comes to long exposure photography, compiled and presented by Phase One and, well, me! Whether it’s the look of silky water and cloud movement you’re trying to achieve, capturing light trails at night, brightening […]
While managing to remain relatively hidden and “off the beaten track”, Mono Lake (and its Tufa State Natural Reserve) has managed to capture the imagination of photographers from all round the world for many years – those keen to explore beyond the obvious nearby locations such as Yosemite National Park and Death Valley. My first encounter of this other-worldly destination (above) was very much a “drive-by” on a road trip nearly two decades ago (from […]
It’s a rare thing these days, finding solitude in the world combined with a stunning natural phenomenon; the result of an “Instagram generation” of which we’re all now seemingly members – where the “selfie” and “tick-box” is often more important than witnessing the event itself. While I stood in the thick snow of Yosemite National Park, in the shadow of El Capitan and Horsetail Falls, I couldn’t help but wonder how it must have felt […]
Sometimes it’s great to just have a bit of time to experiment and play with a new way of seeing the world. When 95% of your photography is capturing the outdoors or images for commercial clients, a few hours in the studio with some new toys to play with can open the mind (and shutter) to something very different indeed. Whether you hear it referred to as “water drop” photography or “splash” photography, we’re generally […]
It’s not a secret any more! The Phase One IQ4 150MP Infinity Platform ships at the end of this month, and for the past week I’ve had the honour of being their focus in the latest marketing campaign. With all of the “pre-launch” out of the way, it’s now time to focus on what’s really important, the “why” of what makes this new camera system so special. In the latest email newsletters, Phase One have […]
Light pollution: Increasingly a challenge for city dwellers and photographers alike. Those deep, dark skies that I’m lucky enough to see full of stars out in the countryside are becoming an endangered species in their own right as the world’s population continues to rise and urban areas inevitably expand. The problem is, with all that light bouncing around, our view of the night sky (and ability to capture it) continues to diminish on a daily […]
Glass filters are an essential part of many landscape photograpers’ kit bags, but what happens when there simply isn’t the perfect filter for the scene before your eyes?
Paul guides you through how Capure One’s advanced masks and dynamic range recovery tools can help bring that image back to exactly what you saw.
Stood in the crisp air of a spring morning, enjoying the view through Stonehenge across the Wiltshire countryside; it was all too easy to forget for a moment that what I was photographing had been built over 4,500 years ago – by our Neolithic ancestors – out of 25 tonne “sarsen” stones transported for over 20 miles to be here. It was a morning that had been planned for a while – with weather that seemed set to disappoint. The nearer I […]
For the briefest of moments, the sound of cracking had stopped – the huge iceberg formations that feed Iceland’s iconic Jökulsárlón (or “glacial river lagoon” when translated) had steadied and the tide was turning. While often full of baby icebergs which have fallen away from the surface of the Vatnajökull glacier, finding one of this size in isolation resting in still water (with very few people around to distract) was quite unusual. Even better, the stillness […]
It’s a truly amazing feeling – that moment when you walk up to a location that’s taken ages to get to, having planned it for months, with doubt all along the way that you’d even arrive – to find the exact scene you were hoping for. With a mix of relief, awe and then urgency; it was time to shoot the stunning Aldeyjarfoss waterfall, in the North-East of Iceland, before the weather closed in after our ice-bound […]
They can be the difference between a nice picture and a “wow” photograph, but I’m always amazed by how many people still seem to believe the phrase “photographic filter” means nothing more than an Instagram effect on their iPhone. The use of filters forms a significant part of my landscape photography workshops around the world, along with talks and presentations I deliver for manufacturers and camera brands, as they’re often the most misunderstood addition or tool in any photographer’s kit bag. In […]
Seeing the northern lights (aurora borealis) in the sky above us is becoming an increasingly popular to-do list item, but despite being fortunate enough to have seen them a few times now, the lure of seeing the southern lights (aurora australis) during our time in New Zealand was just too tempting to ignore. We’d been lucky so far, really, when it came to night sky photographs. While not my favourite subject, hunting for the right location, angle, […]
I need a tripod – but which one? In a market which is saturated with manufacturers and all their unique solutions, choosing the right tripod can be almost as tricky as the decision making process that went in to buying your camera. There are so many confusing options out there and I’m often asked “which is the best tripod?”, but the answer is never a simple one. The tripod that is best for me is […]
It’s a location that features on the bucket list of many photographers, and it’s a magnetic one at that. Having already visited both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon 6 or 7 times since my first visit in 2011, I still have the urge to return every now and then to capture the other-worldly scenes of light-trails, stunning rock formations and shadows throughout these two natural wonders just outside of Page, Arizona. Sadly, there is a lot […]
“Hey Paul, OK, got it – I’ll bring two goats.” – That was the email I received two nights before my shot with Shangri-La Sydney‘s new Head Chef, Bo Sorensen. While not necessarily appealing to all the vegetarians out there, the resulting image is something I’m very proud of, all captured in a single frame with no “tricks” added later on! So, an image that includes two goats, flying bits of meat (don’t worry, they weren’t served to […]
A couple of weeks ago, after landing back to London Heathrow, my phone informed me that I’d been “mentioned” on an unknown app called “Steller“. As is normally the case with this kind of thing, I initially brushed it off as an invite to yet another useless social media/networking tool that will likely disappear after I’ve put effort into using it. However, something grabbed my attention with this one: It listed a company that I’d recently photographed for and […]
