We are now reaching the end of the tutorial. For this final episode, after having worked on general skills that can be applied to any kind of landscape photo, we are first going to focus on some more specific styles, starting with astrophotography.
With today's cameras amazing low light capabilities, astrophotography has never been so accessible. Find a spot with limited light pollution, plan your shots in advance and you will be able to produce fantastic images of the stars and galaxies, starting with our "home", the Milky Way. Astrophotography requires very specific editing techniques which are quite different from what you would usually do with images taken during daytime. It is also a style of photographer where postprocessing will dramatically change and improve the look of your images from the RAW file to the final image.
The following playlist will guide you through some of the main techniques I use to improve my astro shots, including stacking techniques to reduce noise for photos taken with very high ISO as well as creation of star trail effect.
Another "style" of photograph that I really enjoy is panorama. They look fantastic (particularly printed) and are quite easy to create. This playlist will teach you how to create panoramas and how to address some of the challenges you may face such as distortion.
In addition, here is a bonus video about stitching astro panorama, which I kept apart as it could have fit in any of the previous playlist.
Finally, I am going to end this "class" by sharing series of tips and tricks that may be useful in your landscape photography postprocessing journey. Some of them are dedicated to the infamous "Orton" effect, that give a dreamy and ethereal effect to your photos. You may like it or not, but it is quite a popular editing effect so I thought it would be a good thing to have this as part of this class. I have also including some techniques to solve some of the very common problems I face when editing photo: distortion (particularly when using a wide angle lens) and halos around edges.
So... this is the end. Five episode, hours of free content, tons of knowledge shared by talented photographers thanks to the magic of the internet.
Let me wrap this up with a few comments:
1- This class doesn't pretend to be comprehensive. There are always new things to learn and improve and photography is a constant learning journey. Putting this class together taught me a lot and this blog was part of my own journey. At this stage I don't feel like I "master" landscape photography at all, I still need to rewatch many of the videos and there is probably still a ton of excellent content out there that is not in this class.
2- I think this class shows that with a bit of patience and curation, free content can be an excellent tool to learn a lot. But that doesn't mean that paid classes, workshops and tutorial are not worth it. Most of the photographers who created these amazing free videos also run their own business and sell their products, online or in person. I encourage you to support them and buy their services. You can learn a lot on YouTube, but nothing can replace the expertise of a pro sharing his knowledge directly with you.
3- I would love to hear from you about this project. Did you find it useful? What important part of landscape photo editing did I miss?
I hope you enjoyed this class, feel free to share it!
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