📨 Join 56,000+ Photographers enjoying The Morning Blaze - my free, online photography publication where I share photo tips, tutorials, & inspiration I’ve gained throughout my journey from beginner to professional Landscape Photographer.
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🔥Think Your Photos Are Sharp? Try this Focus Stacking Trick!
Published 3 months ago • 3 min read
Hello, my friend!
🌼 Spring is in full swing - and I for one am really looking forward to it! Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons for photography, so I included two videos in this edition that I think will help with your upcoming adventures.
I hope you find some useful information in this edition of The Morning Blaze and as always thanks so much for reading & sharing. Have a great weekend! - Mark D.
👉 P.S. Due to popular demand, I’ve put together a Free Step-by-Step Focus Stacking Guide for you. Download it below, & feel free to reach out with questions.
New Work from the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
📺 MY NEW VIDEOS
AUTO White Balance is Killing Your Colors (Here’s the Fix)
Auto White Balance might seem convenient, but it's killing your colors without you even realizing it. In this video, I’ll break down why auto white balance often fails and show you the best settings to achieve accurate, natural tones straight out of camera. In the second half, I’ll walk you through how to fix white balance in post-processing, sharing my go-to method for achieving perfect color accuracy with minimal effort.
Think Your Photos Are Sharp? Try this Focus Stacking Trick!
Struggling with blurry photos when you zoom in? Focus Stacking is the ultimate technique for achieving tack-sharp images with an extended depth of field, perfect for landscape photography, macro photography, and product photography. In this video, I’ll show you step-by-step how to shoot a focus stack series and blend it seamlessly in Lightroom & Photoshop for professional-level sharpness. You’ll also learn the biggest mistakes photographers make when focus stacking—and how to fix them to get razor-sharp photos every time!
✅ Be sure to download your free copy of the Focus StackingGuide & Practice Photos that accompanies this episode! 👉 How to Focus Stack (Step by Step)
Metering modes are one of those lesser spoken about things in photography - it wasn't until a few years into my career that I fully understood what they we're meant for. And, as with most things in photography, there's many different metering modes to choose from, Matrix, Center, Spot, Highlight, depending on what you're photographing. In this video, I'll walk you through a hands on approach that'll help decide which metering mode you should be using for your genre of photography.
I want to share an insightful experience that completely transformed the way I approach photography. As you know, overall improvement is always at the forefront of my mind, and this particular experiment truly pushed the boundaries of the way I approach my photography.
So, throughout 2023 I found myself slipping into a nasty habit that crept into my workflow. You see, despite years of improving my skills, I noticed a troubling trend – an increase in the volume of photos I was taking, coupled with a decline in so called 'keeper' images.
Determined to turn the tide, and always being up for a challenge - I embarked on a 30-day challenge to resolve this problem.
In this article, I’ll break down my experiment into four key stages: the problem, the cause, the solution, and of course, the results that left me pleasantly astonished.
The Problem
As we improve as photographers, it's natural to refine our craft and become more selective with our shots. However, I found myself trapped in a cycle of over-shooting, drowning in a sea of mediocre images. Despite my best efforts, the quality of my portfolio remained stagnant, overshadowed by the sheer quantity of forgettable captures which ultimately let to a nightmarish amount of culling once I returned home from a trip.
The Cause
Upon deep reflection, I traced this dilemma back to a subtle but significant shift in my mindset – the digital age had lulled me into a false >> Read More
🤓 PHOTO NERDS
🎨 Black & White photos help you see the story in the image by not distracting your eyes with colors.
🎈 The first aerial photo ever captured was created by french photographer, Gaspar Felix Tournachon, in 1858 who was a balloonist.
✨ INSPO
"A good photograph is knowing where to stand." - Ansel Adams
"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice" - Robert Frank
🌳 FINAL WORD
I want to thank you for subscribing to The Morning Blaze. A great deal of effort goes into each edition and I hope you find it helpful.
I'm always looking to improve, do you have any feedback you can provide? Is there anything you wish was here, that isn't?
If you have something you'd like me to know, just hit reply on this email.
📨 Join 56,000+ Photographers enjoying The Morning Blaze - my free, online photography publication where I share photo tips, tutorials, & inspiration I’ve gained throughout my journey from beginner to professional Landscape Photographer.
Hello, my friend! I’m excited to share a video with you today—one that tackles a challenge I’ve faced for years: getting white balance just right in landscape scenes. If you’ve ever struggled with white balance or felt like your images looked too cool, too warm, or just… off—this tip will forever solve that problem. After tons of trial and error, I finally landed on a simple process that actually works—and I walk you through it in this video below. I hope you find some useful information in...
Hello, my friend! Summer is upon us, and I, for one, am already dreaming of crisp fall mornings—those quiet moments when the air bites just enough to wake your senses, and the trails wind through golden forests and misty peaks. There’s something magical about hiking into the mountains with a camera in hand, chasing that perfect light as the seasons shift. 🥵 But until then, summer offers its own unique beauty and challenges—bright skies, long days, and plenty of opportunities to refine your...
Hello, my friend! One of the most common frustrations I hear from photographers is soft or out-of-focus images. More often than not, it comes down to either shooting technique or the focus settings being used. I just released a video diving deep into this exact issue—and it’s already resonating with a lot of folks. If you’ve ever struggled with sharpness, I think you’ll find this episode especially helpful. I hope you find some useful information in this edition of The Morning Blaze and as...