Behind the Shot | Outdoor Photography Guide

Behind the Shot: Under Ozone Falls

November 11, 2019 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot.

There are many options for camera perspectives no matter what location you visit for outdoor photography. One of the challenges is to work your way around a location and the subject of your location to shoot various perspectives to get the best photograph possible. In this post, we will be… Read More

Behind the Shot: Cockspur Lighthouse

November 4, 2019 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot.

The story behind every photograph is different. There can be great experiences that lead to the perfect photo and there can be wild stories that tell of the hardship that went into shooting something. We are going behind the lens to get the full story behind my photograph of Cockspur… Read More

Behind the Shot: Caineville Badlands, Utah

February 8, 2018 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot, Ian Plant.

In the past, I’ve written and spoken a lot about how planning for landscape photography requires a lot of scouting, and patience. During a recent photo trip to the desert of the American Southwest, I put all three to work while photographing the dramatic badlands found around Caineville,… Read More

Behind the Shot: Poison Dreams

December 1, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot.

Many nature photographers profess to shoot only natural light because they don’t like flashed-looking pictures. While often said as if it were a badge of honor, this statement is actually an admission that the photographer doesn’t know how to use flash, one of our most important tools! Employed properly, flash… Read More

Behind the Shot: Too Close?

October 10, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot.

Possibly the most prominent symbol of Central America’s tropical forests, often seen on posters, puzzles, and greeting cards, is the red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas). These small creatures are only about 5-7 centimeters long, and are very difficult to find in their natural habitat. Tree frogs are green, naturally… Read More

Behind the Shot: Devils Tower

September 18, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot, Ian Plant.

Devils Tower is one of America’s most famous landscape icons. Location of the alien mothership’s landing in the 1977 blockbuster hit movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the tower is an igneous intrusion standing tall above the surrounding grasslands, revealed by millennia of erosion. When the magma that formed… Read More

Behind the Shot: 2017 Solar Eclipse

August 30, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot, Ian Plant.

The total solar eclipse that recently graced the United States has long been on my mind. I first learned of the eclipse at the beginning of the year, and I immediately marked my calendar and started researching potential photography options. The idea of making a wide-angle landscape photo featuring… Read More

Behind the Shot: Glass Frog World

August 3, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot.

The Scene Glass frogs, named for their translucent skin, are delicate and elusive. The best conditions to find glass frogs are on rainy nights when they come out to breed in the vegetation overhanging rushing streams. I set out a few years ago on a perfect rainy night in a… Read More

Behind the Shot: Iceland Ice Cave

July 6, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot, Ian Plant.

I recently got back from a two-week winter trip to Iceland. I was leading a photo tour there most of the time, which limited my ability to make my own photos, but I managed to get a few that I liked. I also got a chance to fly my… Read More

Behind the Shot: Sun King

May 31, 2017 By David Johnston & filed under All Articles, Behind the Shot.

While scouting workshop locations in Chile’s famed Torres del Paine National Park last year with good friend and fellow photographer Rodrigo Moraga, we came upon a herd of Guanaco (Lama guanicoe, a camel relative and the wild ancestor of the domesticated llama). Since it was about two hours before sunset,… Read More