Reed Hoffmann’s Photography Blog
Managing the cold as a photographer
After I posted photos from Saturday’s Chiefs/Dolphins sub-zero NFL playoff game, I received a lot of messages. Some were from people asking how I was able to stay warm, and the rest were from photographers who all asked the same question: “How did you keep your hands...
Creating More Powerful Black-and-White Photos
When I started in photography, I shot almost exclusively in black-and-white. Along with being less expensive, I could control the process – it was easy to develop the film and print the pictures myself. Gradually, though, the newspapers I worked for starting using...
New Online Photography Classes
In the first year of Covid, I developed four different online classes,and taught them over 20 times. Then I needed a break. Since then, I’ve had people regularly ask if I was going to teach any again. So I did, last winter, through the Creative Photo Academy. I’m...
Moab Photo Trip
As a newspaper photographer, I always enjoyed getting lost between assignments, turning down a road I’d never been on before to see what was there. Although I left newspapers many years ago, that’s still one of the things I enjoy most about photography – exploring,...
Light Painting and Night Photography Workshop
Every time I’ve shown people photos from one of my light painting shoots, the response is the same – “Wow!” And most photographers follow that up with, “I wish I knew how to do that.” Well, now’s your chance. A deep dive, hands-on, into that and much, much more....
Really Powerful Image Noise Reduction
Software companies tend to roll out so many updates that it can be tough to stay current with all of them. But one that Adobe released in January of 2022 was an incredible time-saver (and quality booster for me) when editing photos – ISO Adaptive Presets. When you...
Montana Photo Trip (plus Yellowstone!)
Over nearly twenty years of leading photo trips for Popular Photography’s Mentor Series, I had the pleasure of going to Montana many times. In partnership with the state’s department of tourism, the magazine would run a photo trip there almost every year, and either...
Why go to Sedona in August?
That’s the question I hear the most when people find out I’m leading a photography trip there in late summer. After all, Arizona is HOT, right? So Sedona in August must be broiling, right? Well, the answer to that is the answer that works for most photo questions, “it...
Behind the scenes on a Serengeti photo safari
Lions, leopards, elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippos, cheetahs and more, much more. That’s what you can expect as far as wildlife on a photo safari in the Serengeti. But what’s it like getting there, getting around, where do you stay, what do you eat, what do you do...
One lens + Two teleconverters = One amazing safari
Quick question: what’s the best lens for photographing wildlife at different distances? A telephoto zoom, of course, because then you can zoom for the focal length and framing you want. But if that's true, then why did I take a fixed telephoto with me on the safari I...