Check out the latest edition of Catch Magazine. The photography is amazing.

Good one Steve! Some of those panoramic's are stunning. Reminds me I'll have to get the hang of HDR. Just bought myself a new lens with the aim of trying to get some good scenery shots. Doubt they'll get anywhere near the quality of those though.

Cracking shots ! I know somewhere between nothing and sweet F...A... about taking pics , someone tell me are these pics enhanced in any way ?? I guess they must be ??

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Cheers Danny

Co-Founder of S.S.F.D 2010

lovely shots capturing the weather elements as well as the main subject,
keeps the eyes busy taking it all in,

photoshop is such a wonderful tool to have

It is when you know how to use it. Just been practicing with layers, end result looked like a four year old did it with a pitchfork

Yeah Danny, they all look like they've had a work over.

I don't think the photography will be overly "Photoshopped". Yes they will have used the burn and dodge tools, curves (and brushed out dust etc) but that's just basic photography, most of which can be done in an old darkroom setting.

There's no beating great composition.

Go through the back issues. Well worth the time.

Steve, have a look at the photograph of 'ever changing light on the Fall river in California', it's the one on the right of the page with two photographs on it, one is a Black and White composition, the other (the one I mean) is a boat coming up river with two guys in it.

The reflection of the sky in the water doesn't match the actual sky, especially on the cloud on the right hand side of the picture.

Now without doubt it is still a great picture, as are many in there. However I would lay good money that many in there bear little resemblance to the origional capture.

On the next page (Gros Venture River Road, Jackson Hole), two separate sky shots blended? Undoubtedly it's striking, but on closer inspection it doesn't look quite right does it?

Take the HDR shots. Again I love well executed HDR, but it is a trick of Photoshop, or Photomatix or similar software. It stands out because the human eye doesn't see see two differently exposed areas (sky and land) so well under natural conditions, as a result the viewer knows something is not right, but can't work out what it is. I think that's what Danny was referring too when he mentioned he knew nothing of photography yet his eye and brain recognised something was amiss.

HDR images are indeed striking and can produce some dramatic scenery, but if someone tries to reproduce some of those images with just the lens it would be impossible.

I'm not trying to detract from the undoubted quality of some of those pictures, I wish mine were a fraction of that quality. As far as inspiration? Yes I'd agree, an inspiration in how to execute software correctly to an image to enhance its impact to the viewer.

PHOTOSHOP IS A MAGNIFICENT TOOL, ALL PHOTOGRAPHS GOING TO PRINT MEDIA ARE MANAGED THROUGH PHOTOSHOP BEFORE PUBLICATION

(Don't have time to go through them again tonight but I sure will later in the week.)

The human eye is extremely adept at managing exposure, far more so than film or, worse, digital. If you want to come close to replicating the eye you do need to do a lot of dodging and burning - or blend two exposures which is the same thing. Forget PS's HDR. It's useless. You're better off masking in by hand. In any event all you're doing is compressing what the eye can see into the narrower density gamut of print or display.

One thing to remember: most people don't know how to use their cameras (and most have very average ones). Almost any digital photo will benefit from a curves adjustment in PS (or other software) if only to set the black and white points - it's a function of digital.

And, yes, most photos are managed in PS before print or otherwise. (If only to manage the RAW conversion and do the above.)

Get shooting - it's not the software.

The early Catch magazine pictures were very over done with colour saturation, the last few edition's have been really good and I always look forward to seeing the new editions.