Archives: Photographers

Photographers news and reviews

LONG.EXPLORER

LONG-NONG HUANG

PHOTOGRAPHER & ADVENTURER

My love for the great outdoors and my passion for creating inspiring images has profoundly shaped my career. While initially studying business and working in marketing and events, I gained invaluable experience in handling sizable projects, creatively designing them, and ensuring their successful execution. However, it was my passion that ultimately redirected my path.

As time passed, my desire to go out, explore, and experience the world grew stronger and stronger. Consequently, I seized every available moment of free time to embark on photographic excursions. With each shoot and subsequent progress, my passion deepened, ultimately revealing my commitment to photography as my true calling. Throughout the course of my journey, I have published over 1500 photos from my outdoor adventures on my Instagram channel @long.explorer. Utilizing this platform as a powerful medium to connect with like-minded individuals who share a profound love for travel and exploration, I have diligently cultivated an engaged audience of over 260,000 loyal followers. This substantial following has afforded me the opportunity to thrive as a fully self-employed content creator, establishing my professional path in the realm of visual storytelling and creative expression. For the past four years, I have been self-employed, working on diverse projects primarily for clients in the travel and photography domains.

I firmly believe that the most exceptional outcomes are achieved when one pursues what ignites their passion. With every project I undertake, I wholeheartedly invest myself, fueled by the belief that true fulfillment comes from aligning one’s work with their deepest passions.

The Milky Way

What we do matters.

Deeply.

We want to create beautiful photos (…you know, like the ones that fill our Instagram feed). But sometimes the art we envision isn’t quite what we see on the back of our camera.
​
Sound familiar? I hear you.

When I got into the world of newborn photography, there were a lot of tears (not the happy kind!) and I felt really alone (and frustrated).

Luckily – you don’t have to try to figure it out on our own.

If we haven’t met yet,

I’m Lisa

I created The Milky Way to offer the friendliest, most convenient online education for photographers like you, to help you quickly learn the skills you need to create the art you love and a business that truly lights you up.

I’m passionate about creating communities where new and experienced photographers can connect with one another in a positive, drama-free space.

I just want to remind you that if I can do it

so can you.

I started with absolutely ZERO knowledge about my camera, lighting, posing or editing.

But with patience, passion and some mentors who gave me a hand-up, my work has improved (and so has my confidence!)

I look forward to being a part of YOUR photography journey – to help you evolve and push your creative limits!

Alex Noriega

Hello there! I’m a full-time nature photographer and photography educator based in the United States.

My photography journey began in 2010, while living in Minnesota and working in Information Technology. I purchased a camera to take better photos of the spare computer parts I was selling online, and I was immediately enthralled by the process of photography.

In that first year, I primarily focused on architecture and portraiture. But in 2011, a couple of friends and I took a road trip to California that would change the course of my life. It was on that journey that I first witnessed the mountains and deserts of the West, which I had previously known only through films and photographs. Seeing these rugged landscapes firsthand stirred something within me; I was inspired.

I moved to California that same year, and by 2012 I ended up in Oregon. It was then that I decided to focus exclusively on nature photography. I enjoyed exploring the mountains, forests, and coasts of the Pacific Northwest, but in the following years I made increasingly longer photography excursions to the desert Southwest. It is in those deserts that I have continued to find my greatest inspiration.

From 2019 to 2023, my girlfriend and I were full-time nomads, adventuring around the American West in our travel trailer. However, the call of the desert was too strong to ignore, and we are now have a home base in Southwestern Utah – not far from Zion National Park.

I want to convey a sense of mystery with my photographs – to spark the viewer’s imagination. Though I initially became known for grand landscapes, I now prefer to focus on more subtle, intimate scenes with less context. I have a great appreciation for the timeless compositions of the masters of film. I enjoy blending the influence of this classic style with contemporary techniques in my work. Composition and light are everything, aided (but not replaced) by development in the digital darkroom.

While you can follow me on social media (Instagram / Facebook / Threads / Twitter), I hope that you enjoy viewing my photography here on my website, where I have the greatest control over its presentation.

Publications

My photographs and writing have been featured by a number of publications and organizations, including:

  • AAA Via Magazine
  • Amateur Photographer UK
  • Backpacker Magazine
  • Conversations with Nature (Eric Bennett)
  • Digital Camera World
  • Digital Photo Magazine
  • Digital Photographer Magazine
  • DPReview
  • Ebb and Flow (TJ Thorne)
  • Elements Photography Magazine
  • Insider
  • Keller AG
  • Landscape Photography Magazine
  • LeNs Magazine
  • N-Photo Magazine
  • Nature Photographers Network
  • Natuurfotografie Magazine
  • New Scientist Magazine
  • Outdoor Photographer Magazine
  • Photo World China
  • Photographer’s Companion Magazine China
  • Photography Masterclass Magazine
  • Practical Photography Magazine
  • Réponses Photo France
  • Scholastic
  • Terra Quantum (La Défense, Paris)
  • The Illuminating Engineering Society
  • The National Park Service (Olympic)
  • The Wilderness Society
  • USA Today
  • Voice of the Eyes (René Algesheimer)

Awards

I don’t believe awards to be a meaningful measure of an artist. There are countless “award winning” photographers making dubious claims for marketing purposes, while more talented ones may not enter competitions at all, or may lack the visibility to gain proper recognition for their work. I also believe competition can hinder the creative pursuit of nature photography if care is not taken to compartmentalize it.

That said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention on my own website that I won three competitions a few years ago:

I have also served as a judge – most notably for the 2021 and 2022 Natural Landscape Photography Awards. I believe it is the very best landscape photography competition, elevating thoughtful, high-quality work through a rigorous judging process unlike any other in this genre.

In 2017, I was on the judging panel for International Landscape Photographer of the Year.

Gamut

Gamut LUTs have been used to color grade films for brands like Toyota, Leica, Dwell, and Huckberry. Over 10,000 creators trust us to grade their wedding, YouTube, and commercial films. Explore our Creative LUTs as well as BaseLUTs™, our Conversion LUTs for transforming Log camera profiles to Rec.709.

Aspen Dawn

Talking about myself is a bit difficult for me, but I’ll do it for you!

Above everything, I’m a wife of the most amazing, supportive husband and the mama of the two most incredible, bright little girls. They are my whole world, and bring so much joy and light to my life. The immeasurable love I feel for them is what inspires me to create memories of love and connection in others.  

Since I was young lass, I’ve felt compelled to create. I’ve found joy and serenity in creating art, playing music, and of course, photography. Confession: Myspace is where it all began..yeeeppp. Late nights editing code and hours spent searching for the perfect song to express my melancholy emo feels is what got me started down the creative path I have yet to turn from.. Oh being a teen in the 2000s. I’ve come a long way from emo portraits of my high school friends on my point and shoot camera, but I learned a lot from that time in my life.

Now, I am lucky enough to spend my days making art out of life and helping my clients to see and soak up all the magical goodness of it!

BUTTERY LUTs

The Buttery LUTs collection is the result of the collaboration between Local 600 DIT Raffaele Vesco and cinematographer Matteo Bertoli. Our collection includes a Natural Rec709 LUT, inspired by the industry standard Arri Rec709, and 17 different creative looks!

BUTTERY LUTs (a branch of BUTTERY FILMS) is the result of the collaboration between Local 600 DIT Raffaele Vesco and cinematographer Matteo Bertoli.


Our mission.

The mission of BUTTERY LUTs is to offer a much better alternative to the manufacturer’s LUTs, which often don’t give you an accurate representation of the actual image (red skin tones, harsh highlights roll-off, magenta cast, etc.).

At first Matteo and Raffaele thought that it was an issue with the actual sensors, but after spending months color grading and working with a large variety of footage, they found out that the main issue was indeed the LUT offered by the manufacturer. From there, they started working on a LUT that could offer the same great results of the industry standard Arri Rec709. After a couple of months spent in front of a Flanders Scientific DM250, one of the most advanced 12-bit OLED monitor on the market, they came out with the first version of the Natural Rec709. After that, they quickly adapted it to more and more cameras and they also developed a creative collection. BUTTERY LUTs Collection currently works with some of the most common cameras on the market and it’s constantly expanding to even more cameras.

About Raffaele and Matteo.

Raffaele Vesco is one of the top DIT in LA and he has worked on a variety of different projects and with some of the most important directors and cinematographers in the world. Some of his work include: Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, Hustlers, Splitting up together, Insecure and many more. He also worked on high-end commercials and music videos for names like: H&M, Dodge, Hyundai, AT&T, Apple, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Emma Stone, Louis Vuitton and many more. Raffaele just recently used BUTTERY Natural Rec709 for RED and Alexa on some TV ADs for Google, Tommy John and AT&T.

Matteo Bertoli is a cinematographer and filmmaker and he lived and worked in three different countries around the world. Matteo worked on many commercials, documentaries and even narrative projects. Some of his clients include: Mercedes, McDonald’s, Verizon, Nike, Apple, IBM, Twitter, Airbnb, Facebook and many more. Also, his first feature film as DP just came out and it’s being viewed by thousands of people on Amazon Prime. Matteo also runs a Youtube channel focused on filmmaking, with 35K subscribers and more than 6M views.


NATURAL Rec709

The idea behind the Natural Rec709 LUT is to give cinematographers and colorists a better and more neutral starting point for their color grading process. Not only that, the Natural Rec709 is also an amazing tool for people who have a quick turn around and don’t have too much time to spend in the color grading process.

The Natural Rec709 is also great for monitoring the footage during production, giving you an accurate representation of what colors really look like. 

Check out this tutorial to see how to use the BUTTERY LUTs!

CREATIVE Collection

Our Creative LUTs are inspired by some of the top high end commercials and they include 13 unique and different looks like B&W, Crunchy Cold, Crunchy Gold, Day X Night, Tobacco Filter and more.

– The Creative package includes the Natural Rec709 LUT –