Since its inception, the Photographing the World series has taken photographers to some of the most beautiful locations around the world with landscape photographer Elia Locardi. Part educational photography tutorial video and part cultural adventure, Photographing the World has not only showcased some of Elia’s most popular shooting and photo editing techniques but it also lets you experience the life of a full-time photographer who has made an incredible career out of travel and landscape photography. Fstoppers is excited to bring you the next extended adventure in the Photographing the World series as we head to the red deserts of the western United States and the exotic mountains of Patagonia in South America.

Meet Elia

Elia Locardi is an internationally acclaimed professional travel photographer, Fujifilm Global Ambassador, writer, public speaker and highly experienced educator who spends his life shooting some of the most beautiful locations in the world. Since he began traveling full-time in 2009, he has visited more than 65 countries, flown nearly 2 million miles, and collaborated with major companies, brands, countries, NGOs, and tourism agencies on nearly every continent.

Elia photographing Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, Utah

Exploring the Americas

Over the course of the first three Photographing the World tutorials, Elia has explored some of the most beautiful locations in the world including Iceland, New Zealand, Italy, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Dubai, and Singapore. For the Photographing the World 4 photography tutorial, we wanted to visit new locations that both Elia and the Fstoppers crew had never explored before. In this advanced landscape photography tutorial , we are excited to be traveling throughout the western deserts of the United States and the mountains of Patagonia in Chile and Argentina.

This adventure begins in North America where we explore some of the most beautiful natural wonders of the western United States. Even though Elia Locardi grew up in the United States, he spends most of his time working internationally and has actually done very little travel through the states. So as he explores these beautiful locations throughout Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, you will be able to learn how Elia scouts and sets up his photographs in areas he’s visiting and seeing for the first time. Some of the locations included in this first half of the tutorial include Horseshoe Bend, Mesa Arch, Thor’s Hammer, Angel’s Landing, and Monument Valley. Even though this tutorial is focused on advanced landscape photography and advanced landscape photography post-processing and editing, Elia spends time during one lesson to break away from the landscape theme in order to demonstrate how he tackles one of the most extravagant cityscapes in the world: the Las Vegas strip.

After traveling through western US, Elia changes both landscapes and seasons entirely and flies down to South America. From Santiago, Chile, the crew travels to the the southernmost part of Patagonia to photograph the rugged terrain within Torres del Paine National Park. Here Elia is faced with some of the harshest winds and changing weather conditions he has ever faced during the Photographing the World tutorial production. After photographing the epic mountains within Chile, Elia continues the travel to Argentina as he photographs the grand Fitz Roy mountain in El Chaltén. The journey eventually wraps up back in Chile in the volcano filled countryside of Conguillío National Park.

15 On Location Lessons

What makes the Photographing the World series so different from other landscape photography tutorials is you get to watch Elia work on location as he faces the unique challenges that each scene offers. Throughout the course of this adventure, Elia will explore 15 completely different shooting environments and explain what is and isn’t working for his process and style. Sometimes common challenges present themselves like dealing with poor weather or less than ideal lighting. Other times Elia is faced with unforeseen issues like excessive tourists, moon light, traffic, intense wind, or nearby light pollution. Unlike other lessons in this series, every one of these locations is completely new to Elia which gives you the chance to watch an experienced landscape photographer tackle all of these unique situations for the first time ever, and walk you through the entire process.

Salto Grande in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Throughout Photographing the World, Elia explores new topics and shooting techniques that he has either never shared or that he has perfected over the years. Some of these topics include working with tilt shift lenses to reduce converging vertical lines, creating unique shift panos while also blending moments of time, blending multiple frames from slightly different camera positions to create perspective blended photos, and capturing extreme weather conditions in order to help reveal hidden elements within your scene. In the before and after example below, Elia also teaches how to create seamless multi panel panoramic images with exposures that are not perfectly matched.

Learn Elia’s Latest Post Production Tricks in this Advanced Landscape Photography Tutorial Video

Fans of the Photographing the World series love watching Elia work through each photograph live on location, but perhaps the most valuable part of this series actually takes place long after the images have been captured out in the field. After every photo has been imported, Elia then takes you back to the post production studio where he then makes every photo come to life. Although we try to start each of these tutorials off with simple edits so anyone from any skill level can follow along, Elia quickly transitions into easy to learn yet extremely advanced editing techniques.

Whether you struggle with masking in different times of day seamlessly, blending new skies without haloing, adding micro contrast within your mid tones, or bringing color back from an overall dull shooting environment, Elia’s mastery of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom will help you make your own photos look as good as they possibly can. As with most of the Photographing the World photography tutorial videos, Elia showcases some of his favorite software that he uses in his own workflow, but he also teaches how to create the same effects manually if you prefer not to rely on third party plugins or editing panels.

What’s Included In The Download

• 14 1/2 Hours of Video Content (1080p, 23.9fps, H.264 mpg4, over 20GB of material)
• 15 On Location and Studio Post-processing Lessons
• Full RAW files and companion software catalogs so you can follow along (Lightroom catalogs and Photoshop PSDs)
• 10 Behind the Scenes episodes of our experiences traveling and filming this tutorial
• Private Elia Facebook Group access for extended education and photo sharing

Topics Covered In This Tutorial:

• Elia’s Latest Camera Gear Including Medium Format
• How to Deal with Inclement Weather
• In-Camera Photography Techniques (ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, White Balance, etc)
• Extensive Location Scouting and Tips for better composition, angles, and vantage points
• Advanced Panoramic Photography Shooting and Stitching
• Blending Moments in Time with Multi level Panos
• Solid Neutral Density Filters and Softening Skies and Water
• How to Use Smart Phone Apps to Precisely Plan Your Night and Astro-Photography
• Capturing Stars and Star Trails While Using Tilt Shift Lenses
• Understanding and Mastering Light (Golden Hour, Blue Hour, Sunrise and Sunset, and Astro)
• Extensive and Seamless Focus Stacking and Focus Bracketing
• Perspective Blending and Combining Various Focal Lengths
• Time Blending (combining exposures shot at different times)
• Bracketing and Multiple Exposure Blending
• 100% Manual Exposure Blending using Zero HDR Software
• Blending Different Moments in Time Together (Blending Different Times of Day Seamlessly)
• Non-Destructive Techniques to Master RAW Processing
• Extensive Non-Destructive Color Correction and Image Adjustment
• Complex Selections and Masking Techniques
• How to Create and Work With Luminosity Masking Techniques
• Advanced Luminosity Masking
• Compound Channel Masking for Precision Selections and Color Corrections
• Advanced Object Removal and Image Cleanup
• How to Replace Skies and Add Depth and Drama to Existing Ones
• Precision Sharpening and Selective Noise Reduction
• Blending Moments In Time To Reveal Mountains Covered by Fog

10 New Behind the Scenes Episodes

Ever since Fstoppers started traveling with Elia Locardi during the first Photographing the World, we decided to film an entire behind the scenes series that showcases everything that took place when the production camera’s weren’t rolling. This tutorial is no different, and with Photographing the World 4, you will get 10 brand new episodes of Patrick, Lee, Elia, and Naomi as they travel throughout North and South America. Not only will you get to see when things go wrong with a lesson but you will also get to experience some of the best food, wildlife, and excursions each location has to offer. Below you can watch the first behind the scenes episode of Photographing the World 4 for free.

Three Additional Photographing the World Tutorials!

As mentioned above, Photographing the World 4 is the latest photography tutorial video in the Photographing the World series. If you are new to Elia’s work or are looking for the most comprehensive education on landscape and cityscape photography, we have combined multiple tutorials below with additional savings. For more information on either of these other tutorials, head over to the tutorial page for Photographing the World 1, Photographing the World 2, and Photographing the World 3.