Tag: Stuart Litoff

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July 2025: Photographer of the Month

Tom and I celebrate great photos from workshop participants by selecting a Photo of the Month. For July we chose an image from our Iceland: Puffins and Waterfalls Workshop. The image was taken by Stuart Litoff on Grimsey Island. Stuart is a landscape and fine art photographer who also photographs wildlife. You can see his work featured here.

Congratulations to our featured photographer for July 2025 – Stuart Litoff

The Story… 


This was the second day of shooting puffins. I knew I had gotten some okay shots the day before. But I hadn’t gotten any good shots with the fish in their beaks. That was my goal for the second day.

Before the shoot Tom had talked about soft backgrounds and soft foregrounds. I had that on my mind. When I saw this cliff area with the cloud behind it, I kept my eye on the bird that was there. At first it was standing with it’s head in profile, then he slowly turned his head towards me. I was shooting at 30 frames per second so I had a lot to choose from. I liked the way this one looked the best.

I also really wanted a flying puffin with fish. I haven’t found one yet that I like in the images I have reviewed so far.

I enjoy wildlife photography. I don’t like doing it for an entire trip. I can be overwhelmed by too many photos to sort through. I took 3000-4000 pictures of puffins. That was a lot for me. But this was one of the latter shots of the day, so maybe I would have missed this if I had quit earlier.

I use Photo Mechanic to sort images. But I want to see them all. I want to see what I shot. I find that there are surprises in all directions. A photo that I did not think would be good, could turn out to be really good. For this photo I was able to go through a range of images with slightly different head positions.

July 2025 Photo of the Month by Stuart Litoff

EXIF Data:

Camera: Fuji X-H2S

Lens: Fuji 100-400mm lens at 400mm

Aperture: f6.4

Shutter: 1/2000

ISO: 3200 (auto)

Shutter Priority

About Photographing in Iceland

I love Iceland. This is my third trip there. I went there for the first time 10 years ago with Tom on a Strabo trip.

I love the landscape. I love that there aren’t a lot of people there. It is different than a lot of other places. The people are also really nice.

It was great to explore the north, the Highlands and the West Fjords on this trip. That was all new to me.

Sun Voyager Statue on the Coastal Walkway

I had a late flight out on the last day and decided to grab my camera and go out for a walk on the Coastal Walkway. I had seen images of the Sun Voyager sculpture before but did not know where to find it. Just as I arrived at the sculpture I was getting some breaks in the cloud layer. I had my super-wide lens on 6-12mm.

I found the composition to be challenging. I couldn’t get the entire sculpture in, so I focused on including more of the sky instead.

I exposed for the sky instead of the sculpture. I was pleased how the sculpture turned out in post processing.

Icelandic Foals

Stuart’ s Tips for Photographing Wildlife

Tip 1

For me, I have to work at being patient and forgiving. If birds are moving a lot or flying it is hard to get a good photo. I have to try not to get frustrated with the results and just keep working at it.

Tip 2

When there are multiple animals close to each other, I really look for interaction between animals. Those are the best shots. This is when you can capture emotion.

When we arrived at the field with the foals in it, there was a group of seven horses, including a stallion. The Icelandic horses are very friendly and came right over to us. I focused on the connection between the two foals.

On Stuart’s Horizon:

Greece

India, Nepal and Bhutan

Scandinavia

Peru

Scotland

London

Workshop Openings:

Join us for Iceland: Puffins and Waterfalls in July 2026…. 1 Space Available More details

Also going back to Iceland in 2028. Join the Interest List

Check out other openings on our Upcoming Workshops Page

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Tom and Cree

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

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June Photo of the Month


Tom and I want to celebrate the great images being created by photographers each month. For June we selected an image from our new online workshop Creative Camera Craft We hope you enjoy Stuart’s images as much as we do. 

Congratulations to June’s photographer – Stuart Litoff

Stuart in urban Tokyo

The Story:

The assignment was to capture motion.

I live in Washington DC and it’s summertime. The thought of going out in the hot and humid weather wasn’t very appealing so I started thinking about what I could do in my apartment.

I was looking for something manageable from the technical aspects of shooting. I asked myself, “What do I do a lot of? Sitting at my desk and typing on a keyboard. That’s how the idea came to me.

What would I need for the shoot? A tripod. I needed the keyboard to be rock solid and my hand’s needed to be free. I focused on the keyboard and framed it the way I liked it. And then, I used a remote with a ten second delay to take the picture.

I experimented both with being in front and behind the tripod. I found being behind the tripod and reaching around it worked better. The angle of where the camera was worked better.

Next, I experimented with the shutter speeds – I was trying to see how much blur looked good. The shutter speed I chose was faster than I thought it would be. It was just .8 seconds.

I realized it was important to keep my hands apart and not use the middle keys. I learned this by reviewing the first set of images in the l.c.d.

Once I had it I did minimal post processing – even though I do love to move those sliders!

I knew it was a successful image for the assignment. I wouldn’t have thought to take it on my own. That’s one of the fun things about taking a class. I transferred the idea into something that looked clever. It wasn’t a blazing sunset, but I do like it.

Stuart Litoff’s Photo of the Month

The Data: .8 sec, f4, ISO 200

The Gear: Fuji X-T2 with a 16-55mm lens

About Learning Photography Online:

Taking classes online is very stimulating. They have me looking around the apartment and out the window for things to photograph.

Tip from the Photographer: 

The pandemic is dominating everyone’s lives, including photographers. Up until the pandemic, I took 90% of my pictures on workshops. I live in Washington DC. It’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but I just don’t go out and photograph it much.

The class I took was perfect for me. My advice is to look around where you live. Follow the light for interesting photographs. If the photographs don’t come on their own, take an online class.

More of Stuart’s images from Creative Camera Craft

On Stuart’s Horizon

I keep thinking there will be a photo travel trip in the near future…..but I don’t see it. I will apply what I learned in class around here and see what new courses come up.

Stuart in the Redwoods

For more information on Online Classes with TBPW Click Here