Working with flash intimidates a lot of photographers, but it is well worth taking the time to learn it, as it will make you a vastly more versatile photographer and enable new creative opportunities that simply would not be possible with only natural light. This excellent video tutorial will help you learn the basics of flash through examples and have you up and running in no time.
If you are interested in landscape photography, you might think that the first lens you should pick up is an ultra-wide angle zoom. Those can certainly be useful tools, but there might be a better first lens. This excellent video will show you a potentially better choice.
Being a photographer, whether a hobbyist or professional, is a complex endeavor in today's world, and it can be easy to be sidetracked by a wide range of issues or red herrings. If you sometimes find yourself struggling with that, check out this important video that is a useful reminder of what matters in photography and what the real nature of progress is.
Along with aperture and ISO, shutter speed is one of the three fundamental parameters that determine the overall exposure and look of a photo. Shutter speed has both a technical and creative aspect, as you can also leverage it for making effects that would not be visible to the naked eye. If you are new to photography, check out this helpful video tutorial that will give you some useful advice regarding choosing shutter speeds.
Your portfolio is your calling card and is the place where most potential customers will make the decision to pursue hiring you or not. As such, your portfolio deserves a lot of careful consideration. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced photographer sharing five tips to help you improve the quality of your portrait portfolio.
In a recent article, I shared a selection of easy-to-avoid photo editing mistakes. Today, it's time for five more. Some of them might sound obvious, while others are more subtle. What they all have in common: they can ruin an otherwise great edit.
Modern cameras are tremendously complex and intricate machines, and as such, there are often settings that may not be the best choice for your work and may even cause you to miss a shot or not come home with the best quality images. This excellent video tutorial features a seasoned photographer showing you some important settings you should consider changing to improve your workflow and photos.
When it comes to landscape photography, many photographers like to stick to the golden light that is only available around sunrise and sunset, when warm, dramatic rays of sunlight cascade through the frame. However, if you only shoot during those times, you are missing out on a ton of photo opportunities. This great video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer showing you why different times and conditions can make for worthwhile images.
Creative ruts happen to just about everyone, and they can be both frustrating and detrimental, particularly if you derive your income from your work, often leading to a vicious circle. If you find yourself stuck in a rut and unsure of how to get out of it, check out this great video that discusses why these lulls happen and what you can do to get the creative juices flowing again.
Landscape photography is a challenging genre that requires good technique, planning, creative visions, and sometimes, just a bit of luck. If you would like to improve your landscape photography, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced photographer sharing 10 common mistakes landscape shooters make and how to fix them or avoid them altogether.
When it comes to landscape photography, foliage is often one of the most important components of an image, and as such, it deserves a lot of close attention, particularly when it comes to color. If you would like to improve your landscape photos, check out this great video tutorial that will show you how to leverage Photoshop to create more accurate and vibrant foliage.
There are many simple and effective techniques that you can utilize to improve your photography when you're just starting out. Check out these seven simple tips to help you improve your photography as a beginner.
The majority of portrait photographs are only half finished once the shutter button is pressed; almost every image will require some degree of post-processing to be complete. This helpful video tutorial will show you an effective, professional-level retouching workflow using frequency separation and dodging and burning that will help you create compelling, polished results.
In landscape photography, sharpness is often one of the top priorities, and photographers will go to great lengths to ensure that their photos are crisp. If you are new to landscape photography and ready to improve, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced shooter sharing seven useful tips sure to improve the sharpness of your images.
A lot of portrait photographers are scared of working with artificial lighting, but it is a skill that is well worth learning, as it will make you a more capable and versatile photographer and better enable you to realize all your creative visions (and those of your clients). If you are new to working with flash, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you a simple and highly effective one-light portrait photography setup.
While it used to be that Photoshop was the place for any sort of advanced photo editing, in recent iterations, Lightroom has become impressively intricate and capable. In fact, you can now do a lot of things in the program you used to have to switch to Photoshop for, and often, you can perform them more efficiently in Lightroom. This great video tutorial will show you three functions and techniques you might not be aware of and how to use them in your editing.
Photo editing is a powerful tool that allows you to transform your images in many ways, from enhancing the atmosphere in a photo to increase of image quality. However, common editing mistakes can negatively impact the final result. In this article, we'll explore five of those.
In this article and the accompanying video, I will show you how to create four unique portrait looks using one light and v-flats.
While different genres place different levels of emphasis on getting sharp images, landscape photography generally demands a higher-than-average priority be placed on consistent sharpness. If you are working on becoming a better landscape photographer, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced creative sharing some helpful advice for getting sharp shots on a consistent basis.
Of all the things that go into making a compelling image, posing is perhaps the thing that photographers struggle with the most. If that is something you have trouble with, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you three easy posing techniques for when your subject is sitting on the ground or floor.
Rain in the forecast can be a disappointment for photographers and their clients, especially if they planned an outdoor photoshoot. Rain can ruin the vision for perfect, directional lighting that was originally planned, making it difficult to capture the desired mood or atmosphere. However, instead of rescheduling or moving the shoot entirely indoors, photographers have an opportunity to capture interesting and creative photos with an outdoor rain photoshoot. In this article, we’ll provide you with some rain photoshoot tips to prepare and inspire your creativity.
Though we normally think of Photoshop as the place for complex edits, in recent iterations, Lightroom has become a tremendously capable and surprisingly intricate program. As such, there are some features and capabilities you might not be aware of. This excellent video tutorial will show you seven such features and tips and how to use them to make your landscape photo edits more efficient and improve your overall image quality.
You can be proficient with a camera and lighting and have a strong creative voice, but to find success as a professional photographer takes strong business skills as well. If that is something you are new to and you would like to improve, check out this great video tutorial that will give you some helpful advice for the process of booking new clients to help you increase your chances of landing the job.
The first thing that comes to mind when panoramas are mentioned is an extremely wide field of view. Often, you need multiple photos to cover such angles. A panorama can also be achieved by a crop. Which method should you use for landscapes? Cropping or stitching?
Gaining technical competence is hard enough, but developing an original creative voice is an entirely separate challenge. This can be particularly tough in a genre in which you do not get control over the presence or placements of elements in the scene, such as landscape photography. If that is something you find yourself struggling with, check out this fantastic video essay that discusses the process of finding originality in landscape photography.
Adobe's Lightroom masking feature introduced just under a year ago revolutionized the workflow for many photographers by automating the tedious task of creating individual masks for specific parts of an image. This AI masking feature allows photographers to easily separate the foreground from the background, easily break down the parts of a portrait, and apply various edits to each individual part.
One of the challenging things about running a photography business is that, unlike a regular job, we have to give ourselves all the structure to stay on track and to be productive. If that is something you struggle with, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five useful hacks to make you a more productive photographer.
It takes years of practice to become good at sports photography. Basketball, for example, is fast-paced, with frequent turnovers. When covering a game, you need to be attentive to all of the action happening on the court. But even if you photograph all of the crucial plays, something may be missing from your coverage. This article will help you understand the variety of potential shots at a basketball game and what you need to do to ensure that you capture them properly.
Braces are extremely common, but their wearers are often a bit self-conscious about them, and as such, you might get requests to remove them. As usual, it is Photoshop to the rescue, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how to deal with a situation that can be surprisingly tricky.
The nice aspect of learning things like camera settings and lighting is that these topics can often be objectively quantified. On the other hand, something like posing is a bit more nebulous and something that many photographers struggle with even when they have mastered other aspects of portrait work. If posing is something you are still working on learning, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to pose a full-body portrait when working with a non-model.
DSLR fashion has plummeted in recent years. The perks of mirrorless tech continue to exceed expectations, pushing boundaries and leaving their clunky, slower siblings in their shiny, space-age wake. But does any of that really matter in the commercial photographic world? Well, no, not really. In 2023, £250 will still have your images contending with ones from bodies 10 times the price.
No doubt, you need to be good with a camera and have a strong creative voice to find success as a professional photographer, but there is a lot more to that life than simply taking images for money. If you aspire to be a professional photographer, check out this great video that will show you the ins and outs of a typical photographer's day and everything it takes to keep a business running.
My business insurance has rocketed in price this year with a 33% increase. Yet, I would not do without it. Like anything with monetary value, cameras can be targeted by thieves. That risk is growing.
Composition is one of the trickiest and most nebulous aspects of photography, and it is something even experienced photographers often struggle with. If you find yourself often having trouble with creating balanced and compelling image compositions, check out this helpful video tutorial that discusses five common composition mistakes and how to fix them so that you can create better photos.
Being a new photographer can be daunting, and it can be easy to make mistakes that can derail your progress and confidence as a creative. If you are new to the craft and looking to improve, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced photographer sharing five mistakes he made along the way and how to avoid them or learn from them.
Are you starting out as a wedding photographer? Maybe you're looking to improve the quality of what you deliver. Here are my top 10 must-have shots, when they will happen during the day, and key information to consider when setting them up, finessing, and completing them.
Creating a successful landscape image takes a complex combination of a range of factors, and as such, anything you can do to simplify or clarify the process can have a big impact on your workflow and the final product. Although it is rarely used, almost every digital camera has a built-in function that can vastly improve how you see a scene, and this great video tutorial will show you how to take advantage of it for better landscape images.
Working with flash is something that scares a lot of photographers, but once you learn the basics, you will probably wonder how you went so long without in your toolkit. Flash can make you a far more versatile photographer and open up creative avenues that simply are not possible when working solely with natural light. This helpful video tutorial will show you 10 important tips that will assist you in gaining comfort and competence with flash photography in no time.
Have you ever experienced being delighted about the outcome of your photographs but ended up getting a different reaction from your audience? Here’s a step that might help you curate your images better.
When you love photographing moving subjects, it may be difficult to get a perfectly sharp photo. The best way is by moving your camera with the subject to keep it in the frame. This technique is called panning. I have 10 tips for successful panning photography.
Price lists can be dangerous, but they can also be great. How do you know if you should reveal your hand and have one displayed on your website?
Photography is quite literally painting with light. As such, it’s important for a photographer to be able to see and shape light.
While clear blue skies are happy times for many people, for landscape photographers, they can be a source of significant frustration. That swath of monotonous blue can remove a large chunk of visual interest from a scene and make it difficult to create compelling images. Before you pack up your gear and head back to the car, though, check out this great video tutorial that will show you some helpful tips and techniques for dealing with those boring skies and still coming home with effective photos.
Like it or not, social media is one of the primary means of disseminating your work and communicating with potential clients nowadays. As such, it is important for photographers to know how to effectively engage with it and leverage it for finding customers and advancing their careers. This great video presentation features a photographer who is highly successful on various social media platforms sharing some of what made her successful and offering some helpful advice so you can do the same.
When you have gained a lot of confidence in your ability with a camera and have built out a nice portfolio, you might start thinking about going professional. However, even though it absolutely takes those aforementioned items, they are not enough on their own. It takes a good amount of business savvy to create a reasonable income from photography. This helpful video tutorial will show you five essential items that will make your business life a little easier.
Most of the time, a landscape photo will show the horizon. The best position of that horizon depends on what's important in the photo. Do you place the horizon at the top, the bottom, or somewhere else in the frame? If you struggle with that decision, this article may give a helping hand.
