5 Common Street Photography Mistakes

Street photography is a unique and challenging genre that requires fast reactions, solid technique, the ability to anticipate action, and a dose of creativity. If you would like to improve your street photography work, check out this fantastic video tutorial that discusses five common mistakes photographers make and how to fix them or avoid them in the first place.

How to Photograph Fireworks

The 4th of July is just about here, and that means fireworks will soon be filling the skies all around the United States. They make for fantastic photography subjects, and they can be a great technical challenge as well. If you are thinking of heading out to capture some images, check out this helpful video tutorial that will give you a range of tips to ensure you come home with the best possible shots.

5 Words Headshot Photographers Should Never Say

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on as a headshot photographer was using the dreaded phrase, “I'll fix it in post.” In today's article and accompanying video, I share five reasons why I never say this to my clients, and why you shouldn't either.

6 Rules Every Cinematographer Should Know

Great cinematography can elevate an average video far above its station, and conversely, poor cinematography can damage an otherwise great picture. In this video, Mark Bone goes through the six most important rules that he believes every cinematographer and Director of Photography ought to know.

A Review of the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless Camera

The Canon EOS R3 has some of the most advanced capabilities and features the company has ever put in a camera, making it an appealing option for a wide range of creatives, particularly sports and wildlife photographers. This great video review takes a look at the camera and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in the field.

We Review the MIOPS Flex Camera Trigger

With so many new methods to create images, photography has gone beyond simply just taking a photo. This new device from MIOPS brings the photographer closer to the images they envision by making the process simpler.

Shooting With One of the Most Iconic Cameras in History

There are few camera series more iconic and recognizable than the Hasselblad 500 series, which has become a popular collector's camera that still commands a high price on the used market today. This great video review takes a look at a camera from the series and what it is like to shoot with seven decades after they first hit the market.

How to Shoot and Edit a Powerful Long Exposure Seascape Photo

Few images are more iconic in landscape photography than the long exposure of water. It is about a lot more than simply throwing an ND filter on the front of your lens and going to town, however. This great video follows a photographer as he shoots and edits a long exposure of a seascape and offers a lot of helpful insights into and tips on his creative decisions and process.

Three Months of  Using the OM-1 Mirrorless Camera: Am I Still Impressed?

Only if you buried your head for the last few months would you have missed the enthusiasm for the OM-1. The new camera from the company previously known as Olympus caused quite a stir. How is it faring in the real world? I've owned the OM-1 for a little over three months. Am I still as enthusiastic about it as I was when I first bought it?

How Drones Are Helping Save Lives in the Ukraine War

In our profession, we think of every piece in our gear closet as designed to take pictures. If you were assigned to walk into your gear closet and redesign one piece for the purpose of saving human lives, what would you create? North American company Dranganfly has taken drones and has created gear that is used in new ways for smarter and safer warfare.

The Incredible Things You Can Do With 144 Sony Mirrorless Cameras

Sony mirrorless cameras have become some of the most capable and popular cameras on the market. With tiny cameras such as the Sony a7C and high-resolution systems like the a7R IV, there are plenty of options available for almost all photography genres. This seems especially to be the case when you put 144 Sony cameras together into a synchronized rig.

The Lesson Every New Photographer Needs to Learn

Being new to photography can be a bit daunting, requiring you to tackle a variety of technical and creative ideas and approaches simultaneously. However, there is one lesson every new photographer should learn as soon as possible, as it will save them a lot of money and headache down the road and help them become better faster. This important video discusses the topic and how to get yourself on the right track.

The Next Hasselblad Mirrorless Camera Looks to Be a Big Upgrade

Hasselblad's X1D and X1D II 50C medium format mirrorless cameras have achieved some popularity for being incredibly portable while still offering extremely high levels of image quality. An updated body is expected fairly soon, and it looks like Hasselblad is planning some major upgrades to the camera.

Is Technology in Photography Lowering the Bar or Increasing Freedom?

The craft of photography has arguably changed more in the last 20 years than in the century before it. With each improvement to the equipment comes the inevitable groans of many photographers who believe the technology takes away from the craft. Is that well-founded or mistaken?

A Look at the Nikon NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S Lens

Ultra-wide angle zoom lenses are useful for a wide range of applications, with professional models generally employing an f/2.8 aperture. However, not all photographers need to spend the kind of money or lug around the weight that comes with such a lens. Nikon's NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S offers all the benefits of an ultra-wide angle zoom without that bulk or expensive price, and this great video takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it.

How to Edit Portraits in Capture One

While Lightroom and Photoshop are probably the most used post-processing programs, they are far from the only options. Many professionals prefer Capture One for their work, particularly for the way it renders color and for its tethering capabilities. If you are new to the program, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to edit a portrait using it.

This $64 Second-Hand Camera is a Gem

We all know that the best gear isn't essential to creating great photographs, but this camera is really pushing those limits! It's no wonder James Popsys loves it.

How to Make More Compelling Portraits by Framing Your Subject With the Environment

There has been a huge rise in the popularity of portraits with shallow depth of field in the last decade, and while those can be compelling, they are certainly not the only way to shoot. In fact, you can give your images an extra dose of visual interest by integrating the environment around your subject in clever ways. This helpful video tutorial will show you just how to go about doing so.

Which of These Is Canon's Best Portrait Lens?

Canon makes a lot of fantastic portrait lenses that fit a wide range of needs, aesthetic preferences, price ranges, and more. Four of their best are the RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM, RF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM, EF 135mm f/2L USM, and RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, and this excellent video comparison takes a look at all four to help you decide which is right for you.

4 Things Photographers Should Do Every Day

Life as an artist is a never-ending series of peaks and valleys full of both joy and inevitable disappointment. But adding a bit of routine into a life seemingly devoid of it can make you both a better photographer and a happier human being.

A Review of the New Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AF II Lens

A 35mm lens with a wide maximum aperture is highly versatile, useful for everything from portraits to landscapes, astrophotography, and more. Such lenses can easily run north of $2,000, which, at $799, is what makes Samyang's 35mm f/1.4 AF II quite the attractive option. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Using the TTArtisan 28mm f/5.6 Lens in the Field

Whenever I'm on assignment, I'll typically bring a film camera along with me. For breaking news work, they're not particularly useful; no editor in their right mind is going to wait for me to return home, develop, process, edit, and upload my film frames, no matter how good the final product might be. However, this lens has made me rethink my process a bit.

Accessories in Your Camera Bag You Don’t Need

A camera bag can carry a lot of stuff. It fits a camera and lenses, but also other things that may or may not be helpful for your photography. Sometimes, there’s too much stuff that seems to be essential at first, but isn’t used at all. How many things have you collected in your camera bag?

Back-button Autofocus Is Even Better on Mirrorless Cameras, and Here’s Why

As a photography instructor, one of the most common questions I see from students is about back-button focus. It's easy to gloss over it to keep things simple for new users, but doing so on the latest generation of mirrorless cameras leaves a lot of useful features on the table. It's worth learning.

A Review of the New Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD Lens for Fujifilm X Series Cameras

A standard zoom lens with an f/2.8 aperture is one of the most versatile options a photographer or filmmaker can have in their bag, capable of tackling a multitude of scenarios ranging from wedding coverage to landscape photography. Such lenses are not cheap, though the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD seeks to buck that trend by coming in at just $799. This great video review takes a look at the new lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

How to Create the Film Look in Lightroom

The film look continues to gain popularity, and whether you use it as part of your personal aesthetic or for clients, knowing how to create it from digital images is a good skill to have. This helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to create the look using nothing but Lightroom.

The Surprising Reason Photography Is Dying on Instagram

If you've used Instagram in the past six months, you might have noticed the slow decline of photography on your feed. Reels are the main culprit of that change, but there's more to it than you might think.

5 Easy Concepts for Portraits in a Park

A park is a fantastic place to shoot portraits, full of interesting architecture, compelling light, and eye-catching foliage. If you would like to explore your creativity a bit, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five easy concepts for shooting portraits in a park.

A Review of the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR Lens

A 35mm lens with a wide maximum aperture is one of the most useful and versatile optics a photographer can have in their bag, suitable for a huge range of applications, including weddings, astrophotography, portraits, and more. For Fuji shooters, there is the XF 23mm f/1.4 R LM WR lens, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in real-world usage.

AI-Powered Art Is Getting Scary Good

Machine learning and AI are quickly becoming commonplace with the tools every photographer uses. There are neural filters for Photoshop, AI enhancement tools in Luminar Neo and PortraitPro, and even programs that use AI to generate captions for photos.

Luminar Neo Adds Portrait Background Removal to Its Bag of Editing Tricks

Luminar Neo from Skylum has added a much awaited feature: background removal in portraits. Removing a person's image from a photo is nothing new, but it's generally time-consuming if the background is not simple or solid. Luminar Neo does it usually in one click, and if you're a professional or an advanced hobbyist, it is a time-saver.

How to Plan a Landscape Photoshoot

You can certainly just head out with your camera and create photos as you happen upon interesting scenes or subjects, but when it comes to shooting things like landscapes and cityscapes, planning ahead can really help you get next-level images. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced photographer discussing how he plans a shoot and showing some useful tools to give you a better chance of coming home with the shot you want.

How to Get Incredible Landscape Images on the Coast

After shooting more sunsets than I can count along the Pacific coast, I've experienced many different conditions and learned a plethora of valuable lessons. These are the most important tips I found throughout that journey that will help you the next time you're shooting along the coast.

A Beginner's Guide to Color Grading Photos

Color grading is a good chance to add your personal touch to an image and to take it from good to memorable. It is a deceptively complex thing, though, and it takes a good eye and light touch to do it effectively. This helpful video tutorial will show you some great first steps and techniques for color grading images that are sure to get you up and running in no time.

How to Clean Sensor Dust in Lightroom

Even if you follow all the guidelines for keeping your sensor free of dust, it is something that will probably happen to you at one time or another, and worse yet, you might not notice it until you are at home, looking at your images on your computer. Thankfully, though, it is not very difficult to take care of it using Lightroom, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how to quickly and easily take care of it.

Using Gels, Strobes, Constant Lights, and ACDSee's Gemstone on One Photograph

In this behind the scenes video, I'm going to walk you through a pretty complex photograph I shot in our garage studio. Using strobes, LED lights, a crazy light modifier, and ACDSee's new photo editing software, Gemstone, this final image turned out much more interesting than I originally thought.

Getting Your Kids Into Photography: Camp Canon (Canada)

Summer is coming! Your kids are just a moment or two away from finishing the school year. If you want to keep them occupied with something you can share as they grow, check out Camp Canon, an online summer camp for photography and videography. Schools out for summer, schools out forever... why not encourage a love for photography?

How to Make Your Own Food Photography Backgrounds

Creating an eye-catching and successful food photo is about more than simply lighting and arranging the food in a compelling way; you need to be able to create a set that complements the food and enhances the overall mood of the image. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced food photographer discussing some ways you can go about doing that.

What is the Best Camera Mode for Landscape Photography?

For more than 30 years, I tried different camera settings for my landscape photography. With the settings I use today, I don’t only feel more flexible, but they allow me to nail each of my photographs technically.

A Review of the New Laowa 90mm f/2.8 APO 2x Lens

Venus Optics has long been known for producing unique and capable lenses that offer impressive performance at quite affordable prices. Their latest lens, the Laowa 90mm f/2.8 APO 2x, offers twice the magnification of a traditional macro lens for not a lot of money, and it is available for all major mirrorless full frame mounts. This great video review takes a look at the new lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Should OM Systems Release an Update to This Impressive Classic Lens?

Not many kit lenses are known for their performance or image quality, but there are a few hidden gems out there that offer quite a lot for not a lot of money. One such example is the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3, and this great video review takes a look at the lens, what makes it great, and why OM Systems should consider an updated version.

Insight From the Creative Conference in New York City

We often describe children as creative. We are impressed at how they create art using nothing more than a crayon and a sheet of blank paper. Many adults, however, neglect the artistic spark they had in their youth and label themselves as “not creative.” The Creativity Conference, a no-cost, full-day event held in New York City on June 10, presented speakers who encouraged the adults in attendance to believe that they are indeed creatives who should be proud to pursue and share their artistic creations.

What Camera Quirks Annoy You?

Modern cameras are quite capable and powerful machines, but none of them are perfect. Every camera has quirks that we find annoying or would like to change. This interesting video discusses five annoying camera quirks in current cameras.