Personal Projects
In this Critique the Community, we want to see an image (or images) from a personal project you have completed or are still working on. The goal of a personal project is to explore a new theme in a unique and collective way.
In this Critique the Community, we want to see an image (or images) from a personal project you have completed or are still working on. The goal of a personal project is to explore a new theme in a unique and collective way.
The Fujifilm X-H2S is the latest entry in the company's respected X Series line of mirrorless cameras, and it brings along a wide range of new features and improved capabilities. This excellent video review takes a look at the new camera and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in real-world usage.
Perhaps the greatest challenge and source of frustration in landscape photography is the fact that we have no control over the light. While we can do our best to predict how things will shape up, nature does not always cooperate. When that happens, a bit of patience can be your best friend. This excellent video details why.
Believe it or not, headshot cropping and orientation is a controversial topic in the photography community. In this article and the accompanying video, I give you five reasons to crop horizontally and take just a bit off the top of the head.
When you are new to working with artificial light for portraits, you should generally start with a single source until you are comfortable with all the basic properties and techniques. Once you feel comfortable with those, you can begin to embrace more complex multi-light setups. This excellent video tutorial shows a relatively simple two-light setup that creates an eye-catching spotlight effect.
If you do photography professionally, you are going to eventually have a dissatisfied client. It is something that happens to all of us, and it is not even always your fault. So, what can you do when that happens? This excellent video tutorial offers some helpful advice that will make it easier to handle those difficult situations.
Photography, whether photojournalism, documentary, sports, wildlife, or even landscapes, is much about camera placement and timing. But there are some fundamental mistakes that most of us photographers make that are barriers to getting great photos.
Can destruction be beautiful? Rankin’s new limited book “An Exploding World” has the answer. What began as a way to stay creative during the lockdown has turned into his latest coffee table book and a reminder of the significance of creativity for personal well-being.
Whether you are a new or highly experienced photographer, the allure of new gear can be strong. And there is nothing wrong with geeking out over the latest and greatest, but when that starts inhibiting your growth as a photographer because you are blaming the tools for a lack of technical or creative growth, it can become a serious problem. This great video discusses the topic and the sort of pitfalls you need to watch out for.
It used to be that you generally used Lightroom for organization and light adjustments and Photoshop for heavier editing. However, in recent years, Lightroom has taken some remarkable steps forward, and you can now perform major edits without having to leave the program. This great video tutorial will show you how to use some of Lightroom's tools to add atmosphere to an image.
The game of landscape photography is 90% the quality of the light. It is the most crucial and uncontrollable factor in your shot. Here are some tips to make the best out of it.
Film photography is experiencing a real surge in popularity, and the beauty of it is that there are decades upon decades of used film cameras available, meaning you have a ton of options in which to find the perfect model for your needs and budget. If you are interested in film photography and ready to purchase a camera, check out this great video that discusses some good options and what to look for.
85mm lenses with wide maximum apertures are some of the most popular out there, particularly for portrait photographers, but they can also run well north of $2,000 for a good model. And so, at less than $200, the Meike 85mm f/1.8 is quite the intriguing lens, but do you get much at such a low price? 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.
Even if you are a landscape photographer who has mastered the art of taking and editing photos, knows how to plan and compose a shot, and creates good images on a constant basis, you might reach a point at which you feel stuck with your photography. In this article, I share one way of breaking through this barrier to take your photography to the next level.
If you're looking at trying a new area of photography or videography, or are just getting started in the craft, there's no doubt that making the right decision on gear is a difficult one. As the number of options has surged, so has the number of voices.
With every new update that's released, it seems that Lightroom is becoming ever more powerful as an editing tool. Learn how to use Lightroom to target specific elements in your image and easily change colors.
Both long exposures and panoramas are fantastic ways to create eye-catching photos that encourage viewers to stop and really examine every detail in the frame. Combining them takes a bit of careful technique, but the results can be well worth the effort. This great video will show you how to about shooting them and the sort of results you can expect from the process.
Coloring outside the lines is a good metaphor for when a photographer decides to take a leap outside the norm in a photographic genre.
If you are simply photographing a single person and they are occupying the majority of the frame, it is not hard to know where to place your focus point, but things can get a bit more complicated if you are dealing with a group of people or a particularly intricate scene. This helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to make sure you get the best possible results every time.
The wonderful thing about macro photography is that there are always compelling subjects within arm's reach, but on the other hand, it generally requires a dedicated macro lens. If you are interested in macro photography but not ready to invest a lot of money in it, a potentially viable intermediate option is extension tubes. This great video will show you how extension tubes work as well as the pros and cons of using them for macro work.
Although I've never been a high-end retoucher or digital artist, today, I'm going to play one. I've got my hands on a Wacom Cintiq touchscreen tablet/monitor and the Loupedeck CT, a customizable input device.
Yes, you read the headline correctly, and the results are out of this world. NanoAvionics mounted a GoPro Hero 7 to an improvised selfie stick and attached it to their MP42 microsatellite to record the footage.
Becoming a professional photographer is a dream of many, but the road to getting there is anything but short and straight. So, how long does it take to actually get there? This great video features an experienced photographer discussing the journey and offering some helpful insight and tips for finding success along the way.
The worst part about being a wedding or event photographer is having to edit thousands of photos, but I've recently discovered Narrative Select, software that uses AI to make the culling process much faster.
Having trouble getting more out of your photography? Perhaps the answer is to do less.
Sometimes, the thing you need to break out of a creative rut is a new or unusual way of creating images, and an infrared-modified camera is one such example of that. This great video will show you how an infrared-converted camera can take normal, uninteresting scenes and breathe new creative life into them.
Whether you are a portrait, wedding, or family photographer, one of the most useful skills you can learn is how to balance ambient light and flash. If you would like to improve your portraiture work, check out this helpful video that will show you a method for balancing flash and ambient light to create more balanced and complete portraits.
Many photographers start their careers by learning natural lighting techniques. Once these skills are established, complacency can set in and the photographer might choose not to stretch themselves to learn more advanced lighting skills. When photographers do this, they leave a significant amount of value on the table.
When it comes to videography and cinematography, the gimbal has risen to a staple of the craft, whether you're an amateur or a professional. However, if you don't own one or don't have one with you, there are plenty of substitutes that offer similar results.
In the age of the internet and social media, it is easier than ever to compare yourself to hundreds of other creatives with just the swipe of your thumb, and that can be a really dangerous thing. This great video offers some helpful advice for becoming both a successful and satisfied photographer.
Since the pandemic, running remote photoshoots where the client is not physically on set has become more commonplace. In this article, I'll share my best tips on how to run a successful and efficient remote photography service.
Pretty much every genre of photography seeks sharp images, but in landscape work, sharpness is often of a particular importance. If you would like to take nice, crisp photos, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will give you seven useful tips to help you take sharper landscape photos.
If you are like me, you probably have a closet full of random tiles, boards, and construction scraps just in the event you need an interesting surface to shoot on. These new photography surfaces by Duo Boards set out to change my messy studio, and this photography tutorial shows you how useful these backdrops can be!
The modern autofocus systems are advanced. Sometimes, it looks like you will never again miss a shot when it comes down to focusing. But the autofocus can still fail under certain circumstances. Let’s look at the moments when even the most advanced autofocus can give up.
Portrait photography is a challenging genre, as it takes a combination of technical savvy, creative vision, and the ability to work with people to create successful images. If you would like to improve your own portraits, check out this helpful video that features an experienced photographer giving a lot of great advice sure to help you make better photos.
When it comes to portraits, perhaps no feature is more important than the eyes, and as such, giving them a little extra attention in the post-processing stage can help you take your images to the next level. This great video tutorial will show you how to edit eyes using only Lightroom.
Once upon a time, we would learn a skill, practice it, hone it, and that would be our main area of expertise and way of making a living. In 2022, however, it would seem that mastering your camera, actually taking photos, editing them, and then applying that skill might not be everything you need to be a successful photographer in today's climate.
When it comes to portrait photography, soft light is often the method of choice, as it provides flattering renderings suitable for a wide range of styles and subjects. If you are new to working with artificial lighting and interested in learning more, check out this helpful video tutorial that will show you how to create elegant soft light for portrait work.
24-70mm f/2.8 lenses are the workhorses of choice for a huge range of photographers and filmmakers, as they offer a very versatile focal length range in tandem with a wide maximum aperture. Nonetheless, not everyone needs that f/2.8 aperture, and if you are willing to exchange that for f/4, you can get even more focal length range at a reduced price. For Canon shooters, one such lens is the RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, and this great video review takes a look at the performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.
A few years ago, a small Hong Kong-based company called Megadap raised some eyebrows when they announced their newest product, the MTZ11, which allowed Leica M mount lenses (along with a host of other manual-focus mounts when used with adapters) to be used with the Nikon Z body with autofocus.
When you are a hobbyist, you can drop whatever money you can reasonably afford on gear if it makes you happy. However, when you are a professional, gear is a business expense, and as such, you have to pay more careful attention to its impact on your bottom line and if you truly need it. This great video tutorial features an experienced photographer discussing just what gear a professional really needs.
Normally, lenses with wide maximum apertures, such as f/1.4, sit at the expensive end of the spectrum, costing anywhere from several hundred to multiple thousands of dollars. And so, a new 35mm f/1.4 lens that costs just $73 is sure to turn some heads, but can it actually turn in decent images? This excellent video review takes a look at the TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 to answer that question.
Night photography can be technically daunting. Even with modern cameras, it's not easy to capture high-quality night photos. While photographing the stars already requires high ISOs combined with wide apertures, capturing details in the landscape is even more difficult in the dark. In this article, I walk you through my night photography workflow, which combines image averaging with time blending and focus stacking to achieve high-quality results.
Drones have become a remarkably long way in the last few years, and you can now get professional-level images and video from most normal consumer models. As such, if you are a real estate photographer, it is a great time to consider diversifying your offerings by adding drone imagery. This helpful video tutorial offers an excellent guide to drone real estate photography from the gear you need through editing the images.
The Canon EOS R3 and EOS R5 are the company's two most powerful full frame cameras at the moment, offering powerful though different feature sets at two distinct price points. So, which is right for your work? This great video review takes a good look at both cameras to help you decide which is right for your needs.
Lightroom presets come with a mixed bag of acceptance. Some think they are an abomination to a learned skill and craft and should never be used, whereas others enjoy the look and feel they provide to their images. It's not just as black and white as that, and it's down to the individual whether to use them or not, but one thing to make no mistake about is the time it takes to create them.
Modern cinematic productions have begun evolving yet again, this time replacing the green screen. Some of the most impressive films of recent years have used OLED screens and Unreal Engine.
ND filters are tremendously useful for landscape photographers, giving you far more creative control over your images and the abiilty to make photos that simply would not be possible otherwise. If you are new to landscape photography, check out this neat video that features an experienced photographer showing you some of what you can accomplish with one.
Needless to say, there's a fair few logistical complexities when photographing ice cream. After shooting for a vegan ice cream brand for a couple of years now, here are my best tips for running a smooth shoot when you’re capturing ice cream.
Modern cameras and lenses offer remarkably good image quality — levels that were only dreamed of even just a decade ago. And with those increased capabilities have come increased standards and expectations. But at this point, how much image quality do we really need? This interesting video poses the question and examines a scenario where getting the shot might take precedence.