Sony cameras are well known for standing at the forefront of technological innovation, offering top-notch image quality and class-leading features. What were their cameras like when they first started, though? This fun video review takes a look at the company's first digital camera, the DSC-F1, and what it is like 25 years later.
Adding special effects to shots can turn a nice but rather plain image into something truly memorable. In this video, what behind-the-scenes as a commercial is made for a brand of flash-frozen coffee using dry ice.
After the honeymoon period, where we obsess over every new technological innovation the camera market has provided, what matters when we get to set?
One of the most recognizable aspects of any visual artist's style is their color grading, and it is a fantastic way to really level up your own work. If there is a painting, movie, photo, or some other visual piece that you really love the color grading of, this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to copy it directly to one of your own photos using Photoshop.
When we learn about lighting in portrait photography, we mostly focus on where to add light and how to shape it, but the presence of light is only made impactful by the mutual presence of shadows. Shadows can be a fantastic tool not just for contrast but to create a sense of drama or to tell a story with your images. This fantastic video tutorial will walk you through the process of lighting a portrait image with carefully crafted shadows to show you just how powerful they can be.
Skylum created a bit of a late summer storm when it announced a new image editor, Luminar Neo. The complaint from users has been that Skylum drops development on an editor, only to release a new one, while essentially going end of life on the current software.
Wedding photography is a highly demanding genre, both behind the camera and at your computer. Given the intensive post-processing requirements that can often stretch into a multi-day process for a single event, it is crucial to have an efficient and well-structured workflow. If that is something you would like to learn, check out this great video tutorial that will show you one wedding photographer's Lightroom workflow from start to finish.
Few focal lengths are more versatile than 35mm, being wide enough to tackle things like events coverage, landscapes, and astrophotography, but not so wide that things like portraits are not reasonable. Sony shooters have a premium option in the FE 35mm f/1.4 GM lens, and this awesome video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.
Photographers have gear, and gear needs to be packed without being forgotten. If you’re like us, you obsess about systems that will make sure you have everything you need to create the work you want. Packaroo is an app we have been using to streamline this process.
The sheer number of new cameras in the last few decades is staggering, but even so, there are still standout performers that either set the pace or changed the game completely. This video will go through the top 10 and why they had such a profound impact on the industry.
As visual people, we photographers and videographers may neglect extensive post-production on basic audio recordings, but that would be a mistake. In this video, find out how to match the sound of a cheap microphone to one far more expensive.
Good hardware can really help to make a photographer's life so much easier. Is this keyboard tablet hybrid about to change how we work?
Autumn is just about upon us, and soon, the leaves will gift us with show-stopping vibrant colors that beg to be captured. If you are getting ready to head outdoors with your camera, check out this fantastic video that will give you seven great ideas for fall photos.
Living on the road full time has a lot of challenges, one of the most important being how to keep everything fully charged. From drone batteries to a refrigerator, this is how I manage.
Along with aperture and shutter speed, ISO is one of the three fundamental exposure parameters, and mastering it is crucial to being able to produce successful images. If you are newer to photography, this helpful video tutorial will show you what ISO does and why photographers sometimes use high ISOs.
Night photography isn't all about astrophotography and in fact, there are a lot of great shots out there waiting to be captured. In this video, see how night images of varying difficulties are made and use them as inspiration for your own shoots.
Knowing how to light, pose, and shoot a portrait is only half of what it takes to create a successful final image. It takes strong processing skills at the computer to complement your technique behind the camera. This comprehensive video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to retouch a portrait to a professional standard in Photoshop.
It used to be that medium format was so prohibitively expensive that its usage was limited to just a few professionals and rental houses. But in the last few years, that paradigm has been completely rewritten, and now, medium format is a viable alternative to full frame for a lot of photographers. So, is it worth taking the dive? This great video discusses the topic.
One endlessly enjoyable inclusion in any landscape photograph is layers. Not only does it give the difficult-to-convey depth of the real scene, but it's also often pleasing to the eye. In this video, watch how these beautiful layered landscapes of mountains were created.
Two successful SpaceX missions last week, one on each coast, prompted me to review my rocket launch photo procedures, particularly since the Monday (Sept. 13) launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base was the first after a long hiatus. For those of us in southern California, it was a photo op we were eagerly awaiting since it was scheduled for after sunset.
An ethereal, dreamy landscape photo can be a nice change of pace from the common ultra-sharp, super-vibrant photos we are used to today, and it can invite the viewer to find their own meaning and message within the image. If you are looking to create such photos in your own work, this great video tutorial will give you five tips to make it happen.
Becoming a proficient landscape photographer takes a tremendous amount of technical skill both behind the camera and at your computer, but even flawless technique is not enough to make a compelling image. It takes creative vision as well, but that is something that is a bit more difficult to learn. This great video tutorial discusses the idea of learning to see in landscape photography and building your creative vision.
A wide angle lens with a wide aperture is useful for a huge range of scenarios, from landscape photography to astro work and events coverage. For Fujifilm X Series shooters, one option is the XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR, and this great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.
iOS 15, the next major update of the operating system, is available today, and it brings with it a lot of exciting and useful features, particularly for photographers. Let's dive in and see what you can expect when you upgrade.
Wide-angle lenses are the go-to for most landscape photographers, but longer lenses are often seen as underrated. In this video, two professional landscape photographers take either end of the lens spectrum to see who can produce the best shots in the mountains of Wales.
There are a lot of reasons why people pick up cameras and become photographers, ranging from making a living to simply wanting to document life around them or explore their creativity. So, what type are you? This fun video features a photographer discussing the two types of people that head outside with their cameras.
If a business does not charge a production fee, they are leaving money on the table. It's standard, and your commercial clients are accustomed to paying an additional fee. We call it a production fee, but others industries may call it a convenience charge or kit fee, among other terms. Either way, it's standard and you are entitled to this fee.
Do you consider this an art form separate from photography, or do you consider this an extension of photography?
Brian De Palma is well known for movies like "Carrie," "Scarface," and "Mission: Impossible." His 1990 film "The Bonfire of the Vanities" was panned by critics and was also a box office bomb, but within it is one incredibly cool shot that took an unbelievable amount of planning and technique to pull off, and the result was well worth the effort. This awesome video will show you the scene as well as what went into making it.
Fujifilm's GFX mirrorless camera series has brought medium format into direct competition with the upper echelons of full frame systems, opening up an entirely new format to many creatives and making it a potentially appealing option for a lot of landscape photographers. This awesome video follows a professional landscape photographer as he uses the camera and also talks you through his thought process for his images.
When we are first learning how to work with artificial light, we generally focus on getting things right with the subject, but the mark of a professional is controlling light across the entire frame, including the background. This helpful video tutorial will show you three different ways to light your studio backgrounds to produce better images.
Buying a macro lens is useful for a lot of photographers in a number of different genres, however, it's a difficult purchase to justify if you do not do much macro photography specifically. If it had some other purposes it would be a more palatable purchase, and if you take any portraits, it does have.
Now and again, we all get the desire to buy new kit; it’s only to be expected with the way new tech is marketed, combined with our desire to improve our craft. Do you need that new piece of equipment? Is it time to jump from a cropped sensor to a full frame? Should you move from DSLR to mirrorless? Will it improve your photography?
How can you turn a corner of your home into a pleasant video background? Here are the basics of creating a better background and lighting setup for your videos, vlogs, and calls.
For any landscape photographer who prioritizes getting the money shot over serendipitously stumbling on a picturesque scene, using apps to predict the weather and to visualize an image is a foundational aspect of their workflow. While there are some incredibly useful apps out there, there isn't much that could beat being able to virtually travel to a location and time.
Buying a new camera when photography is your hobby is a pretty straightforward decision. If you want it and you can afford it, go and buy it. However, once it becomes your profession, it can be a tad more complicated.
You've probably seen the photos featuring a landscape with an intense red sky. There is a simple but effective way of achieving such a photo even when the colors are only a small band at the horizon.
Sigma fans have multiple options at the 24mm focal length, both offering the traditional Sigma blend of image quality and prices that undercut first-party options. The 24mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary and the 24mm f/3.5 DG DN Contemporary offer different user experiences depending on your priorities, and this excellent video comparison will help you choose which is right for you.
When it comes to landscape photography, the sky is a crucial part of almost every image and something that you will spend a good proportion of time working on in post. If you are looking to improve your sky edits a bit, this helpful video tutorial will show you both how to isolate and process them in Photoshop.
Nikon quietly — or maybe not so quietly given the press — announced the demise of the innocuously named Coolpix B600, a product name that just trips off the tongue and screams cheap and cheerful. What is startling about this camera is that it only hit the market in December 2020. Some eight months later it has bitten the dust. Why is this and what does it say about the camera market?
The Sony a7R IV has the highest resolution of any full frame camera ever, combined with a range of advanced features and capabilities, making it an intriguing option for landscape, portrait, and architectural photographers or anyone looking for a ton of detail in their images. If you have been considering the camera for your own work, check out this great video review that takes a look at how it holds up after a few years of usage.
Editing video can be a cumbersome and drawn-out task depending on the type of shoot. However, there are always ways to smooth out and streamline your workflow that can make a world of difference. Here are 10 tips from a professional filmmaker.
As an educator working in the college sector, I find this topic incredibly interesting. There is so much information out there that we can digest. So, what's the way forward?
Multiple reports describe that the newly announced GoPro HERO 10 camera overheats after just 20 minutes of recording. Overheating seems to occur in both high resolutions 5K capture modes and even in lower resolutions of 4K and 2K capture modes. This could prove to be a major problem if it cannot be fixed through a firmware upgrade.
Apple's iPad line, particularly the iPad Pro, is more powerful than ever and features fantastic displays paired with useful accessories for creatives on the go, making them a more viable solution for post-processing work than ever before. If you are thinking of editing your photos on your iPad and wondering where to start, this great video will show you three editing applications and discuss their pros and cons to get you up and running in no time.
For the longest time, my favorite lens on any camera system was a 35mm wide-aperture prime. The focal length forced me to get "in the action" for impactful portraits, yet it was wide enough to capture wide angle scenes. But a new lens has recently won my heart and assumed the top spot in my kit. In this video and article, I'll be walking through a photoshoot while demonstrating why the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 lens is my favorite lens of all time.
Wedding photography is a highly challenging genre, requiring the ability to put your creativity and technical skills to the test in a variety of quickly evolving scenarios, all with no second chances. As such, when you are new to it, it can feel a bit overwhelming to all take in. However, this helpful video tutorial offers some great advice that will get you on the right track.
Most of us do not particularly enjoy being out in the rain, especially with expensive camera equipment, but enduring the elements can bring about magical moments if you are willing to put in the time and effort. The neat video follows a photographer as bad weather rolls in and shows the interesting images he was able to create.
While there are dozens of options for filters, covering different effects, sizes, and manufacturers, I’ve found that I only need a few key filters for a landscape shoot. I like to use neutral density filters and circular polarizers, both of which are impactful and less easy to replicate in software. Haida’s NanoPro line has delivered great results in my past experience — can their magnetic filter line deliver the same quality?
Learning artificial lighting is something that strikes fear in the heart of a lot of photographers, but it does not have to be a scary, unknown thing. If you are new to working with off-camera flash, this helpful video tutorial will get you up and running in no time.
