No matter the genre, few things matter more to the majority of photographers than the sharpness of their photos. For macro photographers, sharpness is one of the top challenges, and this great video tutorial will show you four of the most important aspects of creating a sharp macro photo and give you a variety of helpful tips for ensuring you do so.
One of the most popular types of landscape shots is the long exposure of moving water. They are a great way to explore your creativity and expand your photographic palette into images that are not possible with more basic equipment. This great video tutorial will show you how to shoot long exposures of seascapes or other moving water.
Are you interested in exploring alternative cloud storage systems? In this review, we take a look at Cubbit and what its distributed cloud storage brings to the table.
Camera lenses come in all shapes and sizes, and the results can vary dramatically. If you're in the market for something new, one of these five very different lenses could help to take your photography to the next level.
About a year ago, I wrote an article about the importance of cleaning your camera as we faced the reality of a COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the science at the time, I strongly advocated for a "better safe than sorry" approach. Recently, the CDC has published a brief explaining updated science on surface transmission.
Image manipulation in various forms has been around from nearly the beginning of the medium itself, and the ethics of that process have been debated for nearly as long. Although this topic seems rather Sisyphean in nature, a conversation with an individual on Instagram inspired me to take a look at it from the perspective of social media in particular.
Double exposures are a really creative way to make compelling images that catch your viewer's eye. And while they used to be rather difficult to create, thanks to Photoshop, you have a lot more control over the final product than in the days of film. This excellent video tutorial will show you how you can create your own.
Seascapes are a popular choice for a wide range of photographers, but they are normally shot when the sun is still high in the sky or right around sunrise or sunset. Of course, you can shoot them at night, however, and the results can be quite entrancing. This great video follows a photographer as he shoots seascapes in the middle of the night, showing the challenges that arise, how to move past them, and the awesome result.
Photo critiques are back! Show us your best photographs of babies.
Landscape photography is one of the most accessible genres in photography. And, because of this, it's a great area to practice your compositional skills.
We always emphasize the benefits of shooting raw, we spend a lot of money on high-end monitors, and we calibrate those monitors, all so we can create the best foundation for editing our photos and video. But do we do the same for our audio? That's where reference monitors and headphones come into the picture.
Fujifilm's INSTAX line of cameras have been wildly popular for the company, providing photographers and casual users alike an easy and fun way to take photos that harken back to the days of instant film in the 1970s and 1980s. The Mini 40 is the latest model in the lineup, and this great video review takes a look at how it holds up in practice.
Even though I grew up listening to top 40 music, the sound of Perry Farrell's voice from Jane's Addiction was something I could easily recognize within seconds of hearing his voice. Then, I went to Lollapalooza, not knowing the impact this man had on one of the most successful music festivals of all time. Then, well over a decade later, his team called me about photographing Perry with his wife, Etty.
Outdoor camera technology has advanced quite a bit, and EarthCam's latest device, the GigapixelCam X80, offers some incredible capabilities, most notable being its 80,000-megapixel panoramas. To celebrate, the company made the most detailed image of New York City ever.
Sony recently announced their new beast of a fifty: the 50mm f/1.2 GM, which is getting some glowing reviews. How does it compare to the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 and is it worth splashing out if you already own the older, slower lens?
A lot of video productions use incredible arsenals of gear — even YouTubers seem to be shooting with tens of thousands of dollars of kit — but it's no secret that isn't necessary. Here are some tips for shooting videos with little to no money.
Astrophotography is one of the few genres where gear can make a profound difference that is impossible to replicate without it. One of the most important tools — if not the most important tool — is the lens on the front of your camera.
If you want to photograph small things, you need to get close. For that, you can choose a macro lens. But there is an alternative that is much cheaper. Extension tubes transform any lens into a macro lens. But what is the better choice?
The latest event from Apple unveiled a number of interesting new products. One of these new products is AirTags. These small, circular devices offer the ability to locate keys, bags, wallets, and essentially anything they're attached to. Could they offer a new layer of security that can help prevent photographers from losing valuable equipment?
It is something that will happen to every photographer at some point or another: you are in the middle of a shoot, and your client simply hates the photos you are producing. So, what do you do at that point? This excellent video essay discusses how to handle this potentially sticky situation and leave both yourself and your client happy.
The new iMac is here, and of course, it’s sporting the fancy new M1 processor that’s inside everything Apple these days. That’s great news all around, but I have a feeling that Apple’s got something even bigger up its sleeve for the real creative set.
Portrait photographers generally use artificial light whenever they are working indoors, but window light can be a fantastic source of flattering natural light suitable for a portrait. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to set up and take a compelling portrait using window light and a reflector.
Sometimes, photoshoots go really smoothly, and sometimes, they do not go quite so smoothly. What was your most embarrassing mistake during a shoot?
The night sky offers stunning photographic opportunities for all sorts of genres, but with those comes an array of challenges that require some specialized skills. This helpful video tutorial discusses some of the most essential skills photographers need to have for night sky work.
Cameras in mobile phones continue to surprise and impress with every passing year. Here is a direct comparison of four of the most desirable phones right now when it comes to shooting video, with some interesting results.
Rob Cottle's remarkable wildlife photographs demonstrate his love for nature. Rob spoke about how new technology for capturing birds can help photographers starting out in the genre and more experienced photographers too.
Modern cameras and lenses have made it more possible than ever to take great photos even when there is very little available light. Still, it takes a lot of careful technique and awareness to get good photos. This excellent video tutorial discusses some of the most common mistakes photographers make when taking low-light images and how to avoid or correct them and get the best shots possible.
In recent years, technological advances in camera sensors have made it possible to capture incredible landscape images at night, but they still struggle to capture detail when the light is very low or nonexistent without introducing high amounts of noise to the image. This technique, known as "median stacking," will help reduce or even eliminate noise in your nightscape foregrounds, resulting in clean, detailed images that are ready for print or online scrutiny.
Although there is a huge variation in lens designs and capabilities, the fundamental mechanism of the modern lens is generally about the same. However, one distinctly different type of lens is the mirror lens, and this neat set of videos takes a look at them and how they perform in practice.
Samyang/Rokinon has announced its latest lens for Sony APS-C cameras: the rectilinear AF 12mm f/2 E, complete with autofocus and weather-sealing for shooting in challenging conditions.
Studying and understanding color helps us become better photographers. In the process, we may discover that some things we believe are true may not be.
People both outside of and inside the industry tend to romanticize the idea of being a professional photographer. But with pressure from technology and increased competition leading to low pay and more demand from clients, burnout is something that many of us either have or will experience in the future.
A photo retoucher and VICE have been subjected to strong criticism after it emerged that mugshots of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime were manipulated to make it appear as though they were smiling.
Sony just announced a lens that will get landscape photographers and astrophotographers excited: the 14mm f/1.8 GM. Check out this review from Gerald Undone and find out how it compares to the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM.
Money is a subject that is rarely discussed openly and that can be detrimental to anyone newly trying to make some as a creative. Here is an interesting and open discussion about the topic.
The standard procedure for photographing a meteor shower is to photograph as wide a swath of the night sky as possible all night long. With modern digital cameras, this usually means setting a camera to shoot 15-30 second exposures at around ISO 1,600, with a 2-5 second pause between frames, resulting in a night’s haul of more than a thousand frames! While this photography can be fully automated, allowing you to sleep overnight, the real work of finding the meteors in your shots starts in the morning! We’ve cast our fishing net out, and now, it’s time to haul it back in to see what we’ve found.
Learning how to set your camera and light your subjects often means dealing with objectively measurable quantities, but when it comes to posing, the more nebulous and subjective nature can make it far more difficult to master. Most tutorials focus on posing women, but of course, you will often photograph men as well. This great video tutorial will show you some helpful tips and methods for posing men.
CIPA recently released February shipment figures for the camera industry, which paint a picture of mixed fortunes and a complex path ahead for manufacturers. This generally looks to be positive news for Sony and Canon but is a warning for Nikon and Pentax.
We are often used to very lush, intricate, and multi-layered landscape photos with rich, vibrant colors. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but it is not the only way to create an image. At the other end of the spectrum is minimalist photography, and it comes with its own unique challenges. This excellent video tutorial will give you a wide variety of helpful tips to improve your minimalist photography and give you some ideas to try yourself.
Almost everyone has a cell phone these days and by extension, a phone camera. This means that anyone with a phone can create a decent enough image. To clarify, I’m not trying to debate whether someone is a “real photographer” or not. Instead, my intention is to persuade you to approach photography in a more considered and intentional way.
One of the most exciting things about moving into dedicated photo equipment is the ability to use more specialized focal lengths, with telephoto lenses being one of the best way to expand your creative options. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use a telephoto lens and give you a variety of helpful tips for getting the best possible photos.
If you’ve bought a lens made by Samyang or Rokinon in the last couple of years, the company wants your feedback and is offering participants the chance to win a prize in return.
Tamron has announced its latest lens for Sony APS-C cameras: the ultra-wide 11-20mm f/2.8 Di III-A2 RXD — the first APS-C lens of its type to offer such a fast maximum aperture.
Tamron just announced a new ultra-telephoto lens with a massive zoom range: the 150-500mm f//5-6.7 Di III VC VXD for Sony full frame cameras.
We talk a ton about front-lighting and backlighting quite a bit, but of course, you do not always have to work with the sun directly behind you or in front of you. Side-lighting is another option, and it offers a powerful tool for bringing out the texture in your frame. This excellent video tutorial will show you how side-lighting can be used to highlight the texture in an image.
Photoshop is full of a variety of tools, and there are many different ways to accomplish the same task, some more time-consuming than others. One of the most powerful time-saving tools out there is Content Aware Fill. This excellent video tutorial will show you how the tool works and how to get the most out of it to make better photos.
Wedding photography is a high-stakes genre, with a lot of must-have shots for which you do not get a second chance. This excellent video tutorial discusses seven easily missed wedding photos and what you can do to make sure you get all the shots.
The concept of creating a mirrorless system is very similar in the case of all the camera manufacturers: get rid of the mirror and create a new lens mount closer to the sensor. What if there was another option to do it, arguably a better one?
By far, one of the most common retouching tasks you will undertake is whitening someone's teeth. Luckily, unlike some other editing requests, whitening teeth is a fairly straightforward and quick process. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to do it in Photoshop.
