Finding Your Own Path Beyond Photography Myths

Believing that you need specific equipment to be considered a real photographer can seriously limit your creativity. Social media and other platforms often push the idea that certain gear or methods define your credibility, but that's simply not true.

Three Serious Lessons for Artists From a Film About Laughter

The best part about creating personal projects is the opportunity to grow in a pressure-free environment. I just finished shooting such a project with a couple of friends, and the lessons I learned at “play” turned out to be the kind I’ll be sure to use in my work.

The Practical Guide to Shooting Raw vs. JPEG

Choosing between raw and JPEG can feel overwhelming if you're new to photography, but your decision significantly impacts the quality and usability of your wildlife photos. It’s crucial to understand the practical differences rather than focusing purely on technical specifications.

Why Your Worst Photos Might Be Your Best Teachers

Taking photos you consider "bad" might actually improve your photography skills more than you'd expect. These imperfect images play a crucial role in shaping how effectively you handle your camera and approach each photography session.

Lightroom Virtual Copies: Streamline Your Editing Workflow

Virtual copies in Lightroom can significantly change the way you manage and deliver images to clients. They allow you to experiment with edits without affecting your original files, streamlining workflow while expanding your creative options.

The Misguided Quest for Perfect Camera Settings

Camera settings and lighting adjustments dominate many photography conversations, but obsessing over these details might actually limit your growth as a photographer. Fixating on exact camera or lighting settings from someone else's work won't replicate their results and can distract you from developing your own instincts and creative style.

Shutter Priority Mode Explained Clearly

Shutter priority mode helps you capture sharp, clear images instead of blurry ones by letting you prioritize shutter speed over other settings.

Is This the Camera of the Future?

I’ve long complained about the usability and connectivity of cameras, and while the big manufacturers seem happy to keep punishing us with shoddy interfaces and annoying memory cards, an upstart has shown us a vision of the future.

When to Ignore Photography Rules for Better Photos

Photography rules like the rule of thirds, symmetry, or specific lens guidelines might feel necessary when you're learning, but they're often more limiting than helpful. Sticking rigidly to these rules can leave you with predictable images and stunt your creativity.

Essential Tips for Capturing Small-Scale Landscapes

Exploring intimate landscapes can push you out of your comfort zone, especially when conditions aren't ideal for sweeping vistas. Mastering this type of photography sharpens your eye for detail and opens up new creative avenues when you're faced with challenging lighting or scenery.

Wedding Photography Trends Shaping the Year Ahead

Wedding photography trends are evolving fast, shaping how you might approach your work in the coming season. Understanding these changes can significantly impact your success and client satisfaction.

When Do Catch Lights Actually Matter?

Despite their seemingly minor detail, catch lights stir controversy among photographers, sparking discussions around whether they genuinely impact the quality of portraits or merely distract from more important elements of lighting and composition.

We Got Our Hands on the Beautiful New Fujifilm GFX100RF and Loved It!

Fujifilm has just announced its smallest and lightest medium format camera yet, the GFX100RF, in the heart of Prague, and we couldn’t miss it. What are our first impressions? Does it hold up to expectations? Or does it exceed them? In short, yes. But you’re not here for the short version, are you

Breaking Into Travel Photography: How I Landed My First Big Brand Job

I still remember the moment I got the email—an opportunity to shoot for a major brand. I was excited, but it was the result of years of refining my craft, building a portfolio, and putting myself out there—mostly for free work or exchanges. Breaking into travel photography is no easy feat, but if you approach it the right way, landing that first major brand gig is absolutely possible.

Just How Impractical Is Sigma’s Bizarre New Camera?

Sigma took the photo world by surprise a few weeks ago at the CP+ trade show in Japan by unveiling its latest creation: a minimalist camera that barely has any dials or buttons. Given the bold design, just how well does it cope with everyday use?

500 Days With the Leica M11: Worth the Price?

The Leica M11 is an intriguing camera that's received a mix of admiration and critique, especially among those who appreciate the simplicity and manual control the brand is known for. Is it worth the premium price?

Viltrox AF 135mm f/1.8: Nikon's New Portrait Powerhouse

The Viltrox AF 135mm f/1.8 LAB Z Lens aims to provide Nikon Z mount users with exceptional portrait capabilities, balancing sharpness and striking background separation, all at an incredibly low price. Here's a look at how it performs.

How Lighting Consistency Can Make or Break Your Images

There's a common misunderstanding among photographers about color accuracy and consistency in photo and video lighting setups. Knowing the difference can significantly impact your final image quality, especially in professional scenarios.

Easily Create Custom Lightroom Presets With ChatGPT

Artificial intelligence has rapidly expanded what you can do in photography, and now it's stepping into Lightroom presets. Creating custom presets that match the editing style of images you admire can be tricky, but using AI could make this process simpler and faster.

Secrets Behind a Dramatic Multi-Light Beauty Setup

Lighting setups for beauty photography often lean toward simplicity, but there are times when complexity pays off significantly. Advanced lighting allows you to create highly detailed, dramatic, and eye-catching images that simple setups might not achieve.

We Review the Insta360 Flow 2 Pro Latest AI Tracker, Bringing AI Tracking to Any Phone Camera App

Earlier this year, Insta360 released its first AI-powered smartphone gimbal, packed with impressive features, including Deep Track 4.0, which offers advanced tracking capabilities. However, many of these advanced features were exclusive to iPhones, leaving a gap for Android users. Fortunately, Insta360 has addressed this with the release of its latest AI Tracker attachment for the highly popular Flow 2 Pro smartphone gimbal—an easy-to-use attachment that enables Android users to take full advantage of the gimbal’s advanced AI tracking algorithm.

Landscape Photo Editing Made Simple in Lightroom

Landscape photography editing isn't just about making pretty pictures—it's about guiding the viewer's eye exactly where you want it. Here's how to do that in Lightroom.

How the Canon RF 16-28mm Compares to the 15-35mm

A compact, lightweight wide angle zoom can change the way you shoot landscapes, travel, and even video. The Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 offers a versatile range while keeping things small and manageable. But does it hold up against Canon’s more expensive L series options?

I Sold My $4,000 Sony Camera for an a6700: Here’s Why

As a professional travel photographer, I’ve shot around the world with some of the best gear Sony has to offer, including the Sony a7R V and top-tier G Master lenses. But after years of carrying heavy full-frame setups and investing thousands into the latest gear, I made a decision that might seem crazy to some: I sold it all and switched to the Sony a6700, a crop-sensor camera.

How to Precisely Adjust Colors in Lightroom

Mastering color in Lightroom is about knowing the right tool for the job. Two key features, the Color Mixer and Color Grading tools, each handle color differently, and understanding their unique roles can significantly improve your editing.

Advanced Masking Secrets for Better Lightroom Edits

Advanced masking in Lightroom gives you precise control over your edits, letting you target specific areas in your photos. Knowing how to combine different masking tools effectively helps you achieve professional results and enhances your creativity.

Why the Best Travel Photos Aren’t on Your Itinerary

You’ve booked the trip, packed your gear, and mapped out every perfect shot—but what if the best photos are the ones you never planned for? The magic of a photo trip isn’t just in the locations; it’s in the unexpected moments, the wrong turns, and the stories that unfold when you stop chasing perfection. Before you overstuff your itinerary and your camera bag, here’s what you should do (and avoid) to make your next photo trip unforgettable.

The Elements of Great Landscape Photos

Creating truly captivating landscape photos doesn't come from random luck or a quick edit. To consistently capture images with genuine visual impact, you need a solid approach built around a few essential principles.

Make Editing Faster: Master Lightroom’s Batch Editing

Batch editing in Lightroom saves you significant editing time by allowing quick adjustments across multiple images. Instead of manually correcting each photo one at a time, you edit one photo, then apply those settings to many others.

5 Practical Tips for Photography Beginners

Getting started with photography means making some practical choices that directly affect how often you'll pick up your camera. Selecting gear and understanding basic techniques early on makes a real difference in how quickly you grow as a photographer.

Liene PixCut S1 Review: A New Way To Print and Share Your Images?

If you’ve wanted a creative way to easily share snippets of your photography, you might’ve considered making or ordering stickers. Actually making custom stickers and labels requires juggling multiple machines—a more complex process compared to just printing photos at home. Liene aims to change that with the PixCut S1, an all-in-one photo printer and sticker cutter that integrates printing, cutting, and lamination into a single device. But does it live up to the promise? Let's dive into the details.

Essential Lightroom Techniques for Editing Portraits

Portrait editing is about guiding the viewer's attention directly to the subject’s face, and Lightroom Classic has powerful tools specifically designed for this purpose. Learning how to subtly enhance facial features and manipulate backgrounds can significantly elevate the visual impact of your portraits.

Cameras You Didn't Choose and the Images You Missed

The cameras you choose—and those you decide to skip—shape the kind of photographer you become. Every camera you pick up nudges you in a certain direction, subtly guiding the images you create and the style you adopt.

Hidden Costs of Adobe: Are You Too Reliant?

Adobe's subscription model isn't just a matter of price—it's a matter of dependence. For anyone seriously involved in photography, this is something you need to understand clearly.

Peakto Media Manager Now Allows You Access to All of Your Media Assets without the Cloud

For Mac users, Peakto software has always been one of the premier solutions for cataloging and easily finding your media because it automatically sorts your media as it comes in, using AI to help you find images by content, colors, time of day, camera settings, and many other attributes.

CYME now announces a groundbreaking new feature for Peakto: secure remote access to photos and videos stored locally. With Peakto Connect, creators can access their media from anywhere, across multiple devices, without uploading their content to the cloud.

Local Storage...
The Secret Sauce for Perfect Seascape Photography

Seascape photography isn’t just about showing up at the right location with good light—it’s about knowing exactly when to press the shutter. Capturing the ocean in a way that feels dynamic and intentional isn’t just about where you stand—it’s about when you click the shutter and how long you leave it open.

Five Mistakes to Avoid When You're a Second Photographer at Weddings

Second shooting at weddings is an excellent way to learn, gain experience, and build a portfolio—but if you make certain mistakes, photographers won’t keep hiring you. Knowing exactly what pitfalls to avoid is crucial for developing a solid reputation.

VTOMAN FlashSpeed 1000: An Expandable Power Station for On-Location Shoots

For content creators, working on location often comes with an unpredictable challenge: where to get power. Whether you’re in the middle of a remote landscape, shooting an all-day event, or simply trying to keep your gear running without hunting for a plug, a portable power station can be a game-changer. The VTOMAN FlashSpeed 1000 is a high-capacity, fast-charging, and budget-friendly power solution designed to keep your cameras, drones, laptops, and lighting setups running anywhere.

The Fujifilm GF 63mm f/2.8 Review: Compact Medium Format Performance

When you step up to medium format photography, lens choice quickly becomes a serious conversation about balancing performance, portability, and cost. The Fujifilm GF 63mm f/2.8 R WR attempts to strike that balance—offering a relatively compact form factor and promising image quality at a lower price point than other Fuji G-mount lenses.