5 Awesome Cameras You Can Buy for Under $100

Having multiple cameras as a photographer is always a good idea as it gives you security and versatility. The good news is you can easily add an extra camera to your arsenal for less than $100.

Fashion Photography: Is It All Just Pretty Girls in Sexy Clothes?

Browse any amateur fashion photography page, and you will quickly discover that a lot of the work is just pretty girls in average outfits. It almost seems like a lot of this “photography” is not so much about the clothes as it is about the girls. In this article, we will discuss the causes of this phenomenon and answer the question: what is real fashion photography?

A Review of the New M2 Pro Mac mini

The Mac mini has long been a favorite of casual users and creatives alike who want the Mac experience in a desktop without dropping top dollar on a Mac Studio or Mac Pro. And now, with the ability to add an M2 Pro chip, the mini is more capable than ever. This great video review takes a look at the new Mac mini with the M2 Pro chip and just what you can expect from it.

How Much of an Improvement Is the Canon EOS R6 Mark II for Stills Work?

While the Canon EOS R5 got a lot of the accolades upon its release, the EOS R6 is arguably the most practical workhorse in Canon's lineup, with a balanced feature set that borrows a lot of the advanced capabilities from its bigger sibling without the added luxuries that would drive its price up. The EOS R6 Mark II takes that foundation and includes a range of improvements and new features that add up to a refined and well-rounded professional instrument. This great video review takes a look at the camera for stills work and how it compares with the latest options from Sony and Panasonic.

Helpful Advice for Long Exposure Seascape Photography

Long exposures of moving water are some of the most popular images in landscape photography, as they can calm turbulent motion and reveal patterns and motion that would not be visible otherwise. Creating a successful long exposure is about more than just setting a lengthy shutter speed, though. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer giving you some helpful advice for creating better long exposure seascape images.

Never Work With These Types of Clients

There are some types of clients who I tend to avoid at all costs. This may mean less income, but trust me, the stress is not worth your time and money. At first, it is scary declining a job because you don’t like a client, but trust me when I say it is better to decline the following ones.

What Features Would You Like to See in Lightroom?

Lightroom has evolved into a tremendously versatile and powerful program, capable of tackling many things that one used to have to switch to Photoshop for. Nonetheless, there is always room to grow. This great video essay features a seasoned Lightroom educator discussing five things he would still like to see Adobe add to the program.

How to Make Your First Travel Video in 3 Easy Steps

If you have some trips booked, perhaps you're considering creating your first video of it but aren't sure where to get started. Well, in this video, you'll get some great tips on how to begin and turn that journey into more than just an album of snaps.

Marketing 101: How to Get Your Next Job With a Strong Email Campaign

Email marketing is one of the most commonly used tools when trying to land a new job. However, knowing what to write, who to write to, and how to follow up can make or break your campaign. In this article, we will take a look at some dos and don'ts of email marketing.

Ultimate Focus Settings For The Canon R6

Katelyn James breaks down the essential (in my opinion) options you need to know and master on Canon's EOS R6 to be able to nail AF and eye-tracking options ensuring a sharp and tracked subject every time. Her style is easygoing and she's great to listen to and I love her videos and explanations which make sense and put everything into perspective.

How Powerful Is the New M2 Max MacBook Pro?

The MacBook Pro has long been the workhorse of choice for many creatives, able to handle the needs of even the most demanding photo and video projects. Apple's transition to their own silicon has revitalized the lineup with improved performance and battery life. The latest model features the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, and this great video review takes a look at what you can expect from it.

A More Refined Approach to Choosing the Right Aperture in Landscape Photography

Aperture is one of the most fundamental and powerful tools you have at your disposal for controlling the look of your images. As such, understanding and mastering every property of it and consequence it has on your photos is crucial. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer giving a nuanced approach for choosing the right aperture for your images.

Rethinking Photo Composition: What Are You Saying?

We spend years at school learning to read and write text: the meanings of words, what happens when you put them together, how to make yourself more easily understood, methods for convincing others of your point of view, etc. But for many of us, images and visual language are left for us to work out for ourselves. If a picture is worth a thousand words, why do we neglect visual language so much?

Hard Light: It's Big and Worth a Try!

Identifying trends in commercial photography is important. It helps you develop your practice and keeps you on your toes! One of those trends right now is hard light. Hit that subject hard, cast some shadows, and make it look like we're all shooting poolside, sipping piña coladas!

Canon Patents Another Extreme Lens

Canon has been quite aggressive in the development of RF mount lenses, releasing some extreme designs, such as the RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM and the RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM. They seem to have no intentions of slowing down, as another boundary-pushing design has emerged in a recent patent.

Impossible Things: AI Photo Editor Works With Lightroom Presets

Lightroom preset maker DVLOP and photo educators SLR Lounge have launched a new take on AI photo editing with their project called Impossible Things. Entering the relatively new, yet increasingly competitive world of AI photo editing, Impossible Things promises to be the fastest and easiest AI photo editor.

How These Lightroom Tools Can Improve Your Landscape Photos

While Photoshop is still the destination of choice for the most involved and detailed edits, Lightroom has evolved into a tremendously versatile and powerful tool that can tackle quite a few images on its own. Three of its most useful tools for landscape photography are texture, clarity, and dehaze, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how they are used and how to leverage them for better images.

Can DxO PhotoLab 6 Elite Knock Lightroom Classic Out of the Ballpark?

I tested a range of raw camera files in different development programs in a quest to find the ultimate development tool. This time it is the turn of DxO PhotoLab 6. Lightroom is good, and Capture One was better. How does Photolab 6 compare, and is it worth the investment?

What Are the Best Budget Cameras at the Start of 2023?

Everybody's got to start somewhere. The difference these days is about where you want to start. Whether it's vlogging, still photography, or making feature films, beginner cameras have really branched out into specialized tools in recent years.

How to Plan Photography Travels

Over the past 13 months, I've been traveling the world, visiting and photographing many beautiful landscapes and cityscapes. But how did I find all those photogenic places? A few months ago, I wrote an article about how to level up your photography through scouting and exploring new locations. But to achieve a good balance while traveling, you should also have a base of known photo spots available. In this article, I show how I find and organize those.

How Good Is the Sony a7R V Mirrorless Camera?

The Sony a7R series of mirrorless cameras has long been popular for offering some of the highest levels of resolution and image quality available in a full frame camera, but now in the fifth iteration, the a7R V is far from a one trick pony. A range of new and improved capabilities make it a powerhouse camera capable of tackling a variety of scenarios and needs. This great video review takes a look at the camera and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Review of the Canon EOS R6 Mark II Mirrorless Camera

The Canon EOS R5 signaled to the industry that Canon was deadly serious about the professional mirrorless space, but along with it came the EOS R6, which kept many of the former's most impressive capabilities without such a high-resolution sensor and features like 8K raw video, which the vast majority of professionals do not need. It was also significantly cheaper, making it quite the intriguing camera. Now, the second iteration, the EOS R6 Mark II, is here, and it brings with it a number of worthwhile improvements. This great video review takes a look at the performance you can expect from it.

What Makes a Professional Photographer In 2023?

A few months ago, I reluctantly took the plunge into Instagram reels, like many other still photographers. My most popular reel by a wide margin was a joke comparing “amateurs” to “professionals.” And, although my point was not so much to make a distinction between two classes of photographers, but rather to comment on photographers’ common obsession with gear, sometimes at the expense of fundamentals, I touched a nerve with some people who took exception to what they saw as an insult to amateur photographers.

13 Helpful Tips for Taking Better Smartphone Photos

Smartphones have built-in cameras that are more powerful than ever, and most of us have one in our pocket just about everywhere we go. And as the classic saying goes: "the best camera is the one that you have with you." So, what can you do to get the most from your smartphone's camera? This excellent video tutorial features 13 tips sure to help you maximize your results.

Impressive Canon Lens Patents Emerge

Canon has filled out the RF mount lens library at an aggressive pace, with many options that offer impressive performance and push the boundaries of lens design. Nonetheless, there are still some missing lenses. Some new patents have emerged that indicate Canon is working on filling those holes, and they might do so with some fairly extreme designs.

7 Ways to Capture Blur or the Illusion of Blur in a Photo

Most of the time, we try to avoid blur in a photo. But sometimes, it can be nice to add some kind of blur to make it special. I have listed seven ways to add blur to a photo or the illusion of blur. It may help you find inspiration for your photography.

Why You Should Try the 4:3 Ratio for Video

Our aspect ratios have been trending toward wider dimensions for some time and that makes perfect sense. But, should we cast out a previously staple aspect ratio for good? Does it have any uses?

Canon Patents Vibrating Shutter Button

While features like lighted buttons have slowly become a bit more popular in the industry, haptic feedback has been largely ignored, despite being an extremely common feature in other technology. However, that might change eventually, as a Canon patent for a vibrating shutter button has appeared.

The Jack of All Trades Photographer: What’s the Problem?

They say variety is the spice of life and in the world of the freelance photographer, a broad and knowledgable skill set goes a long way. So, why does knowing your way around a multitude of photographic genres breed so much disrespect in the professional world?

3 Money Mistakes Every Photography Business Must Avoid

Do you run a photography business? Do you want to run a photography business? Do you make a tiny amount of money on the side from your photography interests? Do you want to? If you answered yes to any of those questions then this is for you: three big money mistakes people make when it comes to photography and the business side of things.

The Process of Switching to Medium Format

Cameras like the Fujifilm GFX 100S have revolutionized the paradigm of medium format gear in the last few years, bringing features and capabilities typically reserved for smaller systems and doing so at a price that competes with the upper levels of full frame. This has made medium format a viable alternative for many photographers, particularly landscape, portrait, and wedding shooters. So, what all can you expect from the switch? This great video features one photographer who made the switch discussing his experience.

The Allure of the All-in-One Lens for Landscape Photography

Traditionally, professional photographers have shied away from superzoom lenses, as the sacrifices it took to create such a large focal length range were simply too great to make them viable for their demands. On the other hand, they might be worth a second look, especially if you are a landscape photographer. This great video essay discusses why a superzoom lens can often be the ideal choice.

A Premium Canon Ultra-wide Angle Lens Is on the Way

The Canon RF lens lineup is growing nicely, though there is still a hole at the ultra-wide angle end of the lineup. Thankfully, however, that will likely change soon, with a premium ultra-wide angle lens on the way.

Helpful Tips for Photographing Snowy Landscapes

Many of us are stuck in the middle of winter right now, surrounded by snow, ice, and cold. And while we might want to avoid the cold, if you are willing to bundle up and head outside with your camera, you will often be rewarded with images that range from abstract to ethereal and entrancing. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer sharing three tips sure to improve your winter landscape images.

A Long-term Review of the Fujifilm XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR and XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR Lenses

For Fujifilm photographers, the XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR and XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR offer both a wide angle and a normal focal length in tandem with a wide maximum aperture, making them versatile options for a wide range of genres, including wedding work, street photography, portraiture, and much more. How do they hold up over time? This excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from them.

Looking Back Is the Only Way to Move Forward

I look back at past work to see how I've come as a photographer and wonder: what's changed in the 15 years since I started taking photographs professionally? How can I use my previous body of work to improve and give me confidence for what is to come?

5 Purchases You Can Make to Immediately Improve Your Landscape Photography

Don't let anyone tell you gear doesn't matter. It does. It might not be the only thing that goes into getting good images, but it's certainly a big factor. But not all the gear you need has to be bodies and lenses. Here, learn about five purchases you can make to transform your landscape photography overnight.

How to Photograph Deer and Massive Mushrooms

In this informative video, "The Outsiders," Rob Cottle and Geraint Radford head out into the wilds of South Wales to photograph deer. Along the way, they talk about wildlife photography techniques, the kit they use to get the photos, and dabbling in close-up and macro photography.

Three Wedding Photography Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner

I've spent years picking up odd tips, completing online courses, researching techniques, and now, I'm confident in sharing some of that knowledge with the world. Of course, I'm still learning and will continue to pick up tips for the rest of my career. For now, though, I'll share some I wish I had known sooner.

The Sigma 60-600mm vs the Sony 200-600mm: Best Wildlife Zoom Lens Shootout

Lens makers these days are coming up with some incredible options that were unheard of just a few short years ago. That continues here, with the Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 lens put up against the Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 in a battle for the title of best wildlife lens. You could also make a case for it being an action sports lens shootout too. So, how do they perform, and which comes out on top?

A Review of the Fujifilm X-T5 Mirrorless Camera

Fujifilm's latest entry in the X Series, the X-T5, brings with it some of the company's newest and most advanced features and capabilities in its most well-known design. Can it compete with the many powerful full frame options on the market? This excellent video review takes a look at the performance and image quality you will be able to expect from it.

Smartphone Features Cameras Need ASAP

Having recently written a piece in which I explained how my iPhone 14 Pro replaced my professional camera in some cases, I was wondering, in what ways is my phone actually, technically better than my DSLR? It turns out there are a bunch of features that I wish cameras had.

How to Add Pets to Engagement and Couples Portraits

Pets are one of the most important presences in the lives of a lot of couples, and it is only natural that they might want to include them in engagement or couples portraits. Of course, adding a rambunctious dog or the like to the mix can make your job substantially more difficult. So, how do you satisfy the desires of your clients without pulling out your hair? This helpful video tutorial will give you some useful advice.