Small scenes landscape photography: the practice of photographing the little details within the grander scene. Is it simply a genre that some landscape photographers gravitate towards? Or is it the natural evolution of a seasoned landscape photographer?
Bright and sunny skies, or bluebird skies, as some call them, are the bane of landscape photographers. Or are they? We’ve all been taught to seek out the “good” light of golden hour or dramatic skies. This video talks about how to walk away with great images even on those sunny, cloudless days.
In my previous article, we talked about the technique and tips for performing focus stacking for e-commerce shoots. In this article, we will further expand into discussing the advantages of using focus stacking techniques, apart from the obvious reasons of getting the entire product to be in focus. There are a few more logical reasons and advantages behind focus stacking.
The Fujifilm X-S20 is the latest entry in the company's highly respected X Series line of mirrorless camera, and it offers a nice balance of price and features, making it a reasonable option for a wide array of photographers and filmmakers. This excellent video review takes a look at the new camera and the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in usage.
No doubt, photography is not a cheap hobby, and the camera gear hype machine is designed to make you continually reach for your credit card to buy the latest and greatest gadget, camera, or lens. Whether you are a new photographer or a seasoned veteran, though, it is important to remember that a compelling image is not made by a great camera, it is made by a great photographer, as this insightful video essay demonstrates.
In the world of photography today, it is pretty common that the relationship between creative concept and photography skill is intertwined and very much expected from a photographer. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into this discussion between these two relationships to see how photographers can unleash their artistic potential and bring their work to the next level and how one skill affects the other skill. Everything from the spark of inspiration from the basis of creative concepts to the technical skills required for project execution will be discussed in hopes of achieving balance between creativity and technical skill to push a photographer’s work to a greater height.
One of the best things you can do as a new photographer is to take your camera out of automatic mode and begin learning how to control it manually. This can be a bit daunting, but once you get the hang of it, you will b glad you made the leap. This helpful video tutorial will get you started on the right foot with using your camera's manual mode.
Have you ever tried to sell a vehicle that was a little past its prime? It may not have a lot going for it, but using the “car roller” technique could make that vehicle look as awesome as the day it rolled off the lot.
If you've been running your photography business for any amount of time, you have quickly discovered that being successful requires you to spend an inordinate amount of time doing things that have nothing to do with a camera. Things you probably loathe. Suddenly, you find yourself needing to acquire skills in accounting, web development, project management, copywriting, contract writing, and countless other fields. A newcomer has entered the CRM space: Bloom IO, and they are on a mission to alleviate many of these burdens, allowing you to focus on what you truly enjoy.
When you become a professional photographers, you can take one of two general paths: a specialist with a focused approach to a single genre and/or style, or a jack of all trades who can competently tackle a wide variety of jobs, if not quite at the level of a specialist in each area. So, which is right for you? This helpful video essay features an experienced commercial photographer discussing the pros and cons of both approaches to help you decide.
Lightroom can be a sneakily intricate program, and it is not always obvious how to accomplish something you want. Whether you are still learning the program or a seasoned veteran, this helpful video tutorial discusses five common issues with not-so-obvious solutions that will make your life and workflow a little easier.
Landscape photography is largely dictated by the weather you experience out in the field. Many times, we don't get the conditions we hoped for, which can be especially challenging after investing time and money into a photography trip. These are five things you can do the next time you're in unfavorable conditions to walk away with great images regardless of the weather.
Generally, you shoot a portrait with either continuous lights or a flash, but not both. What happens when you mix them, though? You enable some pretty incredible creative possibilities. Check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to shoot an eye-catching portrait using a mixture of continuous lights and flash.
In the never-ending debate (or is it ever-evolving?) about what makes the best street camera, here's an intriguing suggestion that's worth a look.
Most people don't understand what all the fuss is about when they see a Platypod for the first time. If I showed it to my mom, she'd probably feign excitement in the way only a mom can. If you've ever used a Platypod, though, you know how powerful such a little piece of aluminum can be. You can use them for anything from travel and landscape to toy and food photography as a way to show your audience a new perspective on the world. You can even use them to mount flashes in obscure spots for portrait photographers. Okay, I'm a Platypod evangelist, but their company truly has changed the way I photograph.
Few things are more crucial to a photography business than the website, as it is the place where most potential clients will go to see your work, to decide if you are the right fit for their wants and needs, and to initiate contact with you. As such, your website deserves careful attention. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced commercial photographer sharing some common website mistakes and how to fix them.
Wine bottles can be a real challenge to light and photograph, particularly with their curves and reflective glass. Nonetheless, you can learn quite a lot from the process. If you would like a fun weekend project, check out this great video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know to create a professional wine bottle product image.
Whenever a camera setup comes along that looks a little crazy, my interest is always piqued. The big question with these inventions is whether they are just gimmicks or potentially the next big thing in photography.
This livestreamed special event which sees Paul McCartney discuss his photography and memories of a unique time in history is one not to be missed, and you can watch online globally.
AI is the perfect hype commodity for tech companies and social media shills. If you thought NFTs and crypto cults were full of hot wind, then strap yourself in for the AI movement, because it’s bigger, gassier, and truly inescapable.
Learning artificial lighting is something that every portrait photographer should do, as it frees you from relying on the sun and enables you to explore creative avenues that simply are not possible with only natural light. However, lighting modifiers can be quite expensive, so knowing which is right to start with is important. This fantastic video tutorial features an experienced photographer discussing why an octabox should be your first choice.
We have all seen the flat earthers and other conspiracy theorists out there. Enter Dave McKeegan, who is out there, providing information on his YouTube channel to prove they are wrong and that the Earth is indeed a globe and the International Space Station does actually exist. In this video, McKeegan shows us how he captured the ISS transiting across the moon to prove them wrong.
For years, photographers old and new would enjoy sharing their favorite work across social media sites such as Instagram. Sharing your images was fun and would create conversation, engagement, and perhaps sales. Nowadays, the situation has changed.
The Canon EOS R5 was a runaway hit for the company, offering a wide array of highly advanced features and signalling to the industry that Canon had become quite serious about professional mirrorless cameras. It has now been almost three years since its release, leaving many fans wondering when the next iteration of the camera will be on its way. Luckily, that may be later this year.
Becoming a successful professional photographer takes a lot more than being good with a camera; you need to have a lot of business sense and a keen understanding of how a career as a creative differs from that of a traditional 9-to-5 job. That latter point often trips up aspiring professionals. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced commercial photographer sharing one such mindset mistake and what you can do to avoid falling prey to it.
The Explorers Club needs no introduction. Some of humanity’s greatest firsts, like the first ascent of Mt Everest and descent to the Mariana Trench, the first people to reach the North and South Poles and, of course, the first two human beings to stand on the surface of the Moon, were all members of The Explorers Club.
X Series mirrorless cameras have become some of the most popular out there, including a traditional photography experience in tandem with a portable footprint and a wide array of some of the most advanced features available in a modern body. The X-T5 sits at the top of the line, bringing with it a new sensor with the highest level of resolution ever seen in an X Series camera along with advanced performance and features. This excellent video review takes a look at the camera and how it holds up after six months of usage.
It’s the time of year again for my 100% non-scientific, not-based-on-actual fact, purely speculative wonderings about the future of my main camera brand.
Traditionally, you edit portraits in Photoshop, where you can take advantage of the program's powerful array of local editing tools. On the other hand, Lightroom has taken tremendous steps forward in the past few years, and while Photoshop still sits at the top for portrait work, there are many situations in which you can complete a portrait edit entirely in Lightroom. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to do just that.
The Tamron 11-20mm lens features a super-fast constant aperture of f/2.8 in an extremely compact and light package. With a 16.5mm to 30mm full frame equivalent focal length, it is ideal for travel, landscapes, real estate, vlogging, and more. Designed specifically for Fujifilm and Sony APS-C cameras, the 11-20mm is sure to become a popular choice for compact mirrorless shooters.
For the most part, camera firmware updates are a relatively unexciting affair, mostly bringing bug fixes and minor new features. However, occasionally, manufacturers will introduce major new capabilities via firmware upgrades, and Nikon's latest firmware update for their flagship mirrorless camera, the Z 9, has introduced one of the most exciting features we have seen in years.
DJI's drones have come to dominate the marketplace, offering sophisticated and easy-to-use devices that make it simple for beginners to get compelling photos and videos and straightforward for advanced users to take deep creative control over the process. The Mavic 3 Pro offers some of the company's most impressive features yet while maintaining a portable footprint, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it, particularly for landscape photos and video work.
If you're a photographer and haven't participated in "The World’s Greatest Photo Game," hosted by GuruShots, you'll want to take a peek at their latest challenge. Participants submitted a wide variety of night photography to their latest challenge. Thousands of people entered and cast millions of votes. See the three winners of the challenge as well as hundreds of top rated images below.
Certain people from history are inherently quotable. Although their quotes were not necessarily aimed at photographers, they apply to us too and can help us improve our photography.
Photography is a tremendously varied pursuit that can take you many different directions, but there are a few fundamentals that every photographer, no matter what they shoot, should have mastered. If you are new to photography and ready to learn, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will teach you many of the basics in just 10 minutes.
A few years ago, Sigma released the 14mm f/1.8 Art lens, which had the widest maximum in a full frame 14mm lens by more than a stop. Recently, they released the 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art, which blows past the f/1.8 version by two-thirds of a stop and claims the title of the world's widest f/1.4 full frame lens. Can it offer performance and image quality to match? This excellent video review takes a look at everything you can expect.
Nikon keeps up its rapid pace of updates for its flagship Z 9 camera today with the release of firmware version 4.00.
Look, I think we've all been there, none of us want to have to bring extra stands, tripods/monopods, or even extra cameras just to get behind-the-scenes images (BTS for short from here on out) or video for our websites or social media, even though we'd all love to have that content. After some trial and error, I think I've landed on a fun and flexible solution by using a 360 action camera but there are some things to know before you get started so let’s get into it.
Waterfalls are some of the most popular subjects in landscape photography, offering a great way to add a sense of drama and motion to an otherwise still scene. They require some special considerations and techniques to maximize the quality of your images, though. This excellent video tutorial will show you a range of great tips sure to help you take better waterfall photos.
Lara Jackson is an incredible wildlife photographer, conservation biologist, and children's book author. Over the last few years, Lara has had an incredible journey, becoming highly commended in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition to then becoming an ambassador with Nikon and Save The Rhino. I sat down with Lara to discuss this journey in more detail.
The MacBook Air has long been one of the most popular laptops on the market, offering a fantastic balance of portability, power, and battery life, but many users have been clamoring for a 15-inch version for a few years now. That option has finally arrived, and it looks like a real winner for many users. This great video review takes a look at the laptop and the sort of performance and experience you can expect from it.
The Apple Vision Pro has been described as "magical" compared to other VR headsets. What sets the Vision Pro apart is not just its impressive displays, apps, and comfort, but primarily its user interface (UI) that relies on eye- and hand-tracking.
In photography, faster lenses are better, aren’t they? Many struggle to see the benefits of having a range of f/4 lenses. But, if you start using them, you’ll realize there are good reasons for challenging that assumption.
One of the most valuable skills a photographer can learn is how to work with artificial light, as it frees you from relying on the sun and allows you to explore creative ideas that simply would not be possible otherwise. If you are new to working with artificial light, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how you can use flash to capture captivating sports action shots.
