Reducing the Environmental Impact of Your Photography: Hahnemühle's Green Papers

Optical printing is a dirty and time-consuming process. The chemicals involved in printing are bad for you and bad for the environment. Digital printing hasn’t changed much of this impact for the better. The chemicals used to treat photographic printer paper aren’t great for the environment. The paper itself uses a significant amount of resources to cultivate. Do you ever wonder if there is a better alternative?

5 Great Pieces of Photography Advice I Have Received

I have been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of some great advice over the years. In this article, I go over the five bits that have resonated the most with me and that I think of on every shoot.

How Useful Is Sky Replacement in Luminar 4 and Should You Use It?

With the release of Luminar 4, it has become amazingly easy to replace a boring sky with something more appealing. You only need to pick the sky of your choice, and the artificial intelligence part of the program does an amazing job in masking out the sky and changing it into something else. But should you use it?

6 Helpful Tips for Better Wide-Angle Portraits

Traditionally, portrait lenses fall somewhere around 85-135mm, perhaps a little wider at times. But that does not mean you should totally discount ultra-wide angle lenses; in fact, in certain situations, they can be just the right piece of gear to help you create something more unique than the standard shot. Nonetheless, they require some special considerations. This great video will give you six tips to ensure you can get the best wide angle portraits possible.

A Review of the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens

We would all love to have the absolutely astounding supertelephoto primes that the pros use, but with prices well into five figures, they are simply not in the cards for most of us. Luckily, in the last few years, companies have been releasing better and better long zooms at more affordable prices. This great review takes a look at the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens.

An Easy Way to Work With Hyperfocal Distance

Hyperfocal distance is one of the most convenient techniques in landscape photography, as it allows you to maximize the amount of your image that is in focus without resorting to more involved techniques such as focus stacking. If you do not want to deal with mental math or looking up values in a table, this great video will give you a quick and easy method for employing hyperfocal distance in your own work.

When Does Gear Matter in Photography?

We often hear the refrain that gear does not matter and a talented photographer should be able to create good images no matter what they are using. And while the advice is well intentioned, it is incomplete at best, and it is important to consider the situations in which gear actually does matter and how carefully thinking about your needs and budget can lead to better images. This excellent video examines that exact issue.

Unlimited Backgrounds Using Just Your TV

Finding backgrounds for indoor portraiture can be a pain after a while. You can get mileage out of proper backdrops and different lighting setups, but there's an option for punchy portraits with for all intents and purposes, unlimited variations.

My Week With a Hasselblad

I recently got the chance to use the new Hasselblad X1D II for a week. It was my first experience with medium format and required a bit of adapting on a learning curve. Here are my first impressions about the body, design, lenses, and general usability of the camera.

How I Got the Shot: Precise Light and Green Wash

I absolutely adore the precise placement of light, and recently, during a model test, I decided to play around with it, utilizing a new tool, ending up with my first portfolio shot of 2020.

The Rule of Thirds Is Overrated

The rule of thirds is completely overrated. There, I said it. Nope, I am not going to take it back.

5 Different Looks You Can Create Using V-Flats in Studio

V-flats are some of the most flexible and useful accessories a studio photographer can have. This great video will show you five different portrait lighting setups you can create using v-flats in studio.

edelkrone Releases New Motorized Portable Camera Jib

Continuous static shots in videos can get stale pretty fast. Adding clean, smooth motion pans into your video work has gotten even easier with the latest camera jib release from edelkrone.

An Introduction to Studio Strobe Lights

If you are not proficient in artificial lighting, it can see a bit like its own world with its own language. Never fear, though, this great video will get you up to speed on what studio strobes are, how they work, and how to integrate them into your personal workflow.

How to Use Photoshop to Remove Distracting Objects From an Image

One of the most fundamental and useful capabilities of Photoshop is the ability to remove distracting elements convincingly and efficiently, something that can improve or even save a wide range of photos. If you are new to Photoshop, this helpful video will show you how to use a combination of the Spot Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools to remove distractions from your images.

A Free Fashion Photography Tutorial Using the Fujifilm GFX 100

Recently I got my hands on the new Fujifilm GFX 100 medium format camera and thought it would be fun to create a free fashion photography tutorial showing my entire workflow. The goal of this shoot was to create a bunch of different looking styled shoots using natural light in combination with a few strobes.

How I Shot Five Looks With Just One Light and One Lens

Almost all of us have caught GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) at some point. We can often get caught up with buying new lights and modifiers, new lenses, and it can all become rather daunting, so recently as a challenge to myself I shot an entire portfolio building session with a single light, a single modifier, and a single lens.

10 Things You Need to Know if You Want to Become a Professional Photographer

Making the shift from amateur photographer to professional is about much more than simply being good with your camera and asking to be paid for it. It takes the confluence of a lot of skills and preparedness to be a successful professional photographer, and this great video will give you 10 things you need to know.

How to Photograph a Clear Bottle With Only Two Strobes

Some photographers make a good living out of specializing in beverage photography, but many of these pros — who generously share their techniques on YouTube — do so using the best of equipment, so it might seem a little intimidating for a beginner. If you're curious about how to get professional-looking product images using some basic equipment, however, look no further than this tutorial.

Avoid These Five Things While Posing Hands in Portraits

A good photo can be ruined by the bad placement of a hand in the shot. This part of the body can be overlooked while shooting, but can have a drastic effect on your outcome. If you are unsure of how to pose hands, this video will help.

Try These Creative Compositing Techniques

There are countless ways to combine images in Photoshop. So many, in fact, it can be easy to fall into a routine using the same techniques, while ignoring or avoiding exploration of new and creative ways to combine them. If you want to try something different, Colin Smith at PhotoshopCAFE explains three techniques that can help you create compelling composites in this tutorial.

DxO PhotoLab 3.1: A Lightroom Replacement?

Photolab 3.1 from DXO has been out a couple of months now, and early looks from photographers have been positive. It's a complete raw editor and has many features photographers will expect to see and adds some very worthwhile enhancements that will highly interest editors at every skill level.

Exploration Inspiration for 2020: Guess Where These Places Are?

Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you probably made about 20 New Year's resolutions — most of which seemed like far poorer ideas once the wine wore off. A few I do have to admit would make me a better person, but don't sound like much fun. There's only one am I excited about: Explore more!

Instagram Fact-Checkers Are Now Hiding Creative or Photoshopped Images

As a company, Facebook has quite a prudish mentality when it comes to art and creative works in general. This is why we have campaigns like "Free The Nipple," because Instagram doesn't really seem to appreciate art. What's worse is Instagram is now targeting images they consider "fake," which includes composites and works of a surreal nature.

Macro Photography: What You Need to Know for Photographing the Smallest Creatures

Macro photography can be a fun and exciting step for a hobbyist or the full time photographer looking to shoot something different. It takes patience (in most cases if you are working with small creatures) and a keen eye for that interesting shot. So what do you need to know in order to start into macro photography?

$1,000 to the Winner: Which Image Do You Think Will Scoop the Prize?

What are you like at judging a photography contest? Do you think you know what goes through the minds of those who hold the fate of contestants in their hands? Soon, the final choices will be made and $1,000 cash will be given to the winner. Check out the images of the 50 chosen finalists and take your pick.

How to Use a Foreground to Create Depth

The composition is one of the hardest aspects of landscape photography. There are many ways to compose a photo, and having a strong foreground is a common tool to create depth in your photos.

Cropping? You May Want to Consider Dropping Your ISO

Wildlife photography often involves cropping an image, because you can't always get closer to the subject. This great video explains why you might want to consider your ISO setting a bit more when you know you're going to crop your image.

Canon Files Patent for Crazy 135mm f/1.4 Lens

Canon has been designing and releasing some crazy lenses lately, and it seems they have no intention of slowing down, with a 135mm f/1.4 lens popping up in a recent patent application.

An Appreciation for Wildlife and Nature Photography

No matter how much we like to complicate it, photography is a relatively simple pleasure. And rather than always focus on the results, it sometimes pays to simply step back and revel in the process.

Is It Possible to Get out of an Editing Block?

Editing is no different than shooting – you will get stuck for inspiration at one point or another. But, how can we get through it without losing our mind?

How to Get the Illustrated Look in Your Images

Growing up on comic books and graphic novels I have always been a fan of anything illustrated. When I started taking photos and creating art, I wanted my images to have a similar feel.

Five Essential Poses for Photographing Couples

Posing is tricky business, and it can be twice as hard when you add in a second person. If you are struggling with posing couples, this excellent video will give you five foundational poses for couples that will help you find success again and again.

A Long-Term Review of the Sony a7R IV

The Sony a7R IV was a spectacular camera on paper when it was first released, building on the long history of success and innovation in the R line of cameras. The marquee features were the large bump in resolution and the addition of some impressive autofocus features taken from the a9, along with other improvements, such as better ergonomics. If you have been interested in the camera, this great video review takes a real world look at the camera after six months of usage.

Behind the Scenes of a Drink Photoshoot

In this video, I go behind the scenes on a drink photography photoshoot working with stylist Natalie Garforth, from set-building through to post-production with a professional retoucher.