As a photographer, understanding the need and the process for copyrighting images can be overwhelming. Binded, the online company formerly known as Blockai, just released a tool that greatly simplifies the photography copyright process for no additional fee.
I am sure most of us look back on our lives and think, “You stupid idiot, what on earth possessed you to do/think/try that?” I am certainly no exception to this, especially in the professional arena. During my early years as a photographer, I made a heap of mistakes and I worried about all the wrong things.
Organizing a photoshoot, professional or otherwise, can be a daunting task. From a small portrait sitting with a local band to a worldwide ad campaign, there are some key steps that will reduce stress, ensure everyone feels understood, and ultimately help everyone work towards the same goals. As a bit of a disclaimer, I work in the U.K. as a commercial photographer, but most of these steps can be dialed up or reduced for any project, wherever they happen to take place and whether paid or not.
If you’ve ever wondered how to create rich seascape photos with silky waves that convey the motion of the sea, you’ll want to check out this tutorial. Freelance Landscape Photographer Michael Breitung describes how to capture various types of seascape images, and has one particular post-processing tip that you won’t want to miss.
If you decide to watermark your images, making sure it's something that's both classy and not overly distracting is the best way to go. This video shows you not only how to create a watermark, but how to customize it to conveniently stamp on any image with ease.
If you do much work in Photoshop, you've no doubt used a Hue/Saturation/Lightness (HSL) layer before, but within that adjustment is a powerful tool for refining how the effect is applied. Check out this helpful tutorial that will show you how to get the most out of HSL adjustments.
Photographer Oat Vaiyaboon from Hangingpixels Photo Art has found a way to harness the new Facebook 3D Photo feature with his existing DSLR and drone photos using depth maps. You really have to see them in action to appreciate the coolness of the effect.
In a world where less than a handful of brands are considered well-established in the professional full-frame camera market and where more than a handful of other brands have done a very healthy share of innovating to wedge their way into the market, where do we stand? If you're going to buy a new system to start fresh or are just starting out and getting serious, this is for you. Here's a thorough comparison of the major bodies and lens kits you'll likely be considering. As long as you're considering full frame, regardless of budget, here's a comparison for it.
If you have ever been assigned a full-day catalog shoot for a big retail brand, you probably know about the hectic process, especially if you are not working with a producer who deals with everything. Besides, a catalog shoot consists of innumerous steps from creating the concept to delivering the final images, and if you don’t have a producer ready for you, there are some steps that you need to consider before start shooting.
Before taking on the definition of "fine art photography," perhaps we would be wise to consider Einstein's words: "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." Having said that, pretty much every single photographer oft considers their work and career in the context of "fine art."
A little handshake can go a long way.
Cleaning hair in post-production is without a doubt retouchers’ and photographers’ worst nightmare. It takes up a lot of time, energy, and precision, but more importantly, there are so many techniques out there that often we forget about even the most basic ones. In this very comprehensive video, Aaron Nace from Phlearn shows how to retouch hair in the most simple way possible.
As all wedding and portrait photographers have experienced, things often don't go as planned. Two common scenarios are, 1) timeline delays that cut into your ideal outdoor shooting times and 2) rainy or cloudy weather that covers the sun, making the popular backlit look impossible to achieve with natural light. When either of these two things happens, we at Lin and Jirsa Photography use the following five ways to recreate or fake the sun. We hope these tips will come in handy and allow you to wow your clients despite less than ideal circumstances.
Blend modes in Photoshop are still confusing lots of us even after years of using the software. This article is about two of them: Luminosity and Color. You may start using them more frequently after you understand their strengths and cases when you should use them.
I’ve been making money from stock photography for about 10 years now. I very rarely set up a shoot, or go on a trip thinking “I can’t wait to take stock images and make money from this,” but I've managed to recoup some money I've spent on trips over the years. Although I don't shoot stock full time, there are a few things that I do to make sure that every shoot I do gets me at least a few nice stock-style images that I can try and sell.
If you're working as a real estate photographer, taking environmental portraits, or simply want cleaner shots, a little bit of retouching and cloning can go a long way. This helpful tutorial will show how to declutter and polish your shots.
As a professional photographer, money is never too far outside of the frame. But even as the budgets and day rates continue to rise, it is important that an artist never forget why it all started in the first place.
Color theory for photography and retouching is more important than many would like to admit. Knowing how to create a visually strong color photography starts there. You can always go by the feeling, but failing to plan is planning to fail. Learning all about colors takes time and finding the proper resources is not an easy task. But thanks to Wacom, digital artists now have a place to get the needed materials to get familiar with all the theory necessary to get started.
Being good at photography or filmmaking doesn't automatically lead to a successful business. You have to make yourself known to the world. Making that possible doesn't always require a lot of money. In this article I will share my personal approach to marketing my photography and filmmaking business.
I'm personally obsessed with the cinematic look in my stills work. I think it's timeless, elegant, and endlessly interesting. If you'd like to add that same style to your own portraiture, this tutorial will show you how to do it using just Lightroom.
It can be very easy to fall into the trap of thinking elegant and nuanced portraiture requires complex lighting. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with a well-designed setup, it's also important to remember that so much can be done with a single light. This great video walks you through just such a setup.
Have you ever gone to the see a romantic comedy and absolutely fallen in love? Have you ever gone to a romantic comedy and spent the majority of the film’s running time politely sneaking peeks at your watch? Have you ever realized that both movies were essentially the same story and wondered why you couldn’t get enough of the first, and got way too much of the second?
If there was one thing I wanted to know when I first became interested in shooting editorials, it was "How do I do this?" That seems like a broad question, and it is, but it goes to show what a mysterious subject this was for me. I wanted to know how to get started, and what steps I should take. In this article, I would like to pull back the curtain a bit for people who are interested in getting into editorial work and share what steps I go through to conceptualize, build a team, schedule, and shoot a fashion editorial.
We all know that one of the necessary parts of starting as a photographer is working for free in order to gain exposure. Working for free is a great starting point to build your portfolio, develop your technique, and build a name for yourself as a photographer without the pressure or expectations of a client. The hard part is knowing when to accept free jobs and when to start charging for your services.
Lightroom has some quick and powerful tools for color correcting your images. This great tutorial walks you through all of them, whether you prefer one-click adjustments or full manual control.
Cold and moody processing is quite trendy lately. As I’ve been watching a lot of movies and cinematography tutorials, I began mimicking that cinematic feel in spite of myself. While lighting and makeup both play a big part in the final look, the post processing is critical as well. Here’s how to achieve it using Capture One!
Sometimes the only things standing between us and achieving our photography dreams is... ourselves.
There are countless Photoshop videos and tutorials out there, but it can often be daunting for beginners to wade through them to find the worthwhile ones. In this video, Jeff Rojas discusses five of the most common tools used in retouching, and shows in simple terms how to best use them. If you're a true beginner, this video can prove extremely useful, but be warned, if you've been using Photoshop for a while, this will most likely be way below your skill level.
I’ve seen more than my fair share of articles regarding the joys and pitfalls of being paid on time. A very vital part of making a living in any profession is, after all, actually getting paid. But rather than rehash the terrific advice I’ve seen from other shooters about the best way to invoice, I thought I would offer you another perspective. That of the accounting department.
Every wedding photographer has their favorite lens for photographing the couple. Some swear that shooting at 200mm produces the most flattering portraits, while others love the sweeping view of the surrounding environment that is showcased when composing with a wide-angle lens. In this video, Pye Jirsa of Lin and Jirsa Photography reveals his most frequently used lenses from over 10,000 wedding photos.
The better you are at selecting things, the better you are at Photoshop. It's one of the most fundamental skills. This great tutorial will teach you a multitude of ways to effectively and efficiently make selections in the venerable app.
Focus and recompose is an extremely common method for getting around AF sensors with limited AF point spread, but it's an imperfect technique that could be causing you more issues than it's worth.
Double exposures are a pretty neat way to create striking images that instantly grab the viewer's attention. They can be quite difficult to get right in camera, however. Luckily, that's why we have Photoshop.
The most important tool in any photographer’s arsenal is their ability to use and manipulate light. However all too often many photographers either shy away from, or completely rule out using hard light and it may be hindering not only their flexibility but also their creativity. What if you could shoot in direct sunlight and love it?
Generally speaking, losing detail in your image is a bad thing. However, there is a creative way to do so that is most commonly employed in cinematography, known as "crushing the blacks." I alluded to this technique in my recent article on creating your first Photoshop actions and I received a number of queries about this technique. This article will give you a brief overview of what the effect is used for, why you would use it, and how.
Developing your own film might be the cheaper (and more amusing) way to go, but with all the preparation and lab space required, that simply hasn't always the best option. Ars-Imago's Lab-Box hopes to solve these problems in a small, light-proof container that enables you to develop your own film at home or even while traveling – yes, it's that easy and compact. The best part: it's not all that expensive, either.
High-speed sync is a hot topic in the world of portrait photographers today and Francisco Hernandez is someone who has this technique dialed in.
Ah, the crown of the (Ant)arctic. Known in the northern hemisphere as the Aurora Borealis (northern lights), and as the Aurora Australis in the southern hemisphere, these brightly colored bands of moving and waving light are a majestic display in the night sky. Who doesn't want to take a picture of this otherworldly phenomenon? Here's exactly how to do it.
One of the most overlooked aspects during the jump from amateur to professional photographer is the business end of contracts. You may be excited for this new adventure of creating art, but if you are asking for payment for your services, your contract is the last place you want to skimp on the details.
We've established that the best method to reduce noise in your images is stacking. There's just no match to layering multiple exposures and taking either the average or the median of those. In the mean time, I've received tons of questions about how you actually do this with your own images and I came across this great tutorial video by no other than Ian Norman of The Lonely Speck.
In this simple lighting tutorial, I discuss how to create a soft and dramatic image by placing my light overhead.
Boudoir photography is not a modern concept nor is the evolution of its ever changing look. Throughout history there has been a desire to paint or photograph the human form. As the genre moves forward from early Renaissance painters, the works of Aurther Allen in the 1920s, to today with the modern day version of bodyscaping, there has been and will always be a fine line of the differences of how people view the boudoir art form.
Having a recognizable style helps you get hired for the right job. So how do you develop your style? The truth is that it’s not that difficult, but it does require consistency and patience. In this post, we’ll be looking at some practical ways to develop your style.
Did you know that photographers and videographers get special rates on checked bags with most major airlines? Some airlines will allow you to save money on extra bags and others will allow you to save money on over-weight bags. You just have to prove that you are a photographer/videographer and that's harder than it sounds.
Being a female boudoir photographer for many years, I may take some things for granted with my clients. There is not a shoot where a client doesn't ask me to assist in attaching a garter belt to her stockings. So, I am literally kneeing on the floor, with a woman's bum close to my face. We laugh the whole time, but in all seriousness, I sat back and wondered one day if I were a man, would this be any different?
Landscape photography is the often stigmatized genre of it not communicating anything other than display of beautiful imagery at best. In this epic arc series, I strive to provide an integral resource for working on your own landscape images. We’ll cover planning, shooting, and post-processing, and talk about anything from composition to colour theory. And for the more advanced photographers, we’ll include the use of shapes, tropes, and negative space to aid in compelling visual storytelling. This week: A composition primer.
The Cooperative of Photography (COOPH) teamed up with Switzerland-based Street Photographer Thomas Leuthard as he hits the streets of Salzburg to demonstrate some of the techniques he uses to be a true ninja street photographer. Leuthard arms himself with a discreet Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II mirrorless camera to capture the essence of everyday life as it happens on public streets.
One of the most commercially viable careers as a photographer can be fashion or beauty photography. In fashion photography, you are mostly shooting people, and you have details like clothes, makeup, and mood that you can capture in creative ways. You can create fantasies, capture a personality, and really build a name if your images are unique, and you will get people asking for you if you’re able to portray a certain feeling or mood. How to get started is often most aspirational photographers’ stumbling block. I can tell you that it is the ones who "show up and shoot" who build the careers and names for themselves from it. So, how do you do it?
Oh, what's that? I'm using flashes to take a portrait? Well let's turn those bad boys up to 11 and make that subject pop! When you're first learning to light with flashes, the temptation can be overpowering to drown out all the ambient light in your scene to make your subject stand out. I'd argue that, at least for environmental portraiture, sometimes subtlety with flash is a more compelling way to go.
With little exception, every time you agree to provide raw images to your client, you are hurting your own brand and doing that client a disservice. Although it might be easy to feel, it may be hard to understand exactly why this is. Even more difficult is how to then explain your decision to your clients in a way that also makes them feel good about receiving 'less.' Thankfully, Austin-based commercial photographer Caleb Kerr has all of these answers.
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