Looking to shoot portraits but need to acquire some lighting gear? What should you get, strobes or continuous lights? While both offer their pros and cons, here are a few reasons why you shouldn't use continuous lights for your portrait photography.
It feels like a bad dream, that just got worse. Just when you thought the nightmares were over, you awake in a cold sweat plagued by the same recurring terrors. Yes, the JPEG really is that bad so why do we keep clinging to it? Isn't it time we killed it off and moved on to something better?
Lighting can be a challenge to learn, and you might think you need complex multi-light setups to obtain professional results. And while there will always be a place for those, you might be surprised by what you can accomplish with just a single-light setup. This excellent video tutorial will show you five different lighting setups you can create with only a single light.
It's easy to get stuck in a rut in photography but don't worry, here are 9 surefire ways to supercharge your motivation.
What better time than now to pick up a new hobby where you avoid people and find yourself alone in the wilderness?. Here is all you need to get started with landscape photography right now!
Making images "pop" is something most photographers strive for, but there is a fine line between eye-catching and gaudy. This great video tutorial will show you three ways to make your photos pop using tools in Lightroom.
Ansel Adams is possibly the most recognizable name in photography. Most photographers claim he is the greatest landscape photographer in history. But what if you were shown his photos mixed into a group of other horrible photos? Would you still see the genius?
You've heard of the exposure triangle, which is the relationship between the three main camera settings in order to take a well-balanced exposure, but there's a fourth dimension that also has a huge impact on what your photos look like.
Posing can be quite difficult for a lot of photographers to master, especially because it is a bit more nebulous than other more objective concepts like the correct exposure settings. This excellent video tutorial demonstrates a range of common posing mistakes in seated portraits and what you can do to fix them.
Winter is just about here in the Northern Hemisphere (there is a bad storm raging outside as I write this), and it brings with it a bunch of new creative possibilities. As you get ready for the snow to fly, check out these seven fantastic tips for better winter photos.
Photography, like any creative pursuit, requires a degree of confidence in your abilities in order to find success. It is totally normal to go through periods in which you lose that confidence, however. So, what do you do then? This great video essay discusses what you can do to rebuild your confidence.
What the heck is minimalist photography? How do I take minimalist photos? And what kind of gear do I need to do it? Well, read on to find out the answers to those questions and more.
Where once the only option was the longest lens possible if you wanted to shoot wildlife, now we have the resolution to give the photographer some real flex with cropping. So when you're next out birding, what's the best approach? Is it a telecoverter, or just cropping?
Many things are required to be an excellent landscape photographer. Knowledge of your equipment, understanding the attributes of light, and an eye for composition are just a few of these skills. However, there is one skill that is often underrated.
Learning artificial lighting can be tricky, particularly given the abundance of unfamiliar terms. Once you get those down, though, you will find studying and working with artificial light a lot easier. This helpful video will get you up and running with the most commonly used terms in no time at all.
Few creative choices have a more significant impact on the final look of your photos than the focal length you decide to use. This excellent video takes a look at the importance of choosing the correct focal length for landscape imagery.
When you upload your image to Facebook or Instagram, are you noticing a loss in image quality? Are you uploading optimized images for social and the web?
Take a quick look at your boudoir photos. Are you finding that a majority of your images are too similar and you are lacking variety in those shots? If so, here are a few ways you can mix things up in your shoot to add more variety to your work.
In this video tutorial, watch as Abbey Esparza shows you how to create a dynamic split water effect in Photoshop. This is a really cool effect that I have seen in many composite images. So, if you have always wondered how it is done, watch this tutorial.
It is all well and good to put all the time and effort you can into making yourself an apt photographer, but when it comes time to be creative, how do you actually come up with good ideas? This fantastic video tackles a rather nebulous subject to help you become a better photographer.
Am I the only one sick of all these master photographers and YouTubers showing flawless, precise photo edits done in one take with no mistakes? Here's a look at my master workflow for creating flawless photos, one lucky shot at a time.
There has never been a better time to stay home and explore your own country. That is what I did and what I found was incredible!
White balance is very important in many areas of photography, but what about landscapes? In this week's article and video, I dive into why you shouldn't worry about white balance out in the field, but I also go over best practices in deciding how to edit your images.
Has it been 25 years? Amazing. I remember when Nils Kokemohr founded Nik Multimedia in 1995, which later became Nik Software in 2006. The package included plugins for color management and editing, another for enhancing or creating black and white images, sharpening tools, and later HDR software to help photographers increase the dynamic range of their images.
Pre-owned gear can be a great way to save money and enjoy a brand new photography experience. Yet, a good deal also includes proper quality. Here you get to know how to check a second-hand camera body.
You can easily spend a lot of money quite quickly trying to improve your photography, and often, that new lens of camera body will not do anything to the actual quality of your output. Instead of opening your wallet, it might be a simply change of philosophy that will make the difference.
In this video tutorial watch as Abby Esparza shows you how to create a burning effect in Photoshop. This is a really cool effect, and the way Esparza goes about doing this is definitely one of the best ways I have seen.
No doubt, portrait photography takes the confluence of a lot of technical skills and creative ideas to be successful, and there are a lot of common mistakes we all make at one time or another. This excellent video details three common portrait photography mistakes and how you can avoid or fix them.
Most of us do not enjoy being out in bad weather and would prefer to be outside when it is warm and sunny. But when it comes to photography, sometimes, good weather is boring and bad weather is far more interesting for creating compelling images. This fantastic video discusses why you might just want to grab your camera and head outside the next time the skies look moody or stormy.
In this video tutorial, watch as I show you how to create depth in your photo manipulations in Photoshop. I see lots of composites and photo manipulations that fail at creating depth, so I hope this helps.
Mastering manual mode is one of the most fundamental skills every photographer needs to develop to take better creative and technical control of their images. If you are new to photography and wondering how to decode the mystery of manual mode, this fantastic video tutorial will get you up and running in no time at all.
Sometimes, we like to frame and hang our vintage snaps of the family around the home, but the photos are torn or faded. Here, we'll be going through some steps to help restore the photos so they're ready for display on our walls.
Knowing the purpose of and controlling each light casting on your model is instrumental in portrait photography.
Photoshop has a lot of power, but for many editors, some of the features are arcane, involve multiple steps, or are too complicated to bother with. That's where Photoshop Extensions come in. It's an architecture that Adobe provides that falls between a plug-in and a Photoshop Action. As a result, some experienced Photoshop users with programming skills have created some really useful extensions that are useful to both beginner editors and pros.
For as long as photography has existed, the art of deception has been front and center of the craft. You change photos, I change photos, we all change photos. Who cares, as long as the viewer is happy?
Canon just announced the launch of the RF version of one of its most popular lenses: the 50mm f/1.8 STM. How does this nifty fifty compare when placed up against an f/1.2 lens that's more than $2,000 more expensive?
This fantastic looking Monster energy drink commercial was made in a fairly easy to replicate way. Here is a behind the scenes look at what went into creating the shot.
Portraiture is by far one of the most popular genres among photographers, both amateur and professional, and that tends to generate a lot of myths and misconceptions that can be harmful to your progress. This fantastic video discusses five common misconceptions about portrait photography and the truth about the genre.
Architecture is one of the most complex subjects to post-process. It involves a lot of planning from shoot to edit. But there are also other ways to edit these images, so let's try to simplify it, shall we?
So, you want to change the color of something specific in a photo and you don't have Photoshop? Here's how to do it in ACDSee's Photo Studio.
In this video tutorial, watch as I show you how to create any change any color in Photoshop with the hue/saturation adjustment slider. It really is as simple as a few clicks and gives a really good effect.
You still have the chance to explore the beauty of autumn scenes and colors. But, what should you look for?
Nikon’s recent announcement of the Z 7 II and Z6 II, as well as their lens roadmap, paint an interesting picture for the future of the Z system. At a time when every other manufacturer offers increasingly expensive and exotic lenses and cameras, they’re going against the grain. Is that enough in today’s market?
I knew very little about choosing a filter when I first started out. This short video contains some great advice and offers some examples of when to use filters and why to use them.
Tilt-shift lenses are some of the most unique and useful lenses out there. This great video will show you how they work and why they are so prized for lots of different work.
Architectural photographers face many technical challenges when shooting massive structures, especially when space to shoot from is limited. This is one of those cases in which the gear absolutely enables the photographer to take better images.
The last time I wrote anything about the iPhone 12 series when it comes to photography, commenter Blake B wrote, “… computational imaging is way more important than you make it out to be.” I’m starting to think he might be right.
Long telephoto lenses can be very expensive, but a reasonable alternative is a teleconverter, which attaches between your camera and lens and increases its focal length. However, teleconverters come with their own set of drawbacks. This excellent video discusses the use of teleconverters, including why you might want to consider one for your own work.
Making your footage more cinematic doesn’t mean that you’re constantly trying to make your films look like a Hollywood movie, but it does mean that there are some tried and tested techniques for making your shots more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. Here are 10 great tips from experienced filmmaker Mark Bone.
A beauty dish is one of the most popular lighting modifiers for portraits and for good reason, as it can create dramatic, contrasty images that instantly capture the viewer's eye. This fantastic video tutorial will show you three lighting setups using a beauty dish and other modifiers that capture a range of moods.
