This is the second part of The Ultimate Guide to Composition. Part One can be found here.
Now that we’ve covered some of the more common rules/guidelines that are present in photography and painting, let’s move on to some of the more abstract concepts and theories including framing devices and the ways that our brain organizes how we see.
Even the best photographers need inspiration. 500px is a beautiful playground for some of the best photographers in the industry, and also one of the most powerful tools for motivation. There’s no sifting through rubbish to find quality work in your feed, which is often a problem with various social media platforms, like Facebook. Here's a list of photographers and their mind-blowing work in 4 different genres you MUST be following.
There is an old quote that says, “If you want to shoot fashion, shoot in color, but if you want to shoot emotion, shoot in black and white.” I don’t know who said it, but I tend to agree. I do love myself a good black and white portrait. There is something special about black and white imagery which has the ability to cut through all the baggage and display both the inner beauty and turmoil which can be so easily hidden away by color photography.
In this article I would like to share some of the basics and tips for those of you who enjoy shooting beauty portraits with controlled artificial lighting.
Make sure to check out my previous articles of this series: Secrets to Crafting Top-Quality Beauty Portraits: On Location Lighting and Composition and visual balance.
I am continuing my series of articles about creating stunning Beauty portraits and I would like to talk about on location lighting today. Please note that not only are we talking about advertising Beauty photography, examples of which you may see in the cosmetics section of a department store, or in fashion magazine ads, but we are also talking about simple female Beauty portraits that many of you are probably often hired to photograph for your female clients locally.
You’ve got the camera. You’ve got the talent. You even have a slick little website that screams “I take this seriously.” So why does it feel like you’re shouting into the void? Spoiler: it’s not your work, it’s your SEO (or, more accurately, the lack of it).
Color impacts your photography more than almost any other factor. It shapes the mood, guides the viewer's attention, and can determine whether your image resonates emotionally or feels disconnected.
Anyone who has dedicated themselves to photography long enough has felt the harsh undercurrents that run beneath the romantic facade: the self-doubt, the exhaustion, the unrelenting demands of an audience always hungry for more. We’re told to love what we do, but the unspoken caveat is that genuine commitment to photography—as with any passion—demands sacrifice, endurance, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths.
Knowing what shutter speed does is vital for controlling your images. That’s not just how it affects exposure, but changing the shutter speed has a knock-on effect that can dramatically alter the look of a photo. Here’s an explanation and some exercises for you to try.
For anyone new to Lightroom or looking to solidify their skills, this guide lays out a step-by-step approach to building confidence with the software.
Creating crisp, visually striking photos often requires more than just a great shot. Thoughtful Lightroom adjustments can help you refine details, enhance sharpness, and bring out the best in your images.
Professional-looking portraits often seem out of reach when you have limited equipment. Yet, with just a single light, you can create striking images. Learning simple, effective lighting setups can transform your work and allow you to create polished results without an elaborate studio.
Crafting a compelling edit starts with a solid foundation. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a striking dark blue aesthetic using only Lightroom Classic. The process covers cleaning up distractions, adjusting basic settings, and enhancing the image with detailed masking and color grading.
Editing photos effectively is all about balancing precision and creativity. Small adjustments can bring out details, enhance colors, and shift the viewer's focus. This helpful video demonstrates how to make impactful edits using basic tools, masking, and color grading, showcasing practical techniques for a polished result.
Seascape photography offers a unique blend of challenges and opportunities, with the ocean providing dynamic, challenging, and ever-changing scenes. Over the years, I have learned and practiced how different shutter speeds can dramatically alter the mood and feel of your images. Here’s what I’ve learned and some actionable tips to elevate your seascape photography.
Understanding how to fine-tune colors in your images can dramatically improve your final results.
Diving into the fascinating world of creativity within our craft can raise people’s hackles. Many commonly accepted truths about what makes a good photo are subjective and swayed by widely held opinions. Nevertheless, breaking free from the constraints of popularism can lead to creative results that stand apart from the crowd, and that's important.
Are your handheld landscape photography photos never quite sharp? Do you struggle with what camera settings to use once you start trying to handhold the camera for your photos? I have five tips to help maximize your success with handheld landscape photography.
There are good reasons why monochrome photography is compelling. Let’s look at what makes a captivating black-and-white photograph and what doesn’t work. Also, why Nik 7 SilverEfex is possibly the best tool for converting color images.
Establishing a successful photography business requires more than just taking beautiful pictures. It demands careful planning, organization, and efficient workflows to attract clients, deliver exceptional service, and ultimately, thrive in a competitive market.
The ability to create a sense of depth and realism in your photographs is important for conveying the true essence of a scene. While modern cameras are capable of capturing incredible detail, raw image files often lack the dynamic range and tonal contrast necessary to bring your images to life. This is where understanding and utilizing tonal contrast becomes essential for transforming flat, lifeless images into captivating visual stories.
Creativity is remarkable, but some photographers seem better at it than others, don't they? Here's how to unleash your creative potential, but only if you want to break away from the sheep.
Winter landscape photography presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities, making it a fantastic pursuit for anyone who enjoys the genre. This helpful video tutorial discusses some common mistakes and how you can avoid them in your work.
Clicking the shutter is often only the first step in creating an image. Mastering post-processing skills is crucial for new photographers. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use post-processing to add depth to your landscape images.
Over the past two years, I invested much time learning search engine optimization techniques. Making tweaks to my website and creating a content strategy, this work finally began bearing fruit three months ago. I'll now share the SEO knowledge I gathered in a little article series. In this article, I focus on how to rank on Google Search.
Here's the thing, they don't really teach SEO in school, do they? You can read about SEO until you're blue in the face, but the real learning? That happens when you're actually in the trenches, optimizing websites, figuring out what clicks and what flops.
If you’re like me and live somewhere with out-of-control housing costs, finding somewhere with enough space to shoot in can be difficult, to say the least. Having built out a home studio in a major city, here’s why I did it, but also how.
For many photographers, the pursuit of passion is often overshadowed by the looming fear of financial instability. Visions of artistic fulfillment are frequently interrupted by sleepless nights, wondering if next month’s bills will be covered. In a saturated market where every other person with a camera considers themselves a photographer, standing out and making a comfortable living can seem like an elusive dream. But what if amidst these swirling doubts, you came across a story so compelling, it reignites the fire in your belly and renews your faith in the power of persistence and innovation?
Having a few simple lighting setups available at your disposal is one of the most important tricks any photographer can have up their sleeve. In this post, I'm going to share with you six of my favorite lighting setups for wedding photographers, but really any photographer can use these simple tips.
Once your photos improve after practicing photography for a while, they will likely also attract a larger audience. And at some point, you might be asked if your photos are for sale. It is how I got into selling my images as prints more than ten years ago. In this article, I share an easy way to get started.
With 10 years of professional photography under my belt, I can confidently say directing models with ease is one of the most important aspects of the job. Yet, it is a skill that so many photographers struggle with. It’s one of those things that seems so simple, but in the actual moment, can be incredibly challenging.
Creativity is a challenge for all of us. This second article looks at five more attributes that the most successful creatives have. It includes the one most important trait of all.
Visiting beautiful locations for landscape photography can be quite rewarding. Often these, are one-time occasions. If you want to visit the same location more than once, you have to look for something close. This article is about making a long-term series of photos of one location.
Mostly, photographers learn the camera settings and compositional techniques first. Those basics of photography are essential. But when we have mastered those, what do we do next?
Today, we’re talking websites. What are the dos and what are the don’ts?
Besides composition, choosing the correct exposure is essential for your photography. Achieving that requires understanding how metering works and how to control the camera's settings. It's here that some cameras excel and others let you down.
When it comes to landscape photography, we talk a lot about how to make photos "pop," but there is a fine line between a photo that pops and one that is gaudy. This great video tutorial will show you a simple and straightforward technique for adding a bit of pop to a landscape photo in a tasteful but effective manner.
This is the video I've been waiting for! SEO is the bane of my life. If I'm being honest, I don't really understand it. Being 48 and a photographer for almost 16 years, I have a good knowledge of my job-related skills and what it means to be able to capture a great photograph. However, I, as I suspect like a lot of photographers, know just enough about social media, websites, and SEO to be dangerous. This video outlines what it takes to get to the top of Google in 2023 and where to go to get more information about the subject.
Can you shoot exclusively in JPEG as a professional photographer? Check out our interview with award winning wedding and portrait photographer Scott Robert Lim, as he explains why he's been shooting only in JPEG for over 23 years.
If part of your business is capturing headshots, then this is for you. Even if you're thinking of adding it to your portfolio, it's worth checking these essential tips and tricks as, if you're a commercial photographer, you can up your customer's average spend by offering this essential service.
The rule of thirds is the first thing that is taught about composition in photography. It seems to have some similarities with the golden ratio, but in reality, it’s something completely different. Let’s have a closer look at the history of these so-called rules to get a better understanding.
We can sometimes be a bit narrow-minded about what it means to be a professional photographer, but there are actually many great ways to make money with your camera. If you would like to get started, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you 33 different ways you can get paid for your photography.
When it comes to portrait photography, the softbox is one of the most fundamental and versatile tools you can have in your kit. If you are new to working with artificial lighting, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to properly place a softbox to get the best results.
While browsing through various photo-sharing platforms, you might get the impression that everything has already been photographed. After all, millions of photos get uploaded each day to Instagram alone. But if you take a closer look, you'll see a lot of repetition. Many photos show the same places, the same compositions, and often similar light and editing. Even today, it's possible to discover new photo spots. In this article, I show you my favorite way to do so.
Most expensive lenses include a lens hood. For the cheaper lenses, you have to order a lens hood separately. Is a lens hood so important you have to use it, or can you do without such an accessory? Let’s look at lens hoods a bit in this article.
After shooting more sunsets than I can count along the Pacific coast, I've experienced many different conditions and learned a plethora of valuable lessons. These are the most important tips I found throughout that journey that will help you the next time you're shooting along the coast.
Modern cameras can handle low light quite impressively, but high ISOs will still introduce some noise into your images. So, what can you do when that happens? This excellent video tutorial will show you how to process high-ISO images in Lightroom to reduce the appearance of noise while still maintaining sharp results with plenty of detail.
Sometimes, we try hard to find a composition, but sometimes, we get distracted by too many, and it gets hard to choose the best one. At home then, we have often to accept that all our images are just average. How can we avoid situations like that and come home with a masterpiece instead?
Sometimes it is difficult for me to look back at the photographs I created early in my career. The shots are all technically strong, but there is something missing. That missing element can be defined as vision. In this article, I will detail my journey in understanding the need to incorporate this crucial element into my art.
Millions of people wear glasses, and that can be a real difficulty for portrait photographers, as they tend to pick up a fair amount of glare that can distract from or entirely obscure the most important part of a portrait, the eyes. Removing such glare can be a bit tricky both on set or in post, but this excellent video tutorial will show you the technique a Photoshop pro uses to get rid of it and restore the subject's eyes.
