Coloring outside the lines is a good metaphor for when a photographer decides to take a leap outside the norm in a photographic genre.
Sharp images are the desire of every photographer, but there are many factors that can derail that pursuit and leave you with frustratingly soft photos. If you are struggling to get crisp shots, check out this helpful video tutorial that discusses six reasons your photos are not as sharp as you would like them to be and what you can do to fix those issues.
Night photography can be technically daunting. Even with modern cameras, it's not easy to capture high-quality night photos. While photographing the stars already requires high ISOs combined with wide apertures, capturing details in the landscape is even more difficult in the dark. In this article, I walk you through my night photography workflow, which combines image averaging with time blending and focus stacking to achieve high-quality results.
Creating a successful portrait photograph takes knowledge of lighting, posing, proper camera settings, and a lot more. A good composition brings it all together, though with a person as the main focus, you have to make some special considerations. This helpful video tutorial discusses seven common mistakes photographers make when composing portrait images and how to fix them or avoid them entirely in the first place.
The default behavior of pretty much every camera is to activate autofocus through a half-press of the shutter button. This works perfectly well for most scenarios, but you can often improve your experience and hit rate by using a different method: back-button autofocus. This helpful video will show you why it is so useful and how to take advantage of it.
Running a photography business is challenging and earning your first client can be tough. In this article, I will show you how to charge for photography in the three stages of a beginner photographer's career.
When it comes to creating a professional-level portrait, knowing how to light, pose, and photograph your subject is only half the battle. A great portrait also needs a strong edit to be complete. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to edit a portrait from start to finish and show you some helpful tips along the way.
Few images are more iconic in landscape photography than the long exposure of water. It is about a lot more than simply throwing an ND filter on the front of your lens and going to town, however. This great video follows a photographer as he shoots and edits a long exposure of a seascape and offers a lot of helpful insights into and tips on his creative decisions and process.
Calling raw handling software a "Lightroom Killer" is a cliche. Nevertheless, this powerful suite of tools is starting to overshadow the Adobe Photographer's Plan. It is now posing a real challenge to Lightroom and Photoshop. ON1 Photo Raw has another update, and now it offers everything most photographers need. It's why I've said goodbye to Lightroom and Photoshop. Will it tempt you too?
The modern autofocus systems are advanced. Sometimes, it looks like you will never again miss a shot when it comes down to focusing. But the autofocus can still fail under certain circumstances. Let’s look at the moments when even the most advanced autofocus can give up.
Canon has a lot of amazing but expensive RF lenses. If you can’t afford these L lenses or don’t want to spend that amount of money, you can also choose the more affordable versions. I took three primes on a trip to France to find out how they perform in real life.
Cinema has perhaps the most thoughtful post-processing workflow of any visual medium, and so there is a lot that can be learned from it. In this video, learn how to make your photographs look more cinematic using just Adobe Lightroom.
The beauty of artificial lighting is that you can create fantastically creative and compelling shots that simply would not be possible with only natural light. Using a snoot and gobo is one such possibility, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how one photographer lit, shot, and edited such images using them.
I've never been a huge fan of photo editing in Lightroom. In the past, I used it to organize my photos and for basic raw processing. But since the introduction of the new masking feature, I do a large part of my post-processing in Lightroom. Here, I share two videos, in which I show how I use Lightroom masks.
One of the biggest mistakes in landscape photography is to think that the best light appears just around sunset or sunrise. You could get the best light you have ever seen in your life straight around noon, as well. This is what you have to consider.
Composition sometimes falls by the wayside in portrait photography, but if you want to elevate your images to the next level, it is something you need to take into careful consideration with every shot. If you would like to improve your portrait compositions, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features five helpful tips from an experienced photographer.
It's easy to think that if you want to put together a great portrait shoot you need to book an expensive location and have a room full of lights, but sometimes simplicity can be more rewarding.
You can absolutely create professional-level portraits using nothing but a single key light, but once you move into multi-light setups, you get a bit more creative and technical control over the final image. One of the first ways to do this is by adding a fill light, and this excellent video tutorial will show you what it is and how it can be used to create better portraits.
I must confess, I don't use Adobe Lightroom to anywhere near its full potential. In this video, Nigel Danson walks through a lesser-known tool that is now a staple in his landscape photography.
If you love landscape photography, you probably know a lot about camera equipment, settings, and the most common composition rules and techniques. But landscape photography is not always about those things. I have six important tips that are often overlooked.
Cities and architecture have, besides landscapes, always been my favorite subjects to photograph. Moreover, they provide the perfect balance during my travels. If the conditions are not ideal for landscape photography, I can usually find something to photograph in a city. And in this article, I share techniques I apply to come away with great results.
Why would you even consider shooting under the hard and harsh light of midday? Here are some reasons that you should consider it and how you can pull it off.
No doubt, today's world often demands the ability to constantly produce content at a breakneck pace, and that can put a lot of pressure on photographers. Even if you do not make money from your photography, you might find yourself impatient when the right shot just has not materialized yet. This excellent video essay follows a landscape photographer as he discusses how a bit of patience can be one of the best things for improving your images.
A lot of food and product photographers begin their journey in a tiny space with limited room for lighting and equipment. Food photographer Rachel Korinek has an amazing setup for recreating big window light in a small space.
On some days, we can see one composition beside another, but on other days, it is hard to find just a single one. What is the difference between those days, and how can we increase our chances to find outstanding compositions all the time?
Creating a successful landscape photo takes creative vision, solid technique, and often, a bit of luck. If you would like to improve your landscape images, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you seven helpful tips sure to help you improve your photography.
Back in the days of film photography, you had to think very carefully about the aspect ratio of your image before you shot it, and different aspect ratios held enthusiastic fans that specialized in their usage. The advent of digital and the standardization of the sensor into just two aspect ratios has seen that focus die away a bit, but they remain highly important in how your images are rendered, and this excellent video tutorial discusses their usage.
Shooting landscapes at night often calls for gear that isn’t entirely essential for shooting during the day. Here are some suggestions for shooting single images, as well as star trails and time-lapse photography.
Portrait photography is one of the most popular genres out there, and it brings its own challenges and pitfalls. If you are new to portraiture and would like to improve your work, check out this fantastic video tutorial that details some common mistakes beginners make and what you can do to fix them or avoid them entirely in the first place.
Lightroom is a more powerful and nuanced application than we sometimes give it credit for, and there are some useful features that are easy to overlook. This awesome video tutorial will show you five hidden features in Lightroom that can make your work life a lot easier and more efficient and even improve the quality of your images.
When starting out in photography, we get busy trying to understand the basics: shutter speed, aperture, composition, etc. As we progress, we start to care about much subtler things, such as color reproduction, sharpness, and, of course, color accuracy. But is color accuracy just a myth? Let’s find out.
Whether you are just starting your journey or are a seasoned veteran, allowing yourself to fail can be difficult as an artist. Yet, it continues to be the absolute best way to improve your work.
Have you ever struggled with getting creative in your photography, but whatever you have tried, it didn’t solve the problem? Artists think in a very special way. Knowing how can massively change your photography.
I love when a plan works in landscape photography and this was the way I was doing for more than 30 years now: planning and going to the spot, for "harvesting" the photographs. This led to fantastic results though, but there is one more way to get outstanding photographs, you had maybe never thought about before.
When it comes to photos of birds in flight, few other things matter if the final image is not sharp. If you would like to make sure your photos of birds in flight are nice and crisp, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will give you a range of tips as well as a nice discussion on what makes a compelling image of a bird in flight.
If you hop on Instagram and scroll through any landscape photography page, you will likely see a lot of images with cascading rays of dramatic golden light casting warm glows over their frames. And while that look is popular for a good reason, you can absolutely create equally compelling landscape photos in flat light, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how.
I have been using a square filter system for many years. It proved to be a flexible system that allows one filter to fit on every lens I own. A magnetic filter system is a great alternative, though. I tried both during my recent travels over Lofoten, Norway and I want to share my experiences.
This is a brief overview of why you need filters for landscape photography, comparing the different types of systems you may encounter, and breaking down which setup is right for you.
If you look at your camera, you will find a button to change the white balance. You can choose either auto white balance or one of the other predefined settings. But it is also possible to set the color temperature itself. Is there a difference between color temperature and white balance?
Often, I read about natural light photographers who prefer a high-ISO setting above the use of flash. The latter is considered unnatural and unflattering light. Perhaps that photographer should consider the benefits flash can offer without the sacrifice of a natural-looking photo.
When we shoot photographs, we may or may not want to increase the appearance of depth in the image. Many more tools than depth of field are available to us. Here are some things we can do to add or decrease perspective.
Three-dimensional "pop" is a sort of nebulous thing that portrait photographers often chase in certain lenses, as it can take an inherently two-dimensional representation of a person and make it feel more lifelike. You can also contribute to the effect through your editing, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do it through some clever though not difficult use of Photoshop.
All photographers need the ability to sell well, from selling prints to selling ideas to others to selling themselves. Use these psychological concepts to help you get more of what you want.
Capturing portraits of musicians is one of my favorite things to do. As a musician myself, I think that I have a unique perspective that helps me to connect with my musician clients. Working with other creatives always makes for an inspiring portrait session, and finding novel ways to incorporate an instrument into a portrait is a fun challenge. In today’s article and accompanying video, I will give you five tips that have helped me create engaging portraits of musicians.
Would you like to hang up a boring picture on your wall? Properly not. But what can we do to turn boring weather conditions into interesting photographs?
Few subjects are more timeless than sunsets and sunrises, and every day brings a new sky and new opportunities. Shooting them comes with its own set of challenges, however. If you are new to photographing them and wondering how to go about it to get the best results, this fantastic video tutorial will get you up and running in no time at all.
A lens like a 16-35mm f/2.8 is often the workhorse of choice for landscape photographers, but have you ever tried heading out with nothing but prime lenses? This interesting video shows you some of the benefits of doing so.
In recent years, Godox has become the go-to brand for many photographers looking for competitively-priced lighting products that are packed with features.
I always take a tripod with me in addition to my camera when I'm out on a hiking or scouting trip because there can always be an unexpected photo opportunity. And since I apply focus stacking to nearly all of my photos to ensure optimal sharpness, photographing handheld is not an option. Or is it? In this article, I show you how to use the automatic focus bracketing feature of modern cameras to perform handheld focus stacking.
There are a lot of sayings bandied around in photography that sound impressive but are meaningless. However, an image being greater than the sum of its parts is something we should heed as it is the basis of how our minds perceive images. Here are seven ways to achieve this.
