Behind The Scenes

The mall, removed. The cheesy decor, gone. The long lines, nope. Santa Sessions have become all-the-rage and photographers are making these shoots more of a high end experience. I witnessed a shoot first hand and to be honest, $10k seems to be just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what I learned.

What would be your reaction if I told you to shoot a short film with a $10,000 cinema lens that has an abundance of optical defects? With a question put like that, it would certainly turn you away. What if I asked you about using an anamorphic lens instead?

The holidays months can bring extra leisure time, and there's nothing more rewarding than spending that free time on a challenging photography project. During last year's fall holidays I decided to turn my available energy into something creative and fun: a pet calendar for 2018.

Commercial photographer Geoff Ang was approached by one of the top CGI companies in Singapore “CUM Creative” to create an entire series of images for Razer’s newest line of gaming headphones.

Photobombing during client shoots is usually annoying and unwanted, but not when its Dave Chappelle making an appearance.

Photography can become ridiculously expensive with gear and props and all the other necessities. So when there is a chance to save, I save!

All it takes to create a dreamy fairy tale photograph is a great location and a lovely subject. In this video you will see different ways you can photograph a beautiful girl in a boat.

A chilly September morning. The crispness in the air added weight to the solemn moment. My composition was all figured out. I patiently waited for the final elements to come into place.

It doesn’t always take expensive equipment to make big changes to the mood of a shot. Here are a couple ways I found to improve my portraits with a tool I didn’t so much buy as I found laying in the trash.

In this article, go behind the scenes on a year-long photo project, a "Century of Portraits," and see what it took to make this ambitious series a reality.

When taking a portrait of an artist, I find it is always a good idea to try and tell the story of the artist through the image. If someone is a musician, the aesthetic of a photograph should help you understand the type of music they play. Similarly, if someone is a drag queen – I try to photograph them in a way viewers can instantly ‘get’ their character. Join me behind the scenes in photographing Mango Sassi, a Drag Queen from Toronto, ON, and have a look into what it can take to create a collaborative image!

Knock on wood, but I walked outside this morning following the Halloween holiday and there were no smashed eggs, no toilet paper covering my trees, and about a hundred notifications on my phone from community members who had already downloaded the Halloween portraits I had taken for them.

We've been working on "Photographing The World 4 with Elia Locardi" for a year and a half, and it's finally complete. I'm excited to say that the tutorial is now available, and the first episode of the behind the scenes series is live as well.

The spookiest day of the year is upon us and it might have you in the mood to create something frightful. Photoshop, of course, offers nearly limitless creative opportunities to scare your social media followers, but what if you'd rather create something horrifying using practical effects rather than digital?

Hiring a professional makeup artist for your studio can be a daunting task, but one that can be rewarding when it comes to client satisfaction. In the second half of this two-part interview, we will delve a little more into what we, as photographers, should be looking for when we set out to hire a makeup artist for our own studios.

If you’re anything like me, you spend half your time fighting for new business and the other half fighting your urge to spend the money you make from new business on gear. So, for a bit of fun, today I thought I’d share my own personal, self-directed pep talk whenever I feel the urge to splurge.

It's the time of year to get creepy and creative with your photography. And no better man to put shivers down your spine than Adorama TV's, Gavin Hoey.

A few words of wisdom from one the best cinematographers working in Hollywood today.

Sometimes all you want to do is shoot some beauty work with some natural light, but it doesn't mean the weather will always cooperate with you. Mother nature has a way of doing whatever she wants on any particular day. Super, right? Here's how I simulated window light in the studio.

Are you an aspiring boudoir photographer or someone who has begun offering boudoir, but still has a little to learn in order to perfect the genre? This simple, helpful video will show you some practical mistakes that many beginning and even seasoned boudoir photographers often make and how to avoid them.

Sometimes, I like to tell brief stories about my adventures in life and photography that have little to do with the technical aspects of creating an image and more to do with making sense of an often hectic profession.

Creative challenges not only serve to find new ways of shooting but also to push your limits when in a time crunch. Two videographers set out to challenge one another with one lens in 30 minutes on the streets of London and compare the end results .

In a genre composed of so many different disciplines, there are a couple truths that cross all boundaries.

A professional production team can pull off some pretty amazing feats when given the opportunity, and this unbelievable side-by-side video of a scene and the behind the scenes footage of it shows that off. Check out the incredible timing and choreography that went into filming this scene.

Sierra Skye is one of the most known models that came from the rise of Instagram and has a fruitful career working for numerous brands. I photographed her last January, and finally, we are releasing the images.

This past weekend in Colorado I decided to give my full frame mirrorless camera a break and shoot some portraits using the much smaller Sony RX100V. I was curious to see if a small, pocket-sized camera could give me the kind of results that I would be happy with. Here are my experience and recommendations if you choose to do the same!

In this detailed video, Basic Filmmaker gives you a complete overview of the things you need to know before investing in a lighting system for your video needs.

Watch this video to go behind the scenes on an outdoor shoot with Corey Rich as he photographs climber Beth Rodden.

Go behind the scenes as a time-lapse photographer struggles to capture footage in Colombia.

Sometimes it takes a deeper look at a master to bring us back to basics.

In case you haven't heard, Apple announced some new devices about a week ago, one of which was the Apple Watch 4. One of the most striking things about the announcement was the intense new watch faces shown during the demo that varied from fire, to water, to colored clouds of dust.

I have been a photographer for almost eight years, and to be honest, it has not always been fun. No career path is without its ups and down, and certainly, the creative industry is no different.

We all know some of the best photos are taken spontaneously, capturing a fleeting moment. But others take months of intricate prep and planning – not least of which is this stunning shot, which included over 5 hours of flower arranging.

Behind the scenes videos are a fantastic way to increase the visibility of your work, and ACDSee Video Studio 3 will help you get your BTS video edited and ready to view in less than an hour.

Are you looking for a way to add more excitement to your food photography? Well, have you tried making your food float or even go for that exploded-view of the dish coming together or apart in the frame?