Recent Education Articles

Why Photographers Should (Still) Care About Instagram

If you haven’t been keeping up with your photography Instagram marketing, now’s the time to revisit. Instagram marketing can be incredibly fruitful for photography businesses. To make it work for yours, you must understand how to use Instagram productively. Let’s start off with some statistics…

How to Control the Light on the Backdrop of a Portrait Photo

When it comes to learning lighting, we often focus on how to light the subject in a flattering way, but of course, the backdrop deserves attention too. It is about more than just getting the exposure on the background right, however. With a bit of know-how, you can drastically alter the appearance of the background just by how you place your subject and source relative to it. This great video tutorial will show you how to adjust your lighting to take full control of the appearance of your backdrop.

How To Take Better Portraits

If you're starting out and you want to improve your portrait photography, or just be able to take someone's portraits, Peter McKinnon's video takes you through a quick crash course in how you can do just that.

Everything You Need to Know About Photographing Seascapes

The beauty of a seascape is that because of the moving water, no two shots are ever the same, and changing conditions can yield entirely different shots of the same scene. If you want to improve your seascape photos, check out this fantastic video guide that will show you everything you need to know, from gear to techniques.

How I Shot This Edgy Couple Silhouette Portrait With a Single Speedlight

As wedding photographers, we always find ourselves walking the high wire between art and popular demand. But then, is the balance hard to achieve? In my opinion, I’d say it is wise to just put the thought, sincere effort, and presence of mind into your photos. What you capture will be loved equally by the artist in you as well as the couple you shoot - who seek nothing less than spectacular. The picture we are going to dissect is a product of this belief.

Essential Skills Every Photographer Needs

No doubt, it is a lot of fun to nerd out over cameras and lenses, but becoming a successful photographer takes a variety of essential skills that have nothing to do with the latest and greatest equipment. This excellent video discusses three of those important skills and how they will make you a better photographer.

Debating the Sharpest Lens

One of the most discussed topics I see all over the internet, is about this lens being sharper than that lens, etc. and splitting hairs as to which one is 5% sharper.

Helpful Tips for Saving Time When Retouching

With the requisite attention to detail and myriad of tasks you often have to perform, retouching can be a very time-consuming process, and as such, it is worth finding any little areas you can to make your workflow more efficient. This excellent video tutorial will give you a variety of tips for saving time while retouching without sacrificing any image quality.

How to Improve Your Landscape Photo Compositions

Composition is one of the most challenging aspects of landscape photography, and a good composition can be what takes an interesting subject and creates a compelling photo of it. If you have been struggling with creating good compositions, this great video tutorial will show you an effective method for finding worthwhile subjects and using them to make better photos.

10 Common Questions About Using Vintage Lenses

Vintage lenses have exploded in popularity in the last few years, offering photographers much more affordable options and unique looks that are not seen in more modern lenses. However, with so many options out there, it can be a bit hard to know where to look, what to buy, and how much to spend. This excellent video answers 10 common questions about using vintage lenses to get you on the right track.

Shooting Beauty Portraits With One Light

When you're first starting with artificial lighting, it can be easy to overcomplicate things by thinking you need lots of lights performing all sorts of specific functions to achieve great shots. This excellent video will show you how to create interesting portraits using a very basic setup.

I Bet You’re Making These Silly Instagram Mistakes

I recently wrote an article on why photographers hate but still use Instagram. While writing it, I started thinking about how photographers use Instagram. Unfortunately, there are several mistakes that you are probably making. Here are some of the most common ones.

Balancing Shutter Speed and Sharpness

The question of how slow you can go with your shutter speed while keeping action shots sharp is a critical one. Shutter speed doesn’t just impact exposure; it defines the way motion appears in your photos. Understanding this balance is key to solving real-world challenges when the light is limited or the action is fast.

An Honest Talk About Mental Health and Freelance Photography

One of my favorite up-and-coming Youtubers is Mik Milman, and last week, he released a video interviewing clinical psychologist Dr. Ali about the hardships of being a freelancer and how it can affect your mental health as a creative.

Images You Can Create From Your Own Bedroom

If you hop on Instagram or the like and click on a landscape photography hashtag, you are likely to see mostly scenes from famous locations, often in distant and remote regions. And while there is a reason so many people shoot at those locations, they are not the only worthwhile places. In fact, as this great video shows, you can create fantastic photos even from your own bedroom.

Choosing the Right Lens for Street Photography: A Guide

Street photography is a beloved but challenging genre for many photographers. Selecting the right lens is crucial, as it can significantly impact the style and quality of the images captured as well as how you go about taking them.

Create Quick and Easy Backups While on the Go or Tethering

Backing up files is always easiest at home or at the office, but it's when we're on the go that data is the most vulnerable. Whether it's image or video files, documents or other projects you are working on, or even photographing tethered to a computer, backing up data can often be an afterthought. Here's a quick and easy strategy to help you maintain backups of your files on a notebook computer while you're at work or on the go.

The Fundamental Terms of Lighting in Photography

When you're first starting out with artificial lighting, the vast array of terms to describe and quantify the various parameters of light can be a bit overwhelming. This helpful video will introduce you to the most essential terms that will allow to effectively communicate how any light source behaves.

Exploring the Creative Possibilities of a Global Shutter for Portrait Photography

The Sony a9 III, featuring the first-ever global shutter in a full frame camera, is revolutionizing photography by offering unparalleled shutter speeds and flash synchronization capabilities. This innovation is particularly crucial for photographers who require precise control over both ambient and strobe lighting, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to take advantage of it.

A Beginner's Guide to the Exposure Triangle

Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are the three most fundamental parameters in photography, and with them, you have control over both the technical and creative aspects of your exposure. Together, these three parameters form the exposure triangle. Learning the triangle should be a priority for any new photographer, and this excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to master it and take full control of your images.

Learn How To Shoot This Window Light Portrait Yourself

Portrait photographers generally use artificial light whenever they are working indoors, but window light can be a fantastic source of flattering natural light suitable for a portrait. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to set up and take a compelling portrait using window light and a reflector.

Von Wong's Incredible Underwater Photo Shoot Part II: How He Did It

Last month we shared a really impressive project of an underwater shoot in Bali done by my friend and conceptual photographer Benjamin Von Wong. He stated then that was only part one and that part two would be coming soon. Well, soon is here and he's sharing more technical aspects of how he made the project come to life.

Edit Your Images Faster With Lightroom's AI Masks

Adobe's Lightroom masking feature introduced just under a year ago revolutionized the workflow for many photographers by automating the tedious task of creating individual masks for specific parts of an image. This AI masking feature allows photographers to easily separate the foreground from the background, easily break down the parts of a portrait, and apply various edits to each individual part.

An Astrophotography Tutorial for Beginners

Astrophotography can be incredibly rewarding, albeit daunting if you're new to this particular way of creating with a camera. In this on-location tutorial, we are given some great pieces of advice for how to go about shooting both landscapes and portraits under a nighttime sky.