Improving your photography isn't just about mastering the technical aspects; it involves insights gathered from real experiences. Understanding the subtle lessons beyond the basics can dramatically shape your photographic journey.

In photography, the fear of making mistakes often overshadows the creative process. This anxiety stems from a common misconception in modern culture that every creation must be flawless. However, this important video challenges that notion, arguing that mistakes are not only inevitable but also essential for growth and development in photography.

Before you drag it to the curb or bury it in the attic, you might want to consider hauling your Christmas tree outside and capturing some great shots using a single speedlight. If that’s not quite your thing, at least check out how this photographer uses snow, fading daylight, and a strobe to create a stunning series of photographs.

Your portfolio is your calling card and is the place where most potential customers will make the decision to pursue hiring you or not. As such, your portfolio deserves a lot of careful consideration. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced photographer sharing five tips to help you improve the quality of your portrait portfolio.

Knowing what photos work best and worst in different lighting conditions can help us create the best possible photos. Here's how to do it.

Finding a new landscape photography location or even planning an entire trip can be quite exciting, but there is a lot to consider before you arrive to ensure you can get the best possible images. Before you head out to your next spot, check out this helpful video tutorial that features two experienced landscape photographers discussing five useful tips for working in new locations.

Often, when a client requests a shoot from a photographer, be it for a product or portrait shoot, you will exchange a few words about what is needed exactly. But even after they have agreed over the price and the direction of the shoot, the photographer may still be at risk of having a disagreement with the client or even his team on the shooting day. Whatever the initial plan was, the client can change his mind. Sometimes, the ideas proposed can challenge you and lead to fantastic photos, but they can also be disastrous and as a photographer, you need to learn to get bossy and speak with experience to get the job done.

Last week Fstoppers published my opinion piece on photographer Brendan van Son’s suggestion that he would give his images to Starbucks for free. Van Son has just produced a very classy response to the article in this short video and looks into the complexities of how images are shared on Instagram.

The Perseid meteor shower occurs from July 17 to August 24, and peaks on the night of August 12. In order to make the most of this spectacular meteor shower, I've put together a complete list of everything you need to know in order to get great astrophotographs of the event.

Are you fresh into the film and production industry and want to learn the most amount of information in the quickest amount of time? Get on a film set. But, before doing so, be sure to familiarize yourself with the top 20 things you'll be sure to hear on set.

Working with flash is an important skill for many photographers, as it will allow you to explore a far greater breadth of creative ideas and to get around otherwise challenging technical issues. Nonetheless, there are some common misconceptions about the craft that can derail those are new to it. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced photographer sharing five of those misconceptions and what you can do to avoid falling prey to them.

When you are new to working with artificial light, it is important to start out with a single source at first to build your confidence and knowledge. And just because you are only shooting with one light, it does not mean you can't produce professional-level images. This fantastic video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to get started with one-light portraits.

When it comes to retouching skin, there are several ways to accomplish the same task, some more efficient and easier than others. If you would like an easy way to quickly and effectively edit skin in Photoshop, check out this great video tutorial that will show you just such a workflow.

Macro photography projects can be some of the most creative ways to experiment with textures and colors at home. One fascinating technique involves using oil and water to create mesmerizing patterns, offering infinite possibilities for unique shots. It’s a simple setup, yet it delivers results that can rival more elaborate methods.

Astrophotography takes a lot of technical savvy, patience, and careful post-processing, but the results can be absolutely stunning and well worth the time and effort. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to improve the colors in your deep sky images in Photoshop to make them really pop off the screen.

A lot of the time, you will see professionals use two- or three-light setups for portraiture, but you might be surprised by the professional results you can get from just a single light. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to master both the technical and creative aspects of a single-light setup for portraiture.

Have you ever heard of the poem by Charles Bukowski that questions what it means to be a creative, and how to answer to that calling you have within? Are we supposed to listen to Bukowski’s poem when we consider becoming a photographer or taking our photography pro? This video starts off with the poem. Bukowski was a writer, but the insight can be applied to all creative professions. Have you ever had a day where you just had no creative voice within you? It’s happened to me, and after this video, I don’t feel so bad about it. No one can be switched “on” al the time. We need to let the creative juices come as they want to.

No matter what sort of lighting you are interested in, the subjects you photograph, or the equipment you are using, there are certain physical properties inherent to all light that are crucial to understand if you want to take better creative control of your images. Light fall-off is one of those properties, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how it works and how to leverage it for better images.

Finding interesting subjects to photograph can be challenging. This is where the WAKE system comes into play. z

Natural light portraiture is a great way to stay versatile and able to move through a variety of locations and poses quickly without having to deal with the logistics and interruption to your creative workflow presented by lugging around a bunch of lights and modifiers. However, because you can’t control the light, you need to consider your compositions a bit differently. This excellent video tutorial will show you a four-step process for creating better natural light portrait compositions.

Misty, foggy conditions can be fantastic for breathing new life into a landscape image composition, but they require a different approach than normal conditions to produce a compelling final image. This helpful video tutorial will give you some useful tips for shooting in misty conditions to ensure you come home with the best possible photos.

In this video tutorial, watch as Dean Samed shows you how to create an image of a surreal tentacle queen in Photoshop.

One of the most fundamental skills any photographer can have is the ability to mix both ambient and artificial light. This helpful video takes it a step further by using high speed sync to photograph action while still maintaining some ambient light to complete the shot.

If you ask any well-known and successful photographer what the most important thing you can do to grow your business is, they will almost all point towards shooting personal projects. Before the end of every day, I try to visualize at least one creative and interesting idea that might be worth photographing. Nine times out of ten, those ideas are complete garbage. Every now and then, I come up with a really great idea, but unfortunately, 90% of the time, I completely forget these great ideas and they never become a reality. Here is how I have solved this problem.

Wide angle lenses dominate landscape photography, but they aren’t the only option. Telephoto lenses offer a different perspective, bringing compression, depth, and new composition possibilities. They let you isolate details, enhance layers, and create a more immersive feel in vast environments.

Yes, drones are the new stars in town and they are taking every industry by storm. Wedding photography has been getting a taste of this rising trend, and everyone is going crazy over it already. This post is about the important know-how that might be helpful when you decide to include drone photography in your next wedding shoot.

The high-key portrait is a classic look that has retained its popularity over many decades, but it requires good knowledge of lighting to execute it properly. If you are new to portrait lighting and wondering how to create the high-key look, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know.

Landscape photography is traditionally done with a wide angle lens in order to capture the majority of the scene in the frame, and while there is nothing wrong with that approach, you can make images that are just as visually interesting with longer focal lengths. This excellent video shows how one photographer uses a supertelephoto zoom lens to create minimalist landscape photos.

Learning how to use artificial lighting for portraits can free you from the constraints of natural light and enable new creative opportunities that simply would not be possible otherwise. Nonetheless, it can feel very foreign when you are first starting and also trying to manage directing your subject. This great video tutorial will give you five helpful tips for better flash portraits.