Ever tried to photograph a subject, only to find out that you don’t have enough depth-of-field to get the whole thing in focus? Typically our first reaction is to stop down to increase our DOF. Unfortunately that doesn’t always give us the results we expect. The first issue is that even with our lens stopped down to its smallest aperture, we still may not have our subject completely in focus.

I've always been fascinated by technical photographs showing every single part of complex machines. And shockingly enough, most of those images are created with a lot less Photoshop than one would imagine. "Explode" photographer Adam Voorhees shows us a quick timelapse of his latest Kawasaki Moto photograph shot for ESPN. Click the full post to view the final image.

This short but awesome behind-the-scenes video from Adrien Veczan shows his setup and technique for capturing a product photo of a bottle of cranberry vodka. Check out the video and then read on to hear a little bit more about his approach and method, which utilizes different lights to paint different parts of the bottle for his final image.

Implementing gels into your photography is a really simple and effective way to make sure your images really stand out from the rest of the crowd. There are a ton of different ways to use gels to create some absolutely stunning imagery, but in this post I am just going to show you a few ways that you can use them to add color to your background to produce really dynamic portraits.

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

Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens continues his video tutorial series of photographing simple three dimensional objects with this short tutorial on lighting a cylinder. The video demonstrates how to specifically alter the amount of light falling on the curved surface and flat face of the cylinder to achieve the desired effect.

In Part 1 of the "Start to Finish Fashion Editorial Retouching" tutorial, we looked at how to clean up a white background, how to liquefy clothing to achieve a better fit, and how to clone and heal out distracting elements in our editorial image. In Part 2 we will look at how to go about the more common and essential retouching steps including: skin retouching using dodge and burn, color toning, sharpening, and value adjustments. In this video, I take you through each step and give you insight into the "why" as well as the "how" of editorial retouching.

Photographer Platon has photographed a significant number of major players in both the world of politics and music. In this four-minute video from PBS NewsHour, he talks through the experience of working with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as well as Presidents Trump, Clinton, and Putin, and how he made each of them relax for the photo.

Some four thousand custom tintype portraits, countless Polaroids and more than 30 gallery shows but after four years in business, Photobooth San Francisco is closing its doors at the end of March 2014. One of the few commercial studios selling custom hand-made tintypes, Photo Booth, located on Valencia Street, has been a favorite and easy place to have a one-of-a-kind metal portrait made.

So a few weeks ago I found sometime to shoot a personal project, a summer inspired beauty shoot. The idea behind the shoot was to focus on summer and to play with bright and vibrant colors. Prior to the shoot a spent days experimenting with new techniques and different ways of introducing color into my shoot. In this article I want to share a couple of techniques I used to create colorful effects in camera and also how I recreated one of those effects in Photoshop.

Light is a key factor in photography. It helps shape and create your photo. As the sun changes throughout the day, depending on where you are you may see some thin beams of light fall across the environment. Creating these thin light beams and adding them to your portraits can add some interesting looks. Controlling the light into small beams is one way to create drama and mood in your work. How would you create a thin beam of light on set?

How many of the primary lighting patterns can you execute well? Here is an explanation of five of the most common lighting techniques used in photography.

There are many light modifiers available and the selection can become confusing at times. Some areas, in fact, are confusing even when you understand them. The primary suspect is the parabolic softbox.

There’s a slew of backdrop options out on the market today for you to choose from. Sometimes, those options don't always fit your vision, whether because of budget or creativity. So, what do you do then? Why not make your own canvas?

Mark Wallace from Adorama has produced another great video regarding light in photography. The capture of light is the most important part of photography, and in essence, the light you use will define the look of the photo and define your photographic style.

Portrait photography requires studio strobes, softboxes, along with grip equipment like light stands, and C-stands, not to mention lots of money to acquire all the required equipment. Without this equipment, your images are going to look like your local police department’s Saturday night mugshots. Do you really need to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get good portrait shots?

We've all had horrible pictures taken of ourselves for our ID, passport, or drivers license. You might think your portrait turned out poorly because of the cheap camera, poor lighting, or you simply weren't ready. Well the truth is revealed in this hilarious video.

What does it take to turn a blue BMW M5 into a bullet? A little of this, and a little of that, but mostly it takes a team of talented individuals with a dream and the know-how. With a limitless imagination, impeccable understanding of light and meticulous attention to detail, photographer/director Marek Glaser and Big Block digital productions took the imaginary and made it reality.

Amy Lynn is a 24 year old photographer from Nebraska who wanted to do an institutionalized themed shoot for a long time. Right before Halloween, she decided to finally make it happen by heading to local thrift shops in search of the right materials to match her vision. The BTS video captures the whole process and the final results are more than awesome.

For the "Preservation" project, widely acclaimed Los Angeles-based photographer Blake Little covered a variety of models in 4,500 pounds of honey. You read that right. The idea for this shoot was originally inspired by a previous session where he depicted a man as a bear eating honey. He was startled by the way that the honey gave the appearance that the man was "preserved in amber" and by how it can "distort and amplify forms."

Photography dreams can come true, and for Adam Coppola, that’s just what happened this year when he opened his newly completed photography studio. I had an opportunity to tour Coppola's newly completed dream studio a few weeks ago.

Is it really necessary to have your own photo studio? Here's why I let go of my own photo studio and use PeerSpace instead.

When I moved in to my studio a little over three years ago, I needed a place to hang, store, and use my rolls of seamless paper. I didn’t have many — just a few nine-foot rolls of white, gray, black, and green — but I wanted them out of my way. Storing them vertically wasn’t a good option in the space, and storing them laying down is never a good idea. So, I wanted to figure out a simple system that I could build that would do the trick. Here’s what I came up with.

Anyone who likes to bring a light or two on-location knows the frustration of wanting soft, controllable light that won't weigh you down or break the bank. The Westcott Apollo Orb is, without a doubt, one of my favorite lighting modifiers. As you'll see below, the Apollo Orb has just about every feature you could ask for in its unique, somewhat-brolly-box-style design, all at a modest price point.

If you work out of a studio, you know how annoying paper seamless backdrops can be...they always wrinkle and warp. We recently changed over to the Savage Vinyl backdrops and they seem to last a lot longer. The guys over at OKstrobist have an even cheaper alternative for those looking for a DIY approach and it's pretty clever. Even though this can still cost as much as $170, you aren't stuck

Amongst this years Broncolor Gen NEXT line up (a pioneering group of young professional photographers lighting up the future of photography) Gonzaga Manso throws in with his beautiful concept shoot, "The Pond". This photograph is meant to express the calm, sincere and deep love that comes from getting old alongside the person you love. But what maybe more interesting, for us inquisitive shooters, is the release of this behind-the-scenes video which details Gonzaga's elaborate and meticulous set-up.

Inverse Square Law of Light is something we all hear and know about, but don't always know how it really affects our photography. We always hear the math and the science behind it, but there is nothing like seeing it in a visual way to fully understand it. For people like me who find it hard to deal with math equations, those 2 great videos by photographer Karl Taylor will show you the important basics about the law you should know.