Making the leap from editorial photography to commercial work presents unique challenges that can make or break your career trajectory. The pressure to maintain your authentic voice while meeting client expectations often creates tension that many photographers struggle to navigate successfully.
I have to say that on many days, I find myself using a DxO product—most frequently, their PureRAW software, which looks at my image metadata in my RAW files and gives me a near-perfect image, correcting my sensor/lens combination, sharpening, and removing imperfections like vignettes and ringing. DxO has more than 100,000 camera/lens combinations covering almost any gear. Even both my DJI drones are covered by DxO.
Are you holding back in your creative career out of fear of failure? Take an unfiltered look at the importance of taking risks, stepping outside your comfort zone, and embracing uncertainty as a pathway to growth.
For content creators working in the field (or even just on location, yet away from an outlet), a power station can be an invaluable accessory. In this review, I’ll be taking a look at the Bluetti Elite 200 V2, a battery pack with over 2,000 Wh of capacity, and showing just how useful it can be to power all the camera, video, and computer gear you might want.
Shift lenses, or tilt-shift lenses, are pretty rare across all brands and seem to be quite an engineering challenge. Most of us thought that their ability to zoom was impossible, but Laowa seems to have proven otherwise.
Portable SSDs can offer amazing speed for content creation applications like transferring photo libraries or editing 4K video, but many suffer from a slowdown after prolonged use when their faster cache is depleted or the drive heats up too much. ProGrade has announced a new line of portable SSDs designed to address both of these issues: the PG10 Pro SSD.
While the image of a harried producer talking into a wireless headset on a film lot might be a cliche, there’s a good reason why these products exist. Saramonic’s WiTalk 9 series of headsets offer an affordable way to access professional quality wireless communication, ideal for productions, drone operations, or other content creation endeavors where hands-free communication is essential.
Do we really need to spend thousands of dollars just to get good photographs? Can you become a good photographer with an old and cheap camera?
Is becoming a professional photographer worth it these days, especially in 2024? I asked myself this question in 2023 every other day, as it was one of the most difficult years since I had become a professional photographer over ten years earlier.
Shooting interiors for real estate shouldn’t be that challenging if your goal is simply to photograph the entire space. However, if the goal is to come up with visually impactful images, then it’s very likely that you’ll have to solve some problems while shooting.
In the dynamic world of commercial photography, staying current and adaptable is crucial for success, especially in 2024. The industry has undergone significant changes since 2020, evolving rapidly and becoming almost unrecognizable. This video delves into the essential strategies that commercial photographers must adopt to stay relevant and avoid being left behind in this fast-paced environment.
At some point in any photographer’s career, I am pretty sure you will at some point come across clients who will just send in inquiry with zero context asking how much you charge for a photoshoot. There is no way we could have possibly been able to provide an accurate project cost estimate without having any information on a project scope to establish the parameters. These types of clients are those that keep me awake at night, not because I am incapable of delivering but because these clients will have unrealistic expectations of what we can deliver.
Next thing you...
Shooting interiors can be a daunting task for an unprepared photographer. No matter how big or small the space is, there will be challenges that you need to face and problems you need to solve. Here are some ideas to get you started.
A number of years ago, while still an ambassador for Hasselblad, I received a fateful phone call from a gentleman asking if he could pick my brain about the newly released Hasselblad X1D. I agreed, and we proceeded to talk about cameras, both past and present, along with the photos we had taken with them. It was a jovial conversation, but it wasn't until we were talking about the Hasselblad 500 that he said the line: "That is the camera I used to photograph the Mir Space Station."
Creating an effective staging plan for property photography involves careful planning, attention to detail, and a focus on highlighting the property's best features. Here's a comprehensive staging plan that I use that includes the use of props and emphasizes cleanliness.
Which image in the banner is a photograph, and which is computer generated? Can you even tell anymore? With the addition of computer generated imagery (CGI) and artificial intelligence, the process of creating images has provided commercial photographers more tools than ever. I sat down with award-winning food photographer Steve Hansen to discuss this topic and to delve into the question: "Is it enough to just be a photographer these days?"
As I began my interview with Fabian Wagner DOP, he sits there, totally relaxed and easygoing. Describing himself as just an ordinary guy, it quickly becomes clear that my conversation was going to be a very relaxed affair, without pretenses, and totally open to all questions I threw at him.
Have you ever walked by a beauty image on the shelf at ULTA or scrolled by a brilliant shot on Instagram and thought: “I want to make images like that”? Or perhaps you are a photographer who saw a picture and thought: “I could have shot that better!” You have the skills, but you don’t know how to break into the commercial market. In this article, I’ll share about how to break into the market and disclose tips and tricks to succeed in the commercial photography space.
Doing photography professionally does not only require you to be good at taking pictures. There are additional competencies that one must have to be able to provide what your clients need and one of the most important ones is communication.
Google Photos is in the process of testing an enhanced search feature that allows users to perform complex queries, making it simpler and more efficient to find and manage photos within the platform. By catering to detailed and specific queries, users can locate their desired images with greater ease, thereby improving their overall experience.
It can be challenging for many photographers to get qualified leads, but there are steps you can take today to enhance your online exposure and lead generation.
Are you thinking of buying yet another lens? Can't wait for a new body? (In my case, reincarnation is the only option). This article covers the main reason why my Synology DS1821+ is the best purchase I made in 2020 for my photography business.
When V-Flat released the new Karl Taylor Light Cone, the comments ranged from dismissive jokes about "the cone of shame" to excitement for a product designed by esteemed commercial photographer Karl Taylor. I decided to take the cones into my product studio and see for myself if this simple tool really delivered the effortless results it boasted.
DSLR fashion has plummeted in recent years. The perks of mirrorless tech continue to exceed expectations, pushing boundaries and leaving their clunky, slower siblings in their shiny, space-age wake. But does any of that really matter in the commercial photographic world? Well, no, not really. In 2023, £250 will still have your images contending with ones from bodies 10 times the price.
Over the years, the fine art and commercial art communities have slowly wised up, learning how to run their businesses as businesses and saying no to free work. So, why are these famous artists working for free when it comes to the Super Bowl? The NFL surely isn't struggling for money, so shouldn't they get paid? Should any artist, famous or unknown, work for exposure?
A couple of weeks ago, I published a piece on the Jack of All Trades Photographer, which covered the plight of the gigging photographer just starting out, doing what he or she can to build portfolio content and generally begin to make a living from it. Imagine my surprise when just a few days later, the topic was covered by straight-talking, commercial super talent and formerly of this parish, Scott Choucino!
If you’re relying solely on cloud-based storage alone such as Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, etc., stop! This is a disaster if you’re a professional or a semi-pro photographer. Allow me to explain why.
CGI is usually associated with movies, but it has its place in photography too. In fact, you create elaborate and creative backgrounds for your shoots using CGI software.
Thinking about turning your hobby into a jobby? What are the essential points you will need to consider when taking your hard-earned savings and convincing your better half that this will be the new, next chapter in your life? With over 15 years as a professional photographer and more than 25 years being self-employed, here’s what you need to know to make your dream a reality.
There is a common myth about commercial photography: it is a genre just like landscape, macro, and product. However, this could not be further from the truth. As someone who thought so, I spent too much time creating “commercial” work. What I should’ve done instead is this.
