Photography Education

In this video tutorial, watch as I show you how to create a commercial composite portrait in Photoshop. This is a full tutorial showing the process from beginning to end in real-time. 

No doubt, the idea of being a professional photographer is a dream for many of us, but on the other hand, the reality of it can be far more difficult than you might imagine. This excellent video essay discusses some of the hard truths about being a professional photographer that you should be aware of before you undertake it.  

Composition can be a tricky thing when it comes to landscape photography, with many different ways to approach creating successful images. This great video tutorial will show you a simple and straightforward technique for improving your landscape image compositions.  

Dust is the enemy of photographers in many ways, and unfortunately, it is just about everywhere. This excellent video discusses four ways dust affects your work and how to better deal with it before it detracts from the quality of your images.  

Posing is something a lot of photographers struggle with, particularly since it is not something you can just learn objective values for like you can with camera settings. If that is something you are struggling with a bit, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five tips for posing couples.  

When you look at the work of professional portrait photographers, you might notice that it often employs two- or three-light setups. And while those certainly have their place, you might be surprised by just how versatile a single light and a bit of know-how can be. This fantastic video tutorial will show you five useful single-light setups for portraiture work.  

There is a wealth of information for every step of the photographic process, but one area that drastically improved my work some years ago is also one of the areas discussed the least. 

Lightroom is a more powerful and versatile program than a lot of photographers realize, and you can accomplish quite a bit in it without ever having to switch to Photoshop. This excellent video tutorial will show you five helpful tips for getting more out of Lightroom. 

When it comes to portraiture, we most often choose light that is soft and flattering on the subject's features. However, that does not mean that direct sunlight is totally unusable for portraiture, and in fact, you can create great portraits with it if you know how to work with it.

Becoming a competent photographer with good creative aptitude is only half of what it takes to become a successful wedding professional. This fantastic video tutorial will give you a ton of helpful tips and information on how to start and build a wedding photography business. 

If you are new to photography, you might have heard other photographers using the term "stops" quite a lot when it comes to camera and light settings. If you are not quite sure what the term means and how photographers use it, this excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know.  

Golden hour is a fantastic time to shoot portraits, using the interplay between the warm and dramatic light and your subject to create visually compelling images. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how this golden hour portrait was lit, shot, and edited so you can try the same ideas and techniques yourself.  

When it comes to landscape photography, deep depth of field and high levels of sharpness are often the name of the game. This excellent video tutorial discusses how to choose the right f-stop settings for maximizing the sharpness in your photographs.  

It is very easy to take your camera and shoot a landscape. But there is a big chance it will be a disappointing photo. There are six things you should take into account when photographing a landscape. I call it the six pillars for a good landscape photo. 

Whether you are new to shooting video or an experienced professional, we all make mistakes from time to time, and we might not always be able to shoot what we need again. This excellent video tutorial will show you five common mistakes people make when shooting video and how you can fix them in post.  

The wide-angle zoom lens is known as the “go-to” lens for landscape photography. It certainly has its benefits and in this article, I will explain how to compose for that distinctive dramatic look that a wide-angle lens can create. 

Portraiture is a challenging genre, as it requires the confluence of creative ideas, solid technique, and the ability to work with and direct people. If you are new to photographing portraits, this great video will give you five tips to improve your work.  

Whether it is weddings, portraits, or something else, any genre in which you photograph people will require you to whiten a person's teeth at some point. This quick and to-the-point video tutorial will show you to easily and efficiently do that in just a few seconds using Photoshop.  

A lot of photographers like to use a shallow depth of field for portraiture; however, if you are lighting your subject with flash, you will be limited by the flash sync speed of your camera. There are ways around this, however: high-speed sync and ND filters. Both come with their own pros and cons, and this excellent video discusses which is better for your work. 

Great composition in landscape photographs can be tricky and there are so many tips, tricks, and rules, some of the more basic principles can fall by the wayside. Here are seven tips based around one area of composition that is too often forgotten. 

Mistakes are good because they teach us what not to do. Photographers, like any other people, make lots of mistakes. Here are three I see time and time again. Which ones are you most guilty of making?

In this Photoshop breakdown, watch as Dean Samed walks you through his process and layers, to show you how he created this synthetic lifeform art. 

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.  

Forests might fill us with peace and tranquility, but the chaos of twigs and branches can make them a nightmare to photograph, especially if there’s no single strong feature to focus on. Right now, many of us are photographing close to home so here are 12 tips to help you make the most of your nearest woodland. 

It is very easy to fall into a routine in photography — taking the same general pictures, applying the same sort of edits, and taking the same opportunities. But stagnation can be a very dangerous thing both in terms of creative growth and professional success.

One of the most popular techniques for beginners to try with an advanced camera is long exposures, as it allows you to explore a world of new creative ideas. If you are just learning the technique, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you the basics of how it is done.  

Foreground interest is fundamental to landscape photography, even if not always required for a great image. But how do you effectively identify a viable foreground for your images? 

Landscape photography during the winter can be a fantastic chance to give your photos a completely different look and turn familiar scenes into something completely different. This great video tutorial will show you a range of useful tips on composition, settings, and more to make the best possible photos.  

One thing, which is always absolutely essential to nail in photography, is the focus. There are several approaches to focusing in landscape photography and in this article, I will pros and cons of MF, AF, and BBF. 

Sometimes we capture absolutely stunning images but they lack the dynamics needed to really stand out. Using this quick guide you can potentially take your images from boring to extraordinary using a single tool.

In this video tutorial, watch as Dean Samed shows you how to cut-out figures for composite in Photoshop. This is Samed's preferred method which he says gives the sharpest results. 

Log is the manner of capture of choice for lots of videographers, as it gives a lot more dynamic range and creative freedom, though it takes more work in post-processing. This excellent video will show you how to grade Canon Log footage (though the lessons can apply to any brand). 

Good communication with your subject, posing, and post-processing are all crucial skills as a headshot photographer, but you also need to have a strong grasp of lighting to make great images. This comprehensive video tutorial will show you how to create lighting setups for portraits and headshots.  

Broncolor makes some of the best lights and modifiers out there, and the Siros L adds a battery-powered design, allowing you to take them on the go. This awesome video review takes a long-term look at the Siros L and how they hold up after a lot of usage.  

In this video tutorial, watch as Redouane Naouri shows you how to create snow in Photoshop. There are many ways to do this, but this technique is one I have not seen before. 

We spend a lot of time working on all sorts of techniques and ideas to improve our photos, including things like composition, editing techniques, settings, and a lot more. However, one thing that gets a bit overlooked is color theory, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how you can apply it to your own images to improve their quality.  

Shooting bodies of water is both fun and challenging. In this article, you'll learn five techniques that will rapidly help you to improve your images of oceans, lakes, and rivers.  

Advice on how to improve at photography is always welcome, but even more so at the moment as we suffer through a pandemic that is affecting all of our creativity and motivation. Here are three simple ways to improve your photography. 

There are few things more fundamental and important to becoming a technically competent photographer than mastering the exposure triangle. If you are new to photography, this fantastic video tutorial will show you how the exposure triangle works and how to use it to take better control of your photos.  

When you think of great landscape photos, you likely think of scenes with beautiful sunsets and gracefully floating clouds, and while those can certainly be fantastic, you might be surprised by the wonderful images you can get when you embrace bad weather. This fantastic video tutorial will show you seven tips for taking better landscape photos in bad weather.  

Nebulous cities, misty forests, and magic sunrays make a perfect subject for photography in the cold winter. Here, I share some tips and ideas for shooting mist and fog.

Sometimes photos are called high key or low key. I never thought much about it and just made the photos I liked, regardless of what it could be called. But when is it correct to name a photo high key or low key? Let’s find out.

There is no doubt that the telephoto lenses are just as attractive for landscape photography as the wide-angles. In this article, I will give you seven steps to help you make powerful landscape photos with a 70-200mm telephoto lens. 

As a photography and video educator, I’ve advised people to “zoom with their feet” more times than I can count. On its surface, it makes sense. But photographer Matt Granger gives us a few reasons why that’s not necessarily the best advice in his latest YouTube video. 

Getting exposure right can seem simple, but it's even easier to get it slightly wrong. While being marginally overexposed or underexposed can be rescued, having blown out highlights or completely black shadows means the details will be unrecoverable. Here are four ways to monitor exposure properly on location. 

Wide angles lenses are very common for landscape photography, but they can be tricky to use effectively. This excellent video tutorial discusses how to improve your wide angle landscape photos. 

A combination of perfect portfolios and consistent Instagram posts gives our work a style that gives our clients and followers a strong sense of who we are. However, is there a danger that sticking to a certain style can be restrictive? 

Vignettes are by far one of the most common and effective ways to draw your viewers' attention to the subject of your photo, but you can get far more control and creative freedom by customizing the process instead of using Photoshop's built-in tools, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do so. 

No doubt, nearly all of us go through periods of hating our own work, even if we love the process of photography itself. What can you do during such times? This fantastic video essay discusses the topic of artistic anxiety and how to move past it and gain confidence in your work again.  

Portraits that combine flash with natural light are a highly popular look and a technique that will do a lot to help you gain more confidence and versatility when working with artificial light. However, when you start shooting at night, the technique becomes a little trickier. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to shoot portraits at night when using a flash.