We all have our unique styles in photography, and we get to choose how we express ourselves in our images. However, poor composition is one of the easiest ways to ruin an image and can take away from what you want to communicate in your photo.
Air travel with photo and video gear is the stuff of nightmares for a lot of creatives, as the game of trying to avoid checking anything fragile but still take everything you need is a tough one. This great video shows how one filmmaker manages to carry 66 lbs. of gear all in carry-on baggage.
Just about every photographer tries their hand at macro photography at some point in their life. Follow some of the tips in this great little video, and you just might be able to get the kind of shots you've always dreamed of.
When you're shooting film, you don't have the benefit of being able to check that you got the correct exposure after you take a shot like you do with digital. This great video will give you a couple common methods to ensure you get the exposure just right when you're shooting film.
If you're new to strobes, buying a couple of speedlights and modifiers can be a cheap but effective way to learn the ins and outs of artificial lighting. This awesome video will show you how to create classic studio portraits using just speedlights.
A few words of wisdom from one the best cinematographers working in Hollywood today.
Bradford Young is a master. While many cinematographers can create a beautiful image, very few have been able to put their visual signature onto so many styles and be able to tell so many different types of stories in such powerful ways.
It's easier than ever to get feedback on your photos (whether you like it or not), but the degree to which you internalize that feedback and how you incorporate it is something you should consider to ensure you're being true to your artistic self.
You can do all sorts of creative things to portraits, but if you don't get the skin tones right, chances are your viewer will notice something off. This great video will show you a quick and effective method for color correcting skin in Photoshop.
It's one of the world's most popular battery formats. Here's what you need to know about V-Mount batteries.
Not all batteries are the same, and not all V-Mount batteries are the same either. It’s important to understand the trade offs and benefits you’ll need to choose. Hopefully, this quick video keeps people from buying the wrong batteries for their kit.
Needless to say how important social media is to the growth of your business. It is always good to have a clear and focused strategy when it comes to social media management. This video from Vanessa Joy throws light on the common misconceptions in the world of social media and why it is important to break them.
"Color science" is a term that gets thrown around quite a bit as a catch-all for some things that are actually under the umbrella of science and many that aren't at all. This excellent video unpacks all the baggage that comes along with the term "color science."
Does every photographer really need a neutral density filter? Perhaps you asked yourself that very question when you first read the title of this article.
Don't worry this hack won't invalidate the warranty on your phone and takes minimal technical skill to do. The end result is a dramatic change in how you and the camera see the world.
As professional artists, at some point in our careers we will feel as if we reach a plateau in our work and are not growing. In this article learn the ways you can continue to grow and reach your greatest potential and work past that creative rut.
Since the film days, photographers have used dodge and burn to infuse drama into their images. Unfortunately, local exposure adjustments don’t always stack well and can produce the opposite effect.
Landscape photography can be a fickle thing, as you don't get to choose your lighting or even what a big chunk of your composition (the sky) will look like. This great video talks about how you can maximize what you get out of a location no matter what the conditions.
Interested in trying out macro photography? This quick and helpful video will give you three tips to keep in mind when you start shooting the small stuff.
“Exposure doesn’t pay the bills.” As photographers, we’ve all heard this saying, and we’ve all probably even said this at least once. It’s frustrating to be expected to work for free at all as a creative professional. You and your work need to be taken seriously.
From sketch renderings to video surveillance, law enforcement uses many techniques to piece together clues for crime-solving. Details and memory often fail us, but there's one medium that never forgets - photography.
If you’re a vlogger, video producer, or just a fan of posting cat videos to the Internet, you probably had the shock of your life during the great YouTube outage of ‘18. Suddenly, in one moment, all of your content was gone through no fault of your own.
Being in a creative rut can be a vicious circle of trying too hard to get out of it and only meeting more frustration when you can't find the results you're seeking. This great video will give you some helpful tips to bust out of that rut in no time.
It's a fairly common attitude in both photo and video work to just assume that a mistake during a shoot can and will be fixed in post, but that can be quite detrimental in a few ways. Here are five reasons to avoid fixing your work in post.
It's crucial to understand and respect the relationship between music and visuals in order to create compelling video work. This helpful video will show you how different music choices can completely change the mood and message of your video.
Sometimes all you want to do is shoot some beauty work with some natural light, but it doesn't mean the weather will always cooperate with you. Mother nature has a way of doing whatever she wants on any particular day. Super, right? Here's how I simulated window light in the studio.
If you are beginning your journey in photography, mastering the basics of the exposure triangle is one of the best places to start. Here is an excellent illustration of how understanding your camera can help you produce better images.
How does one discover his or her personal style? It is always a debatable question, and it is interesting to hear the opinions coming from people from different walks of life. In this video, Chase Jarvis strikes a dialogue with Alex Strohl on the journey of discovering one's style.
I use long exposures more often than not in my landscape photography, and I have done so for more than three years. Here, I share some tips on how to do it, but most importantly, why I do it.
Dynamic range has become one of the most important camera specs for a lot of photographers and videographers, but there's a lot more information and science behind it than you might have realized. This excellent, comprehensive video will teach you everything you need and ever wanted to know about dynamic range.
Going on a photography trip can be a wonderful adventure and a chance to come home with lots of portfolio-worthy shots, but there's more to it than simply grabbing your camera and booking a plane ticket. This great video will give you seven helpful tips to maximize your returns from a photography trip.
One of the most fundamental parameters of lighting is the height at which you place the light. This excellent video will teach you everything you need to know about properly placing a light source or reflector at the right height.
Culling a large set of raw photos can take a particularly long time as you wait for Lightroom to render previews for all the images, but luckily, there's a faster way to do it. This quick video will introduce you to programs dedicated to exactly this task.
ND filters are one of the most useful accessories both stills and video shooters can own. They come in two fundamental variants (fixed and variable), and this helpful video will help you decide which is right for you.
“This shot just looks flat.” Even an image shot during dramatic lighting can look dull after global adjustments. But with some inspiration from light painting, you can bring the image to life in post-production.
Autofocus systems have evolved rapidly since the technology first emerged in the mid-70s. Understanding contrast detection, phase detection, and dual-pixel is a complex business, but might be critical to choosing the system that best suits what you shoot. This intense video covers pretty much everything.
The colors of autumn are at their magnificent full strength here in New England, and I’m thinking about black and white photography. In about two weeks, these autumn colors are going to give way to lots of browns and blacks and eventually, some white snow. So, why not start thinking like I am about practicing some black and white photography this winter?
There's quite a bit more to becoming a successful photographer than simply learning to use a camera proficiently. This great video talks about some more useful steps you can take to give yourself a better chance of being successful.
It seems counterintuitive; after all, we're all here because we love photography for one reason or another. But one common habit that almost all of us fall prey to at one time or another can lead a vicious circle of unhappiness stemming from what should be a satisfying hobby or profession.
Matching the colors between two different cameras takes a nuanced eye and precision. This helpful video will give you some great tips and techniques for color matching video footage shot on two different cameras using Premiere Pro.
Creating microscopic or macroscopic photography requires considerable skill and proper equipment. But you don’t need to be a professional photographer to appreciate the fascinating world that this mind-blowing imaging opens up.
Landscape photography can be both a fickle and bountiful thing depending on the conditions. This great video examines why photographing the same location multiple times can be highly beneficial.
One of the best and most common uses of Photoshop is the ability to remove people and objects from photos in a convincing fashion. This great video will show you how to use a combination of tools to make it look like they were never there.
Everybody will someday ask for the famous C&C (critique and/or comments), or has seen it when navigating the Internet on photography-related groups.
Critiques might be very helpful to develop other skills or to improve your photos. Or they can be helpful for future ones as well, because they provide another angle of view or techniques that can be applied later.
Looking for an easy way to collect and share photographs with others? Whether you're centralizing image assets for an organization, a public event, a family reunion, or a social gathering among friends, check out this quick how-to using a built-in and highly underrated feature of SmugMug.
Composition is the most important part of how you design your photo. It cannot be understated how important it is for a good viewer experience. These three tips should help you on your way.
Becoming a successful photographer can be a daunting thing, both because of the ever-evolving market and because of the lack of a definite, singular way to go about it. This helpful video talks about some important steps you can take to increase your chances of success.
When shooting the night sky, we are looking at points of light that don’t always resolve well with the lenses we have in our bag. Whether the lens is a top-of-the-line “L” from Canon or a third-party lens that cost 1/10th the price, they may both have issues with coma and astigmatism.
Drawing a blank in the middle of a couple shoot is not an uncommon thing for a photographer. You suddenly run out of ideas and stand perplexed on what to do next. This video from Vanessa Joy throws light on some quick ideas to get you started with posing brides and grooms.
There are three questions that I ask each new potential client, and those answers will determine the entire creative direction of the project.
Landscape photography trips can be a big time and money commitment, but if you don't do the proper planning and analysis beforehand, you can end up coming home without the shots you wanted. This great video talks about four things to do before you head out the door to give yourself a greater chance of success.
Long exposure photographs are highly popular in the landscape photography world, particularly when there's water in a shot. And while it's a great effect, sometimes, you don't want the long exposure to affect the entire image, which is where this neat technique comes into play.