Today, I conclude my two part essay about a difficult two months of negotiation over a commercial photography shoot that may not have ultimately come to fruition, but taught very valuable lessons along the way.
You have been dreaming of shooting underwater for a while, but waterproof housing is too expensive, none seem to fit your huge rig, or you can’t find one with which you can trigger your strobes. Then check out this trick.
Backlit portraits can be a great way to get a lighter, airier look. Traditionally, you likely think of them as being shot outside with the sun behind the subject, but it's just as easy to create them in the studio, and this helpful tutorial will show you how to do just that.
We've all taken images that aren't level, but of course, the problem is that if the composition is too tight, you may not be able to rotate the photo back to neutral without cutting off part of the subject or some other important bit. This helpful tutorial will show you what you can do in that situation.
Split toning is a quick and effective way to give a photo a more distinctive look. This helpful tutorial will show you what split toning is, how it works, and how to easily add it to your images using Lightroom.
Moiré is that really annoying thing that happens when fine patterns seem to produce a rainbow (frequently purple and green) of bizarre colors that clearly don't belong to the actual object. This video will show you how to quickly and easily deal with it using Lightroom.
One of my biggest problems when using Lightroom is just how long it takes to start viewing my images. Thankfully, ON1 Photo RAW does things a bit different.
Right now, a lot of the trends in landscape photography revolve around vibrant, ornate, and complicated images that showcase a multitude of aspects of scene, and while there's certainly nothing wrong with that, there are other styles as well. This great video explores creating minimalist compositions using sand dunes.
One of my favorite features in Lightroom for local adjustments is the Auto Mask feature, which can save a ton of time when used in the right situations. This great trick will show you how to get way more mileage out of it to save even more time in your edits.
Finding good portrait locations can be a bit of a challenge, particularly if you don't live in a sprawling metropolis with numerous options waiting to be explored. This helpful video will give you three tips to have a better chance of finding great portrait locations.
Brands big and small, new and established, are heavily investing in Instagram influencers to market their products. This has opened up a relatively new market for the working videographer, and here are my top seven tips to the production of Instagram-friendly video ads.
If a client has ever laughed at your quote, you know it’s hurtful and embarrassing. But there are ways to respond so that you can keep the client and get a price that’s good for you. First, I want to say this isn’t an article about how much you should charge for your work. That’s up to you, and there are hundreds of variables to consider.
Real estate and architectural photographers are familiar with the challenges of shooting an indoor location during broad daylight. The sunshine pours in through windows, and, without a truckload of studio lights to brighten the space, it's impossible to capture everything your eye sees in a single image. That's where this intro to HDR comes in handy.
In this video, photographer Saurav Sinha shares how to capture stunning Milky Way images. Astrophotography can be a lot of fun, but it comes with its own set of challenges, which is reasonable considering your subject is literally out of this world.
You probably use Lightroom because of the efficiency in processing batches of images, which in turn frees up more of your valuable time. But why use the software without the convenience of its many shortcuts, which save you time and make your work easier?
Landscape photography can be quite a different beast when winter turns to summer. This helpful video will show you how you can stay motivated when the mornings are early and the sun goes high into the sky.
Most photographers believe that larger sensor sizes produce images with shallower depth of field, but that's not exactly true.
Still life photography is usually thought to be simple and easy at first. But you'll quickly find out that arranging and composing your objects properly is crucial to making an image go from mediocre to great. Here are some easy guidelines to follow to get you there.
Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are the three most fundamental properties of photography, and understanding them inside and out when you first start shooting should be a high priority. This helpful video will tell you everything you need to know about the third property, ISO.
The Internet is wonderful and terrible and I love it and hate it. With easy access to the opinions of thousands of people, it can be easy to get sucked into trying to please other photographers out there instead of the people you should be focusing on: yourself and your clients.
After a lengthy and involved negotiation for a large commercial project came to an unfortunate conclusion, I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned that may help you in your future business.
When I was starting in photography, I kept hearing peers and educators talking about their photographic style. I was totally lost. I had no idea what my style was, because as desperate as I was to define it, I hadn't yet discovered it. Discovered is the wrong word. My style wasn't yet.
Therukoothu is an ancient folk dance art form, almost 2,000 years old, which originated in South India. Documenting Koothu has always been my dream, and there are so many aspects to it. I wanted to start with the artist, the one who carries the soul of this art.
The quality of your imagery in landscape photography, like every other genre, is highly dependent on the light and how it shapes the scene. This great video talks about how to find and recognize the best light out there.
Being a working commercial photographer requires consistent self-marketing and, according to award-winning commercial sports and portrait photographer Alexis Cuarezma — whose work can be seen on the cover of Sports Illustrated — portfolio reviews are a great way to do just that.
A lot of photographers are now starting to move into videography as well, and while there are undoubtedly a bevy of similarities between the two realms, there are some important differences as well. This helpful video will show you the basic things you need to be aware of when you move from one to the other.
Ever wondered how to create your very own LUTs using only Photoshop? Look no further, Unmesh Dinda at PiXimperfect just released the perfect short and easy to follow tutorial for you.
As photographers, we're often taught to preconceive images, as this ensures that we can effectively realize our creative visions, anticipate issues, and generally take more control over the process of shooting compelling imagery. Still, we shouldn't become so fixated that we overlook other great opportunities.
If your specialty is portraiture, odds are that at some point, you'll be asked to do a corporate headshot session. These can be much different than a normal headshot session, however, so it's important to learn the unique requirements and considerations. This helpful will show you everything you need to know.
Are you looking to take your portrait work to the next level? If so, check out these five effective tips to help ensure you walk away with the perfect angle on your next photo shoot.
Whether you’re picking up a camera for the first time to shoot video or you’re coming from the photography side and could use a guide to translate what you already know into videography terms, this video has you covered on the exposure basics.
Gimbals are great tools to help you in your video work for smoother motion shots. Sometimes they can be a bit tricky to use and you may not get super smooths results like you were hoping to. Here’s one tip how to improve your gimbal shots, and it’s not how you hold or even move with your gimbal.
Of the basic settings that our cameras have, potentially the easiest to get creative with is the aperture of your lens. Today, let’s take a look at five simple ways you can make creative images using your aperture.
Some things in photography take years to master, while others take just a few seconds. Here are three tips that take less than a minute but can have a massive impact on your photo results.
Lightroom tips are like puppies and chocolate chip cookies: you can never have enough of them. This helpful video will show you five Lightroom tips and tricks you might not have seen before.
In this article I'll share five tips on how I actually improved my photography. Here I'm not talking technicalities such as sharper images, shallow depth of field, using a tripod, or removing your lens cap.
There's a longstanding debate about using primes versus zooms in wedding photography. Much of it involves balancing a pragmatic approach with maintaining a level of creativity that shows off your style and encapsulates the life and love of the day. This wedding photographer will both tell you why she uses primes and walk you through a typical wedding using them.
Every year, CreativeLive hosts an event called Photoshop Week that feature classes from world-renowned experts. These free classes range from beginner level classes to expert level education. While most people only get to see these classes through a computer screen, I got the opportunity to see first hand what goes on behind the scenes.
I didn't really appreciate the importance of having an efficient and consistent Lightroom workflow until I started shooting sports and events and coming home with thousands of images from a shoot. If you're in the same boat as I was, this great video will show you an efficient way to work with large sets of images.
Have you continually skipped over the HSL panel in Adobe Lightroom? As your editing technique develops, the ability to control color in your image becomes increasingly important. This tutorial will teach you how to use the panel to manipulate individual colors in Lightroom.
I still think the hardest part of portraits isn't shooting or post-production but the human element. Making your subject feel comfortable in front of the lens is crucial to getting shots you're both happy with. This helpful video will give you some quick tips on how to do just that.
The Kirlian photography technique is still one of the most spectacular ways to shoot different subjects. This method is a bit of a mystery, especially for those who are beginners in the art of photography. Here's how it works.
If you've looked closely at the Import dialog in Lightroom, you may have noticed an option that says "Convert as DNG." This helpful video will explain the advantages and disadvantages of converting your raw files to DNG to help you decide if it's the right option for you.
There are numerous ways to convert an image to black and white, each bringing with it its own balance of efficiency and artistic control. This method shows you how to really take the reins using just Lightroom.
Lighting equipment, like all photography gear, can be pretty expensive. However, with a little ingenuity, you can get soft, flattering light with the cheapest of "modifiers." This helpful video will show you how it's done.
The digital age has pushed some of us away from printing our photos, but at the same time, better technology and cheaper prices has made it more possible than ever to make your own high-quality prints at home. This helpful video will give you some tips to help and mistakes to avoid in the process.
As I always discuss, I am looking constantly for every way to streamline every little detail of my workflow as much as possible. Today I want to talk about what you do after you run your actions. It's a very simple thing that I rarely see anyone do.
What if I said there was something more useful for our photographic careers than any social network we've ever been on? With the ability to reach many more people than all your followers on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter combined; no restrictive algorithms, no paying to boost posts, no adverts. Do you want in?
It's certainly not easy to make money in photography, and if you're trying your best to do so and still not succeeding, it can be very frustrating. This helpful video examines some reasons you might be struggling and what you can do to correct them.
No matter the sneaky techniques you use to get around it, sometimes eyeglass reflections are just impossible to avoid when photographing people.