One of the most important characteristics of a growing photographer is the ability to accurately assess their current skill level, where they need work, and what sort of jobs they can take on and perform well. This great video examines the importance of being honest about one's abilities.
Just before you decide to throw out that old laptop and upgrade to a new one you might be surprised to find how a very quick and easy hardware swap could actually change everything.
Lightning can be a great way to add some incredible drama to a landscape shot. This helpful video will show you how to do just that.
Jared Polin, aka the Fro, brings us yet another real-world review, where he looks in-depth into the latest and greatest cameras on the market. This time it's Sony’s latest offering in the a7 III and I’ve been looking forward to this review since the announcement.
When you're first starting out with flash photography, one of the most fundamental skills you'll need is the ability to balance ambient and flash exposure. This great video will show you how to do just that so you can achieve the exact results you envision.
We can talk fairly objectively about camera settings and post-processing techniques, but something that remains a bit more nebulous and difficult to learn is posing. This great video will show you a range of great poses for your next wedding or engagement shoot.
When we start out as photographers, it can be a little underwhelming, I mean, we all have this idea of what we're capable of and yet we start out working on small jobs (often) with low budgets. Assisting helps you keep your enthusiasm while rising up through the ranks of experience and gives you access to productions possibly decades away from your current skill set.
It’s a great feeling to see your child take up the same hobby that you’re interested in. For most of us here, that would be photography. But what’s a good camera to start a kid with?
Lately, I have been loving an edgier look to light and images I have seen in a few other photographers' works. As I mainly shoot beauty, I don't really get to light like that very often, but I wanted to give it a go myself and try some edgier and harder looking light.
Sharpening an image with a high-pass filter in Photoshop is a simple way to make the image pop. But what happens if you've sharpened your image and you decide you want to make a change? You'll likely have to delete your high-pass layer and start over. Unless, of course, you follow this tip from PiXimperfect's Unmesh Dinda.
When your shutter is open for five minutes or longer while you take long exposure photos, what do you do during that time? Today I’ll share four things I do that have helped me become a better photographer and much more productive.
One of the most fundamental skills almost any photographer needs to have in Photoshop is the ability to accurately and efficiently select parts of an image. This helpful video will introduce you to Photoshop's various selection tools and explain which to use in different situations.
Some of you may already know how big a fan I am of Capture One. Making the change to Capture One as the primary tool for my workflow has sent my productivity into hyperdrive, the photographic equivalent of adding NOS to my tank (or whatever it is they use to make cars fly in "The Fast and The Furious").
The dark and moody cinematic look is a popular one that can help make your images pop and catch the viewer's attention. If you're a fan of that style, this fun tutorial will walk you through the entire process of creating the look from normal photos using Photoshop.
Achieving soft, directional light outdoors can be difficult. Sure, you can use an overcast day for soft, natural light, but often, this will not give you the most flattering light on your subject's face. In this video, we use my largest light modifier to see how you can turn an overcast day into a professional looking catalog image.
Photo mosaic overlays are a very cool effect that can be a great way to tie a set of images together around a main photo. Traditionally, they're quite a bit of work to make, but this awesome tutorial will show you a shortcut to creating them using Lightroom and Photoshop.
Posing is an art and technique that must be honed. Many photographers may feel they're in a rut with posing or that their routine is lacking. Here are a few reasons why your posing may seem lackluster.
Urban lifestyle photography has seen a surge in popularity in the last 10 years, particularly with the rise of Instagram. Here, COOPH give eight tips for improving your urban lifestyle shots.
If I were shooting portraits on a desert island and could only take one lens with me, it would be hard to leave my 70-200mm behind. After picking up a Canon 16-35mm for a trip to Scotland, though, I've found myself using it more and more often when I have people in front of my lens.
Depending on the capabilities of your camera, where you're shooting, and how you want the final image to look, you sometimes should consider underexposing a portrait slightly. This great video examines the benefits of underexposing a portrait and when you should think about trying it.
Photographing a model lying down can be very interesting, but it comes with a unique set of challenges too. Check out this great video on how to do it.
If you are working with multiple layers in Photoshop, then you are probably aware of the significance of controlling layer groups when dealing with different blending modes and adjustment layers. Luckily, there is an often-ignored option called “pass through,” and changing that might widen your capabilities.
Some blend modes in Photoshop are crucial to most any genre and are probably used daily by the majority of photographers, while others are much more specialized and rarely used. This great video examines one of the lesser used modes and shows how it can be employed to create powerful color grades.
Shooting clean product images may not be as hard as you think. With the help of what-you-see-is-what-you-get LED light panels, the process is made that much simpler for getting started.
Capturing consistently great group photos during the hectic atmosphere of a wedding day is no small feat. Take a behind the scenes tour of how a veteran photographer of over 27 years and 1,000 worldwide weddings gets it done.
Presets are a powerful way to make your work in Lightroom much more efficient and to ensure more consistency in your style. This helpful video will show you how to create your own presets.
Want to get better at Photoshop quickly? Master Photoshop blending modes to improve your photo editing skills immediately.
We often tend to think of the best light for landscape photography as being during the golden hours, but depending on what you're trying to emphasize, different types of light and times of day can be better for your final image. This great video talks about the various types of light and how to orient yourself to take the best possible image.
The crop duster scene from "North by Northwest" is one of the most iconic in cinema history, quoted and talked about endlessly in the last half-century. This great video examines what makes the unique sequence so amazing.
First, if you've never seen it, you can watch the original scene below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIY7BQkbIT8
The Internet is run on cute puppy photos, and that’s a verifiable fact. Do your part in contributing using these helpful pet photography tips.
Have you ever photographed a scene with a monitor, smartphone, or television in it and needed to swap in a better looking display image? Commercial photographers run into this all the time. Here’s how to make your composites look realistic.
When it comes to landscape, travel, and outdoor photography it has become relatively easy to see an amazingly beautiful photo taken in a specific location, show up, and capture it for yourself. This video demonstrates seven ways a professional landscape photographer goes about using composition to achieve his personal take on the beautiful locations he visits.
A sepia-toned picture filtered with film grain and wrinkles can evoke a sense of antiquity, but crisp edges may detract from the mood the photographer is trying to create. A ragged edge, on the other hand, can enhance the image and fulfill the photographer's vision. However, relying on presets or stock borders can create frustration and wasted time searching for exactly the right edge.
If you've spent 10 minutes behind the camera, chances are someone has asked you, "What do I do with my hands?" For women, the possibilities range from graceful, balletic caresses to angular, fashion-driven poses. But, what do you with with men? These are my top three tips to always have an answer.
Everyone loves drones for the obvious reason that they give spectacular views. Irrespective of who is flying, the dos and don'ts remain the same, and it is important that you know them.
Being organized was somewhat of a luxury until I became self-employed; now it's the bedrock of my life. Filmmaker Matti Haapoja walks you through how you can be organized with your work flow.
Spring is coming. If you're anything like me, you'd rather be out in the woods pretty much all the time right now. And if I'm out in the woods, chances are I have some kind of camera with me.
Here's a peek into the bag of wildlife photographer John Marriott. I know you're probably curious about what's inside it because, let's face it: we're always curious.
When a client hands a portrait photographer their hard-earned money, they want to see a photograph of themselves they feel great about. Light is a key aspect in producing such a photo, but how is a photographer supposed to choose which lighting style works for their client?
Most of us know about the exposure triangle, which dictates how shutter speed, aperture, and ISO balance each other to create the total exposure. But rarely if ever do we dive deep into what exposure really is at the fundamental level. This great video will give you a fun, scientific breakdown of exposure and metering.
The thing about landscape photography is you can have the perfect scenery, everything framed beautifully, and your settings spot on, but if Mother Nature decides to give you the wrong light, the shot won't be there. This great video talks about what good light is and how to recognize it.
Something all photographers have to deal with on a daily basis is how to price their professional work. It’s something that’s not easy to quantify, and each job is usually a different monster requiring its own unique budget.
Beautiful places are of course something many of us want to photograph, but the problem is often that there are constantly people in the shot at such locations. This helpful tutorial will show you how to remove people from complicated images automatically using Photoshop.
Let's be honest, how often do we get perfect conditions where everything just simply falls in the right place?
If you're new to Photoshop (or even a seasoned user), you may not have worked with Smart Objects before. They're a very useful feature of the program, and this great video will teach you the difference between them and their counterpart, raster objects.
Flash gels are a fun, easy, and cheap way to add a splash of color or get really creative with a shot. This quick video will give you some helpful tips for working with them more efficiently and getting richer color.
Creating a photo project can be daunting and it takes a lot of planning. Here are six important tips to ensure your photo project is a success.
If you're used to shooting on a Canon or Nikon DSLR and haven't tried out a late-model mirrorless camera, you might be wondering what it's like to shoot with an electronic viewfinder (EVF). This great video shows you the experience of shooting with a Sony a7 III's viewfinder.
Capturing those beautiful seaside scenes can be incredibly fun as well as a completely unique challenge. If you are planning on going after some beach compositions of your own, then this video is made just for you.
We all have photos that we wish had a wider composition, either because we didn’t own the right lens or because we saw new potential for it in post-processing. With this easy Photoshop tip, learn how to greatly stretch the edges of an image without distorting the subject.
Every season offers different photographic opportunities, and with springtime upon us, there's a bevy of ideas and techniques to try out. This great video will show you 13 tips and ideas to get your springtime photography off to a great start.