I always think that knowing a bit about the author is important, especially when reading an article about camera equipment. I work predominantly as a commercial photographer shooting people and food. However, most of my kit was purchased when I was starting out as a wedding photographer.
Rim lights can be some of the most underappreciated yet important parts of a setup. They can add definition and drama to an image and are the main source of subject-background separation in many scenarios. This helpful tutorial will show you how to add a lovely rim light effect using Photoshop.
Being a photographer who shoots people in some capacity requires the distinct ability to readily socialize with near-complete strangers and build engagement and trust in a relatively short timespan. For those who are introverted and/or socially anxious, that challenge is doubled. Here's how one successful photographer deals with that.
In the age of digital photography, very few of the photos we take will ever make it to print. There is something special about holding a tangible print of an image you have created in your hands. Here are some great tips for how and why you should be printing more often to become a better photographer and literally enjoy your images in a new light.
Since I discovered movies made by Edgar Wright and movies such as Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope," Alejandro Iñárritu's "Birdman" and "The Watchtower of Turkey" by Leonardo Dalessandri, I've always been fascinated by the way the footage just seems to flow into one another, and no usual cuts are visible.
Ah, the golden hour, that magical time when photographers emerge from their editing caves to maniacally snap as many portraits as they can before the sun goes down. Ok, I exaggerated slightly, but most of us do love the golden hour. Here are some helpful tips to get better shots during that special time.
Instagram continues to grow as a legitimate tool for photographers to feature their work, build connections, and find clients. As such, developing an efficient workflow on the app is something most photographers should consider. This helpful video will show iPhone users a neat trick to save time.
It's going to happen at sometime during your career (probably a lot of times): you'll be forced to shoot in an uninspiring or just bad location. However, the potential of almost any location can be salvaged to produce good portraiture. This helpful video will give you three quick tips to do just that.
So much of post-processing revolves around editing to bring more attention to your subject, whether that be a person, a waterfall, or whatever you please. One versatile and effective way to do this is through the use of radial gradients. This helpful tutorial will show you just how to use them.
One of the coolest fundamental things you can do with Photoshop is convincingly change the color of something. This helpful tutorial will show you a few different methods to do that, as well as how to add and precisely match colors in your images.
Normally, we're taught that one of the basic rules of composition is to have a strong subject; in fact, that's almost taken as a given most of the time. However, compositions without a dominant or obvious subject can also make for great images, as this interesting video discusses.
Many photographers I know have started making videos as well. It's a skill many clients and brands are looking for.
Since the very first session I had, I knew I wanted to be as good as I could possibly be. Without any real formal school, I learned most everything by doing. Coming from a background as a retoucher, and web developer and graphic artist before that, there were things I thought I knew and did know that were more advanced than beginner stuff.
Shooting off-camera flash is one of the most important skills you can learn as a photographer. In this video, you'll learn exactly how to do that during the evening and see some wonderful portraits made using the techniques contained herein.
When you're first starting out in photography, it can be difficult knowing which questions to ask, especially given the multiple facets of the pursuit. However, there seems to be one question that both beginners and professionals seem to fall into asking, and it's way less important than we make it seem to be.
Photoshop is tremendously complex and nuanced, and there are always techniques or entirely new features to be discovered. This helpful video will give you five lesser known tricks to add to your arsenal.
The photography world is veritably inundated with learning options, and it can be nigh impossible to wade through them all to find what's worthwhile. So, when Skillshare offered me the chance review their platform, I jumped at the opportunity. Here's what I found.
Artificial lighting is one of the best tools a photographer can learn to implement in his work. It’s not something we have to use and rely on all the time, but knowing it’s there and not being afraid of it is always best. When working in a studio for portrait and beauty photography, it can become a necessity depending on the natural light you have and the looks you shoot.
The healing brush in Photoshop is a potent tool to clean things up. It can be used in numerous scenarios and works well most of the time. However, if there's one scenario where it doesn’t perform like we would like it to, it’s in the case of edges.
It’s been quite trendy in the past few months to see handwritten text composited onto images on Instagram. Perhaps you’ve been wondering how it’s done or maybe you’ve just been looking for a way to make your writing even more personalized.
For many photographers, videographers, and creatives, the dream career is something along the lines of being paid to fly around the world and create content while maintaining an active and successful Internet presence. This landscape photographer seems to have achieved that, and in this video, he talks about the process, his daily life, and his sources of income.
Rain can be a great addition to an image, as it can communicate so many things: sadness, romance, etc. We don't really get much control over when it happens, however, and even if you're handy with a garden hose, spraying water everywhere probably won't be appreciated by your model or your camera equipment. Here's how to fake it using Photoshop.
In his latest photography tutorial, noted French photographer and prolific video tutorial maker Serge Ramelli discusses his top five Lightroom tips.
For anyone beginning to delve into the art of using off camera lighting, it can be a bit daunting to decide where to start in acquiring new lighting equipment. Here is a great guide to the pros and cons of LED and strobe lighting so that you’ll be able to make the right choice for your next acquisition.
Color grading is amongst the most important step of retouching. Along with lighting, it sets the mood of your image and can also help tie together the different elements of your composition. Learning all the different ways of altering colors in a picture is probably as important if not more important than knowing how to retouch skin or remove objects.
You've got that fancy new lens and a great concept for a shoot, and now, all you need is a model. Finding models to collaborate with is an art in itself, and making sure you're going about it the right way can be the difference between a successful shoot and a concept that is never brought to fruition. Here are 10 useful tips to get you off and running.
There are approximately 2,374,890 (and counting) ways to create a black and white image. However, this technique stood out to me a bit for its ability to isolate the subject and create a very eye-catching look. Here's how to accomplish it using Photoshop.
The effect a prop has on one's experience of a film can be absurdly obvious or cleverly subtle. However, there's no doubting that when properly employed, props can be the crucial piece that completes a movie. Here are 10 of the best props seen in film.
For filmmakers, our reels are often the first thing a prospective client sees from us, so why do we put so little of ourselves into the edit? Your reel should show the world who you are, just as much as it shows the world the kind of work you do.
Most photographers use their cameras on a daily basis with little or no thought to how it functions under the hood. For the most part, this makes sense, mastering a tool doesn't require understanding exactly how it functions on the most intimate technical level.
The Syrp Genie Mini is a neat little tool to add a little motion to your time-lapse project (or a smooth pan to your video projects). But in a new post from the folks at Syrp, it turns out it’s pretty good for a home-brew 360-degree timel-apse rig, too.
Last week I was asked to shoot some model polaroids and create a comp card for my friend and a fantastic model, Mallory Mims, for her to take with her when meeting with agencies in LA. Before starting I did some research and gathered some examples so that I could give Mallory the best results and ensure she’d make a great first impression when meeting with potential agents.
There are many ways to go about your video. You can just go at it, shoot away, and edit quick shots together, or you can think about what you want to shoot and use psychological composition to bring your story across in the best way possible.
Albert Watson. Legend. Period, end. With a career spanning five decades and multiple iconic images, his career in fashion and portraiture would be the aspiration of any budding photographer. Alongside Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, PDN recognized him as one of the twenty most influential photographers of all time.
Studying and experimenting with composition is one of the fastest ways to elevate your photography. Subframing is a versatile technique that can be applied to many styles of photography. Here are some great tips for incorporating subframing in your images.
So much of a landscape image is in how you edit it; many different personalities and effects can shine through the same scene when processed by different photographers. If dramatic skies are something you favor, this helpful tutorial will show you a neat trick for bringing out more detail and creating moodier looks in Photoshop.
For video editors and filmmakers alike, understanding the power of the cut is important for telling the most compelling, informative, and/or emotional story.
Food photography is great fun and really easy to get into. All you need is a camera (which if you own a smart phone, you already have) and some food.
Here are 5 simple ways to improve your food photography.
Double exposures are one of my favorite effects. Luckily for us, unlike in the age of film, we have vastly more control over the final image thanks to the power of Photoshop. This great tutorial will show you how to create your own.
Out of all the remarkable things you can pull off in Photoshop, changing someone's hair might be my favorite thing to do. Besides being just plain fun, it'll exercise a lot of techniques that you'll want to have mastered in many other situations as well. Check out this great tutorial on swapping hair.
As the summer starts to wind down I know it means one thing. It's going to get a lot colder here in Boston. It also means It's time to start getting ready for Photo Plus Expo as well as some of the other winter conferences. For some, this might be simply booking travel, but for me, it's a big weekend. One that I spend a lot of time preparing for.
Long before I ever picked up my first camera I was always fascinated by the subject of psychology. To understand some of the reasons why humans behave the way they do is rather useful in many areas of our lives. Once I started to get into photography more seriously I began to realize how the two subjects could be used together to make more powerful images.
A lot of us have or have had braces at some point in our lives. And while they're a perfectly normal thing, some people are a bit self-conscious of them, so being able to remove them is a good skill for photographers to possess. This helpful tutorial will show you how to do exactly that.
It happens to all of us: we get our first professional camera, and all of a sudden, everything is photogenic, everything is beautiful. But eventually, if we want to make a living from photography, we have to narrow down the genres we shoot, the gear we use, the style in which we edit, etc. This great video explores how to give your photography career a direction.
When you're working with models (or anyone really), there are certain things you should keep in mind, both to make the shoot go smoothly and successfully and to ensure that proper boundaries are established and everyone involved feels comfortable and respected. Here are five dos and don't of photographing models.
I absolutely love shooting commercial work in the studio. Who doesn't? Shooting in a studio environment allows the photographer full control over the lighting and the subject.
If you work in certain genres of photography or shoot with a certain style, you might often come home with thousands of images and a small organizational nightmare awaiting you in Lightroom. This helpful tutorial will show you show to quickly and automatically wrangle those huge sets of images into something much more organized and manageable.
While a hurricane may not damage your photos stored in the cloud, they can certainly take a toll on many memories stored the analog way: in printed photos and family albums. Many in the path of Hurricane Harvey are returning to find their memories destroyed by the rain, winds, and water.
One of the most distracting things you can have on a subject is unintentional harsh shadows. Once they're there, they can be very tricky to deal with convincingly in post. This helpful tutorial will help you tackle and reduce them to manageable levels.
One of the most common retouching tasks you'll be faced with is whitening teeth. Like many things in Photoshop, the key is applying the correct technique in moderation to obtain a realistic result. This helpful tutorial will show you three such ways to do just that.