Getting the big budget look is something a lot of us want, but most of us would prefer not to spend Hollywood levels of cash to get it. This great tutorial will show you just how to get that look without breaking the bank.
Film is full of "rules," or perhaps better termed, expectations. Some of the greatest moments come, however, when directors subvert those rules intentionally. Here are 10 such instances.
The internet is a vast and seemingly endless collection of information as we all know. If you need to learn something new, we can simply Google the question and with almost 100% certainty you will be able to find an accurate answer. We encounter this issue almost daily in our modern lifestyles.
Have you ever gone to the see a romantic comedy and absolutely fallen in love? Have you ever gone to a romantic comedy and spent the majority of the film’s running time politely sneaking peeks at your watch?
If there was one thing I wanted to know when I first became interested in shooting editorials, it was "How do I do this?" That seems like a broad question, and it is, but it goes to show what a mysterious subject this was for me.
Sister Corita Kent's first rule for students was: "Find a place you trust, and then, try trusting it for a while." There are both practical and philosophical benefits to having a location that is your photographic home. Explore them in this video.
Once you master global color corrections in Premiere Pro, the logical next step is moving on to correcting specific areas of the frame. This is complicated by the fact that the camera and/or subjects are rarely still, but this great tutorial will show you both how to correct an isolated area and to track it across the frame.
Photographing an engagement session in a wide open field on a sunny day may seem like a portrait photographer’s nightmare. In this video, on-location lighting specialist Zach Gray touches on a few quick tips for incorporating strobe lighting when photographing a couple outdoors.
One of the most discussed topics I see all over the internet, is about this lens being sharper than that lens, etc. and splitting hairs as to which one is 5% sharper.
This may not be the most “exciting” and hip new thing to read or Photoshop trick, but I feel this is very important information for all to know.
One of the basic skills of video post-production is color correction. While Adobe Premiere Pro is full of tools to help you both read and correct the color in your work, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to tackle them all at first. This great video will walk through the basics to get you off and running.
Filmmaking is a tough thing; you need to be thinking on multiple levels simultaneously, and any one mistake can derail the final product. This great video will walk you through 15 such mistakes and how to recognize and avoid them.
A lot of people came to visit when I shared why most of us are not exactly the best at Instagram due to lack of hustle and effort. When someone takes the time to comment or like a few photos I will usually take the few seconds to go see their profile and immediately judge it. We all do it.
If you're looking for a fresh, clean look to your images, diving into minimalism can be a great exercise. This tutorial gives seven quick tips on how to work with such a style, which is often popular with brands and on social media.
The video has some great points with practical tips on how to get your creative juices flowing and basically setting yourself up with some barriers to challenge yourself and making the best of the situation.
Shooting with flash can seem daunting at times, but it also opens up a whole new world of possibilities to take some truly epic photos that just wouldn't be possible with natural light. As a minor control freak, I was drawn to shooting with flash pretty early on in my career because I wanted to have control of the elements that made up my image. I didn't like the idea having to rely o
So, you decided to kick iPhoto to the curb and step up to Lightroom, but you need a little help getting started. This great tutorial will show you the ins and outs of the application and get you up and running in no time.
As a professional wedding photographer, I spend a lot of time with people in front of my camera. But because I grew up racing motocross and driving fast cars, I have always been intrigued by automotive photography. So when I was asked by a friend of mine if I wanted to help shoot a 80s-styled cafe racer motorcycle, I jumped at the opportunity.
Whether you're shooting for a client or just creating something for your portfolio, working with a team of people can be one of the most difficult and intricate parts of the job. Don't worry, because there is a simple piece of paper that can make your life a whole lot easier; it's called a Call Sheet, and I'm going to tell you why you need one.
We all work so hard preparing, shooting, retouching, and giving our all to creating our images.
Importing files from a memory card onto a computer doesn’t seem to be a complicated task, and it shouldn’t be. However, it’s probably one of the most crucial parts of your workflow. If you forget a file on your card or format and reuse the wrong one, it can generate bigger issues than any photographer would like to face.
Can photography be more than just work? Can it be a calling? How do you know? And what if that calling coincides with a transformational period in world history and you are called upon to document every move? Lauren Greenfield’s new exhibition and book, “Generation Wealth” is a time capsule a quarter century in the making.
Lightroom is full of little hidden features and settings, but perhaps the least addressed setting of all is the Camera Calibration tab. Hidden at the very bottom of the Develop module, here's what that tab controls.
With great power comes great responsibility, or something like that. Photoshop is an enormously capable application with a multitude of uses and misuses. Here are 10 such misuses you might not have thought of.
Blending modes are one of the fundamental features of Photoshop: they allow you to combine layers in varying fashions. It can be a bit of an experimentation game working with them, though. This comprehensive video will show you exactly how each blending mode operates and allow you to take more control of your work.
So, you want to learn filmmaking, but you don't want to go to school for years to learn how to do it. This great tutorial will set you up to power through a month of learning both the art and craft of filmmaking, quickly improving your chops.
This video describes the relevance and importance of black n white films. And all the points can be said for black and white photography. We mostly shoot in color, because we can. Our cameras give a very sharp photograph and the raw file gives us the ability to change it to make sure everything is evenly exposed.
Movies exist to tell stories. Through writing, performance, sound, and photography, they share with us worlds and visions that help us interpret the real world outside of the theatre doors. So what are the best films made about our lives as photographers?
If you're a photographer you've used bokeh. It's a defining element in your work and your style is partly due to it's existence, whether intentional or by accident. Do you know how to pronounce the word that you so often use?
I absolutely love post production as a photographer. For me, a job is 50% photography and 50% retouching. One compliments the other. I get just as excited photographing my images as I get to retouch them. And when I captured a lightning storm in Cape Town a few weeks back, it was no different.
For most photographers, magic hour is just as the sun is setting, but for Photographer Jordan Matter, it occurs after dark. In this video Matter gives us five tips for shooting nighttime portraits using only street and window light. Using this simple technique he is able to achieve three differently lit portraits in just a couple minutes.
We all know that one of the necessary parts of starting as a photographer is working for free in order to gain exposure. Working for free is a great starting point to build your portfolio, develop your technique, and build a name for yourself as a photographer without the pressure or expectations of a client.
Spring has arrived, which means the time for gorgeous golden hour shoots in wonderful weather is nearly upon us. Sunset (and sunrise) are indisputably the most consistent crafters of amazing natural light for portraiture. The warm soft glow of the sun as it falls towards the horizon not only creates fantastic atmosphere but also some of the most flattering light that can be found.
Everyone looking to be a photographer, or at least a good one, should understand their camera's functions and lens mechanics. This means understanding things like f-stops, depth-of-field, effects of shutter speed, ISO, fast lenses verses slow lenses, and of course, aperture.
In any service industry, frustrations can run high.
As photographers, most of us eventually stumble onto the world of flash and the myriad of options available for producing light as well as modifying it to produce different results. Speaking from personal experience, I have often been perplexed as to whether a softbox or an octobox would be a better choice or better yet, a cheap umbrella.
When planning a dog photography session, one of the most important details to consider is the place where the photos will be taken. There are a number of factors that come into play when choosing a setting, and the optimal location can differ from one dog to the next. Here are a few tips on choosing the perfect location for your next dog photography session.
By and large, one of the most common uses for Photoshop is editing portraits. Retouching skin is a delicate art that takes a while to master, but this great video will help you get started.
If you're starting out and you want to improve your portrait photography, or just be able to take someone's portraits, Peter McKinnon's video takes you through a quick crash course in how you can do just that. He goes through each piece of equipment and gives you an idea of what he does with his clients or friends he wants to take a portrait of.
Pratik Naik was featured on a recent Phase One webinar and showed some of the techniques he uses when processing commercial, beauty, and fashion images in Capture One. Most of what he demonstrated was centered around color and was extremely instructive, no matter the viewer’s level.
Being a working photographer today absolutely requires finding ways to get more mileage from your photographs.
Recently, I’ve found myself relying on cinematography educational content more and more to improve my photography work. The way light is constructed in movies and the thoughts a DP puts into framing their shots make the results look a tad more flattering and natural than what most photographers seem to be teaching and doing nowadays.
Learning and improving our craft should be as important as producing content. Online educational resources have made training and workshops accessible to everyone worldwide. One fantastic example is this year’s CineSummit. If you are into cinematography, want to get into it, or even if you are just curious to learn more about content production, then this is for you!
In one of my recent articles, I showed you how to create dynamic luminosity masks manually. In my opinion, it’s the best way to create masks based on brightness levels and confirming this idea is the introduction of a similar feature in Greg Benz’s panel, Lumenzia.
One of the differences between a great image and a snapshot is story telling. If your picture doesn’t narrate anything, it won’t serve any purpose. It’s crucial that your viewers understand what you tried to say with your work, but it's not always an easy task! Thanks to Joe McNally, we now have three tips to keep in mind for stronger journalistic images.
Joe McNally is one of those photographers that almost everyone in our industry knows. Perhaps you’ve seen his name in a Nat Geo, Life Magazine, or Sports Illustrated, or you’ve learned from his educational content, or maybe you simply have discovered him through his role as Nikon Ambassador. McNally is really everywhere.
As photographers, we talk incessantly about gear. And you know what? That's ok. Gear does matter. But it's important to carefully compartmentalize where and how gear matters versus where and how it doesn't to avoid falling into common traps.
No, this video isn't about choosing the wrong aperture or going overboard with your frequency separation. These seven mistakes are a bit more philosophical in nature and can have a big impact on the course of your photography development and career.
Luminosity masks are well known amongst landscape and nightscape photographers but often underrated by many other creatives. They are an incredibly powerful tool and can help you apply adjustments only to certain areas of an image according to their luminosity. In past articles I wrote, I’ve shown different ways to create these masks.
Meeting face-to-face with a potential client is the best way to introduce them to your work. Here are just a few helpful tips to help you turn that handshake into a profitable relationship.
It seems like such a simple thing. Introduce yourself. Show your amazing work. And be immediately showered with more money than can be legally contained in a single bank account.
Teleconverters seem like a dream come true: a cheap and easy way to increase the focal length of your lens. However, like most things in photography, there are pros and cons. This great video will walk you through what you need to know about teleconverters.