Few things are certain in the career of a photographer, and so, it can seem crazy to leave a relatively stable profession like engineering to pick up a camera instead. However, that is exactly what one photographer did, and this great video essay features him discussing his journey, why he chose to get into photography, and how he went about it.
We call this the "environmental shutter drag portrait." A shutter drag portrait is a portrait that uses slow shutter speeds to capture the motion around the subject. This technique is best done in a big grand scene full of action and detail. The eye-catching nature of these shutter drag portraits makes them perfect for impressing clients and serving as the highlight photo for every album and event. Today, I'll be walking through 10 easy steps on how to photograph your own shutter drag portrait.
Few things are more important to making a successful landscape photograph than a clear and compelling composition. If that is something you struggle with, the great video tutorial will show you a helpful technique to ensure you create a good composition every time you head out with your camera.
Being a successful professional photographer takes the confluence of a wide variety of skills, and it is easy to make some mistakes along the way. It helps to know what you might be facing before you get started. This excellent video essay discusses some things a professional wishes he knew before he got started.
Developing your eye for how natural light can shape your composition comes with time. Contemporary landscape photographer Kyle McDougall has put together five excellent nuggets of knowledge to take with you the next time you’re out shooting.
Landscape photography often takes a wide variety of accessories to produce a finished image, and it is easy to forget them or get bogged down by the cost of it all. This awesome video tutorial will show you a range of hacks and useful techniques to make it easier to take photos and explore your creativity a bit more.
Being quiet or lacking confidence as a photographer can negatively affect your career and the images you make. Use these tips to receive more respect and attention with your camera.
There’s more to focusing than half-pressing the shutter release. Focus is one of the three most important technical variables in photography; it can make or break a photograph. Here are ten things, some basic, some more advanced, to help you shoot better photos.
No doubt, almost all of us are tempted by new gear at one time or another; after all, cameras and lenses are exciting technology. However, they are not cheap, and if you planning to invest in new equipment, it is important to ensure that you are doing so for the right reasons. This excellent video essay discusses the topic and offers some important advice in the process.
When it comes to landscape photography, being able to control and fine-tune the colors in your images is crucial to creating better edits and adding more of your personal creative identity. One effective and fun way to do that is through the use of the HSL panel, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how it's done.
When it comes to camera settings, the common wisdom is that one should always use manual mode or at least a semiautomatic mode. But when you are brand new to photography, perhaps it is better to go fully automatic. This awesome video discusses why it might be best to set your camera to Program mode for just a little while to start.
It’s broadly understood that cameras with lower resolutions will give better low light performance and consequently less noise compared to high-resolution sensors. Apparently, this is a myth.
If you're not exploring all the possibilities that modern digital editing software offers you then you're letting potential earning opportunities pass you by. This article explores how you exploit different markets with single images.
When you think of landscape photography, you probably think of bright and vibrant swathes of color, but black and white images can be dramatic, compelling, and eye-catching. That being said, working in black and white comes with its own challenges and pitfalls beyond those of working in color. This helpful video tutorial discusses seven common mistakes landscape photographers make when working in black and white and how to avoid or fix them.
Earning a degree in photography is not a necessity for becoming a professional, working photographer. However, there are still some good reasons to seek out more formal training in the medium.
It doesn't matter if you're a brand new hobbyist of the craft or a multi-decade veteran, we all make mistakes. In this video, Nigel Danson discusses five mistakes he made while on a shoot in Iceland.
Aside from the Perseid meteor shower, the summer hype is on for viewing Saturn. Indeed, Saturn is a great target for visual observers, especially if it’s your very first view through a telescope. But for astrophotographers, it’s a tough target. A bit of an easier target is Jupiter, which is “following” Saturn across the summer sky.
Manual mode is often held up as the standard measure of a professional photographer, with semiautomatic and automatic modes thought of as crutches upon which a truly competent shooter would never lean. But the truth is far from that black and white; in fact, many professionals frequently use semiautomatic modes like aperture priority and auto ISO. So, when is each appropriate, and when should you switch to manual? This great video discusses just that.
One of the most useful tools for taking greater control of your edits is the luminosity mask, and it can also save you a ton of time. If you have not seen them in action before or are not sure how they are used, check out this great video tutorial that will show you why so many photographers love them.
Each camera calibrates color differently. So, why not take control of your own colors using Lightroom's Calibration tool?
When it comes to editing portraits, you probably think of working in Photoshop over Lightroom, but you can often complete a retouch in Lightroom, particularly if you are working on something like a large batch of headshots that only need light retouching. This awesome video tutorial will give you five helpful tips for editing portraits in Lightroom to get the best results.
Landscape photography can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be a rather frustrating genre, since unlike most others, you do not get control over the light or a large portion of the scene. So, how do you ensure you find success no matter what nature gives you when you head out with your camera? This great video essay discusses what to do.
Focussed on the sharp, perfectly composed, and exposed shot? Why not try Intentional Camera Movement or multiple exposures to create something unique. You may quite like it.
The additional steps and costs involved with shooting on film often put many photographers off. What if you could have the best of both worlds and use digital in your older film cameras?
Photography is about growth, and there are many times I wish that I could tell my younger self a few things about photography. While I'd start out by saying "You're not as good as you think you are," there are a few more practical tips in this video from Gear Focus.
Once you have mastered the fundamentals of light and how it behaves, you can start exploring more advanced multi-light setups that allow you make more creative and personal images. If you are ready to level up your portrait lighting, check out this awesome video tutorial that will show you an advanced three-light setup using both v-flats and gels.
Eventually, as we progress in our commercial photography careers, we will become a part of sizable shoots with producers attached. Your first shoot with an experienced producer will feel like flying first class for the first time; you will never want to go back.
If you're a wedding or event photographer, chances are, you've encountered mixed lighting situations. Though mixed lighting can be used creatively, there are times when it just isn't ideal. Today, I'll be walking through several examples of mixed lighting conditions with solutions on how you can work around it on location or fix it in post-production.
For most photographers, Lightroom is the place where they will start their photos and often where they will finish them. If you are new to photography, you might be surprised by just how much you can do with Lightroom without ever touching Photoshop. This helpful video tutorial will give you seven tips to ensure you are getting the most out of the program and creating high-quality edits.
Landscape photography is a challenging genre that takes the confluence of a lot of techniques, creative ideas, and more to bring an image to fruition, but it is quite rewarding when you see the finished photo. This awesome video tutorial will show you how a professional landscape photographer shoots an image, from choosing the right focal length all the way through the edit.
Selling prints can be a fantastic way to create a bit of passive income from your photography, but with so many images and photographers out there, it can be difficult to get a bit of traction to start generating sales. This helpful video discusses a photographer's experience selling prints online and some of the things he has done to increase his sales.
Persistence is a quality that can pay off in many areas of life, and photography is no different. Sometimes, in landscape photography, you do not get the sort of light or conditions you were hoping for, but that does not mean you should pack in the gear and go home. This excellent video shows you the kind of pleasant surprises that can await you when you stick around.
Look at any photography discussion board or Facebook page, and you’ll quickly run into members obsessed with bokeh, or the quality of out-of-focus elements in a photograph. If you are in the bokeh-obsessed stage of photography, then large format wet plate photography is absolutely for you.
How do you rate success in photography? Maybe, it’s earning a living from it. That isn’t a goal for everyone, but valuable lessons about successful photography can be learned from the business of professionals.
Lightning can be a fantastic way to add a bit of drama to a landscape image, though it takes some technique to capture those fleeting moments. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to photograph and create time-lapses of lightning.
Optical snoots are inexpensive attachments that can open up a world of possibilities for precise light placement. Here is a detailed description of how to use them and what you need to start creating with them.
No doubt, strobes are generally the tool of choice for lighting studio portraits, but constant LED lights have seen an increase in capabilities and popularity in the last few years. If you are thinking of using them as an alternative to strobes for your work, this excellent video tutorial will show you some important techniques, camera settings, and helpful tips for getting the best possible results.
Artificial lights and modifiers can quickly add up in cost, but you might be surprised by just how much you can accomplish with only speedlights and basic modifiers. This excellent video tutorial will show you how you can produce professional-level portraits using just speedlights.
Skylum software has come a long way, and Luminar AI can now tackle a wide range of images quickly and easily to produce professional-level results. Editing portraits can sometimes be a tedious and time-intensive process, but this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to efficiently edit a portrait from start to finish using the program.
Astrophotography is a genre that takes a lot of specialized knowledge, techniques, and equipment, but when you get things right, the results can be stunning. If you are new to the genre, this great video tutorial features five tips to help you get on the right track and produce better images.
There are many ways to control the way your viewer's eye interacts with your photos, and one of the most fundamental and powerful methods is to use leading lines. This excellent video tutorial will show you why leading lines are so powerful and how to implement them in your own work.
There are a ton of ways to approach editing an image, with different methods having their own pros and cons. One method involves using Smart Objects, and this helpful video tutorial will guide through editing landscape images with them and show you why they are so useful.
When we capture a 3D environment in 2D, the perceived depth can be lost due to the colors in the scene. In this short tutorial, I'll show you one way of bringing back the depth in your image.
The vast majority of portraits you shoot will involve at least a small degree of retouching to create a finished image, and there are a lot of places where things can go awry. This excellent video tutorial will show you five retouching mistakes portrait photographers make and how you can either fix them or avoid them completely.
Like many photographers, I love to see interesting astrophotography. There are plenty of stunning examples out there, usually featuring the Milky Way over a dramatic landscape. Also, like many photographers, I've tried my hand at astrophotography and have not quite gotten the same results. Unlike many other wannabe astrophotographers, my images make me feel happy.
Once you have mastered the basic properties of light by working with a single source, you can begin to explore your creativity with more advanced lighting setups. This fantastic video tutorial will show you an advanced four-light headshot setup for creating an eye-catching image and everything you need to know to replicate it in your own work.
When you are new to photography, you probably use your camera in auto mode. And that is a great place to start, especially since modern cameras are remarkably competent at creating balanced images. Nonetheless, if you want to advance your photography, you will need to eventually embrace semi-automatic and manual modes, and this great video tutorial will show you six ways to start taking more control of your camera and your photos.
Many photographers and artists say that your subject's eyes are the most important element in an image. But trying to enhance them or add a little eyeshadow can be very tricky. This tutorial will show you exactly how it's done and teach you great Photoshop techniques in the process.
There is no better reminder that strong technique and knowledge of how to shape light are what create good images than seeing a professional make compelling photos use basic equipment. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to create a professional-level product image of beer using entry-level equipment and also walk you through the retouching process in Photoshop.
Cameras are more advanced than ever, but at the end of the day, nothing can replace the sort of experience, technique, and intuition that all go into knowing exactly when to press the shutter to capture that perfect moment. So, how exactly do you know when to press the shutter release? This fantastic video essay discusses the topic and how to improve your own sense of timing.
