Photographing headshots can be a great entry point into a career as a professional photographer. Or if you have a few years under your belt, they can be an excellent source of additional income alongside your main field in photography.
Across all their social media accounts, these four pro photographers have well over a million followers and subscribers. That means people like what they do and what they say. Here, these four get together in one room and share their best beginner photography tips, favorite apps, most loved destinations and so much more.
Perhaps one of the trickiest parts of landscape photography is that you get no control over the light or the conditions, and while paying attention to weather forecasts and planning ahead can increase your chances of getting the shots you want, things will not always work out like you had hoped or expected. That does not mean you should pack up and go home, though.
When it comes to landscape photography (or really, any genre), there is a time when you grow more comfortable with the technique and creative process, but somehow, your output stagnates. This excellent video tutorial will show you why that often happens and what you can do to fix it.
Most photographers drool over 85mm f/1.4 lenses for portrait work, and while those are certainly a lot of fun, they might not actually be the best choice for you. This awesome video will show you why you should consider a 100mm macro lens for your work.
Capture One 23 is here, and it brings with it a wide range of new features and upgrades sure to please a variety of photographers. As always, there is a strong focus on portrait photography. This great video will take you through some of those new features and show you how to use them to improve your portrait edits and make them more efficient.
Many times, when landscape photographers head out the door, they do so with a specific time of day and weather conditions in mind. However, if you are headed out for an entire day for a hike with your camera, wouldn't you like to ensure you can get great photos at any time and in any weather?
In recent versions of the program, Lightroom's masking features have made major steps forward, and you can now perform far more advanced and precise operations with relative ease, enabling new and more powerful edits. This helpful video tutorial will show you one such technique that leverages Lightroom's masking features to add a bit of drama to a sky.
Landscape photography generally requires an above-average amount of post-processing, and for advanced editing work, most photographers turn to Photoshop. However, that might not always be the best choice. This great video tutorial featured an experienced landscape photographer discussing five reasons why Lightroom is often the better choice for editing landscape photos.
Being a professional photographer takes many skills beyond simply what you can do with a camera and a computer. Chief among them is the ability to manage time well and cut out any inefficiencies. This great video tutorial features an experienced professional discussing a simple way to cut down on a lot of wasted time and the frustration that comes with it.
It will probably come as no surprise to you that there are certain "must-have" items that photographers don't really need in their lives. Before making your next purchase or business decision, check out this list.
Working in a studio for the first time is one of the most exciting things a photographer can experience, but of course, there are some important considerations and adjustments you should be aware of to ensure you get the most out of it.
Photoshop is a tremendously complex and intricate application, and as such, there are some useful features that are easy to overlook simply by virtue of the overarching complexity. This awesome video tutorial will show you five such hidden gems in the program, where to find them, and how to put them to use for better and more efficient photo edits.
Landscape photography typically defaults to using wide angle lenses, but telephoto lenses can be an equally powerful tool. However, telephotos lenses come with their own traps and pitfalls as well. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer discussing some of the most common mistakes made with telephoto lenses and how to fix or avoid them.
Landscape photography is one of the most popular genres out there, and there are numerous ways to approach it and to find and express your creative voice. Nonetheless, there are some fundamental techniques and approaches that every beginner should be aware of.
Geraint and Rob are old friends out to have fun with their photography. They are both accomplished photographers and, most importantly, have a lot of fun taking pictures. The genuine joy they find in the creative process is evident and makes this video is worth watching.
We are at a remarkable time in photography: cameras and lenses are more capable than ever, and we can create images that photographers could only dream of a decade ago. And for the most part, that is a great thing. However, there can be a downside to that. Are images too perfect nowadays?
I've always been a fan of seascape and waterfall photography. I love these dynamic environments and don't shy away from getting myself wet while closing in on the subject matter. The only thing that could hold me back was the intense spray I had to face while getting close to a stormy sea or a thundering waterfall. But no longer.
Bright, harsh sunlight sitting far overhead is the bane of many portrait photographers' existences, but it is not impossible to create compelling portraits with flattering light in such conditions. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to take bright sunlight and harness it for worthwhile images.
We are used to seeing landscape images with vibrant, eye-catching colors, but of course, that does not mean you can't create compelling photos in black and white. It takes more than simply pulling all the saturation out of a file to create worthwhile shots, though.
A lot of photographers feel a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of learning how to work with flash, but once you learn the fundamentals of how light behaves and how to control it, you will find strobes are not that great a mystery and that they can open an entirely new creative world.
Color depth (also known as bit depth) is one of the properties of photos and video that is discussed less often than marquee features like resolution, but it has a deep impact on the quality and appearance of your work. If you are new to photo and video work, check out this great video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know about color depth.
Being a creative, even if it is work you are doing for a client, is a deeply personal thing. As such, one of the most important things is staying true to your creative vision. This excellent video discusses that idea and why you are the first person you need to satisfy with your work.
Portrait photography is a challenging genre that requires a combination of technique, the ability to work with a human subject, creative vision, and more. Whether you are new to the genre or an experienced professional, check out this fantastic video tutorial that offers a wide range of tips and helpful advice sure to help you create more compelling images.
Although you will often see professional portrait photographers working with multi-light setups, you can absolutely create compelling images using just a single light. In fact, there are different looks you can create just by varying the position of your light.
With the latest update of both Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, the editing curve is becoming increasingly smaller for both. Here's how to take better advantage of Lightroom.
Composition is one of the trickiest aspects of landscape photography. We get no control over what is in the environment or the way the light behaves, and as such, we have to be clever in our positioning, choice of parameters, and framing in order to create images that are simultaneously orderly and compelling.
Portrait lighting is about more than creating a technically correct exposure; it is your chance to add your creative touch to your images and create a memorable style. Once you are comfortable with a single light, multiple lights will open an entirely new world of possibilities for your work.
Catchlights are one of the most important bits of a portrait that signify a professional image. It is not uncommon, however, for your subject to be posed in a way where they just miss having a catchlight. That is no reason to bin that photo, though, as you can add a realistic catchlight quickly and easily in Photoshop. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to do just that.
A common misconception surrounding success on YouTube is that it all hinges on the best or right gear for the job. A lot of readers of Fstoppers are here to research cameras and lighting to level up the quality of their videos, and rightfully so. But without the right processes in place, no amount of professional quality gear will matter.
It can be easy to look at top photographers and think that they have simply unattainable levels of skill and natural talent and as such, that a normal person can never reach such heights. However, the truth is a lot more complex than that, and it is something that you should really think about as you grow and mature as a photographer.
When you are shooting in a studio, you have full control over the lighting and content in the frame, but if you are shooting in another environment, particularly outside, you may end up with unwanted shadows distracting from your subject, ruining an otherwise compelling photo. All is not lost, though.
Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are the three most fundamental parameters in photography, and with them, you have control over both the technical and creative aspects of your exposure. Together, these three parameters form the exposure triangle.
You can watch endless videos about lens reviews and Instagram for photographers on YouTube. Very few channels offer business advice that moves the needle for photographers.
Few people enjoy standing in the middle of rain and wind, but for those who are willing to do it, the reward can be particularly interesting and compelling images. This excellent video tutorial will show you why weather that would make most people run inside is actually a fantastic opportunity for great landscape images.
Drones are more popular, powerful, and portable than ever, and they offer you the ability to get photos and videos from perspectives that simply would not be possible otherwise. Of course, with such a different method of working, flying and shooting with a drone requires some special considerations.
Most of the time, landscape photographers want everything in the image as sharp as possible, from the closest foreground element all the way to the farthest mountain or cloud. Accomplishing that takes more than simply setting your lens aperture to f/32 and shooting away.
What beliefs that you have about the kind of photography you like end up becoming a hindrance? What self-imposed limitations keep you from shooting more and learning further?
The iPhone has become a legitimate professional creative tool for many people, and in many situations, it is actually the device of choice for shooting video. Just like any other camera, though, it is important to learn how to get the most out of it to produce your best work.
Lightroom and Photoshop have both seen major updates recently, and one of the most interesting and powerful new features in the former application is the portrait masking tool.
If you hop on Instagram and check out popular landscape photography hashtags or locations, and you will probably notice a lot of the same sort of style of images. As such, a lot of photography advice tells you to develop your own style simply so you can stand out from the crowd. Is that the best approach, though?
Fall is here in many places, and with it comes tremendous photography opportunities of all sorts. One interesting way to take advantage of those gorgeous colors is to integrate waterfalls and moving water in the shot. This great video tutorial will show you some awesome ideas for autumn photography with rivers and waterfalls.
It doesn't matter how great your composition is or how spectacular your colors might be, if your image is not crisply focused, then you most likely need to toss it in the trash. Learn how to nail your focus for tack-sharp images every time.
Landscape photography is a popular and well-established genre, and as such, there are certain established practices and advice given to budding photographers. And while a lot of it is good, some can pigeonhole you into styles or techniques that are actually detrimental to your development and the images you create.
If you dive into flash photography, it is said that manual flash is the only way to go. It offers full control over the amount of light. Although this is true, there are situations when TTL flash measurement is the better choice. I’m talking about on-camera flash photography.
When it comes to retouching skin, there are several ways to accomplish the same task, some more efficient and easier than others. If you would like an easy way to quickly and effectively edit skin in Photoshop, check out this great video tutorial that will show you just such a workflow.
Optical snoots are great ways to get creative images with crisp edges, but you are limited by the horrible gobo collections. Here's how I found a way to make your own for about $11.
The overwhelming majority of professional photographers will tell you that if you want to find success, you need to specialize. However, when you are first starting out, you will probably find a lot of different genres exciting. So, how do you narrow it down to the right focus for you?
Printing your photos and holding a tactile representation of your hard work is a wonderful and exciting experience, but creating a proper print is a skill and area of knowledge unto itself.
If you want to lift your retouching skills to the next level, you should familiarize yourself with frequency separation and how it can aid you in various photo editing tasks. One of those can come up in cityscape and architecture photography. Especially during blue hour and nighttime, you can get unwanted shadows in your photos.