Since the mid-2010s, there have been more photographs taken each year than existed in the history of photography. The democratization of photography and the removal of barriers to entry means there are also more professional photographers than ever before in history. Given this steep competitive curve, how is it possible to stand out?
Photographers like to spend a lot of time comparing gear and considering how their own work might improve if they upgraded their camera or switched to a different brand. And while there are certainly objective differences between various camera brands and models, there is no such thing as a perfect camera. This great video explores that idea and why you might want to put your gear envy to bed.
Landscape photography is one of the most popular genres for new and expert photographers alike. There's a wealth of information on how to improve, but what common advice should you ignore?
Few accessories can have an impact on your post-processing workflow like a pen tablet can, which is why I recommend all photographers pick one up for their work. This excellent video will show you five tips and techniques to help you get the most out of your Wacom pen tablet.
Perfectionism is a trending topic in modern society, but can we not do without?
Rembrandt lighting is one of the most classic and fundamental lighting techniques in photography, and you will still see it used quite commonly today. This great video will show you how to create a Rembrandt lighting setup for portrait work.
Landscape photography is a strange genre when it comes to time management, and it can lead to some difficult decisions when it comes to committing to a location or moving on to somewhere else. This great video discusses some helpful tips for improving your time management and decision-making in landscape photography.
Wedding photography is a difficult enough genre without any extra challenges thrown in the mix, but can you imagine having to shoot a wedding after dark with no flash to help? This interesting video follows a photographer as he tackles that exact challenge and contains some helpful tips in case you ever find yourself in the same situation.
There is no getting away from it: Fujifilm's decision to implement a “hidden LCD” on their brand new Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera was always going make this a divisive camera. The question is: has Fujifilm created such a niche camera as to make it unusable? After using the camera extensively for the past couple of weeks, here is my purely personal take on this very personal camera.
If you have ever looked at the price of cinema lenses, your eyes probably watered a bit at their seemingly stratospheric cost. There are lots of reasons for those high prices, one of the most common being that they are parfocal. This interesting video explains what it means for a lens to be parfocal and why it is so desirable among filmmakers.
One of the most subtle but crucial aspects of any portrait is the skin tones. And while you can spend lots of time in Photoshop tweaking them to be just right, sometimes, you do not want to invest that much effort into an image. This excellent tutorial will show you how to get better skin tones using only Lightroom.
Frequency separation is one of the most powerful retouching tools you can use, but it takes careful technique and restraint to do it correctly. This excellent video tutorial will show you how you can incorporate frequency separation into your post-processing workflow.
Vision has always been a worn-out term when talking about photography. But how far does vision actually go in your creative process?
It is totally natural for your subjects to feel vulnerable or insecure during a shoot, but a boudoir session requires an extra level of professionalism and sensitivity from the photographer. This excellent video discusses many things you should avoid saying to your client during a boudoir session.
One thing I am always thinking about is consistency. This goes for every aspect of shooting. Does this fit my style? Do these photos flow together? Am I editing these photos exactly the same every time? Consistency is an important part of photography you might not be considering.
Have you ever used on-camera flash with disappointing results? In that case you probably didn't use the on-camera flash in the best way possible. With these tips you should be able to get much better results.
Television studio cameras are massive when compared with any DSLR photography setup and are even bigger than most cinematography rigs. Check out this video for a fantastic breakdown of why they tend to be so large and cumbersome.
Aperture is one of the most important fundamentals in photography, and mastering it is crucial to learning how to create better images. This excellent video will give you a great introduction to aperture and f-stops and how you can use them to take more control over your images.
Virtual Copies and Snapshots are powerful features in Lightroom that often go unused or underutilized. In this article, we'll cover what they are and how they can be used to make your editing workflow faster and easier.
Photoshop 2020 is here, and with it comes a bevy of new and improved features and capabilities. If you are looking to dive into the program, this great video will show you what is new for photographers and give you a tour of the new version.
Given the way DSLRs work, it is sometimes the case that your lenses will need what is known as an "autofocus microadjustment." This excellent video will show you how to perform one to improve your lenses' autofocus performance.
Of course, it is vitally important to have a good understanding of how to create a strong video, but without good audio to match, the final product is not going to be that great. This helpful video will show you five great tips to improve the quality of your audio when using a shotgun mic.
The tripod is often overlooked in today’s photography community, and it is a shame that it is. Perhaps photographers today think that a tripod is old school or that modern cameras have image stabilization, and therefore, a tripod isn’t needed. I disagree, and if you aren’t using a tripod for some of your photography work, you are missing out.
Posing is one of the subtlest and trickiest things for photographers to master, and it can take a lot of work to master it. This excellent video will give you lots of helpful tips for learning how to pose men.
One of the interesting trends in the comments on a previous article on the rule of thirds was a reaction not just to that rule specifically, but to “rules” more generally. That got me thinking a bit. What are “rules”? Where do they come from? Is breaking them an act of rebellion; or one of self-destruction?
Being a successful photographer or videographer requires a good understanding of the fundamentals, with perhaps nothing more foundational than the behavior of light. This excellent video will show you four fundamental aspects of light that you should definitely know.
Landscape photography takes a confluence of skill, creative vision, lots of planning, and sometimes, just a bit of luck to produce winning images. This great video will give you 26 helpful tips to improve your landscape images and make the shooting process a bit easier and more effective.
The Sigma fp is a ludicrously small and light full frame camera, and of course, to make such a tiny camera takes some impressive manufacturing precision and expertise. Check out this awesome behind the scenes video that heads to Sigma's factory to show you how it is put together.
In November, some of us have less projects to work on, and it might be smart to not just idle, but make the best of it. Thinking about photography and business is a good idea to be prepared for whatever is coming next.
Most of the adjustment sliders in Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw are self-explanatory, for example, highlights and shadows. But do you truly understand what is happening when you move that slider?
Using artificial lighting for on-location portraits can go a long way to balancing out the exposure of your images and improving the look of your photos. But are speedlights or monolights the right choice? This great video examines the usage of both to help you decide the right one for your work.
When you think about crafting a lighting setup, you probably think about it from the standpoint of adding light. However, as important as it is to know where to add light, it is just as important to understand when and how to take away light to better shape your subject. This excellent video will show you three lighting setups using the black side of v-flats.
A simple click and boom, the background is gone from behind the subject of your image. It can't be this easy, right? It can be. It is, all thanks to the latest Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 update. And the fun doesn't stop there.
Lightroom is probably the most used photo database program available, with an integrated raw file editor, and many options for post processing. These thirteen tips can improve your Lightroom experience.
Autumn is in full swing across much of the country, and with it comes an opportunity unlike any other time of the year for photographers. If you are looking to get the most of this colorful time of year, this great video will give you lots of helpful tips for autumn landscape photography.
One of the most frustrating things all photographers experience at one time or another is missing a shot because the focus was off. When that happens, the great tips in this video will help you make things right again.
One of the most nuanced and tricky parts of landscape photography is composition. This helpful video will give you seven great tips to improve your landscape photography compositions.
It's not all skyscrapers, helicopter flights, glamorous models, and huge budgets. So, for those who also find themselves in a small city or town, here are some tips to carve out a career.
When I say no two lenses are the same, I do not mean that various models have differences between them (though they do, of course). Rather, I mean that every individual lens — even those of the same model — differs from the next, and it is well worth understanding the implications of that to make sure your lenses are of the highest quality possible.
There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to street photography, but this short video from photographer Frederik Trovatten gives you a basic setup with which to get started.
How do you improve as a landscape photographer? That question is very hard to answer. I am not talking about settings, composition, or light. I am talking about “landscape photographer” in the broad sense. There is much more to being a landscape photographer than great photos.
Maximum detail and sharpness in an image are often goals for landscape photographers, but introducing the blurry, smoothing effect of a long exposure can take an otherwise tame landscape and turn it into something more epic.
Sometimes, the smallest adjustment to a crop can make your photo much more effective. Check out this video for some tips from someone who consistently puts out jaw-dropping landscape imagery.
Have you ever had the feeling that something in your hotel room wasn't quite right? Or that someone, somehow was watching you? This will help guide you through the process of finding hidden cameras if they've been planted in your room.
One of the most asked subjects people contact me about is how I color my images. Everyone expects a simple answer that solves everything, but unfortunately, it does not work like that.
The Lens Corrections panels in the Lightroom Develop Module and Adobe Camera Raw provides the ability to correct lens problems such as distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. These settings are often turned on and never given a second thought.
All of us know that if your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough. Here are 10 great methods for shooting on the street without drawing attention to yourself.
If you have ever wanted to create dark and moody images of people or food, then this video will help you understand how to light them.
Continuous LED lighting has come a long way in recent years, and while there are pros and cons to shooting with strobes or continuous lights, LED technology has definitely shifted the balance a little. How useful is continuous lighting for a studio portrait shoot? This video aims to find out.
Do you track your own development? By looking into the past of our photography career, we can learn a lot about our progress and how to move on.
