One of the trickiest things about being a portrait photographer is being able to come up with a variety of backgrounds in a small area in a short amount of time. Here are five tips to make it easier.
In the new online course from Masters of Photography, street photography icon Joel Meyerowitz discusses his career, his technique, and teaches students how to apply those lessons in becoming a better photographer.
Getting ready for your next landscape photography expedition? If you want to bring back winning shots, you need a variety of great places to shoot. Points of interest are easy to find, but the easy-to-find places are prime targets for hordes of tourists.
Almost regardless of the content in the scene, so much of what makes a great landscape photograph is simply being where you need to be at the right time. Would you rather be a skillful planner or would you accept pure dumb luck if it means you get a great shot?
Let's be honest, how often do we get perfect conditions where everything just simply falls in the right place?
Here in NJ we are lucky enough to have four seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Maybe I shouldn't say "lucky" because it would be nice to have warmer weather year-round but the seasons do make for taking great photos. Though it's the first week of spring, we were just slammed with another big snow-storm and hopefully the last.
When it comes to taking a great photo, many photographers argue that it starts and ends with great composition. I’m not sure I’m so black and white in my outlook, but good composition is hugely important without a doubt. And one of the most overlooked parts of great composition is adding foreground interest. Today I will discuss how foreground interest in your photos can really improve your end results, and what you can do to nail the foreground every time.
One of the iconic events at the Gulf Photo Plus Photo Week is the shootout. Each year, there are three professional photographers who are given a topic and about 20 minutes to think of an idea, execute, and post process it.
As a photographer, becoming a digital nomad empowers you to see the world as a native, not as a tourist. It’s helped me take better photos, boosted my creativity, and given me more time to dedicate to photography outside my day job. You don’t need to wait till you hit the road: you can start becoming a digital nomad now before you ever sell your house.
Concert photography is probably one of the most appealing genres to shoot for any photographer. When I first picked up a camera, the only thing I wanted to photograph was my favorite bands as they played live. Our good friend and Canon Explorer of Light ambassador David Bergman is launching a pretty unique live workshop called Shoot From the Pit that will not only let you work side by side with David himself but also shoot a variety of artists as they perform live.
I have always loved shooting in ugly places such as gas stations and abandoned buildings, but it took me a while to learn how to make these places look magical in my images. You can't just put a beautiful woman in front of these places and expect it to work.
A couple of flowers, some DIY, and basic Photoshop skills along with a strong creative vision in mind is all you need to make a stunning image. If you are starting out in photography and want to get into fashion, beauty, or fine art but have a rather small budget, you should definitely look at this inspiring behind-the-scenes video of Bella Kotak.
At the onset of a portrait shoot it is important to come packing the usual garden variety of a few safe jokes to lighten the mood, some fail-proof poses to keep things moving, and direction for the model to play off of. It is easy to forget, with all the headspace that pours into reflecting the images from inside of our heads, towards reality, that when the time comes to start working with our subject, we are not just setting a tone visually, but also emotionally. One simple way personally for me to connect and as well bring additional personality out of a model is via the universal power of music, which has long played a predominant role in my life.
No matter if you photograph headshots, weddings, portraits, or sports, one of the most important skills you can have as a photographer is picking out interesting yet non-distracting backgrounds. Many photographers prefer shooting with fast prime lenses but in today's short photography tutorial, I'm going to show you why I prefer the power and versatility of a telephoto lens.
A few years ago, on one of my first advertising shoots, I was asked to take a photo of a condo building downtown. All I knew was that the client would be bringing props, that we’d be shooting on a balcony, and that it would be night time. From start to finish, I wasn’t really sure how the ad was doing to turn out… and it turns out, years later, that’s still what tends to happen on commercial shoots: things don’t turn out how I think they will.
