As someone who makes 100% of their income by taking pictures, I understand how uncertain, and perhaps unstable, this career is. Spending thousands on gear is easier than ever, and with such a low entry point, everyone wants to be a photographer. It is not easy, and here are some rules I have come up with to survive in this industry.
A new Finnish startup business, Huhtikuu Yksi, offers software that unlocks advanced functionality in basic camera models and standardizes features from different brands. I interviewed the company's CEO, Harri Tyhmäläinen.
The world's fastest zoom lens for 35mm full frame cameras is the Sigma 24-35mm f/2, and it's one way to follow up from making the world's fastest zoom for APS-C. Sigma has been making hit after hit for a few years now, leaving their "budget" lens brand stigma in the dust behind them. Having a 24-35mm may seem like an odd focal-length range that wouldn't be too useful, but I have found it to be an excellent range for a lot of the work I do in editorial and family portraiture. Let's start with just how it fits in my camera bag.
If you're looking to try out Skylum Luminar, or just want to own your editing software outright, check out this promotion! By signing up for Skylum's mailing list, you can get a full copy of their editing software, Skylum Luminar, for free.
Canon has been quite aggressive in the development of RF mount lenses, releasing some extreme designs, such as the RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM and the RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM. They seem to have no intentions of slowing down, as another boundary-pushing design has emerged in a recent patent.
As you’re probably aware from the level of hype in your news feed, the Perseid meteor shower is approaching and you should get outside to see it now! Technically in late July, it is already active in our skies, but the reality is that there is a fairly narrow window of high activity only around the peak time. My own experience is that the number of meteors drops off dramatically a day before or after the peak evening.
On September 2, Sony announced that the previously rumored FX6 cinema camera was indeed coming before the end of 2020. Here’s some juicy speculation on what we can expect.
The TikTok photographer who recently interrupted a wedding photoshoot has been accused of capitalizing on the Black Lives Matter movement, exploiting the current unrest and shouting out his sponsor along the way.
What does it take to create an amazing landscape photograph? So many photographers, me included, have been guilty of creating beautiful content that portrays only the successes of landscape photography. In today's free landscape tutorial, I'm going to share some of the failures.
If you had asked me a few years ago what I thought of Neewer gear, my reply would not have been positive. However, recently I have been testing their newest releases, and I am impressed with what I found. Here’s what I discovered about their travel tripods.
Fujifilm's XF 50mm f/2 WR is the third addition in the series that have affectionately become known as the "Fujichrons." These are compact, lightweight, weather resistant, and have extremely fast autofocus. Made up of nine elements in seven groups, and formed in Fujifilm's classicly-styled telescoping design, it is another diminutive lens that should appeal to X-Pro shooters and anyone looking for a tiny addition to their bag. Comparisons may be drawn to the other lenses in this series, and of course the daddy of X System portrait lenses, the 56mm f/1.2. Let's take a look at this lens and then see how it fits into the Fuji line.
Many boudoir photographers starting out may be green with envy on studio owners with larger square footage. In many cases the ability to move around furniture and props without tripping every step is a welcomed luxury. However, the grass is not always greener on the other side. Having a large studio also means having more issues on controlling light, especially when it is natural light.
Staying motivated and feeling creative becomes a challenge at some point or another for all us. As professional photographers, we are paid to create inspired work on a daily basis. So how do we fight back when feeling unmotivated and when we are losing that creative spark? Here are five techniques for getting refocused and remotivated.
I know many of you out there think that a massive team and a giant budget is necessary to produce a quality video but most of the time that simply is not the case. I was just sent a link to a quick video about filming with an incredibly small film crew and these guys give 3 fantastic tips for the average person trying to get into video production.
It's a very mixed feeling: you are happy they like the shot, but you are also disappointed that it's not sharp. I'm going to share my way of dealing with the situation, but I am also curious about your way of handling the problem.
Hyperlapse is growing in popularity, despite the difficulty of creating a seamless finished product... until now. Instagram is releasing a new app later today that, if it works as well as it appears in the promotional videos, will make hyperlapsing not only easy, but puts the power to make compelling hyperlapse videos in the palms of anyone's hands. Their new app is appropriately named "Hyperlapse" and it looks spectacular.
Landscape, street, and astrophotographers have reason to rejoice. Today, Sigma announced the latest addition to their much-lauded "Art" line of lenses, the 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, making it the world's widest full frame f/1.4 lens. Coupled with some other intriguing design characteristics, this looks to be another hit for the already popular line of lenses.
Announced this morning to kick off Adobe MAX, Adobe has released a series of applications for mobile devices that are designed to increase productivity, especially when on the move. They were able to show me some of these pieces of software during a briefing last week, and I must say, these look to have incredible potential for photographers, videographers and graphic designers.
NASA has a long history of sending cameras to space. Most notably, Hasselblad medium-format and Nikon SLRs and DSLRs have been NASA's go-tos for decades. But in a recent order that must be amongst the largest in its history for a single order of camera bodies, NASA just bought 53 Nikon D5 cameras worth over $340,000. What off Earth could NASA be doing with all those D5s?
One of the most frustrating things that can happen in photography is seeing a perfect moment and snagging a shot, only to get back to your computer and find out the picture was barely out of focus. As a wedding photographer, I can't count how many times my couple has been composed perfectly with that magic moment that only lasts one frame, and my autofocus drags away from their eyes. To be fair, there is a lot of human error that goes into focus problems. However, did you know the problem doesn't always lie in the user?
Camera sales are declining rapidly. There is seemingly nothing that we can do about it.
Canon’s announcement of the 1D X Mark III has inevitably set the camera world chattering, confirming some rumors (raw video) and debunking others (there is no new battery with a secret new feature). Among the specifications, it’s interesting to see what’s been left out and how this compares to Nikon’s own “announcement” last month, not to mention the Sony a9 II.
For many, the 7’ parabolic umbrella seems like a one-trick pony. The textbook move of sandwiching the camera between the subject and the light for an edgy, high-key look is quickly growing old. In this video, commercial photographer Joel Grimes shows a different way of using the 7’ parabolic to create soft, high-key images best suited for beauty photography.
Sometimes, the things that make a camera the perfect fit for you aren’t the same things that make all the headlines.
A few weeks ago, the South Carolina Military Museum offered me the chance photograph some of their massive collection of World War II firearms, shooting for the excellent Curio and Relic Firearms website C&Rsenal, and I jumped at the chance. I've always been fascinated by antique firearms not because of their destructive capabilities, but because they are incredibly elegant machines that are very, very simple. So needless to say I was very excited to get the opportunity to "shoot" them.
We all have that person or two we've been following on social media since first opening our own accounts. For me, Joshua Snow is one of those people. Snow is a fellow landscape photographer who I've been fortunate to follow since I first started posting to Instagram. Recently I was able to chat with him about how he transitioned from aspiring to professional photographer, and where his motivation and inspiration lies.
If you are a beginning photographer who has only worked with amateur models, it may be your dream to work with a professional model one day. Is there a noticeable difference between working with a professional model and an amateur model?
If you've often been shooting in what seems like dramatic light only to get back to your computer and realize that the images are kind of so so, then you're not alone. However, in certain situations, what seems like a dull and unimpressive image might just need a little tweaking to take it to another level.
Eye-controlled autofocus, in which the camera selects the autofocus point by detecting which one you are looking at, is one of the niftiest features in the Canon EOS R3 mirrorless camera. In a bit of good news, Canon has confirmed that the feature will be coming to more mirrorless models in the future.
With over 20 million YouTube channels on the platform in 2019, it's important to stand out. Check out a selection of my favorite YouTube channels in the photography and filmmaking category that you should be following today.
