Getting More Out of Your Photography by Changing Directions
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New gear is always fun to work with, however a new piece of glass is not going to make you a better photographer. Many new photographers feel the urge to buy the latest gear thinking it will improve their skills. Learning how to work with what you have, learning new techniques, or even changing directions for a new desired genre is far more important than that latest camera announcement.

Superstar Photographer Erik Almas Explains How to Market Yourself to Big Clients
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Erik Almas is one of my all time favorite photographers. His work mixes equal parts clever advertising and personal vision in a way that makes each image intriguing to study. But behind all of his brilliant images is a businessman who works diligently to get his brand in front of art buyers and advertising agencies. Today PRO EDU has released a free section about marketing from Almas' Composite Photography tutorial, and this advice is something every photographer should hear.

portrait-photographer-girl
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I'm a photographer because my life is filled with hot models all day, every day, right? No, but really, photography, as a career, should not be taken for granted. Let’s be honest, we’re hardly saving lives here, and we should be very grateful that we can make a career of essentially taking pictures. That’s not to say it isn’t hard work or a lot of responsibility, because it is. I just know I’m feel very lucky to be making a living from what I love doing most. And there’s so many reasons why it has to be the best job in the world.

Landscape Photographer Shows How You Can Capture Beautiful Images Right in Your Neighborhood
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Whether it's the glamor of Paris, the captivating shores of Ireland, or the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon, it is very easy for a photographer to assume that one must go above and beyond to capture the landscape images that he or she desires. Dennis Ramos, a world-renowned fine-art and landscape photographer, took a completely different approach. He captured the beauty that surrounded him where he resides in Tampa, FL.

Hasselblad Massive Price Drop Makes Medium Format Cameras Affordable
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There used to be a time when getting into digital medium format meant you had to put a mortgage on your house and your family. This time seems far gone now that a full kit can be found for under $20,000. With the promotion Hasselblad is running, it looks like Christmas is early this year.

Tips For Packing Photo Or Video Gear On Hiking And Backpacking Trips
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Hiking season is in full swing and in the last few years I've incorporated a lot of video and photography while on week long trips in the backcountry. When every pound of weight counts, you have to choose your gear carefully. In this post I’ll share my tricks and tips for making a useful kit without weighing you down.

A Trip to the Woods: Wildlife and Bird Photography With the Sony a9 Mirrorless Camera
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Since the new Sony a9 announcement and subsequent release, it’s been earmarked as an honest competitor to the sports and wildlife scene. As time went on we saw a lot of talk about it being framed in the context of sports photography, so I eagerly wanted to take it out and see what it had to offer to the wildlife and bird photographers who were often getting left out of these discussions. Here’s a collection of my thoughts after heading out into the woods with the Sony a9.

Succeeding When Everything Sucks in Landscape Photography
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You got up early in the morning, you hiked up a steep mountain to photograph a sunrise vista, you are exhausted, and then, you can’t see anything, as there is just tight fog instead of a vista. Is there a way to succeed if there were some more and even bigger problems?

The Best Way to Focus in Low Light
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Does your autofocus hunt in low light? Can you not get focus on the stars during astrophotography? Well, here's a technique that will give you sharp shots every time no matter how dark it is.

GNARBOX Wants to Help You Ditch Your Laptop in the Field
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I’m outdoors a lot and I post images and video of my adventures to social media all the time. But one of the biggest problems I have is if it’s anything more than a snapshot on my iPhone, or a video on my GoPro I can pull over to my phone via WiFi, I have to wait till I get home to edit on my laptop, slowing down the time it takes from getting the shot to sharing it with my followers.

Luminar 4 Is Coming Soon: Here Is Fstoppers' Advance Review
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There has been much talk about the upcoming version of Luminar 4 from Skylum software. I've tested an early beta release and found the new features, particularly sky replacement, rather incredible. Others will be more interested in the new AI Portrait tools, to which I also gave some attention. The bottom line is that Luminar 4 goes beyond any manual method of sky replacement for speed and accuracy. The portrait tools also work more quickly and easily than any software I've seen, including apps dedicated to portrait retouching.

5 Point and Shoot Film Cameras Fujifilm Should Bring Back
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Fujifilm gets a pretty bad rap these days from the film photography community. So, it’s easy to forget that from the 1980s to the early 2000s, Fujifilm produced some of the best cameras ever made: medium format, point and shoots, the extraordinary Xpan, and a sack full of other interesting goodies.

Chris Brown Lifts Visual Artist's Work, Posts to His 58 Million Followers Uncredited
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A Skillshare-endorsed visual artist received a direct message on Instagram informing him that musician Chris Brown had posted his work without a single mention of where it had come from. The artist had made the image in question available to download for free from his website, provided credit is given, but Brown failed to do that.

Stop Waiting for Your Photography Portfolio to Be Good Enough to Show the World
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I’m baffled by how often I encounter photographers who tell me they have been shooting for years but still haven’t created their portfolio because their work isn't good enough. After a bit of convincing, I can usually prompt them into sending me a few shots to take a look at, only to find out their work is more than ready to be displayed.

Breaking the Myth of the Ideal Boudoir Client [NSFW]
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A common misconception is that boudoir is for younger women. I have heard prospective clients think it is only for brides, for newlyweds, or for 20-somethings. A boudoir photographer in New Jersey is working to bring light to all the clients 50 and older who book sessions.

Coiling Your Cables ... You're Doing it Wrong.
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There's one pet peeve I have above all else in the studio, and any assistant can attest to it. Coiling cables around your elbow is wrong. Really really wrong. Of course I realize that it's how you were taught, I learned the same way. Until the day I was working with an audio engineer and nearly made him cry. You would've thought I set fire to his birthday cake and kicked him in the shins.

Detailed Tutorial On Shooting Day To Night Timelapses
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Preston Kanak has released another highly informative video, this one on the subject of capturing successful day to night timelapses. In this long video, he covers different methods for achieving good results, such as bulb ramping, aperture priority, or blending it in post. Each of these methods is a bit different, and Preston shares many tips along way while showing plenty of examples.

Fstoppers Review of the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 L II
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Reviewing this lens has not been a simple task. As is the case with, say, a new Apple product, many can argue that the original 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens is so good that any improvement would or should simply be a minor enhancement or fix. A new version should just address what little quibbles we all have had over the past several years. Little things. And with little changes should come minor price adjustments, if at all. This did not happen with the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L II, and thus I am hit with the daunting task of wrangling in this new piece of hardware.

Using Ordinary Objects in the Foreground to Create Interesting Images
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During the film era people would often use different tools, such as prisms, to create new and interesting images. Without the use of tools like Lightroom and Photoshop, camera malfunctions, such as light leaks could be very valuable in creating unique art. Perhaps its time to remanufacture these ideas, and use them to help create something truly interesting.

Two Teens Arrested in Connection With Photographer's Death, Admit to Pushing Log off Cliff
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The recent mystery of a photographer’s death appears to have been solved after two Ohio teenagers were arrested when one sent text messages to a friend admitting he had “done something serious.” It has also emerged that the photographer died as a result of being struck by a 75-pound log, which hit her as she shot senior portraits in a public park.

Three Reasons Why Minimalism Can Help Create a Better Photo
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The natural tendency for a beginner photographer is to try to show as much as possible in their photos. They want to show everything that they're experiencing at the time. Under the right conditions, a wide-angle shot like that has its place. However, often, the better shot is the one that shows as little as possible. This technique in photography is called minimalism.

How One Sheet of A4 Paper Can Make You a Better Photographer
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If you are being honest with yourself would you say you are completely happy with how your photography is going? A few small changes could be all that you need to take things to a more fulfilling and successful level.

An Often-Overlooked Yet Very Important Aspect of a Photoshoot
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Shooting or being involved in a fashion or beauty shoot is a lot of fun. It’s a day where creative personalities, the photographer, stylist, hair and makeup and assistants as well as the client's creative team get together to produce a story, a body of work that they want to show the world. Everyone is focussed on bringing their best ideas to the party.

Wedding Photos Stolen! Why Backup Systems Are Important
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I was driving to my studio on a Monday morning after a long wedding weekend, ready to bust through some culling and rock the socks off my clients with how fast I would turn around their images from their wedding, then I got a phone call. “Matt, there’s been a break in at the building, are you on your way?” My heart sank, my brain went into turbo mode, and my mouth got all clammy... you know that feeling before you’re about to throw up? That's exactly how I felt.

Sometimes, Pictures Do Lie
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This is not a story about an amazing photographer or stunning photography. It’s about photos that are taken by non-photographers, in everyday situations, documenting a moment in time that is supposed to be filled with joy and happiness. The time after a baby - that fresh-smelling bundle of joy - came into the world. These are the faces of mothers, suffering from postpartum depression, hiding their angst behind a smile.