How to Actually Improve Your Photography
In this article I'll share five tips on how I actually improved my photography. Here I'm not talking technicalities such as sharper images, shallow depth of field, using a tripod, or removing your lens cap.
In this article I'll share five tips on how I actually improved my photography. Here I'm not talking technicalities such as sharper images, shallow depth of field, using a tripod, or removing your lens cap.
When you're new to photography, you might feel a bit overwhelmed by all of the various technical parameters and artistic guidelines you have to keep in mind simultaneously. Well, I'm here to add another one to the list, but I promise that it will improve your shots drastically.
Many photography and film students fail to dream big enough during their undergraduate studies. The work they produce seems more like an exercise than a passionate project for their own portfolios. For German film students Daniel Titz & Dorian Lebherz this was definitely not the case. In what might be the most moving commercial of 2015, Daniel and Dorian crafted a touching mock ad for Johnnie Walker that shows just how effective you can make your personal projects if you take them seriously.
I spent a few weeks testing the new Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 lens for Fujifilm, and in the accompanying article and video, I share my thoughts on one of the most exciting third party lenses on the market today.
Zeiss, makers of some of the most outstanding glass on the market, announced a new member of their Canon and Nikon connected lenses: the 55mm f/1.4 Otus Distagon T* Lens. It is a standard focal length premium lens optimized for full-format DSLR camera sensors. If it's anything like the 135mm f/2.0 APO SONNAR, there is a lot to be excited about.
The short days and long nights of winter have finally given way and spring is in full swing. For many photographers, this means one thing: wedding season. While wedding season is great, it can also be physically and mentally exhausting. I recently shot my first wedding of the season and want to share a few tips as well as things I would do differently next time around to help you plan ahead and prepare for any events you have coming up.
For many photographers, Instagram is still the biggest and best social media platform for spreading and showing our work. Growing on Instagram is, however, a long, weird, confusing, and sometimes frustrating process.
This is your chance to participate in the Flashlight challenge, prove you can make an amazing photograph with any light source, and have your photograph featured in an Fstoppers article all about you!
This morning I found myself aimlessly surfing through Vimeo and I ran across a great video by Photographer/Videographer Alex Cornell. In this 14 minute video Alex takes us through all of the gear that he brought to Iceland to capture both still images and 4k video.
Before I heap on the apologies, I do want to say that I get sent a lot of gear. Gear that varies in required skill level, genre of photography and purpose. I've reviewed a lot of equipment over the years, and eventually I was bound to make a mistake- I'm pretty much the furthest thing from infallible. Well it happened, and I'm sorry. My initial review of the Fotopro tripod was negative due in most part to, you got it, user error.
It’s a mystery as to why Lightroom doesn’t offer a quick and easy way to add borders to images when exporting files. However, there is a simple solution.
I've been one of the loudest critics of Apple's current Thunderbolt-only laptops, but they've quietly admitted their mistakes and brought back HDMI, SDXC, and MagSafe in the new Macbook Pros. I'm going to give them another chance.
You know that moment when you start to watch a documentary, not knowing if it will be any good, and then walk away with your jaw on the floor as the credits roll? That was me last night. If you're interested in the film VS. digital debate; the progression of technology; where things are going for visual media; cinematography; how the media we use to create images affects how we feel about what we see or watch (and why), or how changes in the photographic industry have influenced cinema, you positively, absolutely need to check out Side By Side. Like, now.
Fujifilm has made quite the name for themselves in the camera industry. They completely changed the game with the release of the original X100 and have since been turning out great camera after great camera. In a similar fashion, Fujifilm is looking to change the way you view medium format cameras with the recent release of the Fujifilm GFX 50s. This camera is not only smaller and lighter than most comparable cameras, but it also comes in at a cheaper price tag. But does the final product live up to the hype?
There's been a bit of an uproar in the wildlife photography community this week. One of the genre's most popular and successful photographers has been called out for turning wildlife into an accessory. What do you make of all this?
This isn't one of those first impressions or my thoughts about the Sony a1 from behind a desk. In fact, over my course with the camera, I have shot more than 10 thousand frames. So here is the good, the bad, and the ugly.
You’ve got a solid website, your photography skills are on point, you’ve been around for awhile, but you still aren’t getting any clients. Peers’ businesses are booming, you know there are plenty of clients to go around, and yet, you’re still struggling to get by with your photography business. There are a ton of factors that go into why a business fails, but here are a few reasons why your photography business may be failing.
Editing astrophotographs can be tricky as there's a lot to go wrong, especially when working with the Milky Way. Thankfully, Lightroom has some powerful features that can help transform drab snaps to galactic masterpieces.
If you're like me, photography is not just about weddings and portraits. I love getting outdoors with my camera and exploring the mountains and forests around my hometown of Seattle, Washington. Anything from a day hike to a multi-night backpacking trip is always an opportunity to photograph my adventures and share these beautiful landscapes with others.
Lightroom does some things really well, but one area I always wished I had more control over was web culling. After some investigation, here's the best method I've found for efficiently sending out photos for clients to peruse and select.
New patents have been filed by Canon for their RF mirrorless mount, and it looks like the company plans to bring some affordable glass to the platform.
It didn’t seem like there was much to cheer for film photographers in 2021. Supply chain issues, global film shortages, and price rises led to a wave of discontent among film photographers, leading many to cry into their soy lattes and burn their berets.
A few months back, I switched systems, mainly due to work-related requirements moving forward. The system I switched to was Sony, namely the a7R IV, so I needed a versatile lens to start with to allow me time to save for another lens after clearing out my bank account.
Getting started in photography is expensive. Sometimes frustratingly so. This expense tends to compound a bit if one has to pay professional models to build a portfolio. Fortunately, you don’t. Models also need to build a portfolio, so collaborating with photographers to create images becomes extremely valuable. TFP (time for print, or time for portfolio) has becomes a keystone of the beauty/fashion/glamor world.
One of the biggest questions photographers have when starting their business is if they’re pricing themselves correctly. Even seasoned professionals sometimes question whether their pricing is correct. Here are a few tips to ensure you’re pricing realistically and accurately for your services.
This is a lesson that extends far beyond photography and one that took me years to understand: The amount of work you put into something does not affect the quality of the finished product.
DJI just released a new Phantom V2.0 that adds a new model to the already crowded Phantom family. This V2.0 variant brings evolutions to the table. So, what’s new?
It has happened to all of us a million times: After wrapping up a creative photo shoot and go through some of the images in post, we typically find a few photos in there that are "meh" at best and you most likely pass over or discard. Well, photographer and retoucher Glyn Dewis once again shares an awesome Photoshop / Lightroom tutorial on how he turned one of his throwaway photos into a killer shot. Check out the final image and information below.
It’s important to have a subject in your photo. Without a subject, a photo may be less interesting to look at. Sometimes, the subject is easy to spot, but at other times, it might be more difficult. You can get some help from Lightroom to check if your photo has a subject.
When I started out my photography business, I was always told how important it was to have a strong and personal style. At the time, I did not understand what that meant. I knew all my pictures were too different to make for an impactful portfolio. I also knew that my retouching was inconsistent. But no one told me how to create that sought-after "photographic style." Even the word "create" was probably wrong. Rather, it appears that a style is developed and refined shoot after shoot, job after job. It is a neverending process. However, there are some points to help develop an impactful style.