How Every Photographer Can Use Vertical Video to Their Advantage
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Video is something I have begun to play with over the last few weeks in the form of a vlog on YouTube, but as you might know it's difficult to gain that organic reach you're used to on social platforms. That doesn't mean its impossible, but by using various other channels to advertise and push them to that new content is key in today's world. That is where vertical video comes in on Instagram! Yes, it might be annoying as hell to see yet another vertical video, but hold tight as I walk you through why this is a brilliant place to use it and also how you can do it yourself.

The Godox AD400 Pro: Priced Too High, Too Low, or Just Right?
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Godox has been disrupting the lighting industry for several years now with their budget-friendly options for studio strobes and on location lighting. The Godox system is growing even larger with the addition of their newest on-location light, but does this new light make sense to those budget-conscious photographers that have adopted the system?

Does White Balance Matter for Landscape Photography?
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White balance is very important in many areas of photography, but what about landscapes? In this week's article and video, I dive into why you shouldn't worry about white balance out in the field, but I also go over best practices in deciding how to edit your images.

A Whole Music Video Shot In Just 5 Seconds
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By placing 80 people along an 80 meters stretch, French filmmaker Guillaume Panariello managed to capture a whole music video in just 5 seconds. Siska's “Unconditional Rebel” was shot on a 1000 frames per second Phantom Flex 4K from a car traveling at 50kmh (or 31 mph). All that action and it only took 4 takes to get it right. Be sure to check out the below video to see what this shoot looks like in real time.

Tiffen Introduces Lowel GL-1 Power LED Light
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Being a photographer who loves using off camera lighting, I am always intrigued by new and innovative lighting gadgets. Tiffen unveiled the Lowel GL-1 Power LED Light at PDN this week, and it is definitely something different in comparison to the types of lighting I am used to.

Three Thoughts That Hold You Back as a Photographer
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Artists struggle with many emotions throughout their day. One of the most typical emotions is a sense of inadequacy, both in business and creativity. How many times has budget, fear, and challenge stopped you from getting things done? Whatever your excuse is, it’s just that: an excuse. Here are three thoughts that are holding you back as a photographer and how to overcome them.

The Power of Perception – Creating A Reality For Commercial Clients
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The music business is a brutal, cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world and I lived it for nearly 10 years. Since the age of 16, I struggled as a touring musician, surviving off nothing but cold Spaghettios and sleeping in a decade-old 8-passenger van. I was fortunate enough to explore the nation and see things that most will never see, but by the time I left the business I was completely burnt out.

The Basics of Having a Website, and Why They're Still Important
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It feels like an increasing occurrence to meet creatives — particularly photographers — who feel no obligation to have their own website. Here's why it's still imperative to have an online portfolio that is readily available for your clients to access.

The Why and How of Test Shoots With Models
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My high school enemy is my new best friend. I'm talking about a glorious thing called "tests." In the photo world, a test is a shoot set up for the sake of portfolio-building, experimentation, fun, or all of the above. It's not a paid shoot, but these suckers pay off big time. A test shoot is when you book a model (we'll talk about how) to shoot a concept that you put together. As I'm writing this, I actually have my journal open on my desk in mid-plan for a test that I'll be shooting later this month. Let's talk about a few reasons why testing is so important, how to find models, reach out to agencies, and what you need to do once your model is booked. Dig in!

How to Take Advantage of the Creative Process in Your Own Way
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PBS Digital Studios has just released a brilliant video focused on unwrapping the creative process. Throughout the video, an author, a cognitive psychologist, a filmmaker and a computer scientist come together to share their incredibly diverse theories of how to hone your creativity in a multitude of ways.

Are You Guilty of Formulaic Photography?
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My landscape photography relies on a formula. As a photographer attempting to create images with artistic vision, this realization frightens me. This article explores six steps for breaking out of formulaic photography.

Photographers Document Epic Engagement After Meeting on Instagram
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If you're on Instagram and have been immersed in the community they have built, you have most likely come across Bethany Olsen and Cory Staudacher feeds by now. Both photographers from Seattle met through mutual friends via the social network and eventual became an instant hit while sharing incredible photos across the Pacific Northwest gaining over 500,000 followers combined.

What Has Improved Your Photography the Most?
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With more information available to us than we could consume in a thousand lifetimes, we're forced to do what humanity has always had to do: look at what has been successful for others and emulate it.

Adobe Releases More Efficient Lightroom Classic, CC, and Mobile Apps
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We already had good reviews of a pre-release version of Lightroom Classic version 7.2 earlier this month, but today, it's finally out. As other software companies such as Apple have announced a slowdown of software feature developments and a concentration on bug fixes and performance improvements, so, too, has Adobe promised a renewed focus on Lightroom performance across all platforms. And this is just the beginning.

Five Tips for Better Beer Photographs
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I am trying to brush up my photography skills in areas I am not overly familiar with. This week it was beer photography, and boy did I learn a lot.

Great Tips For Walking Into Your First Photoshoot
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We all know it can be overwhelming when walking into your first paid photo gigs. You want to look like you know what you're doing and you don't want to disappoint your clients. Here's a helpful short video by Jasmine Star sharing key tips about what to keep in mind when walking into your first portrait photoshoot. Click through to see the rest of the post to learn more tips:

How To Light a Muscle Car with Tim Wallace
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Anyone who has tried can tell you that lighting cars well is a difficult thing to do. The size of them, the lack of flat surfaces, how reflective they are, and the variety of different materials all make for one of the most trying photographic challenges out there. In this video, renowned automotive photographer Tim Wallace talks with us about the methods that have helped him to become so successful.

Which Is the Most Underrated Lens?
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The wisdom of crowds can sometimes provide valuable insight, so we want to know which lens you think is the most underrated. Here are a few of mine too.

Jay P. Morgan Teaches You How To Balance Strobes and Daylight
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Plus, he's giving away an excellent Tamron 24-70mm SP f/2.8!

This is an incredibly informative video from The Slanted Lens that details an excellent way of shooting outdoors and balancing strobes with natural light. Some of these tricks were things that I actually never considered such as stopping down the camera and upping the flash to see exactly where the light was falling outside. Now that I think about it, it's so simple that I should have been doing it from the start, but that's why I love these videos!

Is This The Ultimate Portable LED Light?
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Light. We see it all around us as billions of photons pass right by us, bouncing against objects like "Punch-Me-Clowns." As photographers, we're obsessed and spend our lives figuring out how to manipulate them, and it could be an exhausting task to pursue, but that's about to change.

Fstoppers Reviews the MagBeam Light Modifier from Magmod
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MagMod has quickly become the go to flash modifier for a ton of photographers. Being able to quickly and easily attach grids, gels, and diffusers to your flash via small magnets makes shaping your light super simple. So when MagMod announced the new MagBeam, a lot of people got really excited. So excited that they demolished their $25,000 goal by raising just over $300,000 via their Kickstarter campaign. But does this new modifier live up to the hype?

Running an $8.5K Camera Under a Shower — For Science (Pentax 645Z Weatherproof Test)
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The Pentax 645Z digital medium format camera has been receiving a lot of buzz since its announcement earlier this year. It's been hailed for its CMOS medium format sensor which offers unrivaled image quality and unheard of high-ISO capability when compared to CCD sensor models. The Penatx 645Z even features weather sealing to boot. That's why the guys over at QusabesdeTV on YouTube put together this video showing off the quality of this weather sealing.

Why You Should Photograph Your Family More
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Don't lie, most of us are guilty of not bothering to pick up our camera and photograph what's close to our hearts and homes. But why should we push ourselves to do it more, even if there's no immediate reward?