This week I had the pleasure of visiting Adorama in NYC, for a deeper look at Panasonic’s groundbreaking camera. While there, I discovered some interesting specs that aren’t being talked about. Let’s take a look at the innovations and pitfalls of the camera at a deeper level.
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Fujifilm cameras, and their Instax cameras are part of the reason why. I've owned several Instax cameras over the last few years, and now the SQ6 might just be the best one yet.
Since Lightroom and Photoshop introduced their automatic sky selections, changes to the sky in landscape and architecture photos have become very easy. But, how good are those automatic selections? If you edit photos for web representation alone, they are mostly good enough. But if you intend to print your photos, you might want to improve them, which is what I show in this article.
In many modern cultures, we view white teeth as a sign of health, virility, and attractiveness. A large reason as to why there are a million toothbrush, toothpaste, and teeth whitening products on the shelf today. So what do you do when your overworked, over-caffeinated, and/or over-smoking portrait subject has teeth stained yellow? Our buddy Glyn Dewis shows you a quick way to whiten those teeth effectively and realistically.
Sometimes the only things standing between us and achieving our photography dreams is... ourselves.
I love it when teams can keep churning out interesting tutorials or behind the scenes videos regularly and still keep the quality high, and one team that continues to do just that is PHLEARN. We've featured them a few times in the past, and today they released this new video on shooting beauty, but with sparklers.
Recently, Wacom updated their Intuos tablet line with a new version of the Intuos Pro. With many tweaks, the new version is definitely a step apart from the old. Find out if it's worth the upgrade!
Remember that first time you've looked at those dream portfolios? How did they happen? You've probably compared your portfolio against those and thought, "How would clients put their trust in me for something as big as that?" The hard truth is, those dream-portfolio photographers had a great website issued by the hospital they were given birth at. Face it, if you don't have your portfolio website printed on your birth certificate, you won't ever have one. Of course that's not true.
Strobist. Natural light shooter. These words are at two opposite ends of the spectrum of photographer that seem like they're always a hair's breadth away from starting a photographic civil war, both sides preaching their philosophy as if deviation is blasphemy. One side is derided as being "afraid of learning to use flash" and the other side is jeered at for creating "flashy," "fake," or "contrived" images. Both sides seem immovable in their adherence to their preferred light source. Despite this disagreement, a popular saying in photography is, "light is light." So which is it? Is one better and the other worse, are they just preferences or are both sides cutting themselves short?
Having met and talked with quite a few photographers, I have seen that there are a lot of things we do which, to me, a fellow photographer are annoying. Some are innocent enough such as asking for the lighting setup, but others sit on the fence about being illegal.
Today, DxO is releasing a revamped collection of editing tools that works as either a Photoshop plugin or as a standalone app. They also can function with Lightroom Classic, Affinity Photo and, of course, DxO PhotoLab.
Hillary Clinton has taken the web by storm again. This time it's not because of a new policy she is using on the road, but rather the new "innovation" she and her political team came up with to herd the press around. At the Independence Day parade in Gorman, New Hampshire, the press and photographers were lead along the parade route by two aides carrying rope that nobody was allowed to pass.
You might remember Fujifilm's announcement of the development of an ultra-fast 50mm f/1.0 lens. Good news for those who have been waiting for it to arrive: the company has confirmed that we will see it later this year.
Not all of us work with professional models that can turn on the natural-looking poses when the lens is bearing down on them. Whether it’s Auntie Jean or an aspiring model-to-be, some people just don’t feel comfortable in front of the camera, and this often makes for awkward-looking portraits. So, here are five tips you can use on your next photoshoot to put them at ease and take better portrait photographs.
Is it really necessary to have your own photo studio? Here's why I let go of my own photo studio and use PeerSpace instead.
Being an avid iPhone shooter myself, I'm always looking for more ways to make my images better without adding the computer to the process. In this quick video tutorial, David Molnar shows you how to use the app TouchReTouch to clone out distracting spots in your iPhone and Android phone photos.
Automotive Editorial Photography will teach you many things. Mostly though, it'll teach you how to make something out of nothing and how to operate quickly and efficiently. I can't tell you how many times I've shown up to shoot a car only to be told it can't be moved from where it sits. It's those situations that will really test your mettle as a photographer and I've actually grown to love those challenges. One challenge from last year that I really enjoyed was a RIDES Magazine cover that would require fitting and lighting 10 cars. Here's how I did it.
A drone allows you to take photographs to the next level. There is only one downside for most drones I know of. The camera can’t be tilted for vertical shots. That doesn’t mean you can’t shoot vertical images. The solution is a panorama.
As a retoucher, I spend most of my day molded into a chair and working in front of the screen. It was only after a couple of years that I began realizing the strain it took on me. Being much younger, it wasn't as much of an issue as it was when I started getting older. I immediately began finding ways to make my time behind the screen more comfortable and healthy. As fellow creatives, I am sure most of you also have the same issue. I reached out to my colleagues for advice and here are some suggestions I found.
If you are doing any business or marketing on Instagram, then at some point, you have been annoyed that you can only put one link on your profile. For a lot of users and most photographers, the ultimate goal is to drive traffic from Instagram to your website/portfolio.
Often as photographers we put in long hours on our feet, walk quite a bit, bend, crouch, shimmy and shake all while carrying heavy gear on our shoulders and back. At the end of the day my feet would be sore, my legs tired, my thighs chaffed and my back aching. If you have felt the same way, here are three things that will help you be more comfortable and pain free while out on long shoots.
For a couple of years now, I have been shooting a personal series about movie and tv cars, and the people that either own the original vehicles or build replicas for themselves. I call it the Unicorn Project (see more from the series here). Recently, I had the chance to photograph one of the screen-used Black Beauties from the 2011 film, The Green Hornet. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out my new automotive rig from Rig-Pro for the first time to simulate high-speed action shots.
Denver photographer Michael Sasser got some attention when this behind the scenes video showed how a simple setup could produce some great portraits. He dropped a new video, so I reconnected with him to see what he has been working on. Turns out he has a new slow-motion video camera, and is now offering video production to clients. This video will give you a taste of one of his shoots, and in the interview Michael shares some insight on his methods, gear, and experiences.
In case you missed it, ‘Rocket Wars’ is a five minute film that has changed the game. It's breaking new ground and heralds in a beautiful new era in filmmaking. 150,000+ views and a Vimeo ‘Staff Pick’ are pretty amazing, but what’s ground breaking isn’t that the film is just a beautiful cacophony of visual and aural eye and ear candy. What’s fascinating is the fertile new ground it thrusts us headlong in to, and how it engages us. How did the filmmakers pull this off – and importantly – what can we learn from them to apply to our own projects?
The unfortunate and widely-reported death last week of 26-year-old rooftopper Wu Yongning led to a lot of discussion regarding rooftop photography, personal responsibility, and the blurred boundaries between urban exploration, parkour, and "exposure porn" - i.e., hanging from the edge of buildings or balancing at incredible heights in order to create photos, videos, and short-lived internet fame.
Small, affordable cameras with small sensors and small lenses are doomed to produce images with deep depth of field, but what if you could add shallow depth of field in post?
Photoshop is a fantastic tool, but it is not always the fastest software on earth. Large files such as PSD, TIFF, and PSB that contain numerous layers can require a few seconds, if not minutes, to load. When all you want to do is quickly check that all the files in a folder are the final versions, it can be tedious! However, there is a neat trick to open your big files much faster. Here is how.
Being a member of the media has a set number of luxuries. One of those being, working with Adobe and getting early access of products, and exclusive news. Thanks to Adobe, I used Creative Cloud for an entire year free by attending a media exclusive Adobe event back in the summer of 2013. However, since I've started paying for it a month ago, my frustrations have hit an all time high.
Whether you shoot video or stills, we’ve all been there. That point at which you lose all objectivity and the ability to discern thoughtful, evocative images that nail the concept on the head, from the ones that are “too artistic,” or simply don’t fit the story. Our eyes numb the part of our brain that lets us separate what works from what doesn't. Here are a few thoughts on how to approach critiques and kill your babies so that you end up with your best work.
It’s been reported that Canon has just registered an intriguing patent in Japan: a camera where the rear LCD fills the back of the body, removing the scroll wheel and incorporating it as part of the screen itself. With advances in touchscreen technology, is this what we can expect to see on cameras in the very near future?
