While most photographers use a drone to create aerial images, sometimes, that isn’t enough. Sometimes, you want to soar like an eagle, going 50 mph over the sheer face of a mountaintop as you photograph. If that sounds like you, then let me share with you the story of Bernard Chen, paraglider and photographer extraordinaire.
Having been a Profoto user for most of my career, I have experienced pretty much everything they have to offer. I have bought a substantial amount of Profoto equipment myself and use it as my daily driver. Being a huge investment, I wondered if it was worth it. Well, here are my results.
Reading tips for creative inspiration can be helpful but what happens when you set yourself up for failure before you even step a foot out of the door?
Viltrox comes with a pedigree for manufacturing good quality lenses at a low price point, so the entry of the 23 mm f/1.4 in Fuji X-mount and Sony E-mount is highly anticipated, not least because it is nearly $600 cheaper than the Fuji equivalent. Is it worthy of the hype and does that make it the perfect travel prime?
I consider myself an advertising connoisseur - both of print and motion. As I continue on my journey as an image-maker, however, it becomes harder and harder for ads to impress me. I'm jaded. But that said, Under Armour is really killing it these days with their highly relable and modern ads.
Photography is full of tradeoffs where you gain one thing in exchange for losing another. Here are five tradeoffs that every photographer should know.
You prepared your bag for the day, you charged your batteries, formatted your cards, and dusted your lenses. But have you forgotten anything? Here is what is also important to think about for a blissful day of shooting.
Perspective Control lenses for SLR cameras were developed primarily for architecture, interior, and still-life photography applications. PC lenses simulate some of the movements and control that photographers can get from a view camera. They are great for keeping lines parallel and subjects in focus. Just as PC lenses allow photographers to control what is in focus, they also allow you to control what goes out of focus and how quickly it does that. Fashion and portrait photos with enhanced bokeh or selective focus create dreamy blur and guide attention to the areas remaining in focus.
Sigma has done it again, announcing several more new and exciting lenses for a variety of brands and mounts.
In just a couple clicks, you can register your business with the state and set up a social media network for a nominal fee. How can you navigate and succeed in your market when everyone and your neighbor have started a photography business? How do you stay positive?
Today Sony finally announced pricing and shipping times for their upcoming release of the FE 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master OSS lens and teleconverters. First introduced in early February alongside the FE 85mm f/1.4 GM and FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lenses, the 70-200mm GM will be shipping in July and cost $2,600. The 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters designed to exclusively fit the new 70-200mm GM will each cost $500 and ship in July as well. Sony allowed me to use one of the first retail production models off the assembly line and share my images with you, so let’s dive into sample images and my thoughts on how it stacks up.
Tonight, Tamron announced the Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 Di OSD lens, an incredibly small and light weight ultra-wide-angle zoom for 35mm full-frame DSLR cameras. With an emphasis on portability and reducing backlight flare, this could be THE ultra-wide-angle lens to make it’s way into your bag.
Compositing frames in your interior photographs can be extremely time-consuming. With this simple technique developed by Mike Kelley, you can quickly and easily lighten doorways in post-processing while freeing up your editing time.
With the recent announcement of the Profoto B2, Elinchrom's position in the ultra-portrable strobe pack market was somewhat overshadowed as the former exceeded the Elinchrom Quadra Hybrid in many aspects. Not to be outdone, Elinchrom has now announced the release of its next generation on-location pack and head kit known as the ELB 400.
In the last few years, monitor technology has gone in a number of new and unique directions, with technology like ultra-wide aspect ratios, HDR support, and 8K resolution. Each of those features appeals to a particular user, but it almost seems like content creators have been left out.
As some of you may know by now, I'm a commercial photographer that gets some great opportunities to shoot epic movie and tv cars. Honestly, most of my paid shoots are portrait-related, but I just love all things cars and my clients know that. Last year, I came across a rad company called Flash Rods that makes custom memory storage (hard drives and thumb drives) based from 1:18 scale models and matchbox cars, including movie and tv cars like the Ecto1, Back to The Future Delorean, and A Team Van to deliver my files to clients.
If you would put your trust on just one tripod for all the shooting requirements that you commonly face, what features are non-negotiable for you? Let’s see if this carbon fiber tripod from Benro would fit that description.
There are a thousand skills — technical, artistic, and observational — that need to be mastered to make great images. But to really get better we have to, first, learn to do this.
All restaurants aren't the same. They will serve different dishes, have different interiors, and charge different amounts for what they serve. When you are assigned to shoot a restaurant's signature dish, you will find that all restaurants will have one thing in common. There will be a table for guests to dine at, and for you to shoot at. Do you think of a table as just a table? Before you brush off the importance of selecting the right shooting surface, let me show you a few examples of how this decision will impact your image.
Now that sky replacement has become more effective and ubiquitous in photo-editing software, more and more photographers may feel tempted to give it a try, but is it a valid photographic tool or just a lazy way to save a subpar image?
They say the third time’s the charm, and that’s certainly the case with Fujifilm’s new X-T30. I got a chance to take a hands-on look at a pre-production X-T30 and put it through its paces recently. How did it do?
As time goes on, the tools and technology keep getting better and more powerful. Today, learn how you can take a boring seamless paper backdrop and give it life with added texture and easy to follow steps using Photoshop.
We all have that box—tucked away in a closet or buried in the basement—full of camera accessories we once thought were game-changers but turned out to be dead weight. In this article, we’ll cut through the clutter and highlight the five accessories every photographer uses (and a few you can leave in that box where they belong).
The more you photograph people, places, and things, the more you understand how much control the available light has over the outcome of your image. Taking advantage of tools like filters to limit or modify the light coming into your camera is a great way to craft a unique image and even add a dramatic flare that you may not be able to create otherwise.
In the photography industry, having a "studio" or "meeting space" translates to success in most client's eyes. The thing is, typical photographers would rather spend their cash on gear, than a studio they would probably only use once a month. Recently there's been an abundance of places for people to meet with clients as well as have their own out of home office. They're called coworking spaces and have been popping up around the country.
Bird photography is arguably the most demanding genre. The equipment quality, the photographer's camera skills, and their ability to create a narrative are pushed far beyond any other genre. Here’s what I discovered about cameras, lenses, and bird photography.
See how the insanely skilled, commercial photographer Alex Koloskov and his passionate retouching counterpart Genia Larionova (aka AKELstudio) turnout the Google splash logo in this fun and insightful behind the scenes video. I love these two already.
Focus is a word we are all familiar with in photography, but is the same true in business? The purpose of focus as it relates to photography is to keep what we want to see, and to draw attention away from the things that might otherwise distract us. The concept is almost second nature to many photographers, yet seems so foreign when you see how they run their business.
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