In the ever-evolving world of photography, the post-processing phase has seen remarkable advancements, shifting from traditional manual culling and editing to the realm of automation with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Judging by my title, you'll be shocked to know that I have always been a Canon loyalist. From learning with the Canon A-1 inherited from my grandmother in 1999, to the latest mirrorless models, I have been a devoted customer and an advocate of the brand for over two decades. That is, until the Canon EOS R5. The Canon R5 is where my bond to the brand was systematically dismantled as the hardware itself did.
This past week I've been sleep deprived, socially inactive, and holding a camera in my hands for more than I ever have in my entire life. You see, this past week I've been working with PRO EDU to film my first tutorial series to go on sale at the Fstoppers store this summer. Though learning a lot about my own work and process, I think I learned the most when I used a rented PhaseOne IQ250 system for one of my shoots.
A few months ago, I was out at dinner with a couple of friends of mine. We had each just finished up our respective shoots and had settled into a booth where the conversation inevitably turned toward who we shot, where we shot, and whether or not we were happy with the in-camera results (we were). That night, we spent the better part of two hours eating, drinking and sharing our techniques with one another.
Okay, I get it. Hundreds of thousands of you are offended by Adobe's choice to go to the Creative Cloud. I understand, I was leading the forefront with my torch in hand. Renting software sounds like a ludicrous statement, especially when half the software you won't even use. So why shouldn't you just pirate it?
Vanity magazines are a popular place for photographers to submit images to when they are looking to take their photography to the next level. Eager photographers who want to shoot fashion or beauty will scour the Internet for fashion magazines that accept submissions in the hope that these publications will be a rung on their ladder to success. Unfortunately for many photographers, rather than climbing the ladder, they’re merely wasting time and money.
Photoshelter is hosting a webinar featuring retoucher Kristina Sherk this week, and to advertise the webinar they posted an animated gif showing before and after Sherk got her hands on the image. I was shocked, as Sherk not only easily erased 10 years off the model, but even more amazingly did it without making it look fake.
Since the global response for Black Lives Matter, many industries, including photography, have been shifting for the better. So, it's welcome news that Canon has officially dropped their master/slave terminology.
If you shoot a lot of astrophotos, you know all about gradients. They are almost always present in your images, and they have to be removed to smooth out the sky background and make your images look their best.
Photographers are obsessed with improving their work through new gear purchases, extra lighting, and better retouching, but there's one trick that's often overlooked: the power of moving 12 inches.
You may have heard the term "Hot Thread" by now, and with regard to Facebook, this is the best way to get more interaction and reach for your posts. This system engages your viewers and their friends so you can use Facebook's algorithms to your advantage.
Today is the day that Sigma fills out its Art-series lens lineup to offer what could easily be considered everything you'd really need since its most recent release of the 85mm f/1.4 Art. Four new full-frame lenses cover the gamut from an ultra-wide, ultra-fast 14mm f/1.8 Art, a similarly fast 135mm f/1.8 Art portrait lens, to the wedding photographer's favorite 24-70mm f/2.8 Art and sports shooter's 100-400mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary "compact" super-zoom. If you've been waiting for that next Sigma lens, odds are it's one of these.
Zion National Park caused an uproar among photographers in January of this year when it came to light that photography workshops operating within the park were restricted to using tripods in paved areas and pullouts only. Within two weeks of that initial response Zion had reversed a part of those restrictions. With 2019 fast approaching, there're even more changes coming for photography workshops and their participants.
For several years, I traveled to weddings or other events with multiple lenses in my bag, much to the detriment of my back! No longer is this the case, as I finally purchased a lens that was top of my wish list, and the results have been amazing! Can you guess what it is yet?
Kai Man Wong, better known by viewers solely as Kai, announced a few days ago that he will be leaving as host of DigitalRev. DigitalRev is of course the most subscribed to photography channel on YouTube, with currently over 1.7 million people signed up. It is run by the Hong Kong based photography retailer of the same name, and has been a staple of entertainment in the online photography community since 2009.
Unless Gitzo has really changed up their tripod product lineup, I think something peculiar might happening over at Amazon.
The film community is a pretty friendly place. I've made a lot of good mates all over the world since launching my film photography podcast, "Matt Loves Cameras," three years ago.
Over the past two years, I invested much time learning search engine optimization techniques. Making tweaks to my website and creating a content strategy, this work finally began bearing fruit three months ago. I'll now share the SEO knowledge I gathered in a little article series. In this article, I focus on how to rank on Google Search.
Sometimes the best camera is the one you have with you and at times it's not your DSLR or mirrorless one. This is difficult because there are pros and cons to both options. If you have a mobile phone with you, then that can be the best option. However, if you need a more professional or reliable camera, then your DSLR or mirrorless will of course be the better choice.
For a lot of us, being a professional photographer is a dream job that isn't realized. Even for those of us who do make a living from it, it probably isn’t exactly as we had planned.
The successor to the worldwide popular, and rightfully so, Fujifilm X100V has finally been revealed! The new X100VI brings forth some very welcome features while staying true to what made the X100 lineup great. We’ve used it for a while and loved it! How was it? What’s new? What stayed the same? Is it worth upgrading? Will you even be able to get one?
The camera press went a little crazy this week as a small company announced that something tiny will sell for something massive. As someone who hates tripods and will go to some lengths to avoid using them, trying to get my head around the column inches has been fascinating.
Canon makes a wide variety of fantastic lenses, but they are rarely cheap, and you can quickly find yourself spending a lot of money trying to build out your lens library. Luckily, after decades of releasing lenses, there are a few hidden gems if you know where to look. Here are five lenses you should check out.
Merely two years ago, Stanislav picked up his first camera: a Lumix G3 for $600. From that point forward his inspirational journey began. The majority of his mind-blowing work was taken in his attic using friends as models. Now he is known as Sean Archer - a natural light photographer who specializes in female portraits. His work is proof that it’s not about gear. It’s about the photographer; it's about the vision of the artist.
For many photographers, having a high-resolution camera is a must. For some time now the Canon 5DSR was the highest resolution full-frame camera on the market. Sony has now one-upped it with their latest announcement the new Sony a7R IV. As someone who shoots with both Sony and Canon, I have to say I'm really excited about this new camera.
Last year a New York federal judge agreed that a case of embedding tweets that were in themselves breach of copyright was a further breach awarding in favor of the photographer. Now he's going after more publications.
This is yet another article of the Secrets to Crafting Top-Quality Beauty Portraits series. If you haven't read the first three, you can find them here: on compositing, on shooting Beauty portraits on location and in studio.
Today I would like to talk about framing, posing and directing your models when shooting Beauty portraits. While lighting and compositing are very important parts of creating a striking image, the model's pose, facial expression and her body language can make or break it.
Having a zoom lens trinity is the most common approach to making sure that you have all the necessary ranges covered. But what if one lens can let you significantly lessen the amount of gear you bring?
At the risk of enraging loyal Fuji fanboys and fangirls everywhere, I have decided that the best thing to happen to Fuji shooters in a long while is the release of a third-party lens.
Phone cameras have gotten increasingly better year over year, yet no matter how much they improve, they always fall short in comparison to professional cameras. This year is different.
