Take a few minutes and look up Photographer Joel Grimes. His portraits infuse a unique and identifiable lighting style that is edgy, dramatic, and often shot in studio with fairly simple lighting setups. Even more interesting is the fact that most of his shots are taken with the intent of compositing them into different backgrounds.
Smoke grenades: foul smelling, clothes staining, and a primary tool for celebrating the birth of our nation. Recently, while in Austin Texas, I was introduced to a model, Valerie who suggested we use smoke bombs during the shoot. I was immediately intrigued at the creative possibilities...
If you’ve ever wanted to see how the pros light amazing studio shots, look no further. My wife and I recently moved into a new place that offers quite a bit of new space for studio style photography. Being a tad rusty I was excited about the plethora of shooting opportunities a controlled lighting space would offer, but found myself lacking motivation. Until I discovered Broncolor’s “How To” section on their website.
Today was a day of much needed motivation, so I decided to grab one of my speedlights and shoot a portrait with an element of motion. In this case, water.
High-speed sync is a hot topic in the world of portrait photographers today and Francisco Hernandez is someone who has this technique dialed in.
DSLR Guide, created by Simon Cade, is one of my go-to resources for all things film and cinema. With almost a half-million subscribers and over 21 million views, his channel is an awesome resource for anyone interested in becoming a film maker, particularly those who are DIY-savvy or on a budget.
It’s that time of year again, and no, I don’t mean last night's Super Bowl. Tax season is upon us and for many creative professionals it can either be a joyous occasion or one filled with dread.
Aside from being a catchy acronym, Digital Asset Management is an incredibly important concept in the world of digital photography that is too often overlooked.
Taking photos at night can be an incredibly creative and rewarding experience. Unfortunately, increasing levels of light pollution in cities and urban areas makes it virtually impossible to include any detail in your sky which is often a major aspect of your composition. Adding stars is an easy and effective answer to this problem. With simple masking and blending techniques you can add interest to your background and give the impression of being in a secluded, faraway place. The most common error is overdoing it by adding too many stars or trying to integrate them into a scene that simply does not look natural. Here are two quick techniques which aim to avoid these pitfalls.
Using textures to enhance photographs is a creative technique that is often overlooked. The best part is that it can be achieved completely free and usually in a matter of seconds.
Time-lapse photography has quickly become one of the most popular forms of creative expression in the past year. A ton of expensive gear and advanced methods exist to produce cinema quality videos like the opening sequence in "House of Cards," but this shouldn’t deter you from getting out and trying it on your own.
Creating selections in Photoshop can be a painstaking process, oftentimes with mixed results. I learned about luminosity masking by way of exposure blending for landscapes, but its applications are varied.
You’ve got the perfect composition, great light, and an amazing subject. You push the shutter and the image looks pretty good on your mini LCD screen. You import the shot and quickly realize it suffers from a common issue: color cast.
On a recent visit to my hometown, a friend of a friend asked if I would be able to photograph some inventory for her online art business. Most of her products were small to medium sized and she had a considerable backlog that needed to go up as quickly as possible. Being away from most of the gear in my studio, I had to improvise a bit if I was going to earn the business.
Old and damaged photographs are easy to come by. Most have been stored in boxes in the back of a closet left to dust and wither without a second thought. That is until said person goes to tidy up one day and finds an invaluable treasure trove long forgotten.
Sometimes you just want to shoot midday with a speedlite, in the middle of the forest, on a balmy 80-plus degree day in Florida. OK, those last few statements are purely hypothetical, but as a traveling photographer, I work with what I’ve got.
Something I get asked often is how to add color tones to your images. Often the easiest option is to use filters either in Lightroom or with a plugin software such as Google Nik. However, as you delve deeper into the world of color grading you will eventually become curious how to create your own effects.
If you’ve ever wondered how the heck to photograph, much less create, a time-lapse of the Milky Way; this video by Rhino Camera Gear explains the process in great detail.
This article is a twist on the more common behind the scenes post. Instead of writing about the thought process of the shot in retrospect, I am starting this article several days before the full moon, to showcase my process and mindset when planning for a once in a lifetime shot of the Supermoon.
Creating an image that appears “sharp” is something I struggled with for a LONG time. I read countless articles on the topic and invested heavily in gear thinking that was the cure. While gear can certainly help, I believe there are a few key areas to focus on in order to create images that are tack sharp.
