It's finally here: the day Casey Neistat ends his daily YouTube vlogging run, which was easily one of the most epic strings of content creation known to man and one that I will not forget. The man is a legend in the creative community, and I doubt he will be going anywhere anytime soon. Where he goes next is a big mystery, but Neistat's career is one I will continue to follow.
If you weren't aware, there is quite a market for mobile lenses within the photography community, and sitting atop the pack is a little company called Moment. They came bursting on the scene about two years ago with the plan to bring high quality glass to the mobile photography market. Here are my thoughts on their brand new super fisheye lens, the Superfish.
Everyone might not be familiar or privy to the changes that Instagram has made over the last couple years, but one thing is for sure, they are doing some great things when dealing with brands and how they feed ads to their consumers. Next week, they will begin to roll out a feature in which select brands will be able to tag specific products for people to click through and purchase with one click, all in-app.
The guys that brought you the Lume Cube are at it again with a Kickstarter to bring an even more powerful and portable light source for on the go photographers. The original Lume Cube is waterproof, features Bluetooth syncing, and has a build quality easily giving GoPro a run for its money. The Life Lite is all that but in an even smaller package at an incredibly enticing price point.
Snapchat is fun and all, but Instagram is better. Well, in my eyes, Instagram is better for a few reasons, and I quickly deleted the face-filter app that took up just shy of 1 GB of space on my iPhone because I felt Instagram's version of stories had the greater potential. One of the largest reasons I see more potential in Instagram Stories over Snapchat is the virality and reach my Story can have. Today, Instagram announced they will be adding people's public stories to the Explore page, which will essentially let them be seen by more people. If you have not caught on, this means there's more potential for my stuff to go viral.
It's difficult to follow every single photographer out of New York City, but one that comes to mind for me has always been Christopher Serrano, also known as Heavy_Minds on Instagram. His photos of feet dangling from rooftops and outstanding vantage points has always helped me visualize all that I believe NYC to be. Sadly, news has broke that Serrano has passed away scaling a train car.
It's been nearly two years since the people at Lume Cube launched their Kickstarter to bring their vision of an incredibly powerful and portable light to the photography community. For the last few weeks, I've had the pleasure to test these bad boys out in the wild and see what all the hype is about.
You heard right, an entire year of Adobe CC Photography Plan for free with the purchase of an Intuos tablet. This deal is only good until September 17, so you might want to act fast before the weekend hits. Though it might not seem like a deep discount, for those photographers out there that find retouching and fine tuning imagery with a physical pen the way to go, this might be perfect for them so don't wait and miss out on a solid deal.
The recent remake of Mad Max: Fury Road has to be one of my favorite examples of both CGI and practical effects in modern day movie making working perfectly together. The way they created this world for which these characters live astounds me every time I see the film and truly set itself apart from other movies. Thanks to behind the scenes access and places like Gizmodo for the latest BTS footage.
Stop motion animation is by far one of the most forgotten mediums for filmmaking, yet it holds high respect for what it is and how it's done in large motion pictures today. Those pushing the envelope in 2016 are the geniuses behind Laika Studios where they blended hand crafted puppets, CGI, and 3D printing to build a world filled with imagination and story.
The FTC seems to be continuing its watchful eye on sponsored posts via social media as influencers and celebrities get paid to post about their favorite brands. So beware if you are one that is taking products or collaborating with a brand as an ambassador, or simply as a partner. As photographers, many of us bring on relationships with companies and camera brands without knowing the rules fully. Not disclosing these partnerships can result in fines from the FTC.
For me, food photography has to be one of the most complex and technical types of photography in the industry. The ability to bring life and attraction to something you need to convince other to eat is pretty impressive. Steve Giralt has done the impossible by creating one of the most outstanding examples of a deconstructed burger I have ever seen.
A few months ago we shared that Instagram began to roll out some pretty powerful analytic tools called "Insights," though as many of you might have gathered it's not available to the masses just yet. Select users have their hands on the tools currently and they are able to track things like impressions, total reach, clicks to the link in your bio, and even what percentage of your followers are male or female. The tools expand further down into regions of the world your followers are from, including the exact city. Here is how to get them right now, for free.
If you've recently wrapped watching the 80s throwback "Stranger Things" on Netflix, you are probably filled with plenty of nostalgia by this point. Why not dive a bit farther back to a galaxy far, far away in some behind the scenes toy photography action? Freelance Photographer Steven Price is reliving his childhood love in these surrealistic scenes using toys usually meant for kids. Then again, we are all kids at heart.
Have you ever been editing a photo within the Instagram app or just finished adding the perfect caption paired with the correct user tags only to get booted out and brought back to the news feed? Ugh, it's the worst! Thanks to the social media gods for building in a feature to save drafts within the app in the final stages of an upload. The feature doesn't seem to be available to everyone so take a look at how it works below!
If you are still one of the few photographers or creatives on planet earth not on Instagram, you might want to reconsider after hearing these stats. Instagram has now reached more than 500 million monthly users and 300 million daily active users. That is outrageous to think considering the large portion of those came within the last 2-3 years. It shouldn't take much to convince you that its still a powerhouse when it comes to sharing images and connecting with an audience.
I'm fairly new to the photography community still, but I've have been in the design and creative community for nearly a decade. Common sense should be one of the easiest things to understand for artists, but still today some seem confused as to how to respect protected landmarks, especially our national parks. One girl learned the hard way after setting out and adding graffiti to rock formations and posting about them on her Instagram.
For me, commercials are supposed to be fun and entertaining while I wait for what I am actually watching to come back on. If they want to grab my attention and sell me on a product, what better way then to add Jason Statham acting as every single person in an action sequence? The boys at Energy BBDO have created a concept that is over the top and exactly what you would think of when star Statham is fighting his way through the busy streets. Check out the behind-the-scenes video and snapshots below to see how in depth they went.
It's truly incredible what they can do with film today, especially with the advancement of visual effects and motion graphics. When I first heard they were remaking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I was incredibly sad; all those years growing up watching the original live action films featuring the puppets crafted by Jim Henson's. It was brilliant and really well done for a movie of its time. Then came the almost 100% CGI filled epic by Michael Bay himself, yet it works and it's fun.
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.
If you've ever been told by a professional photographer to create series or personal projects, then this is the perfect reminder to do just that. Countless times have I started a series of images for a paid gig and wished I had more time, or less restriction to make it my own. Finn Beales is a commercial and travel photographer based in Wales creating the perfect side project to his commercial work called "72 Hours In...," showing a few days in each exotic location he shoots.
I think we can all agree that the thing we want more of as photographers is additional time in a day. How exactly do we get more hours in a day? It's simple: we cheat. Over the last few years that I have been shooting, I have tried to hone my skills in photography while also learning any way I can to refine my process in shooting, editing, and eventually delivering my shots to either clients or posting them to social media. Here are a few hacks I have learned to use on my iPhone in a pinch.
If you have not heard of Casey Neitstat yet, go check him out and come back when your done, it might take awhile but it will be well worth it. The guy is a serious talent in the film and social media world, with his own unique style and technique to movie making. This short film by Tom Bryan is an outstanding example of what each of us should be doing with our creative work. Bryan has plans to create a short film each month for the next 12 and has started it off with a bang.
I'm sure by now, many of you have heard of the one and only Casey Neistat, filmmaker and YouTube extraordinaire. He has a following of nearly three million subscribers on the platform and growing. He even won "YouTuber of the Year" at the Shorty Awards. He is obviously one of a kind and an incredibly polarizing creative, but who will be the next big star we look to for photo and video inspiration? Her name is Sara Dietschy; you will want to check her out.
I have been on Instagram for quite some time now, almost five years actually. Being a designer by day I can appreciate the simplicity they have put forward for years. The way you can snap, edit, and post a photos so quickly is astonishing to me, and to a platform that works so well. Today, they are changing it all up with a super clean logo and branding across the line of their apps. They are also quietly pushing out the new UI which consists of a total overall of the look and feel of the app.
For years, Instagram has been cultivating a community of some of the best photographers and creatives from around the world. They continue to grow at an astounding pace, and one of the best parts of the app is their InstaMeets, which were started by their own members in the early years. If you have never been a part of one, be sure to host or partake in one near you this weekend!
I've never been one for artificial light in my photography, and it's an issue that many photographers come across when leaving that oh, so beautiful natural light. The struggle of having a budget to put towards lighting equipment can be daunting but shouldn't limit you in finding the best way to create the shot. In this behind the scenes look, I will go into how I created a high-end product shot using light trails, all while on a budget. Remember, this can be recreated with any camera, including an iPhone, that allows for long exposures.
As many of you have seen and made clear on your feeds across various social networks this week, Instagram is changing its algorithm and from the looks of it, possibly for the worse. Chronological feed to curated feed is the proposed plan for the Instagram team in hopes "to show the moments we believe you will care about the most." How exactly will they know what I want? Facebook seems to do pretty well in retaining users so they must be doing something right for the majority. Now what does that mean for us photographers and professionals? Who knows but change will come so adapt and get over it!
I might push the importance of Instagram each week, but it's for good reason. It has seriously changed my life by introducing me to a hobby and career in photography and I know I am not alone. Thanks to a few talented photographers and Instagrammers including Eric Ward, Craig Hensel, and Ricky Staub, along with the Instagram community, set out on an eight day journey across the country to meet and collaborate with individuals they had met entirely on the social platform. Check out the incredible story here in this short documentary film!
I have no idea where this request came from, but here we have it: views will now be added for videos on Instagram. Starting this week, view counts will appear below videos instead of likes, which we have been seeing for years. The shift will likely happen within the week for most users and be a change of pace for what we usually see on the platform.
The day has come; Instagam will finally add support for switching between multiple accounts this week! Yes, you heard that right. After almost five years in the social game, they have come to their senses and added the ability to flip through accounts quickly and easily.
Everyone wants to win the lottery. In this day and age winning the lottery can mean many things, one of which is hitting it big on social media. Creating a body of work, an brand image, and a following so massive it creates clout behind your name so high, it is easily seen by everyone as the best in the business. For photographers and creative alike, achieving something like that can easily be seen as difficult, but in reality for some it was outrageously easy and can still be done thanks to Instagram.
People continue to ask me the same question over and over, "How do I quickly grow my following on Instagram?" I will continue to tell them there is no easy way to go about this, but I have found one way in recent months that has been building my following much faster than I expected. Here are a few ways I am finding great follower growth, as well as a rise in engagement. Trust me, hold tight while I go through a few ways you as a professional can get ahead of some of these young guns with iPhones.
Just five years ago I started down the path of photography and it's been some of the best professional and personal years of my life thus far. It has opened up my creativity to a whole new way of thinking which has added great value in the day job of design and advertising. Sparking my interest in this field was Instagram. Like many others in 2011, it was the iPhone that challenged me and helped me hone my skills over the years but I always wanted to get my hands on a full frame after talking with so many professionals. This year I finally did it. Here is how I feel professionals and even those starting out can maximize using both a DSLR and iPhone in a professional setting.
For years I have had the internal and professional battle to go through the motion of building a portfolio website to show off my absolute best and most recent work while also being able to allow clients to easily contact me. In today's day and age there has never been an easier way to do all of these things all in one place, for me that's Instagram and it should be for you as well. Here is why I think it's the best portfolio website on the web.
