Speedlights and similar flashes can be a wonderful way to bring high-quality lighting on location. However, adapting a small flash to take softboxes, gels, diffusers, and other modifiers can be a bit of a slog. By the time you bring everything you need you're back up to a sizable kit. For that reason, I don't usually bother with small flashes, preferring to go with my larger setup. That may be changing.
There's been a lot of doom and gloom about film and its viability as a photographic medium in the last few years. Film stocks seemed to be fading away faster than ever. However, this past year, Fujifilm decided to bring back one of their most beloved modern films, Acros, in a new formulation: Acros II. In this great video, Roger from Shoot Film Like a Boss puts the film through its paces and gives his thoughts.
Lighting can be as simple or as complex as you make it. As someone who uses light meters myself, I struggle to articulate why using this handy tool can be a far more efficient way to light a scene. In this informative video, the simplicity of lighting a portrait using ratios is explained far better than I ever could!
In my ramblings as a photographer over the last decade and a half, I've shot with almost every brand of commercial digital camera out there. However, most of my experience has been in the realm of common crop-sensor and full-frame cameras. I've always seen the more exotic offerings in medium format digital as beyond my reach and therefore, not worth thinking about.
Action cameras are all the rage these days. As cell phones get better, more weather-resistant cameras, some may say that they're past their prime and on the way out. However, Insta360, the makers of the Insta360 One X 360 degree camera, has released a new camera: the Insta360 Go.
Film use is definitely on the rise. However, when you start to play around with this admittedly archaic technology, one fact of life rears its head very quickly: the film needs to be processed. Although you can go the lab route, I've always found a certain satisfaction in processing my film myself. For those of us with means, however, there may be another option: The Filmomat!
Technology in the video world is moving at a blistering pace. With new features being released seemingly every month, once-hyped cameras are being tossed by the wayside faster than ever in favor of the next big thing. Although this trend of rapid obsolescence could be seen as a negative, it often results in just-shy of cutting edge technology rapidly coming down to a price point that is affordable for the masses. This could be the case with the Fujifilm X-H1!
With the release of the Fujifilm GFX 50R, the Hasselblad X1D II 50C, as well as a burgeoning used market, digital medium format has become more attainable than ever by professional photographers wanting to step up to the next level in image quality. However, the full frame market is firing back on all cylinders, producing cameras that claim to rival medium format, such as the Sony a7R IV. Many medium format users are quick to point out that there is a medium format look that these high-end full-frame cameras are lacking. So, what is the medium format look? Is it real? Why, yes. Yes, it is.
As a fledgling YouTuber myself, I'm always interested in tips and tricks that can make my videos more professional looking. If you're like me and struggle with keeping your "set" neat and tidy, this video from Drone Film Guide may be just the ticket!
In part of three of making prints of my shoot with Cognito, I made a kallitype from a film scan. A kallitype is an iron-based contact printing solution that yields a wonderful tonality that, in my opinion, can only be found in analogue printing. Here's a quick overview of the process and some thoughts on why you should venture out and try something different!
As a sort of part 2 to my last video, I'm taking the black and white film from that same shoot and jumping into the darkroom. It's been a while since I've ventured in, so I thought it would be fun to take you along with me while I kicked off the cobwebs.
Scanning film has always been a bit of a pain. However, with time comes progress, and Nate over at Negative Lab Pro has been doing some awesome work, making scanning C-41 film using a DSLR or mirrorless easier than ever. However, using Negative Lab Pro with a flatbed scanner has always been a bit lacking. That just changed with Negative Lab Pro 2.0 and an unlikely partner: Vuescan.
In the nausea-inducing argument of "gear doesn't matter," one of the lines often peddled by one side or another is that the camera, no matter how sophisticated, is just a tool. It's the equivalent of a hammer. Its job is to collect light and any romanticizing over these "light boxes" is just an exercise in GAS. I agreed with that sentiment for a long time, but now I'm not so sure. Here are my reasons why the camera is more important than its obvious job as a way to catch an image.
So you finally made the jump to mirrorless! You've got that sexy new Sony/Nikon/Canon/Fuji/Panasonic and you're itching to get cracking on some awesome portraits! It's about then that you realize that the kit lens isn't going to cut it and you didn't quite budget as well as you'd thought for some shiny new system lenses. What's a photographer to do? Buy some cheap, old glass to get you going!
Technology is a locomotive moving full speed ahead. From the creation of the first digital SLR almost two decades ago to the mirrorless revolution, the progression of technology in photography has made the craft more accessible, affordable, and reliable than ever. However, even with all of this progress, I can't help but feel that we've lost a little something along the way.
While we all love it when a gig lands in our lap, sometimes the timetable doesn't work in our favor. Having a decent amount of time leading up to the shoot can be critical in getting the best results for you and your client.
Depth of Field, or a lack thereof, has become a buzzword of sorts in photography circles. Many times the term is used as a blanket nomenclature to cover anything to do with how much or little of a subject is in focus. What we often fail to consider is why. Why are we choosing to use as much or as little depth as we do? It's time to look past aesthetics and really think about depth of field in relation to our subjects.
For many of us, marketing ourselves to potential art buyers, publications, and agencies is the stuff of nightmares. Cold calling is certainly one of the most feared.
Art and inspiration go hand in hand. For photographers, curling up in the corner of the bookstore with a stack of magazines, oohing and ahhing at photographs we wish we had created seems to be a part-time job. However, equally as important as what our heroes produce is how they produce it. We can learn a lot from the methodology of the folks that do what we want to do day in and day out. With that in mind, here's a conversation with Art Streiber.
Automation is a very good thing. From streamlining our workflows to speeding up client interactions and accepting payments, we are living in a time where the right software packages make running our business much easier. However, blindly trusting that pieces of software are doing what they're supposed to do can lead to financial losses or worse. A few days ago, I found this out the hard way.
Lighting is everything. As a photo professional, I know this. I've dealt with lights for stills photography for about 15 years now, and although I'm always learning, I'm pretty confident around lighting. Video is an entirely different beast altogether. Although I love my AD600, it does me very little good trying to capture anything in video. Selens as come up with a "low-cost" 3-light kit that may appeal to those looking to hone their video lighting skills. Let's see how it did!
Although I've been shooting weddings for years, I've always done bridal portraits as a "day of" service. In Colorado, there wasn't much of a market for bridal portraits before the big day. Now that I've moved to North Carolina, it's an entirely different ballgame! Pre-wedding portraits are big business down South. So, how can you separate yourself from the pack? Well for starters, take advantage of the fact that you now have one resource that isn't on your side on the actual wedding day: time.
Shooting film is wonderful. Shooting film can be immeasurably rewarding. However, no matter how fun film is to shoot, there are some tradeoffs in the convenience department. We have to acknowledge that we live in a digital world. Most people need a way to get their analog images into a digital format.
Sometimes, photography is too easy. After churning out perfect images left and right, I really felt I like I needed a challenge that would put my God-like skills to the test. Of course, that’s complete crap, but occasionally I do see the need to challenge myself and alternative processes are a great way to learn about the craft of photography while having a bit of fun floundering in failure. To that end, I’ve learned my first alternative process: the kallitype.
Lighting: it's the beginning and end of photography. The way we think about light shapes our style, our techniques, and the way we feel about our art. Unfortunately, lighting, whether by natural or artificial means, can be intimidating. When we're learning about lighting, all too often we get so wrapped up in technique that we don't think about what we are doing before we execute. However, sometimes the best tips we can get have more to do with mentality than technique.
Ah, scanning. If you're not printing in the darkroom, it's a necessary evil when dealing with film. You could argue that outside of the moment of exposure, scanning carries the most weight in determining the quality of the final image. For those that choose to develop their film at home, scanning is the next step in our workflow. Most of us want to get in, get the best scan we can, and get out to the greener pastures of Photoshop to make our final edits. Your choice of software has a lot to do with how efficient and how tolerable it will be to get your negatives into the computer. It's through that lens that we take a look at VueScan.
Yesterday Canon announced the 6D Mark II, the long awaited update to the almost five year old original 6D. Although a massive update from the original, some of the features (or lack thereof) are leaving many scratching their heads. Chief among them is the omission of 4K video. The internet has noticed.
After losing almost my entire photo kit due to blatant stupidity on my part (yay insurance), I was put in the unenviable position of rebuilding a camera system from scratch. Being a portrait photographer, I immediately gravitated towards full-frame bodies. I was close to pulling the trigger on one when it hit me: Why not try a crop sensor? I'm glad I did.
It's been a month or so since I started printing in the darkroom, and what a ride it has been! After going through tons of paper and chemicals, making a mountain of bad prints, and generally messing up in every way possible, I've managed to be able to make some decent prints. Here are a few of most important lessons I've learned so far in my darkroom adventure.
As the phone rings, I breathe easy to calm my nerves. I'm about to interview one of the most successful modern portrait photographers in the world. I'm halfway through leaving a stuttering mess of a message when he cuts in. "Hello? Hi, I had the music going and didn't hear the phone ring..." Buck has built a career over the past 30-plus years photographing some of the biggest names in Hollywood and politics. He has carved out a space for himself in the upper echelon of photographers working today. And he has a land line. Somehow, given his old school, dogged approach to portraiture and his recent switch to digital, I think that's just perfect.
As I delve deeper into teaching myself how to print in the darkroom, I find myself constantly scouring YouTube for videos on the subject. In trying to relay the things I've learned to you, I realized that there's a lot about printing in the darkroom that I had no clue about. In this video, Andrea Calabresi, an educator based in Italy, does a wonderful job of giving an overview of what it takes to get a good print.
The Intrepid Camera Co. is on a roll. With the lofty goal of bringing low-cost large format film photography to the masses, they launched their initial 4x5 model's Kickstarter in the fall of 2014. Although plagued with fulfillment issues and mixed reviews (You can see our review of the original model here), enough attention was garnered to warrant a follow up of a much more refined model in 2016. Now, Intrepid is stepping up and hoping to swing for the fences with a big boy: an 8x10 camera.
Although I've professed my love for film many times in many articles, I've always been missing a key ingredient to the analog experience. Namely, I've never learned to print my own film in the darkroom. Sad, I know. Well, no more! My journey to teaching myself to use a darkroom starts now and, whether you like it or not, I'm taking you with me. First things first: Where the hell am I going to put a darkroom?
Browsing YouTube can be an exercise in either frustration or bliss, depending on the day. Today, though, I happened upon something that truly speaks to me. If you are a portrait photographer, or anything resembling one, you owe it to yourself to check out the documentary, "Darkness and Light," a part of the American Masters Series, produced by PBS.
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on my favorite camera, the Mamiya RZ67. Even though such a camera sells for peanuts compared to its original cost decades ago, buying into a new system can be costly. Well, in celebration of May the 4th, KEH, a used camera gear reseller, is having a fantastic sale on Mamiya gear.
