For many of us, the holidays are about spending time with family and friends, exchanging gifts, travel, and leisure. If you’re the photographer among your family and friends, chances are it’s expected that you’ll capture the love and joy and all of the genuine smiles with your professional camera, because after all, it’s what you love to do, isn’t it?
LED lights are becoming more popular than ever, and with super compact, battery-powered options such as the Lowel Go Lite, it’s never been easier to pack them along for the ride, wherever that may take you. In this review I take a look at the versatile Go Lite by Lowel.
What makes one street photographer any greater than the other? Is it the streets which they frequent? Is it a matter of being in the right place at the right time? Or is the answer more about perspective and the people who fill the streets? Remarkable Street Photographer Rinzi Ruiz opens up about the inspiration behind his stunning street photography.
In case you didn’t already know what a beast of a camera the Nikon D850 is, another incredible 8K time-lapse video has surfaced created using the D850’s powerful 45.7-megapixel sensor and the built-in interval timer.
Swedish Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker Pieter Ten Hoopen has a passion for photography that seems to grow much like his success in the industry. This success can be supported by a quick reference to his resume, which boast clients such as the New Yorker and New York Times Magazine and also by his status as a Nikon Ambassador.
Ten years from now, will you be the equivalent to what I refer to as film hipsters, fighting for an obsolete technology, or will you be a part of something that may be inevitable? Something that we all seem to refuse to talk about?
There have been all sorts of strange trends in photography throughout its vast history. Some of those trends raise the question, where would you draw the line when it comes to taking on commissioned work? Would posing and photographing the dead be considered too taboo in today's society?
While the general public may be less focused on the technical details associated with an image used for an album cover on Pop Singer Ariana Grande’s “My Everything” album, the Internet’s Photoshop police are suddenly calling Photoshop fail. What do you think?
Love it or hate it, Halloween is right around the corner and it’s the perfect time of the year for spooky costumes, creative photography, and in the case of this video, some slick composite work in Photoshop.
As a photographer, there may come a time when you’re handed a request that may seem out of the ordinary. That may have been the case for one photographer who just managed to get all foreign weddings at a popular Greek wedding destination banned.
As slick as we may think we look, the truth is there are times when we simply fail as photographers. Thankfully, another photographer is typically nearby to capture your failure in all of its glory.
There are a ton of speedlight modifiers on the market today. Some utilize the miracle material we call Velcro, others use rare-earth magnets to affix their product to your flash. Photoflex takes a more traditional approach with their latest speedlight modifier by developing a collapsible octobox style modifier specifically designed for speedlights.
Chances are, you’re familiar with the story. A photographer tricks a monkey into taking a selfie with his camera, monkey becomes internet famous as a result, photographer gets sued by PETA on behalf of the narcissistic macaque. It’s a classic case of a monkeying around. Something that cost this photographer a great deal of unintended drama. Well, it looks like one macaques chances of cashing a fat paycheck have been squashed.
You may want to stand as you read this. You see, there’s something about the digital photography workflow that keeps us glued to our chairs and fixated on our computer screens. We lean forward to check details and slouch in our chairs as the hands on the clock make their way around their enclosure. This practice could be described as addicting and we long to create a final image to share with the masses, however our bodies suffer the consequences of said practice without us really ever taking note of its aches and pains — our body’s subtle reminders that we’re humans and that we're meant to do much more than sit at a desk all day.
As my grandfather would have said, it’s better to be pissed off than to be pissed on. I guess he was right in some regards. For the most part, being rubbed the wrong way never becomes comfortable, and even photographers have a breaking point.
There's a lot more to creating unique and edgy content than keeping a camera fixed to your face. From eating scrumptious tacos and filming rock-busting, high-horsepower off-road race trucks in Baja, Mexico to cruising the scenic Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevada creating content for some of the motorsport industry's biggest names, it's all in a week's work if you're Matt Martelli, the creative director and CEO of one of the fastest growing media companies on the U.S. West Coast, Mad Media.
The idea of discounting our work is something most of us don’t even want to consider. We’ve spent a ton of time honing our skills and have more invested into our work than the consumer can possibly understand. That’s why mini-sessions are perfect — if you have the time.
The Arrow Smartwatch claims to be the first smartwatch with a 360-degree rotating camera. This raises the question, would an iPhone-quality camera be more preferable on a watch?
Photographers can be catty. Real catty. In fact, out of all creative groups I can think of, I can’t put my finger on one that is more competitive and judgmental than photographers. So how should you react when you’re hired to photograph an event and find another professional there with a camera?
Lowepro recently announced an update to their popular Flipside series of backpacks aimed at meeting the modern photographer and videographer's needs. Here I review the largest and most robust of the series, the Flipside 500 AW II.
Photographers today demand a lot from their equipment, and we expect a lot when purchasing gear that we plan on traveling with. Fstoppers takes a look at a lightweight carbon fiber travel tripod that’s packed with the features you may be looking for.
I apparently don’t always have the best relationship with my equipment. Recently while setting up for an early morning outdoor shoot, I was reminded that you get what you pay for with a swift blow to my man-parts. 'Eff you light stand!
If there’s one thing we can credit drones for, it’s their ability to provide a different and often refreshing perspective on things that we’ve seen dozens of times before. The United States' Independence Day holiday is one that's been photographed for many years and in many different ways. With drone technology advancing and becoming more accessible to the general public, it’s a certainty that the holiday’s traditional pyrotechnics displays are going to be photographed and captured from above, leaving us all with a stunning aerial perspective on the shows we’ve watched from the ground for years. But is it safe to fly an unmanned aircraft through fireworks at night?
Regardless of whether your idea of a "small-town" is one with 100 people or 20,000, the potential hurdles small-town photographers must get over can stack up quickly if you only focus on the negatives. Perhaps your goal in photography is to simply maintain a hobby. Maybe you aspire to maintain a high-profile business instead. Either way, I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to achieve your goals regardless of where you currently reside.
Shooting product photography can either be a tedious task or it can be a fun and rewarding one. Likewise, looking at product photographs can either be boring or it can enlightening. Using gels to modify the light in your product photographs can be an easy way to add some energy to your images.
Are you doing enough to ensure that your story is shared beyond your years? Take a few extra steps to ensure that your family photos will be enjoyed by generations to come.
There are times that I’m more happy to be human than others. Thank you Gatorade, for creating one minute and one second of awesome video that excites me to be alive.
If you’ve ever spent time shooting product photography or still life, you probably recognize and appreciate random surfaces and textures that would make flattering surfaces to photograph things on. Here’s an easy and inexpensive way to create leather texture the next time you find yourself in need of a classy surface.
There’s no denying that Tupac Shakur’s music helped create the soundtrack for the nineties. His heavy hitting lyrics and smooth, yet unrefined style is still being imitated today. Big name retailers Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters are currently under fire for using an image of Tupac copyrighted by the photographer back in 2002.
Life isn't always about working our tails off just so we can turn around and blow our earnings on whatever the industry tells us the next best thing is. It’s time to take a step back from your hard day at work and think about some of the other things your hard earned income could be affording you. Like a six figure side-biz slinging wieners.
There’s nothing quite like being able to materialize your photography by printing a stunning, professional-quality print. From a business standpoint, it can also be quite profitable to cut out the middleman and produce your own prints for your clients. B&H has an incredible offer going on right now that makes printing your images easier and more affordable than ever.
Disclaimer: This isn’t one of those articles suggesting that you buy this book to learn how to write a book about writing books. It’s not a secret recipe for success, or some sort of made up list of chores you must first complete before winning a coveted golden ticket. These three stages are noted because I’ve observed their tenants, and with a little of your own investigative digging, you’ll learn that many of your favorite photographers have resided within the boundaries of each of these stages as well.
Drones are being used in so many creative ways these days that I can’t even keep up with all of the beautiful and exciting footage being shared daily. Some things do catch my attention more than others, however. Like drones being used as precision weapons to take out bikers, instead of filming said incredible footage.
Have you ever framed a shot that you thought you'd be happy with only to snap an image that doesn’t quite live up to what you had in mind? Perhaps using that extra speedlight in your bag could help you capture the image you were after.
If you were born in the 70s, 80s, or even the 90s you were likely one of the many who were captivated by the iconic 1984 classic, "The NeverEnding Story." It’s a story that will, well, never end in terms of the memories it reproduces for Gen Y’ers. Go behind the scenes during the creation of the cult classic in this short video.
