Want to get the best out of your photos this year? Using one photo as an example -- a photo I took in Paris with a Canon 5D Mark II to prove it can be done with a camera of nearly any age -- I will show five easy tips that will make dramatic differences in your images.
Released in 2016, the Canon 5D Mark IV got a range of reviews, with most being quite negative. 5 years down the road, how does this camera hold up in professional jobs, and will I be upgrading from it?
There have been thousands of articles written about cheap and expensive lights, cameras, and lenses. To me, the light is not as important as the modifier.
Aloha, and welcome back to my astrophotography tutorial write-ups. I wrote an article last month on the basics of photographing the Milky Way core season. Today I am going to continue this series and tell you about a game-changing technique that you have probably may have already heard about: image stacking.
To many photographers, getting your work printed in a magazine is the holy grail, especially if you manage to make the front cover. Sure, posting on Instagram or Facebook is great but actually seeing your work in print... to me, there is no better feeling.
When starting out, you will inevitably stumble upon someone telling you to use a three-light setup for portraits and a beauty dish for fashion photography. I think that’s a whole bunch of nonsense. Lighting setups don’t teach you light -- they only confuse you and derail you from progressing.
We live in a time when our technology and camera gear usually work extremely well and reliably... Until it doesn’t. Randomly. And at the worst time. When that happens, you’re left feeling unprepared and stressed which is something that none of us enjoy.
As photographers, we all know marketing is important. We regularly hear that it can make or break a business. Good marketing can help you stand out. We’ve all wondered how and why some photographers have hundreds of thousands of followers when others are struggling to even hit triple digits.
I previously wrote an article on some of the gear that photographers can buy used and how I saved $15,000 doing so. It feels wrong for me to buy any new gear -- like I'm burning money when doing so. That said, here are a few photography things that even bargain-hunters like me buy new.
It’s no secret that most photographers want the pro stuff. Indeed, perhaps your favorite YouTuber has a Canon R5 or the latest expensive L lens. Pro gear beats amateur gear in most areas, even if it's 10 years older. I know people who shot global campaigns in 2018 on a pro camera from 2009. Pro gear is great but expensive. Sometimes extremely expensive.
I can't begin to tell you how many times I've lost a shot because I didn't think through the basics well enough. I would of course have my composition and exposure settings dialed in and with that determined, you would think that I have what I needed to get the shot. But, in some cases, that just isn’t enough.
There was a time when I would always shoot wide open, and it hurt my progress. The kit lens that came with my camera had a slow aperture, so getting blurry or creamy background was quite unusual unless the subject was close.
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a good friend -- who is also a heck of a photographer -- about the pros and cons of using creative profiles and presets as part of your photo editing workflow. His stance was unambiguous and straightforward: as far as he’s concerned, profiles and presets are murderers of creativity.
I'm photographer Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens. In this video and article, we’re going to take a look at batteries. What you can fly with, what you feel comfortable checking in your check bags, what you should carry on with you, and what you shouldn’t take with you.
The COVID pandemic has stricken all the layers of our societies, from culture to economy, family life to social events. Nevertheless, this unique situation has also offered unique pictures of places usually crowded and suddenly totally empty, taken by photo reporters.
There are many places where drones are banned and many laws restricting how, when, and where you can fly, but what if you absolutely must capture some drone shots in one of these off-limits locations? Well, you can just fake it!
How bright should your images be? How should the luminosity levels in your image be balanced? And how do you make sure you get the right exposure to allow you to have the best chance of creating an edit that you love?
Milky Way core season is right around the corner. I wrote this quickie guide on how to photograph our galaxy for anyone interested in going out to do some astrophotography this season!
As a photographer, I work from my home base in Istanbul, completing assignments for places like The New York Times. But, just like everywhere else, COVID-19 has put a damper on normal human interactions in Turkey. So, when a photo editor at The New York Times gave me the option of shooting an assignment remotely, I was intrigued.
Want to get better at posing your subjects when shooting portraits? Here's a 12-minute video tutorial in which well-known wedding and portrait photographer Jerry Ghionis shares 5 corrective posing tips, explaining how to pose your clients so they always look good.
Photographer Michael Shainblum is known for some truly impressive landscape images and in previous videos has strongly advocated for the use of telephoto lenses. In this 10-minute video, he shows how he captured two days worth of images with mainly a Sigma 100-400mm.
Let me begin by saying I am in no way a professional sports photographer. I am simply a high school math teacher who loves three things: teaching, mathematics, and photography. As a serious photographer in my school, it often fell upon me to document sporting events for the benefit of the school and the students themselves.
Photographer Jens Heidler, who was recently featured for his macro video of snowflakes melting in reverse, has published a 5-minute instructional video on how to create frozen soap bubbles for dazzling macro photos.
Conducting an interview and taking pictures at the same time may sound overwhelming but this is a usual practice in social documentary photography. After 8 years of talking while shooting, I now feel as if something is missing when I silently click a shutter button or interview someone without a camera in my hands. However, this type of work is full of challenges and pitfalls. Here is how I navigate this territory.
Finding your photographic style takes time. It's a process. You may even think you found it only to discover that your preferences have changed. That's okay. That's good. It means that you are growing and evolving on your journey.
As a professional photographer for quite a few years now, I thought some of you may be interested in some photography business advice and tips through this entry-level straightforward photography business guide.
Figuring out the line between "good" and "too much" is one of the big challenges in photography, whether it's making adjustments in post-processing or figuring out what to include in a composition. In this 14-minute video, photographer Mark Denney shares 5 things to look for to figure out if your landscape photos are too busy.
Winter photography can be difficult and even dangerous if you don’t take the proper precautions to protect yourself and your gear. In this post I’ll show you how to take better snow photos and have a more enjoyable time in the cold while doing it.
Posing is arguably the most challenging skill photographers need to master in order to become successful professionals, and in this 10-minute video, photographer Reggie Ballesteros shows 10 poses that beginners can use in their next session.
Planning is key to capturing the best Milky Way images. Unlike other types of photography, shooting our galaxy requires you to consider many astronomical factors, like the sunset, the moon phase, and the Milky Way’s location in the sky.
The purpose of a snoot is to take a light source and focus it down into a more defined point, but The Beyond Photography Show host Andrew explains in this 11-minute video that the physics of snoots makes them terrible at their job.
Youtuber Kevin Raposo believes that many photographers use the Clarity, Texture, and Dehaze sliders in Lightroom without fully understanding what each is doing. To help, he's uploaded this quick 4-minute video that teaches you the differences between each, and when best to use them.
The world of macro photography is full of fascinating subjects, but eyes and irises have got to be among the most mesmerizing ones. As with most captivating subjects, capturing it can be quite a challenge.
A primary question in photography is, “What is composition”? Photo composition governs the manner in which our eyes travel through an image. It defines how objects within an image are placed relative to each other in such a way that generates visual excitement. Used correctly, it transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of shooting some product photography for my friends over at HDK Snowmakers. They are a snowmaking machine manufacturer for some of the country’s largest ski resorts and specialize in hyper-efficient machines that keep skiers on the slopes, while not guzzling up tons of water.
The holidays in New York City are my favorite part of the year. It's such a magical and festive time all throughout the City. You'll find holiday trees, light displays, and the prettiest decorations around every corner.
If there’s a challenge in selecting the best images from a day’s shoot, then that challenge is amplified when it comes to actively curating a huge body of work into something coherent and presentable.
With several astrolnomical events coinciding with the Winter Solstice, including the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction and the Ursids Meteor Shower, December 21st is poised to be a prime opportunity for practicing nighttime and astrophotography skills.
Becoming a successful landscape photographer is a complicated, challenging journey that is impossible to distill into a few words. But in this 9-minute video, Michael Shainblum at least tries to point out five mistakes he knows keeps you from growing as a photographer.
One of the consequences of reviewing computers for PetaPixel and running benchmark after benchmark is that you learn a thing or two about working in Lightroom. From weird quirks to the optimal performance settings for import, export, and editing, there are a few key changes you can make to coax a little more speed out of Adobe's Raw editor.