The Best Photography Print Labs in 2023
One of the most frequently asked sets of questions I receive from other photographers is: What print lab do you use? Which online photo printing service is the best quality? Who prints the best quality photos?
One of the most frequently asked sets of questions I receive from other photographers is: What print lab do you use? Which online photo printing service is the best quality? Who prints the best quality photos?
Portraying injustices is not something novel. From the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day, many photographers have been concerned about leaving their mark. But can we try to change the world – even make it a better place – through a photograph?
If you are not responsible for the meaning behind your photographs then who is?
America’s national parks are a true source of pride. Each is unique in what it offers and this is certainly true of one of the more off-the-beaten-track parks.
In the southeast corner of Colorado sits a small town of just under 7,000 people called La Junta. Not only is this small town unique, what happens just outside of it is even more so: thousands of tarantulas “migrate” annually through the Comanche National Grasslands.
Hey, photographers: don’t be discouraged if you can’t afford the latest and greatest gear out there. You may be surprised by what you can do with modest gear.
When Nikon announced the new Z 400mm f/2.8 TC lens, lots of people asked if I was going to buy one. My answer? “No way, I’d be crazy to spend $14,000 on one lens.” So I guess I’m crazy, because now I have one. Here’s what happened that changed my mind.
I've been doing some freelance web development and photography and I was recently contacted by an acquaintance who's looking to start her own real estate office.
There are a lot of crazy ideas out there when it comes to experimental photography. Multiple exposures. Film Soups. Shooting your rolls backward. But have you ever heard of anybody loading two rolls of film into a camera at the same time? Me neither, and that’s exactly why I’m going to do it!
Digital photo editing has come a long way in the past two decades, and two software programs that have impacted the field are RawShooter and Lightroom.
The National Portrait Gallery, London, reopens in June following a three-year closure for the “largest redevelopment” in its 127-year history. Its opening exhibition, Yevonde: Life and Colour, will be the most comprehensive to date on British photographer, Yevonde Middleton (1893-1975).
The boreal toad is Colorado’s only alpine species of toad; this high-altitude amphibian lives at 7,000 to 12,000 feet of elevation in mountain ponds and lakes. They used to thrive, but are now facing a severely declining population.
Artificial intelligence images have the potential to misinform the future. For the first time in the technological present, we are on the cusp of a life-and-art-altering explosion of intentionally created dis-informational imagery.
A photographer has captured spectacular new photos of billions of fireflies blanketing the trees of a wildlife sanctuary in India.
Dramatic, restrictive, and humbling are three words I'd use to describe the Carl Zeiss 16mm f/8 Hologon Ultra-wide lens that I shoot adapted to Leica M film cameras.
By using a simple mechanical oscillator attached to a plastic cup, a number of unique standing wave patterns can be created. The resulting photographs are similar to geometric mandala patterns and thus are popular subjects for photography students.
AMS Software has presented a new version of PhotoWorks – a multi-purpose photo editor. Over the past 15 iterations, this image editing software has been rising in prominence but retained one drawback – Windows exclusivity. Version 16.0 finally breaks that mold and opens up PhotoWorks to the Apple audience. It also introduces new features, which is a good reason to revisit the previous review and witness the progress.
On March 23rd, 2023, Earth got hit by the strongest geomagnetic storm in six years. I was out executing my unique aurora shot of the year, titled The Platform.
Unfortunately, if you use the internet for work, you probably already know that new scams and scammers pop up every day. Recently, I’ve seen the rise in popularity of a new scam targeting photographers. I don’t want to see anyone, especially other photographers, being scammed out of their hard-earned money.
I don’t enjoy my Zenit camera (it keeps chewing up film) but the lens that comes with it (the Helios 44/2) is legendary for its surreal swirly bokeh, so is an excellent choice to adapt. It’s often cheaper to buy the camera and steal the lens than buy a copy of the lens.
You may recognize Aftershoot as one of the leading AI culling apps on the market. Now, Aftershoot is revving up its mission to streamline the entire post-shoot workflow for photographers with its AI editing software, Aftershoot EDITS.
Most of the time in landscape photography, we plan to visit several incredible destinations and photograph them over the course of a week-long trip, typically capturing seven or eight different places.
I love spring. Little flowers pop up everywhere -- in your garden, in nature, in parks, next to the roads: basically everywhere. And these flowers are great fun to photograph.
Milky Way season is the best time to learn how to plan and shoot an astrophotography timelapse, capturing the majestic galactic core in motion!
I had the Mamiya RB67 and Pentax 67 on my medium-format wanted list for many years now, but I simply could not justify the price tag or bear the unfortunate realization that either camera would sit lonely and unused on a shelf. That all changed in December 2022 when I decided to grab a non-working RB67 as a Christmas Present for my eldest brother.
Abstract landscape photography offers a unique opportunity to explore the world around us in a completely different way. By focusing on patterns, shapes, and textures, we can discover unseen worlds in even the most mundane places.
We've all seen the images surfacing online of portraits with seven fingers on one hand and two left feet. Recently, the internet has been inundated by imagery coming from prompted artificial intelligence programs such as Midjourney, Jasper, and DALL-E. The world has been captivated by the potential these new neural networks bring to the creative space.
Innovation from Canon got me into photography, but sadly Canon and its competitors lost their way.
As a photographer, it's easy to fall into a rut of shooting the same types of photos over and over again. Sometimes it is easy to slip into a routine once we have a good grasp of exposure and composition.
I recently wrote about the importance of discourse on the ethics around photography, where I offered my perspective on why rules and doctrines around decision making can diminish your ability to stand behind your work, justify your decisions, and really take responsibility and ownership over your vision.
A recent email from a photographer friend congratulated me on successfully navigating’ a "minefield" and walking "a very tricky tightrope." These sound like dramatic ways to describe the production of a book.
A little while ago, when Apexel asked me to review the 200X LED Lens microscope adaptor, I told them I was interested in both the microscope and the macro lens kit. Due to stocking issues, they were able to send the microscope adaptor.
Some years ago I wrote about the (now fairly obvious seeming) perspective of photography as a process of grounded, present awareness in order to achieve a result.
We're about to take a trip back in time to the early 1960s and learn how a $40 drugstore camera forced NASA to rethink its space missions. Yes, it’s true. A simple camera purchased at the local drugstore played a pivotal role in shaping the future of space exploration and set the stage for space photography in a non-scientific domain.
The world of photography is full of words and phrases that can be confusing for new photographers, so PetaPixel has put together a complete glossary of everything you may want to know the meaning of if you're just getting started.
I have a special interest in manual focus 50mm lenses. It began with a Praktica film SLR that was bundled with a 50mm f/2.8 Meyer-Optic Görlitz lens. Next came a Canon Ftb SLR with a 50mm f/1.4 FD SSC lens. This lens had a noticeable improvement in image quality along with a much better anti-reflection coating.
In landscape photography, it is helpful to have three specific lens filters in your camera bag. These are the circular polarizer (CPL) filter, the neutral density (ND) filter, and the graduated neutral density filter (GND).
Capturing images in the woods can be a fulfilling experience, and I have fond memories of wandering through the forest with my camera in hand. However, finding a good composition can be a challenge and sometimes stressful.
Photography, like every art form, is subjective. As such, anything we create is open to criticism, whether we like it or not. When criticism is given with the best of intentions, it can lead to growth.
Seeing is believing. This concise rhetoric goes a long way to explain the power of photography. Where a statistic can reduce an entire country to a few numbers a photograph can bypass the mind and head directly to the heart via the eyes. Emotional, heartbreaking eyewitness testimony is just another block of text compared to the medium which makes the viewer themselves an eyewitness to whatever the photographer wanted to show them.
The 66th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 66 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, about 61 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia and North America.
I’d like to start by saying that I feel the word ‘criticism’ is interpreted by some as inherently negative, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Throughout this article, I’ve used the words ‘critique’, ‘criticism', and ‘feedback’, interchangeably, because I consider them to be more or less the same in this particular context.
As a wildlife photographer, I'm always looking for ways to capture stunning images of animals in their natural habitats. One technique I've found to be incredibly effective is using a custom-made, DIY, DSLR camera trap, which is a camera setup that is triggered by the movement of an animal.
Headshot photography is an exciting and lucrative niche in the photography industry, and if you're looking to make a name for yourself as a headshot photographer, this article is for you.
Back in December, a young man walked into one of the fine art galleries that represent my photographs and engaged the gallery owner in a conversation about some of my prints. He seemed to be familiar with my work, said that his girlfriend was actually a fan, and remarked that he had been thinking of buying her a piece.
I love street photography, I teach street photography, I promote street photography, I defend street photography, and want everyone to experience the fun of doing street photography!
From gnarled veterans to sky-soaring giants, trees are majestic subjects to experience and photograph. While shifting seasons, wild weather and fleeting light can make the pursuit a highly rewarding—yet achingly frustrating—one.
While photography and linguistic language share characteristics, when it comes to actually applying theories and practices between one and the other, it can be hard to remain coherent. This is down to the flaw in thinking that just because a comparison can be made aspects can be transposed between them.
Food photography is one of the easiest photography disciplines to start out with. You can arrange food however you like. It doesn’t scamper away mid-shoot and doesn’t get tired. It’s also relatively contained and easy to practice.
Being a wedding photographer for me is one of the best, if not the best, jobs in the world. As expected though, the best job in the world also has its negatives, and one of them is the reoccurring nightmares the night before a wedding day.