Tips

As photographers, we tend to get used to doing things one way or another. Over time, these turn into habits that we rarely question. But sometimes it’s good to take a step back and evaluate our approach to the art. Here are some bad habits that I personally developed as a photographer and how I worked to resolve them.

Although it’s tempting to believe that anyone and everyone is a potential customer for your photography, your actual target customer base is much more limited. Finding customers who are likely to buy your photos without spending exorbitantly to acquire them is the key to any successful marketing campaign.

For photographers curious about using either film or digital to capture foggy landscape, Michael Shainblum has put together a video showing the behind-the-scenes of using both mediums with a telephoto lens.

Being a professional photographer is often a flashy “seemingly easy” career in which anyone with a camera and a lens can succeed. But why then do so many fail? Having talked to many successful photographers, I’ve noticed certain patterns that they all share.

If you do iPhone photography, common sense may say you pick up the iPhone, open the camera app and just start shooting. That’ll work, but there happen to be so many settings and features hidden within these phones that stump way too many people, even some of us pros sometimes.

Professional sports photographer Paul Rutherford shares valuable advice on how to tackle fast-paced sports shoots in low-light situations.

I want to show you an iOS app called SCRL that I use to easily create those fun, swipe-able panoramic posts on Instagram using an iPhone.

I've shot thousands of pics of insects without flash and tens of thousands with flash. When the lighting is bright and sunny, the results can be good without flash. But when I venture out in pursuit of photo ops, I often encounter poorly lighted situations which are better with flash. If you study the work of experienced insect photographers, you'll find that most of them use flash.

Online sales have long been the go-to for photographers looking to earn passive income. While you reach out to editors and communicate with clients about their latest headshots or food photos, have you considered which images you’ve already made might make you some quick cash?

Producing photographs, writing, and ideas to share with others is such a wonderful way to direct creative energy, and for many, this approach involves setting themselves up as a photography business practice in some way, whether that’s offering the work as a product or as a service.

My first foray into aerial photography using a drone left a lot to be desired, to say the least.

Although Photoshop has many tools to cover practically any post-processing desire, it is daunting to newcomers as a result. To help make the program easier to jump into, photographer PJ Pantelis has shared a brief tutorial that equips photographers with a handful of top tools to get started in Photoshop with ease.

As an independent photographer, landing the "dream" client might seem like an impossible task. However, getting the perfect client may be more achievable than you think, as is avoiding the bad ones.

Portraits are more than just capturing faces or expressions, they are moments in time that can evoke feelings and anchor lasting memories. Smartphones have made it easier to capture portraits with pleasing bokeh for dramatic effect, but there’s so much more to it than that.

When we think about websites, search engine optimization (SEO) is often top of mind. How is Google ranking you against other similar photographers? Are you showing up on the first page of search results? There’s no doubt SEO is important for every photographer to consider. However, there are some big misconceptions when it comes to SEO.

Right off the bat, I’m going to add the disclaimer that this tutorial will probably not be for every type of photographer out there. If you have no interest in exploring the creative opportunities that mobile photography offers, then this video may not be for you.

As a 20-year old concert photographer, one of the questions that I get the most is: “How did you manage to land a touring job so quickly and at a young age?” Here are a few tips that I used when navigating my way into the concert photography industry.

One of the hardest things I experienced as a beginner was not knowing how to create a simple lighting setup. I’d always imagined elaborate lighting setups of three to six lights or more, and it’s why I began to shy away from working in a studio.

How can you distinguish yourself from other photographers? That’s the essential question every photographer embarking on a marketing strategy should be asking. But when it comes to a dedicated marketing strategy, there are a lot of options: email newsletters, printed promos sent via snail mail, social media posts, networking at in-person or virtual events, even cold calling editors.

It’s not often that a new Lightroom update or feature is as positively received by users as last week’s Masking improvements. And there is a good reason for the fanfare because these new tools really are amazing... as well as a bit confusing and inconsistent.

There’s a reason that 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. Email marketing is a valuable tool for photographers to promote their work to potential and existing clients. Virtually every person on the internet has an email address, and email marketing is an effective way to send messages directly to customers and gain prospective clients by reaching an already engaged audience.

When casting a model, several factors are at play. Some cast models based on how they look, others cast them based on who they know. But, what is a good model? Are there traits that good models share? Here are some that I have noticed.

If you follow food photographers on Instagram, I am sure you have seen some of the light or what I would describe as "airy" food photos that are popular at the moment.

In this tutorial, we share our lighting setup for a piece of glass stemware using minimal gear. To mimic this shot, you will need a black background, stripboxes, and speedlights.

Unless you’ve just emerged from a nuclear fallout bunker, you’ve likely already heard about Lightroom’s impressive new masking tools that Adobe announced at their annual Adobe Max conference. In fact, PetaPixel’s Ryan Mense wrote a wonderful hands-on article covering the expanse of these new masking tools.

For a digital artist like me, getting those unique ideas for my images is one of the most important things. I see the ideas in my dreams, when I read a magazine, when I’m out for a walk, or pretty much anywhere. I have learned that ideas are everywhere if you just allow yourself to see them.

With careful composition and editing techniques, you can take your portrait game to the next level. In this video, I'll show how you can level up your portraits with this one simple tip.

When it comes to headshots, there is perhaps no better source of information and guidance than the man who has made an empire out of the practice. In this five minute video on the, Peter Hurley quickly breaks down his favorite tips to light the perfect headshot.

Looking to improve your food photos ahead of this holiday season? If you stick to a few simple tips, there’s no reason why your photos shouldn’t go from no-go to "wow."

One of my favorite engagement photography techniques is getting up close to the subjects with a wide-angle lens. The resulting images feel alive and immersive. In this article and video, I'll be demonstrating the difference a wide-angle and a telephoto lens can make when capturing action.

Chances are, if you’ve ever tried to document your travels with a camera, you’ve taken some cliché, if not really cheesy travel photos. I certainly have, and I’m embarrassed to show those photos to friends and family after my trips.

Have a passion for photography and are thinking of turning it into a full-time profession? That’s an admirable and ambitious goal, and while it sounds exciting, the reality is that running a photography business is very different from pursuing photography as a hobby.

I am writing this article because I see a lot of photographers asking the same questions over and over and thought it would be nice to give you all the tools to answer your own questions. Or at least the 2% of you who search before asking questions.

You don’t often see photographers using gels outdoors in natural light, but why? I think one of the core reasons you don't see too many natural light gel shots, is that you need a lot of power and control from your lights to make color gels visible in daylight.

Social media is a vital part of how a business promotes itself, and having a wide variety of social media tools at your disposal is important. While you can link all your social media accounts together to create one post appearing on all of them, this strategy ignores unique opportunities each platform offers to its audience.

Here are a few tips to help you improve, or maybe get started with, drink photography. Drinks can be quite tricky: you have unpredictable liquids and glasses with reflections, so these tips may come in handy. Just remember, like all of my advice, these aren't die-hard rules, but instead they are just a few things that you can choose to consider with your photography.

Hi, this is photographer Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens. In this article and video, we’re going to take a look at how to set up a simple corporate portrait in a tight space.

Fashion photography is one of the most lucrative but also one of the hardest genres to pursue on a professional level. Good fashion work can’t be done with a one-man band. Eventually, every fashion photographer learns the importance of such things the hard way. Here are some things that I wish I knew when photographing my first fashion and beauty images.

Losing priceless digital photographs is something that all too many people experience these days. If you want to make sure you store your digital files properly, read this guide on the best ways to backup your photos for a lifetime.

Street photography might be one of the easiest genres of photography to slide into — it’s just you, a camera, and more or less walking around documenting humankind with an artistic flare — yet it can be quite difficult to progress beyond snapshot-looking images. This article will explore tips for improving your street photography using nothing more than a smartphone.

Even though the Brush tool is not a new tool in Adobe Lightroom, you may be surprised by all the ways it can be used and all the advantages you can gain by using a brush. This is part of my daily workflow and I hope it will become part of yours!

Singapore is home to a number of bioluminescent fungi. Out of over 148,000 known species of fungi across the world, over 70 of them are known to exhibit bioluminescence.

Instagram has nearly 500 million active users per day and pulls in engagement rates 23% higher than Facebook and 84 times higher than Twitter. With statistics like these, it’s the ultimate social media tool for photographers to share their work with clients worldwide.

“The Sony Alpha 1 is like driving a Formula 1 racecar," says photographer Nick Didlick. "Give the race car too much gas going into a corner and you're going to spin out of control. With the Alpha 1, shoot too early and you will have endless amounts of data at 30fps on a 50-megapixel camera.” The secret for both is timing.

Although large-format photography may be an intricate and slow process often shot in a studio, it doesn't mean that it can't be taken outdoors with a little ingenuity.

An easy and effective way to increase production value to your images is by adding simple props. Not only do they add additional visual interest, but they can also add story to the scene. Today, I’ll be starting with a basic “walk-up” shot and working step by step to make changes until we get to our final portraits using props.

In this 13-minute advertising photography tutorial video from Workphlo, photographer Dustin Dolby explains how to perfectly freeze the action of a pouring beverage by using a simple three speedlight system.

So you’ve gotten pretty good at photography. Now what? If you’re like a lot of people, the idea of turning this creative outlet into a career might sound like an enticing next step. Many of us struggle with how to get started though.

Those who enjoy using vintage lenses will often acquire them in fine working order, but without lens caps. There are some creators who have made instructions to 3D print new ones, but they all have fatal flaw.