amateur

Charles Levie

Trials of the Amateur Sports Photographer

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.

DL Cade

Opinion: The Problem with Many of the ‘Photographers’ on YouTube

Professional event photographer and photography teacher Mik Milman recently published a video that's bound to receive some mixed reactions. In it, Milman laments the dearth of experience of many photographers who pass themselves off as "experts" on YouTube, earning thousands of followers and possibly misleading beginners by offering bad advice and unqualified critiques.

Danny M. Thompson

How NOT to Be a Model: My Most Infuriating Photoshoot Ever

Recently, I worked one of the most frustrating shoots I have ever had to endure. In my day job, I work with amateur prospective models doing test shoots. Most of the people I work with have never modeled and have rarely even stepped into a photography studio before. Despite this, the people I work with tend to understand the relationship and the unspoken code.

DL Cade

Amateur with Fuji GFX 50R Takes On Pro with Google Pixel 3

The folks over at popular tech channel Linus Tech Tips recently did something fun. They combined your standard Amateur vs Pro photography challenge with the Pro Gear vs Smartphone trope to answer a different kind of question: Can a rote amateur with an expensive camera beat a professional who's using only a smartphone?

Will Nicholls

The Most Common Amateur Portrait Retouching Mistakes

Here's a 6-minute video in which photographer and retoucher Nino Batista looks at some of the most common retouching mistakes that amateur photographers tend to make. Eliminate these from your post-processing workflow to take your photos to the next level.

James Wheeler

Do You Have a $4,000 Travel Photo Sitting on Your Hard Drive?

Have you ever wondered what your travel photos are worth? Most people take travel photos for themselves to remember the experience or share on social media. To each of us, these photos are priceless, but what are they worth to others? This is the question I asked myself back in 2012, and I have been pleasantly surprised with the answer.

Marcos V Petri

What I’ve Learned My First Year Into Photography

December 3rd, 2015 was the day I bought my first camera. I carefully chose one body and one lens: a Nikon D5300 and a 50mm prime lens. Here are a few of the things I've learned throughout my journey

DL Cade

10 Novice Photoshop Mistakes You Should Avoid

Selective color, bad HDR, over-sharpening, we've all seen (and if we're honest, probably made) these Photoshop mistakes... but are you sure you're still not committing some Photoshop faux pas? In this video, Nate Dodson of TutVid covers 10 common novice mistakes you should avoid.

Michael Zhang

An Amateur Photographer’s Striking Pictures of the Baltimore Protests

Just a week ago, Devin Allen was just another photo enthusiast sharing his work on the Web, regularly posting artsy photos for his relatively small and faithful Instagram following. After protests and riots erupted in Baltimore this week, Allen suddenly became a much sought-after photographer who's sharing raw and gritty images from ground level for the world to see.

Gannon Burgett

A Look at Why DSLRs Still Sell Much Better than Mirrorless Camera Systems

Update on 12/16/21: This video has been removed by its creator.

One of the biggest battles currently going on in the world of photography is DSLRs versus mirrorless cameras. There's no doubt that DSLRs are still on top in terms of numbers, but as more and more companies put their faith in the mirrorless market, they continue to tempt consumers of all levels to give this five-year-old system a chance.

DL Cade

Blast from the Past: Photos Captured 125 Years Ago with the Kodak No. 1

It could be argued that consumer photography didn't begin until 1888, when Eastman Kodak made his Kodak No. 1 (the followup to the Kodak Box) available to the public at large alongside the now famous slogan: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest."

And thanks to the National Media Museum, we now have a small gallery of sample photographs that show what photos taken 125 years ago with the Kodak No. 1 looked like.

Alex Ignacio

Thoughts on ‘Amateur’ and ‘Professional’ Photography

We all know by now how Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer unleashed the collective fury of photographers and the creative community during her presentation of the new Flickr with a few poorly chosen words. She has since clarified her statement, but the real issue is that the distinction between photographer and professional photographer is fuzzy at best in the minds of most people, particularly those that know little about the world of photography.

Michael Zhang

Amateur Astrophotographers and Hubble Tag Team to Create Galaxy Photo

The space agencies that run the Hubble Space Telescope may have some of the most powerful photographic equipment at their disposal, but every now and then they can still use a little help from amateur astrophotographers.

Amateur astrophotographer Robert Gendler created the beautiful photograph above showing the spiral galaxy M106 by compositing existing imagery captured by the Hubble telescope with his own photos captured from Earth.

Michael Zhang

Amateur Transformers Short Film Created with Entry-Level DSLRs

The latest Transformers movie to crawl out of the Hollywood cookie-cutter machine had a budget of $200 million. The above 2.5 minute short film was created by Amateur Russian filmmaker Alexander Semenov using a Canon 550D (with a 18-55mm kit lens and 50mm 1.8) and a Nikon D5000 (with a 18-55mm kit lens). In other words, the gear used was entry-level quality with kit lenses.