As I am a commercial photographer in Arizona, I often get the call to photograph baseball players during spring training. This work is unique and different from any other mid-season sports photo shoot -- including baseball. They are the kind that I cherish because of the calmness on set.
Some cars exist in myths and legends. They can be so rare that even a car enthusiast might only see them by the good graces of another. The Mercedes C1000 exemplifies this.
There’s something about the passion that exists between a mechanic and a motorcycle. Their hands and tools are their paintbrushes, and their grease-stained nails are their paint. I was fortunate to witness them create their art and document it all while creating my own.
An artificially intelligent (AI) tool has revealed exactly how celebrities have been Photoshopped on magazine covers.
Tech startup BOOM, which said it wanted to be the "Amazon for photography," has allegedly failed to pay photographers that it inherited from its acquisition of LemonOne due to financial difficulties.
Lavazza, perhaps Italy's most well-known coffee brand, has released its 2023 calendar shot by Los-Angeles based photographer Alex Prager. Along with the photos, the company has also released a behind-the-scenes look at the massive production.
A market research study has concluded that the commercial photography business is growing, largely thanks to a surging e-commerce industry.
Of all the arts available to mankind, my heart belongs to music. Perhaps it’s a sentiment that doesn’t serve my self-interest much, as my only achievements in the arts have come through photography.
When asked to present food in a natural yet humorous manner, photographer Dwight Eschliman and his team brought the concept to life through a series of well-lit, colorful, and styled photos for the supermarket chain Lidl.
After I published a story on sunglasses for photographers, I got a ton of emails asking how I lit the series. So, while on the road for a recent photo shoot, I took some time at my AirBNB and wrote out how I approach what is called "split color lighting."
Photographer Aldo Chacon has recently completed a personal project that showcases different Nike shoes in various environments with the goal of linking cultural iconography with footwear to tell a story.
A big question every beginning commercial photographer asks themselves is how they should price their work. There is always a wide range of price points in all genres of photography, and they all depend on your level of work. But there is one truth that may apply to most photographers: you can’t apply a simple pricing strategy to your work.
Honoring one of the greatest to ever play the game, this video and photo series features ten rare Kobe Bryant Nike shoes. Rather than rely on computer graphics, we chose to shoot the entire project practically by creating hundreds of individual colored Nike Swoosh plexiglass cutouts. Mamba Mentality is visualized as each shoe conquers the chaos of everything that comes its way.
It was my first year in college. I was going out every day to teach myself photography, Harry Potter had just come out in theaters, and Canon entered the digital photography world with its very first fully backed flagship, the Canon EOS 1D.
Of all the various factors and variables involved in photography, light is by far the most important one. Photographer Karl Taylor argues that control over light will actually supersede the quality of a camera.
Photographer Baber Afzal created a surreal advertising campaign series titled "Reflections for Passion" for the luxury car brand Porsche using drones and light painting to create the futuristic visuals.
In today’s world, it is easier than ever to start a business. Explore Instagram on any given day and you will inevitably see an ad for some new online retailer. It begs the question: How, in such a saturated online marketplace, can a fledgling brand separate itself from the pack and survive?
Any writer worth their salt knows that a good story is comprised of three primary components: Character, Setting, and Plot. The same can be said of visual storytelling, regardless of the medium.
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.
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.
Given the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the entire visual arts industry has been turned upside down at best and ground to a halt at worst. But one company decided to try something different, and just launched an ad campaign shot entirely remotely via Facetime.
If you've ever worked in commercial photography, you know how complicated relationships with brands, agencies, and sub-contractors can be. In this 11.5-minute video, photographer Chris Hau details how he almost got sued as a result of those relationships and what he has learned since.
Lindsay Adler is an accomplished portrait photographer and educator, and in this 11.5-minute video she explains three different, versatile, and easy-to-master lighting setups using a beauty dish as the key light.
Boom, a Milan-headquartered tech startup, has raised $7 million in Series A funding based on its proprietary technology that is said to provide a way for companies to purchase "high-quality" images affordably, on a global scale.
In years past, major agencies that managed federal land weren't consistent in charging fees for commercial photography and filming on those lands. In 2000, a new law directed the government to develop a consistent fee structure for all federal lands, and the government is still working to iron out what those fees will be.
In this 35-minute video, I go through my entire process of shooting for my commercial portfolio. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I have had more time to focus on my book, which will hopefully help get me back out there when everything opens up again.
Commercial photographer and educator Karl Taylor is a working pro with an impressive portfolio to his name and major brands on his CV. So it came as a surprise when he declared recently that he hasn't used a light meter in 15 years... and explained why you shouldn't be using one either.
Over the past decade and a bit (the years are flashing by!) I have managed to find some great hacks. In this 3.5-minute video, I go through my 5 favorite hacks as a commercial photographer.
COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges to many areas of the economy in the past few months. As we emerge from lockdown situations, businesses will continue to have a need for fresh commercial photography, whether it is for new marketing efforts, making portraits of new faces as leadership and staff undergo changes, documenting new facilities and infrastructure projects, or communicating with stakeholders about a company’s efforts to keep workers safe and healthy during this ongoing crisis.
I did my first advertising assignment in the year 2000. I still remember how excited I was when I, a few months later, walked out of a bookstore on Chestnut Street in San Francisco with several magazines with my pictures in them.
If you haven’t heard of personal branding photography, you’re not the only one. It’s a small but growing sub-genre of commercial photography that has been gaining popularity among female entrepreneurs and small-business owners.
Photographer Joseph Cristina thinks the era of "good enough" is ending, and that's great news for photographers. In a recent vlog, Cristina explains why he thinks professional photographers are going to benefit from a "return to quality" as more and more clients get burned by sub-par work.
Before I going into this one, let me first share a little recap about my background with Apple. A number of years back, I was in love with the iPhone 4S. I felt it was a phone made for photographers and supported it wholeheartedly, going so far as doing speeches at Apple stores about how their products catered to my workflow.
Commercial photography seems so glamorous and it certainly can be. But I’ve found that a few things were really bothering me over the last several years. Don’t get me wrong: I’m always crazy honored when any client anywhere chooses to hire me to photograph something for them. I realize that a client has hundreds if not thousands of choices when it comes to choosing a photographer. So I’m not bitter, I’m thankful. Always.
After completing my degree in still photography at RIT, I grew up in NYC working in the motion world as a production assistant. My plan was to eventually direct TV spots, but I wanted to garner a solid background in the art of lighting from the still world first.
In an industry that’s overcrowded with photographers trying to get a piece of the client pie, commercial photography has an irresistible allure, especially to those new to the industry. Social media fails to show the full picture of what goes on behind the scenes, and photographers rarely talk about the many downfalls of being a commercial photographer.
How much does having an Instagram following matter in the commercial photography industry? It may sometimes be way more important than you may think. Photographer Yvette Roman says she lost a job shooting an ad campaign for Canon because she didn't have 50,000 followers on Instagram.
Photographer Jill Greenberg recently gave this 8-minute talk at TEDxWabashCollege on the importance of and discrimination against female photographers.
Artist agent Andrea Stern of Stern Rep. is a seasoned and celebrated commercial agent with over 20 years experience representing photographers in the product, automotive, and lifestyle industries among others.
What do photo editors want from photographers? And how can you get their attention in their very crowded inboxes? These are only the tip of the never-ending iceberg of questions for getting a leg up on that next assignment; and the truth is, it often depends on the editor’s personal preferences.