learning

How to Learn from Photography Books: 5 Tips to Improve Your Work

I recently realized I have a problem: I buy too many books, especially photography books. Not those cheap kindle ones but those beautiful printed and expensive books, which ended up decorating my wall, or coffee table, and, in my case, possibly many coffee tables.

Lighting Setups Are Nonsense — Here’s How You Really Learn Light

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.

4 Things I’ve Learnt About Photography in 2020 (so far)

What a strange year this has been, right? Yet, curiously, this has also been a year in which I have probably taken the greatest leaps in my photography for some time. Because when you are doing something new, or have been pushed into a new way of life, you can either freeze and panic... or you can use it as an opportunity to try new things. To innovate.

Photog Breaks Down the 8 ‘Phases’ of Becoming a Photographer

The photographer's "journey" is, generally speaking, a pretty predictable thing. We all go through certain "phases" as we pick up and learn this craft—some more gracefully than others—and so, in the spirit of lighthearted candor, photographer and YouTuber Evan Ranft has decided to share his take on the 8 major phases of being a photographer.

Photographer Teaches a 7 and 9-Year-Old How to Shoot and Develop Film

Photographer William Gilbert recently decided to start a YouTube channel, but rather than asking you to "smash that like button," he chose to kickstart the channel with 20 minutes of "wholesome goodness" instead. He decided to teach his 7- and 9-year-old niece and nephew how to shoot and develop 35mm film.

How the Kids Are Learning Photography on TikTok

TikTok, the video-based social media app, usually conjures visions of teens mimicking the latest dance craze, but it’s probably better described as short attention span YouTube. In 2017, ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok, acquired the Musical.ly app, which had gained a toehold with an under-18 demographic by becoming a replacement for the comedy-oriented Vine app along with a burgeoning lip-synching community.

Want to Be a Better Photographer? Don’t Ask Me What Lens I Used!

"What lens did you use for that picture?" The only question less helpful to a growing photographer is probably, “What settings did you use for that picture?” Not because I think they are helping a newbie “cheat”, or because I might think it is copying, or ever -- God forbid! -- because I have some secret combination of shutter and aperture that is magic for me. It’s because it really doesn't matter.

Does Sony’s Crop Mode Mean I Need Fewer Lenses?

A major change -- and learning curve -- for me this year has been my switch from Nikon to Sony. I’ve already documented the story of my switch to Sony, but what I have since discovered is the huge possibilities -- or as some of us might call it the “confusion of options” -- that comes with owning a Sony Alpha camera.

My Journey in Photographing the Northern Lights

In December 2014, I decided that I wanted to practice shooting the night sky in order to expand my photography skills. Of course, I made every possible mistake. My compositions were completely off, I severely underexposed or blew out the sky and the images were not sharp.

3 Camera Settings To Master For Landscape Photography

When you purchase a new camera, how much time do you spend reading the manual? I find most camera manuals rather difficult to follow along with, and I for one very rarely use them. What’s interesting is that camera manuals only describe the technical “how to” side of things, like how to turn on your camera or how to attach a lens, but it doesn’t tell you how to truly become comfortable with your camera.

Lessons in Fearlessness from Morocco

I’ve been feeling for a while now that something has been lacking from my street photography. I seem to have settled into a “style” or “way of seeing” that features themes of solitude and isolation, monotone color palettes, and generally bland scenes – in line with my descriptions of “New-Wave Street Photography”.

Some Mistakes That I Recommend You Make Behind the Camera

I can’t help but notice all those articles proclaiming mistakes we should try to avoid in order to become a better photographer. Admittedly, I have issues with such an approach. First of all: I hate the word “should”. Basically we “should” nothing. Secondly, there is not much learning in avoiding mistakes — we learn best from our mistakes and the more bittersweet they are the more carved into our memory they become.

This Interactive Exposure Tool Helps You Understand the Exposure Triangle

Understanding the exposure triangle of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO is one of the first steps in learning photography. To help people wrap their heads around the concept, photographer Tony Catalano has created the Interactive Exposure Tool, an online tool for experimenting with how changing camera settings affects the resulting photo of a scene.

A Demo of How Future Cameras May Be Able to Auto-Tag Your Photos

With over a trillion photos created every year now, one feature that could help people make sense of their massive photo collections could be object recognition and automatic tagging. If your camera and photo management software can figure out what's in your shots, it'll make searching through old photos much more easy and intuitive.

Companies and researchers are working hard on pushing this field forward. Photo sharing services are already adding auto-tagging to their systems -- Flickr and Google had to work out some early "racist" bugs -- and now we're getting a glimpse of what the technology could look like live, in cameras.

A Brief History of the Camera Flash, From Explosive Powder to LED Lights

The first known photograph was captured in 1826 when light reacted with a particular type of asphalt known as Bitumen of Judea. Since that first natural light photo, photographers have introduced artificial flash lighting to photos through all kinds of different ways. In this post, we're taking a look at a brief history of the camera flash -- from its humble beginnings with explosive powder and burning metal up through the latest LED lights -- to see how far it has come.

‘The Bigger Picture’: Flashcards and an App for Photo Challenges and Inspiration

Photography can be a thrilling way to explore the world around us, but sometimes we need a bit of inspiration to get moving. ‘The Bigger Picture Cards’ are a way to not only get inspired but to also learn new photographic skills along the way. Sold as a $15 set of flashcards, the deck includes 50 cards to get you out and shooting. Just draw your selection, accept your challenge, and you are on your way to learning by doing.

What Photographers Really Should Be Learning in School

A few weeks ago, we shared what 7 top photographers said they wished they had learned in school. Unsurprisingly, many mentioned a desire to have learned more about business and marketing. But beyond the selection of course subject, there is a more fundamental aspect of learning in the 21st century that should be addressed.

Recently, I attended a lecture by Dr. Yong Zhao, a renown researcher in education, who has espoused many progressive ideas about the education system and how it is failing us. His thoughts made me reconsider the role of school for photographers and other creatives. Here’s what you really should be learning in photo school.

GoPro Rolls Out Field Guide Tutorial Series to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Action Cam

Really want to get the most out of your new GoPro? You're in luck, because GoPro recently turned to their own in-house production team and asked them to create a series of tutorials called the GoPro Field Guide.

This collection of videos -- made by the same guys who follow some of the top extreme athletes in the world around and film their insane antics -- will help you get the hang of that little action cam and really take advantage of everything it can do.