process

During a photo shoot last summer under the hot sun in the South of France, photographer …

In its methodology, photography can be reduced to a series of decisions that determine the exact characteristics of each photo. When conducting street photography, in particular, the opportunity to make these decisions is limited.

While sitting in a coffee shop last Friday, I really didn’t want to answer any more emails so I went to a bar instead, ordered a pint and sketched out a bit of a doodle for a big camera. I then called my buddy Zach who shares my open schedule and vague ability with power tools, and he stopped by my studio an hour later.

I explained what I wanted to do and showed him my napkin doodle. I think his reaction was something along the lines of “I have no idea what you’re talking about... but sure”. So we went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of wood and some screws. 

There is an ineffable allure when it comes the human mouth. The lips and tongue (and much more) help emit wonderful language, tell stories through micro-expressions, and experience the joys of how things in the world taste along with presenting another form of touching.

Here's a look at how my recent project titled "Tulips" came about.

Making portraits is something I really love. When there is a model available, you get a lot of freedom regarding the pose, expressions and styling. However, during my travels, when I want to portray people in their authentic environment, I usually don’t get to choose a model, because it is about the people who are really living there.

Photographer Anna Ostanina of St. Petersburg, Russia, has spent years working with alternative photo printing techniques. Her favorite is one called gumoil printing.

The 2-minute video above shows how Ostanina recently used the process to create a giant print showing the portrait of a girl.

Want to see how wet-plate collodion photography is done but have the attention span of a goldfish? Our buddy Sam Cornwell over at Phogotraphy has created an unusual step-by-step wet plate walkthrough -- everything is crammed into a 6-second Vine video.

If you’re a fan of both photography and the TV show How It’s Made, here’s a behind-the-scenes video that …

Collotype is a photo printing process that was invented by French photographer Alphonse Louis Poitevin back in 1856. Due to its ability to preserve fine detail in prints, the process was used to create fine art photo prints for many years before other processes arrived on the scene.

Most photocopiers (AKA Xerox machines) these days use a technology called xerography, which is also known as electrophotography. While it's almost always used as a means to create copies of documents, electrophotography can also be used as a photo process for making prints.

Photographer Tom Carpenter is one of the few artists on Earth who works extensively with this process for his images.

Photographer Andrew Jamieson was recently asked to give a presentation at work on …

Photographer Gary Schneider shoots portraits with a rather unusual technique. For his project titled Faces, Schneider had his subjects lie on a black backdrop under his large format camera and then sit still for eight minutes while Schneider slowly illuminated the details of their faces with a small light.

If you’ve ever been interested in developing your own film, but don’t know where to get started, this comprehensive video by YouTube user Photography_Bloke might be just the resource you’ve been looking for.

In the world of analogue photography, the larger you go in format, the more time, discipline and resources it typically takes to capture and develop your photographs. And while the age-old technique of developing film takes due diligence no matter the format, large format photography in particular has a certain quality to the process that makes it stand out from the rest.

I did my first surreal photoshoot with a model this past weekend. Here's a breakdown of the process from start to finish.

As I sat trapped in a coach seat on an aged and tattered American Airlines airplane I had time to think about the whole spectrum of art photography. I wanted to have a clearer window into the different ways in which people who aren't using their cameras to make a living in a traditional, commercial application of photography approach their subjects and their understanding of style. How much is generated internally and how much is a reflexive reaction to a world inundated in images?

I spoke with a person in the film industry on Friday. We were talking about HMI lighting and he made a remark concerning still photographers. I give him credence since his background originally included a successful career in photography. His remark, in regards to the real lack of lighting acumen among most shooters was this: "There's no such thing as a good photographer under 40."

After almost two years of shooting film nonstop and more than $1,000 worth of expenses on processing and prints, I needed to reconsider my budget and find a way of being able to shoot more and pay less. I thus began to process my C-41 rolls at home. It's extremely easy to do and I‘ll show you today how to do it, step by step.

Microbiologist-turned-photographer Zachary Copfer has developed an amazing photo-printing technique that's very different from any we've seen before. Rather than use photo-sensitive papers, chemicals, or ink, Copfer uses bacteria. The University of Cincinnati MFA photography student calls the technique "bacteriography", which involves controlling bacteria growth to form desired images.

Here’s a promotional/educational video by Canon that explains both how digital cameras work and how it manufactures them. Interesting …

By and large, as a professional of whatever description, clients hire you based on experience and expertise, grace under pressure, problem-solving skills, and your finely-tuned ability to transcend the limitations of the assignment and distill the essence of an idea into its most purely realized form.

Okay so that’s what they tell you in college, but honestly it’s mostly just blather. Assignment photography is a hot-dog factory where the end results are images rather than sausages. If people saw what went into some of this stuff there’s no way they’d want anything to do with it. The sad reality is that there are all kinds of reasons you’re brought in on projects, some of them more edifying than others. Sometimes you’re exactly the right person for the job, other times you’re just a camera monkey. My favourite is the “wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if” call, where everyone gets all excited about an idea that turns out to be completely impractical. Well, this is the story of one of those ideas that actually managed to see the light of day.

Ever wonder how photographs were made back in the days of the Civil War? This video by the George …

Here’s something that’ll blow your mind (sorry that it’s an ad): stare at the colored dots on this girl’s …

You’ve seen photos of star trails, and time-lapse videos of stars, but how about a combination of the two? …

Photographer Zack Arias has written up a …

Photo restorer Bob Rosinsky of Top Dog Imaging wrote …

When Calle Hoglund had his buddies over one night editing a music video, …

Here’s a photograph I randomly snapped on a tennis court a few days ago: It was taken with my …