When you’re very early in your photography career, getting an agent will seem like a mysterious process. Many photographers feel that signing with an agent will offer the key to their fortunes. When they do sign, some photographers will feel they have finally made it.
Photographer and YouTuber Michael the Maven has put together a video about one of the worst-kept "secrets" in optics: sample variation. Or: why you should immediately test every lens you buy to make sure you have a good copy.
Camera lens cleaning pens use fine carbon particles to help cleanly remove smudges from your glass. Do you know what else has carbon particles? Soot. Here's a short 2.5-minute video in which photographer Mathieu Stern shows how you can use ordinary candle soot to get the same cleaning power as popular lens pens.
If you’re like me and you’ve tried to attach gels to your lights in the past, you’ve likely resorted to using one of the many types of sticky tapes available. When I used to manage a studio, I would see all manner of tapes being used to attach gels to hot modifiers.
I guide photography workshops around the world and what I often see with my students is that they bring a great camera and a great set of lenses in combination with a very low-quality tripod. I can’t stress enough how important a good tripod is. If you want to level up your landscape photography, you need a good tripod. Please don’t go cheap on this. I’d argue it’s even more important than your camera!
Here's a pro tip: if you're looking for somewhere to place your camera for a while when outdoors, don't leave it under the tires of a vehicle. This 12-second video shows the pain that can result if you do.
As the digital marketplace grows, the demand for good content and eye catching media increases with it. More and more brands and entrepreneurs are taking the photography in-house to keep up with demand, while keeping production costs down.
As a product photographer recognizing the need for assistance, I wanted take the time to share 5 key thoughts and tips that could be useful.
We recently shared the story of a photographer who had hard drives containing virtually all her professional work stolen from her home shortly before Christmas. If you don't want this type of devastating data loss to happen to you, look into the 3-2-1 strategy of backups.
Most camera straps have a small loop that holds the extra flappy end in place so it doesn't dangle loosely. If you want to tuck the end of the strap away even more, the 2-minute video above demonstrates a simple way to do so.
Here’s a short and sweet 2-minute-tip by New York-based photographer sports and music photographer …
Polish photographer Rafał Krasa recently launched Eupidere, a new brand of high-end leather camera straps. He wanted some product photos with a seamless white background but didn't have the proper studio setup, so he decided to go with what he did have: his bathtub.
New York portrait photographer Peter Hurley is back again with yet another pro portrait trick he uses for shooting better headshots of people. This one is called "Hold Your Sub," and it lets you shave 10 pounds off your subject with a super simple move of their arms.
This is the story of how I had to deal with a panic attack during a recent three-day photo shoot. Day three… oh day three.
With much of the shoot behind us, day three was a victory lap of sorts. The shots were more controlled and the environment allowed for great creativity. The first two days had worn us physically, but the crew, client and I had become a well-oiled machine that knew how to work a shot to be exactly what was needed. What could go wrong?…
Here's a tip: if you're going on a once-in-a-lifetime trip and you'd like to shoot photos of a lifetime to preserve the memories, you probably shouldn't purchase a cheap $40 compact camera to do so. One couple in the UK did just that, and now they're upset about the bad honeymoon photos they ended up with.
If you're planning on buying or selling some camera gear with the help of Craigslist, here's a simple tip: the lobby of your local police station is a safe place to arrange the meeting with the stranger.
I often shoot time-lapse photos in harsh outdoor environments, and over the years I have discovered a number of odd items that are useful for my work. One of them is sanitary napkins (AKA sanitary pads).
We've published a number of posts in the past on how you can recover photos that were accidentally deleted from your computer or memory card. But what about when you delete a photo and expect it to actually be gone forever?
The ease with which deleted files can often be recovered means that you should be careful when selling or tossing hard drives or memory cards -- your photos and files might end up falling into the wrong hands if someone decides to try data recovery.
If you've ever needed to deal with photos shot with multiple cameras at the same event, you've probably found how important the clocks on the cameras are for keeping the resulting photos neat and orderly. If timestamps are off, then figuring out when photos were captured in relation to each other can be a pain.
One way you can make sure the clocks on your cameras are perfectly synchronized is by automatically synchronizing them to your computer.
Duct tape can often be a photographer's best friend. Cable management can often be a nightmare. The two don't naturally combine very well though, since duct tape can leave sticky reside on your cords after its removed.
If you ever need to wrap up cables and don't have any twist- or zip-ties on hand, here's how you can use duct tape to wrap cables without the cables getting sticky.
Consider this a friendly reminder for any wedding photographers who haven't already heard it or maybe even forgot the tip when we shared it almost exactly a year ago.
They say the devil is in the details, and boy is that ever true when it comes to creating an easy-to-navigate photography website. In the video above, The Slanted Lens' Jay P Morgan and Adelaide Lawren sit down and talk you through 6 tips that will help you get one of the most important parts of that site squared away: the contact page.
CJ Kale and Nick Selway long ago fell in love with Hawaii and founded Lava Light, a photography gallery focused on capturing the ever-changing landscape created by an active volcano and crashing waves -- and sometimes both together when the conditions are just right. And if swimming with fire and dodging lava bombs weren’t challenging enough, these photographers believe in creating their images completely in-camera.
Balancing exposures between sky, water and lava can be incredibly tricky. Luckily, Lava Light has shared some tips to help you get the shot without combining exposures or using HDR.
When it comes to simple photography hacks, few are as useful and clever in the field as this one, presented by 34-year wedding photography veteran Frank Donnino.
Here's a basic tip that some of you may have overlooked in your DSLR's owner manual: did you know that you can use your TV's remote when reviewing photos on it from your DSLR? It feels much better than holding your connected DSLR in your hands, and as long as you have a compatible TV and DSLR, the process is a breeze.
During the 2014 Burton US Open Snowboard Pipe Finals, photographer Brett Wilhelm gives …
We never thought we'd write that headline, but thanks to Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey you can now learn how to best pack your bags for an assignment from the one and only Steve McCurry -- the iconic Nat Geo photographer behind the Afghan Girl photograph.
Here's a video from back in 2012 that shows a basic GoPro video stabilization tip you might not have heard of yet. Put together by Mitch Bergsma of MicBergsma Productions, it shows you how holding your GoPro against your face will lead to more stable footage.
Here's a helpful safety tip for shooting action shots in or around water: if you're using your camera in a rough-and-tumbly environment, do your best to keep it at a safe distance from your face. If you don't, your face could end up looking like the one above.
As photographers, one thing we're always interested in is improving our photography. Today we'll discuss something that is often overlooked and can make dramatic improvement in all of the photos we show, as well as increase our perceived skill in the art.
Top photographers know only their top 1% or less of photos taken will ever see the light of day. They know the first step to having interesting work is culling out that which is not. This isn't something that should be limited to the professionals or those with professional editors... It's something we can all use!
If you're into photography, whether as a serious hobby or as a profession, you probably find yourself doing repetitive tasks on a routine basis. You've probably also heard various tips, tricks, and strategies on how you can do these tasks faster and more efficiently. Heed them.
While saving a few seconds here or a few minutes there might not seem like much, optimizing your efficiency is definitely something worth doing, especially for tasks you're doing all the time. The reason is simple: small efficiency gains might seem inconsequential, but they build up and can save you quite a bit of time over time.
UV lens filters are a popular way to protect the front element of lenses from damage, but you should make sure you invest in a high-quality one unless you want to make a huge sacrifice in image quality.
Here’s a simple tip by photographer Benjamin Von Wong for traveling abroad: you …
If you were to lose your camera today, would anyone who found it be able to get in touch …
Here’s a quick tip for if you ever have a hard time removing a lens filter from …
Phaidon Press has released another one minute tip by photojournalist …
Celebrity portrait photographer Chris Buck offers this tip for portraiture: be genuinely enthusiastic.
Just because you use the built-in flash on your compact camera doesn’t mean you need to live with harsh, …
If you've used your flash for quite a while, you may have noticed some yellowish haze where the plastic has oxidized. For flash units that have a smooth surface, here's a pro tip: you can make it shine again by simply dabbing a little toothpaste onto a cloth and wiping off the haze in a circular motion.
If you’ve ever found folding up a reflector to be difficult, here’s a short and sweet video tutorial on …