trick

A DIY Solution for Tracking the Charge of Camera Batteries

Keeping batteries charged for your camera and accessories is the bane of the professional photographer. With the increasing popularity of battery-hungry mirrorless cameras like the Canon EOS R5 and R6, this has become all the more challenging and important, and that’s what drove me to create this simple hack to track which batteries are charged, and which ones need to go into the AC charger when I get home from a shoot.

Making Relative Adjustments to Sets of Photos in Lightroom

Sometimes it may be necessary to make a set of images darker or lighter, more or less contrasty, or otherwise change their appearance but retain their relative appearance. Lightroom has the ability to make relative adjustments on a selected set of images to facilitate that.

A Simple Trick for Adding Drama to a Product Photo

Here's a quick tip from talented photographer, filmmaker, and YouTube star Peter McKinnon. In his latest "two-minute Tuesday" video, he showed how adding a simple overlay onto some black foam core can take a basic top-down product shot to the next level.

Lightroom Tip: How to ‘Stack’ as Many Spot Removal Points as You Want

The spot removal tool in Lightroom is a fast and simple method to touch up a photo and cleanup imperfections. While not as accurate or full-featured as the various touchup tools in Photoshop, sometimes you only need a simple and fast way to perform a touchup directly from Lightroom.

Turn Your On-Camera Flash Into an Off-Camera Softbox

Wondering how to make the most of the gear you have on hand? Here is a quick tutorial on how you can use your on-camera flash and a simple 5-in-1 reflector to create the look of an off-camera softbox.

Simple Lightroom Trick Helps You Find Sensor Spots (or Anything Else) in Your Photos

Using Lightroom to remove spots caused by sensor dust is a pretty straight forward process: just click "Visualize Spots" and use the Spot Removal tool, right? Well, photographer Anthony Morganti thinks that he's discovered a better way, and in the video above he shows you a "hidden" Lightroom trick that makes it easy to systematically search your images for sensor spots... or anything else for that matter.

Macro Photography Trick: Create ‘Rainbow Flares’ with a CD

The glorious colors of summer are fading away, and the windy weather makes outdoor macro photography difficult. In other words, it’s the perfect time to take photography inside and stage creative photos with things around the house.

How to Double the Resolution of Your Smartphone Photos

"Super-resolution" and "pixel-shift" photography isn't just possible if you have a fancy camera that can move the sensor 1 pixel between shots. As Usman Dawood of Sonder Creative demonstrates in this video, you can even do it with your run-of-the-mill smartphone, shooting hand-held.

How to Trick Instagram’s Algorithm for Higher Engagement (Maybe)

In mid-2016, Instagram started using an algorithm to order the photos you're shown, which was a big change from the simple chronological feed that had been used since the beginning. If you're not happy with the reach and engagement your photos on getting on Instagram, there's a rumored trick you may want to try.

Do NOT Use this ‘Hack’ to Change Lenses on Your Nikon Z6 and Z7

A video has been making the rounds this week that shows a "hack" for locking down the shutter mechanism while changing lenses on Nikon's full-frame mirrorless Z6 and Z7 cameras. Basically, you remove the battery while the camera is on, causing an error, and change lenses after that. Do NOT do this.

Imitating Hazy Backgrounds with Diffusion Gels

Shooting in a studio has its advantages. But although being warm, dry and convenient are greatly appreciated, shooting between the same four walls can get a little boring if you’re constantly using them as backgrounds for your shots.

How to Avoid the ‘False Positive’ Autofocus Trap and Nail Sharp Eyeballs

Have you ever been disappointed to find the eyeballs of your subject to be not as sharp as you had expected even though your camera confirmed that autofocus had locked onto them? Photographer Steve Perry of Backcountry Gallery made this 9.5-minute video explaining how he avoids this "false positive autofocus trap" when focusing in tricky situations or on tricky subjects.

How to Create In-Camera Effects with a Bride’s Wedding Veil

In this video and article, we’ll show you how you can use a bridal veil to create interesting flares and light leaks in-camera. It can be hard to get the right amount of flare in an image, especially when the sun is overpowering the frame. Here is a simple trick we like to use to block just enough sun to get the perfect shot.

Stop Using Tape to Attach Your Gels: How to Use Magnets Instead

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.

A Simple Hack for Easier Focusing with TLR Cameras

If you have a TLR camera, here's a simple trick you can try to help you to focus more easily. All you'll need is some rubber bands, scissors, aluminum foil, and a ruler (optional).

Use Your Flip-Flop as a Graduated ND Filter

Can you use a flip-flop -- or any solid item, for that matter -- as a graduated neutral density (AKA grad ND) filter? Sure. But, it doesn’t work in all situations.

Did You Know That a Reflector Can Do This?

Here's a handy trick that may be useful for beginning photographers: did you know that you can bend your reflector to change the quality of the light on your subject?

How to Use a Phone Screen for Magical Portraits

Wedding photographers are always looking to take creative, novel portraits and a quick, simple trick is often sitting right in their pocket. By using a phone screen as a reflective surface, it is possible to cover up unsightly elements, add intrigue, and make an image that much more interesting.

How to Mask Anything in a Snap Using Lightroom’s Auto Masking

Lightroom's Auto Mask feature lets you intelligently target edit towards specific portions of photos. While the standard tool is useful, there are more advanced ways of using the tool that can take your editing to the next level. Here's a great 13-minute tutorial on the subject by Signature Edits.