walkthrough

How I Recreated a John Wick Movie Poster

For starters, I love the fast-paced John Wick series, and I think that Keanu Reeves is just a badass in general. Now I don’t use this word often, but everything about these movies is pure cinematic gold — the lighting, composition, camera movement, etc. (But, that’s just my opinion.) So, I decided to recreate this cinematic John Wick Chapter 2 movie poster, and show you exactly how I did it!

How I Made a 10-Day Timelapse Video on an iPhone and Galaxy

I recently made a ten-day timelapse video on two smartphone cameras of my hometown of Manhattan Beach, California, for multiple sunsets, moonrises, flowing clouds, and all sorts of stuff the naked eye rarely gets to see.

Repairing a Olympus Lens with a Torn PCB, From Start to Finish

While cleaning one of my camera sensors, I noticed my incredibly pocketable and convenient 12mm f/2.0 Olympus lens developed a fatal flaw. A rather large reflective fragment became dislodged inside the lens and was robbing me of precious photons. I couldn't fully clean the rear element with compressed air and a microfiber cloth, so I decided to dig a little deeper and disassemble the lens.

One Lens Plus Two Teleconverters Equals One Amazing Safari

Quick question: what’s the best lens for photographing wildlife at different distances? A telephoto zoom, of course, because then you can zoom for the focal length and framing you want. But if that’s true, then why did I take a fixed telephoto with me on the safari I just led to Africa? Because, paired with two teleconverters and one camera feature, it actually gave me MORE focal lengths to work with. Let me explain…

How I Repaired a Broken Mamiya RB67 Medium Format Camera

I had the Mamiya RB67 and Pentax 67 on my medium-format wanted list for many years now, but I simply could not justify the price tag or bear the unfortunate realization that either camera would sit lonely and unused on a shelf. That all changed in December 2022 when I decided to grab a non-working RB67 as a Christmas Present for my eldest brother.

How to Develop B&W Film at Home: A Simple Guide for Mere Mortals

The film photography revival is going strong but these pictures don’t just magically appear out of thin air! Eventually you need to develop your film so I put together this step-by-step guide to process black and white negatives at home. It’s easier than you might think!

Make Your Photos Look 3D with Dodge and Burn in Capture One 23

One of the challenges of photographing landscapes is creating images that reflect the right amount of depth and dimension. But sometimes it seems no matter how hard you try and how often you hear well-meaning advice from other photographers, the photos you take almost always come out darn flat.

A DIY Remote Mechanical Cable Release for a Large Format Camera

I do mainly large format photography, and I often take my own self-portrait by using my pneumatic cable release that has a long cable and air bulb release. However, I have long been thinking about how to make a more modern kind of remote cable release. In this article, I will show how I created a DIY remote cable release.

How to Fix a Badly Lit Portrait in Adobe Lightroom

Don’t toss a photo just because the lighting isn’t the best. You may be able to bring it back alive in post-production. As photographers, we face countless different scenarios and it's nearly impossible to get the perfect shot 100% of the time.

An Advanced 7-Step Way to Edit B&W Photos in Lightroom

Black and white images can tell entirely different stories than color. By removing all of the colors, the tones carry the weight of the story. There’s a lot of gray area (pun intended) when it comes to black and white images as there’s no right or wrong way to take them. In this article and video, I’ll be walking through a new way to edit black and white images in Adobe Lightroom.

A DIY Way to Fix Loose Rubber Rings on Camera Lenses

After purchasing Takumar 55mm f/1.8 lens years ago, I started building my collection of vintage lenses, and because I don’t like spending a lot of money on them, I became a frequent visitor of thrift stores, flea markets, and online auction sites.

My Color Grading Workflow for Raw Landscape Photos in LR and ACR

Color grading is a vital part of creating an eye-catching image, especially if you’re shooting raw. There are many ways to tackle it, of course, but in this 12-minute video and article, I want to show my personal Lightroom color grading process from start to finish.

Dramatic Portrait Lighting Made Simple

Street portraiture provides the opportunity to capture so much of the urban textures and patterns that give a city its look. The brick walls provide great leading lines as well as murals and large wall art that set a dramatic tone to any image.

From a Thought to a Photograph: A Visual Guide

The first thing I always say to the participants of my photography workshops is to always spend enough time in preparation. I strongly believe that in order to make a good photo, no matter the genre, you have to be prepared as best as you can.

How I Use Stencils to ‘Paint’ Light into Geometric Shapes

As a photographer, when you produce a series of photos that goes viral and you close sales and license deals because of it, it is tempting to simply continue doing the same and hopefully keep receiving the attention you had in the first place.

How to Photograph Your Own Eye

The world of macro photography is full of fascinating subjects, but eyes and irises have got to be among the most mesmerizing ones. As with most captivating subjects, capturing it can be quite a challenge.

Photo Titles Are More Than Just Names

Between 2010 and 2013, I toured the world for the first time. After living in Australia and Asia, I returned home but always felt like my urge to visit and live in foreign places was still not fully satisfied.

How to Capture Professional Whiskey Product Shots with Only One Light

Photographer Dustin Dolby is back with a new no-frills product photography tutorials that his viewers have been asking him to do for ages: whiskey. In this walkthrough video, he takes you step-by-step through the entire process of capturing and editing together a professional whiskey bottle product shot using only one light.

How to Shoot Otherworldly Macro Photos of Soap Bubbles

There are certain subjects in the macro world, which are so fascinating and absorbing that almost every macro photographer will point a camera at them at some point. No matter how many photos you take or see of these subjects, their charm does not seem to wear off.

This Simple Canon EOS R5 Thermal Mod Enables Unlimited 8K Recording

After making a fairly straightforward thermal modification to his new Canon EOS R5, maker/tinkerer Yifan Gu was able to get the camera to record unlimited 8K without having to resort to various timer resetting "hacks." All he had to do was swap out the thermal pads and add a couple more.

Akaka Falls by Moonlight: How I Got the Shot

Summer and Fall are wonderful for photographing the Milky Way here in Hawai'i. We have many locations with dark skies and breathtaking scenery too. In October, the brightest part of the Milky Way (galactic core) is near the horizon at sunset; by November it'll be below the horizon when it gets dark.

Developing ECN-2 Motion Picture Film at Home

If you’re a film geek like me, these numbers should look familiar, 5203, 5207, 5217, and 5219. These are the film stocks Kodak Motion Picture offers to film directors and cinematographers. Since 2014, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorcese, and J.J. Abrams partnered with former Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke, to spearhead an effort in protecting the use of celluloid in the motion picture industry.

A Full Commercial Food Photo Shoot: From Concept to Shooting to Editing

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.

How to Use Light Painting to Capture Dramatic Car Photography

Automotive photographer Dave Cox (AKA ShootingDave) recently put together a handy step-by-step tutorial that shows you exactly how he uses light painting to capture dramatic car photos when working in a tight space like a workshop. By combining six exposures into one, he's able to capture a beautiful and surprisingly natural looking photo.

How I Shoot Insect Macro Photography in My Home Studio

Insects and other animals have fascinated me since I was a small child. I remember well how I used to pick them up and simply stare at them in wonder for hours. The concept of photographing insects indoors had been on my mind for years, even when photography and playing with light was a hobby, and long before I considered photography a profession and way of life.

How to ‘Magically’ Remove Glare from Glasses in Photoshop

Unmesh Dinda over at PIXimperfect has released another exceptional photo editing tutorial that you'll want to bookmark if you shoot portraits. In this video, he shows you a detailed step-by-step method for removing glare from glasses in Photoshop—something all of us have probably had to do at one point or another.

How to Edit Portraits in Affinity Photo

Portrait and headshot photographer Ivan Weiss recently created a helpful tutorial that walks you through his entire portrait editing process in the popular Adobe alternative Affinity Photo. If you've been wanting to give Affinity a shot, this is a phenomenal resource.

How I Shoot Solargraphs with a Digital Camera

Solargraphies (pinhole images on photographic paper that capture months of the sun arching across the horizon) were a thing starting sometime in the 2000s. When this caught on broadly in the early 2010s, it got a lot of people excited for film again.

A Beginner’s Guide to Focus Stacking

Focus stacking is a fun and easy technique you can do right at home with nothing more than your camera, lens, and editing software. In fact, the Fujifilm X-T2, X-T3, and X-T4 series of cameras—and many others—contain a "focus bracketing" feature that lets you do this automatically.

My Workflow for Editing a Watch Photo

Two years ago, I took an online class about product photography editing that completely changed the way I approach the photographic process. Coming from a background of street photography using film cameras, I have always been very “purist” about the whole process, trying as much as possible to preserve the original image by only making slight adjustments on light and contrast.