My name is Jeremy Lebled, and I'm a fashion photographer. I recently just did a shoot to demo Leica's S Camera. My specialty is using just the sun to get a high-end studio look to photographs instead of using dozens of strobes.
So, the Nikon D7000 I bought, brand new in early 2014, is a fake. Unbeknownst to me until very recently, of course. Let's start at the beginning -- it being the most logical and traditional place to start.
In this post, I'll be sharing 5 business mistakes that photographers make all the time.
Sometime during 2010, I began dreaming of quitting my job and traveling around Asia for a year before returning to the work force. I had graduated from college during the global recession back in 2008 and got stuck in a job that I never intended to stay at for long.
So I started saving up as much as I could, sold most of my belongings, and even lived in the building I worked in for a few months. When I finally left on a plane in Sept 2011, I had no idea that I would end up traveling for three years to sixty countries.
A few months ago I decided to do something a little different and create an iOS app to present my photography. I had been thinking about it for a while and had a vague idea of what I wanted the app to achieve and how I wanted it to work.
Portfolio websites are great for photographers to showcase their work to potential clients but unless the website has additional content, there is no reason for people to keep coming back. This is why many people add a blog to their website with behind-the-scenes or tips-and-tricks content.
I used to believe that photojournalism represented a platonic ideal of veracity, but this naïve notion has eroded. The cause of this loss of innocence isn’t limited to the high profile manipulation that has dogged the industry, but also the realization that the camera is nothing more than a point of view. Aim it in one direction or another. Take a photo now or later. Select one image over another to display to an audience. There is a fundamental “truthiness” to photojournalism that is inescapable.
Popular YouTube filmmaker and VFX artist Freddie Wong released this video a couple of days ago that has a lot of people talking. It's titled "Why CG Sucks (Except It Doesn't)." Over the course of 7.5 minutes, Wong argues that computer generated visual effects often get a bad rap because it's the bad CG that everyone notices -- by definition, good CG is largely invisible to audiences.
With this week’s announcement of the new Nikkor 24-70 VR, I wanted to take a moment to look back on what its predecessor, the 24-70mm f/2.8G, has meant to me.
Don't fund my life. Really, don't send anything.
I’m a photographer, a businessperson, an artist, an educator and a friend. Many tough things have happened to me over the years, but it has been suggested that I keep the negativity to a minimum. Lots of good things have happened to me as well. Mostly, good things happened because of planning and preparation and a little luck. Bad things have happened because life happens and sometimes we are unlucky.
This is a story of when life gives you lemons, you try and not cry yourself to sleep. The names in this story have been omitted to protect the mistaken.
My trip to McNeil River, Alaska actually started in November of 2014 when I read this PetaPixel article describing it. In the article they mentioned that, due to the tremendous interest in McNeil River, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game has instituted a lottery system.
In a typical year, thousands of applications are received and only 185 are granted. They are given to groups of ten for four-day stays. They also mentioned that you will be closer to the bears than anywhere else in the world (the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website says you will average between 75-200 feet). Having now applied and won a coveted permit, I can assure you, as this video attests, there is nothing “average” about this experience.
At some early point in my 4-year stint as a film student at the University of Miami, in Florida, an advisor explained I’d have to dual-major in a field outside the school of communications. This seemed a perfectly reasonable request of the school to make; after all, the advisor said, as communication students we needed something to communicate about.
Any object can be seen as something else given the right perspective. In this instance, fairly common items have been used to create the effect of lava.
Note: I don’t name names in this article, but if you’ve been in the wedding industry for while, you will know who I am referring to. If not, you really do need to read this.
A photography industry workshop can be a fantastic way to learn and help your business grow. Industry leaders can share information that they have gathered over the years, distilling it that knowledge into a valuable seminar or workshop.
Great education can save time on the learning curve, and save you from making big mistakes. Unfortunately, for every great educator out there, there are 10 people who have absolutely no business teaching.
If you want to be a wedding photographer, you need to stop and think about your life.
So you want to be a wedding photographer? Want to go pro, go full-time, ditch that desk and take the industry by storm? Stop and think about your life. Do you LOVE to work? Like, truly LOVE working? Not the recognition, not the money and the fame, and least of all the internal accomplishment feedback that comes from achieving small successes that only you can see. Nope, you pretty much need to love doing the work.
If you've ever had the misfortune of having your Instagram account deleted... this article is for you.
I work primarily as a fashion and fine art photographer but also teach at the New York Institute of Photography. Because of this I am in constant communication with other photographers looking to improve their work and help promote their businesses. After reading testimonials about how Instagram increases exposure for countless photographers and brands, I decided to sign up and create my first account.
Lomography began as an art movement in the early 1990s after a group of Viennese students discovered the LC-A, a camera manufactured by Russian imaging company LOMO. The fixed lens 32mm f/2.8 compact camera produced unique images that were off-color, vibrant, and soft. On a mission to advocate the use of these creative cameras and experimental film, photographers quickly formed the Lomographic Society International in 1992.
Despite the movement producing wonderfully interesting images that have been exhibited in both Moscow and New York City, it has received substantial criticism from self-dubbed “real photographers.” This opinion piece aims at breaking down the wall of prejudice, and opening minds to the possibility of creative photography outside of normal standards.
A couple of years ago, when I switched careers and moved into photography full time, I did a lot of research on multiple aspects of running a photography business. One of those areas, digital asset management (DAM), deals with, well, managing your digital assets, your image files.
I discovered Adobe’s open standard Digital Negative Graphics (DNG) file format. There are a number of advantages to converting your proprietary raw files (CR2, NEF, etc.) to DNG files, including file size, embedded file verification, future compatibility, and speed.
I’ve shot digital for as long as I can remember, but for a number of years I have been considering delving into film for my street photography work. Every time I became adamant about pursuing it, I talked myself out of it.
"What are you going to do with your negatives? How will you print? It’s so expensive! Your hit rate on digital isn’t that great...you have more control with RAW anyway...It will be waste of money"
It occurred to me last night that 2015 marks my twentieth year as a digital photographer. I suspect that many of you geezers reading this (i.e. those of you over 40) are approaching or have already passed a similar milestone. You’ll probably agree with me that it’s been quite a roller coaster ride, one that my younger readers might not fully appreciate. So like any other two bit amusement of questionable soundness, I feel it’s my responsibility to post the following notice right up front:
YOU MUST BE AT LEAST THIS TALL TO ENTER!
When Sony announced the QX-100, I jumped on Amazon and pre-ordered it immediately. It seemed to solve the most obvious problems I had with smartphone photography quality: a larger sensor, better low light performance, and better optics. But upon receiving it, the deficiencies quickly became apparent. The display-less design required you to use Wi-Fi to pair it with your camera -- a frustratingly slow experience. I tried shooting blind, but the lens barrel design gave you no indication of whether the image was straight. And finally, the thing wasn’t pocketable.
Digital SLRs don’t get a lot of love these days. Challenged by mirrorless cameras, smartphones, and occasionally even tablets, DSLRs have almost become the embodiment of old, uncool technology. They, for obvious reasons, are still the undisputed go-to choice for most professional photographers, as mirrorless cameras and point-and-shoots are currently the hottest alternative for enthusiasts, and iPhones have become the perfect fit for the clueless average Joe.
Ever since junior high school, I was the kid with the camera. And many years later, I’m still the guy who shows up to every life event with camera in hand to document the lives of my friends.
I used to carry around a hulking DSLR, but the weight bothers me, and the large size feels too intrusive for the everyday. I don’t want to interrupt life by taking photos, I simply want them to remember the fractions of a second that end up representing curated slices of life.
My name is Will Chao, and I'm a wedding photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. I’m a huge fan of large aperture lenses. I shoot every lens almost 100% of the time at the maximum aperture possible. At any given wedding, over 90% of my photos are taken with 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.2, and 200mm f/2.0, each at its widest aperture setting. I’m also one of the few people who use f/1.2 and f/1.4 for group shots.
Note: I wrote this because, well, if you make your living with your camera, this IS your circus and these ARE your monkeys.
Dear PPA,
You know that I have had nothing but mad love for you. Even as I typed those words, I made a peace-sign with my fingers and thumped them against my chest. I’m street like that.
Over the last couple of weeks, the matter of photo contracts has once again been debated. First came Jason Sheldon’s blog post, calling Taylor Swift out on her hypocrisy when attacking Apple for demanding musicians give away their music for free while doing the exact same thing to concert photographers in her photo contracts. If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of that whole ordeal, so there’s no need to get into it further other than to say that I fully support Sheldon’s views.
Last week, the Washington City Paper made a stand against what it considered an unfair concert photography contract presented by the Foo Fighters with an article entitled "Why We’re Not Photographing The Foo Fighters." Concert photographers everywhere stood up and slow clapped for the headline, the main idea of the article, and the stand it took on photographers rights.
In the last paragraph of the article however, the City Paper did something even worse to photographers than the Foo Fighters ever could have: they called on the fans to submit photos of the show, and they offered to pay for them.
My Canon and I. We were like two peas in a pod. We met when I was just a young man, knowing nothing about love or how to use a camera. My Canon taught me so much so quickly. We would go out everywhere together and my Canon would teach me how to see things in a new light, see things that I’ve never seen before. My Canon was everything I could ever have wanted.
This first year of officially shooting full-time has flown by. I didn’t realize how scary it was to graduate college, leave school forever, and be on my own. For years that’s all I wanted. I hated school. I hated anything that held me down. It wasn’t until I didn’t have anything to hold me down that I realized just what it takes to run a full time wedding photography business. Here are the top five tough lessons I (and probably any creative entrepreneur) face the most.
My photography journey started a little differently from most because I was going into it with a handicap right off the bat. It was always a thought that I may not be able to make this work, and that I'd fail miserably, and nobody wants that. From birth, I’ve had a disability that you’d think would make me the last person to get into photography: I’m legally blind.
You will be hard pressed to find a reasonable working photographer today, who won't admit that film still has a place in photography and really offers some unique characteristics, even if they choose to not use it. But often photographers who love shooting digital and don't want to deal with film attempt to write off and make excuses for why they can't shoot film. I'd like to offer a rebuttal to such excuses, inspired by a recent thoughtful PetaPixel post.
After my public response to Taylor Swift’s open letter to Apple, I didn’t quite expect the phenomenal reaction it received. I knew it was provocative. I knew it was going to be risky and could possibly harm my chances of getting access to other concerts in future, but it needed to be said -- out loud. When I thought hard about the possible consequences, and restrictions on my access to future work, I asked myself “What point is there in going to work if I can’t be paid for it, yet everyone else gets to benefit from my labor?”. The answer?
There was nothing left to lose. When you’re faced with a choice of working for free to save a millionaire having to pay a reasonable fee, or not working at all, what would you do?
I'm a documentary wedding photographer, which means there's a certain way that I work, and a certain style to the photography I produce. The end product of which is an accurate, beautiful document of the single most important day thus far in a couple's life together. I want my clients to feel what they felt on their wedding day, years later when they're reminiscing with their album.
I love Canon cameras. I really do. And it was with great regret that I moved away from Canon last year after being an EOS system user my entire life. I started when I was 5 years old on my father's EOS 300 film cameras and have then enjoyed every camera up to and including the 5D Mark III, but there was a problem.
I love film. I purely, madly, and deeply love film. I learned on film, I shot my first wedding with film, traveled around Europe with a film camera, and have taken Polaroids on road trips, adventures and portrait sessions. I have boxes of beautiful little Polaroids that I treasure more than anything I’ve ever taken with a digital camera. Film is a wonderful, brilliant medium for taking photographs with real soul.
Karl Baden should have known better.
I mean, what was he thinking, casually snapping a few pictures as dramatic sunlight broke through the clouds after one of last week’s late spring rainstorms? From the front seat of his car in a suburban Boston Trader Joe’s parking lot, of all places? What is he, nuts?
What will we do with all the data we accumulate from photos? On a daily basis, Internet juggernauts like Google, Yahoo, Facebook or Microsoft use highly sophisticated deep learning engines to better understand the content of billions of images uploaded, liked and shared. For now, it is to better serve advertising, but what else can be done?
Dear Taylor Swift,
I have read your open letter to Apple where you give your reasons for refusing to allow your album ‘1989′ to be included on their forthcoming Apple Music streaming service.
I applaud it. It’s great to have someone with a huge following standing up for the rights of creative people and making a stand against the corporate behemoths who have so much power they can make or break someone’s career.
I wish I hadn’t, but the other day I stumbled across an essay on PetaPixel entitled 12 Reasons Photographers Still Choose to Shoot Film over Digital. Bravely, the writer had polled his associates who shoot film and culled their responses down to a dandy dozen. I shook my head sadly, because I’d heard them all many times before.
But the worst part came next. I scrolled down to the comments section. I tried mightily to avert my eyes, but I couldn’t, and the lurid spectacle of grown men and women (but mostly men) verbally beating the living daylights out of each other while thousands cheered them on from the cheap seats proved too much for me.
I've been blogging about testing and taking apart camera equipment for almost a decade. My company, LensRentals, has many thousand of lenses these days, and they all get used frequently. When you have lots of lenses and they get used frequently, stuff gets inside them.
“Hello, my name is Steve, and I’m a photographer.”
I have been told that as a photographer I should be able to explain to people quickly and easily what kind of photographer I am in a sentence or two. This is similar to an artist statement, only much shorter. An example of a great reply to this question would be something like, “Hi, my name is Annie, and I’m an American portrait and celebrity photographer who shoots for editorial and commercial clients like Rolling Stone and American Express.”
Vivid is a festival of light and color thrown by the city of Sydney every year. Run by Destination NSW (the state’s tourism authority) and paid for by a mixture of state and business sponsorship, it’s an amazing looking event. At its core are the building takeovers in which they drop unique projection-mapped animations on some of the most famous structures in the world, located on one of the most famous harbours in the world.
Last week when Google Photos launched, I quickly tested it out and then wrote a post with my immediate initial reaction to the service. Much of my early disappointment centered around the fact that Google chose to limit the size of photos in the service to 16 megapixels. As a DSLR shooter this meant that a large portion of my library would be downsized with Google Photos. Bummer.
It's pretty common for great images to go viral on social media sites, but what happens when a photo goes viral with an incorrect caption... twice? Bangkok-based photographer Luke Duggleby recently experienced that firsthand when his 2010 image of 40,000 Thai monks in prayer at the Dhammakaya Temple made the rounds on social media following the Nepal earthquake, captioned as "100,000 monks in prayer after the Nepal earthquake as a necessary gesture of power." Years ago, the image had gone viral in a similar fashion, only that time it was captioned "praying monks in Myanmar."
There is currently a scam targeting photographers nationwide. It begins with a threat of false negative reviews if a business owner doesn't pay a "reputation management fee". Whether the business responds or not, the scammers will post many negative reviews then offer to have them removed or pushed down the search results... For a fee, of course.
Google launched Google Photos yesterday.
For months now people have been talking about how Google was going to decouple photos from Google+ and create a standalone photo product, and yesterday at Google's I/O conference they finally unveiled their latest effort to the world.
I'll say this right up front: what you’re about to read is not a review of the Fujifilm X100T. That’s a good thing, because I’m a lousy camera reviewer. So if that’s what you’re looking for, stop reading right now and hightail it over to one of the many excellent camera review sites instead. You know the ones. Just don’t forget to help support those reviewers’ growing families and camera collections by clicking through to one of their fine sponsoring vendors.
Have you ever found yourself in the following situation? You are researching wedding photographers, either as a prospective client or as a photographer scoping out the competition, and encounter the following:
There are many people who have studied and understand the art world better than me. But there is one thing that I’m sure of: Richard Prince is a jerk.
Having had a few weeks now to spend significant time exploring Flickr 4.0, I thought I’d write up a detailed post about my ongoing thoughts on the recent update by Flickr.