I love being a wedding photographer. I get to work with amazing couples, travel to incredible places and do something that is fundamentally creative. While weddings offer unparalleled opportunities for creativity due to the nature of shooting so many different people in different places, there are things I consciously keep in mind to make sure I mix things up and have the best chances of always remaining creative… no matter where I am.
As a photographer, I've never really planned my shoots too much. I kind of look at what I'll be shooting and think of cool-looking images. Then I try my best to match what I'm seeing in my head through photography and sometimes post-production.
This headline might come off a bit pretentious for some of you. I mean, how do photographers travel any differently than the rest of the population? Fair question, but for better or for worse, we are different in our own way.
It has been bugging me for a while now: there is just something that is missing from photography. From my personal work to the majority of photographers out there. I’m talking about the photos on your feeds, be it personal to commercial. It has been bugging me and I finally found out what it is: what is missing from photography is stories.
You know those moments when you're chimping and wonder why that amazing shot that you thought was going to be, well, amazing just isn't? Your exposure was right - check; white balance - check; aperture - check; shutter - check. Lens... hmm. Let's see. Lens? Yes, I shot with the right lens. If you are shooting competently and things are still not working out like you would want them to, I have a great piece of advice for you.
Seoul-based photographer Steve Roe recently took a fractal lens around Asia and captured futuristic views of the narrow streets filled with neon signs.
I often teach new photographers to study the greats, both past and present. Study and be influenced, but please don’t aim to copy them -- I promise you that won’t get you anywhere.
Sometimes we put things off so many times that the act of delaying that thing becomes automatic. “I’ll get to that thing tomorrow”, and tomorrow comes, tomorrow goes, and that thing never gets taken care of. I fell into that trap, and the thing that kept being put off was taking portraits of my parents.
This idea had been rolling around in my head for years. I use flashes a lot in my photography. Whether that is a Speedlight on or off camera or in the studio with some big strobes and modifiers. But this is the first time I have ever used an aerial drone-mounted flash.
I normally love to plan my photos and I would have liked to plan a cool shot with yesterday’s moon eclipse. However, when I planned my current trip to Kyrgyzstan, I didn’t realize I would be there with the lunar eclipse of 2018 (bad planning, I know).
About 4 months ago, I posted a photo of my 7-hexagon canvas cluster to Reddit's r/space (on a Sunday, the only day you're allowed to post your own astro photos to the sub). The title of the post was: "I'm a photographer and print-maker and my passion is the night sky. I made this 7-hexagon canvas cluster in honor of the forthcoming James Webb Telescope. The photo is of the Milky Way over WEBBer Lake, CA."
It is the hottest time of the day during the hottest month of the year in Montana, but two hundred feet above me a pair of nighthawks sense a change. They dive and twist with a grace somewhere between fighter pilot and falling leaf, air buzzing through their wingtips, raspy calls beckoning night, commanding the sun to set. The single, sand-rock knob that I sit on here in the prairie while I watch their aerial display will hold the heat I feel through my jeans well into darkness.
Often it is the backstory and the small stories behind a set of pictures that brings it all together. I posted the above picture back in 2011, photographed on film and included in a set of photos from an abandoned dye-works in Somerset, UK.
After seeing photographer Skyler Burt's experiments with lighting food photos using a cheap work light, photographer Jessica Kobeissi recently purchased that same $20 light from Home Depot for an experimental portrait shoot.
I do a lot of automotive lifestyle personal projects that I use for self-promotion and am constantly on the hunt for new ideas. A friend of mine recently turned me on to Turo, an app for peer-to-peer car rentals. In the past, you had to hire a picture vehicle company to get vintage cars for shoots, and those can be really pricey and are severely limited in terms of how far you can drive the car.
Here's a 13-minute video in which three photographers (Sheldon Evans, Ricardo Lategan, and Jessica Amdur) were tasked with shooting portraits of the same model (Maya Boraine), a challenge popularized by photographer Jessica Kobeissi.
Scott Wilson is an award-winning landscape and wildlife photographer based in Denver, Colorado, who has had to overcome a challenge most photographers will never need to face: stage IV cancer.
The prestigious Astronomy Photographer of the Year photo contest put on by Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the shortlisted photos for the 2018 competition. It's a set of space and astronomy photos that will dazzle your eyes.
Photographer Eric Floberg made this 5-minute video tutorial on the subject of composing portraits.
Light-painting photography is generally done in the dark since you need long exposure times to capture moving light sources as streaks. But use can also shoot long-exposure photos in bright sunlight using a neutral density filter. Photographer Eric Paré recently did just that, experimenting with doing light-painting in afternoon daylight.
My family and I recently moved back up to North Carolina. It feels so good to be back in the place we feel is home to us. Now surrounded again by all this State’s natural beauty and wildlife, I’ve had quite the itch to ramp up my efforts in bird photography that began down in Florida.
The IPPAWARDS, or iPhone Photography Awards, has been celebrating the joy of iPhone photography since 2007, and it just released the winners of its 2018 photo contest celebrating the best iPhone photos of the year. The grand prize winner this year is Jashim Salam of Bangladesh, who shot the above photo with an iPhone 7.
Maybe you’re a beginner, just got your first camera, and you’re trying to learn to navigate the world of photography. Or you’ve been photographing for a while, but you’re looking for something different, something new. How do you decide the best direction for your photography? How do you find that photographic genre that really clicks with you, that makes you want to keep venturing out of the house, keep improving?
The Kennel Club has announced the winning photos of the 2018 Dog Photographer of the Year photo contest. This is the 13th year of the contest and entries are submitted by thousands of photographers from countries all over the world.
When most people think of the word Zen, a meditating monk in a monastery comes to mind, a practice of enlightenment, a person being in the present or someone without attachments. When I think of Zen, I think of a lifestyle that has profoundly influenced my photography practice. I would like to dive into the ways of zen photography and how it might enlighten your creative practice.
I removed the Canon C300 from its waterproof bag and attached the 24-105mm f/4.0 lens while swatting away the relentless mosquitoes. Bringing the viewfinder loupe up to my eye, my left hand flicked the power switch on, now a reflex action after shooting with this camera every day for the last three weeks. Nothing happened. Weird, I was certain I'd put in a fully charged battery.
I have been a commercial and wedding photographer for over 13 years. And from the beginning, I have been using Canon DSLR cameras and a variety of auto-focus lenses for the Canon EF system.
Here's something you may not have known about the 1800s wet plate collodion photography process: it can make certain tattoos disappear in photos. It's a curious phenomenon that photographer Michael Bradley used for his portrait project Puaki.
London-based filmmaker Frederic van Strydonck made this creative short film titled Spltch, which teleports the viewer to different locations through taking dips below the water's surface. Everything was shot with an unprotected iPhone X.
Photographer Carley Nelson was backpacking at the Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon last weekend when she asked her friends to point their headlamps at the falls while she captured a long-exposure photo. This is what resulted.
Here's a 7-minute video by Adobe Create about the life and work of Atlanta hip-hop photographer Zach Wolfe. (Warning: the video contains strong language and mature themes).
I'm photographer David Johnson, and in this tutorial I'll be sharing how I shoot long-exposure photos of defocused fireworks.
Big Red is a new 4-minute feature about Steven Glynn, a "a quirky photographer with an old-school style." Glynn shoots tintype photos.
I’ve been thinking about photography and personal style and the different ways to teach it. I’m trying to help, share and guide people along their way in finding their unique photographic style. Seeing if I can find that quick fix, that beaten path someone else has already made for us. Sadly over the many years of reflection and research, I’ve found that there is no blue pill.
For some time now I’ve wanted to do a project which follows the light over this period. The longest day. The shortest night. To sit in one spot and photograph a simple composition of sea and sky as the light changed.
Iceland is booming. More than 2 million tourists visit Iceland every year. This comes as no surprise. As I am regularly guiding tours in Iceland, I have visited the country quite a few times over the years and the beauty of the country is simply out of this world. The moment you step out of Reykjavik is the moment you enter some a fantasy movie with beautiful scenery on every corner.
Photographer Anya Anti recently did a space-inspired photo shoot and created this 7.5-minute behind-the-scenes and time-lapse view of how she styled, set up, shot, and retouched the portrait.
Two years ago, I splurged some money and bought a camera because I'd always wanted to try to take pictures of the stars. The left photo above was the only decent picture out of 700 taken on my first clueless attempt. The right photo was taken about 2 weeks ago. Don't let your dreams be dreams.
I just returned from a 5-week photography trip. I had a few weeks off work between contracts and figured why not hit the road instead of paying insane rent in the SF Bay area! It was still a great idea in hindsight. However, it wasn’t all bliss and glory all-day-every-day.
Irving Penn is either the best or second best portrait photographer of all time. Depending on the day, he’s either ahead of or behind Richard Avedon. At least that’s what I think.
Photographer and astronomer Juan Carlos Munoz was browsing a flea market in Santiago, Chile, a few days ago when he stumbled across some crystal balls. He bought one for a few dollars and then decided to use it for astrophotography. This "cosmic marble" photo of the Milky Way in a crystal ball is what resulted.
For about a year and a half, every time I opened my fridge I saw my last remaining 10 exposure pack of Fuji FP 100C instant film, and every time I opened said fridge I was reluctant to take it out and shoot it. I did not want to waste my last remaining packfilm but I knew I shouldn’t wait too long, because eventually the chemistry inside the film would dry. And since the film expired in late 2007, I was running out of time.
If you think you may have a passion for photography, try "developing" that passion instead of "finding" it. The shift in mindset could help keep you from giving up when the going gets tough.
We've all heard of some of the world's greatest and most spectacular places. Places like Yosemite National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Machu Picchu. Many of us dream of going to far away places such as Iceland, Santorini, Dubai, The Maldives, but for many of us, it is just that -- a dream! Something we have to save long and hard for. Something we are lucky to do just once a year.
B&H held its Optic 2018 conference and trade show for outdoor and travel photography earlier this month, and now you can watch 20 of the talks given by top photographers over the course of the four days.
Landscape photography takes a lot of patience. When we share shots on the Internet, people often don't realize how much effort can go into creating some of them. I'm often told, "you’re always at the right place at the right time." And yes, I am sometimes at the right place at the right time, but it took me lots of effort and sometimes a bit of luck!
I picked up a camera in 2008, and I laid my mother to rest in 2010. Guess what I never got around to? That’s right: I never created a real portrait of her before we said goodbye.
Apple just launched a new ad campaign called "Behind the Mac," featuring stories of how people are using the company's gadgets and technology in special ways. One of the creatives featured is photographer Bruce Hall, who's legally blind. You can watch his feature in this 1-minute ad.
Cape Town is the most dangerous city in South Africa and one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Freelance photojournalist Leon Knipe follows the police to crime scenes and works to document as many murders as he can. The 5-minute video above by Shaun Swingler is about Knipe's life and work (warning: it contains graphic photos of horrific crime scenes).
This was one of my scariest moments as a photographer. What you don't see in this photo is the 100-meter (~330-foot) drop in front of me and the gale force wind from behind. Two minutes of light and then it was dark again.