The night has fallen. I am alone, on top of a mountain, at an altitude of 3,000 meters (~9,800 feet). Fog is floating along through the valleys below, illuminated by the pale light of the moon. For a moment I feel like I've landed on a distant planet, lost in space. It's a privilege to be here, a refreshment of the soul.
Need to take portraits and don’t have access to a lighting kit? No worries – this 4-minute video from Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens will show you how you can turn a bathroom – or any room for that matter – into a softbox to create beautiful soft light.
As a landscape photographer, I love extreme wide angle lenses. I use my 16-35mm for 90% of my photos and I mostly use it at 16mm. When I give lectures about photography, I often hear people saying they have trouble with using extreme wide angle uses just because they are "so wide". But these lenses require a different approach than your kit lens to get the most out of them.
This short 2-minute video from photographer Svitlana Vronska demonstrates some clever lighting tricks you can use to add some creative flair to your images with an otherwise uninteresting backdrop.
Are you planning an outdoor landscape photo adventure? This video from landscape photographer Thomas Heaton will give you some ideas on how to optimize your pack. It's a 12-minute look through the gear he’s settled on for his camping photo trips.
Lightroom is a fairly straightforward and simple piece of software to get your head around. But, like anything, there are always shortcuts and tricks you can use to improve and streamline your workflow. In this 6-minute video from Travis Transient, try out these 3 top tips for making Lightroom life flow more smoothly.
I recently dipped my toe for the first time in the world of alpinism, also known as mountaineering. I took part in a course teaching basic alpinism skills, and at the same time shot photos of the course for Mountain Network, the agency that organized it. I’d prepared for this assignment by reading up on how to shoot photos in this unique environment. Some of the tips I’d found on the Internet came in handy, but I also learned some things I hadn’t read about before, which I thought I’d share here.
Here’s a simple way to create a digital watermark using your signature that you can use as a Photoshop brush. This 5-minute video from Colin Smith of photoshopCAFE shows you the steps needed using just a paper, pencil, and a smartphone.
An important part of developing your own editing style is the way that you color grade your images. Photographer Sean Tucker explains his approach in this 15-minute video, showing how he uses edits his photos while adhering to a consistent color palette.
My name is Albert Dros, and I am a professional landscape photographer from the Netherlands. People often tell me that I am "in the right place at the right time." But I obviously don’t post "failed" shoots. And not only that, I also spend a great deal of time planning my shots in order to make my chances of success as high as possible.
Adding a splash can add impact to product photos that involve liquid. Here's a 9-minute video in which photographer Dustin Dolby of workphlo shows how you can capture splashes with speedlights.
Nearly every professional studio I’ve ever used has these "polyboards" and you‘ve probably even seen them yourself but may not have known what they’re used for. Polyboards are polystyrene boards that usually measure 4 feet wide by 8 feet high and are normally 2 inches thick. One of the other defining characteristics is that they are often white on one side and black on the other.
When it starts pouring outside, most photographers may run for cover and hide from the rain. For photographer Ilko Allexandroff, heavy rain becomes an opportunity to shoot stunning backlit portraits of subjects. Here's a 20-minute video in which Allexandroff discusses his methods, helpful tips, and 6 types of lighting setups he uses.
Photoshop’s Liquify Tool is a very powerful tool for retouching images, especially photos of people. Learning all of the features of the tool is important to make sure your edits don’t look unnatural. This 25-minute video from tutvid will help you master Liquify, as Nathanial Dodson explores 10 tips, tricks, and features.
Here are 4 great tips for fashion photographers and videographers looking to light effective portraits. In this 3-minute video by Aputure, cameraman Kazu Okuda shares his expertise on how to work well with studio lighting.
Here's an 18-minute video by Sean Tucker on how to improve your food photography skills at home without buying any expensive gear.
Photography is a lot of fun. For the most part, it’s a solo pursuit where you are completely responsible for your own success or failure. But anyone can be a great photographer! Most people in the world are professional photographers now that phones are taking world-class, billboard-worthy images. If you want to stand out in this sea of photographers, you’re going to have to learn how NOT to swim. So here are some tips on how to become a successful failure in the photography age.
In this article, I am going to highlight 5 key things that I see portrait photographers doing that I consider to be "in need of improvement." And although there are no hard-and-fast rules to photography, try to think of it as being similar to an instrument being slightly out of tune or a meal that's perhaps a little too salty. These are glaringly obvious errors to the well-informed but may not be so obvious to those who are just starting out.
In this 4-minute video by Wex Photographic, street photographer Matt Higgs takes up the challenge of capturing 30 street portraits of complete strangers in just 2 hours.
Here's a 7-minute lesson by photographer Dustin Dolby of workphlo on how to improve your product photography shots by giving them a silky, soft, pleasant light.
As the saying goes, sometimes the best camera is the one that you have with you. With some clever tools and techniques, Kai Wong shows how your smartphone can be used to create usable video in the 5-minute video above.
Composition can make or break a photograph. Here's a 7-minute video by photographer Peter McKinnon in which he runs through three tips to help you improve the composition of your photographs.
My name is Mark Fitzgerald, and I'm a photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. In this post, I'll be discussing basic model poses for female models. Whether you are a model choosing a pose or a photographer posing your model, this is a decision that can shape the look of the image and therefore the success of the campaign.
Sharpening gives your images a bit of pop by increasing the edge contrast, but it’s easy to go too far and end up with an over-sharpened mess. In this 10-minute video, Tony Northrup demonstrates how sharpening works in Lightroom and how to know how much is enough.
As with all creative crafts, there are many common pitfalls that photographers fall into when they’re just starting out. Landscape photographer Toma Bonciu runs through 5 of them in this inspiring 5-minute video.
In this typically short and sweet 1.5-minute video from Mango Street, the photography duo run through some techniques for posing a male subject. These tips are especially helpful when posing someone who is not a model and has little experience in front of a camera.
Lightroom has a feature that can help you use your photography metadata to make informed lens buying and upgrade decisions. In my personal case, Lightroom proved to me that I don't need a 24-70mm lens. I'll show you how.
Did you know that Photoshop has built-in animation tools? In this 12-minute video from Peter McKinnon, learn how to utilize them to animate your photographs and create a 2.5D parallax effect.
No matter what industry you are in, if you’re selling your services you will inevitably come up against clients who balk at your prices. This 9-minute video from The Futur is a role-play of that very situation and will teach you some ways to respond and close the deal without selling yourself short.
Here's a 15-minute video by photographer Sean Tucker in which he runs through an effective technique for processing black and white images, with a focus on mobile. Tucker demonstrates using curves and HSL sliders to achieve a dramatic look for his images that end up on his Instagram.
Are you just getting started with your photography business, or struggling to find clients? This 15-minute video from French photographer Serge Ramelli is well worth your time, as he imparts his knowledge and experience on making bookings and getting your work printed.
Here’s a quick video from tutvids covering five different tricks that will be completely new to most Photoshop users. Did you know there is a Banana Tool? You’ll soon find out what it does (or doesn’t do).
In this 9-minute video by photographer Phil Torres of The Jungle Diaries, learn how to photograph bugs and other insects on a white background while out on location.
Whether you've been shooting for five minutes or five years, there will likely come a time when you'll have to book a shoot with another person. Maybe it will be a friend or coworker and maybe it will be a full-time professional model.
Adobe has launched a new Photoshop tutorial series for beginners on its YouTube channel, titled "3, 2, 1... Photoshop!"
Long exposure photography can take time, planning, and patience in waiting for the right conditions to develop. In this 13-minute video blog, Thomas Heaton shares the good, the bad, and the ugly of long exposure photography.
Here's a 4-minute video by the Photoshop Training Channel on how to use Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill tool with an advanced technique for those times in which it doesn't work quite as well as you had hoped.
You’ve probably used Hue/Saturation/Lightness adjustment layers in Photoshop before, but there's likely more to it than you may have known. This 8-minute video from f64 Academy looks at the tool in detail and shows how you can use it to enhance your control over color ranges.
Here's a 6-minute video in which photographer and retoucher Nino Batista looks at some of the most common retouching mistakes that amateur photographers tend to make. Eliminate these from your post-processing workflow to take your photos to the next level.
When was the last time you cleaned your sensor? Even with weather-sealed equipment, dust particles can eventually make their way inside your camera. Peter McKinnon runs through how to clean the sensor and lenses in this 13-minute video.
What makes a good tripod? This 5-minute video from Kai Wong looks at the ins and outs of a photographer's three-legged friend.
Having your photos displayed in a gallery is an excellent way to put the spotlight on your hard work. In this 10 minute video by Shutterbug, photographer Jordan Matter runs through 10 tips on how to get your photographs exhibited.
Here's a helpful 4-minute video in which photographer Phillip McCordall shares a few tips and tricks for dealing with reflections in still life photography.
Being a great photographer is only one part of turning it in to a full-time job. You’ll also need some business chops, and these 3 tips from photographer Moshe Zusman will give you some ideas on how automate client acquisition.
Want to try out product photography but can't afford a softbox? They can be expensive pieces of kit, but invisible ones cost a lot less. In this 6-minute video by Leo Rosas, learn how to use a cheap tube light as a makeshift softbox.
Oh the road to becoming the best photographer you can be, you come across loads of useful information... and some not-so-useful information. Sometimes, it's hard to separate what you need to retain and what you don't. This 22-minute video is a list of things that I should have paid more attention to when I was first starting.
Here's a simple little life hack for photographers: wine storage can sometimes double as great camera lens storage. A shelf or rack designed for wine could be a way to keep your lenses organized and ready to go.
Drone photography is all the rage right now. It's not just for amazing aerial films, but also for great stills from a unique perspective. In this 5-minute film, COOPH gives 11 great tips for improving your drone photos.
This 2-minute video from Adorama highlights one super-simple tip that could make your life behind the camera a little easier.
Educator Colin Smith of photoshopCAFE has 7 great tips for Lightroom users that might just surprise you and make your post production life a little easier. He previously shared 7 Photoshop tricks hidden in plain sight, and these Lightroom tricks are just as helpful.