Tips

How to Shoot a White Product on a White Background

In product photography, using a white background can eliminate distractions and really make the product shine. But what if the product itself is white? In this 4-minute video, you'll learn how to properly expose your shot in this challenging scenario.

10 Sneaky Tricks Used in Food Photos

The foods you buy in the store and at restaurants are never as tasty as they look in advertising photos, but what many people might not know is that you probably wouldn't enjoy eating the foods seen in those pictures. The reason is because commercial food photographers use all kinds of non-edible products to cleverly make food look delicious in front of a lens. Here's a 9-minute video on 10 of those tricks.

Here’s a Checklist for Learning How to Retouch Photos Like a Pro

If you are a photographer or fledgling retoucher opening Photoshop for the first time, it is a daunting experience, to say the least. There is a wealth of knowledge, free and purchasable online, but how do you know what to search for if you don’t know what you don’t know?

An Introduction to Astrophotography: Shooting Stars for Beginners

Shooting the night sky can produce amazing images of endless starry skies, but it can be challenging to those used to working with plenty of light. This 15-minute beginner’s guide from Josh Katz teaches the key elements of astrophotography, and how to capture the sky even in sub-optimal conditions.

How to Cut Your Photo Editing Time in Half

Editing photos after a shoot can be extremely time-consuming, especially if you have not spent some time optimizing your workflow. If you'd like to speed up your editing process, here's a 5-minute video by Mango Street Lab with tips and tricks for culling, organizing, and editing photos.

Choosing Where to Take Photos in a Family Home

Family homes provide a multitude of possible backgrounds and framing opportunities for wonderful photographs. But it’s easy to end up with cluttered-looking shots if you get the background wrong. Choosing your location carefully can make all the difference.

Reality Check: What Counts as ‘Pro’ Photography Gear?

The short answer: whatever works for you. In this short video/soliloquy, photography educator Matt Granger takes a break from looking at the best pro photo gear, to help define what exactly "pro gear" means to him, and what it should mean to you.

Pro Tip: Don’t Pose Your Models, Direct Them

Commercial photographer Derek Heisler has some key advice for the novice portrait photographers in the audience: don't pose your models. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but Heisler explains why 'directing' your models instead of posing them, will make a huge difference in your photography.

How to Safely Retrieve Files Off Failing HDD, SSD, or SD Cards Using Free Tools

All of the drives we are using to store our precious photos and videos are not 100% reliable. Everybody should know that by now (and back everything up) but even if you are doing it properly, there are times when a drive fails and you have nowhere else to get its contents except from the drive itself.

9 Creative Photography Tricks You Can Do at Home

Ready to get creative this weekend? Good, because our friends at COOPH are back with 9 creative photography tricks you can try out at home when you have a spare minute. From making your own glitter "snow," to magnifying glass macro and beyond, there are some really fun tips in here.

Quick Tip: Composition for Beginners

Improving your composition can bring balance and personality to your photography, simultaneously enabling you to produce more appealing images. And as quick tips go, this 90-second video from Mango Street Lab is absolutely packed full of key compositional advice.

10 Lessons Learned from Botched Motorcycle Photo Shoots

When it comes to motorcycles, I’m the grown-ass man equivalent of the 8-year old girl with the pony sweater that every single person knew in grade school. I’m obsessed: they’re what got me into photography; motorcycle photography brings the funnest edits; and bikes are a huge part of my life.

The Ten Commandments of Retouching

There are some things in life that are universal rules we should all follow—things like not cheating on your wife, not killing anyone, and not stealing. Easy enough, right? And if life has Ten Commandments that are just obvious things not to do, retouching should have them as well.

How I Earn $200,000+ a Year from Photography

It's kind of a crazy thing: I believe you can stay true to your roots, values, and ethics, and also get rich. In this post, I'll share some of the secrets of how I earn over $200,000 a year as a "photographer."

Photographer Loses $20,000 in Gear After Airplane Carry-On Taken

If you're flying with pricey camera gear, it's often advised that you bring it with you in a carry-on bag instead of risking all the handling issues that could happen behind-the-scenes with checked-in luggage. But your carry-on isn't necessarily safe either, as photographer Sam Hurd recently discovered: he lost $20,000 in gear when a fellow passenger just walked off with his luggage.

Should Photography Be Relaxing?

What’s the difference between a hobby, and a job? Ignoring money, of course, I’d say that a hobby’s primary purpose is entertainment and relaxation, whereas a job’s primary purpose is to produce value. And yet, defying common sense, photographers seem to have this reversed.

Q&A with Bloomberg’s Photo Editor: Diversity of Photography Voices a Must

With a background in literature and journalism, today Eugene Reznik is the Digital Features Photo Editor at Bloomberg. Before grabbing that gig, he was the Director of Photography of the digital publication Hopes&Fears, an editor at American Photo Magazine, and a writer for TIME Magazine’s LightBox photography section.

How to Capture a Bold Wine Bottle Photo with a Single Speedlight

If you're interested in product photography, Dustin Dolby's channel workphlo is definitely worth a bookmark. Using minimal equipment, he's able to capture distinct looks like this makeup shot, and in this tutorial he'll show you how a single speedlight can produce a bold beautiful wine bottle photo that looks 100% pro.

Tip: Set Custom Develop Defaults in Lightroom With This Hidden Feature

Are there particular settings that you want to apply to every photo you import in to Lightroom? Perhaps you always apply Remove Chromatic Aberration, or you have a particular Camera Calibration Profile that you use every time. In this 45-second video, Lightroom team member Benjamin Warde gets straight to the point demonstrating this simple time-saving technique.

The Giant ‘How To’ Guide to Car Photography

My name is Amy Shore, and I'm a UK-based photographer who mainly shoots car and motorbike related subjects. A few days ago, I asked all of my social media platforms what questions they wanted answered to do with car photography, whether it was about what settings I use or how to start a business. In this post, I’m going to answer questions that got asked with as much info and honesty as I can.

Quick Tip: How to ‘Open’ a Lazy Eye in Photoshop

They say the devil (or is it God?) is in the details, and this quick Photoshop tip from portrait photographer Bill Larkin is all about making sure you nail those details. Specifically: he shows you how to quickly and easily 'open' a Lazy Eye in Photoshop.

How I Made $1,254.93 in Four Months by Selling Stock Photos on EyeEm

My name is Michael Zwahlen, and I’m a photographer based in Germany. I want to share how I earn money through EyeEm. In the first four months of 2017 alone, the royalties I received through them added up to $1,254.93 and I’m hopeful this will continue to improve.

Photography Competitions: Are They Even Worth It?

I was sitting in my dorm room at Arizona State University. To my left I had my XBox on (as it was pretty much 24/7) with some racing game on pause. In front of me I had my future, for I was entering a photography competition that I believed would make me famous and rich beyond my wildest dreams.

Walkthrough: How to Edit a Landscape Photo in Lightroom and Photoshop

Lots of photo editing tutorials these days focus on one specific technique or edit—how to sharpen, or how to use the HSL tool, for example. But if you're just starting out and you need a complete photo editing walkthrough, this tutorial will take you through a landscape photo edit from start to finish.

I’m a Wedding Photographer, and I Fell Into a Fountain with All My Gear

As wedding photographers, we often work in conditions that are far from perfect. We also often need to make decisions in a split second so the day runs smoothly for the bride and groom. Everyone of us is also afraid of doing something that may prevent us from completing the job. And unfortunately... that happened to me. I fell into a fountain.

The Dos and Don’ts of Landscape Photography

Seasoned landscape photographer Craig Roberts has some tips for the newbies out there, so get out your pen and pad and listen up: here are some top "Dos" and "Don'ts" for landscape photography.

Top Tips for Booking Your Dream Clients

We hate to break it to you, but your dream client probably won't accidentally stumble on your Instagram account and reach out to breathlessly offer you work. If you want to book your dream clients, it'll take work. These three tips are a great place to start.

The 3 Basic Techniques for Lighting… Everything

There are three basic types of surfaces, as far as lighting is concerned: reflective, transparent, and neutral. In this video, you'll learn about the 3 basic techniques for properly lighting each of these—in other words: the 3 techniques for lighting ... everything.

3 Ways to Find Your Stolen Photos on the Web

If you're posting your images online with any sort of regularity, they're probably being stolen from time to time—it's an unfortunate reality of the digital age. And so, photographer Anthony Morganti decided to create this video and share 3 basic ways to search for and find your stolen photos online.

Aurora Photos: Reality vs. Expectation

We just had a beautiful Aurora Australis hit New Zealand recently. I was fortunate enough to catch a quiet spot to myself where I could take in the atmosphere and shoot a few images.

How to Shoot a Professional Wine Photo with Speedlights and a Kit Lens

This simple step-by-step tutorial comes to us from Dustin Dolby of Workphlo, who's got a knack for shooting high-end product photography with minimal gear. This time, he's showing us how to quickly and easily capture a professional wine photograph using just two speedlights and a kit lens.

5 Homebrew Camera Hacks in 1 Minute

Got a minute? That's all you'll need. Take a break from infinite scrolling through Instagram and listen up, because South African photographer Sheldon Evans can teach you 5 fun homebrew camera hacks in the same amount of time it takes you to read this post.

3 Simple Tips for Posing Non-Models

Many (if not most) of us will spend at least some time photographing non-models—whether we're talking about a bride, a high school senior, or just a good friend or sibling. Here are 3 simple tips that will help you help them look their best.