In a recent post about "How Camera Gear was stolen in 2015," it was reported that 31% of gear theft victims had their gear stolen from their car. The good news is that a $30 dollar fix can leave you feeling a little less worried to leave your equipment in the trunk.
New Zealand-based photographer Chris Cameron has a nice little kit he put together to mount his off-camera flash to any tree or pole. The setup centers around a plastic "dog bone" that you can make for yourself with a 3D printer.
If you have a lens of one mount and a camera with another, there's a good chance that there's an adapter out there that can help you pair the two. This is called shooting with an adapted lens (versus shooting with a native one). Photographer Mark Ryan Sallee of Michromatic released this helpful 12-minute primer on the subject.
Here's a sweet and simple photo organization tip for those of you using iPhones and iPads: in the Photos app in iOS, you can create a new folder by long pressing the plus button (+). Albums can help you group collections of photos, but folders can help you group sets of albums for increased organization.
Here's a short and simple 45-second video tutorial by UK glamour photographer Markp, who shows a trick for quickly removing a patch of stubble from a portrait in just a few seconds. Instead of doing precise editing, you can select the area, set Feather to a suitable number, and then run Filter->Noise->Dust & Scratches. With a correct Radius and Threshold setting, the stubble disappears from the skin.
If you're a Mac user and are annoyed that OS X automatically launches Apple Photos every time you connect a device or insert a memory card, there's good news for you: you can disable the program from launching for all devices with a single command.
Back in 2011, we shared how the original Star Wars lightsaber was created from camera parts using the handle from a Graflex flashgun. Joey Shanks of Shanks FX just released this 6-minute video tutorial on how you can recreate the original lightsaber on camera yourself.
Photographer Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens made this helpful 7-minute video tutorial that provides a crash course on the different types of clamps used by photographers during shoots.
Photoshop 2015.1, released earlier this month, has a surprise that wasn’t promoted very well -- you had to go digging to find it: the new version introduced a new real-time healing brush algorithm. When I came across it, my eyes lit up.
What happens if your portrait clients request golden hour lighting... outside of golden hour? That's the situation photographer Pye Jirsa of Lin & Jirsa Photography found himself in recently while shooting a wedding. As you can see in the 4.5-minute video above, Jirsa was able to deliver by using creative lighting, a powerful flash, and a couple of colored gels.
If you want to play around with shadows and add depth to your lighting, this simple technique is perfect for you. And you only need minimal gear to do it.
We've written before on how photographers can use marksmanship techniques to stabilize a camera for sharper handheld photos. If you'd like to learn how to hold your camera better, check out this vintage US military video that teaches the basics of rifle marksmanship.
Here's a short 4-minute video in which photography instructor Karl Taylor offers a basic explanation of histograms for photographers who are just starting out. If you're trying to wrap your mind around the concept of histograms, this video may be a great starting point for you.
Here's a short and sweet 3-minute video tutorial by photographer and retoucher Glyn Dewis on how you can achieve super simple cross (or Rembrandt) lighting in a portrait using a single light source. The trick is in moving the light forward enough so that some of it spills onto the other side of your subject's face. Looking at your subject from the edge of your light is an easy trick for seeing if any of the light will reach the other cheek.
New York portrait photographer Peter Hurley is back again with yet another pro portrait trick he uses for shooting better headshots of people. This one is called "Hold Your Sub," and it lets you shave 10 pounds off your subject with a super simple move of their arms.
Cal Thomson of Manchester, UK, made this 11-minute video tutorial on creating a time-lapse video that transitions seamlessly from day to night. He covers everything from camera settings and shooting the photos to editing and creating the time-lapse in LRTimelapse and Lightroom.
Before the introduction of color film, Many photographers experimented with ways to record color images using black and white mediums. One of the more famous examples comes from Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky and his photos of Russia from the early 1900s.
Here's a 5-minute video in which photographer Jon Legge shows how you can put together a tabletop studio for well-lit product photos. It'll cost you just 10 to 15 minutes and about £25 (~$40) in materials.
New York City-based editorial and commercial portrait photographer Felix Kunze says that the number one question he gets asked by people is how he makes his V-Flats for studio portraiture. He answers that question in the 8.5-minute video above, a step-by-step walkthrough of his build process.
In 2011, a modern-day treasure hunter was browsing through an antique shop in Fresno, California. Flipping through boxes, he came across an old photograph. An unsmiling group of men, 19th century Americans it seemed, were playing croquet in front of a wooden building in a rural setting. It was an interesting photograph. He paid $2 for it and walked out.
So you're getting ready to photograph your first concert? That's awesome. Chances are, it’s a less-than-perfect venue -- that's usually how it works out. It’s kind of like getting your first car. You don’t start out with a Jaguar. You get a baby blue minivan with doors that don’t shut in the winter…
Tested recently put on a show at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. One of the presentations was by local photographer Michael Shindler, who specializes in wet plate collodion photography.
Here's a tutorial on how you can create fake depth of field blur in the background of photos using something known as "Z-Depth Pass." I'm not saying that this technique is better than other methods -- because it has some problems -- but it's quite different, and some of you may learn something new.
You may have the eye, the talent, and all of the other necessary hard skills to make it in the commercial world. The only thing you lack is a portfolio relevant to the stuff you want to get paid to shoot. It’s a classic chicken and egg problem.
After using a vintage 1910 lens on a modern Sony a7II, Paris-based photographer Mathieu Stern is back again with another interesting lens experiment.
Want to see what Photoshop's adjustment layers are actually doing to your photos in terms of curves? There's an easy new way to do so.
Love the look of wet plate collodion photographs? Did you know you can give any digital photo that same look using Photoshop? It's a technique that can be learned in about 10 minutes.
Understanding the exposure triangle of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO is one of the first steps in learning photography. To help people wrap their heads around the concept, photographer Tony Catalano has created the Interactive Exposure Tool, an online tool for experimenting with how changing camera settings affects the resulting photo of a scene.
This post is a basic rundown of how things work behind my lens, after a big day of shooting. In this case, it's mountain biking. However, whether you're shooting a party, a bike race, a wedding or flowers in the garden, all post-production works the same way.
When you're just starting out in photography, you may not have a lot of money to invest in putting together a high-end arsenal of studio lighting equipment. By being resourceful, however, you can do a lot with a little.
Want to make some realistic fake blood for a creepy Halloween photo shoot? Here's a short video tutorial by HouseholdHacker on how you can do so with household things in just a minute.
Photographer Isiah Xiong made this 3-minute video tutorial showing how you can quickly, easily, and cheaply build a grid spot for your flash using black straws. Instead of gluing things together, Xiong uses strips of masking tape.
Want your own instant camera that prints lo-fi photos on receipt paper? Muth Pierre has published the designs for a build-it-yourself camera called the PolaPi -- it's a standalone compact camera that combines a Raspberry Pi and a thermal printer for a fun DIY instant camera.
HDR photo merging has been around for a while, but only recently has it been implemented inside Adobe’s Lightroom. In this article I will show a brief tutorial on how to use it inside LR and explain the pros and cons of this technique based on my own experience and photographic technique.
After several years of trial and error, I finally have a complete RAW photography workflow in Linux that I am happy with.
If you want to prevent your GoPro lens from fogging up when you're in cold and humid environments, GoPro sells Anti-Fog Inserts that you can stick into your camera case. If you'd rather not pay $15 for 4-use inserts, you can actually make some makeshift anti-fog inserts for yourself using some paper towel strips.
A spirograph is a geometric drawing toy that produces beautiful mathematical curves by rolling a smaller circle inside a bigger circle. You can create similar patterns using light painting.
If you're just starting out in photography, you may be confused with the term "crop factor" that's thrown around when talking about cameras and lenses. Here's a 10-minute video in which Mark Ryan Sallee of Michromatic explains the concept in an easy-to-understand way.
When you leave home and hit the road, be it for work, play, or pretty much anything you set out to do, you should always carry a camera. There is a photographic axiom that says, “What is the best camera? The camera you have with you!” and that is undeniably true. The camera you will sling over your shoulder is going to change over the years and a new camera can stimulate you and put you into a photo-taking mood by simply being new. The technology changes, and even the great masters used a …
Dedolight celebrated its 30th anniversary this year by holding an international competition in which competitors create the best tutorials they can for passing on their lighting knowledge.
There's a new fad on the Web. It involves creating trippy Inception-esque scenes by Photoshopping landscape photos into strange worlds with right angles in the horizon line.
After sharing his DIY square "ring light" build here back in July, photographer Isiah Xiong is back again with another DIY project. This time, Xiong is explaining how he built a DIY version of the $300 the Eyelighter reflector for around $40 to $50 in materials.
Drones present an exciting new world of possibilities for photographers looking to explore and capture their world. Never before has aerial photography been as accessible to the masses as it currently is thanks to companies such as DJI. However, to quote a line from Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Drones can be dangerous if not used properly, and it is important to know the basics before taking off with your drone.
Capturing a collection of photographs and assembling them into a physical photo book can sometimes seem like more trouble than it is worth. Different sites present interfaces with varying levels of efficiency and generally force you to alter your workflow for print optimization. However, did you know that you can create an book directly in Lightroom? Today, we are taking a look at the built-in option available within Adobe’s Creative Suite.
Los Angeles-based photographer John Free is one of the great street photographers of our generation and one who regularly shares helpful advice videos and inspiring behind-the-scenes looks at how he works.
This article is about how this time slice shot of a lunar eclipse was made. Its focus is mainly on the planning that went into it, even before the first shutter click. Hopefully by sharing what I did, I can prepare you for creating your own lunar eclipse photo.
‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop’ is sometimes considered to be one of the earliest films ever produced when it was released on June 15th, 1878. Twenty-four photographs of a horse and its jockey were played rapidly in succession, creating the illusion of motion when viewed through an old-time zoopraxiscope.
If you're just starting out in photography, learning the fundamental principles, techniques, and concepts can feel daunting. To help beginners out, the private photo sharing service KatchUp has created a handy and easy-to-follow infographic that can help bring you up to speed.
Photographer Jack Watney wanted a lightbox for years, but he lives in a small apartment and doesn't have space to store a large, dedicated lightbox. So, he decided to build one himself using an IKEA Lack side table that costs just $10.
The sun can be a photographer’s best friend: it is a constant source of light that lasts all day and doesn’t require any power from your end to keep it up and running. However, knowing how exactly to work with a source of lighting that changes over time can be a bit difficult. In the 6-minute video above, director of photography Jon Salmon and his team show us how to use the sun during various times of the day to obtain the ideal lighting during a shoot.
