Tutorials

Lindsay Adler is an accomplished portrait photographer and educator, and in this 11.5-minute video she explains three different, versatile, and easy-to-master lighting setups using a beauty dish as the key light.

You might be familiar with the exposure triangle, but in this 7-minute video, Mark Wallace from Adorama TV describes the exposure diamond and how to effectively balance a strobe with ambient light.

One of the major updates to the latest version of Photoshop is the addition of Sky Replacement: a tool that has the potential to save you a ton of time when editing your landscape images. But as Aaron Nace explains in this video, this AI-powered tool requires a bit of thought if you want to get professional results.

When COOPH has something new published, it's very likely going to have some cool ideas that you can execute at home. In this 6.5-minute video, that remains true as they show eight clever lighting tricks you can easily try for yourself.

You may know Steve Giralt from his outstanding effects work with his production company The Garage or his in-progress education Kickstarter, but in this 9-minute video, he shows you five tips that promise to make your beverage photos better.

Photographer Dustin Dolby is back with a new no-frills product photography tutorials that his viewers have been asking him to do for ages: whiskey. In this walkthrough video, he takes you step-by-step through the entire process of capturing and editing together a professional whiskey bottle product shot using only one light.

There are certain subjects in the macro world, which are so fascinating and absorbing that almost every macro photographer will point a camera at them at some point. No matter how many photos you take or see of these subjects, their charm does not seem to wear off.

Capturing cool reflection portraits might seem like a breeze—you just put someone behind some glass and go ham, right? But as photographer Matt Granger explains in this tutorial, even a basic understanding of the "key variables" involved can open up more options for you.

Photographer Gavin Hoey recently produced a video for Adorama TV that tackles a critically important subject for photographers: light fall off. Mathematically captured by the so-called Inverse Square Law, it's vital that photographers understand this property of light, especially when working with strobes.

If you want to manipulate the light and color information in an image using Photoshop, two of the most common tools for the task are Curves and Levels. But how do these two adjustments actually differ? And when might you choose to use one instead of the other? That's exactly what Aaron Nace explains in this helpful video.

In my last article, I wrote in depth about my emotional connection to the subjects that I photograph and my artistic process in creating imagery. As I said before, to me photography is much more than capturing a single moment in time. I want to portray the sensory experiences that I have when I am immersed in nature or wilderness and pour that into an image that tells a story related to those experiences.

As I am a professional photographer and known mainly for my images with wide angle lenses, here is something new. It's been raining here for weeks already—not the greatest conditions for landscape photography—so I took out my macro lens to photograph some mushrooms in the forest. The great thing about this is that you can do this with any kind of light at any moment of the day.

If you're interested in photographing landscapes, you should know there are multiple ways to make your images more interesting – some that only require a bit of imagination. In this 26-minute video, Canadian film photographer Kyle McDougall covers four techniques he uses to make his landscape images better.

Photographer Nicco Valenzuela recently published a helpful "crash course" that covers everything you need to know to get started using lens filters for landscape photography. The video covers everything from the two main filter 'formats,' to the three main filter 'types,' to the various situations where you might want to use each filter for the best possible results.

Armed with her Rolleiflex, a roll of TRI-X 400 (or Ektachrome) film stock, and her bold character, the late Vivian Maier made herself legendary with her dramatic street photography. Her street portraiture in particular is riveting thanks to the expressions on her subjects. As Frederik Trovatten puts it in this 13-minute video, "she takes the photo she wants to take whether the subject wants to be a part of it or not."

Capturing creative photos of miniature worlds is definitely not a new idea, but you don't need to be a small-world master like Tatsuya Tanaka to give this kind of photography a shot. As this COOPH tutorial shows you, all you need is some creativity, a few mini figures, and a smartphone.

Photography equipment has come a long way in recent years; staggering megapixel counts, blisteringly fast AF systems, and low-light performance that was unheard of not long ago. But in my opinion, one of the most useful and underrated advancements has been in off-camera lighting, notably portable, battery-powered strobes.

Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut of the Hurlbut Academy recently shared a great DIY tutorial in which he shows you how to build a giant soft box using just some foam core and a few lengths of 1x3-inch wood. The result allows you to create a large, soft light source without breaking the bank.

In this video and article, Chanda AM is going to help me illustrate how to balance ambient light with strobes. I love shooting in this situation with ambient light and strobe light. I want to be able to combine the ambient light here in this beautiful area with strobes.

Landscape photographer Christian Möhrle of The Phlog Photography recently put together a handy compilation of his favorite tips and tricks for Adobe Lightroom Classic. Chances are good you'll find at least one or two (and probably several more) little workflow tips that you didn't know about.

When shooting portraits on location, choosing the right background is critical, and just like anything in photography, there is no one size that fits all.

Waiting while flatbed scanners scan a color negative film is nothing to be excited about. This process and the subsequent color precorrection can take anywhere from an hour to two.

The temperatures have been soaring lately. Depending on where you live, you might’ve even seen record heat over the last couple of weeks. Normally, such weather makes staying indoors (so long as you have air conditioning) sound ideal. However, in this article, we’re going to share a fun, creative photography idea (inspired by Tim Tadder) that’s perfect for getting outside on hot, sunny days.

Japanese tinkerer Sanasol has just released a detailed, step-by-step "blueprint" video that shows you exactly how he was able to transform his classic Nikon FM film SLR into a digital camera without harming the film camera at all. If you have a few bucks to spend and a 3D printer handy, you can even follow along.

YouTube star and food scientist Ann Reardon of How to Cook That films videos for her 4.4+ million subscribers with a Panasonic GH5. At Panasonic's request, Reardon baked a 3D cake version of the camera, and this 16-minute tutorial shows how you can do it too.

Our friend Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge recently teamed up with the folks from Adorama to put together a very handy Photoshop tutorial you may want to bookmark for later. In this video, he shows you how to swap faces and expressions in four easy steps.

It's my belief that color is actually one of the most subjective elements that we as humans all understand, yet we actually have no real way of enforcing or translating it to one another.

If you're just getting started in photography and want to build upon a solid foundation, here's a helpful 9-minute video by the popular YouTube channel Mango Street that covers 5 basic photography techniques for beginners.

Landscape photographer and YouTuber Mads Peter Iversen is back with another helpful tips video. This time, he's covering a very important subject that many beginners fail to properly appreciate when they're just starting out: how to create depth in your landscape imagery.

As someone who loves to seek out and photograph unique weather events, I’m always excited to see a thunderstorm brewing over New York City, and of course my home, the Jersey Shore! There’s always something exciting to look forward to while you’re out storm chasing, including rainbows, storm clouds, fog, and of course, lightning!

Getting started in landscape photography and not sure what focal length lens to use? Here's a 26-minute video by photographer Nigel Danson on how to go about making that decision.

Here's a 1.5-minute video tutorial that could improve your workflow if you're often correcting perspective distortions in your photos. In it, Photoshop Training Channel teaches how to get the job done by converting your photo into a Smart Object and then using Photoshop's Camera Raw Filter.

Want to learn the secrets of color grading in photography? Photographer and retoucher Joanna Kustra recently gave an hour-long webinar on the subject, and she has now made it freely available for anyone to learn from.

Photoshop master Unmesh Dinda at PIXimperfect has put together a simple tutorial that could have a significant impact on your photo editing workflow. In a few minutes, he'll show you how to customize your editing experience and create your personal "dream Photoshop toolbar."

If you're looking for a fun and educational project to try this weekend, Israeli DIY-er Elad Orbach has come up with the cheapest, most simple Schlieren photography setup we've ever seen. Unlike more expensive setups, his creation will let you photograph heat and sound waves using just a smartphone, a mirror, and a selfie stick.

Photographer and YouTuber Jiggie Alejandrino loves to show his viewers what's possible when shooting with just one light; but for his most recent tutorial, he took the concept one step further. Not only did he shoot this using a single LED light panel, he used a point-and-shoot camera instead of his more professional gear.

A simple ripple tank is the mainstay of every physics teacher's demo collection. The typical demonstration is done with a point light source of a little tungsten light bulb a few feet above the ripple tank. The ripple tank is in reality a shallow pan of water with a clear bottom. The ripples are observed by placing a sheet of paper a foot or so below the pan of water.

I used to think that skin tone was irrelevant to lighting setups. When I photograph people with a flash, I don’t have go-to numbers for the position of my light (distance, height, and angle). My workflow is placing my light somewhere I think it’ll work and fine-tuning from there.

Photographer Serge Ramelli recently put together a fun tutorial that shows you how to do something that might seem, at first, impossible: he takes a daylight photo and, using only local adjustments, he turns it into a nighttime or "blue hour" shot complete with lamplight.

I wanted a device that can throw light patterns onto a wall or a model. There are some commercially available but they are quite expensive and I this was only for occasional use. I thought that this is something that can be 3D printed.

Today we are taking a look at equivalency. Not equivalent exposure, equivalency. What the heck is that? Equivalency is a very, very complicated subject matter, but one people have been screaming about because of the last format comparison we did.

Ian Norman and Diana Southern over at Lonely Speck just uploaded their full 2016 astrophotography workshop to YouTube for free. This incredible resource covers everything from getting the shot, to basic editing, image stacking, and panorama stitching. They even included the Q&A from the end of the meetup!

If you ever leave an outdoor location without having captured the exact landscape photo you had in mind due to unfavorable conditions, don't give up on the photos you shot -- not all is lost. In this 14-minute video, photographer Mark Denney shares 5 editing "hacks" he often uses to compensate for bad weather and/or lighting.

A couple of months ago, photographer and YouTuber Chris Hau stumbled across the miniature world photography of Erin Sullivan and was absolutely blown away. So he decided to try out this style for himself and show you exactly what you need to do to start capturing these miniature worlds at home.

If you've been wanting to get better at shooting portraits with speedlights but aren't sure where to start, check out this free 2.5-hour tutorial by UK photographer Damien Lovegrove.

Photographer Robert Hall recently released a simple-yet-brilliant explainer that uses water to illustrate the properties of light and explain a few concepts that frequently confuse beginners, including: what is a "stop" of light, how do you use the exposure triangle, and how do various flashes and flash modifiers affect your image.