Walkthroughs

I Built the Largest Natural Light Wet Plate Studio in the US in Over a Century

There are fewer than 1,000 wet plate collodion artists practicing around the world, and as far as I know, I am the only one in the state of North Dakota. 5 years ago, I didn't own a camera and knew nothing about photography. I saw a wet plate online and I was immediately drawn to it, and thus my journey began.

Blindly Taking Apart a $6,000 Camera to See What’s Inside

While riding an ATV through snowy trails, photographer Peter McKinnon accidentally broke the mic input jack on his $6,000 Canon 1D X Mark II. Before sending the DSLR in to Canon for repairs, McKinnon decided to try his hand at blindly opening up the camera to see what's inside.

How I Capture Vibrant Colors Inside Snowflakes

Having photographed snowflakes for nearly a decade as a large component to my career as a photographer, I’ve had the joy of encountering mysteries in the snow and the enthusiasm to sort out the physics behind it. No mystery captivated me more than the first time I saw a ring of color in the center of a snowflake.

Video: How the Sony a9 is Made

Photo Gear News recently visited the Sony factory in Chonburi, Thailand, where the highly-acclaimed Sony a9 mirrorless camera is being manufactured. This 6.5-minute video offers a behind-the-scenes look into the factory.

I Turned IKEA Products Into Costumes for a Rembrandt Photo Shoot

I recently shot the 2017 Christmas card photo for Stavanger Foto, the passionate camera store on the west coast of Norway. Being granted full creative freedom in making the card, I went back to the old masters for inspiration.

BTS: Shooting the Cast of Frozen for Vanity Fair

After earning over $1.2 billion around the world and becoming a cultural phenomenon, Disney's Frozen will soon be reborn as a Broadway musical. Photographer Andrew Eccles was tasked by Vanity Fair to capture portraits of the cast, and the 1-minute video above is a behind-the-scenes look at the photo shoot.

3D Printing Your Photo as a Lithophane

Want an interesting idea for turning your digital photo into something tangible that you can hold? Look into the lithophane, the centuries-old technique of carving an image into a piece of translucent material to create a 3D image. Photographer Daniel DeArco recently turned a photo into a lithophane with 3D printing, and he documented the experience in the 4-minute video above.

Making Collodion From Scratch

A few days ago, for the first time ever in my experience with wet plate photography, I mixed up collodion from scratch. I thought I'd share about the experience.

Photographing the SpaceX CRS-13 Rocket Launch

On December 15th, SpaceX launched their 13th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. This launch was special for many reasons. First, I was the first time NASA has been willing to use a SpaceX flight proven booster.

Shooting Pro Portraits with Window Light in a Tiny Home Studio

If you'd like to shoot studio portraits but don't have access to an actual studio or pricey equipment, you can achieve beautiful results with a minimalist setup in a small room that's bathed in natural window light. Here's a 5-minute video by photographer Irene Rudnyk that shows this type of setup for a recent shoot.

A Photo Shoot with Wonder Woman

Photographer and digital artist Antti Karppinen recently did a photo shoot in which he turned his friend Iina into Wonder Woman. Iina's a cosplay costume designer who crafted her own costume for the shoot in a mammoth 2-month-long project.

My Experience Photographing for the National Park Service

My name is Connar L’Ecuyer, and I shoot photographs for the National Park Service. That's me in the photo above, off-duty in front of one of my LAX prints. Currently, I am working at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which is down in Southern California, near Malibu and Santa Monica.

Pushing Canon DSLRs to the Low-Light Limit: Shooting Auroras Live

After photographing the solar eclipse in Idaho, I couldn't resist continuing my "long-service leave" and returning to Canada's Yukon Territory for some early season aurora hunting in September 2017. I had just two and half weeks (one New Moon cycle) based with my friends and supporters Andrea and Florian Lemphers at Shallow Bay, north of the capital Whitehorse.

This is How One Photographer Dodges and Burns His Photos

Photographer and visual artist Antti Karppinen dodges and burns his photos using a single 50% natural gray layer in Overlay blending mode. By sharing these gray "dodge and burn layers" separately, Karppinen can easily show exactly what he did to each of his photos.

I Took These Photos in My Dining Room

Product photography is something that I've always been interested in, but never saw myself making a career out of. However... when I do get to take product photos, I do enjoy it quite a lot.

How to Naturally Retouch Eyes with Photoshop

Retouching eyes unnaturally is a great way to ruin a good portrait. Here's a 14-minute tutorial by photographer Dani Diamond that shows how you can easily retouch eyes with a natural look using Photoshop.

Shooting Portraits with Christmas Lights in an Ordinary Bedroom

With the holiday season just around the corner, photographer Irene Rudnyk decided to do a portrait photo shoot using Christmas lights hung from the ceiling next to a bedroom window. This 4-minute behind-the-scenes video shows her results and glimpses at how she set each shot up.

How to Easily Use RGB Curves to Tone Your Photos

RGB Curves can be an intimidating photo editing tool that's difficult to wrap your mind around, but they're powerful and worth learning. Photographer Conner Turmon made this helpful 8.5-minute video that explains how tone curves work and how you can use them to create professional-looking photos.

Ugly Places, Pretty Portraits: I Did a Photo Shoot in Lowe’s

A few weeks ago, a model friend of mine, Rachelle Kathleen, and I were planning to meet for a fun little photo shoot. Instead of searching out the usual beautiful locations around where we live, I had the idea to do just the opposite. I wanted to go somewhere “ugly” by all conventional photography standards and then see what we could do with it. Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option.

Photo Shoot Raises Awareness of Toxic Laundry Water

Benjamin Von Wong, a viral photographer turned environmentalist, has released a new project to raise awareness about "toxic laundry" that is full of plastic. An estimated 94% of American tap water contains invisible plastic fibers, and Von Wong felt compelled to do something about it.

This Photographer Hiked 14 Hours for Epic Wedding Photos at Trolltunga

Trolltunga, or "Troll Tongue," is a famous rock formation in Norway that's used often for breathtaking photos. Photographer Priscila Valentina was recently asked by a couple to shoot wedding photos at the cliff. After the ridiculous challenge of hauling her photo gear to the spot, Valentina managed to capture a series of epic wedding photos of a lifetime.

Creating a Surreal Photo of a Man on a Ladder Crossing Water and Sky

Erik Johansson is a Swedish photographer who creates surreal scenes with his camera and Photoshop. His latest work is titled All Above the Sky. It shows a man climbing a ladder and poking his head above the sky, only to find himself looking up out of the waters nearby. Above is a 1-minute behind-the-scenes video that shows how it was created.

Building a Custom Wood Surface for Product Photos

A few days ago, my girlfriend, Victoria was trying to take some photos of a bridesmaid gift she received the night before. She was trying to take these images on her phone and was not having any success. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she gave into my suggestion of taking these photos on her X-T10.

Photographer Recreates the Iconic Photo ‘Dali Atomicus’

The 1948 photo 'Dali Atomicus' by American portrait photographer Philippe Halsman is regarded as one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century. It's a surreal image showing surrealist artist Salvador Dalí in midair with three cats, a bucket of thrown water, and a chair. Photographer Karl Taylor recently decided to try his hand at recreating the photo.

I Photographed the ISS Crossing the Full Moon at 17,500mph

This image was taken on November 4th, 2017 at 4:19 am in Titusville, Florida. It shows the International Space Station (with a crew of six currently onboard) transiting the full “Beaver Moon.” As the ISS orbits Earth at 17,500mph, or roughly five miles per second, the transit lasted just 0.90 seconds.

Shooting Blade Runner-Inspired Portraits Using Color Gels

Almost a year ago I purchased a set of color gels on Amazon but never got around to actually trying them out. Recently, after watching Blade Runner 2049 and being smitten by the gorgeous cinematography by the legendary Roger Deakins, I just had to play with them. Not only that, the original Blade Runner, shot by Jordan Cronenweth, is one of my biggest influences ever so this shoot was bound to happen.

Here’s the Best Way to Match Tones in Composite Photos

One of the most common difficulties with compositing photos is having the color tones of the different parts of the image match. This can be tricky to achieve, but this 10-minute tutorial by Photoshop expert Antti Karppinen shows a powerful way you can do it using a Selective Color adjustment mask.

Shooting Portraits with a Giant Moon Using a 1120mm Lens

Photographer Eric Pare recently went out into the desert and shot a set of photos showing a model sitting next to the moon. And the size of the moon in the photos wasn't faked. Pare managed to capture a gigantic moon by using a 1120mm lens and having his model sit very far away.

Building an 8×10 Large Format Camera Entirely By Hand

Photographer Dieter Schneider started building cameras about five years ago, and last year he fashioned a 4x5 camera using a CNC Machine. This year he took things to yet another level, creating an 8x10 large format camera entirely by hand without using computer-aided machinery. You can watch the entire build process in the 35-minute video above.

Buying a Used DSLR Kit for $80: Here’s What You Get for the Money

Cameras and lenses are expensive. Really expensive. Even the cheapest entry-level DSLR kit today costs $500 or more. But what if you buy the cheapest possible used DSLR? A camera that's over 10 years old? How would it stack up against today's modern cameras? I was curious about this, so I decided to find out for myself.

Finding the Perfect Composition When All Seems Lost

Here's a 20-minute video in which Serge Ramelli shows how he captured some beautiful fine-art photos of hot air balloons at a festival, even though the photo opportunities were initially looking bleak. Faced with a poor foreground full of spectators and bright yellow buses, Ramelli had to think outside the box.