It's a common problem — dozens of nearly identical photos on your iPhone, eating up your storage and making it difficult to find what you're looking for. How does this happen, and, more importantly, how can you delete or merge those duplicate photos? [Read More]
One of the greatest things about film photography is its friendliness toward do-it-yourself approaches. Want to hack together a working camera out of discount hardware store supplies? All the power to you! Want to shoot on art paper coated in a home-concocted emulsion, contact-printed using authentic techniques from the 1800s? Why not? [Read More]
Mood boards are more than a random collection of photos found online. If you want successful photoshoots that deliver what you, your client, or your team envisioned, mood boards can help you.
Apple makes it very easy to delete a photo from an iPhone but removing all of them at once can be quite a bit more challenging. There are also some complications to be aware of, like accidentally deleting photos from iCloud.
BeReal is a new social media network that puts a focus on authenticity. Others have made similar claims but this goal has proven difficult to achieve. This guide will look at what BeReal is and how to use it. [Read More]
One of the most (seemingly) basic tools in Photoshop is the venerable Crop Tool. Used to cut way portions of an image to only leave the desired area, the Crop Tool might appear to be simply a one-trick pony.
I recently shot a photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy that went viral, appearing everywhere from the front page of Reddit to Newsweek. The photo was taken with a four-inch telescope over the course of multiple nights from my backyard near Charlottesville, Virginia, US. [Read More]
Instagram is a wildly popular (and often lucrative) photo and video-sharing social network, but sometimes it can become a bit overwhelming, leading to the question of whether it's worth so much effort.
There aren't many reviews of flashes out there. And there are even fewer reviews and sensible tutorials on how to use ring flash. But ring flash is a personal favorite technique of mine that I've used for years.
In most images, midtones carry much of the important information. This is not true for all images, but those are the exceptions. In this article, I will present an approach to control midtone information from color to tonal structure.
An easy and effective way to increase production value to your images is by adding simple props. Not only do they add additional visual interest, but they can also add story to the scene. Today, I’ll be starting with a basic “walk-up” shot and working step by step to make changes until we get to […]
The Luminosity Mask is a really great tool to use when it comes to retouching landscape, cityscape as well as portrait. It gives you more freedom when you use different tools in Lightroom and you will see it is awesome! Now let me show you how it works. I did a basic retouching on this […]
Black and white landscapes are kind of a tricky thing. Lots of landscape photographers will tell you that you have to do it all in post-production. We're not going to disagree with that, but there's a lot you can do beforehand to get it right in-camera or give yourself less post-production.
Natural light is one of the easiest ways to shoot portraits with minimal gear. More often than not natural light is soft and flattering to the face. Yet, a photographer who is able to create natural light in the complete absence of it is valued highly. That is of course with strobes. Here’s how you […]
Plan your work and work your plan. That’s what… someone important once told me? Anyhow, in my opinion, planning out your Milky Way shots is absolutely one of the best ways to increase the likelihood you will be shooting bangers.
Annular solar eclipses give us the chance to capture incredible photos. Photographer Josh Cripps shot an incredible photo of one back in 2019. Simply legendary! The good news is that there is another annular eclipse approaching, so get ready to learn everything you need to photograph the June 10th, 2021 annular solar eclipse. What is […]
Since Milky Way Core season is in full swing, in this article I am going to level up and discuss one of my favorite topics: star trackers. So what in tarnation is a Star Tracker? Sounds like something they would use in Star Wars.
This article is aimed at people who would like to advance their basic photography skills. I assume that you already make decent photos and are familiar with f-stops, ISO, shutter speeds, etc. But I’m hoping that this read will prove worth your time and lead to even greater photographic skills and enjoyment. Suggested Basic Equipment […]
Aloha, and welcome back to my astrophotography tutorial write-ups. I wrote an article last month on the basics of photographing the Milky Way core season. Today I am going to continue this series and tell you about a game-changing technique that you have probably may have already heard about: image stacking. The idea is to […]
Milky Way photos should first and foremost do one thing: fascinate. When the viewer’s gaze loses itself in the vastness of the motif and he begins to dream, the photographer has achieved his goal.
It’s one thing to hear tips on how to be a better photographer, it’s another to actually watch photos come together in real-time. Photographer Michael Shainblum created this 13-minute video where he takes you on a first-person narrated photo outing to show you how he makes his images. Michael Shainblum is one of the most […]
Want to get better at posing your subjects when shooting portraits? Here’s a 12-minute video tutorial in which well-known wedding and portrait photographer Jerry Ghionis shares 5 corrective posing tips, explaining how to pose your clients so they always look good.
In this article and video, you’ll get five one-light studio setups, and we’re going to do it in less than 10 minutes. I’m using a Profoto A10 for this setup, but you can use any flash. I’m also going to limit our modifiers to just the basics, so we’ll mainly use an umbrella. For all […]
Nobody likes rules. Ok, well some people like rules. Your old school principal? He liked rules. So does that scary lady in the HR department. When it comes to composition in photography, I don’t like to talk in terms of rules; I prefer instead to talk about composition “ideas”. Some of the ideas presented in […]
Google Street View cameras have now captured over 170 billion photos from 10 million miles around the globe. But if you’re not comfortable with the fact that anyone can “visit” your home digitally, did you know you can request to have it blurred from public view? Certain things in Google Street View (e.g. faces and […]
Despite what some people think about LIDAR for cars, in the near future it is foreseeable that this technology will take its rightful place in our daily lives. Not just for cars but with almost anything and everything.
A primary question in photography is, “What is composition”? Photo composition governs the manner in which our eyes travel through an image. It defines how objects within an image are placed relative to each other in such a way that generates visual excitement.
Sometimes it may be necessary to make a set of images darker or lighter, more or less contrasty, or otherwise change their appearance but retain their relative appearance. Lightroom has the ability to make relative adjustments on a selected set of images to facilitate that.
If you want to learn the science and technical details of how cameras and lenses work, there’s a fantastic new resource on the Web for you. Developer Bartosz Ciechanowski has published an interactive 5,700-word article that explains things in great depth.
Our friends over at Red River Paper helped us out with a colossal printer problem. As experienced as we are, we still don't know all of the sizes and information about papers. They're kind of confusing even for experienced people.
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.
Celebrated British street photographer Nick Turpin (whom the BBC called “one of the best”) wants to teach you how to shoot on the streets like a pro. He has released this free 30-minute masterclass to teach you how to do what he does.
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. The short tutorial runs […]
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. So the way I generally do […]
Heads up! If you’re a college student, MasterClass is offering to give you a full year of access to its high-quality courses (including in photography) for just $1. The subscription is ordinarily valued at $180 and this deal is only being offered today (Thursday, September 17th).
Every photographer needs to start somewhere. And some folks want better photos just because. But at the same time, not everyone knows what constitutes a better photo. You can go pay for a portfolio review and get candid feedback for sure.
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. The tutorial takes about 17 minutes in all, and he […]
Unmesh Dinda over at PiXImperfect recently took the latest update of Photoshop for a spin, and he was blown away by the improvement to ‘Select Subject.’ This AI-powered selection tool was always okay as a baseline, but now it’s gotten so good that Dinda isn’t sure he’ll be using the Pen tool at all anymore. […]
The comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) has arrived in the night sky here in the northern hemisphere, delighting skywatchers and photographers alike. With planning, patience, and clear skies, you can capture an unforgettable image of this celestial event.
The good folks over at PHLEARN have put together a really useful comparison and tutorial that shows you all of the different ways you can sharpen your photos in Adobe Lightroom vs Photoshop. For many photographers, deciding where and how to sharpen your photos can be a real Sophie’s Choice. If you never pull your […]
Chances are that if you're really into portraiture, that you've studied work that includes Rembrandt lighting. This method is popular partially because it's such a flattering lighting option. It's known for the signature triangle that you see on the face because of the angle.
It’s common knowledge that most lenses are at their best (i. e. sharpest) between f/5. 6 and f/8, depending on the lens. But why is that? Why does stopping down further actually make the image softer? This is what YouTuber ZY Productions explains in the video above.
My name is Andy Chua, and I’m a professional photographer based in Singapore. In this article, I’ll share tips for nailing your action shots in sports photography. Team Russia competed in Team Free event of Artistic swimming during Fina World Championship (Gwangju) 2019.
If you’re looking to hone your Lightroom CC and Lightroom Mobile skills, Adobe has launched a new series of bite-sized video tutorials that you might be interested in. The series is called “In a Lightroom Minute,” and it’s made up of 60-second (give or take) tutorials that cover a wide variety of topics. Those of […]
In Summer of 2019, while working with Elbow in Manchester, concert photographer Peter Neill had an idea. He decided to try and stitch an epic panorama… with a twist. Instead of using a wide-angle, he would use an 85mm f/1.
Over time, Lightroom may become slow to render thumbnails and scroll through images. Rebuilding all previews may significantly improve performance. It may also significantly reduce the size of your Lightroom catalog.
If you’ve been looking for a fresh, entertaining take on the standard beginner’s guide to getting out of Auto Mode, look no further. The YouTube channel TheCrafsMan SteadyCraftin has released the strangest (and yet still very informative) tutorial we’ve seen in this genre.
Landscape photographer and educator Mads Peter Iversen has put together a helpful focus ‘primer’ for the aspiring landscape photographers out there. In the video, he goes over auto and manual focus technique, his personal workflow, and a few basic tips and tricks that work well for him. Note that Iversen doesn’t go into the details […]
The softbox is arguably the most popular light modifier for photographers. It's also a tool that lets you direct lighting to exactly where you want it with the most control you can possibly have. Softboxes come in a variety of os sizes and shapes.
When you're editing a photo, you'll most likely boost the clarity or the sharpness of the image to make it more appealing. But there's another trick that you're probably not using. Did you know that when you edit the black levels of a photo, that the rest of the scene pops out more? It's a simple psychology trick that can make someone think that the image they're looking at is much sharper than it really is.
Shooting the busiest scenes we encounter while traveling in Asia can be very challenging. After 15 years of running photography tours and teaching in the area, I know that busy markets and streets can either be a photography heaven or a nightmare. [Read More]
In this article, we are going to take a look at rim lighting. As you might guess, rim lighting is used to light a portion of the edge of your subject. While it is most often used as part of a multi-light setup, it can be used on its own for dramatic effect. [Read More]
Snapchat is a popular social media app that makes it easy to keep in touch with friends and quickly share selfies, photos, and videos. With 382 million daily active users, it's also a great place to get brand exposure. [Read More]
The iPhone has a built-in timer feature that can snap a picture a few seconds after the shutter button is pressed. This can be very helpful when you want to be in the photo and need the full quality and all of the options available when using the rear cameras.
You have a photograph in mind and now you want to try and make it a reality. Or, a client has contacted you to help them realize a photograph they have in mind. What now? [Read More]
A passport is almost always a necessity when traveling outside your country, and a photograph is required along with identity documents, filling out a form, and paying a fee when applying.
Resizing images in Adobe Photoshop sounds like it should be a trivial and simple operation, and for many uses and users, it is. It’s when one starts looking closely at the details in a resized image that it becomes apparent you should be looking into the options of the resize image dialogue box. [Read More]
It can be heartbreaking to discover a favorite picture on an iPhone or a photograph from a recent shoot has been unexpectedly deleted. The good news is that there are several ways to recover deleted photos, some quite simple and most can be done directly from the iPhone itself. [Read More]
Transferring photos from an iPhone to a computer is a common task that doesn't have to feel like a chore, yet sometimes it can be frustrating if something isn't working or seems to be taking longer to complete than it should.
PhotoPills is a planning tool to help you create images of the Sun, Moon, stars, meteors, and more. It can help you decide the best place to focus for maximum depth of field and calculate the correct exposure when using a neutral density filter to blur water, clouds, and other subjects.
I purchased some of the new compact and foldable Godox softboxes (e.g. AD-S60S, AD-S65W, AD-S85S, etc) for my Godox AD300 Pros. They work just fine but I wanted to use the magnetic color gels from my AK-R1 kit with them, so I decided to design my own gel holder compatible with the AD300 Pro. [Read More]
A lot of people have asked me in recent days how they can create and sell NFTs (non-fungible tokens), so I decided to write this tutorial on how you can mint (and hopefully sell) an NFT for free, with absolutely no gas fees or other costs to you. First, a disclaimer. There are many different […]
It’s not often that a new Lightroom update or feature is as positively received by users as last week’s Masking improvements. And there is a good reason for the fanfare because these new tools really are amazing… as well as a bit confusing and inconsistent. They are confusing because of a new layer of logic […]
In this tutorial, we share our lighting setup for a piece of glass stemware using minimal gear. To mimic this shot, you will need a black background, stripboxes, and speedlights. We start by using two strip boxes (8-inch by 36-inch) to modify our speedlights.
I am a professional wedding, portrait, and fashion photographer, and have almost three decades of experience photographing couples. I created this video to provide lighting, posing and location tips and tricks in a few different scenarios to give photographers some inspiration on how to photograph couples.
Photoshop can feel infinite. It’s a lot like a high-tech espresso machine or a sports car: you don’t have to use all of its features for it to be functional, but when you can, it’s a powerful tool. [Read More]
Adobe Photoshop contains a very broad and deep set of tools for making edits and adjustments to images. While there is little limitation to what can be achieved using the native tools available in Photoshop for more than two decades, they may not be as intuitive and user-friendly to photographers who have spent most of their time editing raw images in Lightroom. [Read More]
Levels often seems like a boring old tool in photo-editing programs. Maybe you’d use it to quickly fine-tune contrast by dragging the left and right sliders inwards.
It’s been a while since my last article on drone photography (2019 to be precise). Since then I’ve used lots of DJI drones. Earlier this year I bought a Mini 3 Pro to see if this could potentially replace bigger drones for my travels.
Milky Way season is the best time to learn how to plan and shoot an astrophotography timelapse, capturing the majestic galactic core in motion! [Read More]
DALL-E is the AI image generation app that shocked the world by creating high-quality portraits and artistic paintings without using a camera, film, canvas, or brush. [Read More]
Reverse image search is an incredibly useful technology, allowing you to locate online photos that are an exact match or similar in some way to your own. It can also be used to search for products and places just by supplying a picture, even if it's an image that you found online.
Your iPhone can nicely blur the background to enhance a photograph or video. A similar effect works well with video chat software, eliminating distractions and putting the focus on the subject.
With Apple's iCloud, it's easy to download photos from your online photo library to any device. If you own an iPhone, iPad, or Mac this can be set up to happen automatically.
In the past, double exposing film was one of the most popular special effects used in photography, and often could be hit or miss. The idea was to combine two (or more) photos into the same image. [Read More]