Most aspiring photographers start out with natural lights and then move up to speedlights, mostly due to portability, price, and the fact that they can double as studio flashes. But there is a point in time when you’ll consider upgrading to a studio flash, and there are a several reasons to do so: Most photographers […]
Recently I wrote an article about tintype photography. Today I’m writing about its brother process: wet plate. The photographer who makes this happen? Ian Ruhter: I’m excited to see people bringing “ancient” techniques back to life. Photography often isn’t all about the final product and the model. More often than not the process of creating […]
For those who don’t know, the “magic hour” is that part of the day when the sun is rising or setting. Most landscape photographers wait for this time of the day in order to get better results in their landscape shots. In this video, Corey Rich elaborates a bit on how he takes advantage of […]
Back in the day, presidents were “immortalized” by having life masks created. A life mask is essentially a sculpture of a person’s head made of plaster. The Smithsonian Institution is about to change that tradition by digitally constructing a model with a 3D printer: The trick is that the 3D model is an exact copy […]
It’s not every day that you get a chance to photograph the “marble” from outer space. I would kill for a chance like that (figuratively speaking). Here, astronaut Don Pettit shares his experience with astronaut photography: Pettit is an astronaut, of course, and part of his job description is photography. But photography in space doesn’t […]
National Geographic photographers are amongst the most extreme bunch. And to be honest, most of the photographers I know—myself included—dream of working for the company. Everybody knows that it’s a tough job, but National Geographic’s photographers have a few tricks up their sleeves. And Kenji Yamaguchi is the mastermind behind those tricks: Kenji Yamaguchi is […]
Low key portraiture is all about light and shadow control. You need to understand light to do it. Lindsay Adler provides a useful tutorial: What is Low Key Lighting? Low key portraits utilize dark backgrounds, shadows, and low light. The resulting images tend to be dramatic with high contrast. Inverse Square Law Knowing how light […]
We all know that working with kids is as tough as it gets. They’re energetic, fast, and often don’t pay much attention to what is going on around them. Luckily, Tamara Lackey, an expert at photographing kids and families, offers lots of good advice: 1. Control your depth of field If you have your camera […]
I have to admit it, there haven’t been many occasions where I haven’t been fascinated by high speed photos. No matter the subject, it looks great when it’s perfectly frozen in time. Here we have some excellent photos of ink dropped into water and frozen in time by Alberto Seveso: The process is fairly simple […]
We all know that certain photography techniques die out when better and newer technology replaces them. That’s what’s going on with the film at the moment. There are fewer and fewer manufacturers producing film, and even fewer shops developing it. But sometimes we still want that nostalgic feel in our photos: Aaron Nace shows how […]
