If you’ve already burned through Nikon’s full Nikon School Online curriculum (free all of this month) and you’re eager to learn more, you’re in luck. Sue Bryce Education have made their entire library of courses free for one week only, from April 20th – 26th.
If you are a parent with a passion for taking good photos of your kids, this guide will walk you through it and help to improve your skills. Posed vs. Candid Shots The first thing you might be asking is; “What do you mean by ‘candid’ and how is that going to help me take […]
Photographer Joe Edelman has put together a helpful beginner’s guide that explains one of the most important (and easy to overlook) details in portrait photography: catchlights. These specular highlights can make or break your photo, and in this video, Edelman covers all of the basic “dos” and “donts” of catchlights in portraiture. “Don’t overlook the […]
We’ve seen a lot of creative self-portrait ideas come across our inbox over the past several weeks, but none are quite as fun as this “punch portrait” tutorial by photographer and YouTuber Mike Smith.
When it comes to major retouching like changing eye color, most of us choose to use Photoshop or a similar pixel editor rather than a RAW editor like Lightroom. But as Anthony Morganti shows in the tutorial above, you don’t actually have to leave Lightroom to make this kind of edit. In this quick tutorial, […]
Nature and macro photographer Don Komarechka made this 4-minute video tutorial in which he shares how you can make and photograph frozen soap bubbles (if you live somewhere cold enough). First, you can mix up your own soap bubble solution using water, dish soap, and white corn syrup. The white corn syrup, what Komarechka calls […]
Photographer Michael Comeau over at OnPortraits has put together a cheeky tutorial that pokes fun at how almost every portrait editing tutorial (his included) tends to feature pretty girls as the models.
Silhouette images can really pack a punch — they can be very striking and have the ‘wow’ factor. But how do you take them? Follow the tips below to take your own perfect beach silhouette images! A silhouette is an image of a person (animal or object) represented as a solid, usually black shape. All […]
Today we are going to use skeleton leaves and glycerin for a creative macro project. Skeleton leaves are fascinating and intricate structures that make great subjects for macro photography and creative projects.
The first time I was hired to photograph on set at a music video was decades ago. The client was a record label and they didn’t give me any detailed instructions. I was just starting out and it didn’t even occur to me to ask just what I was supposed to take pictures of. I […]
In the most recent episode of Adobe’s “Photoshop Magic Minute,” Photoshop Product Manager Meredith Stotzner shows you how to create your own custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop in just 60 seconds.
Professional photographer Karl Taylor has put together a short-but-very-useful tutorial that will show you how you can calibrate your lens autofocus without buying a special calibration chart or tool.
Want a high-quality lesson on travel and landscape photography without having to spend any money? Popular Canadian photographer Taylor Jackson has released this amazing 3-hour video tutorial that’s completely free (it’s supported by YouTube ads).
Photographers Ian Norman and Diana Southern of Lonely Speck made this helpful video that will teach you the things you need to know to shoot the Milky Way in less than 5 minutes. The topics blazed through in the tutorial include gear, planning, camera settings, and focusing. While the video won’t instantly make you an […]
If you’ve ever noticed a little spray can icon while using Lightroom but have no idea what it’s for, this 8. 5-minute video by photographer Anthony Morganti was made for you. The spray can is the Painter tool.
The latest episode of Adobe’s YouTube series “3 2 1 Photoshop” is for anybody who wants to get into stop motion photography, but has no idea how to actually create a simple animation from a series of still photos.
Adobe has just uploaded a very quick-but-useful tutorial that will help you get more realistic results when using Photoshop’s Content Aware Fill tool by altering one lesser-known setting: Color Adaptation.
Ryan Breitkreutz over at Signature Edits has created a useful tutorial that dives into one of the most critical aspects of portrait photography: skin tones. In this 30-minute video, he shares some his personal tips and techniques for capturing natural-looking skin tones, first in-camera, and then in Lightroom. Critically, Ryan begins the tutorial by emphasizing […]
In this article, I’m going to share my basics of shooting from the hip, a fun way to get candid, up-close street photos. We’ll cover camera settings, what to look for, and other techniques along the way.
When it comes to Lightroom alternatives, nobody has taken more users away from Adobe than Capture One Pro. But if you’ve never used Capture One and you need a crash course on the basics, Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography has put together a helpful video that you might find handy. This short beginner’s […]
Portrait photographer Miguel Quiles is back with another useful video for aspiring portrait photographers. This time, he’s put together a video outlining the five most common portrait photography mistakes that he’s seen over the years, and how he suggests that beginners avoid or fix them.
Rachel and Daniel of Mango Street—one of the most popular photography channels on YouTube—have put together a great, straight-to-the-point guide to capturing that “moody” style of portrait that’s become a popular counter-point to the “dreamy” overexposed look that often dominates lifestyle imagery.
The glorious colors of summer are fading away, and the windy weather makes outdoor macro photography difficult. In other words, it’s the perfect time to take photography inside and stage creative photos with things around the house.
The 135mm lens is a favorite of so many portrait photographers for great reasons. They compress your subject quite a bit, make everyone look fantastic, can be used for headshots and wider portraits, and blur the background into oblivion.
Video journalist Logan Baker over at Shutterstock put together a handy primer for anybody who is looking to get into black-and-white photography for the first time. The tutorial amounts to an easy-to-follow beginner’s guide that we highly recommend you check out if you’re just getting started in this genre. Baker starts the video by admitting […]
Photographer Karl Taylor recently put together a quick tutorial video that shows you how to use ND filters to “burn” a long-exposure in-camera while you’re taking the shot. It’s a neat trick, and a good solution for those times when a graduated filter won’t work.
In this video, I’ll show you a simple Photoshop compositing technique to remove light stands from your images in less than two minutes. Then, we’ll do a complete rundown of how the image was shot, lit, and processed.
My name is Tom Woods and I’m a full-time commercial and surf photographer who has been in the industry for two decades. In this article, I’m going to share 10 tips for taking your surf photography to the next level.
Did you know that Photoshop has a built-in focus stacking function? This article explains about how it works and how to make the most of it. The reason why Photoshop is a great tool for stacking images is the incredible amount of flexibility that it provides. Not only does it gives you full control over […]
Talented landscape photographer Michael Shainblum has put together a helpful tutorial that shows you two ways to dodge and burn your landscape photos depending on how selective you want to be. First, he shows you how to use the proper blend modes—Soft Light is recommended, Overlay for a punchier look—to paint over the highlights and […]
There are all sorts of tools out there for making cinemagraphs and “plotagraphs” by animating certain parts of your still photos, but you don’t need any of them. This short tutorial shows you how to create these animations using Adobe Photoshop.
It’s more and more difficult these days to photograph places without crowds or cars. One of the strategies that can help achieve that is to wake up early and be there at sunrise, but in very popular places, there will be other photographers with the same idea as you. So, how can we take a […]
Refraction photography is an exciting subject that has been enjoying increasing popularity amongst photographers. You’ve probably seen refraction photos before: where an out-of-focus background appears sharply defined inside a crystal ball or a dew drop for example.
Just starting out in photography and want to learn the basics of shooting in full manual mode? Photographer Josh Collins made this helpful basic 11. 5-minute tutorial that discusses the three corners of the Exposure Triangle — aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
When it comes to portraits, soft and diffused light is often the go-to setting to create the most flattering results. However, hard light can also open up your portrait photography to a lot of creative techniques, such as cinematic effects.
In this short tutorial, Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect lays out his “Sharpening Separation” technique: a more advanced sharpening technique that allows you to sharpen your images as much as you like without creating those dreaded halos.
Back button focusing involves decoupling a camera’s autofocus from the shutter button and moving it to a button under the right thumb on the back. Here’s a helpful 4.5-minute video by Canon Australia showing how you can get started with this next-level focusing technique on your Canon DSLR or mirrorless camera. Canon Collective Ambassador Kass […]
Scottish landscape and wildlife photographer Wayne Robertson recently shared what he’s calling “4 Landscape Photography Tips to Last a Lifetime. ” These aren’t “tricks” or “hacks” or “secrets,” because Robertson doesn’t believe there are any secrets when it comes to great landscape photography.
Want to get creative with shooting portraits using just your smartphone? Apple made this 3-minute video with advice and inspiration for shooting iPhone portraits from award-winning Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson.
Shooting professional-quality portraits with artificial lighting doesn’t have to weigh heavily on your bank account. Here’s a 22-minute video in which photographer Sean Tucker shares how to shoot great portraits using a single speedlight and a cheap modifier.
Photographer Eric Floberg made this 10-minute video showing how he creates in-camera double-exposure photos using a tilt-shift lens, a technique he calls his “creative bread and butter.” “A lot of people do double exposures with a typical lens, but I like doing it with a tilt-shift lens because it kind of distorts reality,” Floberg says. […]
Living in St. Louis almost my entire life, I was lead to believe the lights of the bustling city were too bright to make seeing stars anywhere nearby impossible. As I grew older and started getting serious about photography, I realized that was correct… kinda.
If you need to make a complex selection in Photoshop that involves hair or fur on a background, the powerful Refine Edge Brush is ready to help. Here’s a 1-minute Photoshop Magic Minute video by Adobe that will show you how to get started with the tool. When your selection of a person’s hair or […]
Making selections is one of the most basic things that you do in Photoshop, but there are many handy features and tricks that can help you work with selections. Here’s a 2-minute video by Adobe with 7 helpful tricks, some of which you may not have known before. Here’s a rundown of the tips: 1. […]
Double exposure is among our favorite creative photography techniques, and we're sure it's also high on the list of many experimental photographers out there. We've featured a lot of projects that make great use of this technique, whether it's done in camera or crafted in post-processing.
One of the biggest things that photographers shooting portraits need to learn is how to pose. The idea that you can simply just capture things happening isn't creative and it doesn't necessarily do your subject any justice.
What is the best way to light glass? Glass doesn’t look good when you shine light directly at it. It soaks up the light it doesn’t define it. It just gives you specular highlights little pinpoints that don’t photograph well.
This guide will be a walkthrough on the basics of Milky Way photography. It is best for beginners, but even intermediate and expert photographers might find something new! Plus, I always find it never hurts to refresh yourself on the basics.
Even if you’ve worked with the Curves Tool in Photoshop for years, they may still be some useful tricks that you’ve never come across before. Here’s a helpful 2-minute video by Adobe that contains 13 different tips.
Adding artificial lighting into your portrait workflow can really make your images stand out from the crowd. There are so many photographers out there though who are scared to use speed lights, strobes, and monolights, but there really is no need to feel so overwhelmed.
Over the past year, it seems the whole world has been on hold due to the rampages of COVID-19. In the Facebook groups I’m in, many users were seeing shortages in analog photography supplies. Some online stores stopped shipping Rodinal (a caustic liquid) and other products were just nowhere to be found. Added to all […]
Learn photography rules, learn to apply them, learn their advantages and limitations. Finally, learn to bend them, break them and explore beyond them. Rules are prison cell walls for the creative mind so beware of them — don’t let them take over your life.
Adobe recently gave Photoshop the ability to instantly colorize photos using Adobe Sensei AI technology. Here’s a new 1. 5-minute video tutorial by Adobe showing how you can now breathe color into a black-and-white photo with just a few clicks.
Teleconverters are handy lens add-ons that multiply the focal length of the lens they are attached to. They can be mounted in between the camera body and lens (typically a telephoto lens) and increase the focal length of the lens to which they are attached. By how much is dependent on their power, which is […]
We’re going to walk you through common posing mistakes, particularly for sitting poses, and how to fix them. I want to cover this subject from both a masculine and feminine body language standpoint so you can see the differences and know how to fix issues on the spot no matter who you are photographing. Learning […]
Successful landscape photographers usually mix interesting skies and compelling foregrounds. But what if the sky is totally clear and the sun is harsh and unflattering? In this 13-minute video, Michael Shainblum shows how he makes the best of this kind of situation.
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 […]
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 1×3-inch wood.
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.
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. In the new version of Camera Raw, the tools […]
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. Shot back in 2009, the tutorial shows Lovegrove demonstrating 23 different setups using one or more flashes, from simple one-flash portraits to setups that use 3 […]
We’re forever taking photos of our children. We want to remember those first experiences, milestones, and adventures. But how many of those photos come out the way you intended, and how many make it onto your walls and into photo books? I have 4 top tips anyone can use to help improve your photography and […]
Want to create an epic ‘dual lighting’ effect for your studio portraits, but don’t have any gels or LEDs to work with? No problem. In this short tutorial, Photoshop master Unmesh Dinda of PIXimperfect will show you how to create this effect in post using just 2 layers! As Dinda shows in the video, the […]
Just starting out with doing photography with a DSLR (or mirrorless) camera? Here’s a free PDF you can download that will take you through some of the basics of understanding and using the camera so you can hit the ground running.
Here’s a 12-minute tutorial by AdoramaTV in which photographer Gavin Hoey shows how you can capture a perfect rim light shot without using multiple stripboxes and flashes — all you need is just one light.
Kate Woodman has mastered taking exceptionally creative images in small, mundane spaces and teaches others how to do the same. What started out as a necessity has now become an art form. [Read More]
It will come as shock to no one that digital cameras are as complex as the manufacturing processes that make them. Thanks to the wizardry of Steven Sasson, our photographic pursuits are inextricably linked to the cold mass of integrated circuits, photovoltaic diodes, and the other discrete components that make up our modern tools. [Read More]
Using Photoshop to remove the background in an image so that you can replace it is one of the most frequent things for which it was used, and might still be. The actual placing of a new image for a background is relatively easy.
Need to download a photo from Instagram? Perhaps you uploaded a photo long ago and have since lost the original file, or perhaps you are interested in downloading a public domain space photo from NASA to use as your phone's wallpaper.
One of my favorite techniques in photography is shooting panoramas with a telephoto lens. I got asked a lot about this technique, so I decided to create a full video and article in which I’ll go through the entire process. [Read More]
Some of the most enticing shots in portrait photography depict darker emotions, adding in elements of storytelling that include our shadow sides, and show the subject as a complex human.
Want to check how many individual photos a camera has taken in its lifetime? Here's a guide to looking up the shutter actuation count for most of the most popular camera brands on the market. [Read More]
During long periods of cloudy weather, it can be really frustrating as an astrophotographer to wait for the sky to clear up. Over the years, I’ve learned how to handle these long downtimes. [Read More]
Have you wanted to capture your own ink flow photographs at home? Below, I’ll explain a few easy tips that make use of an inexpensive fish tank and a pot of ink or paint. As the paint is poured into the water a multitude of incredible shapes form which, when photographed, transform into the most […]
Capture One was recently updated with a dedicated before and after tool, and new powerful heal and clone tools. Before this update, the healing and cloning tools were unusable to me, but now with this update, I can save the time of moving back and forth between Capture One and Photoshop. As landscape photographers, we […]