If your specialty is portraiture, odds are that at some point, you'll be asked to do a corporate headshot session. These can be much different than a normal headshot session, however, so it's important to learn the unique requirements and considerations. This helpful will show you everything you need to know.
Consistent photo editing can be a huge factor in ensuring that your brand is cohesive. Knowing how to achieve consistency on a regular basis is a handy tool every photographer should have in their skill set.
Want to know the secrets of turning any space, no matter how boring, bland, or dirty, into an awesome location for photo shoots?
If you are a portrait photographer, beginner or professional, the documentary "Darkness and Light" about Richard Avedon should be on the top of your watch list.
When it comes to food photography, your goal is to capture the dish as well as possible while making sure it looks appealing. You want to entice the viewer to order or crave that dish. If you are new to this genre, here are a few tricks that may help you craft a better shot.
Matching the tones is the most challenging part of creating composite images. You may find numerous tutorials on the Internet about matching tones and smooth blending of the composite elements, however this technique by Antti Karppinen is the best I’ve seen so far as it even helps with blending images that are shot under different lights.
I recently teamed up with the crew at Fstoppers to create a video tutorial that focuses on the foundations of creating a standalone product hero shot for advertising. What’s a standalone product hero shot you ask? It’s a standalone image of a product that’s generally well lit, super crisp, super clean, and essentially aids in selling a company's product.
I've always been a Windows desktop user, but until this point I've never built my own desktop from scratch. I finally decided to teach myself how to build the ultimate PC for video and photo editing and I'm bringing you along for the ride.
By narrowing your focus and promoting your specific skill set, you can grow your business and stand out in even the most overly saturated market.
Few things are more terrifying than a corrupted or accidentally formatted memory card. When that recently happened to me, I hastily hopped on the Internet to find memory card recovery software. After several hours of searching, I came across an obscure but free tool, and a few hours later, all my images and videos were safely and securely transferred to my hard drive.
Lightroom is undoubtedly a great tool for Digital Asset Management (DAM). Some people use it for Digital Asset Management and Editing while others use it just for Digital Asset Management and do all of their editing in Photoshop or some other external application.
There's a myth perpetuated that photographers either do it for a hobby or they're professionals making money. The truth is, the majority seem to float in the gray area between the two.
Photographer Aaron Anderson has once again created an amazing set of images that came from an idea he could not shake. It's often been said that anyone can do something once but to keep coming back with impressive results is what differentiates the best from the rest.
If you're not getting the followers, traffic, or clients you think you should be, then it might be your website that is part of the problem.
Here are 10 things to stop doing in the New Year if you want to be a better, happier photographer and maybe make more money to boot.
The tone curve in Lightroom is one of the less understood tools; nonetheless, it's one of the more powerful ones. It can be a bit tricky to figure out on your own, but this tutorial is a perfect way to get acquainted or further acquainted with the tool.
Photoshop’s adjustment layers are some of the most powerful tools available for post-processing photographs. With the ever-increasing number of sliders available in Lightroom and Camera Raw, the adjustment layers in Photoshop seem to get less visibility, which is a mistake.
For most photographers, social media is the area where fans and potential clients will see our work most often. Here is how to make sure your photos look great on Instagram.
Explore in this lighting tutorial three ways of stepping up your headshot photography game.
Printing your own photos is one of the most satisfying ways to enjoy the fruits of your hard work as a photographer, but doing so comes with its own set of rules and considerations to make sure your prints are just right. This great video will give you a straightforward guide to properly managing color from camera to print.
Computer programs are only as good as the information they have to work with and the commands they are given. Avoid these mistakes in Lightroom so you can minimize any major headaches further down the line.
Skin retouching is a fine skill that takes a good sense of nuance and a careful eye for detail. This helpful video will show you a fairly standard and effective workflow for skin retouching using Photoshop.
How many of the primary lighting patterns can you execute well? Here is an explanation of five of the most common lighting techniques used in photography.
It doesn't matter what kind of photography you do, there will be times when an unwanted element in one of your pictures needs to be taken out in Photoshop. Here are six different techniques to use to remove practically anything from your images.
In a saturated industry, talent can get lost in the crowds. However, talent in combination with proficient business running expertise can lead to you rising above those crowds. Some business expertise is experience, but some is received wisdom. Here are more of the most important things I've learned through both.
If you thought you couldn't use or rescue blurry, pixelated photos, think again. This tutorial will not only show you how to rescue and sharpen blurry photos, but also how to increase their size to prepare them for printing.
Do you ever wonder how many photos you should deliver from a session? Here is why I believe that you are giving too many.
I doubt any photographers became professional because they were excited to run the business, but run it they will. Unfortunately, the importance of savvy business practices is much closer to photographic talent that most like to admit, so take a break from honing your portraiture, and hone your abilities as a small business owner.
Adding to or accentuating the color tones in an image is a very effective way of telling a story, eliciting an emotion, or strengthening the aesthetic. In this short walkthrough, I'll explain how I can speedily color grade my images.
One of the biggest questions photographers have when starting their business is if they’re pricing themselves correctly. Even seasoned professionals sometimes question whether their pricing is correct. Here are a few tips to ensure you’re pricing realistically and accurately for your services.
Light is the most important thing to photographers, it’s our job to recognize it and shape it to help us tell our story.
I’m going to come right out and say it. Instagram saved my photography life. Today, I’ll show you how Instagram changed everything for me and how it can really help you too.
A thick blanket of white covers falling tree limbs in a beautiful landscape just calling for you to shoot your outdoor session. Navigating the labyrinth of paths to get the perfect scene is obtainable with a few from fellow photographers. Last week we discussed how to prepare for shoots in the desert and now we go to the opposite side of the spectrum with a winter wonderland shoot in the snow. A few suggestions will help the safety of your clients as well as getting those killer shots.
Do you love photography and hate numbers? Are you afraid you don’t know what you don’t know when it comes to starting a business? Here are nine critical items to consider before starting your photography business.
There are simply no shortcuts to building a career as a freelance photographer. Making money out of something you love is really hard, but it absolutely can be done.
How skin is processed in the editing phase of your portrait can make or break the image. One easy and effective tool is Gradient Maps, as shown by Prince Meyson in this useful video tutorial.
Layer masks are one of the most useful tools in Photoshop, allowing the user to apply adjustments to an image selectively. Masking, however, can be one of the most frustrating aspects of post-production, sometimes requiring lots of intricate work. One tool in Photoshop that can make your masking life easier is also one of the most overlooked: Apply Image.
I don't have a vendetta with the color blue, or any colors for that matter; that would be odd. I do, however, remove the color blue either entirely or nearly entirely from the lion's share of my images, and for good reason.
We’ve all been there; the studio is set, the model is awkwardly waiting, but the light isn’t quite right and the stress begins to build. With every test shot, the light quality increases and the anxiety level decreases. Finally, like a blast of cool breeze on a hot day, everything clicks into place. The light is perfect.
The best creative projects will leave a permanent impact on someone, whether that's the photographer, subject, or viewer. The best projects will move the world. Renowned sex and relationship expert Layla Martin set out to help women feel more comfortable in their own skin by showing them and their partners pictures of their genitalia, and the results are remarkably powerful and moving.
One of the most noticeable differences between portraits taken outside using natural light as opposed to artificial light is the background. Images using artificial light tend to have darker backgrounds. This is crucial in catching the eye of the viewer and allows him or her to focus on the subject. This article is a guide in achieving this look using natural light only.
When we talk about on-location mixed lighting we usually mean shooting with light sources of different nature, such as natural ambient light and artificial, or shooting with lights of different color temperatures (tungsten, fluorescent, flash, etc.).
There are dozens of cool effects that one can achieve when mixing ambient light with controlled lighting, but today I would like to talk about mixing lights in studio - impulse (i.e. strobe or flash) and continuous. I love this technique and hope my article inspires you to try it out too.
A fundamental lesson in photography is the exposure triangle. Learning about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture is something all photographers should do.
Okay, I get it, that’s a pretty bold statement, but hear me out. I’ve been working on this for nearly two decades.
Whether I'm teaching someone Lightroom or only showing a friend my photos in Lightroom for the first time, the one thing they usually comment about right away is my use of Lightroom's Secondary Display feature. It's a great feature that really makes me more productive.
Pricing your work is an incredibly tricky game. In this video, I go over how I price my work, how I progressed to that point as well as the calculator that I use to work out my usage license fees.
Robert Ascroft is known worldwide for his celebrity, sports, and fashion photographs. His client list includes Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Showtime, A&E, Puma, Vanity Fair, and Rolex. So, basically his client list includes some of the biggest names in his industries of focus! Not bad, right? Go big or go home I guess!
One of the most rewarding parts of photography is choosing the right type of light for an assignment. The light that will best help convey what we’ve been hired to shoot. Nowhere is that more true than in shooting athletic wear.
Photography can become ridiculously expensive with gear and props and all the other necessities. So when there is a chance to save, I save!
Living in the Southwest, I'm always out with my camera, looking for that great new vista just beyond the next curve in the road. For years, I didn't pay much attention to photo apps, because I was seeing stupid apps that put hats on people or distorted their faces, or worse.
![Business of Photography: Eight Tips I Wish I Had Known Earlier [Part Two]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/med-16-9/s3/lead/2018/06/business_of_photography_eight_tips_i_wish_i_had_known_earlier_part_two_0.jpg)
![Business of Photography: Eight Tips I Wish I Had Known Earlier [Part One]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/med-16-9/s3/lead/2018/06/business_of_photography_tips_professional_how_to.jpg)
![Tips for a Winter Wonderland Session on Location [NSFW]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/med-16-9/s3/lead/2018/03/winteroutdoor_boudoir_snowportraits.jpg)
