Created from 105 individual exposures taken over many hours, “New York Transitions I” captures the dawn of a new day in New York City. I wanted to portray the magic of the skyline at both nighttime and daytime in a single image so I planned to create a VAST photo that transitioned from night to day as you move from left to right in the image. Furthermore, I wanted to create the photo at a special time when the city looked particularly radiant, so I waited for a snowstorm to gild the city in white… Heavy clouds thick with snow blanketed the sky on an unusually cold morning....

Now shooting with an iPhone comes with its own pro’s and con’s. The pro’s of course being its size, the amount of apps and editing possibilities and its online options. The con’s are for instance sensor size, and ergonomics. But every instance of a new smartphone camera gets better and better. As an allround camera its getting quite serious in almost every aspect. Now the only thing I was missing from turning my smartphone into a more useful photographic tool was the ability to use an off-camera flash, or trigger my studio lights....

Shooting items on a white background is a commonly used technique for product shots. However, it gets tricky when you need to photograph a white product on white background. In this situation, you can have a problem exposing for one or the other. Photographer David Patino from PDN Video shows you the lighting setup you can use to take professional shots of white products on white background. David uses a white reflector on a c-stand for his background....

There are so many options for exposure tools available to us these days. Gone are the days of having to guestimate with the Sunny 16 and similar rules. Now we can know with almost absolute certainty that we’ll get the shot we want before we’ve even hit the shutter or started recording video. This video from Matti at TravelFeels shows us several ways that our cameras and other devices can help us get perfect exposure every time....

When you shoot photos of interiors, you may want to add photos to TV screens or other displays in the room. In this video, photographer Tony Roslund shares his technique that will help you make such composites look realistic and as if they were created in camera.Advertisements Tony gives an excellent example of his compositing technique because the photo he’s editing has several screens in different parts of the room....

Ring lights are a big love-hate thing in the world of photography. Some people are actually quite passionate about the catchlight it can present in a subject’s eyes – believing that there’s only one way to use a ring light. But ring lights can produce some wonderful light on your scene, especially when used off-camera. And that’s how this giant ring light is intended to be used. Inspired by Oscar-winning DP, Roger Deakins, Todd at Shutterstock shows us how to build our own in this video....

Really quick and dirty article for you this week on a handy little tip I found myself having to find for a solution to a problem. I was doing a photoshoot with this subject when I noticed how awesome the decking looked, I decided that I wanted to get a shot of him led down on the decking but still wanted that jawline / chin to pop. He didn’t feel comfortable forcing his chin towards the camera while laying down due it being difficult as hell because your head is heavy!...

The Think Tank Logistics Manager 30 is my absolute favorite when it comes to all the camera bags, stand bags, photo bags and other bags I own for my flash equipment, tripods and cameras. However, it is just like almost all rolling cases, mostly made to be transported inside airports, offices or other places with a flat and even floor. With small and silly undersized skateboard-like wheels it immediately becomes hard or impossible to use it on gravel roads or a bumpy asphalt....

Advertisements Essentially what you’re doing with the Shadows/Highlights adjustment is lightening the dark areas and darkening the light areas. It’s kind of heading in the direction of a fake HDR look and can very easily be taken a bit too far (in my opinion), but when used tastefully can give your images a little extra punch of detail. It’s obviously not a technique to be used on every photo. Sometimes you want very dark dramatic shadows and blown out highlights, but quite often for my work it’s just the thing I need to elevate an image past the look of a typical snapshot....

Being a full-time professional photographer requires plenty of different skills and a lot of your time and devotion. A fear of failure and “playing it safe” is what prevents many people from starting or developing a successful photography business. In this video, Roberto Blake discusses this fear and gives you some techniques that can help you not just overcome your fear, but make the best out of failure even when it happens....

I can’t tell you how often I had to tell how I got to make this picture. This image was created for the semi-final of the Dutch Canon Grand Prix 2017, and I had lots of talks to people about it, before and afterwards. Let’s start at the beginning. Earlier this year I got an Email with the invitation to join this contest, one of the categories being ‘Image manipulation’....

There are places where it’s difficult to take a photo without people or cars in the frame. Sometimes, you can tell people to move so you can take a photo. But in some overcrowded locations it’s simply impossible. And not to mention that you can’t do it if it’s cars messing with your composition. Thanks to some Photoshop magic, it’s possible to remove all the unwanted moving objects from a photo in a few seconds....

The third season of Stranger Things was launched four days ago, to the joy of millions of fans. The popular TV show is really inspirational in terms of lighting, transitions, costumes, and so on. But there’s one more thing – its minimalistic, eerie opening sequence. If you wanna try and replicate it, Javert Valbarr of FXhome will show you a tutorial to help you do it. Javert uses HitFilm Pro to recreate the sequence....

We’re not talking about the timelapse holy grail here. We’re talking video. One of the most difficult things to do in film is to show the passing of time in a single shot. There are many ways to do it, but rarely is it all caught in the same take. This video from the folks at Aperture’s A-Team shows us how it can be done with a little forethought and some fancy trickery with your lighting setup....

There’s hardly a wedding without a photographer and a videographer. If these two are not from the same studio, there may be some disagreements, tension, and pressure. They both aim at getting the perfect shot or footage, and it’s important that they work together, and not against each other. In this video from Adorama TV, Vanessa Joy and Robbie Canter will tell you more about the ways for wedding photographers and videographers to work together and make great photos and videos....

Two of the biggest complaints about small cameras like action and 360° cameras are their audio and fairly bland colours. The audio is often just the nature of built-in microphones, but the colours is often a function of maximising dynamic range in the source file. To avoid us having to run our footage through yet another 3rd party app to fix them, Insta360 has developed True Audio and Color Plus features for their mobile apps and desktop editing software for the Insta360 ONE X (currently on sale for Black Friday) and the Insta360 GO to specifically address these issues....

With its latest AI-powered feature, Instagram is continuing its fight against the abuse on the platform. From now on, if you try to post an image with an offensive or bullying caption, Instagram will warn you and ask you to reconsider it. Earlier this year, Instagram launched a similar feature. It also uses AI, and it notifies users if the comment they’re about to post may be considered offensive. This gives people the opportunity to change their minds and reword their comments, and according to Instagram, it worked....

On Tuesday evening, an Instagram post with a threatening message sent a 14-year old boy to jail. The unnamed boy from Lemon Grove, California posted an AR-15-style rifle made of LEGO on his Instagram profile, captioned “Don’t come to school tomorrow.” Reportedly, another student asked him to take the photo down, and he refused. As a consequence, the student was arrested for making a criminal threat. The boy is a student at West Hills High School in Santee....

No matter what other instant film formats may follow, Polaroid is the original and arguably the best. When Polaroid announced the end of production in 2008, many feared that it would be gone forever. But Polaroid’s last working factory was bought my a small group of enthusiasts, amongst them, retired scientist Stephen Herchen, now CTO of Polaroid Originals (formerly, Impossible Project). Herchen had previously collaborated with the inventor of Polaroid, Edwin Land....

Irix shocked us all recently by announcing that their 45mm prime lens was going to be released as a T1.5 cinema lens first, and not the f/1.4 we’ve been expecting since Photokina 2016. Irix were at PhotoPlus 2019 this year, showing off the new Irix 45mm T1.5 prime, along with the 11mm T4.3 and 150mm T3.0 cinema lenses. So, we stopped by to take a look and chat about Irix’s plans for the future....