When I conduct a workshop or seminar, I’ll often ask the attendees to define a professional photographer. The most common answer is, “Someone who’s primary income comes from photography.” After I hear that, I’ll disagree and remind the group that the key word in my...
Once at a hairstylist’s salon I saw a sign that read: “I’m a beautician, not a magician.” Ever since that, I’ve wanted to create a similar saying for photographers, but so far, I haven’t been able to devise one that is filled with the same rhyme and eloquence....
Sometimes a photo might need a little more oomph due to strong back-light or perhaps you simply want to brighten deep shadow areas on your subject and you can do this with fill-flash. While there are many fill-flash photography techniques, the two most common...
Often people tell me photographers have it easy, just click and they’re done. I remind them it’s about the fundamentals, concepts, and principals of photography plus the processes that it takes to create great photos. So here are some photography process tips to make...
Back in the days of film, professional photographers would prioritize their time to include darkroom days, shooting sessions, and administrative time. Call it a part of the photographic culture and to survive in any creative profession, you have to allocate time to...
Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Gretzky created his own style of play with passion and hard work and he knew how to find the shot and take it without hesitation, similar to great...
There are many ingredients that fuel a photographer’s appetite when it comes to their abilities to create, but two ingredients that every photographer should have are sources of influence and inspiration. Normally inspiration comes from a muse and influence from the...
The only photography tip here is that we all need to recognize that photography dopamine addiction exists. It’s not about blame, it’s about reality. Interpret this how you wish, but it’s meant to help you understand why more selfies are captured per second than...
So, you want to do some photography, but your mind draws a blank and you can’t think straight. It’s a mental lapse just like writer’s block. As a photographer you’re in a creative rut and have to overcome it to pre-visualize the photos you want to capture, so what do...
There’s always chatter on the Internet about mirror-less vs. DSLR cameras, especially with the new Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus and Panasonic mirrorless cameras and lenses. People often express their opinions daily on social media and some focus on “whose camera beats...
In all forms of photography there are elements that make or break an image, some elements are required, some are optional, and some while required, vary in strength and play lesser or greater roles in the context of the image, depending on their use. Clothing in...
Over the decades at my photography workshops, seminars and lectures in all the America’s and throughout the United states, I’m often asked, “How do you pose a model?” I usually answer with a demonstration because posing is the body language of a...
We see through the viewfinder with our eyes as we hold our camera with our hands, yet we often take for granted that the eyes and hands are the top reasons a photo editor will trash an image when it comes to publication consideration. As photographers of models we can...
Any photographer can kayak or canoe down the river, but great photographers avoid canoes whether they paddle on water or not. When you canoe on a body of water it takes strength, but in photography you avoid canoes in your subject’s eyes through the angle of your...
Every morning someone snaps a great sunrise photo on the east coast and later in that day, someone will snap a sunset photo on the west coast and both photographers will have captured a horizontal photograph because they didn’t turn the camera. But it’s a horizon...
