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How to Shoot Otherworldly Macro Photos of Soap Bubbles

This post is by Maximilian Simson from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



There are certain subjects in the macro world, which are so fascinating and absorbing that almost every macro photographer will point a camera at them at some point. No matter how many photos you take or see of these subjects, their charm does not seem to wear off.

Just think of snowflakes, the compound eyes of insects or the refractive nature of water droplets. Or, of course, the psychedelic colour plays of soap film.

After spending countless hours photographing these mesmerizing patterns, I can assure you that it never gets boring. Quite the opposite is true indeed, the more you

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Photo Idea: How to Capture Creative Reflection Portraits

This post is by DL Cade from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Capturing cool reflection portraits might seem like a breeze—you just put someone behind some glass and go ham, right? But as photographer Matt Granger explains in this tutorial, even a basic understanding of the “key variables” involved can open up more options for you.

This tutorial is essentially a quick overview of these “key variables,” starting with an understanding of how light reflections work, and then expanding that understanding into the realm of photography.

By doing some quick distance calculations, you can begin to imagine that your subject is in the foreground, and any reflected lights in the glass

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Ilford is Creating a Set of Super Helpful ‘Darkroom Guides’ on YouTube

This post is by DL Cade from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Over the past seven months, Ilford has been publishing a set of helpful “Darkroom Guides” to the How To playlist on the company YouTube channel. The series was created to help film photographers take their “next steps in your black and white darkroom printing journey.” If that describes you, then this is one you’ll want to bookmark.

There’s a lot of information out there about film photography—including some exceptional websites like EMULSIVE that are exclusively dedicated to film lovers—but if you’re looking for “how to” advice, one great place to start is right at the source. Ilford’s channel is

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The Best Gear for Storm Photography

This post is by Martin Lisius from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



I first became interested in storms when I was a boy growing up in Texas, the only state in the US that experiences tornadoes, hurricane and blizzards on a regular basis. I built a scale model of a supercell thunderstorm inside a clear plexiglass box using cotton and a light bulb for lightning, and won first place in the weather category at our local science fair. Then I got permission from my mother to climb onto our roof and build a weather station.

When I was 12, I took my first storm photo: a big, fat bolt of lightning shot

Continue reading “The Best Gear for Storm Photography”

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The Best Gear for Storm Photography

This post is by Martin Lisius from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



I first became interested in storms when I was a boy growing up in Texas, the only state in the US that experiences tornadoes, hurricane and blizzards on a regular basis. I built a scale model of a supercell thunderstorm inside a clear plexiglass box using cotton and a light bulb for lightning, and won first place in the weather category at our local science fair. Then I got permission from my mother to climb onto our roof and build a weather station.

When I was 12, I took my first storm photo: a big, fat bolt of lightning shot

Continue reading “The Best Gear for Storm Photography”

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Drone Photo Tips: How To Make Inception-Like Images

This post is by Jaron Schneider from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



If you’ve seen the movie Inception, you’re likely very familiar with that one scene where physical space is bent on top of itself. It’s one of the movie’s most iconic visuals, and in this 3-minute video, COOPH shows how you can easily make your own photos with an Inception vibe with a drone.

The first technique the video tackles is what they call the “drone wall,” which involves splicing two images taken at different angles together. This simple method requires first that you photograph your subject from directly above, and then again at a 90-degree angle difference. You can

Continue reading “Drone Photo Tips: How To Make Inception-Like Images”

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Drone Photo Tips: How To Make Inception-Like Images

This post is by Jaron Schneider from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



If you’ve seen the movie Inception, you’re likely very familiar with that one scene where physical space is bent on top of itself. It’s one of the movie’s most iconic visuals, and in this 3-minute video, COOPH shows how you can easily make your own photos with an Inception vibe with a drone.

The first technique the video tackles is what they call the “drone wall,” which involves splicing two images taken at different angles together. This simple method requires first that you photograph your subject from directly above, and then again at a 90-degree angle difference. You can

Continue reading “Drone Photo Tips: How To Make Inception-Like Images”

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8 Reasons Why Your Photos Suck, and How to Fix Them

This post is by DL Cade from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Professional photographers Daniel and Rachel of Mango Street have published a helpful video that covers the 8 most common mistakes that they see beginner photographers make. In other words: these are the 8 reasons why your photos suck, and how to fix them.

This isn’t the first (and it won’t be the last) advice video for beginners that we’ve seen and shared, but there’s good reason to revisit some of these points over and over again. Not only because there are always fresh faces discovering their passion for photography, but because even experienced photographers can lose sight of the basics

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Lighting 101: Everything You Need to Know About Light Fall Off

This post is by DL Cade from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Photographer Gavin Hoey recently produced a video for Adorama TV that tackles a critically important subject for photographers: light fall off. Mathematically captured by the so-called Inverse Square Law, it’s vital that photographers understand this property of light, especially when working with strobes.

Light fall off and the Inverse Square Law is a difficult and boring subject to try and explain in writing; you’ll quickly get bogged down in equations that will make most readers’ eyes glaze over. The best way to explain and understand this fundamental principle of light is to see it in action by creating a

Continue reading “Lighting 101: Everything You Need to Know About Light Fall Off”

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Lighting 101: Everything You Need to Know About Light Fall Off

This post is by DL Cade from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Photographer Gavin Hoey recently produced a video for Adorama TV that tackles a critically important subject for photographers: light fall off. Mathematically captured by the so-called Inverse Square Law, it’s vital that photographers understand this property of light, especially when working with strobes.

Light fall off and the Inverse Square Law is a difficult and boring subject to try and explain in writing; you’ll quickly get bogged down in equations that will make most readers’ eyes glaze over. The best way to explain and understand this fundamental principle of light is to see it in action by creating a

Continue reading “Lighting 101: Everything You Need to Know About Light Fall Off”

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4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems

This post is by Michael Comeau from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Do you want to switch from Canon to Sony? From Sony to Nikon? From Nikon to Panasonic? From Panasonic to Fujifilm? Well, I’m going to ask you to stop, take a deep breath, and consider doing the most boring thing: absolutely nothing. Instead of switching camera brands, you should probably stick with what you have.

Here’s why:

Reason #1: Cameras Are Getting Better… and More Similar

Sony’s Eye-AF used to be the only game in town when it came to eye detect autofocus. Then Canon and the other brands caught up.

Feature leads never last because the big boys just

Continue reading “4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems”

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4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems

This post is by Michael Comeau from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Do you want to switch from Canon to Sony? From Sony to Nikon? From Nikon to Panasonic? From Panasonic to Fujifilm? Well, I’m going to ask you to stop, take a deep breath, and consider doing the most boring thing: absolutely nothing. Instead of switching camera brands, you should probably stick with what you have.

Here’s why:

Reason #1: Cameras Are Getting Better… and More Similar

Sony’s Eye-AF used to be the only game in town when it came to eye detect autofocus. Then Canon and the other brands caught up.

Feature leads never last because the big boys just

Continue reading “4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems”

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4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems

This post is by Michael Comeau from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Do you want to switch from Canon to Sony? From Sony to Nikon? From Nikon to Panasonic? From Panasonic to Fujifilm? Well, I’m going to ask you to stop, take a deep breath, and consider doing the most boring thing: absolutely nothing. Instead of switching camera brands, you should probably stick with what you have.

Here’s why:

Reason #1: Cameras Are Getting Better… and More Similar

Sony’s Eye-AF used to be the only game in town when it came to eye detect autofocus. Then Canon and the other brands caught up.

Feature leads never last because the big boys just

Continue reading “4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems”

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Using a $10 vs $1,000 Light for Zoom Meetings

This post is by Chris Lee from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



The single most important thing that you can do to look better in a Zoom meeting is to add better lighting. This will give you a significant quality improvement on a minimal investment. So… I decided to test out four different lighting options, ranging from a cheap little $10 ring light all the way up to a $1,000 professional studio light.

For the test, the same built-in laptop webcam was used for each light. Additionally, I recorded myself using each light in an actual Zoom meeting with the regular Zoom software. No color correction was applied to any of the

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A Simple Trick for Adding Drama to a Product Photo

This post is by DL Cade from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Here’s a quick tip from talented photographer, filmmaker, and YouTube star Peter McKinnon. In his latest “two-minute Tuesday” video, he showed how adding a simple overlay onto some black foam core can take a basic top-down product shot to the next level.

Given McKinnon’s YouTube success and his focus on filmmaking, many people forget that he spent 7 years paying the bills by capturing product photos and creating product trailers for a company that designed magic tricks. In other words: he had to come up with 7 years worth of ways to capture a deck of cards that didn’t feel

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Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?

This post is by Jaron Schneider from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Have you ever met a photographer who thinks their work is incredible, but you don’t agree? Perhaps they’re actually really bad? In this 9-minute video, Scott Choucino explains how and why this happens, and how you can avoid it.

The phenomenon where someone believes they are great at something at which they are, as Choucino says, “rubbish” is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is defined as “a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people

Continue reading “Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?”

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Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?

This post is by Jaron Schneider from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Have you ever met a photographer who thinks their work is incredible, but you don’t agree? Perhaps they’re actually really bad? In this 9-minute video, Scott Choucino explains how and why this happens, and how you can avoid it.

The phenomenon where someone believes they are great at something at which they are, as Choucino says, “rubbish” is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is defined as “a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people

Continue reading “Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?”

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Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?

This post is by Jaron Schneider from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Have you ever met a photographer who thinks their work is incredible, but you don’t agree? Perhaps they’re actually really bad? In this 9-minute video, Scott Choucino explains how and why this happens, and how you can avoid it.

The phenomenon where someone believes they are great at something at which they are, as Choucino says, “rubbish” is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is defined as “a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people

Continue reading “Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?”

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Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?

This post is by Jaron Schneider from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Have you ever met a photographer who thinks their work is incredible, but you don’t agree? Perhaps they’re actually really bad? In this 9-minute video, Scott Choucino explains how and why this happens, and how you can avoid it.

The phenomenon where someone believes they are great at something at which they are, as Choucino says, “rubbish” is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is defined as “a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people

Continue reading “Why Do Bad Photographers Think They Are Good?”

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Creating a ‘Time-Blend’ to Enhance the Drama in Your Landscape Photography

This post is by Matt Fischer from PetaPixel


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



In my last article, I wrote in depth about my emotional connection to the subjects that I photograph and my artistic process in creating imagery. As I said before, to me photography is much more than capturing a single moment in time. I want to portray the sensory experiences that I have when I am immersed in nature or wilderness and pour that into an image that tells a story related to those experiences.

In that creative process, I often use a technique referred to as ‘time-blending.’ Today, I want to share with you the ‘end-to-end’ process of

Continue reading “Creating a ‘Time-Blend’ to Enhance the Drama in Your Landscape Photography”