Category: Photography

  • Top 10 Photography Resources of 2014 You Should Have

    “Photographer” is one of the job titles many people would like to have today. Taking pictures is fun and exciting, especially when you earn money for that. However, to reach the point when photography brings your cash, you obviously need to learn. When it comes to choosing the best educational photography courses, videos and ebooks, it can be overwhelming with Continue Reading

    The post Top 10 Photography Resources of 2014 You Should Have appeared first on Photodoto.


    Photodoto

  • Deal 7: Save 60% On our ‘Going Pro’ eBook

    Going pro 363x448I can’t believe we’re at day 7 in our 12 days of Christmas!

    Deal 7 this year is perfect for those of you who secretly dream of making money from their photography.

    If that’s you – today we’re offering a 60% saving on our ‘Going Pro’ kit.

    Bundled in this kit are:

    1. Going Pro: How To Make Money From Your Photography, 91 pages of first-hand experience to help you sell your images the way you want, by experienced magazine photo editor Kelly Kingman.
    2. 2 hours of Audio downloads of interviews with pro photography experts Susannah Conway, Charles Borst, Suzanne Sease, and Christina Villaflors.
    3. Getting Published in Photography Magazines, a 28-page practical primer on getting your photos published, by DPS pro Mitchell Kanashkevich

    Your goal might be just for some extra cash or perhaps a full-time career, either way this kit will kick start your professional career.

    For just $ 20 (normally $ 50), it’s guaranteed to pay for itself many times over!

    Just keep in mind – this deal is for 24 hours only and the price will go back up to $ 50 soon – so grab it here today.

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    The post Deal 7: Save 60% On our ‘Going Pro’ eBook by Darren Rowse appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • 25 Mouthwatering Holiday Food Photos to Wet Your Appetite

    With the holiday season upon us that also means big family gatherings and festive meals. Food photography is a great way to capture some of the festivities and color of the season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Omisoka or something else – likely it involves food.

    Enjoy this set of holiday food photos to help you get in the mood or maybe even get some menu or photo ideas or both!

    Photograph Dream House by Siggi B on 500px

    Dream House by Siggi B on 500px

    Photograph Christmas tiramisu by Darius Dzinnik on 500px Christmas tiramisu by Darius Dzinnik on 500px

    Photograph Untitled by Julia Hernandez on 500px

    Untitled by Julia Hernandez on 500px

    Photograph x mas cocktail by Peter Harasty on 500px x mas cocktail by Peter Harasty on 500px

    Photograph Hot drink with whipped cream for Christmas by Beatrix Boros on 500px

    Hot drink with whipped cream for Christmas by Beatrix Boros on 500px

    Photograph Christmas gingerbread cookies by Sergey Kumer on 500px Christmas gingerbread cookies by Sergey Kumer on 500px

    Photograph Red Velvet Christmas Pancakes by Sebrina Wareham on 500px

    Red Velvet Christmas Pancakes by Sebrina Wareham on 500px

    Photograph Christmas duck by Darius Dzinnik on 500px Christmas duck by Darius Dzinnik on 500px

    Photograph Roasted turkey with fruits by Elena Shashkina on 500px

    Roasted turkey with fruits by Elena Shashkina on 500px

    Photograph Traditional Sliced Honey Glazed Ham by Brent Hofacker on 500px Traditional Sliced Honey Glazed Ham by Brent Hofacker on 500px

    Photograph festive sandwiches by Jevgeni Proshin on 500px

    festive sandwiches by Jevgeni Proshin on 500px

    Photograph Champagne glass by Vadim Kolobanov on 500px Champagne glass by Vadim Kolobanov on 500px

    Photograph Santa Berries  by Tetyana Kovyrina on 500px

    Santa Berries by Tetyana Kovyrina on 500px

    Photograph ????????? ? ????????? ???? by Natalia Lisovskaya on 500px ????????? ? ????????? ???? by Natalia Lisovskaya on 500px

    Photograph Homemade Festive Cinnamon Eggnog by Brent Hofacker on 500px

    Homemade Festive Cinnamon Eggnog by Brent Hofacker on 500px

    Photograph Christmas traditionals by Delia Cozma on 500px Christmas traditionals by Delia Cozma on 500px

    Photograph Tangerines on a dark blue background - New Year by Anastasiya Kononenko on 500px

    Tangerines on a dark blue background – New Year by Anastasiya Kononenko on 500px

    Photograph ?????????? ?????????? by Natalia Lisovskaya on 500px ?????????? ?????????? by Natalia Lisovskaya on 500px

    Photograph Sweets for Christmas by Bettina  on 500px

    Sweets for Christmas by Bettina on 500px

    Photograph Whishes by Szabolcs Szlavik on 500px Whishes by Szabolcs Szlavik on 500px

    Photograph Jam Tarts by Aisha Yusaf on 500px

    Jam Tarts by Aisha Yusaf on 500px

    Photograph Christmas Fruits by Pete Franks on 500px Christmas Fruits by Pete Franks on 500px

    Photograph Christmas by Danilo Fisichella on 500px

    Christmas by Danilo Fisichella on 500px

    Photograph Navidad by Gary Alvarado on 500px

    Navidad by Gary Alvarado on 500px

    Stéphanie Kilgast

    By Stéphanie Kilgast

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    The post 25 Mouthwatering Holiday Food Photos to Wet Your Appetite by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • 7 Things You’ll Want to Know Before Turning Pro

    Seven Things You’ll Wish You Knew Before Turning Pro

    Babb Photo

    Do you remember your first job? Your first, proper, grown up full-time job. You probably walked in on your first day, not really having much of a clue about what was expected from you. Your manager probably sighed to themselves at the thought of moulding your young, inexperienced self into a viable member of the workforce.

    It probably took time but with some guidance, a bit of a learning curve, and probably a few mistakes along the way, you made it.

    Now replicate that situation, but imagine you don’t have a manager, or any colleges to bounce ideas off of and to ask for advice. Welcome to your first tentative steps into self employment as a full-time photographer.

    You might have been running your business alongside a day job for a while before making the leap. You might have found a support network and accountant, and you might have a good idea of your own processes and policies.

    You never know what you don’t know though, so I picked the brains of a group of full-time, professional wedding photographers to find out what they wish they’d known when starting out.

    Babb Photo 2

    1) “It doesn’t matter how good you are at taking photographs if you’re no good at marketing your business.” – www.blincpicsphotography.com

    Building a brand, working on your organic search engine reach, getting featured, focussing on word of mouth referrals, and paid advertising can all be great ways of getting your name out there. It can be a little overwhelming to know where to start though!

    dPS has some great articles on marketing techniques in its archive here.

    2) “Don’t be scared to say no. It’s okay to turn away business if it’s not a good fit for you.”  – Smashing the Glass

    We’ve all been there, especially early on in our careers. You accept any job that crosses your path, including those who just need a photographer within their budget, rather than specifically wanting YOU and appreciating your value.

    Sometimes you take jobs because they pay you money and you need money. In an ideal world, though, it’s all about creating value and making people see that value, and building your business to attract the clients you want to work with.

    Babb Photo 3

    3) “Creating a good workflow is essential. You need to establish good habits from day one.” – Tux and Tales Photo

    You might not think you need a client management system to start off with, but you do need a way of tracking your client work flow.

    You also need to establish procedures, processes, and a routine that helps you get things done. How will you know when to send out a final invoice? How will you gather feedback from customers to improve your service going forwards? How will you manage expectations? You could use PDFs that explain procedures to clients and set expectations, or you could publish information on your blog or website that explains the way you work and your timescales.

    Just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean you can let go of good structure and procedures.

    Also do your accounts weekly. Trust me.

    4) “The most unique selling point you have is you.” – Jordanna Marston

    Be true to yourself, trust your gut and don’t worry too much about what you think you should be doing. Be true to yourself and you will attract clients that connect with you.

    The most successful wedding photography businesses I know have their owner’s personality stamped all over them. They have created a brand, they create work that they believe in and that’s authentically them.

    Babb Photo 4

    5) “When photography is your passion and your business, you can end up doing it 24/7.” – My Heart Skipped

    Don’t forget to explore, discover, be curious and do other things that fill your heart with joy. That joy and creativity will feed back into your photography.

    Of course the opportunity issue can occur too and you might find that you only end up shooting when you’re working, rather than shooting for pleasure. Find a balance. Do personal work and have other interests and sources of inspiration.

    Babb Photo 5

    6) “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” – Andy Gaines

    It’s tempting to focus on editing and throwing a filter on everything to find your style, but your style will come naturally when you’re making good work.

    What makes your image is light, composition, expression and moment. Not the latest trend in post-processing.

    Babb Photo 6

    7) “Keep work and play time separate, not only for yourself, but for those you love.” – Paula Ohara

    If you learn how to fully switch off, you’ll be fully switched on when you need to be.

    Work/life balance is so important. A huge tipping point for me was when I designated a separate work space. I have an office in my house now, but there was a time that I worked from the corner of my living room. It’s really good to have that separation, so you can switch off at the end of the day.

    Keep at least one day a week free for yourself. Sunday is my day off now and I try to take it easy on a Monday, if my work load allows it. In my first year or so I routinely worked seven days per week, to keep on top of my editing and my day job commitments.

    Make balance a priority. Although I haven’t quite mastered it myself yet…

    Are you a pro, do you have any other tips you’d add to this list?

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    The post 7 Things You’ll Want to Know Before Turning Pro by Laura Babb appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Get Access to Hundreds of Photography Courses for Just 55 Cents per Day

    Todays deal is epic. It gives you access to the teaching of some of the world’s best photography educators for a whole year for just a few cents per day.

    What better way to head into 2015!

    In a nutshell today’s deal is that we’ll give you access to KelbyOne for a full year for $ 189 – $ 60 off the regular price.

    This works out to a be a full year of photography training for just 55 cents per day.

    KelbyOne was founded by best selling author, online personality and pro photographer Scott Kelby and it brings together 80 photography instructors who have put together hundreds of photography courses on all manner of topics related to photography.

    Their instructors are amazing and include people like Scott Kelby himself, Trey Ratcliff, Corey Barker, Rick Sammon, Mia Mccormick, Joe McNally and many many more.

    Screen Shot 2014 12 17 at 3 35 27 pm

    And then there are the courses! They’re arranged by categories including photography, photoshop, lightroom, design, video, business and more and cover almost any topic you can think of that relate to photography.

    I just had a look over their courses page and stopped counting when I got to 450! That’s over one course per day for the next year!

    Screen Shot 2014 12 17 at 3 37 08 pm

    Courses are targeted at photographers of all levels (there’s even a special Beginners track). They can be viewed on your computer or other devices and they even have a way to take them offline if you’re going to be on a train, plane or elsewhere without wifi.

    Not only that but you’ll get the Photoshop User Magazine and some cool discounts on gear, plug-ins, hardware and more.

    Lastly – as a special bonus for dPS readers they giving anyone who signs up today 200 creative presets and actions for Lightroom and Photoshop.

    So if you’re hoping 2015 will be a year for you to improve your photography – this is a deal for you. But don’t wait too long – it only lasts 24 hours!

    Sign up for KelbyOne here today and set yourself up for a great year of photographic learning.

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    The post Get Access to Hundreds of Photography Courses for Just 55 Cents per Day by Darren Rowse appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Why Manual Exposure is Better for Winter Wildlife Photography?

    My winter wildlife photography tours and workshops put us in locations with lots of snow on the ground, which presents a new issue for most people – how to get good exposure without continuously messing around with exposure compensation.

    You have to tell the camera to brighten your images by up to two stops of exposure to make whites white, because the meter in your camera wants everything to be a mid-tone gray.

    MBP Cranes Exposure Example

    For example, here is a photograph of one of our main subjects, the Japanese Red-Crowned Crane (above, left). It’s a predominantly white bird on a snowy white background. For a shot like this if I put the camera in Aperture Priority mode with the aperture set to f/8 for example, the camera would tell me that the shutter speed should be about 1/2000 of a second, which would result in a photo like the under-exposed dark version (above, right).

    To avoid under-exposing images like this, one thing you can do is to dial-in +2 stops of exposure compensation in Aperture Priority mode. This would result in a new shutter speed of 1/500 of a second at the same aperture, and a beautifully white image.

    There is one fundamental problem with this method though, and this is what most people fail to understand until they’ve missed enough shots for them to take my advice seriously. The moment your subject moves away from their white background, the exposure with +2 stops of exposure compensation is no longer valid.

    To prove my point during a recent tour, I switched to Aperture Priority with auto-ISO and photographed this Whooper swan on the snow with +2 stops of exposure compensation dialed in. This gave me a perfectly white bird with perfectly white snow, as we’d expect.

    MBP Hokkaido 20140221 0212

    Then, just moments later, I photographed a flock of Whooper swans flying into the same location, this time with a darker background, which fooled the camera into increasing my exposure and the result was this totally over-exposed photograph.

    MBP Hokkaido 20140221 0217

    To avoid this, when photographing wildlife in the snow, the best course of action is to lock your exposure down (using Manual) so that when the opportunity to photograph something with a darker background arises, the exposure doesn’t shift, and the subject and the snow remains perfectly exposed, as in this example.

    MBP Hokkaido 20140131 1261

    The downside of this method is that you do have to continually check your exposure, especially on a day with patchy cloud for example. Because you’ve locked down your exposure totally, you are responsible for noticing when it gets a bit brighter or darker, and updating your camera settings.

    In my experience though, although you sometimes have to tweak the exposure in post-processing, you still return home with many more usable shots, as opposed to the above example with the flock of supernova swans, which is a firm candidate for deletion.

    Settings Your Exposure for White

    To set my exposure I usually just fill the frame with snow, and adjust the settings in Manual mode, until I see the caret on the camera’s meter indicate that the exposure is now at +2 stops for overcast snow or +1 1/3 stops for brightly lit snow.

    MBP Filling the Frame with Snow 640 f8 ISO1001

    How you achieve your exposure depends on your subject. Personally, I usually start with the aperture, as that controls depth-of-field, and I want to select that based on how much of the subject or scene I want to be sharp, and how much of it I want to be nice blurry out of focus bokeh.

    Then I select the shutter speed, based on my focal length and how much I expect my subject to move. The rule of thumb for the slowest shutter speed you can use without the risk of introducing camera shake, is to use the focal length as the denominator of the fraction in your shutter speed. For example if you are shooting with a 200mm lens, the slowest shutter speed you can safely shoot hand-held is 1/200 of a second.

    Of course, image stabilization or vibration reduction in the lens can help you to go slower, but you also have to consider subject movement with wildlife. To freeze a large bird in flight you need at least 1/500 of a second, but ideally 1/1000 or higher if possible.

    These are, of course, general guidelines. You may decide to slow down the shutter speed and pan with your subject to use the blur of the wing movement artistically as in this example, but that’s the subject for another article.

    MBP Hokkaido 20130207 4320

    Once I’ve decided the aperture and shutter speed based on the subject and any artistic decisions I might make, the last setting that I usually change as I lock in on my manual exposure is the ISO. Once the caret reaches +2 on the camera’s meter scale, I make a test shot, and check the histogram.

    For a photograph of a field of snow, or a white bird on a white background, most of the data in the histogram should be almost touching the right shoulder of the histogram. This means the image data captured is almost pure white, as it should be. If the data is in the middle of the histogram, the whites will be gray. This is what the camera would do automatically without our help.

    MBP White on White Histogram

    Also remember to turn on your highlight alert or highlight warnings in your camera’s settings, commonly called “the blinkies”, as these will alert you to any areas of your image that you might be over-exposing. It’s okay to over-expose a few specular highlights, but try not to over-expose large areas of your image, especially on your main subject, or the detail in those areas will be lost, and cannot be recovered on a computer later.

    One of the other nice things about photographing birds over snow is that the light from the snow reflects up onto the underside of the birds in flight, as in this example. This means that you really don’t have to worry about where the bird is once you have locked your exposure down in Manual mode.

    MBP Hokkaido 20140221 6768

    The subject can be on white background, a dark background, or a blue sky, and your exposure will be spot on, leaving you free to concentrate on focusing and composition, instead of frantically trying to adjust your exposure compensation as the action unfolds.

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    The post Why Manual Exposure is Better for Winter Wildlife Photography? by Martin Bailey appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Easy Peasy Photoshop Actions – 71 Super Premium Actions for Only $24

    You have heard of Inky Deals which is one of the leading deals websites in the design community, with an extended family of more than 300,000 design enthusiasts. They’re the only ones who offer a 200% money back guarantee on every product. This means that if you’re not happy with it, you get your money back and you also get Continue Reading

    The post Easy Peasy Photoshop Actions – 71 Super Premium Actions for Only $ 24 appeared first on Photodoto.


    Photodoto

  • 15 Project Ideas to Spark Your Creativity

    Photography has never been as popular as it is today. People of all ages learn photography in various schools and online universities, and lots of talented photographers have a wonderful opportunity to reveal themselves not only as artists, but also as teachers.

    Alex Eylar

    By Alex Eylar

    Like all creatives, photographers can sometimes experience creative block or a lack of interesting ideas, no matter what side of the school desk they are sitting on. One way for photography mentors and teachers to fight this problem is through the use of creative assignments.

    In this article I’ve put together 15 creative project ideas to use in your photography class (if you are a teacher) or for yourself. When completed properly, a student assignment is a great teaching tool. If it’s well-designed and structured, it enables students to develop their technical skills and artistic vision, as well as improve their general thinking abilities and subject knowledge. So whether you’re a photography teacher looking for effective assignment ideas or a self-taught photography student focused on training your eye and critical vision, this roundup will surely come in handy.

    1. 365 Project

    No matter what you call it, the 365 Project or Photo a Day project, the result is the same – a photo for every day of the year. These kinds of long-term projects give you an opportunity not only to explore and learn photography, but also develop creative seeing and improve your post-production skills. 365 Projects have changed the lives of a lot of photographers, and who knows, maybe you’re next?

    Olli Henze

    By Olli Henze

    Dennis Skley

    By Dennis Skley

    2. 100 Strangers

    The 100 Strangers project enables you to interact with 100 strangers and take a photo of each of them. It can be quite scary to start shooting people in the street, or local cafe, if you’re an introvert. But being a photographer is not as easy as it may seem at first. Photography is all about overcoming your fears. This project will help you do that.

    Louisa Billeter

    By Louisa Billeter

    3. 52 Weeks

    The 52 Weeks project is similar to 365, but this time you’re supposed to come up with a new photo each week, not each day. The difference between these two projects is that you can choose a theme for every week. For instance, you may shoot particular subjects, places, or even do some photowalks. A photowalk is an awesome way to find inspiration, discover new locations, and come up with really valuable, interesting ideas in the end.

    Shutterbugamar

    By shutterbugamar

    4. Social Awareness Project

    Capturing dramatic moments that will influence the minds of their viewers is a mission that many iconic photographers are dedicated to. Spend a weekend shooting the faces on your local streets, or collaborating with a non-profit can help you develop your skills as a documentarist and photojournalist. Such photo projects are definitely not easy to work on, both emotionally and technically, but the reward of being an activist is obvious – every time you click the shutter button you create a photo that could change the world.

    Photograph World of Coal by Ouie Sanchez on 500px

    World of Coal by Ouie Sanchez on 500px

    5. Self-Portrait

    Of course, you may have taken a self-portrait many times with your smartphone. Instagram has turned self-portraits into something usual and mundane. However, self-portraits can be quite helpful in opening up, and exploring parts of photography in which you don’t normally find yourself involved. Mix it up and stay creative with your surroundings and emotions. For example, look at the work of Kyle Thompson, who has really succeeded in self-photography.

    Özgün ERDEM

    By Özgün ERDEM

    6. New Lens Type

    You may pick one lens and use it exclusively during this project. A 50mm is a good starting point, as it forces you to move around and stay selective. A fisheye lens could also make an interesting theme.

    Moreover, you may experiment with freelensing which is an inexpensive way to get a similar photo effect as from an expensive tilt-shift lens. The idea behind a tilt-shift lens is tilting the lens at an angle to the sensor to change the orientation of the plane of focus (PoF). The technique of freelensing, not only gives you the ability to change the PoF, but it also gives you some pretty cool light leaks from not having the lens actually attached to the camera.

    Nuwandalice

    By Nuwandalice

    David Hepworth

    By David Hepworth

    7. Monochrome

    Try to shoot all your photos in monochrome, or convert them to black and white in post-processing. The beauty of black and white photography is that it focuses more on visual elements such as tone, texture and shapes. By starting this project for yourself, you’ll see the objects in a different light, and rather than just color, your eyes will be better trained to recognize various forms and shapes.

    Photograph A Fistful of Kits by Peter Greig on 500px

    A Fistful of Kits by Peter Greig on 500px

    8. Panoramas

    Panoramas are one more way to develop your creative vision. Panoramas usually give the viewer a much wider viewing angle than normal. You can create some small panoramas by merging three photos in one, or go full 360 and make tiny globes like the ones in the picture below. It’s all up to you! Smartphones will be the best option for capturing panoramas.

    Johanna Herbst

    By Johanna Herbst

    Photograph Promised Land by Beno Saradzic on 500px

    Promised Land by Beno Saradzic on 500px

    Photograph The Birds and the Barn by Bruce Hood on 500px

    The Birds and the Barn by Bruce Hood on 500px

    9. Food

    In today’s world of foodie-Instagram, everyone could be a food photographer. Especially if you’re fond of cooking, then food photography is right for you. It’s a myth that you need a super-wow camera to capture food. Food photography is all about styling and beautiful background. No matter what kind of photographer you call yourself, it’s advantageous to have some food photography skills under your belt.

    Christopher Chan

    By Christopher Chan

    10. Sunset and Sunrise

    As dawn breaks and the sun comes up, you get to see the creeping rays of sunlight bathe everything in their shining glow. Such scenes are the perfect environment for memorable photos that you can’t pass up. Sunrises and sunsets happen every day. It may sound quite obvious and ordinary, but these times of the day are a golden opportunity to capture breathtaking images.

    Mike Behnken

    By Mike Behnken

    Linda O'Dell

    By Linda O’Dell

    Photograph Paradise Pier Sunset by William McIntosh on 500px

    Paradise Pier Sunset by William McIntosh on 500px

    11. Single Theme

    Pick an object and try to get a collection of snapshots representing it. For example, try to shoot only circular objects everywhere you go. Or pick a color, for instance blue, and try to go all day long photographing only blue things. The aim of this assignment is to learn to see the ordinary object in a different way.

    Photograph La bicicleta by Adrian Hernandez Binz on 500px

    La bicicleta by Adrian Hernandez Binz on 500px

    12. Phone Camera

    The main advantage of your phone camera is that it’s with you everywhere you go. Moreover, these days smartphones’ camera quality is much better than years ago and you may come up with images that look almost as good as if they were taken with an expensive DSLR. Using your phone allows you to put exposure on the back burner, and lets you focus more on composition instead. You may also use various photo-editing apps to add various photo effects.

    Takeshi Garcia

    By Takeshi Garcia

    13. Urban Exploration

    Urban exploration photography is the art of finding abandoned places, houses, locations; explore them and shoot in a unique way. It’s potentially dangerous, exciting, and a lot of fun. In order not to get scared, you should take your friends with you. Even if they’re not interested in photography, exploring abandoned places is really breathtaking.

    Editor’s note: always follow the laws when doing urban exploration. Do not enter where prohibited and always stay safe. Abondoned buildings can be dangerous or illegal to enter. Be careful.

    Michal  Jan?ek

    By Michal Jan?ek

    14. Perspectives

    Shoot a whole set of images from one perspective, such as from a child’s the point of view. Or try to capture all photos from up high. We are used to seeing the majority of shots at eye level, why not to try something different? It’s a great way to learn how to deviate from the normal.

    Photograph Fishing by Minhajul Haque on 500px

    Fishing by Minhajul Haque on 500px

    Ken Owen

    By Ken Owen

    15. Film Photography

    Film photography is something every photographer should practice for a few reasons. First of all, unlike digital photography, you don’t get to see the image you took for a while. It may seem annoying, but you’ll get used to it. Second of all, you will begin to think more carefully before pressing the shutter button. While shooting digital photography, you may take 10 photos of the same thing to choose the best shot in the end. But with film photography you will not have that chance.

    Gioia De Antoniis

    By Gioia De Antoniis

    Bonus Assignment

    Once you accomplish your creative assignment, create a dedicated photography portfolio (Defrozo and Koken provide website building tools for free) or write a guest post for some photography blog to describe your journey and share your experience with fellow enthusiasts. Developing your marketing and blogging skills increases the likelihood of building a prospering and successful photography business.

    Resources for Inspiration

    The web has so many opportunities to get fresh ideas for your next photography project. I’d like to share some resources you may get inspiration from.

    TED talks

    Ted is aimed to amplify the ideas of students and teachers from all over the globe. Their mission is to spread great ideas and inspire students of any specialization. You may browse 1800+ TED talks on photography available on their site to spark your curiosity.

    OKDOTHIS App

    This smartphone app was made by a celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart. OKDOTHIS is a photography community that inspires people to do more. It’s based on DOs which are creative tasks made by other members of the community. You may upload a photo in someone’s DO or create your own one. The app has also a built-in photo editor.

    Behance

    Behance is a leading online platform to showcase and discover creative work. All the creatives starting from web designers to photographers share their best artwork here. You may browse the Behance gallery in Photography to find new projects from other photographers.

    Weekly Assignments in the dPS Forum

    Check out the weekly assignments in the dPS forum for more inspiration. DPS nominates a topic for each week. It could be a lot of fun and a great way to improve your photography skills in various areas.

    Make it Happen

    What homework do you prefer to give to your students? What assignments appeal to you most? What project interests you and gets you thinking creatively? Share your experience and suggestions in the comments.

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    The post 15 Project Ideas to Spark Your Creativity by Nancy Young appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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  • Using Rain Puddles to Create Unique Reflection Photos

    6

    Implementing water into a shoot ratchets up the drama in the images but also the difficulty in the execution. I equate the learning curve of lighting water to learning how to light metal objects and other reflective surfaces. It’s not a quick learn, so be patient with yourself.

    Rain puddles are awesome. I bet you never thought to run out after it rained to hunt for decent puddles. But as you can see in the image below, that’s exactly what I was working with. Since the product I was shooting was a cologne bottle, which is rather small, the puddle didn’t need to be very wide or long. If I was shooting something larger, like a person, I would need a much larger puddle to pull off this technique of making reflection photos.

    1

    The setup: I was working with a rain puddle in a parking lot, on a patch of blacktop. I added a grid to my flash to keep light from spilling onto the foreground.

    The first thing I was looking for was a puddle on a patch of blacktop, or dark asphalt. Typical asphalt or concrete is much lighter in color, and you need something darker to really make this work. The next thing to keep in mind is the height of the flash. Notice I placed it on the same level as the product – on the ground. If I were to light it from a higher angle instead, the light would illuminate too much of the ground around the product, resulting in a less than dramatic image. I also added a honeycomb grid to the flash to further contain the light spill.

    Since the day I photographed this was particularly drab and dark, I had no problem dialing down the ambient with a moderate exposure. With a flash output of ¼ power I had all but eliminated the ambient light, leaving me with an exposure of 1/60 at f/7.1. On a brighter day, I’d likely need a neutral density filter to get rid of the extra ambient light.

    Though the ambient has been lowered to an almost night-time quality, there are still some reflections of the sky and trees visible in the puddle. The lower shutter speed allowed these tones and shapes to remain. Though the puddle was not especially wide or deep, it sufficed in allowing me to achieve the glassy surface that I was going for, see below.

    2

    The final shot: This rain puddle, shot on a drab, gray, day has been transformed into a dramatic, glassy surface.

    If the sky had been clear, rather than dark gray, the surface of the puddle would have been a nice, vibrant blue, as seen below. In this shot you can see that while the blue tone is nice, the illuminated foreground is pretty distracting, not to mention the dozens of small rocks. This was because the light was elevated, lighting the concrete in front of the shoes as well, which is why it’s important to lower your lights, so that they’re parallel to the ground.

    3

    When the sky is clear, the surface of the puddle changes to a lovely blue color. However, be sure not to light from above, because as seen in this image, the illuminated concrete makes for a distracting foreground.

    4

    The setup: A puddle, this time a large one, is the setting for this portrait. The shoot took place right after the sun dropped below the skyline.

    In this next image I was using a rather wide puddle, which was large enough to allow me to isolate my subject, Max. Once again, to minimize light spill, I set my light at the same level as the subject, rather than above, as well as used a grid. The puddle reads really well, though the reflection shows a bit of the building in the background. After I finished color grading the image in Lightroom, I opened up the file in Photoshop to remove the building.

    To do this, select the trouble area and simply hit the delete key. As long as you are using Adobe Photoshop CS6 or CC, you’ll see the option to use Content Aware Fill (see below). It will typically do a decent job at filling in the selection, but minor cleanup is often needed. I used the Spot Healing Brush tool to clean up any remaining trouble areas.

    5

    I quickly removed the building reflection by using the Content Aware Fill option in Photoshop CC.

    6

    The final shot: After removing the building reflection, the water surface looked seamless.

    Have you got any other tips for creating reflection photos? Please share them and/or your images in the comments below.

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    The post Using Rain Puddles to Create Unique Reflection Photos by Nick Fancher appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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  • Deal 5: Your Guide to Natural Light Photography for $7 (65% off)

    On the 5th day of Christmas dPS gave to me… another amazing $ 7 eBook and bundle option!

    Yesterday saw our servers pushed to their limit with a $ 7 USD eBook deal so today we’ve decided to roll our best selling eBooks of all time at that sweet price of… $ 7.

    That eBook is…

    Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool by renowned travel photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich.

    NewImage

    Natural Light is one of the best guides on the market written specifically with beginner to intermediate photographers in mind. Written in easy to understand language, this eBook will certainly help you improve the quality of your photographs… using nature’s free gift to photographers – sunlight!

    Today it is yours for just $ 7 – 65% off!

    Bundle Mitchell’s 3 Ebooks for $ 19

    Want more? Mitchell has written 3 great eBooks for dPS so today if you’d like to explore his full library you can pick up them all for just $ 19 USD.

    Mitchell bundle

    The bundle includes:

    1. Natural Light: Mastering a Photographers Most Powerful Tool
    2. Transcending Travel: a Guide to Captivating Travel Photography
    3. Captivating Color: A Guide to Dramatic Color Photography
    4. Mitchell’s eBooks are perfect for the beginner just starting out or a more intermediate photographer looking for a refresher. They are beautifully illustrated and full of great practical advice.

      As with all of our eBooks they come with a 60 day money back satisfaction guarantee.

      These 3 eBooks have a RRP of $ 60 but today they’re available for $ 19 (68% off).

      As with all our deals – this one lasts just 24 hours. Grab this one here today.

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    The post Deal 5: Your Guide to Natural Light Photography for $ 7 (65% off) by Darren Rowse appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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