The 6th Annual iPhone Photography Awards has announced its winners, celebrating smartphone images across 16 categories of mobile photography. The top three winners of the Photographer of the Year category each received an iPad Mini while the top entry from each category won a gold bar. We take a look at the award winners on connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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[Today’s guide comes from awesome photographer and Photojojo pal, Helena Price!]
Being a photographer is regarded as one of the coolest jobs on the planet.
That said, there’s a lot that goes into running a successful photography biz. Making good photos is just the beginning.
This year, I made the jump from my office job to becoming a full-time freelance photo-taker, and I’ve been lucky enough to do some really fun photo work for brands that I love (including Photojojo!).
These jobs don’t just fall into your lap. There’s an endless amount of helpful tools and resources out there for freelance photographers – you’ve just gotta go out there and find them.
After spending hours digging through the interwebs, asking freelance friends and compiling everything I’ve learned, I’ve put together this great beginners’ list of things to read/use/do if you’re making the jump into freelance photography.
Great Tips & Tools for Freelance Photogs
p.s. WE ARE HIRING AN EVANGELIST/BIZ DEV HERO. Creative deal-maker types, APPLY HERE.
Virb: Virb is by far the easiest way to build a beeeeautiful portfolio website for your photography. They have tons of sleek, pre-designed website themes to choose from (my favorites are York, Grace and Copenhagen)—just add your photos, and voila! Your portfolio is ready.
Squarespace: Like Virb, Squarespace has everything you need to build a fresh new fully-customizable website with your name on it. Check out the themes on both and see what’s your favorite!
Tumblr: Want to set up a photoblog in just minutes? Tumblr’s got you covered. These days, Tumblr has plenty of themes that have the look and feel of a photography website, like this one by Pixel Union. Best yet, Tumblr is full of tons of photography blogs to get inspired by! For starters, check out their photographers directory.
A Photo Editor: Founded by Rob Haggart, the former Director of Photography for Men’s Journal and Outside Magazine, this blog is chock-full of inspiration, interviews, and practical advice that you can apply to your budding career.
Freelance Switch: A blog by freelancers, for freelancers. A couple of good articles to start with include 30 Inherently Useful Tools for Freelancers and 25+ Resources for Starting a Freelance Photography Business
Creative Boom: Creative Boom is a UK-based blog for freelance creatives. In their “Tips” section, blog founder Katy shares her top tips for creative freelancers, startups, graduates, artists and small businesses. Topics range from “How to win your first freelance gig” to “How to get tough with problem clients.” Go soak in her knowledge!
OneReceipt: This handy tool lets you store and organize all of your receipts, both paper and digital, so you can track and manage all of your freelance expenses.
Harvest: Harvest helps you you track all of the time you put into your freelance work, which is super important when it’s time to invoice folks for payment. Time is money!
Google Drive: Never send a Word document again! Google Docs lets you build docs, spreadsheets and more right in your Internet browser. You can send them as attachments or simply store them in the cloud as long as you need them.
Freshbooks: Freshbooks is another great tool for time tracking, billing, and keeping track of everything related to your photo biz. You can take a free trial for 30 days to test it out for yourself!
Preview: This app is great for reading PDFs—but did you know that it’s the BEST for signing documents too? All you have to do is write your signature on a piece of paper, Preview will let you scan it in using your webcam, and voila! You’ll be signing and sending documents in no time.
Preview: This app is great for reading PDFs—but did you know that it’s the BEST for signing documents too? All you have to do is write your signature on a piece of paper, Preview will let you scan it in using your webcam, and voila! You’ll be signing and sending documents in no time.
Freelancers Union: The Freelancers Union is the best option for health insurance for freelancers. In addition, they have a Freelancers Yellow Pages where you can list your services, as well as a supportive community you can learn from.
Munawar Ahmed’s Blog: For those really getting into the nitty gritty of setting up your business, taxes, insurance and more, Munawar has tons of advice and knowledge to share. One click on his blog and you’ll realize this guy KNOWS his taxes!
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Scenario: A ladybug turns your shoulder into its new resting spot. What do you do?
Some might say Make a wish. Teresa Franco? She’d say Take a photo.
Snapping a photo of something so tiny can be a challenge. Do not let your camera phone deceive.
You can use your phone to get great macro shots of the tiniest objects, from crystal-ball-esque dew drops on a leaf to a caterpillar snacking on a blade of grass.
Teresa Franco is living proof. Have you seen her macros? They’re the best of the best on Instagram!
We asked her how she does it, and she shared all her favorite phone lenses, apps, and tips for getting fantastic photos of nature’s tiniest details.
So the next time a bug takes a liking to your shoulder, you’ll be set.
Phoneography Tips with Teresa Franco
p.s. WE ARE HIRING A WEB DEVELOPER. If you love photography and San Francisco and codes, APPLY HERE.
p.p.s. WE ARE ALSO HIRING AN EVANGELIST/BIZ DEV HERO. Creative deal-maker types, APPLY HERE.
Teresa first caught our eye with her undeniably legit macro skills.
Once we realized she wasn’t using a DSLR or a 3-piece lighting setup — that was when we were really impressed.
Teresa’s a nursing student who happened upon her awesome talent for macro while perusing Instagram one day.
That’s when she discovered the Olloclip, a three-in-one phone lens that lets you shoot fisheye, wide-angle, and macro photos on your phone.
When she’s not studying up on medical stuffs, she’s chasing grasshoppers and fungi to get the best macro photos ever.
Its small size and light weight makes it very easy to maneuver around tight spaces like under a tiny mushroom or between blades of grass.
It also allows me to free up one hand to use to stabilize a flower or a branch when it’s windy.
My go to camera app is Camera Awesome (for iOS).
It has a “Fast Burst” option that comes in very handy when I’m taking photos of flying/jumping/crawling bugs. I also love that you can lock in the focus. I use both of these features all the time.
The biggest problem I have with macro photography is lighting. So when I edit my photos, I usually just increase the “brightness” in Snapseed (works for both Android & iOS).
I also like VSCO CAM (iOS) and Vintique filters (iOS). I try not to edit my photos too much because I lose a lot of important details.
Before, I used to follow a bug and blast the camera button like crazy and just hope that one of the hundreds of photos that I took will come out decent.
Now, I’m more patient and can usually anticipate their next move. I’m proud to say that I can take 1-3 photos of a bug and walk/run away very happy.
I love sharing photos of the little things in nature that people don’t usually pay attention to. Photographers tend to go for the most colorful flower.
I want to show people that beauty can be found in the most mundane. My favorite subjects:
Don’t be discouraged if your first few photos come out blurry.
Everything in life takes practice.
If you want to take photos of flying/crawling/hopping bugs, experiment with different camera apps that have fast shutter speeds.
Have patience. A lot of it! I promise it will yield rewarding results.
I would suggest to try as much possible to keep the tones of your photos consistent.
It makes for a pretty and attractive gallery. If you like using filters, use photo editing apps such as “Vintique” that let you adjust the settings of each filter — that way you can still make a style of “your own” even when you’re using pre-set filters.
If I want to take photos of mushrooms, usually go to the park early in the morning before sunrise.
I also love going to local nurseries because they have a wide variety of flowers, plants, and trees on display.
The best thing about living in California is that there is green EVERYWHERE you go, all year round. If you’re ever in San Diego and you see a girl with an iPhone out in public on her elbows and knees, it’s probably me.
I look at photos of my favorite photographers — Instagram, Flickr, online portfolios, photography books.
I also love watching sci-fi and japanese animation. Hayao Miyazaki is definitely the inspiration behind my whimsical photographs of moss forests and toadstools.
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While improvements in camera phone technology have more of us relying on ‘the camera that’s always with you’ than ever before, we’re printing our photographs less and less. If you have fond memories of pasting your memories into photo albums, don’t despair – a growing crop of apps now make it easy to send your photos from phone to frame using online printing services. In this article, we’ve gathered eight of the top apps for printing your photos, and examined the results. Click through to read our findings on connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
It doesn’t seem that long ago since we had to go down to the local photo shop to extract all our snaps… and then back again to pick them up. Back then you would have the option of 24 hours standard or one hour express photo processing times. These days, things have changed quite drastically, and waiting for photographs to Continue Reading
The post Photo Printer Reviews: 10 Best Photo Printers of 2013 appeared first on Photodoto.
You may have heard the term “Nifty Fifty“ before. If you haven’t, it is usually a reference to the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. But for the purpose of this article I’m going to use it synonymously with any prime 50mm lens.
I get asked all the time by my students about what lens they should buy next after the basic kit lens that came with the camera. I almost always recommend picking up a simple 50mm prime lens. Let’s look at some reasons . . .
Shot at ISO 1600, 1/50th a f1.8. Without the 1.8 aperture I would have needed a much slower shutter speed or even higher ISO.
Fun bokeh at a wedding using ambient light. Almost impossible to get this shot without the big aperture.
Like I tell most of my students, I highly recommend you have a 50mm lens in your bag. If you can afford a fancier one go for the f1.4 or even the f1.2. However they do come with much bigger price tags, and are a lot heavier. So keep that mind if you go shopping for a 50.
Here’s some of these 50mm lenses listed on Amazon:
Then think outside the zoom lens box and see what other prime lenses might be perfect for the kind of photography you do. I love my 85mm f1.8 as well, it’s great for portraits (I use a full frame camera so will be similar to the 50 on a cropped sensor). If you like macro work perhaps a 60mm macro or 100mm will do the trick for you. Either can also double as a nice portrait lens. Take on my 10 challenges if you dare!
Lastly – show me your Nifty Fifty photos! Share some images you’ve done with your little 50mm lens. Let’s see what it can do!
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Why a 50mm Lens is your new Best Friend
Photographer Finn Beales primarily uses his Canon EOS 5D Mark III when shooting for major brands as well as media outlets, but he also uses his smartphone to capture poignant moments like this image of his son floating in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, which recently won the children’s category in the annual Mobile Photography Awards. Learn more about Beales’ work on connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Following the recent release of Photosynth for Windows Phone 8, Microsoft held a contest to find the 10 best Photosynth images. Now that the feature is compatible with latest generation devices such as the Nokia Lumia 920, HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ Odyssey, we should be seeing more and more stunning 360-degree panoramas created with the software. Check out some of the top Photosynths selected at connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
If you strive for postcard-perfect images to document your travels, Picfari may pique your interest. Available via a website or as a free iOS app for mobile devices, Picfari offers photo maps of various tourist attractions around the world with easy access to EXIF data to help inform your take on the perfect shot of the landmarks. Users can pick from a curated Picfari photo tour featuring geotagged Flickr photos, or build their own tour using Picfari’s library of images along with their own uploaded photos. Read more about the app at connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Discover more incredible sessions, interviews, exclusive features and music news at thelineofbestfit.com For new sessions every Monday, subscribe to our YouTube channel http Follow us on Facebook facebook.com and twitter www.twitter.com BEST FIT SESSIONS are brought to you by the people behind new music discovery website THE LINE OF BEST FIT. This session was made by Paul Bridgewater and Stacey Liu.
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