Top 10 design trends

Top Visual Design Trends for 2014

Intermediate Lighting for Portraiture

Join Joey Quintero from Impact Studio Lighting for this in depth class that demonstrates how to light the classic headshot, beauty shot, and the particulars of shooting a fashion catalogue.

Why you should take photos in RAW Read

An easy-to-understand infographic to why you should take your photos in raw

Why are Negative destructive actions so bad?

When you apply, for example, white balance to an image in-camera, you do it to the exclusion of other white balances: Once it is applied, all the data that wasn't used to apply that particular white balance is discarded before it is ever written to a file. All the 'destructive' actions are like that, discarding image data every step of the way. Once a destructive action is completed, you cannot undo the actions.

If you do try to correct them (say, your camera wrote an image with a color cast to the memory card), you will incur even further data loss when you attempt to fix the problem.

Think of 'negative destructive' actions as one-way streets: Once you've gone down it, there's no going back.

How is editing in RAW different?

When you are editing RAW files, you never 'lose' the original data, and it is possible to change your white balance, sharpness, saturation, etc after the fact. If you change your mind, the original data is still there, and you can do so without degrading your image.

To coninue the analogy of above: Non-destructive editing on RAW files is more like a two-way street. If you get half-way down the road and discover that it takes you in the wrong direction, you can spin your car around, go back, and try another path.

If you're still not quite convinced, this article on froknowsphoto.com has some excellent side-by-side comparisons of post production flexibility on editing JPEG vs RAW files. 

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Posing App: A Handy photographer's reference for portrait poses

If you ever run out of ideas, get stuck in creativity or simply need some guidance when photographing people, you can use Posing App as a “posing cheat sheet”. Many pro photographers use such a technique when preparing for and during the photo shoot. During a photo shoot don’t hesitate to discuss with your subjects which pose is or isn’t working in any particular situation. It’s very productive and you will feel more confident in what you are doing.

Merged in the practical mobile app format, all of the included poses in Posing App come with easy to understand descriptions and expressive hand drawn illustrations. In contrast to using real photos as samples, illustrations are only body outlines, so it’s very simple for a model to understand and recreate the pose. Illustrations aren’t in any way restrictive either, the model can be creative and come up with different variants on her own. Initial pose works simply as guidance for something to start with.

A variety of posing categories are available in Posing App: Children, Couples, Women, Men, Groups and Weddings. A total 244 poses are included offering a wide choice in any modeling scenario. A special Glamour section is available as in-app purchase including additional 56 carefully selected glamour poses for female models. While browsing the poses, use the “Add to favorites” feature for fast access during a photo shoot.

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Portrait photography cropping guide

Portrait photography cropping guide

Portrait photography is challenging for a whole host of reasons. Getting your portrait right in-camera is only half the battle. Knowing how to edit your portraits can be quite difficult when it comes to cropping a photo. Cropping in an awkward position on your subject can end up ruining a perfectly good shot.

 ‘Yes’ areas are marked in green, while ‘bad’ locations are marked in red.