Portrait Photography Tips: How to Pose the Arms (And What Not to Do)

Avoid awkwardly placed hands and arms in your shots with these quick portrait photography tips.

Among the things both portrait photographers and models commonly overlook when they’re starting out is the placement of the arms in poses. Can you just place them on the sides? Should the model place a hand behind their head? Or both hands? How about one hand touching their hair or twirling it in their fingers a bit? Should the arms be bent? There are actually many ways you can work with the hands and arms to avoid awkwardly posed portraits. We’ve put together a bunch of tips if this is something you’re yet to master.

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Video Tutorial: You’re Adding Too Much Clarity. Try This for Sharper Photos

The secret to sharper photos is deeper blacks which make the rest of the scene pop.

When you’re editing a photo, you’ll most likely boost the clarity or the sharpness of the image to make it more appealing. But there’s another trick you may not be aware of. When you edit the black levels of a photo the rest of the scene pops out more. It’s a simple psychology trick that can make someone think the image they’re looking at is much sharper than it really is. Best of all, no one needs to pixel peep your photo. If you’ve got a few minutes, check out our latest tutorial from our YouTube Channel embedded below.

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We Removed the Fear of Moving from Lightroom to Capture One 20

You don’t have to be scared of a better editing software now: here’s how you can move from Lightroom to Capture One 20.

Moving away from Lightroom and coming to Capture One 20 was one of the best mental health decisions I’ve made for my career. I know Lightroom has improved, and I’ll acknowledge that Adobe is paying closer attention to photographers, but still I think Capture One 20 is the better software choice for several reasons. We’ve had photographers ask us about how to move over from Lightroom to Capture One 20, and we’ve got a tutorial below.

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Why the 24mm Lens Is Great for Creative Self Portraits

Just because you’re used to shooting landscapes and architecture with your 24mm lens doesn’t mean you can’t use it for shooting at home!

So, you’re stuck at home and you have limited options when it comes to taking photos. If you’re thinking about joining the myriad of photographers who decided to do self portraits in the meantime, you might want to pay special attention to your 24mm lens. We’ve been recommending the 24mm lens for portrait photography, so we see no reason why you can’t whip it out for creative self portraits as well!

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Great Examples of Negative Space in Black and White Photography

In itself, black and white photography is already minimalist, but you can make it even more effective with great use of negative space.

When we speak of minimalist photography, shooting in black and white is often one of the first techniques that come to mind. Without the distraction of colors, a scene is reduced to the interaction between light and shadows and how they make eye-catching contrast, often useful for both creative photography and visual storytelling. But, to make your black and white photography even more effective as minimalist images, simplifying your composition with a good grasp of negative space is necessary. This is where today’s featured video tutorial comes in handy.

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Did You Know That You Can Adjust Tamron’s Lens Image Stabilization?

This quick video will show you how you can get more out of your Tamron lenses’ image stabilization.

Like a lot of modern lenses these days, Tamron lenses are no strangers to built-in image stabilization (or Vibration Compensation, as Tamron calls it). Thanks to modern technology, we can now alter how our lenses work thanks to customizable firmware that the lenses are programmed with. If you have always wished you could change the way the image stabilization works on your Tamron lens, you’re in luck. The short video after the break will show how to set up your lens to suit your type of shooting.

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Using Curves on Lightroom to Get the Vintage Film Look

Add the popular vintage film look to your arsenal of Lightroom editing skills with this quick Curves tutorial.

The so-called film look or vintage aesthetic remains a popular visual style among photographers, whether they get it through shooting film or experiment with digital filters and presets. Nothing does it better than shooting with actual film cameras, but if you’re a digital shooter it’s still a look you can achieve. If you’re using Adobe Lightroom to edit your photos and want to know how you can use it to get the film look, here’s a quick tutorial that will cover working with Curves.

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10 Photography Activities for Staying Productive in Quarantine

You shouldn’t stop being productive as a photographer despite being in quarantine due to COVID-19.

While we’re certainly living in unsettling times: forced to cancel events, and observe quarantine measures and social distancing due to COVID-19, there are many things we can do to stay creative and productive. Our fellow photographers are coming up with tips and suggestions on how to keep our skills sharp even with the limitations that come with being stuck at home. JT of Run N Gun, who suggests we think of this situation as a gift of free time, recently shared his quick video and blog post about 10 things you can do to keep boredom at bay while holding out.

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Using Telephoto Zoom Lenses for Better Landscape Photography

Telephoto Zooms can completely change the way you look at landscapes and they can create much more intimate images.

When we think of landscape photography and the gear we need to use, we almost always feel that we need to use wide-angle lenses so that we can capture sweeping hills, huge mountain ranges, and stunning vistas. But sometimes there can be so much going on in an image that it can be hard to take in. What if I told you that you can break away from the norms and that you can create much more intimate landscape images by using telephoto zooms? Sounds crazy, right? Trust me; it’s not. Join us after the break and see why you should bring along that 70-200mm (or longer) lens of yours when you go out on your next landscape photography trip.

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Learn How to Edit Portraits Like a Pro in Capture One 20 with This Guide

If you have wondered how the pros edit their portrait images in Capture One 20, you’ll want to see this video guide from Michael Comeau.

Capture One 20 is a seriously powerful, yet sometimes overwhelming piece of photo editing software. Once you come to grips with it, you will never go back to using anything else. If you’re a portrait photographer, have switched to Capture One 20, and are in the process of figuring this piece of software out, you may want to check out Michael Comeau’s latest video where he edits five of his portrait images right before your eyes. Jump past the break for the video and more.

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7 Reasons Why Photographers Still Need a Speedlight Today

If you’re still missing a speedlight in your camera bag, this quick video gives a rundown of reasons why you should go ahead and grab one soonest.

Adequate lighting is crucial to achieving properly exposed shots, and sometimes, you’ll need the help of additional light sources if the scene isn’t bright enough. The speedlight or “flash gun” makes a portable and useful option for this. It can be fired either on the hotshoe of your camera or wirelessly on a cold shoe. If you’re wondering why a speedlight deserves a space in your camera bag given the increasingly improving low-light capabilities of cameras today, this quick video has seven reasons for you.

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Camera Manufacturers Disagree on How to Disinfect Your Cameras

With Coronavirus fears and photographers needing to possibly handoff cameras on shoots to assistants, we asked Camera manufacturers about how to keep your camera clean. 

“(I’d) imagine that other manufacturers haven’t considered use of disinfectants on photographic equipment,” says Mark Weir, Senior Manager of Technology at Sony. When I emailed the camera manufacturers about this story, I wasn’t expecting conflicting answers. Yet, as I wrote this article, it became a bit confusing. In some ways, manufacturers are saying the same things. But in other ways, one has to remember that camera manufacturers use different materials and finishes on their cameras. To that end, we got different dialogues. Amidst Coronavirus fears, we talked to manufacturers, a former Doctor, and an Insurance provider for freelancers about what to do.

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7 Black and White Photography Tips to Really Improve Your Work

Take your black and white photography a notch higher with the help of Street Photography International co-founder, Alan Schaller.

Think you could use some tips to take your black and white photography to the next level? We’ve already shared loads of tips and tricks for photographers of all levels, but since we’re always looking for insights from experts then and now, here’s another set from another real pro. In a recent video by COOPH, London-based street photographer Alan Schaller, the co-founder of Street Photography International who also shoots exclusively in black and white, gives seven helpful tips and insights on getting better at the craft.

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The Honest Answer: Do You Need an F2.8 or an F4 Zoom Lens?

Whether a photographer needs a f2.8 or f4 lens is something that’s very confusing for most folks.

Could you honestly answer whether or not you’re a better fit for an f2.8 or an f4 zoom lens? It’s a valid question; lots of photographers I’ve spoken to in the past months have been content with an f4 zoom lens when I would have thought they needed an f2.8 zoom instead. Which is better? That’s a complicated question to answer. Which do you need? That’s something we’re going to dive into below.

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What Makes Correctly Toned Black and White Photos for Prints

If you’re looking to create inkjet prints of your black and white photos, these tips will help you get great, correctly toned results. 

When it comes to printing black and white photos using inkjet printers, there are a few things to keep in mind to make sure you get great results. In a quick introduction to printing black and white, lynda.com author Ben Long shares some tips on what makes a good black and white print before you even get started with printing your photos out, and some key technical considerations with your equipment.

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Portrait Photography Tutorial: This One Tool Gets You Perfect Skin Tones

How do you get perfect skin tones when working with tough white balances?

Fact: most photographers shoot in auto-white balance and deal with the problems of skin tones and color later on. But, it can be pretty tricky at times, so today, we’re showing how to get better skin tones and master perfect white balance at the same time. The result will be great colors in every portrait you shoot. No matter what lighting situation you’re in, you’ll find that you can use this trick to get the most pop in your photos every single time. Now, this Portrait Photography Tutorial can apply across a broad range of photo editing software, but we’re doing it in Capture One 20. It’s no secret that Capture One 20 does the best job when editing RAW files. So, let’s dive in.

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Learn How to Fully Weather Seal Your Fujifilm X100V with This Quick Vid

For whatever reason, *cough*profits*cough* Fujifilm left it up to the end-user to fully weather seal their Fujifilm X100V.

The X100V is a camera many have been waiting for and one of the most exciting cameras of 2020. The Fujifilm X100V boasts a new (to this line) sensor, an updated lens, and it is 98% percent weather-sealed (which is better than the zero weather sealing the X100F had). Still, it boggles the mind why Fujifilm couldn’t finish the weather sealing job. Fortunately, the Fuji Guys have put together a very short video that shows you how you can fully weather seal your Fujifilm X100V. We have it for you after the break.

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3 Reasons Why Sonder Creative Couldn’t Switch From Sony to the X-T3

x-t3

The Fujifilm X-T3 is a solid camera, but it’s certainly not for everyone.

We seem to see videos like this one from Sonder Creative quite often these days. It can be interesting to hear why individuals feel like they couldn’t make the jump to a new platform, and in this case, Usman from Sonder Creative explains why the Fujifilm X-T3 and the Fujifilm platform in general just doesn’t have what it takes to pull him away from Sony and the a7r III that he is using. Join us after the break to find out what his three reasons are.

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Film Photography Tutorial: Creating Stunning Galaxy Double Exposures

Whether you’re looking for something experimental to do on film or simply want to give your snaps the stellar treatment, this galaxy double exposures trick is worth a try!

Film photography is especially known for encouraging all sorts of creative experimentation, which eventually popularized techniques like double exposures during the digital age. The often cool results and happy accidents are among the things that encourage today’s generation to shoot film. If you’re yet to try double exposures on film or want to do something different with it, we’re sure this quick galaxy double exposures tutorial by United Kingdom-based Kate Hook is right up your alley.

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No, Vegans, Film Photography Is Not Vegan Friendly

The stereotype of someone being a vegan and a film/analog photographer is very counterintuitive.

Unfortunately for many analog shooters, there is still a stigma against us who shoot film. Because we like old school things and we like the actual connection with our subject while not worrying about all the digital things, we are often also associated with vegans. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe they just think it’s part of the culture. But the truth is film photography isn’t vegan-friendly. In fact, it’s pretty far from it.

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Daniel Norton Explains How to Balance Camera Settings for Perfect Pics

Camera Settings

To get the perfect exposure, you must have a basic understanding of how to balance your camera settings; this video will show you how to do just that.

Why did you use those particular settings for your shot? It’s a question we get asked a lot, and if you haven’t experienced being asked that question yet, it’s just a matter of when. Daniel Norton gets asked this question often, so he decided to make a very short educational video that explains how to balance your camera settings for the perfect shot every time. We have the video for you after the jump, so be sure to join us there.

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