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How to use flash if you don’t like photos to look flashy

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If I lay my cards on the table, in my personal and professional work I prefer to avoid the use of flash in favour of natural light. In an ideal world, I like nothing better than working with a fleeting beam of winter sunlight that glances across a face full of character, producing the type of photograph that would typically grace the cover of National Geographic.

The trouble is, as a busy corporate photographer, it’s much more likely I have to take a series of senior executive portraits from a basement office, generously artificially lit with horrible overhead fluorescent tubes, working to shoot directors who can spare about three minutes of their time and are itching to be off back to work.

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Is photography going cameraless? Shutterstock buys CG market Turbosquid for $75,000,000

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It’s been said for years that CG is coming to take away jobs from photographers and in some respects, that may be true. We know that companies like Ikea use almost exclusively CG imagery in their catalogues now instead of actual photographs of the products. But this is nothing new. Back in 2014, 75% of their “photography” was CG.

With many photographers around the world unable to work in 2020, though, CG imagery has seen a fairly solid uptick, which would probably go a large way to explaining why stock photography company, Shutterstock has purchased Turbosquid, the world’s largest 3D model marketplace, for a whopping $75,000,000.

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Ruling: National Park Service can’t ask for commercial filming fees/permits

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Filmmakers, rejoice: thanks to a court case from 2019, you may no longer need to get a permit and pay fees for commercial shoots in national parks. D.C. federal judge has just made the decision, ruling that it’s unconstitutional for the National Park Service to require a permit and charge you with fees.

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These are four things photographers should really stop caring about

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If you care about your work and clients, it’s normal that you care about many things related to your job. Obsess about them, even. But still, there are some things you shouldn’t really care about. In this video, Scott Choucino gives you four things you should stop caring about because your clients don’t either.

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Estée Lauder to do a $128,000 shoot onboard the International Space Station

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Last year, NASA announced that it would open the International Space Station (ISS) for tourists. Estée Lauder decided to hop on board with one of its products. The cosmetics company is sending ten bottles of its skin serum to space for a photo shoot, and it’s reportedly paying NASA $128,000 for this unusual advertising campaign.

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What commercial photo set looks like in the COVID-19 era

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Has COVID-19 impacted the look of advertising campaigns?

Maybe – but probably not by as much as you might think. What is impacted, however, is the way that a commercial photography set operates for the foreseeable future.

As an advertising photographer, you are responsible for everything that happens on set while shooting a campaign. This can range from not just the lighting scheme, but the choice of using craft services versus having a chef on set, choosing the appropriate camera and related equipment, and most importantly the safety of everyone present. This isn’t to say that there are not safety officers on set, or form specific trainers when we photograph professional athletes, but that the buck always stops at the photographer. For those that do commercial photography, we know that there are never ending insurance certificate pulls happening just to step foot on set. But how do we create when it comes to an unseen virus, and what will those campaigns look like?

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Here are the new proposed fees for commercial shoots on federal land

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Commercial filmmakers, videographers, and photographers usually need to pay a fee if they want to shoot on every federal land. Right now, however, the fees aren’t consistent across these lands. Therefore, federal land management agencies are currently in the process of standardizing them and making them mandatory and consistent everywhere.

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Being a hand model takes a lot more dedication (and lotion) than you might think

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As photographers or filmmakers, many of us have or will work with models at some point, perhaps even regularly. Typically, however, it’s about the whole package. We’re not usually focusing on just one part of them. Well, not unless you’re shooting products and need the services of a hand model. A hand model like RayMartell Moore.

This eight and a half minute video from Insider offers a fascinating insight into the world of hand modelling. RayMartell is uniquely qualified to talk about this topic as he’s been doing it for a decade now and his services can command as much as $4,000 per job.

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These are six main differences between editorial and commercial photography

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There are plenty of genres and types of photography and assignments. Commercial and editorial photography are terms that often confused, especially if you’re new to the craft. But there are significant differences between the two, and in this video, Scott Choucino will guide you through them.

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How to get professional ink in water commercial photos with almost no budget

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In honor of Inktober, Isaac Alvarez of UNPLUG Production made his own ink-related project. But rather than making an ink drawing, he focused on commercial watch photography. He used only a simple two-light setup and some super-cheap items, most of which we all have lying around the house. Despite the low-budget setup, the results are professional-looking, so let’s dive in and see how he did it.

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