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This 19-minute photography crash course has everything you need to break out of automatic modes on your camera

At some point, we were all beginners and there are new people coming to photography and buying their first DSLR or mirrorless camera every day. A lot of people starting out stick to the automatic modes and basically treat their camera like an expensive point-and-shoot, not really understanding how it all works. And that’s fine if that’s your thing. But if you want to learn more, it can be difficult to know where to start.

In this video, the Koldunov Brothers walk us through the basic principles of cameras and photography, and how they all tie into each other. It’s an easy-to-digest video, that’s a little over 19-minute long going over everything you need to really understand how your camera works.

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This is how high your light source should be for photographing portraits

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One of the questions I often hear from people who are new to photography, particularly when using flash is “How high should my light be?”. It’s a difficult one to answer, especially if you’re shooting on location because there are so many variables.

The Koldunov Brothers break their usual silence in this 9-minute video to explore the topic. They offer a lot of tips with practical examples to show how different lighting heights and positions affect how the camera sees the subject.

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Use this simple Photoshop technique to shoot in the dark and effectively reduce noise

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Modern and high-end cameras can shoot without significant noise even at very high ISO values. But many of us still don’t own such cameras, so the ISO value where the photos are still usable is pretty limited. Koldunov Brothers share a simple Photoshop technique that will let you shoot In the dark even with a smartphone and reduce noise effectively.

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How to use a polariser to remover glare from portraits

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Polarisers are one of the few filters that still hold an advantage for digital cameras. Pretty much everything else can be done these days much more easily in post. Even the effect of neutral density filters can be simulated – although it’s still not quite the same. Polarisers are common amongst landscape photographers, although not so much with portrait photographers. But they can be very useful, as the Koldunov Brothers demonstrate in this video.

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How to get rid of four different types of flares

Sometimes flare is a matter of artistic preference and choice. However, there are plenty of instances when we don’t want it in photos. Koldunov Brothers show you four different types of flares, and the methods to get rid of them. In some cases, there are only minor improvements. But in the others, the difference is pretty striking.

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How to use a scanner to create photography without a camera

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The Koldunov Brothers are always coming up with strange ideas. Mostly they’re to replace photographic accessories with, let’s say, less conventional items. This time, it’s something a little different. They’re not just replacing camera accessories. They’re replacing the camera. With a flatbed scanner.

It’s actually not a bad idea for experimenting with. A flatbed scanner is essentially just a giant, slow, rolling shutter camera. Sure, it has an extremely close focus and a very limited depth of field. The lighting options are also quite limited, too. But it can produce some very neat results.

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What you wear as a portrait photographer matters more than you realise

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Many portrait photographers obsess about the clothes their subjects wear on a shoot. They’re often asked to avoid certain colours, or patterns, or given a colour scheme to try and follow. But what about the photographer’s clothes? And this isn’t a matter of how professional you look in front of your clients. It’s all about the light that reflects off you and back toward your subject.

In this short video from the Koldunov Brothers, we see a practical demonstration of two different scenarios. The first shows the impact of our subject wearing differently coloured clothes and how it reflects off their skin. The second shows how the photographer wearing clothes of varying colour and brightness can present on the subject and affect the final image.

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How to photograph a person with double chin

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When it comes to shooting portraits, there are plenty of tricks you can pull off to make someone’s flaws less visible. Koldunov Brothers have created a video with tips for photographing someone with a double chin and making this bodily feature less prominent. You don’t need Photoshop or makeup, only a couple of lighting, posing or perspective tricks.

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This year’s April fools’ jokes from around the world photography world

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Although we have ran the occasional pranks in the past for April Fools’ Day, we decided not to do one this year. We wanted to just sit back and enjoy everybody else’s jokes this year. As it’s already April 1st in Australia, a few have started coming through already.

We’ll be updating this post as the day goes on and different timezones start hitting midnight. So, keep checking back. And if you spot a good one that’s not listed, let us know in the comments!

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How to measure the diameter of custom lens bokeh using a compass

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Creating custom bokeh for lenses is something many of us try at some point. Even if it’s not something we’re ever going to do again, it’s fun to have a go at least once. We’ve mentioned the technique on the site a few times before. But, different lenses will render out of focus areas differently. The balls of blur will be difference sizes. So, how do you know what size hole to cut?

This video from the Kuldonov Brothers offers up a handy tip to get the size right. All you need is a compass. No, not the kind that’s built into your phone so your maps work. One for drawing circles. And it’s a pretty easy and straightforward process.

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