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Mango Street

Take better self portraits with this advice from professional models

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Self-portraiture has been around for much longer than the much-maligned selfie. It is as old as art itself and is a real genre of photography in and of itself. But it’s not easy. If you’ve ever tried to take photographs of yourself, you’ll know just how difficult it can be.

Fortunately, advances in technology have helped enormously. However, the fact remains that what we think we look like in our mind rarely is how we actually look in the finished image. It can be an exercise in patience and trial and error. But it is possible to improve and get better at posing yourself. In this video from Mango Street, professional models give advice on how you can look better in your self-portraits.

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If your camera was a person, here’s what it would be like

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They say people and pets start to look alike after some time. And if your “pet” is your camera, are you two starting to look alike too? Rachel and Daniel of Mango Street imagine what it would look like if the camera brands we use were people. In this light-hearted sketch, they show us what they imagined, so let’s see if you agree.

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So stock photography is dead? Not according to these two photographers

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$47,107. That’s the precise amount of money that these two photographers have made from stock images since signing up to the Stocksy platform. Although admittedly that amount is not exactly hitting the big time (particularly when divided and broken down into yearly figures), it’s a respectable number and would be a nice extra as part of multiple income streams.

In this video, Daniel from Mango Street breaks down how he and his wife, Rachel did it and what type of images sold the best, to give you some ideas in case you want to up your game in today’s ‘stock market’.

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Here’s how to use the calibration tool in Lightroom

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What’s your preferred method for editing colors in Lightroom? Do you use the Calibration panel sitting at the bottom of the Develop module? I usually play around with HSL sliders, and I don’t think I’ve ever used Calibration. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to watch this video. Mango Street’s Daniel Inskeep tells you about this powerful tool and gives you some examples of just how much you can achieve with it.

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Take better portrait photos with these ten tips

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I believe that there’s no such thing as an instant improvement when it comes to skills. You should practice and learn and gradually become better and better at what you do. Still, if you’re new at something, it’s good to have a checklist that will help you focus on what’s important for achieving good results. In this video, Rachel and Daniel of Mango Street have created some kind of that checklist. They share ten tips that will help you take more captivating photos, and they’re questions to ask yourself next time you start shooting.

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These are eight big reasons why your photos suck

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Do you sometimes feel like your photos suck? I sure know I do. Even if they’re objectively good, you may want to make them even better. In this video, Rachel and Daniel from Mango Street cover eight things that could be holding you back and give you some tips on how to overcome them and grow as a photographer.

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Use these five techniques to level up your photography game

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One of the things I like most about photography is that there’s always something new to learn. If you’re relatively new to it, there’s a vast world ahead of you to discover. Luckily, there’s plenty of concise and interesting content to learn from, such as this video from Mango Street. Daniel and Rachel will introduce five things and techniques that you should learn in order to start taking more interesting and visually compelling images.

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Viral TikTok photography hacks: Do they really work?

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There’s a bunch of photography “hacks” going around on TikTok and other platforms. But do they actually work? Well, Rachel and Daniel of Mango Street decided to put them to a test. They choose five viral photo hacks from TikTok and tested them out. Do they work? Well, you might be surprised!

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This is why you should or shouldn’t use Lightroom presets

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Presets for Lightroom and other applications are often the centre of controversy. Some people can’t live without them and actively panic when their software updates and no longer reads their old presets accurately. The other extreme puts those that use presets in the “you’re not a photographer if” category.

In between, though, there is some middle ground. Things are rarely this black and white. Mango Street, who happen to sell some presets of their own, weigh in with their thoughts in this video on why you should or shouldn’t use presets, and what to keep in mind when either buying presets or making your own.

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Comparing eight popular lenses and how they affect your portraits

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Which lens you will choose for portraits depends on what you want to achieve, and there are so many options. Rachel and Daniel from Mango Street narrowed it down to eight popular lenses, and in this video, they are testing them to show you how each of them affects your portraits.

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