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Mark Denney

Square crop compositions – They’re not just for Instagram

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It’s funny. These days, most people associate an image that’s cropped as a square as something that’s being done as a compromise for the benefit of social media – particularly Instagram. For the longest time, a square was the best format to use on Instagram because it’s all it would display, and it still is the most common crop today. On other social media, square became popular because it has the same dimensions whether the viewer holds their phone vertically or horizontally.

But square images have been around since long before Instagram or social media. In fact, they were around long before the Internet existed at all. And it has a very different psychological effect on the viewer than a vertical or horizontal orientation image. In this video, Mark Denney walks us through the square crop, how and why to use it and how you might want to use it to get better compositions.

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How to rekindle your passion for photography when you’re feeling sick of it

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Do you ever feel sick of photography? I know I do, and it recently came as far as thinking about selling all my gear. I was feeling uninspired, I didn’t have the need of taking photos at all, and I just felt… kinda like a fraud when someone referred to me as a photographer.

Does it sound familiar? Have you had those thoughts too? If this video from Mark Denney is just what you need to watch today. It came at the right time for me, and I hope it will give you the guidance and inspiration you need.

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Seven things you wish you’d known before starting landscape photography

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Photography requires life-long learning, exploring, and experimenting. That’s why we love it, right? But there are just some things we all wish we’d learned sooner. In this video, Mark Denney talks about some of these things. If you’re a beginner, consider these great pieces of advice that will make your photographic journey more enjoyable and successful.

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Medium format comes with a double-edged sword you need to know about before you buy

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Now that digital medium format is approaching and even beating high-end DSLRs and mirrorless cameras on price, more people are considering making the switch. One of the things to take into account, though, is that the larger you make your sensor, the shallower your depth of field becomes relative to your field of view.

In this video, Mark Denney talks about this problem for landscape photography since switching to the Fuji GFX 100S. He also busts a few of the myths that are typically touted as reasons against buying into medium-format that are no longer really relevant with as small as medium format cameras have started to become.

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This simple composition advice will completely change your approach to taking photographs

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The best kind of advice is usually the simplest, like “when spending time with others put your phone away” and “soggy cereal is never as good as last night’s takeaway curry so have the curry for breakfast.” In this latest video, Mark Denney tells us the “best composition advice he’s ever heard” and follows up by saying that it’s so simple that he wished he’d known this earlier.

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Develop these four habits to help take your landscape photography to the next level

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There are a lot of tips and advice out there for all kinds of different genres of photography. Most of them involve technique or buying more gear. Very little is about our behaviour and mindset. This video from Mark Denney, though, is a little different. In it, he presents four habits he’s developed over the last few years that have helped him with his workflow to improve his landscape photography.

While Mark freely admits that everybody’s workflow is different and not every tip is going to help everybody, these are some great suggestions. I follow a couple of these myself and they’ve made a big difference to my photography over the years. Maybe they’ll help yours, too.

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Photographers, this is the problem with doing what you love

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“Do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” If only I got a dollar for every time I heard or read this. But is it really like that? If you love photography and start doing it for a living, will it truly stop being a job and will you lose a sense of obligation? Landscape photographer Mark Denney discusses this in his latest video. And even though he believes it’s not a video that many people would watch, I think quite the opposite. Not only everyone should watch it before turning their hobby into a full-time career, but it will also give you a lot to think about.

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These are the five biggest challenges of ultra-wide-angle lenses

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You’ll find ultra-wide-angle lenses in many landscape photographers’ gear bags. While they can be amazing for landscapes and cityscapes, they come with some challenges you’ll notice when shooting with them. Mark Denney gives you five of them, along with some tips on overcoming them.

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Stop only using ISO 100 in landscape photography

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As a landscape photographer, perhaps you’ve been advised not to increase your ISO over 100 or 160. I’ve seen this piece of advice many times, and I know a few people who rely on it way too much. But should you really stay at the lowest ISO at all times? Should astrophotography be the only time you increase it? In this video, Mark Denney goes over two situations when using higher ISO is a must. As a bonus, he shares a useful trick to help you determine just how high you can go without fear of compromising image quality.

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