Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Grinding an editor’s gears is easy, most cinematographers can do it blindfolded. If you shoot video – for any reason at all – and you’re not an accomplished editor – you’re undoubtedly indulging in at least one of the Six Sins of the Cinematographer.
If you want to master video production — and become every editor’s favorite shooter — here’s how to avoid the Six Sins:
Having a photography studio is fun, but it is even more fun when you start applying simple and cheap solutions, plus common sense to make your shooting experience (and your clients’) smoother.
This is the list of what I think are the smartest and most useful photography studio life hacks.
It’s that time of year again. That time where we show those nearest to us how much we love them. Perhaps you’ve been neglecting them a little recently? Maybe it’s time to show them a little affection and give them a good scrub?
This video from the folks at COOPH offers up some good care and maintenance tips for keeping our cameras running in tip-top condition. While we can’t always protect them the way we’d like – after all, gear’s for using – there are things we can do to help reduce the chances of early death.
Curves are one of the most valuable and powerful tools contained within Photoshop. Many of us have been using them for years. But do we know all of the tricks when it comes to working with them? Probably not.
This short video from Julieanne Kost at Adobe shows us 13 quick tips for working with Photoshop’s Curves in just two minutes. The tips cover a range of slightly less common techniques, including working with multiple curves simultaneously and making adjustments from the image canvas itself.
While the long take is more famous in movies than in anything else, it’s become sort of a thing for vloggers, too. Often they’re walking, holding the camera while they talk and it can go on for several minutes. But it can be difficult to add creativity to these types of shots, especially when you’re filming on your own.
In this video, Peter McKinnon shows three camera tricks to help add some interest to your long shots talking to the camera, surprise your audience and leave them wondering how you pulled it off. The secret? You’re not filming on your own.
If you have a TLR camera you can try this simple trick, that can help you to focus more easily. And if you like, you can share this content with your friends.
When it comes to lighting effects for photography, only your imagination is the limit. In this video, Derrick Freske will show you five tricks that require nothing but your smartphone flashlight as the light source. They’re simple and cheap, but they can give many creative effects to your images.
It’s an open secret that advertisers use some tricks to make food look more appetizing. But some of them can get really nasty! They make the food look delicious, but most of the time they also make it inedible. Glue instead of milk, shaving foam instead of whipped cream, dish liquid in just about anything with foam… These are only some of the tricks food photographers use, and Blossom shows you many more in this interesting video.
As a video editing application, despite all its flaws and regular crashes, Premiere Pro is one of the most feature-packed editors out there. There are so many things it allows us to do, especially now that it’s started incorporating a few of After Effects’ tricks. But a lot of the techniques filmmakers use aren’t quite so obvious a process to implement.
In this video, Jordy from Cinecom shows us 10 great tips to help add a little extra to your edit. He calls them “Advanced” tips, but they’re not really that complicated. They’re just things you haven’t learned yet. And they’re things you might be doing already, just in a not very efficient way.
There are a lot of Lightroom tips & tricks videos out there, but they all seem to gloss over the same handful of things. A lot of the really useful stuff is missed because they’re so used to the software that they go on autopilot and do things without even thinking. So, when asked, they don’t recall.
In this video, though, from photographer Mark Denney, we hear seven tricks that he uses on a daily basis as part of his image editing workflow.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
