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Underwater Photography In Murky Water – Tips and Tricks

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If you’ve ever tried to photograph a person underwater, you know how important crystal clear water is to producing usable images.

I do most of my underwater photography in Georgian Bay which is exceptionally clean and clear.

It’s also freezing cold, and far away from urban areas – which complicates the logistics required to produce a commercial photography session (it’s a 3 or 4 hour drive for me and most models, stylists, make up artists etc. and there is a window of about two weeks in August when it’s warm enough to swim without a wet suit).

However, I live right beside Lake Ontario (which is not exactly known for being clean or clear), so I thought I’d try an underwater photography session here – with easy access to talent from Toronto.

In this article I will share a few of my tips and tricks for underwater photography in murky water.

5 filmmaking monopod tips and tricks

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I mentioned in a post earlier today how valuable I’ve been finding monopods in my video work more often lately. They’re such a valuable, but often underrated tool on set. But the things monopods allow you to do aren’t just for video. Many techniques cross over into the world of stills photography, too. In this video, filmmaker Mason Mashtare shows us five great tips for using monopods during a shoot.

5 surf & underwater photography hacks and tricks in under a minute

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If you’ve ever taken a camera near water, whether it be a DSLR or a GoPro, you know it can be a hassle. Even when you’ve got all the underwater housings and other bits, it can still be a pain. In this video, surf photographer Dylan Brayshaw gives us 5 great tips for shooting in and around water.

5 editing mistakes every beginner makes that you need to avoid

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We all make noob mistakes when we’re new to something. That’s why we make those mistakes, we’re noobs. While most of us try to avoid them now, who can honestly say they’ve never made hideous bevelled text in Photoshop? Or added a page curl to a document? Well, the same is true with video editing.

While learning editing, there’s a lot of things we try, because we think they look (or sound) cool. Then a few months later, we realise just how wrong we were. This video from Aputure talks about the 5 beginner editing mistakes that pretty much everybody makes at some point, and why you should avoid them.

Use this simple trick to instantly improve your smartphone vlogs and selfie videos

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Phones are great for recording video of yourself. The big advantage is that big LCD letting you see what you’re doing while you’re filming. But they also have that big LCD that you constantly stare at while talking instead of the camera lens. So, when you watch the video back, you always appear to be looking slightly off to the side of the viewer. Not at the viewer.

Those using DSLRs, mirrorless or even point & shoots to vlog probably won’t benefit from this one. But this tip from YouTuber and vlogger, Dave Knop (aka, Knoptop) will help to instantly solve that problem with your phone. And all you need are some some sticky labels.

A clever trick to tone down reflections in photos: use deodorant

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Sometimes you’ll get to photograph objects with different textures, and the light won’t be suitable for all of them. Photographer Phillip McCordall shares a couple of useful tricks that will help you in such situations. Glass objects may have unpleasing reflections, and you can easily tone them down using spray deodorant. Mr. McCordall uses a few more items we all have at home and that cost almost nothing, and with them, he controls the reflections on the glass objects. These DIY tricks of the trade cost almost nothing and they’ll definitely save you some post-processing time.

5 great tips for shooting with your phone from a vehicle

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I find myself shooting from within cars, trains and other forms of transport quite regularly. When it comes to a car, you’ll be thankful to know I’m not the one doing the driving. And I wouldn’t suggest you try and of these things while you’re behind the wheel, either. Well, except perhaps hyperlapse where you can leave it locked off on some kind of mount doing its own thing. Then you can still concentrate on where you’re going and the other idiots on the road.

This video from new channel MOBCO TV has five tips and tricks for using your phone while moving. They’re probably not things you’ll want to do all the time, but they give you some cool creative options to play with.

You probably don’t know these Photoshop tricks, and they’re right before your eyes

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Photoshop is full of shortcuts and tricks. Even professionals discover something new from time to time, and get surprised how come they didn’t know it before. Colin Smith from Photoshop Cafe shares seven tricks hidden in Photoshop’s interface, and some of them are hidden in a specific way: in plain sight.

These features have been in front of your face all along, but you may not have noticed them. As Colin himself says, these aren’t “Photoshop hacks,” but “engineered tools and settings that make your life easier. They will save you time and give you the information you need while working in Photoshop every day.” So let’s check them out.

Up your game on Instagram with these street lifestyle photography tips

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Images on Instagram generally tend to fall into three categories. Food & Drink, travel & lifestyle, and then everything else. Even when just photographing friends for an Instagram post, the lifestyle kind of images tend to perform well. But creating a pleasing lifestyle image isn’t really as straightforward as just pointing your phone at your subject and grabbing a quick snap.

Charles and Luke at Wandergasm, though, are here to help. In this video, they offer up four tips to help get better lifestyle shots on the street. The tips don’t just apply to Instagram, though. The suggestions can be applied to just about any portrait session.

10 beginner tips to up your photo game and improve your work

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No matter how experienced we may get as photographers, there are always ways to improve. Sometimes it’s learning something new. At other times it’s simply seeing something in a new way. Occasionally, it’s just getting reminders to help us lose bad habits that might make us screw up.

The folks at Mango Street have been putting out some quite cool videos recently, with some great advice to help with this. In their new video, they offer up 10 tips to take your photos “from BASIC to BOSS”. They pooled some of their professional photographer friends to see what tips they had to offer. I don’t quite agree with all of them, though.

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