Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
I’ve lost track of the number of people who’ve asked me how to shoot this type of photo over the years. The basic concept is quite simple, although it can be difficult to wrap your head around if you’ve not used flash in such conditions before.
In this video, photographer Eric Floberg talks about how you can achieve this effect in-camera. While the principle is pretty straightforward, it’ll definitely take some practice.
In recent years I’ve been privileged to be on the jury for a whole range of photography competitions. These include single image competitions such as WPS International Excellence Awards, Masters of Wedding Photography and the Irish wedding photography awards (In association with Learning to Fly). And with a different focus, I’ve judged a couple of competitions which require a series of images to be submitted forming a documentary narrative. Thes were MyWed Nikon Wedding Photographer of the Year and This is Reportage Awards. I’ll create a separate blog post with my thoughts about judging these competitions and what I learned along the way. This post is really about competitions in general and why photographers should be entering them. And no, they aren’t fixed. They are just subjective (IMHO, please don’t shoot me!).
Photographer Hugh Lloyd recently had his gear stolen at Rome Ciampino airport in Italy. And as if it weren’t bad enough, in his gear bag there were memory cards with all the photos of his friends’ wedding. The distressed couple has made a public plea to the thieves to at least return the memory cards, and they’re hoping that it will reach whoever took the camera with the cards.
I have a deep respect for photographers who will go an extra mile to make their clients happy. Australian photographer James Day did exactly this for a couple whose wedding he recently captured. Along with videographers Shaun and TJ of Lemon Tree Film House, James photographed the wedding of Steph and Rob. Unfortunately, Steph is completely blind, but James had a special multi-sensory album made for her so she can remember her big day. He shared with us some details of the wedding day and how he and his team made it more memorable for the bride, but also for everyone else.
Well, this isn’t something you hear every day. According to reports, Texas wedding photographer, Katie Mehta was arrested during a wedding the Springs Event Venue in Weatherford, TX over the weekend. Her crime? Apparently, having sex with a guest, peeing on a tree and threatening police officers.
White Magazine, one of Australia’s biggest bridal magazines, got under fire after refusing submissions that featured same-sex couples. After a fierce backlash, the magazine has lost the sponsors and now it’s going out of business. The founders Luke and Carla Burrell have reportedly made this choice in order to stay true to their Christian beliefs.
There are times when only a super long lens like a Canon 400mm f/2.8L will do, even when photographing people. And when this wedding couple wanted their custom motorcycles incorporated into the shot, photographer Keydrin Franklin knew exactly what he needed to do to make the above shot.
In the era where even your granny has a smartphone, wedding guests often get in the way of paid photographers and ruin their once-in-a-lifetime shots. When this happened to wedding photographer Ashley Easterling, she did what she had to do. She roughly pushed the bride’s stepmom to the side so that she could capture photos of the couple’s first kiss as husband and wife. The moment was caught on video, which quickly went viral and generated lots of comments.
On episode 65 of The Secret Life of Weddings Podcast (listen on iTunes, Spotify) we chat about a major hot topic amongst wedding photographers these days. We get a little heated, and felt it was important enough to write here as well. There is something happening making wedding photographers very angry. Most photographers are afraid to say anything because we never want to be seen as difficult or egotistical, but it has become such an issue that private Facebook groups of photographers are exploding with frustrations.
A wedding day is one of the most important days of your life and picking a photographer who will preserve your memories is not an easy task. Unfortunately, we often hear about photographers who not only do a terrible job, but they also turn out to be scammers.
A dozen women from Charlotte, NC accused a local photographer Eben Patten for “stealing their money and their memories.” They all had to wait for months to get their photos, some of them threatened to file a lawsuit, and the others even took the case to court. And those who did get the images realized that they were far from good, to say the least.
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
