Advanced Camera Techniques & Tips

June 21, 2017

Cooke Optics UK Factory Tour

How to get the Cooke Look

DL Byron

A vintage Cooke Optics lens Cooke Optics has been making lenses for 130 years, and their coatings haven’t changed much since the ’60s—that’s what contributes to the Cooke Look cinematographers want on their digital bodies, like RED and ARRI. The coatings are like pixie dust and seen here (decades of them built up) on a flange. The flange holds... Read more

June 14, 2017

Self-Assigned Challenge: Cine Lenses

Manufacturers are responding to ever more capable cameras with cinema lenses, and Byron tries out two of them

DL Byron

“The Initial Mystery that attends any journey is: how did the traveler reach his starting point in the first place?” — Louise Bogan For this journey I’m on in London, it’s an initial mystery of shooting with cine lenses, but let’s back up to the starting point. If you’ve never heard of a cine lens, that’s shorthand for cinema, and what’s... Read more

June 7, 2017

Self-Assigned Shoot—Vegas In Black & White

Why the Leica M Monochrom has this photographer reacquainting himself with black-and-white photography

DL Byron

To me, shooting in black-and-white is like listening to opera—I have to be in the right mood and frame of mind. Earlier this year, that mood happened at WPPI, a wedding trade show in Las Vegas. I had arranged a demo Leica from their booth and, well, the lighting at trade shows is always terrible, so I asked for the M Monochrom, then assigned myself... Read more

May 17, 2017

Telling A Story With Environmental Portraiture

On assignment with Jim Cornfield, as he uses a subject’s history to tell the story of an honored vet and the airplane that saved his life

Text & Photography By Jim Cornfield

For a recent photo assignment, Jim Cornfield chose to create an environmental portrait of Air Force Capt. Kenneth Curry, telling a story in images by connecting the pilot to his former military experience. The environmental portrait is one of photography’s simpler ideas: An image of a subject that includes his or her external life—some place or... Read more

April 26, 2017

Byron’s Blog: Self-Assigned Shoot—Urban Geometries

Using shapes, lines, colors, tones and lighting to create visually interesting and painterly photos of the city

DL Byron

Scene from a typical spring night in NYC. When considering geometries, note that the architect’s vision of the building is ignored because I’m instead concerned with the visual activity around it. In this photo taken during the Sony a9 launch of 30 photographers crowded around the long jump at The Armory, notice what David J. Schloss is doing—he’s... Read more

April 5, 2017

The Power Of Portable Light

Using speedlights to tell a more compelling visual story

Text & Photography By Tom Bol

Moai Statue At Sunset. Nikon D3, 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 lens, shot at 1/50 sec. at ƒ/8, Nikon SB-800 used off-camera to light the statue. I have traveled 4,625 miles to get this image. I’m stumbling through the volcanic landscape in the murky predawn darkness trying to find the Moai statues. The salty breeze and crashing surf remind me of early-morning shoots... Read more

July 26, 2016

Stepping Up To Medium Format

A bigger platform opens up a world of possibilities

By Michael Clark

Aaron Miller climbing on the Crystal Clear Arete (5.12c) in Diablo Canyon near Santa Fe, New Mexico. This image was shot with an 1,100 Watt seconds strobe mounted high on an adjacent cliff above my shooting position. Shooting Info: Hasselblad H5D 50c WiFi, HCD 24mm lens, F/7.1 at 1/80th second at ISO 800. © Michael Clark Michael Clark is an internationally... Read more

July 21, 2016

The Future Of Wireless Flash

Improvements in wireless flash give photographers an astounding amount of creative freedom

Tom Bol

The year 2003 rocked my world as a photographer. It wasn’t the year I purchased my first digital camera. This was the year Nikon introduced the SB-800, which was the first flash I could trigger off-camera using my D70’s popup flash. Using Nikon’s i-TTL technology, flash exposure was calculated using TTL (through-the-lens) metering just like a... Read more

June 29, 2016

Strobe And Sun

How to bring studio-style lighting to the outdoors

Text & Photography By William Sawalich

A strobe-illuminated subject really pops off of an underexposed ambient background. In this case, a cloudy day and tall tree coverage helped bring the ambient down naturally, making it easier to overpower the daylight with a portable strobe. Just because you’re working outdoors doesn’t mean you can’t take studio-style lighting control with you.... Read more

December 8, 2015

Thomas Boyd: Master Of Technique

Oregonian staffer Thomas Boyd knows that gaining access is key—and the veteran photographer knows how to get it and what gear to use once he has it

Text & Photography By Thomas Boyd

All of the great people photographers have the unique ability of gaining extraordinary access to events and people’s lives. This is doubly true of the best photojournalists, but it goes for everyone, from a portrait photographer to a wedding shooter. It’s this access that sets their images apart. There are two different kinds of access, of course.... Read more

September 14, 2015

DPP solutions: Preflight

The future of drones for professionals is becoming clearer

By The Editors

In February, the FAA issued the much anticipated proposed rules for drones titled "The Overview of Small UAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking." Prior to the notice, there was a lot of speculation and more than a little apprehension about how the U.S. would handle drone usage. Short of plain outlawing unmanned aircraft in U.S. airspace, the biggest... Read more

September 4, 2015

Shoot Your Passion

For Corey Rich, video-ready DSLRs offered more than just a new business opportunity. They made a lifelong dream come true.

By William Sawalich, Photography By Corey Rich

Corey Rich became a professional photographer at an early age. At 16, he got his first job shooting real estate pictures for the local paper. He hadn’t yet mastered all the technical aspects of photography, but he says he’s always known a great picture when he sees one. "I never intended to be a business owner," Rich says. "I... Read more

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