The post The dPS At-Home 7-Day Photography Challenge – Week Two appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk. As many of us around the world are continuing self-isolation, and social distancing (whoever thought that would be a thing?) due to the C-word, we thought we’d make it a little less boring and stressful and give you (and us) an “At-Home, 7-Day Photography Challenge.” This is week two of the challenge (you can see week one here, and still do those challenges, as there is no deadlines on any of these). These are all things you can try in and around your home. As always, we would love to see your results in the comments section. That...

With most of us on lockdown to some degree, the number of video calls for work and pleasure have increased exponentially. So, you might as well work out how to make yourself look halfway passable, rather than the cave-dwelling ogre you might without forethought. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Robert K Baggs

Watch any successful photographer work, and you will notice that they are either an extrovert or very good at playing the part of one. The simple truth is that many of us are introverts, however, and it can be very difficult for us to work with people. This great video will give you some helpful tips for being a photographer as an introvert. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Alex Cooke

Photo By Ann P Kramer Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Kids Like to Stick out Their Tongue” by Ann P Kramer. Location: Mt. Evans, Colorado. Canon 1 DX Mark II, Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C at 244mm. Exposure: 1/100 sec, f/8, ISO 1250. “This was one of the few kids I saw on my first trip to Mt. Evans,” says Kramer. “The mountain goat adults do a lot of licking to ingest salts and minerals for digestion. This beautiful little one was practicing her technique.” Photo of the Day is chosen from various OP galleries, including Assignments, Galleries and the OP Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the OP website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running,...

Forget everything you knew about how to create a custom default setting for your raw photos, and let’s get up to speed on the new system. Once you install the 9.2 update your old custom default settings will not work on newly imported photos or when you click the Reset button. This will not affect previously imported photos (unless you click the Reset button). If you’ve never created a custom default for raw photos, then you won’t notice anything different in this regard, but now you’ll know how to use this feature in the future. Note, this also sets the raw default for the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in (and if you set it there, it becomes the default in Lightroom Classic)....

Looking to use some of this downtime to ramp up your photography business? Professional Photographers of America is offering up education for free. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Megan Breukelman

The post Artists and Explorers – What Photographer Type Are You? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker. What drives you to pull out your camera and take a picture? The answer to this question will help you understand your photographer type. Does an image of a finished photo jump into your mind, and then you have to go out and make it? Perhaps you pick up your camera and walk out the door, not knowing where it will lead you. Maybe you’re only compelled to photograph new places you’re traveling to, or your (grand) children as they grow up. Understanding yourself as a photographer, and knowing what inspires you, is one of the best ways...

A good macro lens can be a versatile and highly valuable instrument well beyond the realm of macro photography. This excellent video takes a look at Sony's version, the FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Alex Cooke

The post Creative Uses for the GIMP Jigsaw Pattern appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles. Are you looking for a fun way to display your photos? With the GIMP Jigsaw pattern, you can make your photos look like a puzzle in a single step. But why stop there? Take out some pieces or make a grid with it. Keep reading to learn how to use this filter and some creative applications for it. Make a puzzle It may look like elaborate work, but actually turning your image into a puzzle is extremely easy. The GIMP Jigsaw Pattern is a tool that allows you to control the way you want your puzzle to look, then applies...

While stuck at home, self portraits are a great way to practice photography and editing. So watch this video by a grand master of those two thing, Brooke Shaden, for some insight and a glance at her workflow. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Robert K Baggs

Unlike most other genres, you do not always get the chance to remove distractions from the frame in landscape photography. But when should you use post-processing software to remove an object from a landscape image after the fact? This excellent video discusses how to tell whether something is a help or a distraction in a landscape photo. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Alex Cooke

Photo By Teja Pamganamamula Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Whispers in the Valley” by Teja Pamganamamula. Location: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. “My cousin and I traveled all the way to Switzerland for 48 hours during the MLK long weekend to catch a glimpse of the Lauterbrunnen Valley in its winter glory,” says Pamganamamula. “It didn’t snow on day one of our trip, so we only had one shot at this scene the day we were supposed to leave. On our second and last day, we climbed up to this vantage point in pure darkness hoping beyond hope that snow had fallen overnight. Our hearts began to beat a million times faster when the blue hour light finally caught onto the fresh snow...

There's very little the coronavirus won't affect, and a number of streaming services had to reduce their bandwidth usages to weather the influx of new traffic. Now, YouTube has had to take early measures too by limiting video quality first in Europe, and now globally. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Robert K Baggs

The post Learning to Embrace Lens Flaws to Add Character and Nuance to Your Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch. As I grow increasingly “long in the tooth” so to speak, I look back over the last twenty years or so since I first picked up a camera and reflect. I entered the professional arena of photography relatively late, being in my mid-twenties before I began to think about photography more in terms of a profession rather than simply an enjoyable hobby. Since then, it’s been a wild ride. I’ve used all sorts of lenses and have been fortunate enough to evaluate a host of lenses for published tests, many of which can be...

Here’s a quick way to see if you missed any areas when you were painting, how to fix those areas, and how to see if you accidentally painted over any areas you didn’t want to adjust. Hope you found that helpful. Thanks to everybody in Houston who joined me online for my full-day online seminar yesterday. Looking forward to the folks in Los Angeles tomorrow. Have a great stay-indoors and stay healthy kinda day! -Scott P.S. If you’re stuck inside (like me) don’t waste this time — you could be learning a bunch of Lightroom skills online. We’ve got TONS of full-length online Lightroom training courses can you take over at http://kelbyone.com The post Lightroom in 60-Seconds: How to See and Edit...

They say there's nothing new under the sun, and perhaps they're right. But with a little innovation, you can certainly create some less old. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Robert K Baggs

The post Exploring Your Home with Close-Up Filters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth. Macro photography is all about exploring the wonders of the world around you from a very close distance. Macro lenses let you see the tiniest parts of the world in extreme detail, often exposing an array of colors and patterns hidden right before our eyes. Macro lenses are also expensive! However, if you find yourself stuck at home for a while, you can start exploring your home with close-up filters instead. They’re a cheap alternative to macro lenses and can transform the mundane into the magnificent! Nikon D7100, 50mm, f/4, 1/125 second, ISO 220, +10 close-up filter The first thing to...

It looks like the worldwide pandemic has finally hit the biggest sports and photography event of the year, as the international Olympic Committee is looking at rescheduling the 2020 Summer Olympics. With this news, the big camera and lens companies may be looking at their newly announced, but as yet unreleased models, and could be wondering if waiting out the economic ramifications of the COVID-19 virus is the most viable idea. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: JT Blenker

The most important decision photographers have to make is whether to specialize or generalize. While generalizing may increase your chances of work, it can also harm your reputation. The good news is there's a clever way to do both. [ Read More ]Original linkOriginal author: Paul Parker

Photo By Craig Bill Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Epic” by Craig Bill. Location: Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. “This actually was the first time I visited Cedar Breaks National Monument and the new winter atmosphere started to unfold,” explains Bill. “Millions of years of sedimentation, uplift and erosion are carving out this enormous sloping amphitheater that spans some three miles and is more than 2,000 feet deep and over 10,000 feet above sea level overall. This monument was named for the Juniper trees that were misidentified as ‘cedars’ and named ‘breaks’ by the early pioneers as it was common to call areas like this. But the name has stuck ever since its establishment in 1933. The native Paiutes called...