Photography Features

How To: Learn extreme macro photography tricks

Watch this quick instructional photography video and discover how to do extreme macro photography without having any real specialized macro photo equipment. Use a couple of your existing lenses to create a super macro lens. Practice these tips and improve your photography skills.

How To: Clean fungus off of your camera lens

Have you ever found a camera lens that you forgot you left in the basement or garage? Have you ever been shooting out in the rain and lost track of time? If any of these things have happened to your camera, you may have developed a fungus. Not to worry! It is much easier than you would think to clean a fungus off your camera. This tutorial will walk you through the process, step by step so that you clean your lens safely and perfectly every time.

How To: Use gobos in photography

Here is a Harper Point Photography video on gobos for fashion photography. Nathan gives a simple but effective photo tip for creating dynamic light with a cardboard 'go-bo.' The gobo is a lighting element that texturizes lighting by blocking in strategically. Apply these directly to a light to shine texture or to light with words as a projector would.

How To: Photograph a white product with a white background

Need to shoot a product with a white background? Well, taking photos with a white backdrop can be tricky if your subject is white also. Watch this behind the scenes photography video to see how to photograph a white product with a white background. This style of shoot is quite standard for eshops which need product photos with a white background. It takes a couple flashes and a goo camera to get it down, just watch and see for yourself.

How To: Use a Holga camera

Here are some tips about the Holga camera. The Holga is a plastic camera that takes unique, distorted pictures. This instructional photography video is good for people who just got their Holga camera and want to learn some photographer's tricks.

How To: Set up butterfly lighting for photography

Mark Wallace explains how to set up butterfly lighting (AKA Glamour Lighting; AKA Paramount Lighting)with three light sources. This video shows a nice soft lighting underneath the nose. Used if you want to create a strong powerful look, or if your subject has strong cheekbones or jawline. This type of lighting was used in the filming of "Sin City".

How To: Take UV Pictures

This video will show you how you can take UV (ultraviolet) pictures with any basic camera. In a few easy steps, you too can be seeing the world in a whole new way.

How To: Master the classic three light studio portrait

Watch this instructional photography video with Jim Talkington and learn how to light a studio portrait using three lights. This is the classic three light portrait technique using a main light, fill card, hair light and background light in the photo studio. Adding additional lights should bring out texture, extra detail, and three dimensionality. Practice these tips and improve your photography skills.

UPDATE: Wafaa Bilal’s Head Rejects Camera Implant

If you missed our previous posts on Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal's attempt to go cyborg, here's the short and skinny: First, Bilal announced a plan to implant a camera in his head, a project entitled 3rdi, which would record his daily life while simultaneously feeding the images to monitors at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. Then, he actually did it (and, yes, it was gnarly).

News: The Secret Life of a Love Doll

Famed artist and photographer Laurie Simmons boasts an impressive career spanning over three decades. She's shown at some of the world's top art institutions and galleries, and appeared on art world popular PBS television series Art 21. She also happens to be the the proud mother of promising young filmmaker Lena Dunham, the 24-year-old director of last year's indie hit Tiny Furniture.

How To: Add Rainbow Effects to Your Photos Using a Cheap Prism

Want to add cool, colorful effects to your photos without paying for filters or using Photoshop? A cheap glass prism (and some practice) is all you need to bend the light to capture images like the ones below taken by wedding photographer Sam Hurd. Sam uses a six inch triangular prism to catch the light and reflect images in front of his lens. The shape allows you to "twist the prism into creating a curve and bend-like distortion of your surroundings," which can create rainbow effects and mir...

News: Meticulous Recreations of Old Family Photographs

It's axiomatic: if you want to know what's different, look to what's the same. And, if you want to know what's the same, look to what's different. What makes Irina Werning's Back to the Future project so amazing then is that, in matching everything that can be matched, she helps us instantly hone in on what can't. In most cases, viewers notice just one thing—the effects of the passage of time on the subjects of the photographs. It's very strange and sometimes even unsettling. But also really,...

How To: Learn studio product photography tricks

This instructional photography video with Jim Talkington explores various studio photography tricks. Whether shooting products or people, the whole reason for studio lighting is to be able to define the things you want to define and to minimize the things you don't want to see in the photograph. Practice these tips and improve your photography skills.

How To: Take a picture of an exploding water balloon

Fine tune your photography skills with this video lesson on how to take a picture of an exploding water balloon. You'll see what equipment you'll need, like cameras, lights, flashes, etc. Pixel Catcher shows you how. It's a matter of perfection, so check out this video to see how to take that photo of exploding water balloons. You could apply this principal to any photograph!

How To: Use long exposure photography to paint with sparklers

Long exposure photography has long allowed photographers to do amazing things with light. Now you can do that! This video will show you how to use a long exposure, sparklers, and Photoshop to create amazing psychedelic art on your photographs. This new art form is called light painting or light writing, looks amazing, and is pretty easy to get started doing. Do it!

How To: Set up a big white infinity sweep for photo studio

This instructional photography video shows how to setup large white infinity backgrounds in the photo studio. The key components to this setup is include this six foot octobox softbox light, which requires quite a bit of power; a framed aluminum reflector; the background itself is vinyl floor painted white; and a black baffle to shield the camera from lens flare. Set up professional looking shoots and take great portraits with this tutorial.

How To: Take pictures of lightning with a Nikon DSLR

Here is a detailed video that explains techniques and equipment you can use to take pictures of a lightning storm. Yes, take photographs in an actual lightning storm. You will definitely need a tripod to take a photograph with a long exposure and a plastic bag to protect your camera from the rain. Telephoto lenses allow you to keep a safe distance and avoid switching lenses during a lightning storm. Equipment used in this video: Nikon d300, Nikon 18-200mm vr and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 vr lenses.