Food Studio Lighting Vlog

Have you found yourself hunting down new and different recipes to cook lately? Have you been taking photos of your creations and sharing them on social media? Have you thought about shooting video of your meal prep, or perhaps even starting your own food blog or vlog? People have been taking photos of food for decades. While that used to mean more “commercial” food photography (think of advertising, menus and cookbooks), social media and smartphones have meant more and more everyday people sharing fancy desserts, big juicy burgers or artfully […]

boy taking a photograph in the outdoors

Due to ongoing COVID-19 preventative measures, many day camps and summer programs for kids have been canceled this year. That means a lot of parents are looking for ways to keep their kids entertained and engaged over the summer months. One solution: Teach your kids about photography! With just a little bit of planning, you can create a photography camp for your kids right at home. It’s not just something to do in what might be a long summer without a lot of activities; it’s a great way to spend […]

Custom Shortcuts on Sony Alpha a7 III

We don’t often think about a camera’s on-board menu structure until after we’ve made our decision — or until we start shooting! But how a menu is laid out, how intuitive the screens are to navigate and how easy the settings are to understand can make a huge difference in how we go about shooting. Using Custom Buttons & Keys As part of your camera’s menu system, you should have access to settings for customizable buttons and keys. These programmable keys allow you to set your most frequently accessed functions […]

Lady holding plant in a pot in an outdoor garden

Bring Your Photos to Life this Spring! Summer is just a month away, and the warmer months are usually a great time to get outdoors to shoot landscapes and nature. And even though the current world situation means many of us can’t travel to new and interesting locations to shoot, that doesn’t mean we don’t have ways to hone our skills and take great shots close to home. Garden photography is one way to do just that. Photographing your own garden or yard, or visiting a nearby public park (while […]

Gear for Livestreaming and YouTube

There’s never been a better time to live stream. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been an increase in our collective appetite for great online content. If you have an idea for a YouTube or Instagram TV show, now is the time to put it out there! And if you already have an online streaming presence, it’s an ideal time to refine it in ways that can help stand out from the crowd. So what does it take to become a great streamer? A great idea, of course. But once […]

Dog laying on the floor

Our collective efforts to stay inside and practise social distancing certainly puts constraints on typical photo-friendly activities like connecting with friends, attending events, and travelling abroad. That said, these measures do provide aspiring photographers with a chance to slow down, reconnect with their past work, expand their skill set, and even focus on key techniques that will build a stronger foundation for their future efforts. To help you use your time inside productively, here are some activities you can try out to improve or revisit different aspects of your photography. […]