Shooting on location presents all kinds of lighting challenges. You’re at the mercy of the weather, and thus the light. And which light is “best” is a huge matter of personal preference. Some prefer the softness of a cloudy overcast day. Others like that harsh bright direct sunlight. Although the latter is not always that flattering. There are things you can do to overcome this bright harsh sunlight, though. This video from photographer Manny Ortiz shows us his process, and how he works through these challenges....

If you are uploading photos and videos to facebook directly from your phone, you may have noticed that the quality is not on par as the photos you are uploading from your computer. The reason for this is that by default, the facebook app is set to upload low res photos and videos to facebook to save bandwidth and data charges. If you want your photos and videos uploaded at maximum quality, here is what should should do:...

The new Panasonic Lumix GH5 will record 10Bit 4:2:2 video internally, but what exactly does that mean? how will it benefit you? Isn’t video just video? Why is this such a big deal? No, video isn’t just video, and it means quite a great deal. Fortunately for us, Filmmaker Griffin Hammond is here to explain. In short, it offers more tone in colours with less risk of banding in gradients....

All of us writing for DIYP are into photography and/or filmmaking, and since you follow our blog, I believe you are, too. But are you also a Star Wars fan? If you are, then you’ll love this video recently posted by CookeOpticsTV. In this video, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky talks about his experience as the director of photography for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. He reveals what it was like to build sets on a budget, how he lit the scenes, and even how he created the light for lightsabers!...

A man and a woman nearly escaped death while taking selfies near the ocean in Sydney, Australia. They were trying to capture giant waves smashing against a breakwall right behind them. And then, a gigantic wave swept them away, taking them both straight into the ocean. The incident was caught on camera, and it’s a dreadful, but necessary reminder of why you shouldn’t take selfies near such huge waves....

It’s why mine always suck, too. Light pollution. It’s hard to escape it these days. It’s the thing that puts many budding astrophotographers off before they’ve really even got started. This video from Sriram Murali puts things into context. Filmed mostly in California, this short shows how the night sky changes as you get further from the city lights. Sriram uses the Bortle Scale, which ranks skies from 1-9 in order of darkness....

Creativity has no limits, and this photographer is one of many people who confirmed this with an example. Tyson Haslam used his creativity and some very cheap pieces to create a giant X-ray camera. After some thinking and time, he really made something unique and above all – functional. Tyson picked up photography about three years ago, when he and his wife found his grandpa’s old Argus seventy-five and decided to figure out how to use it....

This time last year, the total solar eclipse made millions of people stop, observe, film and photograph the breathtaking sight. Photographer Jon Carmichael captured the totality from an airplane and made it look like the photo was taken from space. Many people have described it as “the most amazing image ever taken from a commercial airplane.” And now, Carmichael shares the equally amazing story that follows this awe-inspiring photo.Advertisements...

The Wetzlar Camera Auction is always interesting and sometimes amusing to watch. Interesting to see some of the rare items that often seem to pop up and amusing because of the ridiculous sums of money that some people are willing to fork over in order to own them. And the recently concluded Wetzlar auction is no exception, where one person paid almost $700,000 for a rare 24x24mm Leica M prototype....

At some point or another, many photographers will get the idea into their heads that maybe, one day, they’d like to have a go at shooting large format film. For those who shoot digital, it’s often a far-fetched fantasy. But for those already working with 35mm and medium format film, the idea isn’t quite so crazy. In this hilarious short film, Jason Kummerfeldt from grainydays beautifully expresses that first 8×10 large format film experience and he does it in the entirely pretentious way that most of us hear from some large format film shooters....

Sometimes, you see a video that makes you just go “wtf did I just watch?”. This snowboarding short, A GoPro Adventure in Les 3 Vallees, by filmmaker Claudiu Voicu is a perfect example of that. Shot entirely with the GoPro Hero 6 and GoPro Fusion, this three-minute video contains some of the most challenging shot transitions out there. Oh, and giant aliens. Despite being a personal project, this looks like a lot of extremely hard work....

Advertisements Forough Yavari is an award-winning portrait and fine art photographer based in Brisbane, Australia. After studying art at university, photography turned from a personal hobby into a professional challenge for her. She had multiple painting and photography exhibitions and has won several national and international awards. The winning photo is titled Solitude, and I learned from Forough’s Instagram post that it was a loss that inspired her to take it....

The Environmental Photographer of the Year has announced its 2021 winners. As the contest name suggests, this is a selection of photos that depicts humanity’s struggle with environmental issues, but also its adaptability and ability to survive. And just as always, the selected photos will leave no one indifferent. Now in its 14th year, the competition showcases the most inspirational environmental photography from around the world. The selected photos should call us to action, and inspire us to live sustainably, and do what is in our power to be kind to our environment....

Canon has posted an update to the recent issues surrounding its image.canon service. According to TechRadar, the official word from Canon now is that they did not find any unauthorised access to the system as a result of the issue that caused data loss. They say that it’s completely unrelated to the ransomware attack, which also happened last week. The company has now confirmed that that the whole data loss issue was down to a simple coding error....

Lens caps are probably the thing I used to lose the most often, until I quit bothering replacing them. If I have none to lose, then I can’t lose them, problem solved. Sometimes, though, having lens caps saves a lot of hassle. Lenses that I use often are regularly cleaned. But, for lenses that end up sitting on the shelf unused for several months, cleaning dust out of the front element can be a pain....

Although meters in digital cameras have come a very long way and become extremely advanced, metering with film often isn’t so simple. With digital, even if your camera’s meter isn’t that great, you can quickly and easily see the results on the histogram to know if they’re right and adjust accordingly. But for film, we need to be a little more sure. In this video, Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens walks us through three ways of metering our shot when using film....

One of the big problems with posting photos to social media is that the quality often gets destroyed. The phenomenon is most notable on Facebook where every day I see people asking “What’s the best settings to export for posting photos to Facebook?”. Well, Facebook might still destroy them, but Twitter won’t. They’re now going to be preserving the upload quality of images you post. In a Tweet (how else?...

A few weeks ago, a model friend of mine, Rachelle Kathleen, and I were planning to meet for a fun little photo shoot. Instead of searching out the usual beautiful locations around where we live, I had the idea to do just the opposite. I wanted to go somewhere “ugly” by all conventional photography standards, and then see what we could do with it, and Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option....

Landscape photography is one of my favorite genres, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll love the winning photos of the 2021 Natural Landscape Photography Awards. The best image of the year shows the tip of an iceberg, and wouldn’t let me stop staring at it in awe. But it’s only… well, a tip of the iceberg, as this contest showcases plenty more stunning photos in the winners’ gallery. So, let’s check them out!...

The new Sony a7R III has brought some improvements many of their users have been waiting for. Still, there are debates whether or not it is worth the upgrade. Photographer Manny Ortiz has tested out the new camera from Sony, and he votes “yes” on the upgrade. In his latest video, he gives five reasons why he’ll switch from the a7R II to the a7R III. Let’s see if you agree these reasons are worth the upgrade....