[Photography] Collaboration – 8 Ways to Work With Other Photographers

In an industry where marketing strategy and professional branding are needed to survive and to “make it” fiscally, we are missing something that should define our artistic craft. Just like in any other industry, collaboration is not an ideal that limits photographers, but one that can propel us personally and professionally. Understanding that photography is not usually seen as a “team sport”, how can we collaborate with each other while retaining our individuality as visual artists?

Here are 8 ways to work with other photographers

#1 Photos – create something together

The Kite (created by Francisco Diaz and Deb Young)

To varying degrees, we are each protective of our images. We watermark. We utilize Google’s image search function to ensure that our work is not being borrowed. We even occasionally check to see that the photographer down the road is not emulating our brand, or photographic style. Yet, with a bit of deep thinking and reflection, we should understand that there is little in the photographic world that is fresh or new. Realizing this, we are able to detach a bit from our work and open our minds to the possibility of collaborating in the production of photographs.

One example of collaborative creation can be found in the work of Francisco Diaz (USA) and Deb Young (New Zealand). The pair work continually on their appropriately titled The International Collaboration Project that crosses borders and photographic norms. Frank “wondered if disparate individuals from countries halfway around the world could work together in real time as a positive model for creation rather than destruction.” Diaz and Young’s project proves that not only a positive model of creation exists, but that photographers can work together to produce meaningful imagery collaboratively.

#2 Assist another photographer

Owning your own photography business has many perks. Yet, working for someone else does not mean that you have degraded yourself or your position as a pro shooter. Working for someone can be likened to helping. By assisting a fellow photographer, you not only have the chance to learn a new technique, you have the opportunity to give back to the photographic community. With the right attitude, experienced shooters can prove to be amazing assistants and can aid their comrades.

Photo courtesy of Welkinlight Photography

#3 Pose for another photographer

You don’t have to be a hundred pound, six-foot bombshell to be a model. Posing for a fellow photographer is incredibly helpful for both you and the shooter. Your collaborator will be able to test new techniques (such as posing and lighting) with a patient model. Moreover, as a photographer, you will be accepting, and let faux pas like chimping (reviewing the screen after every click of the shutter) slide. Perhaps the most important perk of modelling is that you get the opportunity to see how your own clients feel posing and being directed by a photographer. This empathetic exercise will have immediate benefit as you transition back to photographer.

Glen Riley of GTR Photographic Images modelling

#4 Constructive Critique

Fairly regularly, friendly photographers and I sit down with a coffee or beer to share and critique our recent work. In addition, each participant shows work that they are currently inspired by. In this way, members of the group gain valuable feedback from their respected peers, and have the chance to view their work from an alternate perspective. Additionally, there is an opportunity to learn about inspirational industry professionals (or hobbyists). By constructively acknowledging one another’s work, we collaboratively prompt each other to improve our craft.

#5 Trade services with another photographer

Every weekend we clean and pack our kits to meet clients for sessions, or to head out to shoot personal work. Yet, when was the last time the camera was pointed at you and your loved ones? Sure, quality photographic services can be expensive (just check your own pricing guide). Why not reach out to other photographers and propose trades? Fellow photographer Dylan Goldby (Welkinlight Photography) and I do just that. We both receive portrait packages of our loved ones that would normally cost hundreds of dollars. Yet, with a collaborative mindset, those lifestyle packages become free.

Photo courtesy of Welkinlight Photography

#6 Send referrals to other photographers

It is important to try multiple genres of photography (landscape, architecture, lifestyle, fashion, nudes, etc.). However, if you have already honed your craft and identified your photographic niche, don’t gobble up every assignment that comes your way. If approached by a client but your “competition” shoots the genre or project better than you, send the client their way. I repeat, send your competition assignments! I promise that practicing this habit will come back to benefit you in the end. Your competition will remember your kindness and return the favor. Generally speaking, those photographers who are considerate of their colleagues have an easier time filling their calendar.

Portrait of a client that was referred to me by a fellow photographer

#7 Share – gear and links

Gear is expensive and anyone with GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) can testify that it is easy to see a zero bank account balance with one trip to B&H or your local camera store. There is a more economical option of renting gear from a photographic supply store, or better yet, borrow gear from fellow photographers. Need a Wescott Apollo Orb for a studio session? Simple, ask a fellow photographer. Keep in mind that it will soon enough be your turn to lend.

Hint: Under no circumstance should you lend gear to shooters you don’t trust or know well. Also, be sure to add extra care when handling gear that is not yours.

Yet, sharing isn’t limited to material goods. From name-dropping in casual conversation, to displaying the work of others on your Facebook photography page, spread the work of others. By sharing the work of fellow photographers, you are helping generate camaraderie and showing that you are not solely self-interested. An excellent model of this practice can be found in the fine art photographer Mark Eaton. Pulling up Mark’s blog, it is immediately obvious that Mark cares just as much about supporting his fellow photographers, as he does his print sales.

Vision Reduced by Mark Eaton

#8 Teach

When was the last time you taught someone something? There is an indescribably satisfying feeling gained when you share knowledge. Let’s face it. Everything we know about photography, we were taught. There is no such thing as a “self taught” photographer. Learned about lighting on YouTube? Guess what, a fellow pro took the time to make that YouTube tutorial.

We each have the responsibility to pay knowledge forward. Teaching photographic skills and strategies to others will not increase competition (remember, it takes more than technical expertise to distinguish an accomplished photographer). Take an amateur, or less experienced photographer, on a photo walk. Write a tutorial detailing a technique you use. Instruct a workshop at a local community center. Who knows, you might enjoy teaching so much that this aspect of collaboration becomes part of your business plan. Examples of photographers turned teachers can be found in the great workshops offered by Flash Light Expeditions or the tailored Southeast Asian tours led by fellow dPS contributor Etienne Bossot.

Students learning at a course offered by Flash Light Expeditions

While many of us feel that photography and artistic creation are solitary actions, we should be careful not to isolate ourselves in our vast industry. No man (or woman) is an island. By collaborating with fellow photographers, the opportunity to grow, both personally and professionally, is limitless.

Have you tried any of these things? Do you have other ideas of tips on how to collaborate? Please share in the comments below.

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[Photography] The New Photographer’s Ephemeris Desktop Beta Version Announce

The Photographer’s Ephemeris for Desktop: All Change!

Some important news for users of The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) for Desktop: on 2 September 2014, Google will switch off the Google Maps for Flash API. On that date TPE for Desktop will stop working.

When TPE for Desktop was first launched in 2009, we still lived in a pre-iPad world and Steve Jobs had yet to write his thoughts on Flash. Building on Adobe AIR provided a convenient cross-platform technology that allowed users on Windows, Mac and Linux to run the same application.

Since then, the popularity of Flash has declined significantly and Adobe AIR was repurposed towards mobile development. It has served TPE for Desktop well, but it’s time for a change.

A New Photographer’s Ephemeris Web App

The new web app is already live

Happily, this hasn’t come as a total surprise! We have a new TPE for Desktop ready to step into the breach. The new TPE web app is already live and available at app.photoephemeris.com. You can start using it right now. We’re keeping it in Beta until September 2nd, and will continue to refine it over the coming weeks as you send us your feedback.

The web app runs in a variety of modern browsers. It has been tested in the current versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer (11) and Opera. As with the old TPE, it is designed for use on desktop computers or laptops equipped with a mouse or track pad.

One advantage of the web app: you no longer need to install additional software or to continually update to a new version of Adobe AIR. You get the latest version automatically each time you visit the site.

New Features

TPE has a loyal following and this is going to be a big change for some. The user interface may look different, but the new web app includes the same functionality as the old desktop version and comes with a number of enhancements.

Celestial events for the day are displayed in the events timeline below the map. At a glance, you can see the day’s information chronologically.

A chart of the sun, and moon’s, journey throughout the day is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Scrolling the time slider changes sun and moon information relative to your selected pin position and date.

Same features as the old desktop version, but with some great additions.

New features include:

• Sharing: look up locations; set date and time, then share the URL of the web page


• Saved locations can be used to set the grey pin position as well as the red – great for planning both camera and subject placement


• Six degree shadow circle: this new feature shows sun and moon shadows, and highlights, when the sun or moon sit between +0° and +6° above the horizon – times when there’s often good light (so-called “golden hour”) or when the moon can be photographed against features in the landscape


• Use Google Street View directly from the map


• Timeline and chart toggle on and off to increase map “real estate” – great for users with small screens


• Support: you can submit feedback or a support request directly from the app

Look after your locations!

Locations stored in the old desktop version can be exported and saved as a KML file, and then imported into the new web app. We’d encourage you to do this now ahead of the September 2nd deadline.

Once imported, the web app saves locations in your browser’s local storage. In order to ensure you don’t inadvertently lose your locations, we advise exporting and saving the KML files as backups. Look after your saved locations the way you look after your photos.

It’s time to switch

Say goodbye to the old TPE desktop app, it’s time to switch (caption)

Just like the original TPE for Desktop, the new desktop web app remains free to use.

You can send feedback to TPE at any time using the support tab in the web app. TPE is used by so many professional and amateur photographers around the world, and this is a great opportunity for you to help shape this useful tool.

We’re adding updated tutorials to the TPE website in the weeks leading up to September 2nd. There is also a Quick Start Guide you can download directly from the web app page. It outlines the major functionality along with a list of useful keyboard shortcuts.

Go ahead and try it out today!

Get The Photographer’s Ephemeris available free of charge. Tutorials are available.

Here’s a few dPS articles that mention TPE so you can try it out:

• It’s all about the light: The Photographer’s Ephemeris


• Finding New Photography Locations Just Got Easier With ShotHotspot


• 8 Simple Guidelines for Capturing Spectacular Sunrise and Sunset Images


• 5 Hot Tips For Improving Your Summer Photography

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[Photography] Step by Step how to Brighten the Walls in Your Indoor Photos

“I swear, the walls were white!” you exclaim as you look through indoor photos taken from an earlier shoot, that now appear to have an annoying yellow tint over everything. Sound familiar? Don’t worry, you’re not crazy. This is a common frustration, photographers of all experience levels face due to what’s referred to as “color casting”. Color casting is simply the effect of light striking different surfaces and bouncing back other colors into your camera’s sensor. Though annoying, it’s also relatively unavoidable without careful calculation and additional equipment.

Powerful photographs are created before, during, and after the click of your camera. Sometimes, especially when it comes to photographing wiggly, unpredictable children, you don’t exactly have time to calibrate with a gray card, adjust your camera settings, or take a test shot. If you’re not already bored by the thought of it, by the time you actually work through this process, the moment has passed, and you’re still fiddling with a camera instead of chasing after your little subject.

Since some of the best natural shots occur in the comfort of your home, it’s important to make sure the walls surrounding you aren’t obstructing the emotion you could be catching with awkward color casts. Even though grasping skills like proper exposure, white balance settings, and other in-camera techniques are key to creating good photos, they are only pieces of the greater puzzle. Sometimes, it’s the things like communicating effectively with your subject, learning to naturally direct posing, and mastering basic post-processing tricks that truly take that in-camera image and reveal the emotion behind it. Luckily, correcting dingy-wall syndrome is a quick and easy way to improve your indoor shots. With just a few quick steps in Photoshop, you can restore brightness to your walls and subjects and drastically improve your shot.

Above is the image I started with. The walls were white and the couch was tan, but the color cast over the image makes everything appear dingy. This is what we’re working towards:

How to fix this – steps:

Step one

Operating on a new layer, navigate to the ‘Replace Color’ tool by clicking on Image > Adjustments > Replace Color

Step two

A dialog box will pop up. Make sure the ‘Localized Colors’ box is checked and the ‘Eyedropper’ tool is selected. Sample a section of the wall from the original image you want to adjust. With the ‘selection’ option active, your preview shows what color will be affected by with adjustment in white. Play with the fuzziness slider until your preview shows the best selection. It’s okay if it picks up some colors from other parts of the image you don’t want to adjust; we’ll go back and fix that later.

Option: You can also select just the portion of the image you want to change by using the Quick Select tool.

Step three

Slide the saturation bar to the left to decrease the color tones, but not too far that it creates noise (grain) from the contrast. Slide the ‘lightness’ bar to the right to adjust the brightness of your white, but again, not so much that it creates unusual contrast. Use your judgment based your particular photo to determine the levels that achieve the best result. Click ‘Ok”.

Step four

If your fuzziness picked up any samples from areas that you did not wish to change, like faces for example, simply select the ‘Eraser’ tool and paint over those areas to restore the original color. You can adjust the opacity of your eraser to control the amount of color you wish to restore as well. (You can also use a layer mask to do this)

That’s it! Now you can make any other changes or adjustments to the image. This one simple fix makes a huge difference in the impact of your images and takes less than a minute to complete once you get the hang of it. Normally, “I’ll fix it in post-processing” is not a great motto to adopt as a photographer and of course, you should aim to do as much in camera as possible. But hey, life is spontaneous! This quick little trick is an easy way for you to truly enhance the natural beauty of your indoor images and you’ll never have to worry about missing the shot again because of your in-camera white balance.

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[Photography] Finding Great Subjects to Photograph Close to Home

You don’t need to take expensive and exotic trips to make good images. So if staying at home is more your thing then a few simple ideas can help you create beautiful images. What you might view as commonplace and bland can still be photographed in an imaginative and skillful way to produce an image that shows a far more striking aspect of the subject or scene. I am not suggesting you get all creative with software manipulation either. I am suggesting explore your imagination and creativity; perhaps push your technical boundaries a little and this will further enhance your photographic skill.

The ability to take an everyday scene and construct from it a superb image will require your application of some or all of the following:

• vision to see the various elements that might be included in an image


• concentration and time to develop the idea and assimilate all the components


• awareness to recognize the potential of a color, shape and form


• observation to study the scene and time enough to mentally collate the aspects of the image and to try them out in camera


• willingness to try something new

This skill of making the mundane magnificent is not dependent on the type of camera and lens you use, it works with anything. My particular interest is nature and wildlife, but the skill can readily be applied to most of your chosen genres of photography.

Getting started

To start you should be looking for a spark or catalyst to kick off the mental process. This can be anything that takes your fancy such as color, shape, pattern or motion.

Once you have selected your particular environment, and isolated some elements for a composition, then take some time to arrange and rearrange them in your mind. Walk around, kneel, lie down and test different perspectives. Work the opportunity and let the image evolve, don’t rush it. You may get a few strange looks in certain circumstances, but that is the price you pay.

Something simple like a field of rapeseed (or field of other flowers or crops depending on where you live) is a common, beautiful, bright yellow sight which also heralds the arrival of summer. The endless fields of yellow can be monotonous, but they can provide you with a colorful subject in their own right, or a backdrop for a smaller subject. You can use the color, the size of the field and the detail of individual flowers. Look about for a subject, choose a perspective and include other elements such as: blue sky, clouds, a tree, a car, a sunrise or sunset, or all of the above. Let the image unfold.

Finding subjects close to home

The images here are all taken this year, with this article in mind, all within a couple of miles of my house. This is to demonstrate that there is much on our doorsteps that might keep our photographic needs satisfied, well some of them at least.

Choose any patch of grass on a dewy morning and have a look for a good collection of dew drops and try a backlit shot. The sparkles and perfect shapes of the droplets make an intriguing subject. Here I have turned the image into a black and white just to emphasize the shape and patterns, but often you’ll want to keep the lovely green of the grass.

Garden birds are probably the most accessible wildlife for you budding nature photographers. With some simple skills you can go beyond just taking a record shot, but can create lovely images. Place a bird feeder in a good position, with a decent background, and a thoughtfully placed perch and sit back and wait. Change the perch and change the background at will and you have a whole suite of different images available to you.

A sunrise over a meadow may be a regular occurrence in your home patch, but to make it a little different get down low in the vegetation. Here I have obstructed the sun with a tree at the edge of the meadow, and thus broken the sunlight up into many light sources coming through the foliage. The background is formed by selecting an aperture that provides sizeable circles of confusion (out of focus light sources) behind the subject. The subject is just a few seeding grass heads, but you can turn the simple into the stunning by constructing an image.

Vast fields of cultivated crops can provide you with a wonderful opportunity. A bright yellow rapeseed field for example. Look for something to isolate within the vast swathe of yellow that provides a point of interest in an image full of color. Sometimes it is simply a color that can spark your thinking, but spotting a dewy web provides a focus for the image. Prowling the edge of the fields on a bright and sunny day will also yield a lot of insect life, which could become your whole new world.

You can choose a different day and different weather to change your image. On a foggy day dewdrops collect on spider webs and can give you an abstract view of the rapeseed field. The spark here was the pattern effect of the drops and then the gorgeous yellow background.

This image was created by using a long lens that can accommodate a lot of foreground (has a lot of reach and you can stay back from the subject) and can throw the background and foreground out of focus with a shallow depth of field, while filling the frame. If you shoot into the sun, then the sunlight passing through the green foliage will bring out the bright, and almost luminous, green of the leaf with which you can compose the foreground and background. The spark was the beautiful color of the backlit green foliage, completely different from the front-lit color.

Sometimes simplicity is the only catchword you need to remember. Find a patch of wildflowers, pick the most concentrated spot and shoot away, picking various subjects. The color and the profusion will give you all you need to create an intriguing and colorful image.

Spring and summer are obviously the prime times for encountering wildlife, and therefore photographic subjects for your nature images are abundant. Unless you live in the tropics, the winter season can be a lot more mundane, so you are probably going to have to work harder. Colorful weeds and insects are always a feature of summer. Putting them together works a treat, although it may take some patience.

It is not all about your hands and knees or the hedgehog perspective, so a few leading lines and an old barn will give you a far superior image to a snapshot of endless cultivated fields. Throw in a few colorful wildflowers in the foreground, a dark stormy sky and the farm fields you drive past routinely may take on a new perspective.

A very sparse little patch of flowers, with color being their only redeeming quality, can still provide you with a good opportunity. This technique is purely an in-camera one and utilizes controlled motion of the lens. Slow the shutter speed (low light, low ISO, dull weather or a combination) and zoom in or out by hand while the shutter is open gives the resulting motion blur. This can be used in a variety of ways and once you start your imagination may take hold. If you don’t have a zoom do the same with your prime lens but twist the camera in your hands.

So just to show you that you can make great images close to home with a little effort.

Do you have any other tips or tricks for finding ordinary things and making great photos? Please share in the comments below.

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[Photography] How to use Monochrome Preview to Compose Better Color Photos

You may have heard it said that when you change the way you see – the things you see begin to change. Legendary American documentary photographer and photojournalist, Dorothea Lange once said that “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” In this article we are going to use our camera to learn how to see.

Become color blind

When it comes to photography, color can attract your eye so readily that it can often disguise poor composition. Black and white photography depends totally on composition, so in order to compose images more effectively you may need to become color blind. This article is going to explore how to view your images without color, learning to see the light and shapes in your subjects. Fortunately, these days most digital cameras have a black and white or monochrome shooting mode. In this mode the live preview (and replay) on your camera’s LCD will appear black and white, but your RAW file will still retain all color information. Using this method is meant to be used as an exercise to help you learn to see your compositions more clearly.

LCD preview of this colorful image is composed using rule of third grid in black and white

Camera settings:

• Set your file type to RAW (This is a must!)


• Set White Balance


• Set your Picture Control (Nikon) or Picture Styles (Canon) to Monochrome


• Set your exposure with whichever method you normally use


• Turn on your Live View


• Turn on rule of third grid lines on your preview


• Use the black and white preview in Live View on your LCD to compose your image, paying special attention to the entire image for tones, shapes, lines and textures. Remember also to use all of the usual rules of composition, such as the rule of thirds, etc.

In black and white it becomes easier to see how this bridge draws the views eye into the image.

Tripod use is not a requirement for this system, but is helpful for two reasons: first of all, it frees up your hands to experiment with your camera controls and secondly, (and most importantly) it slows you down to allow you to analyze every aspect of your image.

Removing color from your preview makes it easier to see the shapes, lines, textures and tones and allows you to concentrate on your composition.

Don’t expect to get everything perfect in camera. Post-production is your friend! Even the great Ansel Adams produced most of his magic in the darkroom. But of course you want to get it as close as you can in camera. Be especially sure you get the white balance set as accurately as possible, because when shooting in RAW, white balance and exposure are the only camera settings that are retained by your RAW file. However, the white balance can be corrected in your RAW processing.

It is recommended that since you will be viewing a monochrome image on your LCD that you check your histogram to ensure that your image is properly exposed.

Here we can see how the rocks in the foreground lead the viewer’s eye to the waterfalls.

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, your image will be previewed on your LCD in black and white, but your RAW file will record color. If you should choose to shoot in RAW + JPG mode your RAW file will be recorded in color but your JPG will record only black and white.

Don’t panic when you see a monochrome preview upon importing your RAW files into Lightroom (or whatever you use for post-processing). As soon as you click on the image you will get a color preview.

There are many methods of creating black and white images and most photographers will agree that it is best to start with a color file. Therefore, another use for this preview method comes into play if you are shooting an image that you know you will later be converting to black and white. You’ll get a good preview of how your image may appear later upon converting your RAW file to black and white, and will know right away whether your image will be effective in black and white.

One disadvantage with this method that is worth mentioning is that using the Live View mode will drain your batteries faster.

This image could also make a great black and white with lots of textures and a very interesting subject

This method is great for landscape, architectural, and abstract photography where it is so important to see tones, shapes and lines for composition. Yes, there are some obvious times when color may play an important part of your images such as in the fall where the colors may become your subject, but every method has its exceptions.

Try this experiment. First, shoot your scene as you would do normally with color preview. Then shoot it again with a black and white preview. You might be surprised with the difference in your results.

Give it a try, please share your results in the comments below.

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