Fashion photography’s origin is closely linked to art, especially in those cases in which editorial names like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and more. Nowadays, fashion photography has evolved into a complex genre that scopes from sophisticated concepts published by fashion magazines to casual lifestyle imagery posted in a consistent way by highly skilled individuals.
What makes fashion in fashion photography is the unquestionable relationship it has to any of the outcomes from the fashion industry; clothes, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, and hair, all construct the iconic spirit of fashion. From models to backgrounds, they all make the necessary means for these products to tell the story in a moving and fashionable way.
Here, we’ll be sharing the seven essential tips and techniques needed for starting out today in the magnificent world of fashion photography!
1. It Ain’t Portraiture
Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in which fashion photography newcomers tend to fall is the general confusion this genre keeps with portraiture. It is true that fashion photography can benefit from using portraits, but it is a broader universe in that sense. It can contain portraiture, but it surely doesn’t limit to making just fashionable portraits, whatever that might be.
This is important for you to understand because it will open up the creative possibilities that the portraiture mindset could be possibly restraining on your side. For example, portrait photographers tend to love shooting with 85mm lenses, but does that necessarily mean you could only shoot with that focal length as a fashion photographer? Of course not!
2. Build a Concept
Or at least have a story to tell. It is no secret that there are tons of talented photographers out there doing pretty much anything within the doable scope. But, there’s still room for rising talent in this highly crowded place of fashion photography; and that’s achieved with the aid of concept construction. Unfortunately for this, there isn’t an exact recipe. Hence the “at least have a story to tell” advice. Building a concept is just a fancy way of saying that in visual communication efforts, our creations should have a purpose; and that is the concept behind a photograph. But one thing is certain about concepts in fashion photography, they all are directed to selling something, and that something is any of the five aforementioned inanimate objects in which the fashion industry revolves. Selling any of those should be your conceptual baseline, and how to sell them will rely entirely on your creativity. As a specialized website in online photography courses which provides a professional variety of photography learning in the Middle East, Art and Creativity provide an extensive fashion photography course with step-by-step tricks and hacks.
3. Plan Ahead
Concepts aren’t out there in the wild waiting for us to cherry-pick them out, they have to be built with the aid of logic and imagination. And that requires sitting down and making some plans. Fashion photography is the way in which the fashion industry speaks to us in seductive ways, and for those images to become real, a lot of people must be added to the equation.
Make-up artists, locations, wardrobes, models, catering, and lighting assistants are some of the few common roles that get involved in moderately decent fashion photography projects. And in order to succeed in an endeavor like this one, zero improvisation should be allowed. Well, some improv wouldn’t hurt the images, but please don’t rely on having any plan at all. As in any other branch of commercial photography, preparation is fundamental for fashion-related projects as well.
4. Keep Lighting Simple
Even when solely relying on naturally available light, keeping things simple will guarantee you delicate and elegant results. Also, rich tonalities are better achieved when using soft lighting sources. But if you are planning on using some artificial lights as well, then keeping things simple will make your shooting more pleasant for sure. Light is the raw material with which any photograph is crafted, and having too much of it too little could ruin the whole thing; especially when there’s a concept that must be achieved in communicational terms. Understanding how light works as something that gets transformed throughout the photographic workflow will keep you safe from breaking your bank account. One good light source and a simple reflector could be enough to fill a properly lit scene with already available light. Some filmmakers rely on practical lighting, which is using distinct artificial light sources like candles, light bulbs, monitor screens, car lights, Christmas lights, etc. All in order to fill the gaps left behind from available light in a natural and realistic way.
For several photographers, this might sound familiar. A really common mistake newcomers tend to make is trying to create very complicated lighting schemes with flashes and strobes everywhere. History has told us that this only makes things worse, and takes the joy out of the craft. Be smart, learn from our mistakes, pick a location, see & feel what you have to work with, and only then think about how to light it in a useful way.
5. Find One Lens
This one goes against many suggestions, the same which are suspiciously sponsored by camera brands telling us to explore different optics and focal lengths options. But the truth is quite simple and doesn’t require that many gears. If you are just starting out, it will be very likely that the number 18-55mm feels somewhat familiar to you. This focal range corresponds to the usual cheap lens bundled with entry-level DSLR and mirrorless cameras, and it does have a purpose beyond knowing if your brand new camera works properly.
The kit lens is the humble introduction to the fantastic world of interchangeable lens capabilities. If you find yourself comfortable shooting with numbers between 18 and 28mm, then you should probably invest in a wide-angle lens that will allow you to continue capturing your fashion-oriented shots with that storytelling wide perspective. Certain companies have developed such capable wide-angle lenses, that they deliver virtually no barrel distortion when shooting with them. Also, they are built with high-quality components and come with fast apertures for shooting in subtle and low-light situations.
If you find yourself comfortable with a bit of walking while still retaining some amount of wideness and that normal perspective feel, then a 35mm lens will be your next best friend. And if you are more into the portraiture approach with your fashion images, then a 50mm could do the trick for you. And also this optic is considered to be “normal” as it corresponds to normal human sign capabilities when mounted in a full-frame camera.
Last but not least, longer lenses or telephotos tend to deliver a really nice perspective when it comes to portraits; therefore anything from 85mm to 200 will be good for you. Just take into account that long lenses are harder to use when shooting hand-held. One thing that you need to remember is this, in fashion, you are trying to sell something, it might have room for artistic expressions, but in the end, it will still be commercial imagery, therefore try to look for a lens that will guarantee you that products will look as stunning as your clients expect them to be.
6. Stick to that Lens
This is one of the most important photographic pieces of advice you’ll ever receive. After finding that new lens that makes you feel at ease with your photographs, stop worrying about another one. Stick to it for at least one or two years, get to know that lens like your best friend, learn its behavior under any light circumstance, get to know how to anticipate frames with it, get to know which are the scenes or conditions the lens won’t make it with. And after that, you’ll be able to respond to light with your lens as if it is an embedded part of your body.
7. Take the Concept to Post-Processing
Another big mistake many photographers make is that they forget that a concept or purpose should be by the photographs side at every moment, even during the publishing stage. Therefore, when starting to develop your raw files, ask yourself, what should the developing decisions be made? Starting from white-balance to even lens corrections, everything has to go in line with the purpose of your photographs. It is no surprise that the White-Balance sliders are the very first thing one encounters in several raw image development software. It is the most crucial decision regarding the message that an image is willing to convey. A warm temperature will result in a soothing vibe, and a cold temperature could result in a nostalgic feel. Any emotion can be enhanced with this decision, and all of the following adjustments should correspond to the message that you are trying to convey.
Wrapping it Up
No matter the style that as a fashion photographer you might end up developing, there’s one thing that you should never forget, fashion photography serves a specific purpose, and that is to sell fashion-related items. It might be open to wildly creative and even artistic images but in the end, they have to influence people into making some buying decisions that will benefit the brand behind the shot.
Related Classes
Lara Zankoul – Editorial Fashion Photography
https://artandcreativity.com/course/editorial-fashion-photography/
How to learn food photography as professionals? Food Photography is one of the most attractive photography categories for photographers. In recent years, food photographers are one of the most required jobs in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Due to the booming in restaurants and hospitality services, food photography is becoming an important skill and career for photographers. Moreover, the rise of food startups including all types of food business from small restaurants to food delivery and bakery is increasing the need for professional food photography in Dubai, Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Kuwait, Doha, Al Riyadh, and Jeddah.
Eventually, while there is a huge demand for food photography, the market is still evolving and the skillset in many Arabic countries is not enough. However, there are highly professional food photographers in the UAE, Egypt, and Lebanon. Moreover, there is also high competition with photography agencies from the international market. Yet, the local Arabic talents still have a high edge since they are more advanced with understanding the local culture.
Arabic food photography is a unique skill that requires a deep understanding of the Arabic consumer food culture, local cuisines, and the food style that appeals to the consumer. The first step to becoming a professional food photographer in Arab countries is to understand the consumer taste and food style.
Study the different local cuisines in the Levant region, Egypt, Morocco, Gulf, and Mediterranean cuisines before you start shooting. Each Arabic kitchen has it is own food style, colors, ingredient, and dinning culture. This will advance your skills on the set and will help your clients to deliver their right menu and marketing brand.
As a photographer, creativity is the first role. There are so many professional photographers who can capture and edit a high-quality photo, yet when it comes to food as an element, it is important to have your own creative style.
At the beginning of your photography journey, creating quality work is most likely going to be your first concern. However, developing your identity is what going to last and will make you stand out among other photographers. Think creatively and set a plan to develop your art of photography. Quantity of photography is important and setting up a commercial portfolio requires time, but creating your own creative mindset is the key to position yourself in the market.
Online food photography courses are one of the most advanced shortcuts to learn food photography and to enhance your skills in a short time. Learning from professional food photographers will provide you with the main fundamentals of food photography tips, lighting tips, camera settings, propping and styling, and most importantly, how to edit your work for your customers.
In Art and Creativity, we worked with one of the most influenced food photographers in the Arab world, Yehia El Alaily to provide an online food photography course. With 12 lessons, the course represents the essential knowledge of food photography as well as live tutorials in the studio. Yehia El Alaily in this course takes you into an entertaining journey to learn the most effective hacks and tips of shooting food and he will also teach you to edit your food photography work.
Have a good time of your day with browsing and exploring beautiful food imagery from around the world and locally. Develop a daily habit of chasing food photography beautiful art. It will give you ideas and will refresh your imagination as a photographer. By searching for beauty, you will understand by time how to move your emotions before taking a new picture.
One of the most valuable tips by professional photographers is setting a consistent portfolio. While some would focus on the brands they worked with and the different markets they attended across the Arabic countries, the most important factor is your identity. The portfolio is a reflection of who you are, and in order to be successful with food photography, it is crucial to create your quality, theme, and style. When you start your food photography learning it is important to get some classes about how to create themes with your work. The photo above is the website of our instructor Yehia El Alaily
Professional photographers tend always to plan using sketches and storyboards before they start. In food photography, it is critical to start planning before you prepare the set and get into the studio. Shooting dishes, food, and beverages depend heavily on the preparation.
You will need to create a story you want to tell and choose the right content for it. Choosing the color palette, food style, accessories, lighting direction and all elements related to the composition are highly effective steps of the planning process.
Therefore, professional food photographers, have a good time in preparation and planning before starting a food photography session. This to help them focus on creating efficient photography and managing their time probably during the shooting and post-processing.
Food photography is different than other categories of photography. While portrait, fashion, and makeup photography are about human as a hero, food photography is about the food object and human emotions. It is a tricky part when you start to learn food photography. Some might think that food styling is the main key behind capturing an outstanding food image, the emotions and imagination is the key to master food photography. Understanding the motives of the human being when they see food, or their mental picture of the food experience or cuisine is meant to be a pleasure.
Food photography is more than just food, it is about colors, shapes, textures, and even an imaginary smell and taste. Think of arranging every frame as a chief and as a person who is going to eat it. Combine these feelings in your frame and food styling then craft the shot with your professional photography skills. That’s the real essence behind food photography art.
Avoiding mistakes and poor techniques can help a lot in achieving good skills in a short time. Eventually, food photography in Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have so many poor techniques by amateur photographers that you can easily spot. Moreover, food photography in the UAE has also some cases of low-quality food photography practices.
Studying mistakes can eventually help you in gaining further steps in your career as a food photographer. Therefore, we will explore some of the most important tips to enhance your food photography.
With food from around the world, it is important to understand the dish or the meal before presenting it. In Arabic countries, each dish has it is own presence in the daily culture and its own mental image. Research and find out what each dish represents the local culture. While you learn food photography it is important to know that in some countries in the Middle East, some dishes are like movie stars and have their own atmosphere, occasion, and even quotes and traditions.
Therefore, the food styling should consider all the strength factors of the dish, and even it is background tradition. Falafel has different ingredients and meanings that differ in different countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. The same dish will have a different perspective when it is represented in the GCC countries. That’s where the food style plays an important role to make the dish authentic and appealing in different places.
Food styling for deserts and bakery might become a very different perspective in each country according to its tradition. For instance, Arabian coffee is an important element to the Gulf region as part of the dessert presentation. Eventually, food styling for Arabic food requires an in-depth understanding of Arabic food cuisine and dining traditions.
Finally, starting your career and to learn food photography requires dedication and soft skills such as the ability to present yourself and to communicate with the client. While this sounds like hard work, the opportunities in all countries are wide open due to the massive demand for food and hospitality industries. Stepping into the field and learning food photography can provide you with a combination of profitable career and joyful art. An online food photography course is an important step to consider in this journey.
Photography is one of the many creative fields that can both be a hobby or a profession. In the Middle East and Arabic countries, there is a big demand for professional photographers which encourage a new generation of photographers to shift their career and start their photography business. In a region with emerging markets and the great demand for media, photography is becoming the most thrilling career in many regional countries including Egypt, Lebanon, UAE, and Saudi.
For camera lovers who developed a good level of photography skills, there is no most desired thing than becoming a professional photographer. But what exactly is that thing that defines a photographer from being a pro or not? And what it takes to start a regional photography business?
There are several misconceptions about the term “professional photographer” in the region. Beyond the skills, the talent and the style, the “professional” word is not limited to making money or that a photographer is making a substantial amount of its income. The real meaning of professional photography revolves around the entrepreneur journey that doesn’t stop there. Moving step by step in the photography business takes more than just extraordinary talent in highly competitive markets like Dubai or Cairo. It requires the ability to learn and adapt to be able to move to the next level. And that is the Business of Photography.
Today we want to share with you some insightful things to consider before starting the rocky road of developing a solid photography business nowadays.
Photography is an art and with art, learning is an ongoing process. In the Middle East, you can advance your skills by joining photography courses, face to face workshops, or by learning directly from other professionals you meet along your journey. However, some of the most popular photographers in the commercial market in Arabic countries are self-taught photographers.
Whether you choose to learn at an academic institute or by joining a photography workshop, it doesn’t define the results. Learning photography requires major efforts of self-learning and practices. Getting the most valuable tips from professional photographers is one of the keys to improve your photography skills in a short time. While YouTube has several tutorials and classes, yet sometimes it is only limited to fundamentals and not specialized in a certain type of photography.
In Art&Creativity, we have collected the best online photography courses in the Middle East to help people in Arabic countries to learn extensively from professionals. The photography courses are ideal for people who want to advance their skills in commercial and editorial photography. In addition, online courses contain tutorials and business guidelines for people who are starting their careers as professional photographers.
There are two types of photography beginners; the ones that have spent some money on gear, and those who haven’t done it, yet. If you belong to those that haven’t spent that much money yet, then this is your lucky day. Gear could overwhelm anyone in no time thanks to all the available options in the market. Cameras, lenses, tripods, lights, props, etc. Any piece of gear that you buy should be seen as an investment, and it needs to correspond to the genre that you feel the most passionate about.
If you have already bought a camera, it will be very likely that you have a standard 18-55mm lens with you right now. And despite what you might think, it will be very helpful for you! Make a recount of all the images that you have made, and sort them out into themes. If you enjoy taking a lot of interior photographs, then you might need to invest next in a wide-angle lens. If you are feeling more drawn to portraiture, then perhaps an 85mm will be a wise investment for your photography business. If you find yourself with a sort of homogeneous theme, then you might think about investing in a 35mm or a 50mm lens. As soon as you start getting more and more experience on the field, you’ll encounter some situations that will lead you to think about specific solutions like tripods or lights. All the upcoming gear needs will come with time, and as long as you see each purchase as a necessity for your business, you’ll outsmart the market offers for good!
It is important to understand your market to be able to plan your business model. The photography in the Middle East is mostly commercial with several key fields including wedding photography, interior, and real estate photography, product photography, food photography, and finally, beauty and fashion photography.
The first step is researching your local and regional market to be able to define the opportunities. Each market has a higher demand for a certain set of professional photography skills. For instance, the demand for photography in UAE is diversified between commercial photography as well as additional categories such as events, fashion photography. Markets like Lebanon and Egypt will have higher competition, yet there is a huge demand for professional photographers in the region.
This requires some time to think about it and there are no exact recipes for it. A niche is a special segment of the market you are trying to serve or satisfy. And it has a lot to do with the unique value that your style can deliver to meet those needs. You don’t have to build a new genre, you simply need to make your style stand out from the crowd, especially when having so many photographers around.
For this, we can borrow a pretty useful tool from the business management world, the SWOT analysis. This is a simple tool that will help you find the following:
– Strengths: Or the particular things about your photographs that make them different from others.
– Weaknesses: The overall stuff that puts you at a disadvantage against other photographers.
– Opportunities: This refers to the elements that you can exploit to take a certain advantage in the market.
– Threats: All the elements that could give a hard time to your photography business. After defining these 4 dimensions, you’ll need to build some strategies for your strengths to overcome your weaknesses as well as making your opportunities more substantial than your threats. This is challenging, we know it, but it is also fun and will help you out into sailing the murky waters of businesses in a safe way.
If you are reading this, then it is very likely that you have already asked yourselves about how to price your work. Well, there are several ways for doing this, but we find that the hourly rate is the smartest way of answering that.
Finding an answer to that question is quite easy nowadays, even for entry and mildly level photographers. The rates can vary for photographers in the Middle East based on the many factors including the brand name, the industry, the market competition, etc.
For those, depending on the skills and level one might juggle between $25 to even $100 per hour of work. But don’t just throw a number, there are several things to consider before giving your photography clients a proper quote.
Project Mindset Photography is not something you can replicate in a series like a factory-made product. Each shoot and every session should be seen as a project that will require expenses that should be covered. There are several things that come into play when designing a photography project, and the only experience will give you the best skills for nailing it better each time. But we found a very useful tool that could give you an idea of how much a photography project could cost you to develop. This is the National Press Photographers Association, a calculator. This tool is oriented towards photojournalism of course, but you can change some names from “Health Insurance” to “Make-Up Artist”, “Hairdresser” or “Lighting Rental” for example. Also, this could lead you to properly design convenient packages if you are thinking about building a wedding photography business or similar.
The important thing is to brainstorm all the things that you’ll need to invest for each project or package, including your own gear devaluation, fixed business expenses, and your own salary! After all, profit is the main reason why we pursue a career based on our hobby and passion, otherwise, a cubicle job should be more interesting…
Next step, take your spreadsheets to accounting level and beyond by using invoice services like this one or this one.
The Middle East and Arab countries are filled with tons of different clients, some of them are highly valuable, and some others will require you to have a bit of patience with them. After all, you can’t refuse to work for all clients if you want to have a successful photography business.
In this path, you’ll encounter creative clients that will want Disney-like productions, Perfectionist folks that will ask for any changes, Smart-ones that will judge your gear and opportunists that will offer you “exposure” in order to work for free. You’ll also find wise clients that will know how much creative work takes to be crafted, and clear-minded ones that know exactly what they want. The experience will tell you better how to deal with all of these, but the wisest move you can do is to always ask for visual references. What might seem “simple” to your client could be a $20K production or higher, so always guard yourself and ask for these materials. Oh, and please, never give your talent away to people offering “exposure”. On the other hand, the trade could be nice.
Now, the next step would be for you to invest in marketing, branding, and beyond. Many photographers in the Middle East market like to do everything on their own. Don’t try to make this a one-man army thing, because you’ll just get exhausted and you will not have the time you need to focus on your photography skills. Hiring a marketing consultant or professional marketer can help you to promote and brand your photography business in the Middle East and Arabic local markets. Take it one step at a time and invest in the proper people that have become more experienced in those fields. The biggest mistake we can make when thinking about business photography is to think that we can make those stuff “because they seem easy to make”. Just like some people think that photography is just about pushing a button, right?
We are being constantly bombarded with photographs since quite a while now. Nevertheless, there is one subject in those photographs that takes a huge place on the visual spectrum. All products benefit from, there is no doubt about it. But food is the one that benefits the most from it. Good looks are absolutely crucial when it comes to food photography, and today we are going to talk about some things that you should know before photographing food.
It is hard to pin-point when food photography became so massive, but we are sure that social media has a lot to do with it. Prior to that, food photography was exclusively held by advertisement companies, which kept food-styling techniques more secretively than nuclear codes. After some of this information was given to the public, people started demanding more sincere and honest marketing practices. Food-styling is still around but is more sophisticated than before because it now aims to capture food in its natural and more edible state.
Before we get to the considerations, it is important to know why food photography matters so much. We have a vast amount of food businesses rising every day, from food-trucks to small bakeries, from boutique restaurants to BBQ masters, from artisan breweries to detox juice-bars. Spotting that, there is undoubtedly a huge opportunity there for someone who wants to specialize in a photography genre. Being a factotum photographer nowadays isn’t a wise call, you need to be able to stick to a genre and develop it consistently through time. Food photography happens under “controlled” situations and is very open to styled related enhancements.
Be Passionate
No kidding? Yup, we know that this one is highly obvious, but hold it down for a second. You need to be as passionate with light as your clients are intense for their food. You need to be able to cope with the looks with the flavors. Cooks are always concerned about the flavor more than the looks, and you will be focused exactly in the opposite direction, so be careful, you need to be able to balance the two. Contemporary cooks have more to do with artists than you would imagine, they have structured and complex ideas that build up their entire restaurant concepts, so you need to pay close attention in order to truly understand the soul behind their dishes. If you are able to understand a creative concept, then you’ll have the advantage over other photographers that are trying to build a food photography style.
Food Visuals aren’t New
Still-life isn’t new either, and one of the main themes of it was (and still is) food. We can learn a lot of the dark and moody light that those paintings had in order to make a more compelling and easier to crave food photography. Therefore, there is a huge legacy behind us that could help us in getting better food photography ideas. Revisiting the past is always a nice way of innovating in the future.
The Organic Look
Way before the rise of social media, food photography was aimed in a baroque direction, focused on idealized conceptions of food and flavor. Nowadays the organic and even raw look is more pleasing for us. Food is responding nowadays more to a moodier narrative, which results in a pretty realistic visual experience. This reduces the huge gap between reality and expectations of big-name billboards which spend serious amounts of money in their ads.
Food Photography ≠ Food Style
One of the main problems one encounter as a newcomer to food photography is the fact that food styling and food photography are completely different disciplines, and each has their own secrets. Food stylers have developed plenty of knowledge about food make-up and how to make food last longer during a photoshoot. Food photographers, on the other hand, have to develop more graphic design related skills in order to assembly aesthetic looking plates.
Chefs won’t do Their Photos
Well, of course, they can do them, but there is a high chance that creative cooks would like to have a professional photographer capturing their creations than themselves. At least they start considering that way of doing things after some failed attempts. Trust us, food photography has its tricks, but it is a nice genre to work with. Serious chefs are aware of the complexity behind making a dish look good, just like they know that designing their dishes isn’t an easy thing to do. There is profound mutual respect between creatives that should be exploited more these days.
You Need to Understand Light
Everything in photography is about light, and food isn’t an exception to this rule. Light enables food photographers to enhance or flatten out textures, depending on the visual intentions of the concept that the chefs handle. In cultural terms, we can say that there are some dishes with a strong relationship with feelings and emotions that span between the nostalgic and the outrageous. Your lighting decisions should correspond and even comply with those highly expected feelings that are embedded in people’s minds. It doesn’t matter if you are shooting with a phone, a point, and shoot camera, a chunky DSLR or a mirrorless camera system. Even an analog film camera can work, what really matters in food photography is composition and lighting decisions.
Have a Visual Script for Preparing the Food
This one is being bored from the conceptualization process, a fundamental element in artistic photography. Even if you are not creating a fine art piece, this should be considered. Start jotting down some ideas, make some sketches, decide composition on paper, think wisely about the color pallet that will hold your photographs together, etc. This isn’t a precise recipe, and there aren’t perfectly designed step-by-step guides either. You need to start doing things in a systematized way so you can reduce improvisations during the food photography session. Designing the plate on paper (or a pdf file) will guarantee you a higher degree of control during the shoot.
Some Nice & Easy to Perform Tips and Tricks
Here is a brief list of easy things that you could start doing today in order to capture better food photographs.
We hope that this brief list of things to consider and tips will inspire you into making better food photographs. Remember that beyond technique, graphic design skills will help you out into producing more pleasant compositions and food arrangements. Understanding light will help you out into making your dishes talk for themselves. Food photography isn’t easy, and by now we are sure that you know this better. Practice daily, and above all, enjoy it. Do what you love, and love what you do!
Related Online Photography Courses
It’s funny how photographers, the very ones benefiting from technology advances, have been quite reluctant to progress if we take a look back to camera history. Not all of them of course, but a large majority have had this fixed mindset that makes them extremely tough towards change.
When large-format photography appeared, painters diminished it. When medium format cameras appeared, plate-based photography users opposed to it. When 35mm format appeared, medium format users were very rude to it, they even called it “a post stamp”. Could you imagine that? The very thing we all worship as true full-frame format nowadays was just a stamp for them… And when digital SLRs arrived, 35mm users said many awful things too. Now that mirrorless cameras have come to stay, there are many DSLR users complaining about it.
You do see the pattern, don’t you? Because we do. That’s why we wanted to share with you some 5 definitive reasons why you should pick up a mirrorless camera system, and just move on. If you are just about to start in this beautiful world of photography world then you shouldn’t strings attached towards S, C or N brands. Just go straight to mirrorless cameras, and you’ll have a blast. If you are almost married to a brand because you have invested a considerable amount of money on lenses, then you should develop a smart strategy to move on.
If you are still doubtful about mirrorless vs. DSLR cameras even after reading the second paragraph of this piece, then sit back and read the following information. Our main goal is to clear your head of some of the most common doubts about this not-so-new-by-now camera format.
They Aren’t Longer the Future, They Are the Present
Mirrorless camera systems had a bumpy start in 2004, and has had its ups and downs ever since. After fifteen years of their appearance we can firmly say that this format isn’t the future anymore, it is the present. Many people have been quite reluctant to changing from DSLR to Mirrorless cameras, just like some people said “no-no” to digital when it first appeared. Let’s face it, this is the new standard, and we should embrace it, despite its (decreasing) cons.
For some reason, DSLR cameras had the power to make anyone feel like a “real” photographer. And the reason might be traced back to marketing strategies. Those efforts aimed at casual users and made them feel like professional photographers for a while with that bulky system and wide camera straps. Entry-level cameras with 18-55mm sold quite well back in the day, but eventually, they got replaced by smartphones. Don’t get me wrong, smartphones didn’t replace photography for everyone, it simply fulfilled the image necessities of casual users.
These cameras had a lot of potentials to offer at first, but after a while, there were basically two options left. The first was the most common one, people eventually got bored of carrying that massive thing around and eventually stopped using it. Other people got quite serious about photography and eventually upgraded to more useful tools. But honestly, these last ones would have fallen in love with photography even if they were shooting with a potato.
I think only Canon and Nikon are the ones still developing DSLRs, and at some point, they will stop doing it too. There are plenty of brands out there like Sony, Leica, and Fujifilm, etc that have matured their mirrorless systems quite nicely by now, and they are all offering superb image capabilities and quality.
Lightweight and Inconspicuous
Do you actually need a bulky camera to shoot great photos? Of course not, but some people like the feeling of carrying around a massive camera around. As a street photographer myself, I love small and inconspicuous cameras, and when the mirrorless camera appeared, a whole array of options became available. Before this magnificent happening, only point and shoot cameras offered small size, and not all of them offer a nice ergonomic experience. Even if they were capable of shooting raw images in manual mode, there was something odd about looking through a screen all the time, or not being able to make exposure changes quickly.
Long gone are those days by now since the appearance of mirrorless camera systems; they offer even better ergonomics than some DSLR cameras, and they are usefully small. Trust me, it is way better to travel or to walk long hours on the streets with a lightweight camera than a massive DSLR. Manufacturers have cut down all that bulky mirror and pentaprism system in order to achieve a more efficient camera.
Nowadays mirrorless cameras even look more like film cameras than some roundy and plasticy DSLRs, so they look awesome too!
Better Image Quality
This will sound quite cold and even cruel, but it is the very truth; camera manufacturers don’t care about nostalgia. They are always investing in research and development in order to deliver better and faster image solutions, so they won’t be nurturing DSLR cravings for much longer anymore. So, if many camera manufacturers have moved forward and have left DSLR systems behind, where do you think you’ll find the most advanced image sensors now?
I really don’t understand this to a technical level, but I do understand one thing. Image quality has a very strong inverse relationship with the distance between the rear element of the lens and the image sensor. So, if the image between these two gets shorter, the image quality will increase. Mirrorless cameras reduce this distance quite massively by getting rid of the internal chamber needed for the mirror to flip in a proper way.
There is one thing that is true, nothing beats reality being seeing right through the lens, that is a fact, and might be the only price to pay in my very own and personal opinion. Electronic Viewfinders (EVF) have gotten quite powerful, and it almost feels like a non-digital through the lens experience due to minimum image lag, but it still feels funny. But there is a pro of EVFs, and that is focus peaking in manual focus mode. Focus peaking in simple words is a tool that allows you to know which things from the scene are in proper focus thanks to some digital sparkles that appear and disappear as the focus ring is being turned.
Sony was the first to focus on the alpha mirrorless series cameras and the quality they are delivering lately is outstanding to other brands, they even launched a new camera the Sony A7R MK 4 with 61 megapixels which is the largest megapixel in a full-frame mirrorless camera in the market. so speaking of better image quality vs the DSLR, you must check out this camera.
You Can Go Beyond Full-Frame
Alright alright, we are talking about one narrow portion of the market here, which is owned by Fujifilm. This deserves to be mentioned because they are the only ones offering not one, nor two, but three mirrorless medium format cameras, at least at “reasonable” prices. Hasselblad has a couple of options as well, but those prices are just insane so they aren’t really an option for the masses, and since we aren’t part of that exclusive market, we’ll skip it by now.
Fujifilm decided to avoid developing full-frame mirrorless cameras, and instead, they embrace the journey of developing medium format cameras. There are three options available now, and the least expensive one is even cheaper than a high-end DSLR from Canon or Nikon. Sounds quite tempting huh?
Beyond that, other manufacturers have been developing full-frame mirrorless camera systems for quite a while now. And just recently, Canon and Nikon joined the party; kudos! Better late than never. This also has opened access to full-frame cameras to even more users since prices are more accessible as technology evolves. The only downside with this happening is that lenses have been needed to redesign, and some brands are still quite short in optical offer.
Adapters Make it Easier, And Fun!
And speaking of lenses, this opened a whole new market for adapters. The most famous ones are Metabones, but they are quite pricey though, but for someone with multiple expensive lenses, this should be a wise investment to make. These adapters make it possible to move from a previous DSLR set-up into the shiny world of mirrorless-cameras seamlessly, but it doesn’t stop there. Some adapters have even made it possible for film-era lenses to have a second breath, enabling a whole array of visual and creative possibilities. Oh, and many of these lenses are still easy to find in mint conditions and at cheap prices online and even some random swap meets.
Some other cons that have stopped people from moving forward into the present are battery life and device fragility. They both are true, although battery life has been enhanced with the years. But honestly, you can just simply shoot less and better photos, or you can carry around some spare batteries as many of us do. About that sensor being freely exposed, yeah, you folks (big brands) have access to high-quality translucent materials, can’t you just cover that thing in order to make it less easy to damage? Jeez!
We hope that you have cleared your mind of all that still thick confusion about DSLRs vs. Mirrorless Camera Systems. Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!
To learn photography by top photographers, check our Online Photography Courses.
Using light outdoors with Ali Al Rifai
Photography is all about capturing light in the most compelling possible ways. This sounds quite easy to achieve, and in many circumstances, the light won’t be calmly waiting for you to capture it in the most pleasing ways. You need to have a trained eye that knows how to react to specific lighting situations, and this is only achieved with practice. Today we want to share with you some bits of information that will make you a better photographer when the light isn’t as generous as you could wish it for.
Low light can be soothing, and it can transmit a huge amount of moody feelings. In fact, low light is sometimes preferred rather than abundant light, but you still need to know how to deal with light when it is scarce. Otherwise, you’ll end with shaky or very noisy photos. So without further ado, let’s talk about the best low light photography tips we can share with you!
1- Get to know your camera
Long gone are the days in which any photographer wouldn’t dare shooting with a higher-400 ISO value. Nowadays technology has become better in practically all senses, and that includes ISO behavior and sensitivity. This one depends on what sensor your camera has, and is extremely important that you get to know what your camera is capable of doing.
The best way for doing this is to shoot some test shots that include a generous amount of dark tones with various ISO settings. First, start with the base ISO value your camera has. Some cameras come with a base value of ISO 100, other cameras come with 200. Increase the ISO values on each shot, and after cranking it up sufficiently, zoom in the photos. As soon as you start noticing unpleasing noise, then you shouldn’t shoot further from that.
Some cameras will start showing nasty noise at ISO 3200, others at ISO 1600. Getting to know your camera in this way will allow you to take wiser exposure decisions when the time is needed, especially under low light situations.
2-Lenses matters
One of the most powerful elements that build exposure is aperture, which is the one with f/x values. These values are sometimes hard to understand, but if you see them as what they are, fractions, and you mentally change that “f” for a “1” you’ll understand it better. By selecting different aperture values you will be allowing more or less light to enter through your camera. Therefore, if you have a low light situation, what you think you should want to have?
If you said “more light”, then you are correct! What you need to do is exactly that, you need to allow your camera to “swallow” more light. Each lens is capable of allowing more or less light depending on the largest aperture value. Some lenses have a variable maximum aperture value, like a kit lens for example. These lenses usually achieve a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at 18mm and f/5.6 at 55mm. That is a sad price to pay, but it allows people to understand the importance of that extra stops of light that are lost when changing from 18mm to 55mm for example.
Some lenses are extremely useful under low-light situations, like those that can deal with aperture values of f/1.4 for example. As soon as you start browsing lenses out, you’ll notice that some are way more expensive than others. Among building materials and inside-electronics components, aperture values are a decisive feature of a lens price.
3-Keep everything still
A good tripod will be your best friend in photography, pretty much always. But attaching your camera to it isn’t all you need to do in order to shoot decent exposures at low light situations. You also need to make sure everything is completely still. Therefore, use a remote release or at least shoot in timer mode. If you are shooting with a DSLR make sure to learn how to block your camera’s mirror. Everything from that mirror to your finger in the shutter button produces shakiness, and being extra careful won’t harm your precious shots!
4- Learn more about practical lighting
Alright, this is something we are borrowing from the film industry, but it will make your photography way more capable under low-light situations. You’ll need to watch this video about how Stanley Kubrick rarely used professional lighting solutions in order to understand the concept. Oh, and trust us, he was one hell of a photographer too! Life-spoiler warning, after watching that video, you’ll sort of diminish certain artificial lights.
5- Nice and Slow
Many low-light situations are best approached when slow shutter speeds are used. Of course, a tripod or at least something to make sure your camera stays perfectly still will be mandatory. Anything gets well lit after the proper amount of time has elapsed, and the best part is that based on this principle, you can use ISO 100 for extremely clean results.
What about an experiment? Go to your living room in the middle of the night, make sure your camera is absolutely still at ISO 100 and f/5.6 if you wish, then crank the shutter speed to 15 or even 30 seconds, and then press the shutter button. You’ll see that your living room appears to be perfectly lit. That is the beautiful magic of photography, it allows us to capture the world in a way our eyes simply can’t.
6- Be patient
Mastering photography isn’t something you achieve out of the blue, you need to practice and you need to be patient. If you are in front of a scene that could appear to you in a better way at a different time of the day, then wait for it. If you can’t simply wait, then sacrifice a bit of image quality with ISO. The trick is to know that something is been given in order to capture a scene that has limitations involved.
7- Do some research
If you wish to shoot a specific scene, then do some research about which is the best time of day according to the available light (and people too). This tool might come in handy for this. Sun and weather are very easy to predict, and sometimes overcast days give a better lighting situation than a sunny one. If you see a storm coming down your way, don’t freak out. Manage to get your gear dry, and you’ll be able to take photos that will make you immediately stand up from regular and lazy photographers.
8- Hack the Autofocus
Autofocus is one of the biggest wonders of modern and contemporary photography but is still quite clumsy under low-light situations. One beautiful trick is to target a different portion of the scene that is relatively at the same distance as your main object of interest and then recompose. If this isn’t viable, you can also give a scene an extra light with your phone’s LED light.
9- Use manual focus
If you simply can’t hack the autofocus, then you can try something more powerful, the manual focus. We don’t advise to use manual focus mode always, but for some situations, it will be more useful than the autofocus. With manual focus, you can truly watch what your lens is focusing on, and there shouldn’t be missed.
Some cameras nowadays even allow you to watch all that is getting perfectly in focus via a feature called “focus peaking”. It sorts of sprinkles out what is in focus in the scene, and it has been designed exclusively for manual focus. This feature is sort of exclusive of mirrorless cameras, so you won’t be able to see this magic pixies on a DSLR camera, but you can always rely on your eye. Oh, and remember to calibrate your camera’s diopter to the proper focusing distance if you use prescription glasses on a regular basis.
Wrapping it up!
The only reason why light could feel like a very uneasy to predict thing is due to a lack of practice. You need to see photography as a physical discipline that requires training, just like any average sport. New coming photographers have a peculiar mindset, they think that practice isn’t much required in order to capture things in a beautiful way. If you ever feel like this (we all are guilty of this at least once, don’t feel bad about it), grab your camera, get out of your place, and start practicing again!
If you are able to read between the lines, you’ll see how we’ve covered the principles of the exposure triangle here, but in a more digestible way. The fundamental skill that you need to develop here is being able to expose properly in any lighting situation. We really hope that all these tips that we have shared with you here will actually make you a better photographer with time. On the next run, we’ll talk about the opposite, about how to shoot photographs with harsh light situations.
To learn photography by top photographers, check our Online Photography Courses.
Just like any other highly developed discipline, photography has a unique set of words that build up the jargon. Today we want to share with you photography tips and some of the most common words, and we’ll try to explain it in the best possible way we can! With these brief photography glossary, you’ll feel more comfortable when talking or reading about photography, especially in forums, workshops, and online courses.
Aperture: This is one of the principal building blocks behind exposure and one of the most abstract things to understand in photography. Aperture expresses itself in f-stops or f-values and can be read like this “f/5.6” or this “f/2.8” and even this “f/16”. At first, it always seems hard, but as long as you remember that these all are mathematical fractions, then you’ll have a better time remembering which value is smaller than others and vice versa. This value depends entirely on the lens and not the camera.
Bokeh: This is one of the most desired features in photography and refers to the way a section of the photograph blurs out due to focus. It has a strong relationship with aperture, and in recent years more and more people have come to accept that bokeh can’t be measured in “amounts” but in “visual quality”. A nice way for perceiving the relationship between aperture and bokeh is simply by placing one of your own fingers close to your eyes and focusing your stare on it. Can you see how everything else blurs out? That is basically how aperture produces bokeh.
Chimping: This refers to the constant habit of looking to the camera’s LCD screen immediately after taking every single photograph. This is something highly common with digital photography thanks to the ability of immediately being able to watch a photograph, but it can lead to missing some other great shots.
Crop: You can crop either on camera or in post-processing, and it simply refers to the act of framing a scene or re-framing it in the case of post-processing.
Depth of Field: Also known simply as DoF, is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that are in sharp focus in your camera. Having shallow depths of field result in highly noticeable bokeh, and deeper depths of field depict focus throughout the whole image.
Dynamic Range: This is quite abstract, but it refers to the total amount of stops of light a sensor can handle. Alright, it is still quite dull, but a nice perspective is to compare it with our own human eyes. We humans are on average able to handle 20 stops of light, really expensive cameras are able to handle up to 15 nowadays. Pro-tip, when investing in a camera, look for the dynamic range rather than the megapixels.
Focal Length: This is the proper way to measure a lens, and it comes in millimeters. Anything below 50mm is considered to be wide, and anything further from 50mm is tele. 50mm refers to “normal” since it is the most alike length to the human eyes.
Full-frame: This refers to a sensor that has the same size as a single 35mm film frame. Remember those pieces of negative from the analog photography days? Well, that is a 35mm frame.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS): This is quite funny, and we all photographers have suffered it a little bit at some point. It is simply the crave or need of getting more and more gear (cameras, flashes, lenses, bags, straps, you name it).
High-Key: This is a creative technique, and it happens when a photographer decides to create an image with extreme amounts of brightness. These photos can be extremely white, depicting just a hint of the object or subject, and they are quite hard to achieve in a pleasing way.
Histogram: This is one of the best tools we have in digital photography, it is a visual interpretation of all the light registered by our camera, and it splits into 255 bars or channels that reproduce a nice and smooth histogram. Learning how to read them takes a bit of time, but is the best way for knowing how your photograph has been exposed.
Hot Shoe: Have you ever seen a clip-like piece of an electronic metal component at the top of your camera? Well, that is the hot-shoe, and it serves as the communication hub between your camera and other devices like remote triggers and flashes.
ISO: Perhaps the easiest to understand building-block from exposure. ISO controls how the sensor inside your camera behaves in relation to the light. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light it becomes. This is extremely practical for low light situations, but don’t rush into it! This comes with a mighty price, as you increase the sensitivity, you also increase the amount of noise your camera will show in a photograph. This is achieved via electricity, so the more sensitive you make it, the more static it will have, hence the amount of noise. Cameras have evolved quite impressively, and noise is almost unnoticeable at ISO values as high as 1600, but before going nuts with it, test your camera and see how further can you crank up that ISO.
Lens Hood: Have you ever seen those nice things photographers attach to the front of their lenses? Well, these are called lens hoods, and all camera manufacturers should sell lenses with them. Every single lens has been engineered to render light in a specific way, and hoods have been designed to go along with these lenses, so shame on those who sell them separately. Avoid generic hoods since they won’t create the proper correction for your lens.
Long Exposure: This refers to the act of taking a slow photograph, anything with a shutter speed longer than 1 second is considered to be a long exposure. You think that 1 second is fast, don’t you? In photography, 1 second is almost an eternity.
Low-Key: this is the exact opposite of high-key, it is a very dark photograph that has been created like this intentionally (or at least that is what we expect).
Nifty Fifty: For some amazing reason, certain camera manufacturers have built some cheap yet powerful 50mm lenses. Canon and Nikon to be precise, and they are more or less within the $100 range, and they are an amazing early upgrade in photography.
Prime: Any lens that hasn’t the ability of zooming in and out is a prime lens, and they come with fixed focal lengths like 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm.
Shutter Speed: The last but not the least exposure building block, but perhaps the most fun to work with. Shutter speed controls the amount of time your camera is open to receive and register light. This enables photographers to both freeze motion and register movement in ways that are simply impossible for our human eyes to record. Anything between 1/60 to 1/250 of a second will be useful for regular photographs, anything below will start depicting huge amounts of motion, and higher values will freeze movement, but will start to look darker if you don’t have the proper lighting and lenses.
Stop: This is the standard measurement for light. Exposure is measured in this value, and all the aforementioned building blocks (aperture, ISO and shutter speed) workaround stops of light.
Telephoto: This refers to any lens that goes beyond 50mm, some of them can be extremely big, and are usually used in wild-life photography and sports, or any other circumstance in which getting physically close is nearly impossible to achieve.
Uncle Bob: Pretty much a soft insult or derogatory name used by professional or semi-professional photographers to refer to casual users with huge cameras getting inside their frames. This happens a lot in weddings and other social events in which the main hosts have hired a photographer and have to deal with these characters.
Vignette: A slight gradient bordering the photograph. Excessive use of it will look funny, and slight can be almost unnoticed. Good vignetting has to have a purpose, and there is not an exact recipe for handling it properly.
White balance: This feature refers to the way your camera will register light’s temperature, and it spans from cold to warm. This is measured in Kelvin degrees, but we won’t go into further details about but the following: Tungsten, Fluorescent, Daylight, Flash, Cloudy and Shade. They all have precise kelvin values that span between 2,500 K to 10,000 K. The true power of white balance happens in post-production when developing our raw files. By adjusting this you can create completely different moods for your photos from dark and spooky to cozy and romantic simply by sliding the temperature. Hence the importance of shooting in raw, because as long as you have the raw file, you can leave the WB in your camera in Auto mode, and you shouldn’t worry too much about it.
Wide Angle: If anything above 50mm is considered to be a telephoto, anything below 50mm is considered to be wide-angle. There are mid-wide lenses (24mm~35mm), which distort reality in beautiful ways, and they are highly popular in street photography and photojournalism. And there are some heavy wide-angle lenses (anything below 18mm) which are best used in small places in order to capture everything going on inside of them.
There are many other words that build up the slang, and we highly encourage you to read more about them. Please share some of the photography tips and the words you have heard and have no clue about, or just toss around the ones you use the most!
To learn photography by top photographers, check our Online Photography Courses.
Who were the speakers from Last Year and this year?
1- Jason Lanier ( Sony Artisan )
2- Christina Mittermeier ( Sony Alpha Ambassador)
3- Abdelrahman Gabr- Koree ( Sony Alpha Photographer – Middle East )
4- Bjoern Lauen (Sony Alpha Photographer – Middle East )
Which Camera do people love more from Sony cameras?
It depends on who do we ask.
A9 – is win for sports and wildlife photographer
A7R3 – is a go-to camera for commercial and landscape photographers
A7M3 – is considered all-around camera which is great in photo and video and the first choice for those who wanted to jump into Full Frame and even professionals
A6500 and A6300 – is always a choice for videographers who wanted to keep their setup light
RX100 Series – series that vloggers and travelers go to camera
Tell us more about future events and workshops in the middle east region
We have been active with seminars for the past years and this time we are going to focus more on allowing the photographers to experience the Sony cameras reaching out to different genres of photography.
With this, we are expecting to be very busy in the coming months.
To learn photography by top photographers, check our Online Photography Courses.
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