White seamless backgrounds are fun for anyone
A large white seamless background is part of many photo studios, including here at the JCP Home Studio. For a professional photographer, this is a great tool to have. However, I think anyone could benefit from having a large, white seamless paper background in their home! Check out the video tip for why.
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Buy a tripod once, for life!
In this week’s photography tip video I discuss the thinking process I went through over 10 years ago in buying a tripod. The big takeaway: buy one good enough so that you’ll only ever have to buy one once in your career/life!
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Look like a pro not Groucho Marx!
In this video featured on Jason Collin Photography I talk about the proper way to hold a camera, how the pros do it! Next time you see a press conference scene in a TV show or in a movie, look how the “photographers” are holding their cameras. I show you how to at least look more like a pro by holding your camera in a stable way that will help you get better sharpness in your photos.
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The diffuser - makes harsh sunlight beautiful
Continuing the new series of video features on Jason Collin Photography, this video features a top photo tip regarding another piece of inexpensive photography gear, the diffuser. For only about $40, you can get a 42” diffuser (and most are also reflectors too). In the video you can see me make the two photos below, which are unedited, the only change is one is made in direct sunlight and the other is made with the diffuser over the flower. The diffuser works its magic not just on flowers of course, also people and anything else you want to photograph in direct sunlight.
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The Air Blower - best & cheapest photo gear
Video features will be a new regular blog post category here on Jason Collin Photography going forward. The videos will include photography tips, like this one does, news and updates, as well as behind the scenes of how I make the photos I do. In this photography tip, I show the best and cheapest piece of gear in my camera bag, the air blower!
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Photo Tip: take just one lens with you to focus on one type of shot
When I go out with my camera for personal photography, I like to take just one lens with me so that I am really focused on making one type of photo. For a hike along the Tunnel Canyon trail in Tijeras, New Mexico, on my Sony a7 iii was the Sony 90mm f/2.8 G Macro lens. Before I left the house i was thinking what type of photos did I feel like taking that day, and despite possible being out in wide open space, having distant views, I was feeling getting close up, so I chose the macro lens. That said, there were not that many great macro subjects on the trail, but there were some large boulders with moss on them that caught my eye. The lighting was not the greatest, but the macro lens is about showing small details anyway and getting really shallow DoF.
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At last a mule deer photo opportunity
I am often out in very remote areas from late afternoon until sunset and into twilight times here in New Mexico. I love to photograph wildlife, but despite so much time out in nature, I very rarely have the opportunity to photograph large animals, like the mule deer seen here (learn about mule deer). This is in part because when I am done shooting a piece of rural land real estate, I pack up both cameras into a backpack in the back of my Jeep. So if I do happen to see a deer, or other animal, I have to stop, get out, and then get my camera ready. This always results in the animals taking off never to be seen again.
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