MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Lightroom and Photoshop B&W Tutorial
Step-by-step Black & White retouching using Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and Neural Filters for Skin Smoothing. I also mask out the backgrounds and replace them.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE Tutorial: Lighting for Black & White
In this months member exclusive, go behind-the-scenes with me during my photoshoot with professional dancer Fernando. I was focusing creating contrast for Black & White images while working with Fernado.
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ReadyLightMedia va. JohnGressMedia Photo Critique: Fashion & portrait photography tips
So I sat down with professional photographer and lighting expert Jeff Carpenter (of Ready Light Media fame), to go over 5 images from multiple genres (submitted by their makers) to give suggestions on how the photos could be improved.
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Member Exclusive Tutorial: A gelled background series with model Christopher Marrs
In this months member exclusive, go behind-the-scenes with me during my photoshoot with Christopher. I was focusing on using gels and different techniques for lighting the backgrounds. The format is a first as you will see multiple angles and my laptop and my after action commentary.
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Member Exclusive Tutorial: Augmenting natural light with flash
Watch in near real time as I go over three strategies for using flash on location outdoors.
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Moving Studios: Tour my vacant photography studio and learn how I plan to set it up!
For most of my career I have had a live/work space, but after buying a house I was forced to look for a stand alone photo studio.
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Member Exclusive: Lighting Tutorial with Christian
Member Exclusive: Lighting Tutorial with Christian
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Capture One and Photoshop BW Tutorial
Step-by-step retouching using Capture One 21, B&W Beyond Film Style Packs, Photoshop, and Neural Filters Skin Smoothing.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE – Staining and Ageing Props
Learn how to upgrade your apple boxes in only 10 minutes and weather furniture in seconds.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Prop Shopping – Where to find great pieces for your next shoot!
Follow along as I go to two of my favorite spots looking for treasure. Then at the end I give tips on where I you can find great pieces!
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: How I retouch my photos in Capture One 21 including using the Beyond Film style packs.
In this video I will share my process for retouching photos in Capture One 21. Including how the C1 Beyond Film style packs have changed the way I grade my photos in post.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: How to mount a canvass backdrop to a tube and then a background stand
Today were going to go over how to mount a canvass backdrop with gaffer tape to a PVC tube so you can easily hang it from a background stand.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Elinchrom Litemotiv 120 review, Parabolic softboxes are truly better
I bought this modifier 2 years ago and I didn’t really know what I had until I tested it against my other modifiers and proved it has unique capabilities. Especially, when I removed the diffusion and put in a deflector disc, turning it into a giant beauty dish.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE – Lighting Tutorial – Gels – Part 1 & 2
This 40 minute class will cover everything you need to know about color effects gels!
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Transitioning from window light to flash – a beginners guide to portrait lighting
This video will help you learn essential techniques with basic equipment to create and control artificial light, so that you don’t have to worry about the weather or the time of day.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Do you need to buy the Elinchrom Bridge? Control up to 20 lights individually or simultaneously
The new Elinchrom Bridge device allows you to speed up your workflow by controlling the brightness, modeling light, recycle time, photocell, and beep right from your phone or computer through the Skyport system. Then when you have everything dialed in you can save all of your settings and load them later.
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MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: How I retouch my photos in Lightroom Classic
How I retouch my photos in Lightroom Classic plus extending the background in Photoshop with content aware fill
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How Depth-of-field affects sharpness in the studio
Today we’re going to talk about depth-of-field, not scientifically speaking, but practically speaking.
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How photographers can use histograms to nail their exposure
A histogram is a graph that depicts your image’s brightness when you review photos on the back of your camera or computer.
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The power of perspective: how the elevation of your camera can empower the subject or the viewer
We look up to people we admire and we look down on people we despise. This rhetorical convention provides us with a visual point of reference when it comes to our compositions.
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Don’t let the fear of social media feedback hold you back, we all fail, even me
While, there are a lot of really mean people online saying horrible things, in today’s video we’re gonna talk about overcoming the fear of posting your work, because the positive criticism that you will receive is going to help you become a better photographer.
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Book free models for test photoshoots in 3 easy steps
The three steps to booking models for free for your next practice photoshoot
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Light meters: How flash meters can speed up your workflow and help you properly expose your images
When the topic of light meters comes up, many photographers are surprised to learn that I used them. While TTL and trial and error can be an effective way to nail an exposure, nothing can be more effective than manually and precisely dialing in your lights before fine tuning them on screen.
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The Exposure Triangle-How photographers camera, shutter speed, aperture & ISO exposure settings work
Breaking down in depth how your camera settings and exposure work to record images.
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Product Review: Store and protect photo & video data with an expandable Drobo RAID storage solution
An expandable Drobo backup system can be a great way to store and protect your images. The housing costs $699 and then you just need to buy two hard drives to get started, like two Western Digital WD Red 4TB NAS Internal Hard Drives
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Photographers: Developing your personal sense of style so clients will come to you for your work
When I was just starting out in photography, I really looked up to other photographers who had a lot more experience, because I realized right away that when you looked at their work, you could easily recognize that it was their work, because they had a sense of style.
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The 4 types of gels photographers can use to kill it in the studio
The sun rises in the east with a hint of yellow; it casts unflattering colorless light at its zenith and it sets with a warm amber glow. Neon accents cityscapes at night. All of which are cues to photographers on how to employ colored gels on set.
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A “quick” solution when applying for federal COVID-19 aid
There are plenty of reviews that will teach you how to use the Quickbooks. I just wanted to take this opportunity to share with you my personal experience because I know so many photographers who are using a make shift solution.
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Styling photoshoots for men and males models plus building relationships with stylists
Styling tips for photographers with an emphisis on working with male models and subjects
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How to get the best quality when exporting and uploading images to instagram
I walk you through the process step by step as I use Adobe Lightroom, iPhoto, iTunes and my Apple IPhone to post to social media,
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Playing well with others: how to work with a crew, while not acting like THAT GUY
Some photographers have a reputation for being narcissistic micromanagers. Don’t be that guy. And I do mean, THAT GUY!
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How I made it through the Great Recession as a photographer
During the 2008-2010 Great Recession, 50% of my business disappeared and to fill the time I practiced my lighting by working with aspiring models, which transformed my life and greatly improved my skill level. If it wasn’t for this hardship, I wouldn’t be where I am today. As we head into similar circumstances, I would encourage everyone to work on whatever they have been putting off, because if you put in the work during this time, you will emerge stronger than before you ever heard of Covid-19.
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Commercial Photography: Bidding and working with clients
A friend recently asked me how to bid on commercial jobs. This video will cover the entire process of working with commercial clients from bidding to delivery.
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Which cameras and lenses should you use for portrait photography?
People always ask me which cameras and lenses I use. Here are the answers!
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Networking: Building your photography business and your personal network at the same time
Photographer John Gress shares how he built his business through building his personal network.
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Photographer John Gress talks with model Jason Cates about working with models and posing
Get John and Jason’s perspective on what its like to pose models and what it’s like for models when working with photographers of personality type.
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The Difference Between Photography Lighting Power Packs, Monolights & Compact battery powered units!
I was recently asked what the difference is between AC Powered Studio Packs & Heads, Monolights and Battery Powered Compact photo flash heads. We will also touch on flash duration too! Hopefully this is the right answer, but if I am wrong, please comment below!
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I’ll fix it in post…. Wrong!
Everyone loves to say we’ll fix it in post! This video covers why I don’t think using Photoshop and Lightroom as your first resort is the best approach.
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Light Years: How my Lighting Gear Evolved Over Time
Over the course of my career I have used White Lightning, Elinchrom, Alien Bees and Profoto lights. I wanted to share with you today why I switched and what I learned along the way.
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My Journey: Practice Your Passion and Never Hold Back
I wanted to share with you a little about how I got to where I am, in hopes that it may help you get to where you’re going a little faster.
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