Owls are among the most widespread bird species in the world, and among the most popular ones too. The popularity is partially thanks to Hedwig from Harry Potter, and partially, I believe, is because they’re so beautifully weird! Wildlife artist Robert E Fuller is a major owl enthusiast. He doesn’t only find inspiration in these beautiful creatures, he also does his best to save them. His rescue owl Luna’s eggs recently failed to hatch, and he had her adopt two orphaned chicks....

It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!...

Sometimes bringing a toy to life is just a matter of setting it in the right environment. For me this was the case when shooting Fate Zero’s Saber and her Motored Cuirassier. While this shot may seem fancy, it was actually taken in a corridor just outside my home. I did ran into some difficulties as I did not have anyone assisting me for the shoot but I did come up with some solutions that worked well in the end....

In a previous blog post, I mentioned I was embarking on a Pelican 1550 repair project. I was looking to buy one, but someone offered the case for free, and I thought it was worth trying to refurbishment. At worst, I could buy a new case later, and it would cost me nothing other than my time on the refurb. At best, I’d save a couple of hundred dollars on a new case and help recycle something that might have otherwise found its way to the dumps....

The selfie is definitely one of the most prominent cultural phenomena of the 21st century. It’s been a topic of many psychological researchers, and some even categorized it as a mental disorder. In this thought-provoking video, The New Yorker discusses what stands behind selfies, and why millennials are especially drawn to the selfie culture.Advertisements The video argues that we’re constantly expected to be the “individualistic unit of perfection.” There’s an idea that each of us has that perfect, golden persona, and we constantly try to prove it on social media....

I admit, the first time I saw these images I though they were fake. Someone probably added their clothes on as a joke. But when I realized the context and saw the source of the images, it made sense. The fact that the execution was bad made it hilarious. Accommodate “Bikinis and mini-skirts may be commonplace in the Western world, but the Middle-East is a slightly different story. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran enforce strict modesty laws on women in keeping with Islamic tradition, and prohibit any skin other than the face and hands from showing....

Influencers are a growing group on Instagram. So popular, that they may even get a special type of accounts. Still, many people don’t know what exactly influencers do, and it may even seem like they don’t do anything. Meghan Young makes a living from climbing the mountains and she earns up to $100,000 a year by posting photos and videos of her adventures to Instagram. Sounds like a dream come true, but is it really like that?...

It’s always a good time to make your daily life and your business eco-friendly. Danish photographer Angelina Wiese Devine has made a great effort in doing it over the past year, converting her business to becoming more sustainable. We chatted with her about the benefits of such practices, not just for the planet – but for you as well. She shared her experience with DIYP and shares some advice for all of you who want to go green....

People always go on about 3 point lighting setups. They’re a staple amongst photographers, cinematographers, and even CG work. Or people talk about shooting with just a single light source. The two light combo, on the other hand, is often neglected. Personally, 2 lights is the route I take most often in my own work, for both photos and video. In this two and a half minute video, Nerris from the A-Team walks us through five different lighting setups....

Even though I’m not really a landscape guy, I love waterfalls. For me, they regularly serve as the backdrop to a portrait session. The big problem with waterfalls, though, is that they can often turn out quite blue. There’s a number of reasons why this can happen. Sometimes it’s white balance issues. Personally, I find that it’s often the bright blue sky reflecting off or refracting through the tiny droplets....

Yes I know it’s Black Friday this week and you’re all gunning for new equipment. But what would you say if I told you that you could improve your images without buying anything new? Yep, sorry to be a killjoy but new gear doesn’t improve your photos very often. In this video wildlife photographer, Jan Wegener runs through a few different ways that you can improve the quality of your photos with any gear....

A car is never just a car, particularly a luxury car like a Porsche. Just as each image should tell a story, so does every car. One photographer who understands this is automobile light painter Dominykas Liberis from Vilnius, Lithuania. Every one of his images and car portraits oozes personality, elevating them from ‘just a car’ to each having a story of its own. We found out how he went about photographing this vintage Porche 911....

Looking to make your own DSLR camera trap housing? You’ve come to the right place. Camera trapping is an increasingly popular technique, and it’s rather addictive too. The ability to leave your DSLR camera out for days or weeks at a time, watching and waiting 24 hours a day, has revolutionised the wildlife photography field. Now it is possible to take photos of rare animals, such as jaguars or leopards, at night....

If you don’t quite have the budget to kill off green screen yet, or perhaps even the budget for a proper green screen, there are other options. For Dave Knop, the answer was some green pillow cases he found at his local Goodwill. In this video, he shows us how he turned them into a portable green screen panel with the help of some PVC pipe. It’s quite simple, really....

Anamorphic lenses have become very popular again, ever since somebody realised you could mount one to a DSLR and then stretch the footage out in post. But anamorphic lenses are not cheap, not by any stretch of the imagination. They do produce a very unique look, though, that a lot of people find attractive. In this video from Todd Blankenship at Shutterstock, we see how to modify an older 35mm SLR lens to produce a similar look to an anamorphic lens....

While it was once the only way you could really shoot a photo, wet plate photography went off almost into the realm of complete non-existence just a few years ago. Lately, though, it seems to be making something of a comeback. Much of the hardware isn’t as easy to get as it once was, although it seems to be more popular again now than it has been for a very long time....

I created the video “WE ARE MIDBURN” because I have always been fascinated by the culture and the people that belong to the Burning Man community. Midburn is a regional Burning man event held over for a period of 5 days in the Israeli desert. After buying my tickets to the most recent MidBurn this past June, I knew that I had to capture the magic of it all on camera....

Getting exposure for video isn’t all that much different from getting a good exposure with photography. The only real difference is that neutral density filters are more commonly used with video than they are with stills, so they need to be taken into account more regularly. So, the exposure triangle becomes a square. Well, a trapezoid, really. Shutter speed, aperture, gain (rather than ISO), and neutral density. In this video, Chris and Jordan from DPReview delve into the topic of video exposure....

It’s one of the oldest and most fundamental techniques when it comes to shooting both portraits and product photography in the studio. But it’s also one of the most misunderstood and difficult to grasp for a lot of newer photographers. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about the ubiquitous white background shot. In this video, Rob Hall walks us through the process of getting two white backgrounds. The first demonstration is in a portrait setting, showing how the background is lit vs the subject and how to prevent the background from flaring into the lens....

Well, in this video, Dustin Dolby at workphlo takes the mystery out of shooting translucent and transparent items on a white background so that you can photograph your products in a way that helps to make your or your client’s product listings stand out. For this project, Dustin is photographing a water bottle. He places it on a very small shooting table – only just big enough for the bottle to sit on – which helps to prevent it from interfering with the product itself....