Photo by Peter Casey

Senior portraits have come a long way since the days of the dreary (and often dreaded) school photos. Compared to the creative environmental shots of today, those images look vintage – and not in the good way. And since the work is improving so drastically, this vertical is also gaining a lot more attention among the pro photography community.

Senior photos can be a lucrative revenue stream for portrait photographers. They’re almost always in demand and the client base continuously replenishes itself. Many teenagers (or their parents) want their story told through photographs before they move on to the next phase in their life. But what basic tips do you need before setting out to shoot this sometimes tricky – and picky – client?

We talked to Virginia Beach-based photographer Peter Casey, who works primarily as a sports photographer for clients like the NCCA, MLB, and Sports Illustrated. But when he’s not covering sports, Peter takes beautiful, natural senior portraits in his beachside community. Here are his 5 “back to basics” senior portrait ideas for fellow portrait photographers:

1. Forget the studio – shoot environmental

By the time they’re seniors, high school students have likely had their portrait taken every year for 12 years in a studio setting. Here’s your opportunity to get them out from under the artificial lighting and into a natural setting where their unique personalities can shine.

“Teenagers are so much more dynamic than what they feel they are forced into at school and with their friends,” says Peter. To get them out of their social shells, Peter takes the time to learn about  his clients before the shoot, and scouts locations where they let loose and be themselves.

Environmental shots add more personality to your portraits (especially when you live somewhere as beautiful as Virginia Beach). That said, Peter advises photographers to find a place that provides an interesting setting and cover if the weather turns bad. “Choose a place that makes it easier to roll with the punches,” he says.

Photo by Peter Casey

2. Ask your senior to smile only 20% of the time

Portrait photographers know that asking your subject to smile is a surefire way to guarantee fake smiles. Peter elicits genuine emotions by being genuine himself. It sounds cliche, but as Peter says, “Teenagers can sniff out the bull crap quicker than anyone else.”

Get your senior involved in the process by building the idea for your shoot and poses together. That way, both of you can genuinely be on board with the photos you want to produce. Ask what they like to do in their spare time. If they’re a surfer, get them on the beach in a bathing suit and holding a surf board. If they play music, get them posing with their instrument.

Photo by Peter Casey

Props can be a good idea, just beware that they can sometimes get in the way of a clean photo. Let your senior play around, and then suggest putting anything distracting to the side, and start shooting before they loose the genuine happiness that it brought on.

3. Avoid working in front of an audience

It’s likely that the people paying you (i.e. parents) will be around, supervising. But as anyone who’s raised a teenager knows, they’re not always themselves around family. Even friends can cause your subjects to have a different vibe.

“At some point during the shoot, I like to try to get away from the parents or friends they brought along. Their involvement can be good, but sometimes it’s nice to get some distance and see how that changes their dynamic.” says Peter.

Peter likes to walk with his seniors to another location, maybe 5-10 minutes away. “That way we can talk a just ‘hang out’ for a bit.” They’ll likely relax and get in a different mindset – one that might bring out their best features and give you the best images.

Photo by Peter Casey

4. Start with headshots, then move to full body images

If your seniors are immediately comfortable in front of the camera (which many aren’t), then start with some simple headshots. Most are already familiar with someone photographing them like this, so they can start to loosen up.

“I like to start out with the generic headshot type of photos, and from there my subjects’ walls start to come down, which makes for a very natural session,” says Peter.

What about poses? “Everyone has a particular way about them,” notes Peter. “My directions are more guiding seniors toward their best natural pose. If there’s a pose that absolutely works, then I’ll ask them for hold it for a minute. If something just isn’t working at all, we move on.”

Photo by Peter Casey

One of the keys to successful senior portraits is to be natural with your subject and let your personality shine. Most people react by being themselves, too, and then as the photographer you need to be observant and ready to capture the right moment.

5. Bring a camera body, lens(es), and nothing more 

You don’t want to be lugging flashes or strobes around on an environmental shoot; plus, the light during sunset is often the best. Peter likes to shoot with a 70-200mm lens, and moves closer and further away from his subject to get the right frame.

Photo by Peter Casey

“I think there is an organic quality to natural light that lends itself well to senior portraits,” says Peter. “So most of the time I go out with just a camera and lenses.”

This minimalist mentality should apply to your shot setup, as well. Keep in mind the golden rule of environmental portraiture: remove as many distractions as possible from the background so the focus can be on your subject. “I am pretty obsessive over clean backgrounds,” says Peter. The environment should add something to your image, but not be the main event.

Learn how PhotoShelter helps portrait photographers run a better business

Today, making a personal connection with your client comes way before the day of the shoot: it starts with an elegant website that’s customized to fit your brand – one that gives potential clients a sense for what it’s like to work with you.

The Portrait Photographer’s Tour of PhotoShelter is an 18-page PDF guide that details how our customizable websites help draw attention to your best work, and add some branded personality to your online presence. With PhotoShelter you also get the best image delivery for your clients, so creating and sharing private galleries is fast and easy. Check out our websites and features in this free guide.

Aaron is the Founder and President of Phlearn, the #1 Photoshop site that publishes free episodes to help creatives learn Photoshop and photography techniques. He’s also a very talented photographer specializing in conceptual photography.

In the live demo, Aaron goes over his approach to non-destructive retouching, exposure and color correction, blemish removal, and how he uses dodging and burning to create definition and drama in his portraits.

Click here to download Aaron’s favorite retouching brush for Photoshop. (You may need to right-click and save the file. Installation instructions are included in the download.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Phlearn’s Photoshop and photography videos – there’s over 450 free tutorial episodes!

Photo by Justin Mott/Mott Visuals Weddings, Koh Samui, Thailand

Destination wedding photography is definitely its own special niche. It typically requires more planning and expertise on behalf of the photographer. And because the location is often far from the couple’s home, there’s lots of opportunity for surprises – and not always the good kind. As the photographer, you want to be rock-solid and reliable.

Justin Mott of Mott Visuals Weddings started his career in Vietnam shooting personal projects and later taking on editorial assignments. Today he runs a successful multi-faceted business that spans commercial, editorial, and wedding photography.

“After shooting a lot of serious stories and assignments, I found weddings were more than just extra income – I truly loved shooting them,” says Justin. “They’re very therapeutic for me.”

Justin splits his time between Vietnam and San Francisco. He frequently books foreigners who come to Southeast Asia for a destination wedding, as well as Vietnamese natives and San Francisco locals. He recently took some time to share his recommendations for building a successful destination wedding photography business.

Use your brand to build clients’ trust

Justin has spent years perfecting the balance between his three businesses, and recently underwent an intense re-branding experience to help give each business a life of its own. “I need fluidity and separation with my three brands, and that was the biggest challenge. My business has grown exponentially since working with a professional branding team. I’m no longer a freelance photographer who shoots a little bit of everything – now I’m the owner of photography business.”

Thanks to the re-branding, clients are no longer confused about where his specialties stand. On top of that, Justin finds that his wedding photography clients are impressed by his editorial and commercial work, and vice versa. “Destination weddings require a certain level of trust because people are finding you online and you can’t typically meet in person,” he explains. “So in effect, my client list is that trust.”

Justin makes it a point to list his editorial clients, like The New York Times and Forbes magazine, in the About section of his website. He also includes client testimonials and links to his other business’ websites so clients can get a taste for his work.

Photo by Justin Mott/Mott Visuals Weddings, Hoi An Vietnam Red Bridge

Simplify your packages

For couples, one the scariest parts of booking a destination wedding is the additional travel and lodging costs. Avoid adding more stress to their decision – forget outlining how much it will cost to get you from A to B. Justin suggests including the cost in your base package. One benefit of living part-time in your clients’ destination of choice is that you can help reduce extra travel expenses.

Regardless of where you’re based, you’re likely targeting a specific destination. Work out the average cost of travel and hotel, and include that rate in your package. The advantage here is that clients are less likely to try to haggle cheaper airfare or accommodations, and you’ll net out evenly the more and less expensive travel times of year.

“Clients don’t want to worry about airfare, lodging, etc.,” says Justin, “so we just build everything into one package. We simplified it to be all-inclusive and our success rate has skyrocketed.”

Photo by Justin Mott/Mott Visuals Weddings

Get serious about SEO and marketing 

Search Engine Optimization is important for running any photography business, and especially so for destination wedding photographers. Wedding clients are apt to ask their friends, family, and local vendors for local referrals, but if they’re traveling elsewhere then they probably need to research photographers on their own.

Justin spends much of his marketing efforts on improving Mott Visuals Weddings’ SEO. He’s recently begun targeting more clients in Thailand, and Justin says that SEO has played a huge role in helping to attract new clients. He also advertises on Junebug weddings for best wedding photographers in Thailand.  As a bigger site, Junebug ranks higher in search engine results, but Mott Visuals Weddings is #1 on Junebug’s listings thanks to the advertisement.

Justin also creates a new gallery on his PhotoShelter website after every wedding. “We share that with the client and they share the link to all their friends. That way potential new clients can see our work in a beautiful layout with our logo and links to our portfolio site.”

A shot of Justin’s wedding galleries on his PhotoShelter website.

Photo by Justin Mott/Mott Visuals Weddings

Always scout the location ahead of time

This sounds obvious, but scouting is especially important for destination wedding photographers. “People come from all over the world to attend the wedding, so my clients love having that one shot with everyone in it that shows off the location,” says Justin.

Justin likes to arrive on location the day before the wedding to scout. He also talks to his clients at length about why they chose that particular location. “If there is something specific they loved, like a beautiful garden  or infinity pool or the place where he/she proposed, I work that into my portraits.” For the “hero” portrait of the group, he likes to shoot from a high vantage point, so scouting is a must.

Photo by Justin Mott/Mott Visuals Weddings

Building rapport with clients is almost more important for destination wedding photographers because you might be meeting in-person for the first time on the big day. Take the time to get to know them, whether that’s multiple phone calls or meetings via Skype.

Beware local laws and customs

Certain resorts will charge couples a fee for bringing in an outside photographer – or simply not allow it at all. Be sure to research the venue in case your clients have missed anything. You’ll also want to check the country’s laws before bringing in equipment, in particular their requirements for proof of ownership (read more about U.S. Customs in this blog post).

Justin also warns destination photographers about the difference in copyright laws in some countries. “One thing to be careful of, especially in Southeast Asia, is the copyright issue. I’ve found my images used without permission from hotels and vendors.” Consider protecting your images with a watermark, and check back with the venue and vendors a few months after the wedding to be sure none of your images are being used without permission.

Learn more

How To Grow A Wedding Photography Business is a free guide cover all the basics of starting and growing a wedding photography business. Learn firsthand from successful wedding photographers about how set your services apart from the pack.

We interviewed Chris Reese (along with others in The Photographer’s Guide to Copyright) to learn more about what photographers should know bout social media and protecting their copyrights. Chris served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of SightSound Technologies, a tech company that developed technologies to sell audio and video files online. Over the years, he’s watched how technology has both expanded the way artists can distribute their work and made monetizing it (and maintaining value) incredibly difficult.

Chris took the time to talk us through what a photographer needs to know before sharing images online and using social media as a marketing tool.

What should a photographer consider before posting photos online?

The thing to realize is that anything that you can see or hear on the web, you can copy. At the absolute minimum you can take out your iPhone and take a picture of the monitor. You really need to read the Terms of Service before you give a website access to your creative work. If you can imagine something being done that would make you angry after the fact, you need to understand whether you’re actually giving them the right to do that very thing.

What are the important things to look for in any Terms of Service (TOS)?

The one thing to keep in mind is that almost every single terms of service will say that it has the right to change the terms of service. And typically it’s without notifying you.

The primary thing to look for is whether or not they allow for the commercial usage of what you’re posting. Most of them don’t. Surprisingly, some do. Some say that anyone can take a picture, copy it, put it on a t-shirt and start selling it. You need to read the rules to see if you are permitting that kind of use.

What should a photographer take into consideration before using social media to market?

Anything that you put online is up for grabs and can be stolen. You have to keep that in mind. If you have the greatest song in the history of the world and you post that on YouTube for free, you might dramatically undercut your ability to commercialize it. On the other hand, it might not.

It’s very easy for us to imagine that something we’ve created will all of a sudden catch fire and everybody will want it – that’s the nature of creation. Is that likely to happen? Not often. When we decide to use the tools available to us through the Internet, being overly concerned about the potential for bad things to happen is probably just as much of a concern as overstating the potential for good things to happen.

Why is stealing so rampant online and over social media?

There’s a big difference between legal rights and technical ability. The technical ability to copy any kind of digital works these days is so much stronger than whatever legal rights you have to tell people not to copy it.

If, for example, you find somebody that just didn’t read the TOS and they think they’re allowed to take your photos and use your photos for a brochure – it’s a careless mistake. They’re not purposefully trying to steal. They think that they’re allowed to take this nice picture of a bridge and put it on the cover of a brochure.

What can you do about it?

First of all, the chances of you finding out about it are very slim. But let’s say you do. You send them a letter and if it’s a company trying to do the right thing they’ll say, ‘Oops, sorry. It was a mistake.’ They might pay a little money and not include it in their next brochure. But the more likely scenario is that you’ll never find out about it and that’s the nature of it. It’s very complicated and time consuming to enforce legal rights.

How should a photographer approach an international Terms of Service?

I’m sure that international issues complicate matters a great deal. Again, it really comes down to enforceability. Do they enforce those rights the same way in all countries? The answer is no.

So are you bound by what you’ve agreed to when you click ‘OK,’ even if you didn’t read all the tiny type?

The general answer is, yes. The reason for that is you couldn’t really have commerce online if you had to show that somebody actually read the terms of purchase.

Most people think that when they sign something there must be a way to get out of it. That’s really not true. It’s incredibly expensive to get out of it. If you tell somebody they can have your picture forever and use it for whatever they want, and then it ends up in some horror flick that horrifies you…tough.” An agreement is an agreement and the courts have generally said that agreeing to TOS is a valid and enforceable contract.

Chris Reese is the author of ASMP Social Media Terms of Service Recommendations.

Learn more

The Photographer’s Guide to Copyright will help you break down copyright law, understand your rights as a photographer, and take steps to protect your work from infringement. Get tips to keep your work safe, plus read in-depth interviews from photographers and experts from ASMP.

PhotoShelter: How did you get your start in photography?

Tony Gale: I bought a camera from my friend who needed the money to pay rent, and fell in love. My career started in Seattle, but there was limited opportunity in that smaller market, so I moved to New York in 2000. I shoot for clients like Bank of America, State Farm, Best Buy, NY Moves magazine, and others. I also teach a lighting course at Parsons the New School for Design. In my spare time, I’m an avid triathlete.

PS: Any Ironman triathlons in your future?

TG: I’m working up to doing one in 2014.

PS: We met last year while doing a series of APA Photo Assistant seminars and in Seattle you took this photo of me – I guess it is an environmental portrait – but I like it. It’s fun.

TG: Yes, it was the end of the day, and we had shot inside the studio, but decided to run power out the 2nd story window and take some fun photos.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: What is appealing to you about taking portraits, or more specifically, an environmental portrait?

TG: I like meeting and talking to people from diverse backgrounds. There is something about meeting people in person that you don’t get from an email or a phone call. And in the case of an environmental photo, you can see people in their own element.

PS: Tell us about this first photo.

TG: The subject is a rollerblader and we wanted to shoot him in an area where he skates. This is a single light set up with about a 70mm lens, so I’m pretty far back to get his entire body.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: His skin tone looks a little warm. Did you use any gels?

TG: The skin tone is warm because I made it warm by adjusting the white balance. I use an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport on all my shoots to determine a neutral white balance, then I can make adjustments within Lightroom as necessary. White balance is just too difficult to determine by looking at the back of your screen while on a shoot, and the ColorChecker gives me a consistent output from which I can build profiles in Lightroom.

I also have a number of softboxes and as they age, they get a little yellow, so in some cases I’ll just pick an older softbox if I want a warmer tone.

PS: What other equipment do you typically use?

TG: I have a Hensel Porty battery powered light that I bought used. I use a Sony a77 and a99, Pocket Wizards, and I have three vivitar 283 flashes that I got used for about $35.

PS: A few years ago it would have been unusual to hear that a pro was using Sony DSLRs, but I got to try out the a99, and it’s a pretty great camera.

TG: Yes, I’ve been very happy with the performance, especially in low light. I shot a job recently at ISO6400 with an a99 and the images came out great.

PS: When I saw this next image, I was really surprised to see that it was all ambient. But I guess those bus signs can put out a lot of light just like a computer screen.

TG: This was a situation where you have to find the right bus stand; one that has a light colored ad so that it can be used for illumination. The bus stand metered at f/5.6 and the ambient was at f/2.8.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: So you had four times as much light from the bus stand.

TG: Yes. It was still a slow exposure (1/2 sec), so I had a tripod, but I think that night photography needs to have that certain ambiance.

PS: I see some motion blur in the left corner. Was that intention?

TG: Yes, that’s just the blur of someone walking by which I thought added a little something to the photo. I have since recreated this photo for other clients who like the look.

PS: Have you considered using continuous lighting for a shot like this?

TG: I do own a few 2″x2″ LED panels, cheap ones, about $35 each, and they’re great for this type of work. The lower end models aren’t great with color temperature consistency compared to the more expensive product like Litepanel. But this is a situation where I could have taped one of those to the bus stand if necessary.

PS: On the last photo, I had expected that you used strobes (you didn’t). On this one, I was surprised to see that you had used strobes because it looks like window light!

TG: Thank you, I’m glad to hear that. This is two lights. A big white umbrella camera right, and a strobe bounced into the wall camera left. I tried it with just the umbrella and the light was too hard. There weren’t any windows in the room so I had to light it. I light with one light at a time, and add additional lights as needed. I find that it’s too hard to turn multiple lights on at the same time while trying to understand what’s bouncing off of what.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: This to me is such a great environmental photo. I see the hats on the wall, and then you framed her in the negative space, and she also has this wonderful hairpiece on. Were you aware of all these compositional elements?

TG: Yes, I saw the hats and the negative space. I didn’t have her completely centered in the negative space, but it doesn’t bother me. The lens is pretty wide because the room is so small – my back is up against the wall, and there’s some distortion towards the edges of the frame, but you pick the lens to get the “right” photo. Shooting wide gives us these environmental elements.

PS: Are you directing her poses?

TG: Non-models can be very intimidated when having their photo taken, so I try to have a conversation with them, and I tell them that I’m gonna take a lot of photos. They’ll be some photos where their eyes are closed, and some where they mouth is in a funny position. But in between those, you get some really nice, natural poses. I think I probably shot about 300 images for this.

This image was taken as a part of my “Some Interesting People” project where people submit me the name and description of someone they find interesting and I go out and photograph them.

PS: You have this project and another project to take a portrait of all your Facebook friends – all 1,500 of them. How important are personal projects to your creative growth?

TG: Very important. You could go a month without being hired to take a portait, so it’s important to keep shooting things that are interesting to you.

PS: This next one looks like a model.

TG: Yes, this was for a catalog shoot. We probably did 2000 frames per day in 5 locations.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: And this doesn’t have any strobes!

TG: Correct. We used a soft gold reflector which has alternating bands of gold and silver. The effect of a gold reflector can be pretty noticeable, so my assistant is probably backed up about 15 feet away. But it was a very bright day, and we didn’t need a strobe, so I didn’t use one. I try to keep it pretty simple, and in this case, it’s more about the location.

PS: Are you usually responsible for picking the location?

TG: The client will often have a location in mind, but they aren’t thinking about lighting, backgrounds, etc., so when I’m scouting it’s my job to be able to tell them why one location might be preferable to another.

PS: Can you tell us about your post production workflow?

TG: I ingest everything through Lightroom, and as I mentioned before, I use the ColorChecker to shoot a reference frame for each lighting set-up. After building a color profile for each, I’ll start going in and making adjustments as needed.

PS: Your images don’t seem particularly heavy handed for retouching. Are you pulling these into Photoshop at all, or is everything completed in Lightroom?

TG: Photoshop almost inevitably gets used for the final images, and most of the images you’re seeing today could have between 3-9 layers in Photoshop, but for subtle tweaking.

PS: Three subjects in this one. I find it really complex to pose more than one person.

TG: Adding more people makes taking a portrait much more complex. I usually start with one person in the frame and then add the subjects one at a time. This was photographed for an alumni magazine at a winery on Long Island.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: When I started doing portraits, I was looking at a lot of sports portraiture where the style is to underexpose the sky to add more drama and make the subject look more heroic. In this photo, the sky is blown out and you have some flare in the upper left corner.

TG: Yes, this was intentional. It was actually a pretty overcast day, so it wasn’t as bright as it looks, but I find that when you’re shooting indoors, you want the outside to look a certain way and the interaction of the light with the windows is important as well. In this case, the light casts these long shadows of the window frames and the people.

PS: The lens is pretty wide. 

TG: I wanted to get those great arches in the shot, so I’m probably shooting 24mm with my back up against the wall. But again, it helps establish the environment, and makes this a more successful photo than if I had cropped it tighter.

PS: Our final photo of some students.

TG: This was actually taken in Miami for the APA Photo Assistant workshop. I always took a photo of the groups, and this was challenging because there are so many people. But as we were walking around, I saw this bush, and I told everyone to get into the bush. Not in front of the bush, in the bush.

Photo by Tony Gale

PS: The light is pretty straight on, but it has this pretty contemporary look to it.

TG: Yes, because I had to shoot wide to get everyone in, and the road is there. We had two Profoto 7a‘s about 40 feet away. And we just used the zoom reflectors, which allow you to focus the light a little tighter when you have a long throw.

PS: What sort of lighting kit would you recommend for someone starting out with environmental and location portraiture. I guess it sort of depends on price range.

TG: Lights can be very expensive, but you can get a nice battery kit like a Calumet Genesis for about $400. At the mid-range, there are lights like the Hensel Porty or the Elinchrom Ranger. And at the high end, the Broncolor Move or Profoto B4. The difference between the low end and high end equipment is usually in color consistency and flash duration. Flash duration is really only important if you’re trying to freeze motion.

PS: And if you were going to pick a few modifiers?

TG: Softbox, umbrella, and zoom reflector are all standard. There are so many different types of modifiers like strip lights and octabanks, but I like to keep it pretty simple.

PS: Plus when you’re working outdoors, those octabanks can fly all over the place.

TG: Yes, I travel with bungy cord and water weights instead of sandbags. But yes, you don’t want your lights blowing around in the wind.

Tony put additional lighting diagrams on his Facebook page, which were created with software provided by MAC-On-Campus. 

Master photo retoucher Amy Dresser may have gotten her start with famed photographer Jill Greenberg, but today she works for a whole host of clients from Playboy to Barbie. And while her talents are in high demand, Amy humbly claims her work is relatively simple: remove what might be distracting, then pull the channels up and down to see if things will look more interesting with a different color direction.

In this video, Amy also talks about the quick color adjustments, masking, cloning, painting, laying…and more that she does (quick meaning 2+ hours and 10 layers for a simple portrait) including refining, shaping, pumping, or sculpting a subject’s face. She specializes in both human and animal faces, as well as some pretty amazing illustrations, so check out her video interview below for more!

Note that this is not a step-by-step retouching tutorial by Amy. Instead, Amy humorously gives us some insight into her thinking: why she chose to take the photographs in one direction versus another and what techniques she thought were appropriate for the shot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Amy Dresser’s Luminance video>>

Check out our upcoming webinars >>

Photo by Dave Walsh/Ice formations on an iceberg in Kane Basin, Northwest Greenland as seen from the deck of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise during an expedition to examine the effects of climate change in the Arctic.

Picture this: You’re out on a ship in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. From afar, the icebergs look like moderately-sized chunks. But as you get closer, you realize that your little ship dwarfs in comparison to these monstrous beings, and they’re actually not still at all, but slowly bobbing in the water. And every now and then, a hunk (the size of your head? your car? you can’t tell from here) breaks off the side.

It might sound nerve-racking, but polar and environmental photographer Dave Walsh lives for this kind of adventure. “The frozen regions of our planet have the power to ignite imaginations,” says Dave, “but for most of the 7 billion people on Earth, the Arctic and Antarctic remain abstract and unreachable.”

Dave has worked extensively on environmental and science stories, and has sailed aboard several Greenpeace expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic. His images have also appeared in National Geographic, The Financial Times, The Guardian, and Smithsonian to name a few.

To help demystify this frozen world, Dave shared the three things that most photographers don’t know about shooting ice:

1. You’ll have better luck in the middle of the night

Photographers know that a sunny day often doesn’t mean the best light. So what do you do when you’re in a place with 24 hours of sunlight?

Dave found that the best time of day was between 2-4am, when the sun is low in the sky and the glare is less harsh coming off the ice.

“Some of my images were taken in northwest Greenland, between June and August in what are actually desert conditions. There’s practically no humidity, and it’s not really all that cold,” he says. “At that time of year, you can go hiking across a glacier at 3am in a t-shirt, even in the high Arctic. But I do recommend you still bring warm clothes!”

Photo by Dave Walsh

Photo by Dave Walsh

2. Icebergs are always on the move

The word “iceberg” literally means ice mountain, and while they’re enormous, they also float freely in the ocean. “I’m aware that many of my iceberg images have a certain stillness to them,” says Dave. “But in reality, nothing stops moving at sea – every iceberg is moving, changing shape, and slowly melting.”

Getting close to an iceberg means using inflatable boats, and even though they’re stable, it add even more movement to his shot. Plus, a one degree change of angle can give a radically different perspective.

“This isn’t landscape photography in the normal sense – where a moving sky is what you’ve got to deal with. When you’re on the sea, photographing ice, the sky is about the only thing that’s a constant,” says Dave. “The temptation is to try and make a blockbuster image – to go all wide-angle and dramatic. Whenever I feel like doing this, I stop, try and put the camera on a tripod, or shoot at 50mm. I give to let the subject itself empower the image.”

Photo by Dave Walsh/Formerly part of a tabular ice shelf, an iceberg slumps into the Southern Ocean.

3. Nothing is actually completely white

You might think much in the Polar Regions is pure white – glaciers, snow, polar bears, etc. But in fact, these environments are bursting with incredible colors.

“We tend to think of polar bears as pure white, because they’re so reflective, when in fact they’re a yellow gold,” explains Dave. “And the’re a  rich blues to the icebergs due to highly compacted snow squeezing out the red part of the spectrum. Photographing this is a privilege, as it’s not something most people ever get a chance to see”.

Photo by Dave Walsh

Photo by Dave Walsh

Even on dark, overcast days, Dave says he is often still shooting at ISO 100.  “When you point a lens at an iceberg, it’s as if it sucks in light from the sky, then radiates it and amplifies it,” says Dave.

Photo by Dave Walsh

“Climate change is a real, measurable phenomenon,” concludes Dave. “Our behavior is causing melting, particular of the Arctic sea ice, and Greenland ice cap. What happens at the poles has reverberations elsewhere. Through my photography, I want to make people not only fall in love with their home planet, but to start giving a damn and take action to protect it.”

Dave’s polar images were recently featured at the Copper House Gallery in Dublin, Ireland in The Cold Edge exhibition. The curators described his series as a collection of “ethereal photographs of the unforgiving wilderness, wild animals and blue icebergs question our romantic relationship with remote, harsh and pristine environments.”  You can also follow Dave on Twitter: @davewalshphoto.

Photos by Lucas Zarebinski

We’re going to give it away right up front: lighting is probably the most important element to shooting solid product photography. When isn’t it in photography? But because getting the nitty-gritty details is often so important, there’s a lot more involved in planning and setting up your product shots.

For some product photography lighting tips and advice on getting those miraculously detailed images, we talked to product photographer Lucas Zarebinski. Lucas is routinely sought out by editorial and advertising clients for his food photography and unique concepts for fashion and electronic products. His edgy work has appeared in magazines such as Men’s Health, Prevention, Bicycling, and Details.

Here is Lucas’ list of some of the most common mishaps he’s seen (or experienced) and how he keeps clients coming back for more:

Being afraid to get up close and personal

Unlike photographing a person or group of people, “It’s entirely up to you to create the photograph – there is no active collaboration between you and the object,” says Lucas. “Product photography requires a greater attention to detail and critical lighting skills since you find yourself a lot closer to the subject than most cases.”

Photos by Lucas Zarebinski

While getting into someone’s personal space during a shoot might be inappropriate for a living subject, it’s encouraged in product photography. “It’s all about styling your subject prior to shooting and coming up with the right approach,” notes Lucas, who carefully studies all the product’s details before even setting up lights.

Familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of the product, and you’ll be better prepared to light it.

Photos by Lucas Zarebinski

Creating a “scene” on set

Lucas points out that the product should be the center of attention. That means the setting should be clean-cut. “I try to work with as little distractions as possible,” says Lucas. “That way I can just emphasize the object without worrying to much about props.”

Photos by Lucas Zarebinski

Avoid harsh shadows and aim for softer lighting (try using a light tent or softbox), which helps the viewer focus on the details. You can start by aiming two lights down on the product, and then adjust the brightness and angle to bring out the right texture.

In most cases, you’ll also want to remove all distractions from the shot and create a simple composition. This is particularly important for editorial clients who will likely want to add text or position several products on the same page.

Photos by Lucas Zarebinski

Approaching it from an expected angle

There’s a simple approach to product photography lighting – don’t take that one. Coming up with new ideas is what makes you stand out and leaves clients wanting more. So, what about lighting from underneath using a lightbox? This is one of Lucas’ favorite techniques, and the result is often a much more interesting image with shadows and texture details that you wouldn’t normally see.

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

“I ended up setting up on a lightbox to give the product a fresh and airy feel,” says Lucas of the above shot. “I was paying close attention to the shapes and texture in the subject to give them colorful and strong impressions.”

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

Acting like a know-it-all

Remember: you’re the photographer on set. So just as you wouldn’t want the stylist or art director on set to interfere with your shooting, be sure to return the favor. Sure, it’s fine to collaborate with them, but don’t step on their toes. Trust their expert and leave it to them to do what they’ve been trained to do.

Though most clients will likely bring along their own people, you should also consider befriending a few good stylists. “I almost always work with a prop or food stylist,” says Lucas. “Concepts are developed as the photographer, client, and stylist all talk about a particular assignment and come up with the best visual solution to the problem at hand.”

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

For the above shots, Lucas let the food stylist pick out and arrange the best looking. “As much as you try to figure out everything before the shoot, you still need to leave room for changes – things might look better or worse from what you planned,” he says.

You still want to maintain your personal style and put your own stamp on the shot. For example, Lucas is known for his stop-motion photos. “I just love freezing motion and capturing moments that you don’t really see in everyday life,” he says. “It’s like magic to me. In a sense it’s like I have the wand and I can stop time.”

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

Demanding that you get everything in camera

Lucas reminds us that it’s okay to do some extra work in post-production. There are always corrections to be made, no matter how good your product photography lighting might be. You might even find that you spend as much time post-processing as you do shooting. “Sometimes it’s just a simple clean-up of dust and scratches, but in most cases things need to be layered, enhanced, and re-positioned,” says Lucas.

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

Photo by Lucas Zarebinski

Other techniques often include color boost, contrast change, and sharpening. Or you might simply want to create a concept that’s impossible to get in real life. “I think these days all commercial photography is retouched to some level,” Lucas says.

If you’ve worked in product photography before, what do you think are some of the most common misconceptions about lighting objects vs. people? Share your expertise in the comments.

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

There’s something strangely similar between U.S. political conventions and a spiritual retreat: People travel from far and wide, spending their own money, to attend an event that they feel such a deep and significant connection to, that once they arrive there’s a widespread sense of awe and wonder that they’ve found themselves there.

Brendan Hoffman managed to really capture this sentiment with his photos from the Democratic National Convention earlier this September. “Upon entering the floor of the Time Warner Cable Arena, site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, I noticed a tendency delegates had of glancing up as an ethereal light caught their faces,” says Brendan. “These are the party faithful, those who spend their own money to travel to the convention to be with their own kind and bask in the warm fuzziness of common purpose and a common stance on a host of public policy issues.”

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

Brendan, who began his career as a freelance photographer in Washington D.C., was covering the DNC this year in Charlotte, North Carolina, trying “desperately to diminish the chaos and find a focus. I found a point where people enter the stands that had a clean concrete wall for a backdrop. The entire arena was lit for television, and after the delegates walked into the arena to find their seats, they’d all look up at the big monitor, which offered a view of whomever was speaking on stage.”

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

That combination of a solid backdrop, front and side lights, and upturned faces allowed Brendan to catch his subjects in a heavenly glow. “In the end I think the thread that ties the subjects together is that they are all doing what, in their minds, is one of the most constructive things they can do to help their country and maintain a healthy democracy,” notes Brendan. “It’s very easy to be cynical about politics, but here are people that seem to believe deep down that the American system is great and are acting on that belief.”

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

Many delegates also dress up and get extremely festive for the national conventions. And, because people come from all over the country, Brendan also aimed to capture the diversity of the delegates at the DNC. Interestingly enough, most of Brendan’s subjects probably weren’t aware that they were being photographed: “I think delegates who have been to a convention before understand that they are as much a part of the event as anyone speaking on stage; those who are new figure it out quickly,” says Brendan.

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Prime

“It can be difficult to sort through the costumes and performances and find any sort of authenticity, so I hope I was able to do that with this series,” says Brendan.

To see the full series and more of Brendan’s work on covering news and politics, visit him at primecollective.com/features/hoffman.

Capturing Joe McNally as he rises up in a crane to shoot the world's largest telescope for National Geographic.

Drew Gurian and two other members of Joe McNally's team try to keep warm out in the desert as they shoot hour-long exposures.

Drew Gurian shoots behind-the-scenes video at a shoot under a circus tent.

We learned all about the setup, gear, and technique that Joe McNally, Drew Gurian, and the rest of the team used during these shots. But perhaps more importantly, over the course of the hour video interview below, Drew outlined his five main reasons why working as a photography assistant is worth it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are a few of our notes:

1. Soak up the photographer’s knowledge and expertise – in Joe’s case, his incredible way with lighting.
2. Enjoy the security of a full-time job when assisting, while still making time to cultivate your personal style.
3. Take advantage of all the networking opportunities when working with an established photographer, and build your confidence working with clients.
4. If you have the chance to travel with the photographer, make sure that you utilize the time to shoot for your own portfolio – you might not get to go there again!
5. Remember that your experience working on set is key to learning what to expect in the photo industry, and gives you a leg up when you set out to make it on your own.

You can join Drew Gurian and Joe McNally for a very special workshop on September 11 in New York City as part of Luminance 2012. Joe McNally is holding two limited-seating workshops, along with Robert Seale, Zack Arias, and Brian Smith. Find out more about the workshop and the 26 speakers at the conference the following day – including Facebook, Google, 20×200, Getty Images, and more.