Branding is more than just a logo, it is the vision and delivery of your business, which, in photography, is very important. Whether you are a wedding, newborn, portrait, or product photographer, having the right branding is a key element to getting great clients through the door and optimizing your services. In this video by boudoir photographer Michael Sasser, he takes us through some great tips and tricks. 

Your brand can help you determine who you are as a photographer and what type of clients you want to attract. Sasser shares his new workbook, which can help you identify answers to some of the key questions he asks of you and also gives you the tips you need to make steps towards those goals. 

Having a clear idea of your brand allows you to optimize your website, email traffic, social media, and even how you present yourself on the day of the shoot. It becomes an identity and a mission statement you live by and provides great comfort to your clients. 

This video is certainly a great insight into some of the questions and answers you should be looking at while wanting to create your brand, and Sasser has done a great job putting this together. 

For photographers who currently run successful businesses, what tips and advice would you give to those starting their careers?

Actor and photographer Norman Reedus has seen much success with the spinoff of The Walking Dead featuring his character Daryl Dixon. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon premiered on AMC and AMC+ in October 2023 to rave reviews from critics and viewers. The series is set and filmed in France, giving it a much different tone than anything else in TWDU. Reedus will host a new exhibit of his photography in France in November.

The series is titled “In Transit” and will be held at the Mark Hachem Gallery on the move at Galerie Joseph in Paris, France, beginning with a VIP preview on November 9 with the show on view until November 17.

This new series of photographs taken by Norman Reedus spans from the 90s to the present. As a photographer, Reedus has a keen eye that sees things others would simply pass by. He often captures macabre images in such a way that they become beautiful.

The show description:

His new photographic work, spanning from the ’90s, a bygone and legendary era, to the present day, delves into the complexity of the human soul through portraits and unique locations. It is an initiatory quest, a road trip between dreams and reality, in transit towards a new transcendence. A journey resembling a waking dream into the depths of his soul, between the conscious and the unconscious.

Beyond this transformative journey, he invites the audience to connect with the evolution of his creative work, exploring the intricacies of his introspections and his deep self.

Norman Reedus – bigbaldgallery

If you want to purchase photography by Reedus, check out his site, bigbaldgallery, and sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss out.

New to the site is the Dark Vibes merch collection emblazoned with the BBH logo in cool violet and vibrant lime green. Currently, the new re-imaged logo is available on hoodies, tote bags, and zip hoodies.

Follow Undead Walking on Twitter and sign up for the once-daily Undead Walking newsletter to avoid missing out on everything in The Walking Dead universe.

• Published on 11/05/2023 at 2:11 PM EST
• Last updated on 11/05/2023 at 2:11 PM EST

Photo Essay by Ernesto González Díaz

HAVANA TIMES – The park photographed is Cordova Park in the Havana neighborhood of El Sevillano. The photos were taken around 10 at night and under a persistent drizzle that can be seen in some of the images.

Night photography is necessarily long exposure due to the low lighting in the scene. In dimly lit environments, such as the one I photographed, the shutter speed or exposure time can range between 4 and 8 seconds. It is practically essential to use a tripod or rest the camera on some solid and preferably flat surface to prevent the photo from being blurred. It is also suggested to use the timer as the pressure exerted when pressing the shutter can generate some jitter.

See more photo features here on Havana Times.

Canon connoisseurs, Nikon aficionados, Sony enthusiasts and all are welcome to join Montclair State University’s very own photography club.

Founded in early February 2021 by then-sophomore molecular biology major Marissa Di Fulco, the club was made to fill the gap in the thousands of organizations Montclair State had to offer at the time. She realized, as she looked through the list of organizations, that there was no established community where students who share her same passion and appreciation for photography could come together. She laid the foundations for a club that would go on to feature amazing photographers.

Two members of the photo club work together to solve a technical problem. Allen Macaraeg | The Montclarion

No matter what kind of camera you have, whether it is a full body with the latest sensors or just the camera on your phone, you are welcome to come learn more about the art of photography and share your creative visions with other members. The club is a safe space where anyone can participate: rookies, pros and anyone in between.

At first, meetings started over Zoom on Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. where members had the opportunity to learn from professionals like Mike Peters, the university photographer of Montclair State. As time went on during the fall semester, members of the club found themselves a new home: Calcia Hall room 131.

The photography club hosted its first gallery exhibit on Dec. 1, courtesy of their board led by president Di Fulco. Instead of exclusively taking the pictures, she and the rest of the board worked to have the K. Schnitzer Gallery. Students were encouraged to submit pictures that they took, regardless of if it was on a professional camera or the camera on their phone, and they were displayed in the gallery for all to see. Galleries have become a consistent part of the club’s schedule, and more will be on the way.

In addition to these galleries, the club also hosts “Feature Friday,” a weekly Instagram post where a club member’s photos are showcased. One of these features have even included The Montclarion’s very own director of photography, Karsten Englander.

Earlier this month, the club hosted a meeting where members could take pictures on film cameras and develop those pictures.

Developed film rolls sit on a light table. Allen Macaraeg | The Montclarion

Maggie Evans, a senior communications and media studies major and the current club president, commented on how the club provides more accessibility to other photography mediums like film photography.

Maggie Evans, president of the photography club, poses with two thumbs up. Photo courtesy of Angel Santos

“It’s always a really cool process to take film pictures and develop them. We’re trying to make [film] more popular again for people to like see how fun it actually is,” Evans said. “I know it’s hard to get your own chemicals obviously and like have your own darkroom, so we want it to be available to everybody who it can be.”

Nina Andrews, a junior psychology major, is the treasurer of the club and commented on resource availability in the cage, Montclair State’s very own state-of-the-art center for all film and radio production needs. She also mentioned that the process of developing film alone is its own unique process and opportunity to use resources available on campus.

Nina Andrews, treasurer of the photography club, smiles for the camera. Photo courtesy of Angel Santos

“We have limited materials in the cage just because of all the classes that we’re renting out too and that’s the main priority but we are able in the club to like take advantage of what we have left,” Andrews said. “You don’t get that opportunity to have that creative process when you’re sending your film out or like your disposable cameras. This is another way to take advantage of what we have on campus.”

A member of the photography club reaches to take their developed photo from the photo tray. Allen Macaraeg | The Montclarion

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, as part of the photography club’s weekly meeting, they provided members with the opportunity to take pictures using an unconventional medium: a paint can. Each paint can was equipped with a small hole on the surface, covered by a piece of tape. Inside the paint can was a piece of photo paper, where the picture was produced. Members stepped outside of the building and found locations around the Montclair State campus to take photos of. In order to take the picture, they placed the paint can on a stable surface and removed the piece of tape for 30 seconds, allowing the photo paper to be exposed to light. After the 30 seconds were up, they covered the hole with the tape and returned to the room to begin processing.

Evans places her paint can on a window sill and peels the tape off of the hole. Photo courtesy of Angel Santos

In order to process the image, members entered the darkroom, a processing area where there is no light in order to safely develop the image on film or paper. Members then placed their photo papers into a photo tray, which contained certain chemicals to allow the picture to develop. After a few minutes, members were able to take their pictures out and see what they had produced.

The film hangs while it develops. Photo courtesy of Angel Santos

Markell Robinson, vice president of the club, is a senior film and television major. He encourages people to practice casual photography and take pictures to capture different moments of their everyday lives, even if it’s just on their phones.

Markell Robinson, vice president of the club, speaks with a club member. Allen Macaraeg | The Montclarion

“I do think that more people should practice casual photography, it’s a good way to capture your everyday being,” Robinson said. “I usually do not take pictures every day, but I just recently got a point and shoot camera so I can start just taking pictures everywhere I go. In 10 years from now, you’re not gonna be able to really look back and see what you did in college but I think if you take those pictures every day, you’ll appreciate them in the long run.”

Dan Dreisbach, a junior visual communication design major, is the secretary of the club. He emphasized the importance of a photographer’s relationship with their subject.

Dan Dreisbach, secretary of the club, poses in front of a whiteboard decorated with information on taking photos with a film camera. Photo courtesy of Angel Santos.

“For photography, especially portrait photography, you have a relationship with your subject,” Dreisbach said. “I know me personally I’m very awkward in front of the camera. So part of taking pictures of somebody is making them feel comfortable, getting to know your subject, like knowing what they think they like about themselves or what they don’t like and trying to capture the best part of what they like.”

To learn more about the club or if you have any questions, reach out to @msu.photoclub on Instagram.

I’ve been using filters for my photography for more than ten years, and for the last five, I have used filters made by Kase. Just recently, I switched my filter system to what I think is the perfect filter kit for landscape and architecture photography. In this article, you’ll find a detailed review of it.

A few years ago, if you had asked me which filters to get for landscape photography, I’d have answered: The Kase K9 Kit with a set of ND and GND filters. GND filters have always been essential in my photography, but since I switched to the Canon EOS R5 three years ago, I find myself using those less and less.

They still make capturing high-dynamic range scenes easier than relying solely on exposure bracketing. For many years, I would combine both techniques. But the dynamic range modern cameras can capture already gives a good starting point in most situations, so I no longer need GND filters that often.

Kase KW Revolution Professional ND Kit

It is why I decided to switch to a more compact filter kit. Especially during my travels, the GND filters took up too much space in my camera bag. With the Kase KW Revolution Kit, I could reduce the footprint of my filters.

As you already learned in this FStoppers article, this set of color-coded magnetic filters contains a polarizer, an ND9, an ND64, and an ND1000 filter. Included are also two adapters: a normal screw-in magnetic adapter and a tiny inlaid ring that vanishes inside your lens’ filter thread. The filters magnetically snap into either of those adapters. The magnets are strong enough for combining several filters, as you can see in the feature video. And while it’s possible to use your regular lens cap with these filters, you can also use the included magnetic filter cap.

Image Quality

The magnetic KW Revolution Filters use high-quality Wolverine glass as the filters I used with the K9 Kit. Those were already great, with nearly no color cast and excellent sharpness. But once I got the Revolution filters, I did some additional tests, stacking up to three filters in front of my Canon RF 100-500mm lens while shooting at 500mm.

Note that in the side by side comparisons below, moving the slider to the left will always reveal the photo with the Kase filters attached.

Sharpness

With low-quality filters, you will notice a degradation in detail and sharpness, especially when shooting with a long lens. But as you can see in the 100% crop comparison below, even with two filters – a polarizer and an ND9 – there is no noticeable degradation in image quality. Only when I used three filters, a UV, a polarizer, and an ND64, could I see a minimal reduction in sharpness. I show this comparison in the feature video.

Color Cast

The filters show close to no color cast. In the comparison above, you see a slight warming through the polarizer. It comes mainly from the polarization and the removal of the reflections of the blue sky. It will hardly be a problem, especially if you’re shooting raw. 

I also tested the ND1000 filter. See the comparison above. Here, I don’t notice any color cast. As you can see in the following comparison, using a UV and an ND9 also produces no color cast. 

Lens Flares

The weather here in Germany hasn’t been good since I got the filters. I haven’t yet taken a photo with the sun in the frame. But I did a little night photo test shoot in my garden to check how the filters influence the capturing of artificial lights in a photo. What you might notice with low-quality filters when shooting cityscapes at night are little lens flares around the city lights.

Thankfully, such lens flares are well-controlled with the KW Revolution filters. The two photos look identical. I used a magnetic UV filter from Kase with the ND9 from the Revolution Kit for this test. You will also not notice any color cast.

Vignetting

The vignetting topic is a bit more complicated because it depends a lot on the lens you’re using and at which focal length you are photographing. I use a Canon RF 15-35mm lens with an 82mm filter thread. But I still got the 95mm Kase KW Revolution Kit. With these larger filters, I can stack two filters even when shooting at 15mm without vignetting. On the Kase Germany homepage, I found a table with recommended filter sizes for different lenses.

When getting a filter set that is larger than the filter thread of your lens, you also need another adapter. Kase offers different step-up rings. I got an 82-95mm adapter and a 77-95mm adapter for the two lenses I use. It also means I cannot use the small inlaid adapters, which is fine but something to consider.

Use Cases

You can join me in the feature video as I show how I use the filters for woodland and river photography. It’s the perfect use case for the KW Revolution polarizer and typically also for the ND9. On this day, it was already quite dark in the forest, and I didn’t need an ND filter. 

The ND filters will be important at the coast. They let you achieve longer exposure times even before sunset to capture a sense of movement in the water. 

I’d call the ND1000 the fine art filter. You can use it to completely smooth out water and movement to create minimalistic photos. Or you can use it to remove people from a city. If there are just a few people moving through the frame, they vanish in such a long exposure. For crowds, you can achieve a ghost-like effect.

Conclusion

The Kase KW Revolution Pro filters are great for landscape and architecture photography. They are all I need for nearly all my photo shoots. In some situations, I would still like to have a GND filter at hand. But unlike a polarizer or an ND filter, a GND is no longer a necessity for me. You should also decide if that’s the case for you. If you still find yourself using GND filters a lot, then switching to this more compact kit might not be the right move and the K9 Kit might be a better option. But when it comes to ease of use and size of the filters, the KW Revolution filters are hard to beat.

The beauty of working with flash is that you can walk into any lighting situation and shape it to your creative vision and needs, and that frees you from relying on the sun to cooperate and to dictate your shoot’s timing and location. Perhaps no scenario is more challenging than harsh midday light. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use off-camera flash to work with that harsh light to create compelling portraits. 

Coming to you from Jiggie Alejandrino, this excellent video tutorial will show you two different ways to tackle difficult, hard light using off-camera flash, including high-speed sync and ND filters. No doubt, midday sun is something that is avoided by most photographers, as it generally produces harsh, unflattering light, but being able to work with any sort of ambient light is the mark of a professional, and you will find it far more creatively freeing. On top of that, that harsh light can create dramatic contrasts across the landscape that can add a lot of visual interest to the frame. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Alejandrino. 

If you would like to continue learning about how to light a portrait, be sure to check out “Illuminating The Face: Lighting for Headshots and Portraits With Peter Hurley!”