Camera Stupid

Making Photography Simple

It’s Okay to Copy – The Four Steps of the Creative Process

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I often have the occasion to work with people who don’t necessarily work in what society considers a creative field. For example, a sales person will request a piece of content from the marketing team. They often have some vague direction like “I want it to be sexy.” or “Jazz it up a little.” I have to laugh because in addition to giving completely unhelpful direction, it’s clear that they don’t understand the creative process. They don’t even understand that creativity is a process. I’d love it if I could just crank out creativity on request, but it doesn’t work like that. [Read more…]

7 Days in Haiti

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I recently returned from a trip to Haiti. I was traveling with representatives from Kyäni, an Idaho Falls company that sells nutrition and food supplements.

Kyäni’s nonprofit foundation, Kyäni Caring Hands, manufactures a nutrient-fortified instant potato product.

We spent a week distributing the product at Haitian orphanages and churches in an effort to alleviate hunger and scout potential humanitarian distribution lines. [Read more…]

Building a Photo & Video Editing Workstation with AMD Ryzen

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I grew up in a in a house where the personal computer was a permanent appliance. My father worked as a programmer and we updated our home computer regularly as the technology developed. I remember booting DOS games from floppy drives, our first Amiga with a color graphical interface, and eventually getting internet at home through a dial-up modem. As the technology developed, so did my knowledge and interest in the hardware itself. [Read more…]

Sharpen your Studio Skills – Photographing Knives

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And old friend of mine and Camera Stupid community member Jonathan Samson hit me up the other day asking for some tips for photographing knives. His cousin owns Scar Blades and creates these beautifully finished, hand-made masterpieces.

We spent a morning experimenting with different shots and setups using props we were able to pull together the night before. Take a look behind the scenes in this video: [Read more…]

How to License your Photography while Protecting your Copyright

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Camera Stupid has a fantastic community of photographers over in the Official Facebook Group. We have over 5,000 members now and it’s a great place to share your photos, get feedback, or ask questions. If you haven’t joined yet we’d love to have you.

Greg Grayson recently posted the following question in the group and I decided to repost it here as it’s a great topic that many photographers could benefit from. [Read more…]

Most Popular Photography Gear December 2016

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Photography gear is always improving. There are new tools coming out almost daily that can help you make better photographs or videos. This page contains my gear recommendations based on my personal experience.

Disclaimer: Camera Stupid was created with the goal of helping photographers/videographers to improve their skills. To help the site expand and to cover costs of running Camera Stupid, many links are affiliate links. These affiliate links earn Camera Stupid a small commission on any purchases made after someone clicks on these links. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it helps keep this site up and running. [Read more…]

Behind the Scenes – Skin Care Photo/Video Shoot in Los Angeles

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Update: I’ve just released a video course that shows you exactly how I setup, light, and edit for this high end beauty portrait look. Check the video series out here.

Three years ago if you had told me I’d be photographing professional models on a set in LA I’m not sure I would have believed it. I’ve found that a career in the creative fields is always unpredictable and I’m okay with that. It keeps thing interesting. Shooting skin care and beauty is not something I’ve really ever done before. But I’ve learned that stepping outside your comfort zone and learning new things is what keeps photography fresh and exciting. These types of shoots stretch my abilities and I’m almost always feel like I’m a better photographer afterwords. [Read more…]