Camera Stupid

Making Photography Simple

Outsource Tedious Cutouts with Cutoutimage.com

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If you’ve ever needed to remove the background from an image you know how difficult, time consuming, and tedious it can be. Photoshop has improved it’s toolset over the years but it can still be tricky to make an effective clipping mask, especially with subjects that have hair or fur.

There are plenty of tutorials on youtube if you’d like to learn how to perform complex masking yourself, but today I’d like to share an incredible service that you can use to outsource this type of work. [Read more…]

Prints Matter: 5 Reasons You Should Be Printing Your Photos

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In this era, everything is becoming digital, which might be a great thing. The reason is that you can now achieve things faster with technological opportunities. Unlike in the past when photos had to be washed from the film, you can simply take out your phone and get an instant selfie or group photo today. You can also easily send it to your friends at the click of a button.

 

All this seems great and desirable but the truth is that you should not ditch the photography physical print just yet. This might sound prehistoric but here is why you should actually consider doing it. [Read more…]

6 Tips for Creating and Selling a Yearly Photo Calendar

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Calendar

The following is a guest post by Camera Stupid friend and Idaho photographer Chad Fish. Chad has taking pictures for about 20 years and started as a teenager. He’s always loved capturing the beauty that he sees everywhere around him and sharing it with as many people as he can. He also loves sharing what he’s learned about photography with others. See more of Chad’s work on his instagram or on Facebook page.

In November I decided to try my hand at selling a 2016 calendar. I thought I would put together a few tips and things that I learned during the process that might be able to help you if you’d like to create a calendar from your photography in the future. [Read more…]

5 Photography Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb

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don't be dumb

We all start out as dummies when it comes to photography. That’s the basis for this entire Camera Stupid blog. Mistakes are great and even necessary. Especially when you learn from them as part of the learning process.

I hope you can learn from some of mine.

Here’s 5 photography mistakes that make you look dumb and how to avoid them. [Read more…]

How to Make a Time Slice

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Time Slice

Time Slice 1.0 has been a huge success! I created the Time Slice desktop app because I was frustrated with how difficult it was to create this relatively simple effect of slicing the individual frames of a time-lapse to make a single image. It’s been really fun to use on my own projects such as the example I shot above of the Salt Lake City skyline. It’s also been really fun to see examples other photographers have sent me that they have put together using the app. [Read more…]

How to get a Stuck UV Filter off a Lens

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stuck_filter

A few days ago I bought a used canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens from a local photographer that’s getting out of the business. She was asking $800 which is a great deal for an amazing piece of glass. The lens is great is my new favorite for shooting portraits. There was only one small issue. It came with a UV filter that had been over-tightened and was now stuck on the front of the lens. [Read more…]

Should you Watermark your Photographs?

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watermarked

This question comes up again and again in photography forums. While there is likely no hard right or wrong answer, this topic always generates passionate discussion supporting both sides. I’ll list some reasons some photographers cite for watermarking and I’ll tell you why I don’t. Ultimately it’s up to you of course, but at least you will have considered all of the pros and cons. [Read more…]

Make a Seamless Backdrop Holder out of Hooks & Conduit

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seamless paper backrop holder

Like many photographers, I like using seamless paper as a backdrop in my photography studio. Up until now I’ve used one of these backdrop stands to hold the paper rolls. It get’s the job done, but I found myself wishing for a better solution. Anytime you want change colors, you have to lower both stands, roll up the paper, slide off the roll, and slide a new one on before raising both stands again. It’s awkward, time consuming, and frustrating as I’m always tripping over the legs of the stands.  [Read more…]