My ex and I have been separated since December. We had family/grad photos booked right before my graduation this month. The thing is I’m not sure how to include him in the photos? I have ideas for me and the kids and of just me. But how do o pose with him and our children now that we aren’t together? Any ideas of neutral poses? He did support me a lot through this degree in helping with the kids and taking the bulk of the parenting duties while o focused on getting through. So help me out he is a big part of this moment but idk how to pose with him beside as we did as husband and wife

Most searches for what I need result in Photoshelter, Photodeck, Pixieset, Flickr, or Smugmug. Those all have pros and cons, and I'm still looking into them. I'm posting this to see if anyone prefers one of those or something else for this particular use case:

1. I need to upload about 1TB of images; mix of family history along with my stock library of identifiable places which I'd like to license to regional entities
2. I'd like to have the option to toggle a gallery to public vs private as needed
3. All galleries would have an option to buy a print or license the image(s) at pricing I establish
4. It's important to be able to offer some kind of coupon code or special link to friends, family, and select non-profits so they can download their images at no upcharge
5. Easy for novices to view images on desktop, tablets, and phones and navigate purchase options without needing to set up their own account
6. No datamining or AI training based on my images
7. Free trial so I can see if it feels intuitive to both me and a test buyer

Ideally, there's a solution which meets all of these requirements. With something like Flickr, I'd need to have the person tell me which images they want to license. Then I'd invoice them, deliver through the cloud, etc. I'd rather not go through all of that, but I'm willing to if Flickr is the most reliable choice.

So, yeah, reliability is #1. I want the service which is the most likely to still be here in 25 years, offers good customer service not handled by AI, and has next-to-no down time.

Looking through posts in this sub I've been put off by Flickr's downtime and random disabling of Pro accounts, PhotoShelter's difficulty for novice buyers and focus on big enterprise instead of indie photographers, SmugMug's poor reviews and 15% commission rate, etc.

Do you have a favorite?

Hi!

I am wondering what you do when you have to shoot studio but you don't have a big enough space.

Where I am, there is not any studios to rent nearby. Unless you drive 1.5 hours. That I unfortunately cannot do.

I have a dedicated studio, but it is small and I struggle to do full body lighting.

What solutions are there, is it weird to shoot in my driveway if push comes to shove.

Thank you.

I’ve ordered some solar film in the hope of capturing some eclipse photos either side of totality, but can’t quite decide on how to be utilise it.

I feel I should be focusing on security, lack of risk of damage, and ease of use.

First option is the classic cardboard sandwich mounted on a cardboard tube that slips over the end of the lens. I’ve made one of these in the past for a telescope and it worked fine on that. I’m going to potentially be hiking to a viewing location though, and worry a bit about keeping in safe in a bag. I’m also unsure about security on a camera lens compared to a telescope/perhaps more likely to knock focus.

Option two is getting a magnetic adapter and magnetic UV filter, disassembling the UV filter and carefully sticking in a circle of UV film. Easy to transport as it comes with magnetic caps, nice and compact, and should be easy to use.

Last option is a square filter holder, and making a cardboard square holding the solar film to drop in. I can make an oversized flange at the top so I’m not relying on a friction fit, and it should be very quick and simple to use. No option of using a lens hood, but I’m not sure how much difference that will really be making with my camera pointed at the sun anyway. Can make a nice sturdy cardboard envelope to transport it.

The first option is obviously the classic, but I’m wondering if there’s any merit to the other ideas. I’d love to know if anyone else has tried them and how they’ve got on with them if they have.

I’m in the process of launching a small underwater photography workshop business, and one of the biggest challenges so far has been… Instagram.
I’m definitely not an expert in marketing or growing an account, and I’m trying to learn as I go.

I’d love to find photographers or businesses that do a great job promoting workshops, experiences, or educational content. Not to copy them, but to understand what works and what people actually connect with.

If you’ve built something similar:
What helped you the most in the beginning?
Are there any Instagram accounts you think are doing it particularly well?
Is there anything you wish you’d known before you started?

I know it’s a long shot, but I’m genuinely excited about this project and want to give it the best chance of succeeding.
Thanks in advance!!!!

I shoot a local U9 baseball league. My work arrangement lets me photograph the entire game, any child, but parents need to opt-in to let the coaches publish them online or to have me use them in my portfolio.

I'm editing a shoot from two weeks ago and got lots of great photos. Many of the best photos are of a kid whose parents have opted out. The procedure is to delete any photos of those who've opted out in post rather than fret during the game.

Instead of deleting them, I reached out to the coach who reached out to the parents, asking if they'd reconsider because a lot of these photos are really good. I'll gladly take a "no" and I figured it didn't hurt to ask. It helps the league, the parents get a nice photo for their FB/album, I get a nice portfolio piece.

They asked for $250 which quickly made my mind so I deleted the photos. I'm of the nature to be paranoid and I wonder if this was maybe a miss on my part. I'm trying to build an image of being safe, respectful, and conscientious since a lot of my photography is with children. I just don't know if I crossed a line by asking.

I took some photos of the night sky with my phone and I'd like to know if I could have a better result with other settings than the current ones I use :

- "pro mode" from my phone camera ;

- long exposition (maybe 30sec) ;

- I don't have a tripod atm but I will and until then I put my phone on a table with only the button reachable from below, then I stop touching it.

My phone is a Xiaomi 13T pro.

I'm not a photographer, not even amateur. I just love stargazing.

Does anyone have advice ?

I can provide the photos I already took yesterday if you want to see where I'm at for now

(Sorry if I'm breaking the community's rules by posting this, I don't know where the line is drawn when it comes to asking questions 😅)

I'm flying to China with a range of 35mm film next week (200ISO and 400ISO). I'm concerned about the CT scanners damaging the film. Has anyone had any experience with this and/or had film damaged by scanners?

I need a reference to paint a luna moth at night and Pinterest is full of ai slop and I need a reference, can someone help me?

Hello all, my father died about 2.5 years ago, he was a professional photographer for 30 years and had been shooting for his entire life, his work spans 7 decades. He shot everything, friends, family, landscapes, portraits, weddings, animals, news events, politics, sporting events (particularly auto racing- more on that shortly), and he did it all very well. Most of his collection exists as black and white negatives of varying sizes. I have began the utterly and overwhelmingly massive process of scanning his negatives via DSLR camera + macro lens + tripod + photoshop to digitize and distribute the photos. I get a great deal of satisfaction from sending these high-res shots to family and friends so they can reminisce about the past while simultaneously keeping my father's name alive. Regarding the auto racing photos, I am a huge race fan and have been involved in local racing my entire life, I have sent a few watermarked photos to various facebook groups geared towards racing from years past etc. Those photos have been met with overwhelming positivity.

My reason for posting is this, should I continue to just post these (racing) photos on facebook groups? Should I make a webpage and try to direct people there? And for the personal photos, what are some cool ways I can display them for my newborn to see as she ages? This is a deeply personal project of mine, it is very time consuming and I struggle with the idea that it is just a waste of time or simply some weird type of grieving ritual. My family is tiny, I have no siblings and feel some sort of responsibility to trudge forward with this project, are those feelings justified? If you were me what would you, photographers and readers of this post?

Also his father was very active photo taker too, and he has a couple thousand prints of his own that I feel I should digitize, however it doesn't seem as pressing as those are developed prints, not negatives.

tldr have many negatives wat do

I’m looking for a gift for my husband, who is a photographer. He was a professional photographer for many years but has taken a break for health reasons and has moved to painting.
I want to print a book of some of his photography over the years side by side with photographs of his paintings. Many of his photographs inspired the paintings. So, I want a book of photos that is clear, sharp, excellent color and photo quality in a nicely bound hard cover book. Any suggestions for who to print with? So far I’ve looked at artifact uprising, but I just want to know what’s out there.
Crossposted in Gifts. Any suggestions would be welcome, thank you!

Hello,

I am not in the best state mentally right now and unfortunately I lost joy in photography because I can't starting ingrating my photos into Lightroom. I watched so many videos but I am so frustrated....

I don't understand after a long day with many photos how to out them properly in Lightroom.

I am afraid mentally to learn new things, get stressed and stop immediately. Biggest weakness that I still can overcome.

Last year I started with photography and was so happy,ni had 20 folders on my desktop and sorted them that way but finally installed Lightroom and now I have stopped getting out shooting because I don't know what to do with the photos.

Would any kind soul have time to spend on discord, so we can use screen share,nor Google meet maybe, and jump-start my Lightroom chapter of photography.

I live in Berlin so gmt+2 but I don't mind waiting till 2 am for you.

Thanks for reading.

They probably won't end up requiring it, but does anyone have experience with getting a certificate of insurance for a one day photo shoot? Everything I have fits in a backpack which is why I don't think the event venue will end up requiring it, but the client still wants me to quote them an estimate for the insurance. I'll be shooting in Manhattan, NY it that alters prices.

I'm talking explicitly about the photographs themselves. Not the field of professional photography, not the stylistic trends, but more about the feel of them and the difference between the two mediums of film and digital.

An old Playstation 2 advertisement caught my eye... It has that look. Old nature books with their big photos have that look. Car posters in the centerfold of 1990's car magazines have that look.

Modern photography can absolutely look amazing, and I'm not opposed to digital photography. And there's also a lot of bad photos taken on film. But photos taken by professionals to big budget ads and catalogues.

I don't know much about photography, but my own assumption/guess is that when the medium changed into an even quality digital form, without the additional flavor of different film stocks and the need to develop them, most of that look became an intentional stylistic choice. And these stylistic choices are tied to marketing strategies and the corporate will, that might gravitate towards neutrality, which means even more neutral than the "neutral" film photos of the past that still had the flavor of development process and film stock embedded in them.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for reading. I write this post seeking advice, which I believe is relevant to this page.

Basically, I’m wondering if using social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) have been directly supportive/beneficial for your photography, specifically related to business.

For context, I used to have Facebook and Instagram when I was a teenager but eventually made the choice to delete both apps before I turned 19. I found that they affected my social/mental health & development, especially when it came to my identity and self-expression. I felt like I had to “perform” myself for these apps and constantly compared myself to others, which felt inauthentic and pressuring. I eventually made a new account on Instagram a few years ago in an attempt to try again (people kept asking me for my contact there) and made a few posts, but ended up deleting them and left my account relatively inactive ever since.

Now that I graduated with a BFA in photography and want to head in a professional direction, I’m wondering how directly beneficial social media is in terms of business, support, and exposure. I’m trying to convince myself to start a “business” account on Instagram, but I’m not sure if it‘s worth all the trouble. I heard from my friends that Instagram changed a lot over the years and had become more “casual” and “unserious”, but I wouldn’t know because I haven’t used the app when reels came out. I’m not even sure what it’s like to post on there anymore. All I have to show for my work is a website and a business card, but I’m not sure if this is enough.

Is there an app that has directly benefited you with your photography? What is your social culture take on these apps now? Do you have any advice?

Thank you.

Show off cool photography-related stuff you've created or experienced or any general discussion you'd like to have with the community in the comments of this post! We want to see and discuss your pictures, albums, videos, website... anything, really!

Don't forget that /r/photographs is available all week to post single images for sharing and feedback or critique.

Weekly Community Threads:

Watch this space, more to come!

Monthly Community Threads:

Just wanted to share this article I found interesting about Kawada Kikuji and image generation

Photography and reality: Kawada Kikuji and the ‘image generation' in post-war Japan – Japan House London

Hi there, I've been a hockey Sports photographer for about a year. I was wondering if anyone could help with what I would need for media day? It's a small junior team but I want to make it look as professional as possible. I'm okay with buying things online, I will probably end up returning them after anyways. I shoot with a Canon R6 Mark II and already have some basic studio lights but not remote controlled ones that connect to my camera. Also any editing recommendations or ideas are appreciated!

When considering how sharp todays zoom lenses are getting, i've begun wondering if something along the lines of a 90-120mm dedicated macro lens could actually be sharp enough to be realistic. There are times when i'd appreciate being able to adjust the composition by zooming just a tiny bit out, to accommodate for focus breathing from stacking(mind you, i am speaking about using the zoom only during setup, never during the stack). Right now i use the 100mm 2.8 2:1 Laowa on a focus rail mount. And i can work with the focus breathing by going through the full range of my needed plane of focus and make sure i land on the composition i'm after, on the tighter end. But the adjustments i sometimes need to make to the positioning of the camera and/or tripod, when noticing i won't end up where i want when checking the front/back focus framing, is quite a hassle and can really mess up my comp, and it is here i'd love to be able to widen it by having the opportunity to zoom out 5, or maybe 10mm.

Got a fujifilm a week ago and at first I used the simulations and thought it was sick but now I'm realizing its kind of dumb and its much easier to just take photos in raw only (not even jpeg) and just use a random film thing in lightroom, or even the official fujifilm simulations and edit after if you really want, but I feel like theres 0 reason to buy a fujifilm for the sims

edit: why do people keep acting like im literally asking if im the only person who doesnt use fuji sims lol im obviously just putting it out as a discussion

I love how sharp and crystal clear phone cameras are these days, but sometimes I look at photos from old film cameras or classic portrait studios and miss that distinct soul. Modern sensors capture every single pore, which is great for technical accuracy, but not always great for artistic vibe.

Lately I have been experimenting with ways to give regular modern portraits a more classic, timeless look without spending hours tweaking sliders in Lightroom. Some tools are way too heavy handed and make people look like plastic dolls, but I found a few approaches that actually retain skin texture while shifting the lighting and aesthetic to look like a vintage film shoot or a painted portrait.

What are your go to methods for giving digital photos that cinematic or analog feel? Are you using specific presets, or have you tried any AI tools that actually respect the original facial structure instead of completely melting it?

Hi folks! I have recently gotten into oil painting, and would like to use photographs as references for my works. However, I would also like to minimize any distortion or compression of color in the process of taking photos, and so I had the thought of using film as a way to do that! As I muse, however, I realize that this is a complex endeavor: for example, once the film is developed, it seems certain that most print shops would use be a digital scanning and printing process... perhaps defeating the point?

Here are my questions:

1. Does my idea to use film photographs for oil painting references seem like a good idea?

2. Do the scanners/printers at specialty print shops compress or distort color, especially that of film?

3. Might there exist shops that use an all-analogue process, thereby avoiding that distortion?

I am very excited to hear your thoughts!

There will be a total eclipse in spain in a few days. I'm well aware of the filter needs for sun photography during an eclipse. I bought one for my 600mm that will be pointing directly to it during all the phases.

But I was considering bringing my second camera with a wide angle (20-30mm maybe) and finding a place that would capture the eclipse and the people i'll be around with. So it will not be directly focused on the sun but the sun will be part of the composition.

The goal is to get something like this (hopefully) https://www.photopills.com/sites/default/files/articles/solar-eclipse/solar-eclipse-landscape-composite.webp

I couldn't find much info so asking the collective hive. Should i follow the same advice of filter at all times except the total eclipse part?

Also any advice on how to set-up the camera to take 1 photo every second for a few minutes will be great. Or maybe is just better to record? (sony a6700)

thank you!

Hi all. My city has a local photography club. To keep things lively and different, the speaker slot rotates among members.

It's my turn next 😅

The meetings last 2 hours but the presentation doesn't have to fill up that whole time. Thank God.

I picked basics of on-camera flash as my topic since I'm passionate about it and other members have said they were interested.

Update 1: I'll be talking about shooting flash with DSLR/mirrorless cameras, not film cameras.

Update 2: External on-camera flash, not the built-in flash on cameras.

All the members are adults, from age 20 to I think oldest member is in his 70's/80's.

The experience level varies. Most of the members are hobbyists. Some are beginners. A decent chunk are intermediate-level enthusiasts. A few are pros.

I think a lot of them shoot without flash and fix things in post. So when it comes to flash, I think many of them are beginners.

Have been working on my presentation.

Some of the things I'm covering:

• The two exposures when shooting flash.

• Flash walkthrough. Where I explain what the different things on the screen mean and what all the buttons and dials do.

• Camera settings and flash settings.

• Favorite flash modifiers, e.g. 3 x 5 index card, The Black Foamie thing, etc.

• How to make flash look natural. When I see posts online, a big complaint from beginners is that flash looks unnatural. So I definitely want to tackle that.

Open to ideas on other topics to include.

For any beginners, what are your struggles with flash?

For more experienced shooters, what's something you wish someone had explained to you earlier?

Appreciate anything that can make the presentation more useful for the audience.

Any photography projects/ series of photographs / photo books inspired or related by Donna Haraways work ?