Pro Techniques

For years we've been asking professional photographers a variation of the same question: what does it take to be a pro? We may ask, "What's the secret of your success?" (as if it were a secret); or, simply, "What is it that...

It's an old antique store--okay, you can call it a junk shop--by the side of the road in Delaware, and photographer Tony Sweet drives by a lot on his way to the coast from his home in Baltimore. And it's a great place to take pictures simply because it...

This emotional rush that comes with first seeing a waterfall—and then the incurable urge to find as many vantage points as possible around it—compelled me to begin documenting these secluded, sibilant landscapes. You see, I have always loved waterfalls. When I was younger, my parents loaded the three boys in the family station wagon, “the boat,” as we called it, pointed...

As technology changes so do methods of presentation. In this article I set out to discover what type of portfolio photographers have found work best and, from the buyer’s perspective, what type or types they prefer. As I conducted the interviews among art directors, photo reps, and photographers it all began to boil down to this: how do you get your work seen by potential clients and how do you craft an effective portfolio that makes sense to them and represents your craft and passion?

Portrait photographers are responsible for a lot of happiness among a wide variety of people, because well-done family pictures grow more valuable yearly. They usually portray infants, seniors, friends, and relatives, though sometimes portraits are interpretations of unusual subjects. Thomas Balsamo knows this because he has 30 years of experience photographing families and children. His work has also led him to a personal project that originated when his good will and curiosity were extended toward individuals or groups who found their portrait sittings emotionally and psychologically unusual, as well as uplifting.

While most of us are dedicated to capturing fleeting moments by slicing seconds into ever smaller fractions, Michael S. Miller has a different tale to tell. In a project he calls Long Light, he takes the time to let the moments simply accrue.

Long Light began with Michael’s viewing of historic view camera images. One in particular—a Mississippi riverboat, blurred by the camera’s slow shutter speed—caught his attention. “The water had this mystical kind of feeling to it because of the long exposure,” Michael says, “and I thought, all right, let’s see what happens if I do some long exposures of rivers.”