Photo

Does the thought of posing subjects for portraits make you nervous? Our guest this week is fashion and portrait photographer Lindsay Adler, whose book The Photographer’s Guide to Posing will calm your nerves and give you the tools to make beautiful photos of people. Lindsay talks about how she prepares for a portrait shoot, techniques to encourage great poses, working with everyday people compared to working with models, and much more.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

It’s Apple’s best iPhone ever! Well, yes, they say that every year, but this time around the camera improvements are more exciting than in the past. In this episode, we look at what’s new, from the sizes of the lenses and sensors themselves to the Cinematic and Macro modes, in the iPhone 13 Pro.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

What does it mean to really practice your craft? In this episode we welcome back photographer and educator Ben Long to PhotoActive to talk about his wonderful new book The Practicing Photographer: Essays on Developing Your Photographic Practice. We talk about why practice involves more than grabbing your camera every once in a while, about getting out of creative ruts, and the value of studying other photographers’ works.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

In the very early days of the PhotoActive podcast, when Jeff was a nervous first-time podcast host, Kirk said to him, “It’s OK. Once you do a hundred of these, you’ll be better.” Well, here we are! Episode 100! To celebrate, we’re showcasing some of our favorite episodes and sharing what we’ve learned from them.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

There are all sorts of camera accessories out there, but for this episode, Kirk and Jeff challenged themselves to consider only add-ons that stay affixed to a camera all (or most) of the time. From additional shutter buttons to thumb rests and screen protectors, we look at whether these items are worth consideration, and if they help or hinder one’s photographic experience.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

William Neill’s photographic career began in the Ansel Adams Gallery and continues as a long-time resident near Yosemite, leading one-on-one tours and writing about the craft in columns and books. We talk about his latest book, Light on the Landscape, and how his vision of the splendor in his backyard has changed over the years.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

We’d bet that a sizable portion of the DSLR or mirrorless camera market wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for parents wanting to take photos of their kids. Too often, though, people think that just buying a “good camera” will ensure good photos. Then they discover just how fast kids move. In this episode, Kirk and Jeff talk about overcoming challenges unique to photographing children using traditional cameras. (And why using an iPhone instead can be a better option most of the time.)

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.

We’re talking filters in this episode—not the kind you apply in Instagram to make your photos look different, but actual glass filters that change how light passes through the lens. Neutral density (ND) filters, circular polarizing (CPL) filters, infrared (IR) filters, and the debate over whether ultraviolet (UV) filters are worthless junk or actually useful.

Find out more, and subscribe to the podcast, at the PhotoActive website. You can follow The PhotoActive on Twitter at @PhotoActiveCast to keep up to date with new episodes, and join our Facebook group to chat with other listeners and participate in photo challenges and more.