The New Profoto B10 in Action with Sal Cincotta

The Profoto B10 is here and it's a thing of beauty. The latest in the Profoto lineup, this unit sits perfectly in the lineup for mobile photographers. The B10 hits the mark with both portability and power. As you will see in the video below, I took the light into various lighting situations that a photographer might find themselves in during the course of a typical shoot - outdoors, bright sun, indoors, etc.

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Cinematic Rules for Wedding Photographers

Although it’s been common in Facebook photography groups to bash the video team at a wedding, we can learn quite a bit from their craft and apply it to our own. My husband, Rich, is a cinematographer, and through working with him, I have learned ideas and techniques that have improved the way I photograph a wedding and the way I deliver wedding albums as well. When we are photographing a wedding, we want to begin with the end in mind: a beautifully designed album. We want that album to have symmetry and balance, proper proportions and beautiful leading lines. This is how we use cinematic rules for our photography.

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How to Photograph for Candid Black & White Images

My favorite part of photography is capturing moments. As a second shooter for a primary photographer who knows how to pose and who pays very close attention to details, I can hide in the corner and capture candid moments as they unfold. Candid photos work so well in black and white, especially when laid out in a wedding album. Here are some of my tips to help you get the best candid images throughout a wedding day that look beautiful in black and white.

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Depth & Drama with Accent Lights

Creating lighting styles is a lot like cooking. You start with an idea of what you want and season to taste, adding what you need as you go. Each step taken on the path to achieving the look you’ve visualized is a series of building blocks with an eventual whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Readers of this column know I’m a big fan of working with one light, but there are times when additional lights are called for. This month, I turn up the heat and show you what’s possible with four lights.

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Why You Should Intentionally Shoot For Black & White

If changing an image to black and white is a careless afterthought, what are the chances that you’ve created a monochrome masterpiece? When we change our mindset from “I don’t know what else to do with this so black and white it is” to “I am going to create black-and-white photos today when I shoot,” a radical thing happens: Your monochrome images become more focused and striking.

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Building the Right Workflow from Lightroom to Photoshop

To build the right post-production workflow, we have to look at what we want to accomplish as an end result and where we can save the most time. As a Lightroom user, I feel like I’ve milked as much efficiency out of this program as I can, but because of the back and forth with Photoshop, I have to create different workflows. Within these workflows, I have to rely on Photoshop Actions to streamline each edit, but what about large batches of images? We’re in wedding season and I’ve got over a thousand images ready to export out of Lightroom!

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Your Dream Studio: Understanding and Controlling Overhead Expenses

A common mistake that many new photographers make is assuming they keep every dollar they make. Businesses cost money. Whether you only offer digital files or you are a full-service studio, there are still costs involved. Cameras, lenses, memory cards, computers, hard drives, ink, paper, pens, internet, electricity, gas in your car—it adds up. If you’re serious about making money in this business, it’s important to treat it as a business. That means recognizing your expenses and learning to budget for them.

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Where Did All My Clients Go?

Are you sitting there wondering why your business is struggling? Why your phone is not ringing? Why your email leads are nonexistent? Are you convinced that it’s not your fault? That it’s somehow the Russians? Or even worse, all those dastardly shoot-and-burners? In this article, I show you some ways to change your “luck” and take control of your destiny. The sooner you realize there is plenty of business out there for all of us, the sooner you will start taking a healthy and realistic look at your business—because then and only then will you accept that you control your business.

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