But with so many settings available, how do you set up your Sony A7 camera to get the best results? In this article, I’ll share some of the Sony A7 camera settings that I use and recommend, based on my own experience.

Basic Settings

Before we dive into the more advanced settings, let’s start with some basic ones that you should check and adjust when you first get your camera.

• Turn off audio signals: Nothing will annoy anyone around you while you’re shooting like a constant beeping coming from your camera. Turn them off by going to Menu > Setup > Sound Options > Audio Signals > Off.
• Change image quality: To shoot in RAW (you are shooting in RAW aren’t you), go to Menu > Shooting > Image Quality > Image Quality Settings > RAW. You could also set your second memory card to record JPEG files here too if you want that peace of mind.
• Turn on grid lines: This is a simple but useful setting that helps you compose your shots better. Grid lines are a rule-of-thirds overlay that shows on both the EVF and LCD, and they help you align your subject and horizon with the most aesthetically pleasing points of the frame. To turn on grid lines, go to Menu > Setup 2 > Grid Line > Rule of 3rds Grid.
• Switch on touch operation: If your Sony A7 camera has a touchscreen (such as the A7 III, A7R III, A7 IV, or A9), you can use it to select focus points by tapping on the LCD. This can be faster and easier than using the joystick or the dials. To enable touch operation, go to Menu > Setup 2 > Touch Operation > On.
• Set display quality: By default, the display quality of the EVF and LCD is set to standard, but you can change it to high for a sharper and more detailed image. This can help you see your exposure and focus better, especially when zooming in. To set display quality, go to Menu > Setup 3 > Display Quality > High.
• Save battery with Airplane Mode: Sony A7 cameras have many features that use wireless connectivity, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC. These features can drain your battery faster if you don’t need them. To save battery life, you can switch your camera to Airplane Mode, which turns off all wireless functions. To do this, go to Menu > Setup 1 > Airplane Mode > On.

Custom Buttons

One of the best things about Sony A7 cameras is that they have many custom buttons that you can assign to different functions according to your preference and shooting style. This can save you time and hassle by giving you quick access to the settings that you use most often. Here are some of the custom buttons that I use and what I assign them to:

• C1: Change ISO. I often shoot in Manual Mode and need to adjust my exposure depending on the light conditions. To assign ISO to C1, go to Menu > Camera Settings 2 > Custom Key > Custom Button 1 > ISO.
• C2: Change Focus Area, which is the pattern or zone that the camera uses to focus on your subject. There are many options for Focus Area, such as Wide, Zone, Center, Flexible Spot, etc., and each one has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. To assign Focus Area to C2, go to Menu > Camera Settings 2 > Custom Key > Custom Button 2 > Focus Area.
• C3: Enable Real-Time Tracking/Eye-AF Tracking, which is one of the most impressive features of Sony A7 cameras. This feature allows the camera to track your subject’s face and eyes automatically and keep them in focus even if they move around or turn their head. To assign Real-Time Tracking/Eye-AF Tracking to C3, go to Menu > Camera Settings 2 > Custom Key > Custom Button 3 > AF-On + AF Tracking On.

Memory Recall

Another great feature of Sony A7 cameras is that they have a Memory Recall mode. This allows you to store specific camera settings for different situations and recall them quickly by turning the mode dial to 1 or 2. It’s handy for switching between different shooting scenarios without having to change all the settings manually. For example, you can store one set of settings for landscape photography and another set for street photography.

To store settings in Memory Recall mode, first set up your camera with the desired settings (such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, focus mode, etc.), then go to Menu > Camera Settings 1 > MR > Memory > 1 or 2. To recall the settings, simply turn the mode dial to 1 or 2.

Here are some examples of settings that I store in Memory Recall mode:

• Memory 1: Landscape photography. I use this mode when I want to capture the beauty of nature with a wide-angle lens and a tripod. I set the camera to Aperture Priority mode with an aperture of f/11, ISO 100, Auto White Balance, Flexible Spot Focus Area and 2-second Self-Timer. I also enable Silent Shooting and Long Exposure Noise Reduction to avoid any vibrations or noise that could affect the image quality.
• Memory 2: Street photography. I use this mode when I want to capture candid moments of people and urban scenes. I set the camera to Shutter Priority mode with a shutter speed of 1/250s, Auto ISO, Daylight White Balance, Wide Focus Area and Continuous Shooting. I also enable Real-Time Tracking/Eye-AF Tracking and Face Registration to make sure that my subjects are always in focus.

Go Deeper Into Your Sony A7 Camera Settings

There’s only so much I can cover in this article, so I highly recommend watching this video by Jason Vong. It’s almost an hour long, and covers a fair few settings for videography too, but it’s worth it if you want to really understand your camera settings.

Of course, none of these settings are set in stone, and you may want to tweak them according to your own preference and shooting style. The best way to learn and master your Sony A7 camera is to experiment with different settings and see what works best for your photography.

I hope this has been helpful for you. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you for reading and happy shooting!

The post Sony A7 Camera Settings Guide: Tips and Tricks for Photographers appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

What is a Circular Polarizer Filter?

A circular polarizer filter is a type of filter that attaches to the front of your lens and modifies the way light enters your camera. It works by blocking certain wavelengths of light that are polarized, meaning they vibrate in a specific direction. By doing so, it can eliminate or reduce reflections from shiny surfaces like water, glass, or metal. It can also darken the blue sky and make the clouds stand out more, creating a dramatic effect.

A circular polarizer filter is different from a linear polarizer filter, which is another type of polarizing filter that works similarly but can interfere with your camera’s autofocus and metering systems. A circular polarizer filter avoids this problem by adding another layer that depolarizes the light after it passes through the filter, making it compatible with most modern cameras.

How to Use a Circular Polarizer Filter?

To use a circular polarizer filter, you need to attach it the front of your lens and rotate it until you see the desired effect on your camera’s LCD screen or viewfinder. The effect will vary depending on the angle of the sun and the direction you are shooting. Generally, you will get the strongest effect when the sun is at a 90-degree angle to your subject. You need to play around with it for a while to get used to how it works and find the look you’re after.

Some things to keep in mind when using a circular polarizer filter are:

• A circular polarizer filter will reduce the amount of light entering your camera by about 1 to 2 stops, depending on the brand and model. This means you may need to use a slower shutter speed, a wider aperture, or a higher ISO to compensate for the loss of light. You may also want to use a tripod to avoid camera shake and keep your photos sharp.
• They may cause some vignetting or darkening of the corners of your image, especially if you are using a wide-angle lens or stacking multiple filters.
• They can alter the colour balance of your image, making it warmer or cooler depending on the brand and model. You may need to adjust your white balance settings or correct it in post-processing if you want to achieve a neutral tone.
• A circular polarizer filter may not work well with some lenses that have a rotating front element, such as some zoom lenses or fisheye lenses. This is because the filter will also rotate when you zoom or focus, changing the effect.

What are the Best Circular Polarizer Filters?

There are many brands and models of circular polarizer filters available on the market, each with its own features and characteristics. Here are five of the best circular polarizer filters available:

Hoya HD Nano Mk II CIR-PL

The Hoya HD Nano Mk II CIR-PL is one of the best circular polarizer filters in terms of quality and performance. It has a multi-coated nano coating that reduces flare and ghosting caused by reflections and enhances colour and contrast. It also has an ultra-thin frame that minimises vignetting and allows you to use a lens cap. Constructed with high-quality optical glass that ensures sharpness and clarity.

B+W XS-Pro HTC Kaesemann

The B+W XS-Pro HTC Kaesemann is another excellent choice. It has a multi-resistant coating that prevents glare and reflections and improves color fidelity and contrast. It also has an anti-reflective brass ring that prevents stray light from entering the lens and causing flare. It’s made of high-quality Schott glass that ensures optical precision and durability.

Tiffen Circular Polarizer

The Tiffen Circular Polarizer is a budget-friendly option that still delivers good results. Made with a single-layer coating that reduces reflections and enhances colour saturation and contrast. It also has an aluminium ring that is lightweight and durable. It has a standard thickness that may cause some vignetting on wide-angle lenses.

NiSi Landscape NC CPL

The NiSi Landscape NC CPL is a unique filter that is designed to work with the NiSi Filters Seven5 System, which is a compact filter holder system for mirrorless cameras. The filter is made of optical glass and has a slim profile that reduces vignetting. It has a variable polarizing effect that can be controlled by rotating the filter holder. It also has a built-in warming effect that adds a subtle warmth to your images.

Breakthrough Photography X4 Brass Circular Polarizer Filter

The Breakthrough Photography X4 Brass Circular Polarizer Filter is a premium filter that claims to have the world’s most advanced polarizing film. It has a nano coating that repels water, dust, and oil and prevents flare and ghosting. Includes a brass traction frame that provides a secure grip and prevents jamming, and has a very low light loss of only 1.3 stops and a high polarizing effect that delivers stunning results.

Which is the Best Circular Polarizer Filter for You?

Not all circular polarizer filters are created equal. Some have better quality, performance, and features than others. There can also be significant differences in cost.

If you are looking for the best overall filter, I’d recommend the Hoya or the B+W. They both have excellent quality and performance, minimal light loss and vignetting, and durable coatings. They are also available in a wide range of sizes to fit most lenses.

If you are looking for the best value filter, I recommend the Tiffen. It has a decent quality and performance, neutral color balance, and a lightweight and durable frame. It’s also very cheap and easy to use.

If cost is no barrier, I would highly recommend either the NiSi or Breakthrough Photography filters. I personally use the NiSi CPL and absolutely love it. The whole system is incredible.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. Happy shooting!

The post How to Choose the Best Circular Polarizer Filter appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

Although the most common question I get from people after learning of my visual impairment is “what colour is this?”, followed by “what about traffic lights?” Generally speaking, it doesn’t really cause me any problems in daily life. However, as a photographer, colour-blindness presents a unique set of challenges.

Fortunately, they can mostly be overcome with a few tools and tricks that level the playing field. I’ve tried and tested many colour management tools over the years, with some success, and some epic failures. These days I rely on just a few, and they serve me well.

Monitor Calibration

I’ll start with an obvious one, because if your monitor isn’t correctly colour-calibrated then all the fancy-schmancy colour management tools and software in the world aren’t going to help you. Even high-end monitors suffer from colour-shift and need calibrating regularly.

Why spend thousands of your hard-earned dollars on the latest Macbook Pro, iMac, or Eizo monitor only to let the screen lie to you. Buy a colour-calibration tool and use it regularly. I use the X-Rite ColorMunki and set the software to remind me every four weeks to remind me to recalibrate. The process is completely automated, so my colour-blindness is no problem.

There are other products that have more or less features for more or less money. Whichever one you choose, use it. Your images both on-screen and in print will thank you for it.

Reflective White Balance

White balance (WB) is one of the most important part of colour management. WB dramatically affects the look and feel of an image. Although sometimes WB is used creatively to add drama or a certain feel to an image, when it’s off, it’s difficult to ignore. Even a subtle colour cast can be enough to ruin an image. Trust me, I know. I’ve ruined many images by not paying close attention to WB.

Fortunately if you shoot in RAW (you are shooting in RAW aren’t you!), you can tweak WB in post-production. This is where colour-blindness starts to be a bit of an issue. Finding the right white balance in Lightroom can be easier said than done, especially if you don’t have any neutral tones in your images. As a landscape and travel photographer, it’s not uncommon for my images to include every colour in the rainbow, but no middle grey, or even white.

There is a simple solution: add one. I’m sure you’ve heard of a grey card. They’re everywhere. Many photography accessories from camera bags to hats now include 18% grey on their product for precisely this purpose.

ColorChecker Passport

I personally use the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, as it not only has a grey card, but also includes a colour target that can be used to create colour profiles in Lightroom. You simply take a shot of the scene you’re shooting with the ColorChecker in the frame and make sure you continue to shoot with the same WB settings. You now have a WB reference when you import to Lightroom and you can sync any images of that scene.

This is hugely valuable, as it gives a far more accurate starting point. I don’t rely on it 100%, but it gives pretty good results. In Lightroom, I usually start with WB then continue with my workflow, and having a solid colour base with helps significantly. 

Using a reflective white balance device is particularly useful if you use filters like the Lee Big Stopper, which can add very obvious colour casts to your images.

Nik Color Efex Pro

Nik Color Efex Pro is a plugin that lets you apply creative effects, modify them with overall correction tools and control points, and combine them to create unique colour effects.

One of my favourite filters included in the Color Efex Pro software is called Pro Contrast. It’s awesome for a number of reasons, one being the “correct colour cast” slider.

It works by analysing the image and identifying the dominant colour cast. You can then apply a correction that neutralises the colour cast and restores the natural colours of the image. The filter has two sliders that let you control the strength and hue of the correction.

Correct colour cast can be useful for fixing images that have a noticeable colour shift or imbalance. You can also use it to enhance images that have a subtle colour cast that affects the mood or tone of the image. The filter can be applied to the whole image or to specific areas using control points.

I’ve found this tool to be particularly useful as a colour blind photographer because I often struggle to see subtle colour casts. Color Efex Pro does the hard work for me by identifying colour casts and making them simple to correct.

Embrace Being A Colour-Blind Photographer

We’re super lucky to live in such a high-tech time. There are so many tools available to make colour management easier for the colour-challenged. Instead of letting it get you down, as I’ve been guilty of, embrace the tools that are available to you.

Yes, you’ll screw up sometimes and make somebody look like a humanoid with green skin, but who cares? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, apparently. If it helps, find someone who has “normal” colour perception and ask them to check your images before you send them to a client or post them online. I’ve had my ass saved more than once this way.

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As a photographer who loves to play with my images in Photoshop, I’m always looking for ways to improve my workflow and achieve better results. That’s why I was intrigued when I heard about Raya Pro, a Photoshop plugin that claims to be the ultimate luminosity mask tool for digital blending and exposure blending. It’s become a staple in my editing workflow, so my Raya Pro review is long overdue!

What is Raya Pro?

Raya Pro is a Photoshop panel that was created by Jimmy McIntyre, a professional travel and landscape photographer who has been teaching Photoshop for over a decade. He designed Raya Pro to be user-friendly, intuitive, and powerful, and he nailed it! It works in all Photoshop languages and is compatible with CS6 and CC versions.

What can you do with Raya Pro?

Raya Pro has many features that make it a versatile and comprehensive tool for editing photos in Photoshop. Some of the features that I’ve found most useful are:

• InstaMask: This is a tool that lets you create and refine luminosity masks with a few clicks. You can also use colour masks, saturation masks, zone masks, and more. This makes it easy to blend multiple exposures of the same scene, adjust the tones and colours of different areas, dodge and burn with precision, and apply various filters and effects.
• Quick Blending: Automatically blend your exposures using different methods, such as luminosity masks, HDR, or dark mode. This saves a lot of time and hassle when you want to create natural-looking blends without manual masking.
• RGB Masks: This tool lets you create masks based on the red, green, and blue channels of your image. This helps isolate specific colours or contrast areas for targeted adjustments. For example, you can use this tool to enhance the sky or the foliage in landscape photos.
• Zone Editor: Edit an image using the Ansel Adams zone system. You can adjust the brightness and contrast of each zone independently or globally. This gives more control over the tonal range and mood of an image.
• Color Center: This is a tool that lets you enhance the colours of an image using various sliders and presets. You can also use colour grading, split toning, or colour balance tools. This allows you to create different colour effects and moods for an image.
• Dodge & Burn: Lighten or darken specific areas of an image using luminosity masks or brushes. You can also use the Orton effect or detail enhancer tools to add some glow or sharpness. This helps to create more depth and dimension in an image.
• Actions & Filters: This tool lets you apply various actions and filters to an image, such as sharpening, noise reduction, frequency separation, vignette, golden hour glow, etc.

Raya Pro also comes with six custom buttons that you can assign any function you want. You can also resize and sharpen an image for web using the web prep tool.

Should you buy Raya Pro?

Raya Pro is not just a plugin, it’s a complete digital workflow solution for Photoshop. It has helped me save time, improve my skills, and unleash my creativity. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, Raya Pro can take your photos to the next level.

If you want to learn more about Raya Pro and how to use it effectively, you can check out Jimmy’s courses on exposure blending and digital blending. He also offers a free beginner’s Photoshop course for those who are new to the software.

You can purchase Raya Pro from Jimmy’s website where he offers different bundles and discounts. You can also watch tutorials and reviews on his YouTube channel.

Raya Pro is a must-have tool for any photographer who wants to master Photoshop and create stunning images. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to transform their Photoshop workflow.

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Why Is Photography Composition So Important?

If you ask skilled photographers what are the most important elements of photography, the large majority will list composition as either first or second (behind great light). 

Why? What is it about composition that makes it more crucial to great photography than other factors like camera settings, lens choice, or post-processing?

It’s all about the human brain. The way our brains process what our eyes see is incredibly complex and has a dramatic effect on the way we feel about what we see. 

The same way that some elements of human faces are pleasing to our eyes, the rules of photography composition can also be pleasing when applied well. When a human face is pleasing to our eyes, we feel much more positively toward that person. It’s the same with photography.

Although there are exceptions, just as with physical beauty, mostly the way people see, process, and feel about photography composition is universal. 

The Basics of Photography Composition

Rule of Thirds

No discussion of photography composition would be complete without the rule of thirds, and for good reason. 

If you study the work of master photographers, you will see the rule of thirds applied constantly. It’s not complicated, but composition doesn’t need to be. 

Divide your frame into three equal sized rows and columns. This gives you two vertical lines and two horizontal lines. It also gives you four intersections of those four lines. 

To apply the rule of thirds, simply compose your images with points of interest on those lines or intersections. Points of interest will depend on your subject. It could be the horizon in landscape photography. When you’re photographing people it will be a face or eye. 

Don’t stress about making sure you’re following the rule of thirds exactly. I don’t follow it exactly, and often place the horizon a little above the top line, closer to the top of the frame. It’s more of a guideline than a rule.

Most cameras have the option of overlaying grids onto the frame when you’re composing a photo This can be a good idea if you struggle to visualise what thirds look like when you’re shooting.

The Golden Ratio

Another basic “rule” of photography composition that can be helpful is the golden ratio. It’s a little more complex than the rule of thirds, but once you get a grasp of it, you’ll be surprised how useful it is. 

I won’t bore you with the background of the golden ratio, or the golden spiral as it’s often referred to. All you need to know is to compose your photos with lines or points of interest along the spiral, preferably with the main subject at the smallest part. 

The easiest way to understand the golden ratio is to see how it can look.

The spiral can work in both vertical and horizontal images and can face any direction. It’s visually pleasing no matter how you use it.

Leading Lines

One of the best ways to understand how photography composition affects how we process what we see is by looking at leading lines. There is virtually no symmetry in nature, yet there are lines everywhere we look. 

If you learn to see these lines and use them to your advantage, you can ‘lead’ the eyes of the viewer through your photos. You might think your eyes go straight to the middle or the subject of an image, but it isn’t that simple. 

Your eyes will search an image and be attracted to elements in a very predictable way. It happens so quickly that you don’t know you’re doing it. If the viewer’s eyes don’t find something to focus on, they’ll feel nothing towards the image and move on. 

You may be asking how this applies to photography composition. Well, if you know that a viewer can be ‘led’ through an image, you can decide how by composing your image in a pleasing way.

If you can use lines to point or lead towards the main point of interest, the viewer’s eye will travel through the image and land where you want it to. This is much more satisfying for the viewer and they’ll feel more positively towards the photo.

Beyond Photography Composition Basics

Foreground

Something I read a long time ago has always stuck with me. I don’t remember now who wrote it, but they said “put a great foreground in front of a great background”. This transformed my photography.

There are some breathtaking vistas that will stand on their own as a subject, but they will make even more impressive photos when an interesting foreground is included in the frame.

A great foreground not only adds interest to the image, but depth. We don’t live in a world of mountain ranges and ocean views. Everywhere we look there’s depth. From the ground we stand on to the sky above us and everything in between. 

If you’re photographing the beach, look for objects or textures in the sand. If you’re photographing a lake, find a jetty on the lake to include in your foreground. Even if you’re photographing people, foreground elements can transform your portraits and add depth.

When you learn to include interesting foregrounds in your photography compositions, you’ll start to see them everywhere. You’ll even realise that interesting foregrounds can stand on their own as the subject of the photo.

Diagonals

We’re limited by the rectangular shape and straight lines of our camera sensors, but that doesn’t mean you need to limit yourself to straight lines and right angles in your compositions. 

Diagonals are everywhere in nature, and are incredibly pleasing to the eye. Especially when they intersect with each other and the frame of your photos. 

Look for diagonals when you’re exploring compositions and try to line them up against each other. Move around to make the angles sharper if possible. 

Diagonal lines that intersect with the corners of your frame work well. Moving the frame just a little can go a long way to place diagonal lines in a better location in the frame.

Negative Space

It seems counterintuitive, but including large amounts of empty space in your images can actually bring more attention to the subject. 

This works because as the viewer’s eye searches the image and finds empty space, there is tension until it finds the subject. Because of the empty space, the subject is much more clearly the subject, and the tension is released. This release of tension is also found in other art forms, such as music, and is immensely satisfying.

There are countless ways to introduce negative space to your photography compositions. It’s difficult to do if the area surrounding your subject is busy, because it will distract your viewer. If there is an area that won’t be distracting, try to zoom out or use a wider lens to include it.

Where possible, using a narrow depth of field to blur the area is a great way to include negative space that won’t distract from the subject. 

If you’re not sure how much negative space to include, go back to the rule of thirds. Applying negative space to two thirds of the image should work well. If in doubt, add more and crop later.

Framing

Finding elements in a scene that you can include as a natural frame is a great composition technique. Think of it as a frame within a frame. 

It could be a man-made object such as a window, doorway, or arch. Often the best frames are created using natural elements like overhanging trees. 

Don’t think that a frame needs to be complete. Including some natural framing to fill only part of the image, such an empty sky, can have the same pleasing effect. 

Layers

Another way to create depth in your photography compositions is to look for layers. This means layering a variety of elements in the image that are different from each other.

The layers can vary in colour, brightness, texture, clarity, shape, even focus. It doesn’t matter what’s different between the layers, what matters is that there are enough layers to create the layered effect.

Mountain ranges are a great subject for capturing layers. You can also create a beautifully layered photo just with the transition of colours from the ocean to the sky during blue hour.

Symmetry

I mentioned earlier that you rarely see symmetry in nature. There are exceptions. The most common is with reflections. If you can find reflections in natural scenes such as a calm lake or in man-made objects like glass, take advantage of them. 

Symmetry is incredibly pleasing in photography the same way as it is in human faces. Although we don’t see it a lot in purely natural scenes, luckily we’re not limited to those. You’re much more likely to find it in cities or scenes with man-made elements. 

If you want to practice including symmetry in your compositions, explore an inner-city area and try your hand at shooting street and architectural photography. 

Scale

Any time you can include a sense of scale in your photography compositions, your images will immediately improve. When our eyes can perceive what they’re looking at and better understand how the scene looks in real life, we feel more positively towards the image. 

The easiest way to include scale in your photography is to add elements that the viewer can attribute size to. The most obvious is a person. It can be difficult to know how big something like a waterfall is on its own, but with a person standing at the bottom, it’s a lot easier. 

There are countless things you can include that will portray scale. Anything from a friend to a boat to a seat. Think outside the box.

Crop In Post

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you need to get it perfect in-camera. No matter how good you get at creating pleasing photography compositions, you’re not going to get it right every time.

That’s one of the joys of post-production, we can crop later. I regularly crop or straighten my images in Lightroom to fine-tune my compositions. I will often re-crop aggressively if I want to change the aspect ratio of a photo or switch between horizontal and vertical crops. 

There’s no right or wrong here. You have full creative license to do what you like with your photos. 

Applying The Rules To Your Photography Compositions

As I’ve mentioned, these aren’t really rules. They’re guidelines to help you better understand some of the elements that can make more pleasing images. 

Don’t get caught up in thinking you need to understand and apply all of this to your compositions. If you get too scientific you’ll lose your creative expression.

Try taking one or two of these principles and finding ways to apply them for a while. Don’t worry about all the rest, just focus on one or two until they start to become second nature. The more you use them, the less you’ll need to think about it.

Eventually, you’ll start to get a feel for composition and it will become intuitive. 

The post Photography Composition: How To Create More Visually Pleasing Images appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

Find A Quiet Spot

Beaches can be busy places. Unless you want to include people in your beach photography (which you totally should sometimes), you’re gonna want to avoid the crowds.

Sometimes that means exploring a little and sometimes it means going during quiet times. Fortunately, the times of day that usually have the least people also happen to be the best times for photography. Which leads me to…

Choose Your Timing

Early in the morning and late in the afternoon or evening are going to give you the best light for beach photography. I’m sure you’ve heard of golden hour. Have you heard of blue hour?

Before the sun rises in the morning and after it sets in the evening there’s still enough light in the sky to get some gorgeous photos. The light around these dusk and dawn periods has a beautiful blue colour, hence the name blue hour.

The great part is that you don’t have to choose between going to the beach to shoot during golden hour or blue hour. They blend into one another, so you can stick around and photograph them both.

Play With Shutter Speeds

The beach is by far one of the best locations to play with shutter speeds. You have dynamic, moving water smashing up against solid earth, which gives you so many options for getting creative with shutter speeds.

Fast shutter speeds are great for freezing crashing waves or subjects in the water such as surfers. Slower shutter speeds are great for capturing the motion of water. Really long exposures can make water and clouds turn milky while shutter speeds around 1-2 seconds are perfect for capturing the movement of waves and the tide.

You can use filters to create long exposures, but if you’re shooting at the beach during the low light of blue and golden hour, you can often get slow enough shutter speeds without the need for them.

Look Down

As easy as it is to get carried away photographing the huge expanses of ocean and land at the beach, don’t forget to look for the smaller details. The beach provides so many unique opportunities to photograph small details that you won’t see anywhere else.

Shells, rocks, crabs, birds, jellyfish, starfish, plants, driftwood, and any of the million things that the ocean washes up can all make great subjects for beach photography.

Use Filters

Using filters can take your photos at the beach from good to great. At the very minimum, I would recommend a UV filter. They’re designed to filter out UV light, but they also provide a layer of protection for the front element of your expensive lens. It’s a lot cheaper to replace a scratched or broken UV filter than a lens.

The other filter I would highly recommend for beach photography (or any form of landscape photography) is a circular polarizing filter (CPL). A CPL blocks reflected light, giving you better colour, contrast, and saturation. This means richer skies, water, and foliage.

If you want to get more creative with the use of filters, I recommend investing in a filter kit that includes a range of neutral density (ND) and graduated neutral density filters. These allow you to reduce the amount of light that’s reaching all or part of your camera sensor. They’re great for playing with long exposures or balancing bright skies with dark foregrounds.

Choose A Focal Point

As you explore and wander the beach, keep an eye out for interesting subjects that you could include in your photos. They could be the feature of an image, or you could use them to lead into your image.

Things like driftwood in the sand, paths through sand dunes, or rock formations can make great subjects for beach photography. You can also use them as an interesting leading line or foreground element.

Capture The Beach’s Personality

Not all beaches are created equal. Stereotypical beach imagery generally features gorgeous, perfect white sand, sunshine, happy families, and maybe some surf.

Growing up on the west coast of New Zealand, my childhood memories include rugged, wild, black-sand beaches that are anything but family-friendly. These are the beaches I love to photograph. They’re full of drama and personality.

Try to keep in mind the unique characteristics of the beaches you photograph. How would you describe the beach to a stranger who’s never been there? How would a local describe it? If it’s known for wild weather, go there with your camera when it’s blowing a gale. If it’s a surf beach or dog beach, capture those activities.

Find Textures

Beaches are a treasure chest of textures. Everywhere you look there are beautiful, strange, constantly changing textures. You can find them in everything from the sand to the grasses on dunes.

Some of the most interesting textures are created by the creatures that call the beach home, such as crabs.

Bracket Exposures

As with any form of outdoor photography, the range of light levels at the beach will often be huge. To allow for this, it’s a good idea to bracket your images. All digital cameras include this feature these days. Set your camera to take three bracketed images (-2EV, 0, +2EV) and you’ll capture all the information you need.

Whether you want to blend exposures using luminosity masks/HDR software or not, it’s always useful to have multiple exposures when the time comes to edit your photos.

Don’t Fear Bad Weather

I’m a big advocate of planning your photography adventures. You maximize your chances of success when you plan for the best time to shoot.

That said, the best time to shoot isn’t necessarily when the weather’s perfect. Some of my favourite beach photos have been taken during wet, windy, dark, and moody conditions. Even lightning storms!

Find a great location to photograph, plan when you want to go and shoot, and stick with your plan. Even if the weather isn’t great, go out anyway. You might be surprised by some of the dramatic beach photos you come home with.

Get Your Feet Wet

It’s the meeting of earth and sea that makes the beach so interesting, so sometimes you’re gonna have to get into the wet stuff. If you only ever shoot on dry land you’re missing out on many opportunities for great photos.

If you want to capture waves breaking on the rocks or beach you’ll have to be okay with getting your feet wet. Just make sure you wear a pair of shoes that have good grip and you don’t mind getting wet.

It’s also important to remember that safety always comes first. No photo is worth getting hurt or drowned for. It’s also worth buying a raincoat for your camera.

Stack and Blend Exposures

If you really want to get creative and come away with some stunning, dramatic beach photography, try your hand at exposure stacking. It involves setting your camera up on a tripod and composing a scene with waves breaking on the beach or rocks.

You capture multiple exposures of the waves breaking and then combine the ones you like the most in photoshop. It’s a bit more technical but isn’t too difficult. It’s a lot of fun, and you can come away with some great images. Have a read of How To Create More Dramatic Seascape Photography to learn more.

Share Your Beach Photography

You’ve researched and found a great location at a beach to photograph, planned the best time to shoot, gone out and captured some images you’re happy with, and edited them to get them looking their best. What do you do next?

Share them of course. It doesn’t matter where. Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, 500px. I share my favourite landscape photography on Pinterest, and of course here on my website. Wherever you share yours, I would love to see them. Leave a link to your beach photography below so we can take a look.

The post 12 Beach Photography Tips For Stronger Coastal Images appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

Know Your Craft

There are few things that will boost your confidence as a photographer like knowing the craft well. The craft is the process of creating photographs. It includes planning, shooting, and processing your images.

It’s normal as a beginner photographer to have little or no confidence in your photography because you don’t know what you’re doing. If you want to improve your craft there are a ton of great resources available.

As you learn the craft, your confidence grows. You have to learn to walk before you run.

Know Your Gear

This ties into knowing your craft, but you don’t just learn this once. You’ll need to get to know each new piece of equipment as you add it to your gear bag. Learn it well and know how to use it with your eyes closed.

Think of a soldier who can dismantle and reassemble his or her gun blindfolded. Know your camera that well. The last thing you want when you’re photographing a person or scene is to be trying to remember how to change your camera settings.

Practice Makes Perfect

It goes without saying, but to become a more confident photographer, you need to take a ton of photos. Think of a skill or task that you feel confident in your ability to complete. How much time have you spent doing it to get to that level of confidence? Photography is no different.

If you want to grow in confidence as a portrait photographer, ask everyone you know to be a model for you. Photograph your mum, your kids, your friends, your colleagues, your neighbors. By the time you’re photographing strangers for money you’ll have far more confidence in your skills.

I can’t find the original source, but someone wiser than me once said this:

“Sweat more in peacetime. You’ll bleed less in war.”

Plan Ahead

As you get more confident in your photography skills, you’ll be able to wing it more, but until then, get in the habit of planning. Plan your shoots in detail. Plan your locations, time of day, lighting setups, poses, compositions, lens selection, even your post-production.

Having a detailed plan gives you the confidence that you know what you’re doing, even if you’re nervous. There’s nothing to stop you from deviating from the plan when the time comes, but having a plan will avoid the feeling of not knowing what you’re doing.

Ask For Feedback

Often a lack of confidence as a photographer comes from listening to the wrong voices, usually your own. Self-talk can be difficult to ignore. Finding a few qualified people to give you constructive feedback about your photography can help.

The key here is that they’re qualified. Hearing your family or friends saying nice things won’t help. Constructive feedback can help by telling you what you’re doing well, and highlighting areas for improvement. It’s encouraging and actionable.

Find Your Tribe

This is a great way to get feedback. Becoming part of a community of photographers you have something in common with has many benefits. You can learn from them, ask for feedback from them, be inspired by them, and be cheered on by them.

An often surprising benefit of having a tribe is that you’ll find that you actually have something to teach others or tips to offer. Contributing to other photographers’ development is incredibly rewarding and encouraging for your own confidence.

Learn From Your Mistakes

Don’t fall for the trap of thinking mistakes are failures. The sooner you see mistakes as learning opportunities the better. If you find you’re often making the same mistake, figure out why and then find out how to fix it.

Are you missing focus regularly? Learn how to take sharper photos. Overexposing and clipping highlights? Figure out how to expose more accurately. Do your portraits all look the same? Learn how to pose people better.

Let Go of Comparison

The one thing that’s guaranteed to kill your confidence as a photographer is comparison. It’s perfectly natural, and we’re all guilty of it at times. Left unchecked, it will eat away at your self-belief and leave you with no confidence in your photography.

Comparing yourself with other photographers is like looking at somebody else at the gym and wondering why you don’t look like them. We all have different natural strengths and weaknesses. We all have different stories and different goals. We’ve all been dealt a different hand in life. We all have different amounts of time and resources available.

If you must compare yourself with someone, make it the photographer you were a year or five years ago. You’ll no doubt be surprised how far you’ve come. Now that will boost your confidence.

Find Your Niche

I worked as a wedding photographer for a couple of years and struggled with comparison in a major way. There were some great wedding photographers in my town, one of whom was a friend of mine, and he was killing it.

I eventually decided it wasn’t for me for various reasons, and gave it up. When I returned to my first passion, landscape photography, I found I wasn’t comparing myself to other photographers as much.

When you find your niche, the specialty that presses your buttons and suits your strengths and personality, you’ll find a new level of confidence that you didn’t have before. If you’re struggling with confidence as a photographer, it might be worth asking yourself if your niche is right for you.

Put Yourself In Their Shoes

There’s a technique in public speaking where you’re taught to imagine the audience naked. One of the principles behind this is that if you imagine your audience naked then you won’t be quite so nervous about having to deliver a speech. Imagine how nervous your audience is!

Have you ever been on the other side of the lens? Maybe on your wedding day, senior portrait, or a headshot for your employer’s website? If you have, you know how uncomfortable you can feel.

Try remembering that feeling next time you’re photographing someone and feeling low on confidence. Put yourself in their shoes and focus on helping them feel comfortable. You’ll be surprised how much more confidence you’ll have as the photographer.

Let Go of Perfectionism

There are some jobs where being a perfectionist is important. If you’re a surgeon or aircraft engineer then perfectionism is an asset. As a photographer, it’s a curse.

You’re an artist, and there is no such thing as perfect art. I’m not advocating being lazy or accepting mediocrity. Creating a high standard of work is important, especially if you’re paid for your photography.

However, learning to let go of the need for your photography to be technically perfect will free you to express your art in new and creative ways. That will inevitably lead to more confidence in your less-than-perfect photography.

Be A Photographer

There’s a psychological edge that comes with making an “I am” statement. When you say you’re something and tell people you’re something, you begin to own it. It’s different to saying that you “do” something.

When I began to say “I’m a photographer” and write “Photographer” on my profiles, I actually started to believe it. It felt false and forced at first. I struggled with imposter syndrome for a while, and still do at times, but choosing to “be a photographer” helped a ton.

You’ve likely heard the expression “fake it till you make it”. I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: everyone is faking it. Everybody struggles with a lack of confidence or imposter syndrome or not feeling good enough. Yes, even those photographers you admire and think have ‘made it’.

Learn to be comfortable with not feeling like you’re good enough and then do it anyway. Tell yourself it’s normal to feel that way and everybody does sometimes, but you’re a photographer and photographers get out there and shoot what they love.

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

There’s a tendency in human nature to catastrophize, which is to believe something is far worse than it actually is. When you’re lacking confidence, it’s often because you’re too concerned about the negative consequences.

The technique that’s taught to deal with this is surprising. You might think it’s to stop thinking about the potential negative outcomes, but it’s actually the opposite. If you’re worried about what could go wrong, sit down and think about what could actually go wrong.

You’ll likely realize that the worst that could happen isn’t as bad as you might think. Your photos might not get as much recognition as you hoped. You might embarrass yourself. You probably won’t get sued or die.

One of the reasons I struggled with confidence as a wedding photographer was because I worried that one of my clients wouldn’t be happy with the photos. It never happened, or at least none of them ever told me so. Over time my confidence in my photography grew as I realized it was all in my head.

Enjoy The Ride

Even if you do all this and keep growing in confidence, there will be days that you doubt yourself and think you suck. We all do. My advice on those days is to remember why you picked up a camera in the first place. Why do you do it at all?

I’m sure you have a list of reasons, but I hope at the top of that list is because you enjoy it. It’s fun. It makes you happy. You get satisfaction from it. Don’t let the bad days rob you of that enjoyment. Enjoy the ride and keep going. Nothing is permanent.

The post 14 Ways To Grow In Confidence As A Photographer appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

Backing up your photos is one of the least glamorous parts of being a photographer, but one of the most important. This is especially true if you have a photography side-hustle. Nothing will ruin your business as surely as losing a client’s photos because you didn’t back them up.

Take it from me, having had two backup hard drives corrupt on me, a little effort now will save you a lot of pain later. I was lucky that there were only personal photos on those drives, but it didn’t hurt any less.

You likely already have some sort of physical storage for your photography, but you should also use online photo backups. If you’re relying purely on your computer and physical hard drives to store and backup your photos, you’re at risk of losing everything.

Hard Drives vs Online Photo Backups

Hard drives fail all the time. In fact, all hard drives fail eventually. It may be years from now or it could be tomorrow. It doesn’t matter whether they’re cheap or expensive, SSD or HDD, they all fail.

Even if you use a RAID system or you have copies of your photos on multiple hard drives, they’re still at risk. What would happen in the case of a natural disaster or fire in your home or office? What about a burglary? Thieves love shiny electronic things.

The 3-2-1 Photo Backup System

Physical hard drives are a great way to backup your photos, so I’m not suggesting you don’t use them. I’m suggesting you adopt a 3-2-1 photo backup strategy. It’s pretty simple.

• Keep 3 copies of all your files.
• Keep 2 copies on local hard drives.
• Keep 1 copy offsite.

This could look like having one copy of your photos on your computer, one copy on an external hard drive, and one on another hard drive stored at another location.

The weakness of this plan is that it requires you to regularly pick up your offsite drive, take it to your computer, backup your new files, then return it to its offsite location. It’s not going to happen.

This is why you’re better off keeping your offsite backups online. You don’t need to worry about moving hard drives from one physical location to another and you can backup your photos anytime you’re online.

Free vs Paid

As with everything online, there are two options: go the free route and get something good or pay and get something better. You’re likely already using at least one of the many free cloud storage services available like Dropbox. Your devices would have come with storage services like iCloud or Google Drive pre-installed.

These free services are great for backing up the files and photos on your devices. They’re also pretty good for backing up and sharing files on your computer. They’re not without their limitations, though.

The most obvious limitation being storage capacity. The free plans from these cloud services give you between 2GB and 15GB. There is a way to use Google Photos so you can free up space on your phone without deleting photos. Other than this, free cloud storage will never offer enough space for photographers.

Setting up automatic backups with these free services is either complicated or completely impossible. If your backup system isn’t automated, it will either happen irregularly or not at all. You want set-and-forget backups.

Companies like Dropbox are banking on you running out of space and paying to upgrade to a premium plan for more storage space. What you may not consider is how quickly you’ll fill up that extra storage you’ve paid a premium for. I don’t know about you, but I have terabytes of photos in my archive. Premium plans are usually capped at 1-2TB.

Upgrading your existing storage to a premium plan is a good idea, so which one should you use?

Which Service Is Best For Online Photo Backups?

There are too many cloud storage services to compare them all, but these are the services you’re probably already using or have heard of. There are also a couple of services that you may not have heard of, which I highly recommend.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a great service for uploading files to the cloud, especially for sharing with others. I’ve used it for years and I love it. You can set up Dropbox as a drive on your computer, which makes uploading and downloading files super easy. The mobile app is also great.

• 2TB with a free account.
• Premium: $119/year for 2TB.

iCloud

Apple’s iCloud storage is fantastic if you use their devices. I’ve used it in the past when I used an iPhone, and it always worked flawlessly. It’s especially useful for syncing files if you own multiple Apple devices.

• 5GB with a free account.
• Premium: $11.88/year for 50GB. $35.88/year for 200GB. $119.88/year for 2TB.

Google Drive

If you use any of Google’s suite of apps (Gmail, Calendar, Docs) or own an Android device, you already have an account with Google Drive. As with Dropbox, you can set it up as a drive on your computer for easy upload/download.

Google Drive is also a great free alternative for creating and handling many different types of documents like text documents and spreadsheets. I’ve used Drive for a long time and for many different purposes. In fact, I’m writing this article in Google Drive right now.

• 15GB with a free account.
• Premium: $19.99/year for 100GB. $99.99/year for 1TB.

Adobe

You may not think of Adobe as a cloud storage service, but they have a great one. In fact, if you subscribe to any of the Adobe Photography Plans, you’re already paying for it. When you use Lightroom or Photoshop CC you have the option to backup your images and creations to Adobe’s servers.

This is particularly useful if you use Adobe apps on more than one device. You might have shared Lightroom catalogues on two computers or want to access your photos on one of the Adobe apps on your iPad. For a few files it’s great, but you’ll likely find that your storage will fill up quickly if you’re creating large files in Photoshop.

• 30-day free trial.
• Premium: $9.99/month including 20GB storage. $19.99/month for 1TB.

SmugMug

If you want a professional photography website, your best option is a service like Smugmug or Photoshelter. Alongside the many features included with these services is online photo backups. Each service has a range of paid plans that includes various storage limits, but Smugmug includes unlimited storage with every plan.

I’ve been a Smugmug customer for years and can’t recommend them highly enough. I especially like the RAW file backup feature and the ability to deliver photos directly to clients from your website.

• 14-day free trial.
• Premium: Range of plans starting at $6/month. 15% off with this link.

Backblaze

Although it’s not specifically for online photo backups, Backblaze is by far the best online cloud storage service I’ve found. The number of features you get for very little money is hard to beat.

Backblaze allows you to set up automatic, unlimited backups of all the files on any selected hard drives, including external hard drives. It’s available for Mac and PC computers. You have the ability to choose which files and folders to include and exclude in your backup. This means you can back up all the files on your computer and hard drive without wasting time backing up your operating system.

Your backups are kept safe on the Backblaze servers for 30 days and are fully encrypted. It features an awesome restore system should you ever accidentally delete something or lose everything, God forbid. They’ll even FedEx you a hard drive with your data on it anywhere in the world if you need it. Pretty great service.

• 15-day free trial.
• Premium: $6/month or $60/year. Try it free with this link.

Don’t Wait For Catastrophe

Implementing a solid photo backup strategy is one of those jobs that easily gets pushed down the priority list and onto the ‘someday’ list. Don’t be one of the many unfortunate photographers who wish they had done it before disaster struck.

Whichever service you choose, make today the day you set up your online photo backups. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did if the unthinkable ever happens.

The post Online Photo Backups: Cloud Storage Guide For Photographers appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

This is a step-by-step guide, but not all of it will be relevant to you. If you’ve already started making money with photography, you’ll still find this information useful. Take the parts that are relevant to you and apply them to your photography business.

As your side-hustle evolves you’ll find parts of this become more relevant. Bookmark it and revisit it at a later date to see how you can grow your income.

Should You Turn Photography Into A Side Hustle?

No matter where you are on the journey, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself a few hard questions. Answer them honestly, because the answers will help direct your photography business. It’s easier to get started on the right foot than to have to backtrack later.

Day-Job Conflicts

Before you start any side hustle you need to establish whether there will be a conflict with your regular job. Conflicts can come in many forms. It may be a legal conflict of interest, which will depend on your employer and your employment contract. These are rare, but worth being sure about.

Conflicts are more likely to be about your time and energy. Is your performance going to suffer if you’re putting a lot of time and energy into a side hustle after hours? Will it distract you from your job or tempt you to work on your side-hustle when nobody is watching? Your day job needs to be your priority, so be sure that it won’t suffer.

Photography Skill

Take a step back from your photography and try to decide if your work is of a standard that you could be charging money for it. This is a difficult question to answer because we’re so emotionally invested in our art. Sometimes asking others for their opinion helps, and I don’t mean your mum or best friend. Ask a couple of established photographers for their opinion.

Quality is especially important if you’re planning on making money selling photography services to clients. This means weddings, portraits, events, etc. Quality means consistency. Do you miss focus a lot? Do you spend a lot of time ‘fixing’ photos in Photoshop? Can you show up and produce a high level of image-quality every time? If not, you need to spend more time improving your photography technique until you can.

Startup Costs

When you turn photography into a side hustle there will be some start-up costs. How much will depend on many factors. At a minimum, you need a website and you need to register your business. There will be any number of extra costs on top of this which will depend on your niche.

There are too many variables to cover in this guide, but you should consider what those costs will look like for your photography business and how you’ll cover those costs.

Time

Generally speaking, people who decide to turn photography into a side hustle are in one of two camps.

1. You have spare time and want to use it productively.
2. You want to make extra money and decide photography will be a good way to do it.

Neither of these reasons is right or wrong, and many people will be in both these groups. If you’re in the second, you’d be wise to consider if you have the time. Don’t underestimate how much time a side hustle can swallow up.

Of course, you can decide how much time you want to put into it. If making money with photography is your primary goal, you’ll need to put in a lot more time to make it profitable than you might expect. Which leads to the next question…

Existing Commitments

Chances are that you already have other commitments in your life other than your day job. It could be family, friends, sports or social activities, etc. Wherever they are, ask yourself how a side hustle might impact those commitments. I’ve been known to have too many hobbies, so take it from me, taking on too much can be detrimental to your relationships.

This is especially important if you have a family or partner. It goes without saying that you should discuss the prospect of a side hustle with them first. Your family won’t thank you for the extra money if they never see you because of your photography business.

Will You Enjoy It?

This is one of the most commonly overlooked things when it comes to turning photography into a side hustle. Just because you love photography doesn’t mean you will love making money with photography. Ask any professional photographer and they’ll tell you that money changes things. Not to say you won’t enjoy it, but don’t assume you will.

Think of it this way – cooking and working on cars are two of my many hobbies. Would I want to work as a chef or a mechanic? Not a chance. Enjoying something as a hobby and enjoying it as a business aren’t the same thing.

Choose A Niche

One of the things that attract so many people to a photography side hustle is that you can make money no matter your niche. You’ll likely dabble in various niches with your personal photography, and we all do that. But when it comes to your photography business, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of choosing one niche.

There’s a temptation to approach your photography business from the perspective of maximizing your potential income by being a ‘Jack of all trades’, also known as a generalist. Although this temptation is understandable, in the long run, it doesn’t work.

You’re far better off focusing on one photography niche and becoming a specialist. Your chance of success specializing as a newborns photographer is far greater than photographing newborns, weddings, and landscapes.

Try to avoid letting money be a deciding factor in choosing your niche. I spent a couple of years running a wedding photography side-hustle, and although I loved it at first and the money was good, I realized after a while that it wasn’t the right thing for me, so I called it quits.

If you don’t have the passion for it or you’re only in it for money, you’ll lose interest, or worse, it will be apparent in your work.

Your Existing Specialties and Photo Archive

Chances are if you want to turn photography into a side hustle, you’ve already chosen a niche and have already started to develop a style of your own. If not, you’ll likely be able to narrow it down by thinking about the subjects that you get the most pleasure out of creating and you are most skilled at.

Niche Categories

To help you narrow down your niche, I’ve divided a few of the most common photography niches into two categories – client-based and self-assignment.

The best way to think of them is whether they involve shooting for clients or shooting for yourself. This may help you decide on your niche by considering whether you want to and are able to work with clients or not.

For example, I work as an intensive care nurse, which means twelve-hour rostered, rotating shifts. Days, nights, and weekends. This makes working with photography clients during my days off difficult. Booking weddings, events, portrait sessions would be a major headache for me.

On top of that, I enjoy the freedom that comes from landscape and travel photography. I can shoot what I want when I want. I learned from experience that shooting what clients want stifles my creativity.

If you work a regular 9-5 and have weekends off, you know when you’ll have time for your side hustle weeks and months in advance. This makes working with clients much more realistic.

Client-Based Photography Niches

• Wedding Photography
• Portrait Photography
• Newborn Photography
• Event Photography
• Real Estate Photography
• Pet Photography

Self-Assignment Photography Niches

• Product Photography
• Landscape Photography
• Travel Photography
• Street Photography
• Stock Photography

Of course, there can be some crossover between niches. For example, you might photograph portraits and license them as stock. This can add an extra income stream to your portrait photography side hustle but comes with extra considerations. The point is that even though you should stick to one specialty, you can get creative by finding crossover niches.

Find Your Style

If choosing a photography niche is important, finding your personal style is critical. Think of your style as the way to define your photography and stand out from the crowd.

Your photographic style doesn’t need to be something new and groundbreaking. It needs to be a consistent look that you can reproduce.

Consider Anne Geddes, one of the most well-known newborn photographers in the world. You likely recognize her images a mile away. That’s a style.

Your style is crafted by many things. It’s a combination of your subject, vision, planning, location, lighting, gear, and post-production. It can even be influenced by the way you market your photography.

There’s no right or wrong when it comes to photographic style. It just needs to be consistent and authentic. You can take inspiration from other photographers’ styles but resist the temptation to copy them. This is about finding your own style.

Set Up Your Business

If you want to turn photography into a side hustle, you need to take it seriously. This means setting off on the right foot. A little work and preparation now will make things easier later.

If you don’t expect to make enough money from your photography to justify the effort, you won’t. When you expect and plan to grow it into something worthwhile, your chances of success are far greater.

If you make money from photography, you’re in business. You have an obligation to yourself, your clients, and your government to treat it that way.

Tax and Legal

Your legal and tax obligations are the least glamorous part of starting a photography business, but the most important. The rules are going to be different depending on which state or country you live and work in, so I can’t give specific advice.

If you’re not an accountant, talk to one. It may cost you a small amount of money, but not doing it could cost you a lot more later.

Choose A Business Name

The common advice around how to choose a photography business name is mostly based on whether your business involves other photographers or not. If it’s a portrait studio with multiple photographers, for example, you need a generic name. If it’s just you, and always will be, use your name.

As a side hustle, your photography business is likely to be a solo venture, so use your own name. You’re an artist and your art is tied into you and your vision. As your business grows, you want people to associate your work with who you are, and your business name is an important part of that.

The exception is if there’s a chance that you could grow your side hustle into a full-time photography business in the future or take on other photographers.

Buy A Domain

Again, there are a couple of common approaches here. The most common thinking, and my advice, would be to use your business name – yournamephotography.com.

The other option is using the keywords you plan to optimize your website for. For example, if your business is shooting food photography in your town, you could buy the domain yourtownfoodphotographer.com.

Both of these approaches have their pros and cons. It’s worth thinking about the future of your business. If you use a location-based domain, what will happen if you move to another location in the future? What if you want to add product photography to the business? Go with a domain that’s future-proof and buy it.

Build A Website

No matter what some people might say, you need a website. Don’t rely on Instagram or Flickr as your online presence. They won’t always be around, and even if they are, you have to play by their rules.

Your own website allows you to build an online presence that grows with time. This means you’re more likely to get found by Google and build authority. You can use your website as an online portfolio, photography blog, print store, or a combination of these.

There are some great photography website builders available, which do a good job on their own. They have their limitations, though. If you use one of them, I would suggest also creating a free WordPress site and linking it to your portfolio site.

Branding

You’re going to want a logo for your fancy new website, but it doesn’t need to be anything special. I’ve had many logos over the years, some professionally designed, some mashed together myself in Photoshop.

If you have the budget and desire for something really visually appealing and unique, find a designer and go for it. Don’t stress about this, though. As long as it looks professional, that’s all that matters. This is especially relevant if you’re niche isn’t client-based and you’re not trying to market yourself to a specific audience.

Gear

The gear you’ll need will depend on your niche and style. You need quality gear that helps you create the images you want, but nothing more.

Quality doesn’t need to mean new and expensive. You would be surprised how little gear many professional photographers operate their businesses with.

Many photography businesses have been unprofitable thanks to Gear Acquisition Syndrome. New gear is nice to have, but you can almost always create high-quality images with older, cheaper, or second-hand equipment. Don’t let your lust for gear eat up all your profits and sabotage your business.

Marketing Your Photography

The most often overlooked driver of success in the photography business is marketing. There are a ton of talented photographers who fail in business because they don’t know how to market their work. On the flip-side, there are many average photographers who are wildly successful because they’ve learned the importance of marketing.

Marketing is one of the core principles of good business, and photography is no different. Your eyes might glaze over at the thought of it, but you don’t need to become an expert. You just need to find a couple of techniques that work for you and stick to them.

As with most aspects of the photography business, which tools you should use will depend on your niche, your budget, and your income streams.

Finding Clients

If your niche involves shooting for clients, it goes without saying that you’ll need to find them. They won’t come knocking on your door, unfortunately. There has been a ton written on the subject of how to find clients.

As a general principle, avoid working for free. Remember, you’re in business, so start how you intend to go on. The first weddings I photographed were for friends and family, but I still charged them. It wasn’t a lot, but it sent a message – my time is worth something. If someone doesn’t value your photography enough to pay you for it, do you really want to give it to them?

When you have a portfolio that’s good enough to promote yourself and find clients, put it out there and let people know you’re in business. If people don’t know you’re in business they can’t hire you or refer people to you.

Social Media

If you’ve been a photographer for a while, you likely already have a presence on social media. There’s no doubt that social media is a valuable way to get your work out there, but the way you use it for your hobby and the way you use it when you turn photography into a side hustle are completely different. You need a strategy.

Instead of having an account on every social channel you can find, I would suggest choosing one or two and sticking with them. Each has its pros and cons, and again, which is best will depend on your niche. Whether you choose to focus on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter doesn’t matter. What matters is that you think about where your potential clients are and how to get your work in front of them. Which brings me to…

Advertising

Despite what some people who have something to sell might tell you, the days of being able to play for free are numbered. Once upon a time, you could get a huge organic reach on Facebook and build large audiences without paying for advertising, but not anymore.

This may seem unfair, but the reality is that if you talk to any successful business owner, they’ll tell you that they pay for marketing. It’s an investment, and if you do it well, you’ll get a return on that investment.

Again, it’s all about strategy. Paid advertising is incredibly intelligent, and you can make your dollar go a long way by getting your work in front of the right eyes. Google and social channels allow you to advertise to highly targeted audiences cheaply.

You could start with something simple like advertising engagement sessions to get potential wedding clients through the door. Advertising a sale on prints of your landscape photography can be highly successful.

It’s a cliché, but you need to spend money to make money.

Blogging

The exponential growth of blogging over the last couple of decades proves how powerful it is as a marketing tool. Most blogs are either a tool used to market a business, or they’re entire businesses in themselves.

Marketing your photography can either be done through your own blog or as a guest contributor to other, bigger blogs. A blog can be used to share your work, educate potential clients, answer common questions, discuss current events in your niche, whatever you like. The key is to make sure you’re writing for the right audience.

Where blogging can be a game-changer is when you write for blogs that already have the audience you want. Blogs love guest contributors because it gives them free content. You can get your work, knowledge, or voice in front of a ton of people who might want to know more about you and potentially hire you.

Try researching blogs that share your niche and find some that you think you could contribute something to. You don’t need to be an expert writer, but you do need to be able to make yourself understood. There are a ton of resources out there if you want to develop your writing skills, which I highly recommend.

It’s Time To Turn Photography Into A Side Hustle

If you’re ready to pull the trigger on your photography business, there is no better time than today. You have the photography skills, now you need to learn the business skills necessary to turn photography into a side-hustle.

This guide is an overview of the things you need to consider and the steps you need to take, but there’s a lot more to learn. If you want to take this thing seriously and make money with your photography, subscribe below to get notified about new articles from Photography Side Hustle. You’ll receive photography business articles, photography technique tutorials, and reviews of products and services.

The post How To Turn Photography Into A Side Hustle appeared first on Rowan Sims | Landscape & Travel Photography.

The Ultimate East Coast Australia Road Trip

When I say variety I mean one of the most diverse places on earth. Where else in the world can you visit perfect white-sand beaches, ancient rain-forests, tropical islands, coral reefs, world heritage sites, waterfall-laden mountains, and vibrant cities? Not to mention some of the planet’s most weird, wonderful, and terrifying wildlife.

If you haven’t been to Australia or explored much, it’s easy to underestimate how monstrous this country is. It takes forever to get where you’re going, so you’re gonna want to do some serious planning. Fortunately for you, I spent over three months driving and exploring the east coast of Australia, so I’ve done a ton of research for you.

How you choose to plan your own east coast Australia road trip will depend on a few things. How much time do you have? What kind of vehicle will you be driving? What type of accommodation do you want to use? Who will you be traveling with? What do you want to do with your time (other than driving)? What time of year do you plan to go?

There are far too many variables here for me to cover all the options, but I’ll make a few suggestions that will set you in the right direction.

Firstly, as I mentioned above, Australia is massive, and this road trip is well over 4000km from end to end. You don’t want to get to the end of your epic East Coast Australia Road Trip and just remember sitting in your car seat. Be realistic about how much time you have and plan accordingly. You’ll be much happier seeing less of the country but actually having the time to enjoy and explore it, not just drive.

When selecting a vehicle, your first choice should be a 4WD vehicle, as there are a TON of places where you can drive and even camp on the beach. If a 4WD isn’t an option I would suggest a campervan. Traditional camping in tents is also an option, although setting up and packing down camp daily can get old very quickly.

Your choice of vehicle will also help decide on your accommodation. A rooftop tent on a 4WD is a great option. I can personally testify to how great these things are. Set up in 5 minutes, sleep wherever you can park, and gets you off the ground and away from things that want to kill you (this is Australia don’t forget). Whatever you decide on, make sure you can sleep in, on, or near your vehicle. If you rely on hotels/motels/hostels, you’ll miss out on a bunch of awesome places due to lack of options. Not to mention spend a fortune.

The last thing I’ll mention in terms of early planning is that you should discuss with your travel buddies what your priorities are for your road trip. Do you have visions of long days sunbathing on the beach, hiking the hinterland, getting up at sunrise to take photos, reading a pile of books, or staying up late and partying in every town? However you plan to spend your time, make sure you’re all on the same page.

Where To Start And Finish

Your starting point will depend on a number of things. Will you already be in Australia, or are you flying in? Starting in one of the cities at either end – Melbourne or Cairns – will have a few advantages. You’ll have more choice of flights, and they’ll be cheaper.

You’ll also find it easier to pick up a vehicle from one of these cities if you don’t have one already. There are a lot of rental companies to choose from. These are also great places to pick up a bargain on a second-hand vehicle from somebody who’s just finishing up their own East Coast Australia Road Trip. You’ll often get a bunch of extra gear thrown in with the sale if you’re lucky.

Bear in mind that you can start your road trip wherever you want. Don’t feel like you need to do it all in one go either. I was based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, so broke it up into two chunks. I went north for an incredible Queensland road trip, then returned and headed south a couple months later to explore New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.

Where you choose to start and finish your East Coast Australia Road Trip is really up to you. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. You may also decide that you don’t have the time to drive the whole coast, so you might only drive Sydney to Cairns or Melbourne to Brisbane.

Whatever you decide, let me say again that Australia is HUGE, and if you’re tight on time you’re better off covering less distance and trying to avoid doubling back on yourself. 

When To Go

Something that many people don’t consider about Australia is that the climate can change dramatically as you travel. If you don’t plan it well, the weather could easily ruin your trip.

I highly recommend avoiding Tropical North Queensland in the summer. It’s wet, hot, and humid, and you can’t swim in the ocean due to the deadly box jellyfish. Winter is perfect in Queensland. It’s warm and dry every day. The roads and campgrounds do get overrun with hordes of retirees (grey nomads), who migrate north to escape the southern winter. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

The southern half of the east coast can get a lot colder in winter, so I recommend waiting for the warmer months to visit New South Wales and Victoria. It can be insanely hot in summer anywhere in Australia, in case you weren’t aware, so if you can’t handle the heat, maybe avoid summer.

I may have given you the impression that there’s no good time to do an East Coast Australia Road Trip. If I had three months to do it again, I would consider two options.

1. Start at the southern end (Melbourne or Sydney) in late summer or early autumn and head north so you’re getting to Tropical North Queensland when the weather is cooler and dryer. 
2. Start at the northern end (Cairns) in spring and head south so that you’re getting to the end of your road trip early in summer before you start to melt onto the road.

Of course, you may be a sucker for punishment and want to spend your nights lying awake in a pool of your own sweat wishing for death. In that case, spend the whole summer driving the coast and find out why Australians live at the beach. Just don’t forget your sunscreen.

Must-See Locations

My initial plan was to give you a day-by-day breakdown of a three or four-month East Coast Australia Road Trip itinerary. That would be far too much information, and it wouldn’t help you if it doesn’t fit your plans.

Instead, I’m gonna tell you the places that you absolutely must see. These are all locations that I personally visited when I did this, so they come personally recommended. Don’t feel like you absolutely must visit them all. Your road trip will look different from mine for many reasons. I would at least consider each of these spots, because they’re all amazing.

I’ll also skip over the cities and major locations. I’m sure you don’t need to hear about Cairns, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, or Melbourne.

Cape Tribulation, QLD

Starting at the very top is one of my absolute favourite places in all of Australia. If you’re starting in Cairns, you’ll actually need to head north to get to Cape Tribulation. It’s only about a 2.5 hour drive, and trust me, it’s worth it.

Cape Tribulation is unbelievably beautiful. The ancient, lush green Daintree Rainforest comes right down to the beach. As you’re getting pretty far north, there isn’t a lot here, but that’s part of the attraction. There are some incredible hikes in the area, and some awesome campgrounds. If you’re lucky, you may even see a Cassowary. The only let-down is that you can’t swim in the ocean thanks to the bastard saltwater crocodiles. 

Palm Cove, QLD

Also just north of Cairns is another of my favourite places, Palm Cove. It’s just a small beach town, but can get pretty busy on weekends and during the winter. The aptly-named town has a gorgeous palm tree-lined beach and a whole lot of great restaurants and cafes to choose from.

This was one of the most tempting places to unpack the 4WD and call home for a while. I highly recommend getting up early and heading down to the beach for sunrise. The palm trees on the beach make for some stunning photos.

Atherton Tablelands, QLD

There were few places that tempted me inland on our East Coast Australia Road Trip, but the Atherton Tablelands was one that I’m glad I didn’t miss. If you like waterfalls, prepare to be impressed.

There are a ton of waterfalls within a short drive, but you can see the best of them just off the main loop. Be sure to visit Milla Milla Falls, Ellinjaa Falls, and Mungalli Falls. They’re just south of Cairns, and you don’t miss a lot on the coast by taking the inland route.

Magnetic Island, QLD

When it comes to islands, you’re spoilt for choice in Australia. Magnetic Island hadn’t really been high on my list, but my travel buddy was dead-set on going. It’s a short ferry ride from Townsville, which you can take your car on if you want.

Magnetic Island is a lot bigger than I expected, so you’ll want to either take a car, bike, or use the buses to get around. Every part of the island is completely different. It has some stunning beaches, awesome hikes, and really interesting history. It’s also a great place to see wildlife like koalas!

Cape Hillsborough, QLD

Best known for its resident kangaroos that visit the beach each morning to eat seed pods that wash up overnight, Cape Hillsborough has more to it than wildlife. The landscape is breathtaking, the beaches are wonderful, and the campgrounds are some of my favourites from the whole east coast Australia road trip.

I recommend skipping the very disappointing experience of hundreds of tourists photographing park rangers feeding the kangaroos on the beach. Drive out to Haliday Bay Campground and stay on the beach for a couple nights. You won’t be disappointed.

Whitsundays, QLD

Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands is an area I’ve wanted to visit and explore for a long time and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s the quintessential Australian tropical holiday location for good reason. The Whitsundays are a collection of stunning islands just off the coast where you can do almost anything you can imagine. Whether it’s a romantic island resort, camping, diving, fishing, or partying, there’s something for you.

We were lucky enough to get a visit from a very curious and friendly humpback whale while heading out to dive the Great Barrier Reef and visit the famous white sands of Whitehaven Beach. Airlie Beach is also a pretty cool little town, especially if you like to get a little rowdy. You could easily spend a week or two exploring this area.

Fraser Island, QLD

If I could revisit anywhere in Australia just once, it would be Fraser Island. There is nowhere in the world quite like it. Think perfect white-sand beaches, crystal-clear lakes, wild dingoes, tons of whales, awesome 4WD tracks, massive sand dunes, shipwrecks, more stars than you’ve ever seen, and virtually no civilisation.

You get to Fraser Island by ferry, and you need a 4WD because there are no roads. Just a whole lotta sand. This is where having a 4WD comes in handy. If you can explore Fraser Island in your own vehicle, I can’t recommend it highly enough. If not, at least do a day tour from Hervey Bay. Either way, don’t miss it. Fraser Island is a photographer’s dream.

Noosa, QLD

I’m probably a little biased here because Noosa was home for a while. It’s a popular holiday spot in Australia, and for good reason. The weather is amazing, the beaches are perfect, and there’s something for everyone.

Noosa’s surf beaches, rivers, shopping, restaurants, night-life, hikes, and close proximity to the hinterland mean everyone will find something to keep them interested. I highly recommend exploring Noosa National Park. There are some beautiful walks around the coast and through the bush, and it’s another good place to see koalas.

Byron Bay, NSW

I almost left it off this list because who wouldn’t visit Byron Bay on an East Coast Australia Road Trip? I decided to add it for those of you who may consider skipping it because of its hippy reputation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a super-funky little hippy town, but in all the right ways.

Byron Bay has come a long way in the last decade or so, and it’s grown from an adolescent hippy into a mature, grown up hippy. It still has a super laid-back vibe, and you’ll still see plenty of dread-locks and bare feet, but it has everything you could want in a little beach town. Be sure to get up to the Byron Bay Lighthouse for sunrise. It’s beautiful.

Trial Bay, NSW

Trial Bay was another spot that wasn’t really on my radar, but seemed like a good place to stop for a night. It turned out to be one of my favourite locations in New South Wales. There’s not a lot there other than a really interesting old prison and a million kangaroos.

Seriously, if you want your fix of kangaroos, this is the place to go. They’re everywhere, just hanging out in the campground and surrounding parks. Just be careful not to bump into one when you get up to pee in the night.

Booti Booti National Park, NSW

Other than being one of Australia’s many hilarious place-names, Booti Booti National Park is on a tiny sliver of land on the New South Wales coast. It would be easy to drive straight through and miss it, but it’s well worth a stop. The landscape here is gorgeous, with the ocean on one side and lakes and mountains on the other. It’s the perfect location for some aerial photography if you have a drone.

Port Stephens, NSW

Set on the Karuah River, which is really more of a harbour, Port Stephens is a lovely little town with sheltered beaches, great food, and a lot to do. At the mouth of the river is the impressive Tomaree Mountain, which is an essential climb at sunset. If you’re obsessed like me, go back in the morning to photograph the mountain from Zenith Beach at sunrise. 

Port Stephens is also a great base to explore Stockton Beach and the Worimi National Park Sand Dunes. You’ll definitely need a 4WD for this, and make sure you check where you can and can’t go. Large parts of the dunes were closed during my visit.

Bouddhi National Park, NSW

If you’re into hiking, the Bouddhi Coastal Walk is a must-do. It’s an 8.5km hike each way, which follows the coast along cliffs, beaches, and board-walk. You’ll see some incredible rock formations and bird life. You can camp at Putty Beach, where the walk starts, so you can start early before the billion resident flies wake up.

Blue Mountains National Park, NSW

I had heard a lot about the Blue Mountains and seen lots of photos, but no way was I prepared for how incredible they are. Photos just don’t do any justice to how huge the canyons are. Blue Mountains National Park is one of the only other places that lured us inland. It’s a couple hours drive west from Sydney, and you’re gonna want to spend a few days there.

There are hikes and lookouts all over the place, so do your research. Some of the them are right off the main road, others you’ll have to hike to. Whatever your style, be prepared to be blown away. And bring your camera.

Bermagui, NSW

I had been drawn to Bermagui to photograph the famous Horse Head Rock, but was pleasantly surprised to find there’s more to Bermagui. I did get the shot I wanted, nearly breaking a leg in the process, but it was Wallaga Lake that I really loved. We got a camping spot right on the lake and spent a couple of days just enjoying the peace and quiet. I also discovered some pretty cool landscape on the far side of the lake with my drone.

Phillip Island, VIC

A couple hours southeast of Melbourne is Phillip Island, which is best known for the MotoGP race. Unless you’re into motorcycle racing, I would avoid it at all costs. Any other time, Phillip Island is a great place to visit. It’s also well known as a place to see penguins in the wild.

Phillip Island’s best attraction for me was the Pinnacles out at Cape Woolamai. The Pinnacles are a dramatic collection of rocks on the west side of the cape that jut straight up out of the beach. Head there for sunset and you won’t be disappointed. You need to walk out along the beach and cliffs, so be careful and check the tides.

Great Ocean Road, VIC

If you thought Melbourne was going to be your end point, think again. You’re gonna want to go a little further. The Great Ocean Road is one of Australia’s best drives. Heading west from Melbourne and following along the south coast, you’ll see some stunning natural attractions.

Be sure to visit Bells Beach, Lock Ard Gorge, London Arch, The Grotto, and of course, the famous Twelve Apostles. You can do it in a day, but I would recommend staying somewhere along the way and taking a couple of days to explore and enjoy the drive.

Start Planning Your Next Road Trip

Once you get the road trip bug, there’s no cure. What’s next after your East Coast Australia Road Trip? You could do what I did and head to Tasmania, which I highly recommend. Whatever you do, be sure to let me know. What was your favourite spot? Are there any must-see locations you think I should add? Let me know in the comments.

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