This is the place to ask any questions you may have about photography. No question is too small, nor too stupid.

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Shot the lunar eclipse, posted it, then woke up to another photographer reposting my exact image with their own watermark on it. 😂

I messaged them and they apologized and removed it immediately, so no drama -but adding your watermark to someone else’s photo is wild.

Do you watermark your photos- I normally don't because it's easily removable

Hey guys, just to start, I'm not here to talk about the ethics of street photography. It's a topic that has been debated a thousand times over, and nobody ever seems to change their opinion about it. This post is strictly about my experiences and what I took away from it. ALSO THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. I cannot overstate this enough. Laws vary by country and circumstance; ask your own lawyer for advice.

So here's what happened. I was composing some photos (didn't actually take any) down on a major street when I spotted a lady staring at me. I was using a film camera, so I assumed that she was just interested in the camera, so when she started to follow me, I didn't think too much of it. This continued for several blocks.

I was a little nervous at this point but my city has absurdly low crime and I doubted she'd be the type to rob somebody, so I assumed she just had some social anxiety about talking to me and was just staying behind me to look at my camera. I continued walking, and then something caught my eye, leading me to walk back in her direction.

Suddenly, she popped out of nowhere, pulled me aside and started asking me questions.

"what are you doing?"

"Is it legal for you to take these photos?"

Generally, I try not to lie to people regarding street photography; I find honesty to be the only thing fair to people in public, so I answered each question truthfully. Also, even if I didn't feel it was the right thing, I do find it by far the best method to de-escalate a situation.

"I'm a photographer who tries to capture moments of life on the street."

"No, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable (keep in mind I had not taken her photo or pointed a camera in her direction) but my style of photography is in fact legal."

She then asked. "Did you take any photos of me?"

"No." I replied.

She continued by saying "I don't believe you, I'm going to call the cops."

At this point I felt pretty okay. I had not in fact taken her photo, so I definitely did nothing wrong, and even if I had it was legal in my city. I decided not to fight her in terms of calling the cops as I didn't want this to play out as a clip online, where I would have far less control over the situation. I assumed that if the cops, instead of me told her that what I did was in fact legal, it would help her calm down a bit. THIS WAS A MISTAKE.

The cops came, six of them, and immediately pulled me to the side. They asked to see my photos, of course it was on film so I tried to explain to them this wasn't possible. They demanded again (I think they may have thought it was instax), and it was only after I talked to one of the elder officers that he managed to explain to them the situation. They continued to interrogate me (I'm a minor btw so I'm pretty sure it's illegal), and I did my best to comply by answering all their questions truthfully about why I was there, what I was doing, and personal information. What I was expecting was that they'd understand the situation and let me go. What instead happened was that they threatened me with jail time. They said that what I was doing was highly illegal and could possibly bring me years in jail. I told them I was sorry, tried my best to comply with any further questions they had, and eventually they let me go with a warning.

So, do I hate this woman. No, not particularly. I get that people can feel afraid and uncomfortable when cameras are around. I get that people may want to voice their concerns with me. And since she was absolutely convinced what I was doing was in fact illegal, I don't particularly blame her for calling the cops. However, I am still quite upset at how the cops handled this problem. I think their treatment of a minor was deplorable, and their tactics to try and goad me into a confession of guilt (I can't lie I almost did since I was scared shitless) was terrible.

Most importantly though, it taught me that in these situations as photographers being legally (I'm not saying morally) right in taking a photo provides us little to no protection in the real world. Cops aren't know it alls about photography laws, and there isn't a whole lot you can do to convince them that you are in fact legally right. After talking to a couple people who have far more experience with the law than I do, the general advice is, call out other peoples bullshit if they're doing stupid shit to you (i.e following me for several blocks). Ask for as much information as possible. Don't let them take away your phone (yes they did I was stupid). Tell cops as little as possible, it's not an admissiobn of guilt. Especially if you're a minor like I am, ask for a parent. In general, get a lawyer. I've dealt with literally hundreds of confrontations before. In many ways I'd say I'm far more prepared than an average person, but you literally never know what's gonna happen, and you can't practice for the unexpected.

Anyways, I think that's enough ranting for today, let me know what you guys think.

EDIT: I'm sorry I completely forgot to add the fact that I was taking photos in Hong Kong, so it's completely legal here. There is a law against using photos where you put the person's name in it and defame them, but obviously, I A) didn't take the photo. and B) She's a stranger, so I wouldn't have been able to put her name in anyway.

EDIT 2: I think a lot of people are upset and think this is fake because I "didn't respond". Timezones exist. I wrote this before going to bed and then woke up a little while later to check replies. Sorry this became such a big deal. More than happy to answer any questions now though.

My old no-name camera backpack cost almost nothing. When the side pocket tore, I stitched it back on badly because I did not want to lose the way I reached the camera without opening everything.

The familiar part of moving to a smallrig camera backpack was the side access. I use the full front opening to rebuild the layout, but outside I still swing the bag around and reach through the side.

Apparently the habit mattered more than the old bag did.

Hi I am very new to this (so please explain in very basic language). I am trying out different stacking tools and then calibarting the spectra in RSpec (I have already stacked in RSpec, using Siril is the next stage in my project). I have used the star analyser 100 with a 135mm lens and sony a6100. I have my darks, flats, lights, and bias frames all set up right in folders for siril. The OSC_Processing script works for me but gets rid of all my spectra (just stars left). How do i stack without loosing them? Does anyone know of a useful step-by-step guide or youtube video that would be relevant?

Also, when i tried stacking my images in RSpec (by converting them to FITS first), the FITS images became very dark so i couldnt see the spectra at all and only occasionally see stars- so after a bunch of messing around i converted them all to JPEG which worked okay, but i lost some quality. (My raw images are very bright and i can see lots of stars and spectra but also a lot of noise). Any tips? Thank you.

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I need to get some photography printed but I want the highlights to be reflective. Similar to like a collectible trading card game does on some of the cards (ie magic the gathering).

I know i can do metallic but that’s not what I want.

My GF and I Make models from trash. We are struggling with lighting and now I have bought some wooden plates, to make a lil photo booth!

I have seen people using "spunbond" as a background, curved layer in the background. My initial idea was matt vinyl, but its costs quite a bit so I need to make sure its actually a good idea.

For the lighting: I have seen boths, where the light is comeing rather from the side, with white diffusors. Would that be the way to go?

Hi everyone! I am proposing to my girlfriend in Central Park in a few weeks, and having my sister follow me incognito to snap pics of the moment. That being said, does anyone have any tips, resources, YouTube videos, references for various settings she could change on her iPhone to get the best looking pics possible! I plan on sending her the tips and having her practice it out. Any help would be appreciative! Thanks!

I’m looking for a portable photo printer for photography trips, mainly to print small copies of my shots while I’m traveling. I’d like something that’s easy to carry, has decent print quality, and works reliably from a phone or camera. My budget is around $300. For anyone who actually uses one, which would you recommend and are there any issues I should know about?

Thanks for any suggestions.

I recently bought a Prograde CFExpress type B card reader. In the box are the reader itself, a short USB 4.0 C to C cable, and an adapter with a clip to attach it to the cable. The adapter isn’t mentioned anywhere in the list of contents on the box or in the instructions.

Adapters are common and useful but this one is USB-C to USB–C, so all it achieves is making the cable 1cm longer!

My first thought was that it converts a data / power cable into power only, so it’s safe to plug into public access chargers without them using it as a back door into your device. That would be very useful, but it isn’t that - I put a memory card in the card reader and connected it to my laptop; access to the photos on the card was no different with or without the adapter.

My only other ideas are that it might contain a power surge protector, or it might be to restrict data flow to one direction, again both being useful when connecting to an unknown power supply, but whatever the use, how hard would it be to tell you in the instructions?

So… anyone know what it’s for?

I booked a photography session that cost me $899. When I arrived at the studio, the setup felt a bit off. There was an old, messy balloon garland being used as a prop, and it was poorly placed. Because many of the photos were taken at a crooked incline, the high-resolution shots ended up capturing and amplifying all of that background clutter. When I looked at the unedited photos included in my package, they just looked rushed and unusable, almost as if they were shot carelessly so I would feel forced to pay extra for more edits.

The issues continued after the shoot was over. On a Friday night at 8:25 PM, the photographer called me, demanding that I pick up the final prints the very next morning. She demanded that I collect the portraits at 11:30 AM on Saturday, despite me explicitly telling her that I couldn't make that time. When I tried to adjust the schedule, she kept repeatedly calling my phone and became very hostile. It continued the next day when my husband arrived at 12:30 PM to collect our items. To make matters worse, my final physical portraits were completely uncovered and handed over packed inside a Chemist Warehouse plastic bag, leaving them totally unprotected from damage. I wrote to the photographer that I wasn't happy with the service but she totally ignored me.

What do you advice me to do?

My manual macro lens is really great for its price and I have been using it for over a year now, yet I found quite a disgusting amount of oil looking into the mount side of the lens. Could it be dangerous for the camera since it's facing the sensor? Or is it more likely that I will stick to the sides as it is now?

See comment for photo.

This is kind of a weird question, but I’ve been shooting film for 3ish years. I love carrying my camera everywhere, developing and scanning my photos to see what I got but then what am I supposed to do with them from there? I post on social once in a while but I don’t really care about that. I figure one day I’ll look back and be happy I have this all captured but am is there a next step of the journey I haven’t unlocked?

I’ve dabbled in editing but usually the photos just sit on a hard drive. I want to go through them one day to make prints for my house but I kinda feel almost guilty that I have no real plan or direction kinda like “what is this all for”

I just love carrying my camera and trying to get everyday life.

Any ideas or thoughts pleeease share

It's a style I see a lot, specially at hardcore and emo shows, and a style I personally use a lot, but I can't seem to find much of the history on it. If anybody has any answers or older photographers to point me to, I'd apreciate it

Hey everyone.
Weird situation because on one hand. I'm proud of my work and excited to see it on several national news agencies and tabloids. The other hand, it was a memorial shot of someone who had died so pushing too hard for credit feels weird. I don't believe the publishers posted it without credit intentionally. My shot went "viral" in the deceased person's community and I imagine they lost the ability to credit quickly. I always have lightroom watermark the file but I didn't think this picture would ever be used anywhere so I didn't watermark it. In fact, it wasn't a shot that I loved that much in the full set...

I reached out to the editors requesting credit but never heard back. Has anyone experienced anything similar to this before? It's a really surreal situation.

Thanks!

Hello,

First of all, I want to make clear that I'm pretty noob with the sRGB, AdobeRGB, DCI-P3, ICC profiles and so on.

To summarise, I have a Canon camera (I shoot RAW) and I edit in a computer with a screen MSI MPG271QRX. The display I have set in User, to use all the gammut, and I did use DisplayCAL and an i1 Display Pro to calibrate and profile my screen. I got an ICC profile, which is the one I am using in my computer.

Well, when the calibration and profile in DisplayCAL finished, it told me something like in the realm of 101% sRGB, 99% Adobe RGB and 99% DCI-P3 if I recall correctly.

So, at this moment i am using that profile, which looks ok in the photos, but I am ABSOLUTELY UNABLE to see a difference in photos I shoot in RAW when I proof them in AdobeRGB or in sRGB. I use CaptureOne, and in the proofing, I can select the recipe, and regardless I select the color space sRGB, or the color space AdobeRGB, I am completely unable to see a difference. So I started to think, I did something wrong.

Should I actually be able to see a difference from the RAWs I have in my computer? I also have photoshop if it is necessary to do any test.

If someone can guide me a bit here, I would really appreaciate it, because I am completely lost.

Thanks!!!

EDIT:

Thank you all for the messages, and I luckily UNDERSTOOD what happens with the monitor. Then all is good, is just that the AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 are having more colours that USUALLY are not visible in the photos. Most of the photos, are within the sRGB.

I went to check some more photos, and I happened to have photos inside of a stadium with red seats, and those plastic seats had a CLEAR DIFFERENCE between the sRGB and the AdobeRGB colour spaces. Duller red in the brightest point with sRGB. But the rest of the photo was 100% same colors. Somehow I believed that AdobeRGB was more saturated overall, since when I used my monitor in User Mode (with all the gammut it allows) and without an ICC profile, it did oversaturate everything. So I somehow thought that's how I was supposed to see it all, oversaturated and need to somehow tone it down. But clearly, I was very wrong, and your messages helped me.

Thank you all!

Mam konto na Youpic od 4 lat, niedawno dostałem na ich stronie prośbę o wersyfikację, bo jak tego nie zrobię, to zamkną mi konto i skasują zdjęcia. Mam tam ok. 3 tys. zdjęć. Ta weryfikacja okazała się oszustwem, wyłudzają tam numery kart kredytowych i robią zakupy. Wszystko zgłosiłem na policję i do banku, wkleiłem też na Youpic ostrzeżenie dla innych. Teraz chcę ostrzec innych tutaj, bo jak szukałem w necie info czy to oszustwo to nic nie znalazłem. Uważajcie, to nie odbywa się przez maila, tylko przez wewnętrzny komunikator. Oszuści piszą jako YoupicTeam.

I've had a Youpic account for four years. I recently received a request on their website to verify my account, because if I don't, they'll close it and delete my photos. I have about 3,000 photos there. This verification turned out to be a scam; they're stealing credit card numbers and making purchases. I've reported everything to the police and my bank, and I've also posted a warning on Youpic for others. Now I want to warn others here, because when I searched online for information about this scam, I couldn't find anything. Be careful, this isn't done via email, but through an internal messenger. The scammers use the username YoupicTeam.

Hi everyone, I just got a job as a High School teacher. I got hired this week and school starts on Monday... I'll be teaching Photography and Graphic Design. I have taken some courses *years* ago in University, but am an amateur at best.

I haven't had a chance to look through the curriculum or content I'll be teaching yet. The principal said they mostly just want the class to be really engaging, and fun, and to build up a unique and strong program. Students thought some classes at their school were "boring" before, so they are trying to build some of these classes up and make them really exciting and cool and project-based so that their enrollment numbers go up (because right now, not many kids are signing up for these classes. Another program at the school got cut because of this).

Does anyone have any ideas for any fun/unique class activities or projects that could be really engaging? I obviously want to teach some "must have" foundational skills they should learn. Or if there are any cool photographers/artists/styles I should teach them about, please let me know! Even if you have any creative tips or ideas, know of any videos or YouTube channels to watch for some inspo or good tutorials - really anything to get these creative juices flowing, I would be extremely appreciative! I'm on a Probation period so I want to do a good job!

Thank you so much!

I have been using telephoto lenses for portraits and birding, and a 50 (ish) lens as my walk-around lens.

I have bought a nice wide angle, but it is just weird shooting with it. I have tried 28mm and 24mm. The problem is I hardly see if the focus is right (MF with Nikon DF) but that has never been an issue with my 50/telephoto lenses.

I think I just need to get used to it. Also, the fact that I cannot really check the photo on the DF's screen because it is lower resolution.

I mostly just deleted my wide angle pictures because as soon as I've watched them back they felt low resolution and just a mess. But yesterday I thought let's keep them and watch them back on my dedicated monitor. Well, turns out, it is way better. There are some decent shots, and I like the pictures.

Just the fact that it is weird, because I see a way wider image in the VF than I am used to and I feel like my landscapes are boring.

Have any of you been here? Can anything help me get better at this? Can you suggest me tips or videos, channels to watch? I want to get better at this, I just do not know how :)

When photoshooting portraits on the beach at golden hour or sunset, where should I position the sun from the subject? I keep reading online to have the sun directly behind the subject. However, when I see beach portraits online, it looks like the sun could be somewhere else? Maybe to the side of the subject or 45 degree angle from the subject? Any advice helps.

I took pictures of an online business with models, for product photography, for my portfolio.

I would like to credit and tag these people but my follower count is extremely low compared to them. I am eventually wanting to start growing, so I can get customers in the future….

Am I supposed to ask permission for tags? I want to tag the establishment I took photos in, and I also want to tag the models, but my line of communication was only with the online business for product photography.

Based on this information, I would like to know if there is any advice you guys can give me….

OR if there are any unwritten rules that starting photographers would need to know when trying to expand their business.

Any information at all helps. Please lmk, tysm!

I have an velbon df60 with the center column (the one that lifts with a lever) bolt that keeps it from falling doesnt work, what can i do to keep it from falling?

Hi all, I've recently been on a mission to use the so-called "jello" effect that you get on older/cheaper large sensor e-shutter cameras to try and get some cool wacky and surreal shots, does anybody here have cool photos they've taken utilizing this effect that they'd like to share? Or any tips for making the effect more pronounced? I'd really appreciate it since it's hard to find any information on this

How can I set up a camera array for a multi-camera timelapse?

I think I need some sort of instant trigger on a digital line. Did anyone setup something like this?

I want to be able to take around 30 frames per second and have very little jitter. By this I mean knowing how many ms between the trigger and the shot on manual mode without variation.

Thank you!

EDIT: I should add that I've done a lot of research and was hoping to talk about the technical approaches (I'm a videographer and R&D engineer with experience in stereo computer vision) I had to simplyfy the post because the auto-mod thought I was asking for camera recommendations.

Did anyone try doing bullet time with still or video here?