As far as I know, cameras only have one focal point. How does this picture have two? Are they using a special lens? Or is it a composite?

Hi everyone,
I'm looking to get into photography seriously with the goal of eventually becoming a professional portrait and lifestyle photographer. I really love cinematic, moody, and natural-looking images. think soft beach sunsets, misty forests, dramatic landscapes, and emotional portraits with beautiful colors and depth. I’ll attach a creator I love and would love some guidance from yall on the best route to go to achieve the closest results to it.

I'm starting from scratch and would love some advice from people with more experience.
A few questions I have:

Which lens should be my first for portraits and lifestyle photography?

What editing software do you recommend?Lightroom, Capture One, or something else?

How do photographers achieve that cinematic, film-like look without overediting?

Are there any YouTube channels, courses, or books you'd recommend for learning photography and editing?

Hello everyone! I'm a beginner photographer, currently shooting on a fuji x10 and xt30 mark 1 + fuji 16-55. I was wondering how to achieve a smooth yet detailed look such as the one in these pictures. I'm not talking about aesthetics or color grading, but rather the inherent lack of excessive sharpness and overall "sliky" look. They feel buttery smooth to me and that's an effect I've not quite been able to achieve yet. Overly sharp pictures are a huge turn off for me, and the main reason why i stopped prioritizing iPhone photography due to Apple's aggressive sharpening and editing. I thought that with the right lens/camera i could get to that, but it hasn't been the case as of now. Is this achievable through post production? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I’ve heard high aperture but even when I had my aperture at 11 or even 14 everything is still blurry. I’m using a canon r100 with the kit 18-45mm lens. I feel like I have the composition mostly alright, but the flowers and/or the mountains still come out blurry. Any help is appreciated!

So I was looking to get a lightweight tripod since I like to travel on foot and on bike a lot but I'm pretty broke and even the used carbon fiber ones near me were like $200 so I got this Bosch laser leveling tripod for $25 and I've been using it for a bit with my sony a7 2 and Minolta 75-200, it's pretty great since it weighs just 1.2kg (2.6lbs) and has some other nice features too like seperate levels for the body and head and ball joints for the feet so they can tilt to grip the surface better. But what kind of bothers me is there's no official weight capacity limit and considering it's made for levels I doubt its designed to handle very much, but what do you guys think, is it alright to keep using it? I haven't had any stability problems but I've also never used it with the neck extended like in the picture since that's too tall for anything I'd need it for

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Hi, why there are brown borders on the edge of photo printed two years ago? Photo was in a clear new paper envelope since it was printed in lab in 2024. Is it a common thing? I don't recall any of my much older printed photos developing this dirty edge.

i took this photo and while editing them i saw that even though i took it at 1/4000s it isn't quite sharp. Am i:

asking too much from my a6000,

cropping too "tight",

is it because of the 50mm OSS 1.8 or the f stop

or is there something im doing wrong

I do a lot of nature and sometimes architecture shots, but I really want to start dipping my feet into more human oriented shots. Candid shots of people on their commute, maybe someone at a park with their dog flanked by a particularly imposing sunset, action shots of people skateboarding or exercising.

As much as I really want to start dabbling in exploration of human life and urban environments, I’ve had a longstanding philosophy that I do everything I can to avoid getting strangers in my shots. Even before I bought my Sony camera when I used my iPhone, I always tried to keep others out of my photos. They never consented to being in my photos and I dislike when I end up being in someone’s selfie, so I try to avoid doing this to others.

That said, as someone who now has really begun to enjoy photography, the setting up of shots, the stories a picture can tell, the editing process, I’m very conflicted. How do/did you go about getting photos of people? What is the proper etiquette? I guess the best compromise would be to ask people if they wouldn’t mind me shooting them at the skatepark or the track as they run…but that also seems weird. Any advice?

I want to do some solar photography with my Sony 400-800 lens (I have solar filters). My regular tripod flexes a little with that lens and camera so I am thinking about something even more stable. I don’t want to spend big money right now so I wonder if there are any cheap, potentially heavy but stable tripods out there.

Any ideas?

Hello!

I think this is the correct community to ask but please direct me elsewhere if not.

I am looking for a scanner I can use at a wedding. It needs to easily scan photo booth strips. Ideally, this means guests can plop it in, it will scan automatically, pop back out and have the image saved on the built in SD card.

Does this exist? Does anything close to it exist?

I am willing to pay up to $300.

Thank you!

Hi! I'm a professional photographer in Minnesota, USA (doing weddings, elopements, and sessions since 2021). I am also a mental health therapist.

A small therapy clinic (private practice) that I work with (not my clinic, but I did work for them for several months, and they're in the same small building as the clinic I work for now) is asking me how much I'd charge for headshots.

They're looking for headshots for their business website, and it would be for 6 people. This isn't exactly like a 'branding' session. I asked about the setting, like studio or otherwise and they didn't respond, but I'm guessing we'd literally just find a spot outside the building to take a new photo for each person. If they wanted a studio, I'd just add that cost on. I'd also allow the people in the photos to use the photos for whatever they please (for the most part - they can't sell them, which is laid out in my contract).

My pricing for an hour session in general (e.g. maternity, newborn, seniors, etc) would be $300. Assuming that we would find a time where everyone was available (rather than me having to do across various days or whatever), I'd be taking a few images each, sending a few+ per person.

I don't do branding sessions usually as it is, and don't typically do headshots only (but I do senior photos and individual portrait sessions of other kinds), but I'll take a project like this for some money - plus I've worked with this supervisor before and sort of consider it a sister clinic. Anyway, suggestions for how you'd price this, and even how long you might allot for (if they'd all be available at the same time)?

Looking for an affordable Photographer & Videographer for our August 2027 Wedding in Cancun. We are finalizing a venue but the one we really want has a $$$$ outside vendor fee.

We are willing to pay the fee, we are just trying to find a good priced company for the bundle itself. Looking for 6-8 hours of coverage

Please list some recommendations! Thank you very much?

Hello everyone,

I have the following problem:

I use a Sony A6700 with the Godox V1 Pro and got myself a Godox XPro 2 and some softboxes for offcamera usage.

Now the problem is, while the flash reaches it's full power on-camera, it's much weaker when used off. Even when the transmitter is connected through the right channel and at full power, the flash is very weak. Would be very thankful for any advice you have.

I have an iPhone 15 pro but I think that the pictures doesn’t look pretty good

The vibe we are going for is a retro/vintage 90s point and shoot vibe.

I know the technical side of things but I'm more so concerned about how to prepare for this shoot, what kind of poses I should ask the client to do, how does this usually kind of work?

Im looking to upgrade my canon 450d for something faster, but I dont have a huge budget as im just a hobbyist. Any recommendations? I have around 2000$ for my budget, but can spend a little more if needed. Along with that id like to buy two new lenses, one 18-200 mm or something along that and a bigger zoom lens (300-400mm, but I haven't done a lot of research on that), so any lens recommendations would be great as well.

Id like something with a similar feel to my current canon which is partly the reason why id like to stay with a DSLR. Thanks for any help.

(1) Budget, country, and currency: Around 2000$, im from Poland so PLN

(2) What equipment, if any, you have now and why is it no longer meeting your needs? Canon 450d, too slow, pictures too blurry, too little detail in sharp photos

(3) What kinds of subjects do you intend to shoot?
Mostly animals, occasionally scenery and humans

(4) Is it primarily for photography, videography, or both? Photography

I've been looking for the perfect camera bag or backpack for a while.

The closest options I've found so far are the Bellroy Venture Sling Camera Edition 10L and the Tenba Fulton V2 14L.

The Bellroy wins in terms of stealth, weight, and its almost perfect overall size. The Tenba wins on looks and capacity.

But I'm still searching.

My priority is finding a sling that's shorter than the Bellroy. I carry my camera sideways, parallel to the ground, with the lens attached. The camera body itself is almost 12 cm tall from the hot shoe to the base, so the bag needs enough depth in that area.

The Bellroy is the first bag I've found that doesn't feel enormous while still fitting my gear comfortably.

I'm also considering a backpack, although that's not my main priority. The problem is that the camera would still sit sideways inside it, which makes the weight distribution uneven. It's not a big issue for a short walk, but after around 3 km I can definitely feel one side pulling more heavily on my shoulder.

I keep coming back to the Wotancraft website and looking at the Pilot 7L. It's a beautiful bag, and the dimensions seem promising on paper, but it's fairly expensive and heavier than I'd prefer.

Does anyone have any recommendations for similar slings or compact backpacks I should check out?

For reference, the Peak Design Everyday Sling 6L is too small.

Dust in sensor did not have a blower handy unfortunately. Looking for options on how to remove them, edit them out apps or computer programs. Very much amateur photographer so dont have any paid programs or apps.

Post above!

I shot an event a couple days ago and really wasn’t happy with what I thought I captured. It was a challenging environment lighting-wise and the whole schedule was thrown off due to lateness/weather, so everything I had planned for got thrown out the window.

When I left the venue my mind was thinking, “There’s no way this is going to create a gallery that’s up to my standard. I’m going to have to give these people a partial refund.”

Then, after culling and starting to flesh out the edits, I realized it was some of the best work I’ve done.

Anyone else experience this?

I recently inherited a canon eos rebel t3i and am looking for lens recommendations for wildlife photography and some birding. I am going to Alaska and would love to be able to take some nice photos. Any advice is appreciated - budget is under 800 but could go a little higher

Hello all!

I am looking for a lighting solution and would love recommendations.

I am a photographer and makeup artist, and am looking for a new lighting set up for my studio. Ideally I would like to buy just one lighting set up, but I realize this may be unrealistic, and am open to your feedback, including two setups. Typically once I am finished with my clients makeup, I rely on window/open shade for their portraits. This is great in the summer, but I would like to have control of my portrait lighting options once the daylight hours shorten.

My clients are often going to events where they will continue to be photographed after our session, so consistent lighting guarantees my work will look as good as possible both when I am photographing them, and when the next photographer is.

These are the non negotiables for my lighting set up:

-ability to control color temp/daylight balance

-ideally not enormous as I will need to be able to manoeuvre them around my small studio

-sufficient lighting for indoor portraits

-continuous and not too hot (specifically for makeup application portion of process)

I realize this is a lot to ask, and perhaps need two separate lighting option, or a secondary unit to supplement continuous lighting. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!