YOUR FIRST HOME PHOTO STUDIO

Photography can be expensive…but it doesn't necessarily have to be.
If your a pro, you more than likely need pro equipment—and it ain't cheap.
BUT
if you are an amateur, or a part-timer (maybe a graphic designer who does a handful of product shots and the odd headshot or two here and there;-) you can set up your studio with some "McGyver" ingenuity and a few bucks.

There are tons of "photo-teacher-celebrities" now on Youtube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion who have some great ideas of how to start. I personally have enjoyed the "stick-n-stones" photo studio guy, Joe Edelman with his T-8 fluorescent (pseudo kinoflo) track panels [and later LED ones btw], and many, many others.

I personally have discovered the joy of reading labels. For example, not any fluorescent tubes can be used! T8 fluorescent tubes (with their higher refresh rate, 85 or better CRI rating, and daylight color-balance  of 5800 -6200K) are best.

The SLANTED LENS offered this one up a while ago, but with several students asking how to get by "on-the-cheap,"  I think it bears re-examining.

F-stoppers article on "HOW TO CRITIQUE"

Anyone who has ever taught a class (or taken one for that matter) can feel the pain of a poor critique.

There is always the one student who "likes it," or "just doesn't like it," without any clarification as to what specifically they are identifying, and as to whether it is a personal preference or an overriding technical or compositional error.

Then there is the other who is worried about being perceived as "the jerk," preferring to identify every single piece as worthy of hanging in the MET… whether that is the case or not.

You often have to give guidelines for critiques, and this article by F-Stoppers' Mark Bowers focuses primarily on photography, but much of it rings true throughout all visual art.

iPHONE-ography?

The following is a blog post from ERIC KIM. In it, he makes some compelling arguments about iPHONE/Smartphone photography (after all… the best camera is the one that you always have on you) while mixing in some common sense photography foundations, and advice on how to achieve those foundations in a smartphone sphere.

He also sells products (workshops and literature), but I think the free stuff on this site is incredibly useful for budding iPhone-photographers.

While I'll readily admit that the commercial market may not be ready for product shots done on a smartphone (save for viral marketing/social media campaign types of things), in the fine-arts sphere, It is no less valid than any other form of image production.

With entire group shows at fine arts galleries across the world, and even full-length movies being done on smartphones (and tablets), why resist the technological marvel that you likely have on you at all times. It certainly exceeds many of my early cameras.