Jason is a multi-genre professional photographer, instructor, writer, digital artist, and guide. He started his career as a professional wildlife and nature photographer, later expanding his expertise and portfolio to include a wide variety of subjects, skills, and styles. Everything from nature and travel, to studio and model photography.
When not writing about himself in the third person, he enjoys sunsets and long walks on the beach while carrying 40 pounds of camera gear. He can most often be found hiking up a mountain, hunting down a good burger joint, or enjoying time in the great outdoors.
With wildlife, many photographers try to get closer and closer to completely fill the frame with whatever animal they are photographing. Beyond the potential dangers to yourself and stress to
For many people, the opportunity to observe and photograph the beauty and behavior of animals like wolves, raptors, and big cats in the wild is limited by many factors, including
Taking a lesson from my nature photography roots for my studio work, I always try to compose my background first. With wildlife, this is often a split second decision in
Photography is about capturing a brief moment of light. A large part of the art of photography is how we control light to create an image. Not just of a
Beaches and coastal waters provide some of the best opportunities for nature photography, from wildlife to scenery, but sand and salt are probably two of the worst substances for your
Photography, as with any pursuit, has its share of trends and fads. Trends — the direction the technology and art is moving, change the way we think and how we
As a photographer, protecting the images you create is critical to your success. Your photography is your product, your art and your brand. As a model, protecting your likeness and
At one time the idea of a tattooed model gracing the pages of any mainstream magazine, ad campaign, etc. was unheard of. While tattooed models still are not commonly seen
Exposure is the process of choosing the correct settings on your camera to produce a picture that “looks right;” not too bright, not too dark, and sharp where it should
Like many people, my first few years of photography were spent going out to shoot as much as possible and trying to learn everything I could about the subject. As
Exposure is the process of choosing the correct settings on your camera to produce a picture that “looks right;” not too bright, not too dark, and sharp where it should
Recently I worked with a team of fellow creatives on an “Ice Queen” character concept and photoshoot. Since snow is in pretty short supply in sunny Florida, to create the snow covered photo set we envisioned required much brainstorming, research and experimentation. While we could have resorted to a more Photoshop based approach, creating snow effects on the computer, we wanted to get as much of the winter effect in camera in one shot as possible.
The term “texture” is a catch-all term for adding either abstract images, detailed photos, or patterns of different surfaces, like metal, cracked paint, sand, etc. as an overlay on your image. This is a type of “compositing”, combining multiple images into one finished work. Adding textures to your images can change the mood, create special effects, strengthen the composition, or help better tell a story. These five concepts will help you add textures more easily, realistically, and quickly in Adobe Photoshop
Every animal has a distinct overall body geometry, but this shape will change dramatically as they move. When you are composing your images, it’s important to understand this concept so you are fitting your frame and composition to them, allowing them to be alive in your shot.
When we talk about photographing behaviors and events as they unfold, we think in terms of being “reactive”, or shooting on the fly. In a studio setting, we are “proactive”, we make decisions about pretty much every characteristic of the photo before it is taken. My goal with wildlife photography is to be more “proactive” and make as many choices before the action begins as possible, so I am not fumbling with settings when the good stuff goes down!
The beauty and power of lightning has fascinated me since I was a kid. So it should probably not have been a surprise I would end up in Florida, the lightning capital of the United States. My home lies in an area that has received the distinction of being called “Lightning Alley”, with more strikes per square mile recorded annually in the corridor from Tampa to Titusville than anywhere else in the US, the second most world-wide!
Despite having the possibility of lightning nearly any day of the year, it’s still a difficult thing to find and photograph successfully. It’s also an extremely dangerous thing to photograph, it’s by far the number one cause of weather related deaths in my neck of the woods. These tips and techniques will help keep you safe, while helping you get a crack at capturing those bolts out of the blue!
On many social media sites, for various reasons, we are seeing a high degree of censorship and banning for anything consider “Mature”. Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, for those of us producing fine art nude or boudoir photography it’s becoming increasingly difficult to share our uncensored work over the internet. Here is a quick tip on how to create a frosted glass effect that nondestructively blurs only the parts of your image you choose, to satisfy the interweb censors and people parts police.
About a year ago I started trying out other genres of photography as a way to jump out of my nature photo comfort zone, reshape my style, and give my
When using textures to enhance your photos in Photoshop, blending is how you reveal your image below the texture layer or tell the texture layer how to combine with the
I spend a lot of time in the water wading after shots, both in fresh and saltwater, so much so that I often joke I don’t know how to work
Many of us love the experience of creating photos, but have a habit of stockpiling those photos on a mishmash of drives and cloud storage, where they remain unseen by ourselves or anyone else. Sometimes guilty of this myself, I long ago stopped printing my work. With web based portfolios, social media, cloud file delivery, and all my customers and audience online, why bother? Over time, I got rid of all my printers, outsourced everything and generally avoided anything to do with putting ink on paper. I’m sure I am not alone in this, how many of you out there haven’t printed anything in a long time, or have never printed anything at all?
Recently, I had the opportunity to to select one of my favorite photos, and have a print made of it by ArtisanHD. When the piece arrived and I opened the box, it all came flooding back. Just how cool it’s to see your work big on the wall. This wasn’t about ego, it was about seeing the product of creativity and effort, reliving the memory of making that image, and rediscovering just how much I love photography. In this article I’ll explain how printing your work can make you a better photographer, through my experience of having a large print made of one of my favorite photos.
