Thank you for entering the MagMod + SLR Lounge Giveaway. The giveaway app randomly selected a single winner, and out of the 6,000+ entrants, the winner is…Lukas Janik from Poland! Congratulations on winning the bundle of prizes!

If you didn’t win, no worries. We’ll have another giveaway coming up soon with another great giveaway partner, so stay tuned for that!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Our friends at MagMod just released version 2 of their modifiers. These are now optimized for round-head flashes, are up to 40% lighter, have stronger magnetic attachments, and have completely redesigned gels .  To celebrate, MagMod and SLR Lounge have joined together to give away some amazing gear and world-class education!

One lucky winner will receive a MagMod bundle that includes a Professional Flash Kit 2, Pro Creative Gels, and Pro Artistic Gels, as well as a one-year Premium Membership from SLR Lounge. Wherever you’re at in your photography journey, this combination of prizes will no doubt open up new levels of creativity and allow you to expand your portfolio.

The Giveaway Prizes – MagMod Bundle and SLR Lounge Premium Membership

Here’s a quick look at the prizes offered in this giveaway.

MagMod Professional Flash Kit 2

The Professional Flash Kit 2 has everything you need to create epic images quickly and easily. Control or diffuse light like a boss with a collection of MagMod’s most popular magnetic modifiers and Pro Gels. Please note, the kit does not include a speedlight or ‘flash.’

MagMod Pro Creative Gels and Pro Artistic Gels

MagMod Pro Artistic Gels

MagMod Pro Creative Gels

Adding a dramatic pop of color to your images has never been easier thanks to MagMod’s rigid, polycarbonate Pro Gels. The new MagMod Pro Gels are redesigned to be faster and stronger than ever thanks to MagMod’s new embedded magnet design and increased strength. Add one or multiple Pro Gels into your flash modifier stack and you’re all set for fast, easy control over the color, density or hue of your flash. Combine both Pro Gels and other MagMod 2 modifiers for extreme customization of your flash setup! Please note that these products require a MagGrip.

SLR Lounge Premium Membership

SLR Lounge Premium is an online training program for photographers with unlimited access to 30+ full workshops and over 1,200 videos on a variety of topics, from camera basics to advanced flash photography. An SLR Lounge Premium Membership gives you access to stream ALL of the current SLR Lounge workshops. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, we have tutorials to help you grow as a photographer. No matter your experience level, we’re confident that you’ll benefit from our large and growing library of education.

How to Enter

You can enter using the widget below or by clicking this link. Giveaway ends April 18th, 2022.

MagMod Bundle + SLR Lounge Premium Giveaway ($647 Value)!

Good luck!

Why Enter?

Whether you’re shooting on-location or in the studio, having high-quality, easy-to-use lighting modifiers can make a world of difference in terms of streamlining your workflow and improving the quality of your imagery. For years now, our team here at SLR Lounge has used and benefited from the innovative products  created by the MagMod team, and we’ve even featured them in our flash photography workshops. We always say that education comes first when it comes to elevating your photography, but having great gear certainly helps minimize the technical challenges for making it happen, and it can even inspire new creative directions.

Video: Smoke Bomb Photography Tips for Capturing Epic Portraits

Smoke bombs not only add bright and vibrant colors, but are visually exciting to see. We can wave them around to create interesting motion or let the smoke create a nice haze. There are a ton of ways we can use them to enhance our images. Enola Gaye is widely known for their smoke bombs which produce beautiful and consistent effects, perfect for photography.

Let’s go through the steps of capturing some epic smoke bomb photography.

1. Safety Tips
2. Composition
3. Gear
4. Camera Settings
5. Photograph

Related Reading: 5 Creative Ways to Use Smoke Bombs for Photoshoots.  Note, this article is about smoke bomb photography.  If you’re looking for tips and ideas for photographing smoke itself, see our article on smoke photography tips and ideas.

Safety First!

The new “TP” models of Enola Gaye’s smoke bombs features a venting system to prevent overheating in your hand. There are also “twin-vent” versions which shoots out the smoke from both ends. Unlike the single-vent, which provides 60 seconds of continuous smoke, the twin-vent lasts about 20 seconds. Due to this, I prefer to use two single-vents rather than one twin-vent.

1. To set off the smoke bomb, firmly grasp the middle. Then, pull the wire directly out.
2. When moving with the smoke bomb, be extra careful not to point it directly at yourself or another person.
3. Keep away from flammable materials.
4. They can stain clothes if held close enough.

Now that we’ve covered how to safely use the smoke bombs, let’s set up the shot!

Composition

My model today is my good friend Kiara, whom you can check out on Instagram here. I chose this spot underneath an overpass to take advantage of the lines leading to the center. The main lights are pouring in from the sides, creating an edgy light to complement Kiara’s outfit.

I kept Kiara framed in the center and angled up to create a feeling of power and dominance.

The Gear

Today, I’m using one of my favorites: The Canon EOS R5 with the RF 15-35mm f/2.8 lens. While you can use any camera for smoke bomb photography, I recommend a wide angle lens to exaggerate everything in the scene.

Dialing in the Camera Settings

Ideally, the shutter speed for smoke bomb photography should be 1/500 sec or higher to capture all the details. Any slower risks motion blur as the smoke can move pretty quickly. The final settings I used are 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800.

Set Off the Smoke & Photograph!

Rehearse the movements and poses with your model without the smoke first. Then, throw in the smoke bombs, set them off, and start photographing!

Check out some of my favorites, edited with the Crush Preset Pack from Visual Flow.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for smoke bomb photography! Smoke bombs are incredibly fun to use and can add so much visual interest to your photographs. Head over to Enola Gaye to get your own for your next photoshoot. You can also spice up your iPhone photography using smoke bombs. To check out how we did, head over to Creative Photography 101 from SLR Lounge Premium.

Thanks for joining us this week, and we’ll see you next time!

Adorama has recently announced its latest Create No Matter What Creative Challenge on Cinematic Storytelling. Presented with filmmaker Aidin Robbins, the challenge encourages participants to submit their one-minute cinematic videos. In the video announcing the challenge, Aidin shares his tips and advice on how to create beautiful and epic videos with a focus on how to put it all together for this challenge. Adorama’s Create No Matter What Challenge urges creatives to explore and learn by themselves or with family, and let’s face it, there’s no better time than now to creatively explore and develop new skills.

One winner will receive a Panasonic prize package worth over $3,000, featuring a Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 Mirrorless Digital Camera with Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 L-Mount Lens, a BenQ SW271C 27″ 16:9 4K UHD Adobe RGB PhotoVue Photographer IPS Monitor, a Capture One Pro 21 Photo Editing Software, Download, a NanLite Forza 60B Bi-Color LED, and more! Runner up will receive a LaCie 5TB USB 3.0 Type-C Mobile Drive, Moon Silver.

Some of the Tips Aidin suggests in the video are;

• Make an outline of the video
  • including logistics, gear, theme, & style
• Get a variety of coverage
  • it’s better to have more and not need than need and not have
• Never Underestimate Sound Design
  • Audio is at LEAST 1/2 of your video so it’s important to keep that in mind when you start shooting

To enter, participants can upload their videos (500 MB max for each upload) HERE by April 8^th, 2021 at 11:59 PM (ET). The winner will be announced on April 9^th, at 12 noon ET.

Let’s face it, 2020 hasn’t been the best year for the creative industry, but the team at LensRentals want to brighten things up a bit with their first-ever Pitch Contest for filmmakers, (with sponsors Filmconvert, Frame.io, and Musicbed) offering up a prize package valued at over $5,000 including a $2,000 rental credit and $1,000 in cold-hard-cash!

The judges are looking for entries from people who want to make a short film (5-7 minutes) with an original idea & execution, and all they need….is your pitch! Simply submit a script and video pitch of your idea to their panel of judges. From there, they will select their favorite idea, and you’ll receive a prize package worth an estimated $5,000.

The Prizes

With the help of our sponsors Musicbed, Frame.io, FilmConvert, CineMatch, and others, the prize package will be given to the best pitch as judges by our panel of judges. The prize package, valued at over $5,000, includes —

• $2,000 rental credit from Lensrentals.com
• $1,000 cash
• 1-year Business subscription to MusicBed
• 1 year Pro subscription to Frame.io
• 1 FilmConvert Plug-in Bundle
• 1 CineMatch Plug-in
• A feature on the Lensrentals Blog

The contest runs from December 28th, 2020, until January 29th, 2021.

[Related Reading: Lensrentals Breaks Down Their Most Rented Photo & Video Gear of 2019]

Read the full contest details and more on the official LensRentals Blog or just skip ahead and click the following link to submit your pitch on FilmFreeway Here! Best of luck to all of you!

Update – Winner Announced

Well, we’ve gotten the news on who won the first Pitch-Contest from Lensrentals and it’s a well deserved one at that!

The Winning Pitch – Gongoli from Darrell Lake

Read the full press release below;

Selected as a finalist by our team here at Lensrentals, and then picked as a favorite by our guest judge, Charles Haine, Gongoli was a clear winner for the contest, blending real-life experiences of Darrell Lake’s childhood in a modern horror story. As Charles Haine tells it —

“Gongoli first struck me for having that rare ability to be a story that is both very specific to its creator and their past, but also told in such a way that it will be approachable and engaging to a wider audience. Beyond that, I engaged with the theme, of the inescapability of the past, and I liked that, true to cinematic form, it gave the past a visual talisman to create menace. I responded to the fact that it works within the horror genre but tries to bring new insights and content to that format, since we keep genre’s alive by keeping them fresh. I also connected with the previously material created by Darrell Lake that convinced me he would be able to turn this pitch into a truly exceptional short film.”

Filmmaking isn’t a new passion for Darrell Lake and has always been a way for him to express his life experiences to a broader audience. As Darrell tells us, his interest in filmmaking came to him at a very young age. Originally born in the UK, and growing up in Sierra Leone in West Africa, his background has always been reflected in his experience in Africa. And after moving to the United States 17 years ago, Darrell was deadset on sharing his experiences growing up in Africa through his love for filmmaking; or as Darrell tells me – “A lot of my work is moved and inspired by my own life experiences.”

And Gongoli is exactly one of those experiences, brought into the modern era. The Gongoli mask was a pivotal part of Darrell’s upbringing and a place where a lot of fear lived in his youth. “Gongoli is this mask people would wear, and do this crazy erratic dance. So as a kid, you’re told so many stories about it, and were terrified by it.” Darrell explains. “The mask is used for celebration, and the adult wearing it would perform and dance and help bring excitement.” While its intentions are for celebration, the Gongoli mask can certainly be terrifying to a child. With its accentuated features, the Gongoli mask traditionally has a protruding forehead, with large, misshapen features, and is largely shrouded in mystery. Pairing that with an erratic and odd dance, the Gongoli often has an almost supernatural feel to it.

While I was able to chat with Darrell Lake, we were able to talk a bit about his background in filmmaking. By far the biggest challenge when creating a short film is the budget, or as Darrell tells me – “I’ve always self-funded, alongside Kickstarter campaigns, and occasionally a grant. So I’d guest act on a TV show or film, and take that money and use that money to shoot a film.” And Darrell’s acting experience has been able to help him create films like the award-winning ‘Land of Dry Bones‘, and Comedic Short Form series like ‘The Incredible Life of Darrell‘. As the titles suggest, much of his film work is based on his own experiences. “A lot of my work is moved and inspired by my own life experiences,” Darrell tells us.

Stay tuned as Darrell starts his production on Gongoli once Covid-19 restrictions get lifted, and all the pre-production is done. Until then, be sure to check out more of Darrell’s work on his website, and give him a follow on Instagram.

Adorama has released a new Create No Matter What Creative Challenge: Long Exposure Photography.

Announced with photographer Ryan Miller, the challenge encourages participants to share their favorite long-exposure photos. In the video announcing the challenge, Ryan shares his tricks and techniques for photographing light streaks from passing vehicles or trains. Adorama’s Create No Matter What Challenge urges creatives to explore and learn by themselves or with family – even during these uncertain times.

[Related Reading: 10 Common Long Exposure Photography Mistakes to Avoid]

One winner will receive a grand prize package worth over $3,000 from Sony and Lexar, featuring a Sony Alpha 7C Mirrorless Digital Camera with FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 Lens, Black, a Lexar Professional 2000x 128GB SDXC UHS-II Memory Card, 300MB/s Read, 260MB/s Write, and more!

To enter, participants can submit up to 5 photos HERE by February 18^th, 2021 at 11:59 PM (ET). The winner will be announced on February 19^th, at 12 noon ET.

Some Long Exposure Tips

Long Exposure Photography During the Day

Use a larger aperture (f8 to f22 or higher) during the day to help reduce the light taken in. Additionally, you can add and stack Neutral density filters to help reduce the light even more allowing you to take even longer shots! ©David J. Crewe – 10 Step Big Stopper from Lee Filters

Long Exposure Photography At Night

While you can sometimes get away shooting handheld in brighter situations for long exposure shots, in low light and night shooting, you’ll definitely want to have a tripod available. You’ll be using a much longer shutter speed so you’ll need something stable to prevent any camera shake in your shots.

[Related Reading: How To Photograph Long Exposures At Night]

The prizes are the same as last year, offering up to $10,000 for the winners of the main award, $5,000 for the winners of the student award and $1,200 for the Chris Wainwright Award for Climate Change, BUT we have also added two new awards:

$1,500 BarTur Award for Faces of Humanity and the BarTur Award for Excellence in Photo Journalism in Partnership with Leica Magazine. 

We have extended the deadline for the award until the 22^nd April 2021 to encourage as many applications and hope to support as many photographers as we can in 2021. 

Our three themes remain the same: Climate Change, Unity in Diversity, and Human Love. Apply here.

A key focus of the BarTur Photo Award has always been the immense power photography has in influencing the way that we understand and engage with the world around us. Using photography as a means to express ideas and values, the BarTur Photo Award brings important issues to the forefront, crossing boundaries, reuniting communities, and igniting discussion and awareness of some of the most pressing concerns of our time.

PRIZES:

The competition is now open with FREE ENTRY TO ALL. The competition closes on 22^nd April 2021. The competition is FREE to enter for students. There are cash prizes and grants of $17,700 in total as well as exhibitions of the winning work in Copenhagen, Łódź, and Berlin (as part of Berlin Photo Festival).

PROFESSIONAL PRIZES: $10,000 of grants and cash prizes 

CHRIS WAINWRIGHT AWARD FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: $1,200 

BARTUR AWARD FOR FACES of HUMANITY: $1,500

BARTUR AWARD FOR EXCELENCE IN PHOTOJOURNALISM in partnership with Leica magazine: A three-month loan of Leica equipment and the opportunity to be published in Leica Magazine (open only to professional photographers) 

BASECAMP AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHERS: $5,000 grants and cash prizes for their next project and a two-week residency stay at one of Basecamp’s 4 locations (Copenhagen, Łódź, Potsdam and Leipzig). Accommodation only. 

JUDGES

The BarTur Photo Award will be judged by a highly experienced jury including; 

• Alex Gao, Director of Today Museum, Beijing
• Amnon BarTur, Founder, BarTur Photo Award
• Austin Merrill, Co-Founder, Everyday Africa and The Everyday Projects
• Beate Cegielska, Director, Galleri Image
• Carol Körting, Photo Editor, LEICA Fotografie International
• Collier Brown, Founding Editor, Od Review
• Dr. Yan Wang Preston, Artist
• Emeka Okereke, Visual Artist, Writer, Filmmaker and DJ
• Evelien Joos, Co-Founder, Plus Two Agency
• Ewa Ciechanowska, Artist, Curator and lecturer at the Polish National Film School in Łódź.
• Fumio Nanjo, Representative Director, N&A Inc. Senior Advisor, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
• Hannah Entwistle Chapuisat, Director, Displacement: Uncertain Journeys
• Jillian Edelstein, Photographer
• Krzysztof Candrowicz, Curator and Researcher, Co-Founder & Curator: Lodz Fotofestiwal & Ci. CLO Bienal
• Lance Jensen, Chief Creative Officer, Hill Holliday
• Lekgetho Makola, Head of Market Photo Workshop
• Liam Devlin, Co-Chair of The Association of Photographers in Higher Education
• Maggie Steber, Photographer, Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, Pulitzer Prize Finalist
• Martin Rennert, Einstein Foundation Berlin
• Mohammad Rakibul Hasan, Photographer 
• Monica Alcazar-Duarte, Photographer
• Nana Kofi Acquah, Photographer
• Ronnie Fisher, Architect, Collector
• Sasha Bar-Tur, Photo Producer
• Simon Roberts, Photographer
• Stephen Mayes Executive Director, The Tim Hetherington Trust
• Yining HE, Writer and Curator

ABOUT THE BARTUR PHOTO AWARDS

The BarTur Photo Awards aims to find, support and recognize the best contemporary photographic talent and encourages diversity of photographic approaches that reflect vibrant and continuing photographic traditions. The award two permanent themes are Unity in Diversity and Climate Change.

The BarTur Photo Award, is a not for profit organization, conceived in 2011 by the Bar-Tur family in memory of their wife and mother Ann Lesley BarTur, who was a talented British artist who died of breast cancer when she was only 37. To learn more about Ann Lesley BarTur click here.

SPONSORS

Sponsors of the award are BaseCamp Student as well as Erasmus Student Network International as well as ARCH-DECO Architecture, Case Agency, Cogents, EUROPTIMA, JFP.dk, Lars Gitz Architects, LFI (Leica Fotografie International), Miller Canfield, Produs, Studio Aisslinger, Witte Projektmanagment GmbH, Wolf Theiss

2020 WINNERS: PROFESSIONAL & STUDENT WINNERS

The competition was open to both professional and student photographers, attracting entrants from 68 countries with over 5000 photographic submissions. 

Winners were chosen from two themed categories, Unity in Diversity and Climate Change – both extremely pertinent topics within today’s society.

The overall professional winner is Indian based photographer Somenath Mukopadhyay, who receives the 2020 BARTUR AWARD $10,000 cash prize for his images from the Yamuna River in Northern India. This river accounts for more than 70% of Delhi’s water supply with around 57 million people dependent on it for their daily water use however, it is heavily polluted with untreated sewage, industrial effluents, the dumping of garbage and dead bodies. Mukopadhyay’s images show the extent of this pollution, that is over 13 times the permissible limit, with local people bathing in the river with toxic froth that looks like icebergs. 

The overall student winner is Nadezhda Ermakova from Russia, will be awarded the 2020 BASECAMP STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD of $3,000.

CHRIS WAINWRIGHT AWARD FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Guy Reece from the UK was selected to receive the $1200 Chris Wainwright Award for Climate Change in memory of Prof. Chris Wainwright, one of the founding members of the BarTur Photo Award. Professor Chris Wainwright, died in 2017, and was the Pro Vice-Chancellor at University of the Arts, London.

Ben Rak and Abdullah M.I Syed from Israel and Pakistan were awarded The BarTur Award for Humanity, which was created to recognise outstanding work that has been designed to connect humans regardless of race, belief and culture. Their work, ’Suspension of (dis)Belief’, articulates the separation, respect and brotherhood through faith drawing on the historic connections between Judaism and Islam. It is a visual narrative which asks the viewer to suspend their personal judgment and go beyond, to a moment that constitutes a poetic faith in unity.

Rory Doyle from the US was awarded the overall Professional Winner for Unity in Diversity for his documentary project on African American Cowboys and Cowgirls and Danial Khodaie from Iran was awarded the overall student winner for Climate Change for his project on the dust storms caused by oil extraction in Iran’s Khuzestan Province

COVID-19 REFLECTIONS

The BarTur Photo Award also created a second competition around people’s experiences of COVID-19. Supported by Lars Gitz Architects, there was a call out to those who had participated in our previous annual competition and an open call out to anyone making work around the pandemic whether they had applied to the BarTur Photo Award 2020 or not. The first competition was won by Merav Maroody for her work documenting life from the balcony in Berlin. Dharam Khalsa was in second place and Chantal Lesley was awarded third place. The second competition was won by Aggelos Barai who documented COVID-19 conditions for refugees in Greece. The Best COVID-19 Photo Series was awarded to Carlo Cozzoli and the COVID19 Creativity Award went to Enda Burke. To see all of our COVID19 winners, please click here. 

As the holiday season is here festive lights are appearing all around us, and there is no better time to pick up a new photography skill involving lights. Adorama has released a new Create No Matter What Creative Challenge: Bokeh Photography. For background, Bokeh derives from the Japanese word for “blur” and is the effect of light when it’s out of focus.

[Related Reading: Adorama Releases A New Create No Matter What Creative Challenge: Food Photography]

Announced with NY based photographer Josh Katz, the challenge encourages participants to expand their photography knowledge and create beautiful bokeh images. In the video announcing the challenge, Katz shares his tricks and techniques for photographing bokeh-filled skateboarding photos and portraits with holiday lights. Adorama’s Create No Matter What Challenge invites creatives to explore and learn new mediums by themselves or with family – even in this time of nationwide stay-at-home measures.

[Related Reading: How to Add Bokeh to Your Images in Photoshop]

One winner will receive a grand prize package worth over $3,000, featuring a Canon EOS R Mirrorless Digital Camera with RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM Lens, a Seagate BarraCuda 500GB Fast SSD High-Performance External Solid State Drive, a Phase One Capture One Pro 20 Photo Editing Software, Download, and more! Runner up will receive a Seagate BarraCuda 500GB Fast SSD High-Performance External Solid State Drive.

To enter, participants can submit up to 5 photos HERE by January 7^th, 2021 at 11:59 PM (ET). The winner will be announced on January 8th, at 12 noon (ET).

In this video from Photographer David Suh, Pye gets the makeover of a lifetime! That’s right, Pye gets in front of the lens for a change for an absolutely epic transformation in a KPOP makeover that you need to see to believe!

For this epic Kpop makeover, I had the pleasure of having the man, the myth, the legend, Pye Jirsa from @SLR Lounge | Photography Tutorials Pye is an incredible photographer, educator, husband, and father of four. Many of my hours in my early photography days were watching this beautiful man on YouTube and CreativeLive teach me how to use my camera and flash. Now I’m somehow giving him a full Kpop makeover photo shoot and we’re all here for it.

At first, even though he was excited, Pye was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but as he says near the end of the shoot, “I do think that it was an incredible experience where no matter what you think of yourself or who you think you are, it’s very transformative to see yourself broken down and made up in someone else’s eyes. It’s seeing a different version of you that you never would have imagined for sure.”

David adds that he feels like people have the wrong idea about what he does behind the camera.“They think I give people confidence, but I think what I give them is a different version of themselves, and then the confidence is a byproduct of that.”

It’s an interesting switch up for sure, and David leads Pye gracefully and with ease to get the looks and shots he’s envisioned for his makeover. Now all that’s left to do is get him signed by a record label….and maybe a few dance classes…..and singing classes?

Check out the final images in David’s Instagram post below and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by David Suh Photography (@davidsuhphoto)

“I think for somebody that’s coming into this, they walk away with like a different kind of swagger because they know that it’s one more thing that they now know for sure that they could do”

It just goes to show, that it’s always good for a photographer, no matter how long they’ve been behind the camera, to step out and be a part in front of the lens. You can always learn something from the experience, and thus become a better creative!

Follow more of David’s work here;

INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/davidsuhphoto
FACEBOOK | https://facebook.com/davidsuhphotography
TIKTOK | https://www.tiktok.com/@davidsuh
WEBSITE | https://davidsuhphotography.com