Mobile photography has been taking over the market over the past couple of years. Everywhere you go, you see people with their smart phones taking photographs with their loved ones, snapping a photograph of their lunch and posting far too many photographs of their pets. While Instagram started with a handful of their own presets for editing images, many of the more popular Instagram photographers edit their photographs outside of the program, using applications such as Snapseed, Afterlight and VSCOcam.

These dreamy filters have extended far beyond the mobile world. Many professional photographers are using Adobe Lightroom to manage and edit their photographs, and popular applications have taken advantage of this fact. While there are plenty of free Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop presets to download via the internet, popular photo editing application VSCOcam has created their own sets of Lightroom presets that can be purchased to make photo editing on the computer a breeze.

What do you think this means for the future of photography? While it’s hard to debate the stunning, dreamy photographs of VSCO edited photographs, will these photographs become so saturated in the market that there won’t be any photographs edited by hand anymore? Photo editing can be an incredibly tedious process, with professional photographers using dozens of layers in every single image, but the new arrival of professional presets saves hours of time.

What About the Future of Film?

It can be hard to deny that film is a dying breed, but the new VSCO presets for Lightroom may help expedite that process. VSCO is offering five different versions of presets for both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom that emulate the look of many different types of old film. For you film buffs out there, you can emulate the look of anything from Polaroid 665 to Kodak Ektar to Fuji Superia, all with the simple click of a button.

Instagram: Amateur or Professional?

There are two sides to the Instagram world. On one end, you have the amateur photographers, using Instagram presets and snapping a photograph of anything they see without worrying about lighting, composition, and other basic aspects of professional quality photographs. On the other end, you have photographers who painstakingly wait for the perfect moment to photograph, spend their time editing their photograph to perfection, and then posting their image to the social media network so that their thousands of followers can see what they have been up to recently.

Instagram is not just about smart phone photography anymore. Many professional photographers use Instagram as a platform to share their own digital images, taken with expensive equipment and then edited through smart phone applications before being posted. The lines between smart phone photography and DSLR photography are becoming increasingly blurred.

The Professionals

While there are plenty of people out there who are using VSCOcam and other popular editing programs to edit and share their images, these people truly blur the line between simple “mobile photography”and beautiful, professional photographs.

IOEGREER (Joe Greer)

Joe Greer is one of the best examples of Instagram gone professional, as he recently accepted a job with VSCOcam due to the photographs he edited through their program and posted on his popular Instagram page. It’s easy to see how he has over 116k followers, since he consistently posts dreamy images of mountains, lakes, fields of sunflowers and simple, relaxing moments.

MARKCLINTON (Mark Clinton)

Mark Clinton posts from the picturesque Sydney, Australia. With over 52k followers, he constantly pleases the eye with photographs of towering waterfalls, winding mountain roads and starry night skies. He has the perfect mix of landscapes and portraits (as well as a handful of photographs in which you can see his own hand), which keeps the stream feeling personal.

WITHHEARTS (Cory Staudacher)

With over 312k followers, it can be hard not to get wrapped into the magical world of Cory Staudacher. The fact that he is a professional photographer stands out at first glance, with perfectly posed portraits in unbelievable landscapes, stunningly shallow depth of field (that could only be the result of posting images that were taken on a DSLR), and a world of fog that makes you wish for the next misty day. His photographs offer a look into the world around Seattle that has nothing to do with busy cities and 9-5 jobs; a world in which everything is possible and the only thing holding you back is yourself.

JAREDCHAMBERS (Jared Chambers)

Jared Chambers, posting photographs from Los Angeles, CA, has over 273k followers. With photographs ranging from Todd Hido-esque nightscapes to portraits taken shadow to historic cars, there is something here for everyone to love. He captures both the city and the outskirts of the city with utmost perfection, and his frequent trips out of the country offer a nice break from the California landscape.

STELLAMARIABAER (Stella Maria Baer)

Stella Maria Baer brings an interesting twist to her Instagram, since she is a watercolor artist that frequently posts photographs of finished paintings as well as behind-the-scenes shots and various snippets of her life outside of the studio. From her perfectly constructed large-scale astronomy paintings to her portraits that could be found in a fashion magazine, Stella never bores. At first glance you’ll fall in love with her, her artwork, and her love for the desert.

An interesting fact about many of these “professional” Instagram photographers is that they offer links to their life and work outside of the application. Some have links to blogs where they post high-resolution images of their digital work, while some offer ways to purchase prints of the images that you see on Instagram.

One of the drawbacks of the social media application is that the photographs that are taken and edited strictly on the smart phone are not nearly as high quality as those you can get from your DSLR. By taking photographs with a DSLR, editing them with VSCOcam presets via Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop, and then posting them on Instagram, it offers a seamless way of advertising your photography or other work through Instagram and then offering high-quality images via other websites or networks.

If you’ve ever taken a photography class in your life, you’ve likely heard the phrase “don’t center your subject”. If this is such an important rule of photography, why has there been a rise of deadpan photographs over the past decade? (Note: the deadpan aesthetic has been around for decades, although newer photographers are beginning to adopt the aesthetic of the old professionals)

First, let’s speak about what exactly a ‘deadpan’ photograph is. While there are a handful of different definitions, the most popular is that a deadpan photograph is devoid of emotion. It simply exists as a subject and photograph, yet it seems to be empty. There is no joy or sorrow, although some can argue that the deadpan itself is a mood of its own. Famous photographers who use this aesthetic seem to be completely detached from the subject that they are photographing, and the word ‘indifference’ seems to describe the photograph perfectly.

There are a handful of aesthetics that you should be aware of when determining whether or not a photograph is considered deadpan, or if you are planning on creating your own series of deadpan photographs. Most commonly, the subject is in the center of the image, and the photographer is looking at the subject straight-on. There is no fancy camerawork involved here. The photographer is not laying on the ground, or standing on a ladder to distort the subject any which way, it is simply pictured exactly as you’d see it if you walked right up to it in real life.

The deadpan photograph simply says “this is how things are”. Deadpan portraits show people in their natural state, typically not showing any sort of emotion. These subjects are not posed, are not dressed up for the occasion, and seem completely honest. The color of deadpan photographs is commonly de-saturated. While not completely devoid of color, the colors tend to be muted.

So what purpose does this type of photography have? Why would photographers want to show these people or landscapes in such a mundane light? Many famous deadpan photographers choose this aesthetic to capture changes in the world around them, to generate questions that the viewer keeps in mind, or to provide an image that allows a non-biased relationship between the viewer and the subject matter.

Famous and Upcoming Deadpan Photographers

1. Jitka Hanzlova

Czech photographer Jitka Hanzlova, in her series “Here”, captures small moments in Germany that many people would walk by without ever noticing. A run-down building, a stoic young girl, an empty soccer field. Because of the deadpan quality of the photographs, she offers no personal interpretation, no peek into her every day life. The viewers are left with a sense of unease and unfamiliarity, which are two emotions that are common in this aesthetic. Throughout the series you get the vague notion that the photographer is viewing these same landscapes and people with the same apprehension, trying to make sense of this new foreign land.

2. Rineke Dijkstra

Born in the Netherlands, Rineke Dijkstra is famous for her many different series of deadpan portraits. While technically and compositionally her portraits are very simple – they tend to showcase one individual, shot straight-on in the center of the frame – the meaning behind the images is not as straightforward. Many of the individuals she chooses to photograph are in a state of transition. They may be transitioning from childhood to adulthood, they may be pregnant, or they may be preparing to join the military. While the exact details of their life and personality are left out, this only makes the photographs even more compelling. Who is this person? What kind of life are they living? Why did she choose to photograph them in particular?

3. Bernd and Hilla Becher

Perhaps two of the most famous deadpan photographers in history, Bernd and Hilla Becher became famous through their typological deadpan photographs of water towers, coal mines, industrial landscapes, grain elevators and gas tanks. Their many different series of photographs offer a look into the industrial past of the world, and showcase landscapes and subjects that cannot be seen as readily in the world today. While many viewers may see the images as lacking substance or meaning, their work resonates with many people today as a typology of a world that no longer exists.

4. Alec Soth

Alec Soth has an incredible way of creating engaging images while at the same time seeming disengaged with his subjects. He photographs a mixture of still lifes, portraits and landscapes, and in each image a sense of distance is so tangible you can almost feel it. He photographs people who seem as though they have worlds of stories to tell, yet the photographs of them speak nothing about these stories. His strange abandoned landscapes and forlorn subjects offer lots of questions but no answers. The result is a series of striking images that the viewer cannot draw themselves away from, no matter how many of their questions go unanswered. Instead of drawing away in frustration, the viewer simply looks deeper.

While deadpan photography is not for everyone, it offers an interesting way of looking at the world in a completely un-biased way. Deadpan photography offers an honest look into the everyday life of people and scenarios that all too often go unnoticed. See if the 4-Week Photography Workshop we offer would help you build your portfolio.

Have you ever looked at an image that had such incredible background blur that you couldn’t stop thinking about how on earth the photographer could create an image so beautiful? Chances are you’ve come across photographers speaking about the ‘bokeh’ in a particular image, or what particular lens produces the most desirable ‘bokeh effect’. What is bokeh exactly?

Bokeh is traditionally known as the aesthetically pleasing quality of the out-of-focus blurred part of an image. It originates from the Japanese word “boke” which translates to “haze” or “blur”. While bokeh itself is present in most photographs that have an area out-of-focus, it speaks directly about the size, shape and overall quality of that area.

To make things a little clearer, take a look at the aperture blades on your lens. Some lenses have hexagonal blades, which in turn produce bokeh with sharper, more distinct edges. Other lenses have rounded aperture blades, which produce a smoother, rounder bokeh. The most popular type of bokeh (and one that you may already be familiar with) is when you see a background full of blurry, glowing orbs, such as in the photograph below.

Bokeh is traditionally used to add an extra aesthetically pleasing quality to photographs that otherwise would seem flat in comparison. Sometimes bokeh is even used to frame the main subject of a photograph, as you can see in the portrait below.

What Lenses Create the Most Aesthetically Pleasing Bokeh?

When listening to photographers debate bokeh, one thing will always be mentioned: prime lenses. Since the aperture blades of most prime lenses open wider than those on traditional zoom lenses (with the exception of a handful of higher-end zoom lenses), many photographers turn to prime lenses to create the ideal effect.

One of the most inexpensive and accessible lenses that you can purchase to try your hand at the bokeh effect is the 50mm f/1.8. It is the perfect introductory prime lens for those who are interested in taking photographs with a larger aperture. Canon’s version produces more circular bokeh, while Nikon’s produces more hexagonal bokeh. You can see both in the following images; the one on the left was taken with a Canon lens, while the one on the right was taken with a Nikon lens. Both are beautiful in their own way, and personal preference will determine which is best for you.

If your budget is slightly higher or you’re particularly interested in shooting portraits, the 85mm f/1.8 produces stunningly beautiful portraits with smooth, creamy bokeh in the background. Fixed lenses are also available with apertures that open as wide as f/1.4 or even f/1.2. If you can get your hands on rented lenses, you can practice with different focal lengths and apertures until you find the one that works for your particular style of photography.

DIY Shaped Bokeh

You may have seen images where the bokeh appears as either a series of stars, hearts or other shapes in the background. While popular lens companies don’t offer lenses that naturally create these shapes, you can easily recreate this effect by using a hole punch, x-acto knife and a piece of thick black cardstock. You can use shaped hole-punches or cut your own shape out of the paper. You only need to cut out one shape, and the shape should be between the size of a dime and a quarter.

To shoot with this on your lens, open up your aperture as wide as it goes, set your exposure accordingly, and start shooting! You’ll notice the shape of the bokeh in the background of your photographs take on the shape that you cut out.

Bokeh in Post-Processing

Many photographers choose to use bokeh in post-processing to add dramatic flair to portraits and other photographs. The steps to doing this are actually quite simple.

1. Choose a portrait as well as a photograph of bokeh with no other subject (make sure your lens is set to manual focus, un-focus your image, and take a photograph shooting directly into light shining between trees, Christmas lights, street lamps, etc).

2. Open both images in Photoshop, and drag the bokeh image on top of the portrait image. Adjust the size as necessary. The bokeh image should appear in your Layers Palette as a new layer on top of the portrait image.

3. Set the opacity of this new layer to approximately 50% so that you can see the portrait below the bokeh. Continue to adjust the size of the bokeh layer as necessary to get the correct size bokeh. Select the eraser tool, make sure your eraser has a soft edge, and then set the eraser opacity to between 70-75%.

4. Begin to erase the parts of the bokeh layer that you don’t want to appear in your final image (such as the parts obstructing eyes, lips, etc). Play around with the opacity of the eraser and bokeh layer until you get the effect that you want.

Feel free to get creative with your bokeh images! Once you have found the correct lens for your price range and style, you can begin to experiment with different lighting conditions, subjects and locations to create a wide range of beautiful bokeh photographs.

Learn more about bokeh by taking one of our photography workshops.