This is the most grown up conversation on photography I’ve ever had.

I love this. Nothing like reminding ourselves that we should assume nothing, test everything, and keep an open mind to keep learning.

This is lovely... As a junior photographer learning from my seniors

Great video again John! I’m glad I asked you about this and I can’t believe you made a whole video about the subject.

Some real relatable gems in here John!

Thanks for putting this together and sharing with us! There is nothing like your channel in YT! Cheers John!

This is a great video shared from what looks like years of honest experience. Thank-you

Love 💕 your shirt !

Thanks! I just learned more from your honesty and experience than with hours of how to’s. I think you just saved us years!!

Real nice content. Humility & knowledge. Keep on learning. Thanks for sharing.

Great video and topic! Yes, many times Photographers want to deliver the image they know the editors love or want, but at the same time by pushing the creative concept we create what the editor will later say "that is exactly what I wanted" when they didn't even were aware of it. Thanks for talking about this crucial part of the journey of all creative individuals.

Amaong video John. Truly a humble human being and an amazing photographer. Best advice I’ve received about the art in a while.

Thank you John for keeping it honest! When you think you know it all you're in trouble! I love testing and learning new stuff from you and and other great photographers. Thank you for sharing your experience! Priceless!

Epic! I love your work, and your perspective is just as amazing! KZfaq photography needs more of this instead of incessant gear commercials. Keep it up, fam!

Totally made sense. Thank you John. I really love your videos and I will call my mom too.

Such great tips that all came from years and years of experience. Thank you for being so honest and helpful. You have such a composed , calm way of delivering advice. It really sinks in

;-) ... It seems we are all experiencing the sames believes and pitfalls .. Nice review of one's carreer !

Photography is a strange art, after more than 40 years as a photographer I am still surprised by the amount of things that I don't know and that I continue to learn, the new photographers who think they master this art should really fall into person who knows everything does not exist. Congratulations on the video

Excellent. Thank you.

Love all ur videos. Thanks for share ur experiences.🙌

Thanks for sharing your experience and insights. Really nice to see!

Thanks brother, it's really helpful...

Thank you for another insightful video, John. Your emphasis on empiricism and experimentation to get to a place of real understanding speaks to me. Taking the time to experiment with different modifiers, comparing results, and making creative choices based on fact rather than assumption makes so much sense. And, you may have saved me from the ongoing internal dialog I've been having about wanting to make the "investment" in a Leica. ;-)

Came to your channel by way of James Quantz Jr. Really appreciate the way both of you share what you know to help all the rest of us. Exploring your academy next.

John, thank you so much for your words and for your great generosity in sharing your experiences throughout your career. I've been a photographer for a few years, I worked with musicians and shows for a while and only recently, due to the pandemic, I started to consider the studio and portrait as paths for my photography. It's been a journey of many experiences, attempts, learnings and every day I've been realizing how much I fulfill myself in working with lights and people in studio. Today in your video, I heard words I really needed to hear. You have been quite an inspiration to me. Thank you for helping me to look for my best. Warm hugs from Brazil!

Thank you for your honesty.

I think you probably *did* need to own the Leica. Because it taught you why you don't need one. Sometimes that itch just won't go away until you scratch. It can actually be worthwhile to buy that piece of gear you're fixated on, see for yourself that it doesn't improve your work or solve your problem, and then sell it on. The space which gear-lust occupies in our minds can be more of a detriment than just wasting a bit of time and money to indulge it temporarily and get it out of your system. Afterwards, getting back to basics feels refreshing and confidence inspiring.

That intro!!! So good🔥🔥

Great channel John!

Those advices are gold !!!! Thank you !!!!

Only 10 things in photography you were wrong about. That's a very good report card John! For every point on your shirt I got wrong at least ones in photography. You chose a super nice shirt for the video. I tend to buy a device, a stand, a tool for every problem i create/encounter, instead of solving it. (creates 5 new problems). John your video its a great reminder to fix things at the right time and the right way.

Again you make some very interesting points, John 4. resolution overkill i personally think that cameras serve a purpose ... some are made for speed, others are for high resolution. It always depends for what purpose you are shooting, while sports/wildlife photographers need speed, advertising photographers need the high resolution for large scale prints. but if you only shoot for social media and add filthy filters, 24MP are already an unnecessary overkill... 5. desperation for likes you are right, some are so desperate about likes, models and photographers alike several times, within one hour after the shoot I got messages from the models like "where are my pictures ? I need them asap !" Another time I took a friend, an enthusiast hobbyphotographer with me to a shoot, and also let him take a few frames, so he could learn something. but I told him, not to post these pictures, as the shoot was planned for a magazine publication. Guess what ... he put these pics up on Instagram the same evening, as soon as he was home from the shoot, making the whole shoot basically worthless for any publication. Interesting that you mention "Model Mayhem" in this context. MM and similar websites are a pain in the a.. greetz from Berlin

Anything more than 4mp was overkill. Could not imagine shooting 4mp now. Loved the 21mp from the 5D Mark II files and now the 50mp from the 5DsR. I will take the detail thanks. That said 20mp will get a lot of work done still today.

Love hearing about your journey

Excellent advice, thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

Such a great post!!!

Thanks for sharing this. It reminds us that even experienced photographers continue to learn and grow as artists. Really appreciate what you bring to us. :-)

I agree 100% testing testing testing... is the way to hone your skill, good talk John. 👏

Thanks you so much, for this wonderful video. Again your video made me realize how much there is still to learn for me

Thank you, John, another great video again. Love your channel!

Great video!

everything you said is very very important and useful, thank you so much. great video

I like your style. I am a Greer hound too. Always buying the latest and greatest. With good intentions of course

this is a great video and I agree with all the points. One bit of advice someone gave me when I opened my studio if over the course of a year the cost of renting a piece of gear when you need it will be less than purchasing don't buy it. That said when after 30 years of studio shooting it was no longer my main source of income, I bought a used leica q for my travel camera and I love it :) then again 6 months after I bought it travel shut down

Thank you 🍻

Interesting and well done. I’m not a pro, and surprised your clients did not help you progress more quickly. I had it in my mind they were very critical and demanding. You obviously had a lot of talent in any case.

The light in the background on your left (blue gel) really struggled haha. Thank you for sharing all of your experience. Its worth listening.

Great tips ! Thanks for sharing.

Great information! Thank you!

Great Video John! Fantastic information and thank you for sharing your knowledge!

1. the "f/11" - use f/5.6-8 or the lens' optimal sharpness 2. use a C stand even on location shoots 3. use non-destructive editing techniques 4. be subtle with accent lights 5. anything more than 4mp is overkill, lenses will hold the most value 6. dont chase after trends/likes 7. test and experiment more with lighting and ideas 8. dont cheat or take an easy way out with your work 9. think twice before purchasing camera 10. assume nothing and keep learning

Hi, just found your channel after your video with Manny. This was a great video as someone that tried to use a boom with a regular light stand (fail). Also right on about Model Mayhem, too many photographers seem to be all wrapped up in likes and comments.

I thought this was going to be just another clickbait video. But your tips were ALL good! Thanks! My first digital camera was a 1MP (yes, one megapixel) Kodak camera in 1996 that cost $1,500! Those were 1996 dollars, too, so it would probably at least be $2,000 in 2021 dollars. No one I knew was aware of digital cameras then, and it was quite the novelty. I still have the photos it took, and man are they bad! But it was loads of fun.

Nice one John, we're all works in progress !

always like your real world knowledge and candor!

What a great video and perfect sense. 100%. Thanks!!

Thank you for your video..love it.

As you get older, you get wiser 👍🏻 thx!

Nicely said and all true, just my 2pence on editing non destructively on PS is to save the files as PSD, PSB, whilst working on layers, this way is like having an xmp but using far more powerful program; also you can take advantage of using ACR as a filter at any stage of postproduction.

Great upload!… ✊🏿

Awesome tips, thank you! About #4, I would say that, when people ask why so many lights, there are only two available answers: 1. I have them, so I use them. 2. None of your business! Personally, I am a huge fan of answer #2! lol

Thank you! My ass hurts, but it needed the kick,

Rolled under goes over and rolled over goes under. Got it!

very wise bro i love it!

I guess as a photographer, no matter how long, we will always be a student....and will always prone to making the same ol mistake. Good to once in a while, sit back and remind ourselves that theres always room for learning, practice and improvement.

Thank you, John. Another very interesting video. I have a very noobish question though. How does one get started shooting with models? It's something I've never done.

Nice I am sharing in Fb

I’d love to hear you talk about these same ideas within the limitations of Covid. How do you stay creative and push past safety issues?

Can you recommend a few books? Especially on lighting but also other stuff. Do you hold classes for people in Sweden?

i dont thing mpx is so much important i am still shooting with 12mpx with my d700 in studio everyday and nobody ever complained about it .... your lighting and your lens are more important ....as your have mention buying at least one very good C-stand is the first thing any serious photographer should invest in after that is the lighting system and modifier then the lenses selection. I could still shoot with 6mpx that wouldnt change the image at all provided i have very good lighting setup and a very good sharp prime lens.

My Leica M6 was the most important camera I ever bought. I got it at the time people were ditching film cameras so it wasn't crazy expensive. Why did it make me better-I had to ditch telephoto lenses-stepping back. Get into the crowd-meet your subject. At this point I don't use film at all-you cannot and operate as a modern photographer with the time demands.

I've long believed that the color grading of stills is going to be the HDR of this decade; overdone and faddish. It may settle down, as HDR did, but right now, it's quite intrusive in a lot of images.

Hey John! Love your videos! Do you happen to know what the name of the podcast that made the point about the scientific method was??

Here's #11 for this list, and a big one: Photoshop IS a non-destructive editor. You just have to use layers. Enjoy!

hi, usually the sharpest point in a lens is the middle eg canon 14. would be about f4

Yeah, you are so right. No one has ever done photo-journalism with a Leica....

I feel bad because I might progress in photography skills, but I will never have that golden voice actor thing you've got going on. lol

You do realize that you can work non-destructively inside of Photoshop right, via Smart objects and if you want to be able to go back and change it save the PSD before you collapse all the layers

L = Loser; just cant stop laughing... to be honest I also got tempted but thought to myself which bloody client is patient enough with me to put up with that. Nobody has ever asked nor cared about "what" camera or "lens" I use, its my work that get more work....

1- sharpness is wanted yes. But none of renowned professionals are sharpness freaks. In fact, as a professional retoucher, I can assure you that magazine editors prefer less sharpness on the covers. Also if you're printing, a photo should be seen at least 1meter distance, so sharpness its quite relative. The best fashion and portrait professionals, in studio, shoot at f.11 No one is zooming 200% to see the skin pores.... 3- If your workflow on Ps is destructive, its because you are doing it wrong. There are very established routines in retouching, in order for them to be non destructive. Suggesting Lr ou Acr for that matter is quite limiting. Learn to use Ps in an non-destrutive way.... 11- one thing you probably don't know either: that flash behind you is quite distractive.

Would you shoot me ? I’m down lol

OMG science will never turn you in an artist 😊