Did you know that after you take a photo in JPEG option your camera will process that file according to an exact mathematical formulation determined by Hans at the camera factory? Hans (not his real name) is commissioned by all camera manufacturers to calculate the amount of contrast, sharpening and white balance that is added to your image when you select the “shoot in jpeg” option in camera settings. Most entry level DSLR cameras and beyond – and some point and shoot cameras – give you the option to shoot in JPEG or RAW or a combination of both. A RAW file is like a digital negative. It contains unprocessed data taken directly from the camera sensor. A JPEG is a RAW image that your camera has processed (according to Hans’ personal preferences). I use to have two beautiful chickens, Marija and Consuela, who were prolific egg layers, forcing me...

Love, love, love The War of Art Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. It’s a beautiful book full of inspiring quotes and awesome practical advice to help get past creative blocks and continue to be inspired every day. Here are a few more of my favourite quotes from this book and I had to stop myself from just quoting the whole book. It’s right up there with Nutella and coffee! “Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” “We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.” “The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” “It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped...

This is a combination of two techniques you can use to find good light if my model isn’t available and I don’t have a stand in. I simply hold a marble in my fist and hold it at eye level in the spot I’m thinking of photographing my model. The catch lights will be reflected in the marble and I can see the quality of light on my skin tone. Great portrait lighting is soft and fills in all the wrinkles of my fist with nice catch lights visible. Caca light is dull and there are no catch lights visible

Photo face – When the model looks like a stunned mullet or rabbit in the spotlight. The eyes are dead and lack any emotion and the smile is fake and often forced by saying the word “cheese” Asking your model to say any word starting with ‘ch’ and ending in ‘y’ or ‘e’ when you photograph them will show both top and bottom teeth. This is a great idea in theory, but always ends up looking fake on models. The reason for this is that nobody really smiles with his or her top and bottom teeth showing. Go have a look in the mirror now and smile. If you can see both top and bottom teeth you are probably a Miss Universe contestant, a game show host, or a horse. A real smile that is warm and genuine will show in your models eyes. There will be a light or sparkle...

Stepping out of your comfort zone and taking the first steps towards something new can be a really scary experience. Here are a few of my favorite quotes to help you think differently about fear. Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. ~Marie Curie Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop. ~Usman B. Asif Fear is faith that it won’t work out. ~Sister Mary Tricky Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety. ~Henry H. Tweedy Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small. ~Ruth Gendler To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. ~Bertrand Russell Fear cannot take what you do not give it. ~Christopher Coan The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. ~Joseph Campbell Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real. ~Author Unknown

I’ve just spent an inspiring and exciting couple of months photographing some of Australia’s Comedy Royalty and rising stars for the launch of a new show for The Comedy Channel. The photo-shoots included several cover shoots of the comedians both in character and as themselves. The Comedy portrait is fast becoming one of my favorite genres because comedians can bring so much life to a portrait. They take it to another level and I never really know what’s going to happen. This was not always the case. I can remember when I was starting out, I really struggled to photograph comedians because I was really rigid in my approach. I had this “one size fits all’ approach to my portraits and tried to make the portraits funny by asking the comedians to be whacky or zany for the camera. Do you want to know what the worst thing you can say...

Question: How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: 126 1 to change the bulb 9 to say it would have looked better in black and white 40 to say it should have been edited in Lightroom 40 to say it should have been edited in Photoshop 15 to say it needs more contrast 15 to say it needs less contrast 5 to say it’s soft 1 to say they could have done it on Instagram

What’s the one thing in my location kit that I’m most grateful for day in day out? 85mm lens? Tripod? Pocket wizards? Light meter? Nutella (don’t judge me, it’s fat free ok?). While all these items are amazing, the one thing I’m most grateful for is kneepads. Yep, that’s right, knee pads. I bought mine from hardware superstore, Bunnings (where dreams come true). I shoot about 50% of my portraits from a low angle and kneeling on roads and wet grass all day long is a drag. These fit in the top of my camera bag and make long shoots so much easier and I’m not wearing out my jeans as fast!

  I’ve had quite a few requests for the post production treatment I used on this image I recently posted on Instagram. This image was taken on one of the Sicilian food and photography tours I run with my fellow Sicilian crazy BFF, Carm Ruggeri. We were staying in Taormina and I’d gotten up at dawn to watch the city wake up. This is one of my all time favorite things to do when I’m travelling. It’s when I feel I get my best images. I love to edit images in a style that they look in my minds eye. In this case I have a great deal of nostalgia when I think about Sicily because it reminds me of my childhood and my love of the godfather movies. So for this image of a Taormina local enjoying his breakfast I wanted to create a faded desaturated and grungy style...

How to get your white balance right (without the headaches) Ever noticed that when you set your camera to auto white balance and take photos in places where the light is constantly changing your files can end up looking like a rainbow threw up all over them. Frustrating, right? Shooting with your camera on auto mode will mean your white balance is adjusted automatically, based on type of light you are shooting in. In fact, most digital cameras have presets to compensate for colorcasts caused by shooting in different settings. The auto settings are a good start but it’s important to remember that the settings will never be 100% accurate. You can shoot 20 frames and get 20 different white balances depending what kind of lights are in your shot, or the area in the frame that your camera is metering. If you are shooting an event that goes all...