Visualizing local travel and staycations in commercial photography
The global COVID-19 pandemic has closed borders, emptied streets, and halted tourism in traffic-heavy destinations, reshaping the travel industry in the process. From mandatory temperature checks at amusement parks to limited-capacity museums to online reservations and spaced-out arrival times, tourism, as we know it, has changed significantly—and many locations have Continue Reading
Complete guide to street photography: For beginners
In the late 1960s, street photography was a small club; in New York City, Joel Meyerowitz and Garry Winogrand went out together, pounding the pavement on Fifth Avenue every day, swapping ideas and tips, and occasionally running into the likes of Diane Arbus or Lee Friedlander. Fifty years later, with Continue Reading
Licensing Contributor Sarah Saratonina on capturing vibrant still life photos
Sarah Saratonina is a still life and food photographer from Cotia, Brazil. Often focusing on fun, colorful compositions, which incorporate floral and food elements, Sarah’s photos have been featured a number of times in Editors’ Choice and in Digital Photo Magazine. Q: Sarah, please tell us a bit about your Continue Reading
Photographer Relief Fund: Tell us your story!
One of the best things about working at 500px, and by far one of my favorite parts of my job, is getting to connect with and hear stories from photographers all across the globe. But it’s not lost on me (or anyone at 500px) that lately those stories are often Continue Reading
Camouflage: Avoiding this common intellectual property issue
Over the last two years, there have been a few high-profile cases involving camouflage prints on clothing; in 2018, an outdoor company sued a major fashion brand over the use of a camo pattern, and again in 2019, a Montana company sued a New York streetwear brand, also alleging copyright Continue Reading
10 ways to improve your fine art photography
In 2014, The Guardian columnists Sean O’Hagan and Jonathan Jones revisited an old question: is photography a fine art? According to Jones, a photograph could never compete with a painting on a gallery wall. But O’Hagan argued that it didn’t have to—photography is its own medium, independent of other art Continue Reading
Tips and tricks for licensing photos of troublesome locations
The British Royal Residences, the Moulin Rouge, the Louvre, Crazy Horse Monument, the palaces and temples of Japan, the Olympic venues—some of the most photogenic places in the world are also off-limits for commercial stock photography. These rules are in place to protect the photographer, distributor, and client from any Continue Reading
How to photograph silhouettes
In trendy engagement portraits, edgy street photography, and artsy double exposures, silhouettes abound. Today, classic silhouette photographs like Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare by Henri Cartier-Bresson (1932) continue to inspire modern photographers to create timeless images. A few years ago, for instance, the art director Nicolas Bouvier, aka Sparth, made headlines Continue Reading
Luminar’s “Dramatic Sky Edits” Quest Winner Revealed
Great photography is at the core of everything we do at 500px, and we love to partner with brands that do the same. So when our friends at Luminar reached out with another great Quest idea for the 500px community we couldn’t resist. With over 30,000 submissions this Quest definitely Continue Reading
10 tips for better commercial food photography
According to a recent survey, 45% of diners specifically look for photos of food while browsing a restaurant’s website and deciding where to eat. That percentage increases when we look specifically at younger diners, especially among Gen Z and Millennials. When it comes to advertising in this day and age, Continue Reading