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In nature, chaos sometimes reigns supreme, and building clean compositions as a wildlife photographer is difficult. High-key photography is, in a way, the opposite. By exposing near the point of overexposure, distractions have a way of vanishing, and your subject stands out against its more abstract surroundings.
Photography Life
Today, in order to provide some more context for our lens reviews, I wanted to share examples of how different Imatest LW/PH MTF50 values look in actual test chart photos. We’re always sharing these Imatest values, and now you can see how they look in practice!
Photography Life
To describe fellow Nikon Ambassador Matthew Jordan Smith as a preeminent studio and beauty photographer is an over simplified description. Matthew represents a standard of excellence—of craft, passion, and humanity behind the lens, coupled with his legendary sense of style and beauty. His level of talent and accomplishment is rare indeed.
We sat down for a conversation recently to simply talk some shop, get caught up, and, more specifically, to dive into his new book, Aretha Cool. It’s an intimate glimpse of the iconic singer’s final years of her life, both on and off the stage. The photography on these pages is infused with a warmth and closeness that reflect Matthew’s friendship with the singer, and how close they became in her later years.
In some ways, it’s a continuation of a theme that he beautifully photographed and wrote about in his seminal book, Sepia Dreams, which is a celebration of black achievement in the realm of art, sports, entertainment, and culture. When he and Aretha were getting to know one another, he sent her the book, and she called him and said, “Jordan, why am I not in this book?!” Aretha was a star in every sense of the word, and not shy about stating her wishes!
A relationship was born and grew over time, becoming more and more personal along the way. It is a wonderful journey he leads us through, via words and pictures.
It’s a congenial conversation, touching on many things—photography, longevity of a career, the importance of staying relevant, and how being black played a significant role in his career. It opened certain doors; to be sure (he shot more covers of Essence magazine than anyone) but it shut others.
We talk, we ramble, we laugh, all from a wonderful place of mutual respect. It’s worth a listen.
The post Aretha Cool – A Book by Matthew Jordan Smith appeared first on Joe McNally Photography.
I’ve just published a new video on our YouTube channel! It’s a 30-minute demonstration of editing a landscape photo from start to finish in Adobe Lightroom.
Photography Life
One of our favorite and longest running traditions in Click Community is our forum photo contest, offering you a glimpse into the extraordinary talent and creativity of Click Community members.
The theme of our January/February contest was “black and white” and members were encouraged to enter their favorite photo representing this theme.
Congratulations to Mugdha Dhekne for her winning image (above)! Mugdha won a self paced course of her choice from Click Photo School.
You can win, too! Enter our current forum photo contest by April 30th, 2026 with your favorite image representing the theme “long exposure” for a chance to be featured here on the Click Community Blog, published in an upcoming issue of Click magazine, and win a self paced course of your choice! Not a member? Join at theclickcommunity.com!
But first, please enjoy this collection of some of our favorite and inspiring images from this contest:
Would you like to see your work featured on the Click Community blog, published in Click magazine, and even have a chance to win a self guided course (of your choice!) at Click Photo School?
If you’re not yet a member of Click Community, we’d LOVE to have you come join us! As a member, you get access to photography tutorials, video demos, Q&A threads, image critiques, photo challenges and contests like this one, and so much more! Become a member today!
The post Black and White: Announcing the Forum Photo Contest Collection appeared first on Click Community Blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time.
Click Community Blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time
