All posts filed under: Community

Why observation is a photographer’s greatest material

Tom Barreto is a Brazilian photographer and director whose work balances technical precision with emotional sensitivity. Born in Taubaté and now based in São Paulo, he has built a career spanning fashion, beauty, advertising, and personal projects, creating images defined by choreographed light, atmosphere, and a deep sense of humanity.  His portfolio includes campaigns for Dior Beauty, Fendi, Arezzo, and Bvlgari, alongside collaborations with artists such as IZA, Fernanda Torres, and Marina Ruy Barbosa. His work has appeared in global publications including Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and Numéro Netherlands.   Tom’s practice goes beyond creating imagery. At its core is a philosophy rooted in observation: of people, of everyday life, and of the quiet tensions that exist beneath the surface. It’s this mindset that shapes how he approaches storytelling, navigates uncertainty, and maintains a consistent visual language across analog and digital workflows.  In our chat below, Tom reflects on why observation is a photographer’s most valuable material, how he trains his eye away from the camera, and what keeps him grounded when the industry feels unstable. He also shares insights into his creative process, the role of controlled chaos in his work, and how …

Seriously. AI is not the main character.

AI needs no introduction. It’s wildly powerful. It ramped quickly and flooded every corner of our lives, and yes, a few big tech companies behaved like hooligans along the way, which naturally created fear, dread, and the sense that something precious was slipping away. But here’s the hard truth: AI has already been adopted.  Every single photographer we’ve spoken to in the past six months, and that’s hundreds of them, is using it. Not as a philosophical debate. Not as an existential threat. Just as a tool to run their business. To build mood boards. To finish images. To keep up. AI is reshaping photography at a pace we haven’t seen since the transition from film to digital. And this is uncomfortable. Profoundly uncomfortable. But if there’s anything we’ve learned from Patrick Fore, we need to “sit with the discomfort.”  So now the real question is: What future are we building toward?  Back to the Metal  When everything gets louder, the best photographers do something counterintuitive: They go quieter. They slow down. They find community. They create with more intention and honesty. Because the world doesn’t need less photography. It needs more.  More authorship, more …

Combining Masks in Capture One

Learn how combining masks unlocks more flexible editing in Capture One with almost infinite possibilities. It’s finally here. The possibility of combining masks while keeping the flexibility of editing them individually. It was one of the highest-rated feature requests, and with the recent additions of many types of AI masks, it made sense to implement now, more than ever. You can combine masks by adding, subtracting, or intersecting them. Intersect will make a mask in the overlapping area between the masks. If you’re thinking to yourself, “cool, but I’m not sure I need it for my editing,” you’re in the right place. I will try to show some different examples that might spark not only interest in this feature but also inspire the creative possibilities it has unlocked. So, what does it unlock exactly? Imagine you have this image of a person in front of a waterfall, and you would like to lighten the waterfall to separate it from the foreground. You could brush it, create a Gradient, use AI Select, or many other options. …

How Sarah Silver stays creative by being organized

Fashion and beauty photographer Sarah Silver might be best known for her bold, playful, and colorful visuals, but behind every image lies a bulletproof workflow and process that make it all possible. For Sarah, creativity doesn’t come from chaos. It’s built on structure.   In this quick Q&A, she shares how preparation fuels her imagination, the systems that keep her shoots running smoothly, and the tools she relies on from concept to final export.  What’s essential when prepping for a shoot?  There’s so much information coming at me from all sides while prepping a shoot, so filing everything properly for easy retrieval is a MUST. I have pre-made digital folders, shoot sessions, job checklists/tasks, and naming conventions that keep me on track and consistent for EVERY project I undertake. I find that if all the pieces are in the right place, it opens my mind to maximum creativity. Do you have any post-production advice for us?  Post means so much more to me than just retouching. It also includes proper file storage. When backing up files after a shoot, I use on-site RAIDS …