Todd Vorenkamp

Senior Creative Content Writer for Explora, Todd Vorenkamp has been taking photographs for almost over 30 years. A photographic artist, he has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Academy of Art University and is an adjunct instructor of photography at Dakota College at Bottineau. He is a former US Navy and Coast Guard helicopter aviator and a licensed merchant marine officer. His personal website is www.trvphoto.com.

Latest Articles

9 Alternative Camera Supports

1 day ago

When the phrase “camera support” is mentioned, most of us think of the tried-and-trusty tripod, and for good reason—the tripod is the single best way to steady your camera for long shutter-speed exposures, group photos including the photographer, or just for minimizing camera movement to maximize image sharpness. However, the tripod has definite shortcomings, and it is not always practical or…

Tripods & Monopods

1 week ago

Lowepro’s popular ProTactic BP 350 AW II and BP 450 AW II Camera and Laptop Backpacks have just gotten an eco-friendly materials update makeover and are being added to…

Backpacks

Bags & Cases

What is Your Favorite Portrait Lens?

1 week ago

There are many ingredients in the recipe that make a good photographic portrait—foreground, background, setting, pose, expression, color, lighting, and so on—but one element that can be as important to the result as the portrait sitter is the lens used to capture the portrait and help create the art. Technically, any lens can be used to take a portrait with your camera, and there are traditional…

Portrait Lenses

people photography

Tamron Announces the Versatile Mid-Range 17-70mm f/2.8 Lens for FUJIFILM X

1 week ago

Tamron has just released a FUJIFILM X-mount version of its popular mid-range, wide-aperture zoom—the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD lens—which had been previously available only for Sony E-mount APS-C cameras. On the FUJIFILM X APS-C bodies, the camera sports a wide-to-telephoto 4.1x…

Mirrorless Lenses

GVM Rolls Out New LED Daylight, Bi-Color, and RGB Spotlights for Creatives

2 weeks ago

Video lighting and camera slider manufacturer GVM—Great Video Maker—has just released several new LED lighting products for videographers, creatives, and still…

LED Lighting

Lighting & Accessories

Lensbaby Universal Expansion Pack with Reflectors Expands the OMNI System

3 weeks ago

The new Lensbaby OMNI Universal Expansion Pack with Reflectors is a fantastic upgrade to the versatility of Lensbaby’s…

Filters & Accessories

Intentional Camera Movement Photography, Part 3: Approach, Subjects, Inspiration

3 weeks ago

Welcome to Part 3 of our journey into the world of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) photography. In this final chapter of the 3-part series of articles, we voyage back into the mental aspects of creating ICM art, as well as take in some tips for some of the more common ICM subjects and finish with inspirational words from some of the masters of the craft. Above image © Morag Paterson Approach …

Fine Art Photography

Long Exposure Photography

Intentional Camera Movement Photography, Part 2: Gear and Technical

3 weeks ago

Welcome to Part 2 of our deep dive into the world of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) photography. In this second part of the three-part series of articles, we look at the kinds of gear that ICM artists recommend, as well as the technical side of the art including camera settings and techniques. Above image © Ceri Herd Camera Gear is not a limiting factor in exploring ICM photography—you can…

Long Exposure Photography

Fine Art Photography

Intentional Camera Movement Photography, Part 1: Introduction

3 weeks ago

Welcome to the world of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) photography—a fascinating and beautiful world where the camera and the photographer’s movements combine to become a mechanical paintbrush—transforming photographic capture into something completely unique and otherwise invisible to the naked eye. In a photographic world generally obsessed with image sharpness, there are photographic…

Fine Art Photography

Long Exposure Photography

In The Know with the New Godox Knowled M200 and M300

4 weeks ago

Godox is refining and expanding its Knowled continuous constant-source LED studio light series with the addition of the four new Knowled lights—the M200 and M300—featuring…

Continuous Lighting

Lighting & Accessories

Photography Accessories

Panasonic Goes Ultra-Wide with The Leica DG Summilux 9mm f/1.7 ASPH

1 month ago

Panasonic is launching its widest-angle prime rectilinear lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras in the form of the new Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 9mm f/1.7 ASPH with the 35mm equivalent field of view of an 18mm lens. This ultra-wide lens is also the widest Micro Four Thirds Panasonic prime optic to wear the Leica badge.…

SLR Lenses

micro four thirds lens

Micro Four Thirds

Expand Your Creativity with Lensbaby’s OMNI Universal Expansion Pack

1 month ago

Lensbaby is upping the creative ante, with the new OMNI Universal Expansion Pack with Reflectors, adding even more options to its already comprehensive and unique OMNI…

SLR Lenses

Binoculars for Astronomy and Stargazing: Part 1

1 month ago

The night sky is filled with wonders—so many that we humans build multi-billion-dollar telescopes to study them. The good news is that a lot of these wonders are available to all of us as we stargaze in our own backyards, and the easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to start exploring these is with a pair of…

Binoculars for Astronomy and Stargazing

Binoculars for Astronomy and Stargazing: Part 2

1 month ago

In Part 1 of this three-part series, we discussed the advantages of using binoculars for astronomical viewing of the night sky and we talked about the different types of targets you can enjoy on clear, dark nights. At the conclusion of each section, I mentioned “binocular magnification considerations.”…

Binoculars for Astronomy and Stargazing

Binoculars for Astronomy and Stargazing: Part 3

1 month ago

Now that we've discussed the advantages of using binoculars for stargazing, as well as an in-depth discussion about night sky targets, in Part 1, and then discussed characteristics of binoculars in Part 2, it is time to finish this three-part series by discussing what pair of binoculars you may want to…

Binoculars for Astronomy and Stargazing