A love of photography can lead you many places, including a professional photography career or photography business. It happens all the time; but is this trajectory right for you, and if so, how can you maximize your chances for success?

Twitter is an excellent resource for discovering new information on just about anything, especially photography. For those who have decided to dedicate more energy to photography in 2013, here are 10 of my favorite photography Twitter accounts who are known for giving quality tips and inspiration in 140 characters or less. Make sure to also check out our twitter accounts (@BackdropExpress) for exclusive photography deals, tips & inspiration!

Food photography isn’t simply a matter of taking a picture; it requires attention to several significant behind the scenes aspects to creating an enticing image. In order to get great results, a good photographer must take the lighting, any props or backdrops used, the speed of the shooting session and the way the food is set, into account. Great food photography creates an image that is good enough to take in with all of your senses.

Featuring: Atlantis Hand Painted Muslin | Photo by Ryan Walsh

Muslin is a fabric that is used by many photographers as a backdrop during photo shoots. This type of photo backdrop is made of a woven cotton and can be dyed just about any color desired. Muslin is a heavy fabric that offers a unique, textured background. There is a great chance that your muslin backdrop will become wrinkled in an undesirable way during shipping and storage. Though sometimes you want the backdrop to look wrinkled for artistic affect, you do not want a large crease through the center of it. Because there are circumstances that cannot be avoided that cause such drastic creases and folds in a muslin backdrop, it is highly important to understand how to properly get wrinkles out of muslin.

Photo Courtesy of Ryan Walsh

One of the benefits of location photography is being able to take photos in just about any environment you can travel to. Some photographers specialize in a certain type of location setting, while others enjoy traveling to a variety of different environments. However, studio photography is different; environments aren’t ready-made in the studio, and because of this professional backdrops are essential to the studio photography process. The good news is that this fact does not have to have a limiting effect. Photography backdrops are available in a huge variety of colors, materials and designs. The best backdrops for your portrait photography will depend upon the size of your studio, style of photography, budget and personal preferences.

Getting the lighting correct when using green screens is imperative for optimum results during editing. Understanding the various aspects of this special lighting helps photographers using chroma key photography the tools to produce high-quality results.

Photo by Ryan Walsh

The word “Muslin” was originally used to describe a tightly woven cloth produced in the Middle East centuries ago. This cloth was widely used to make dresses that could be easily embellished with embroidery and beads. Pioneer women often used muslin- then called “domestic” -as the neutral backing for hand-stitched quilts. What does all this have to do with photography? Muslin fabric is one of the most versatile backdrops for use in professional photography.