// SEFA YAMAK · V.2026CANLI
SEFA YAMAK

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Blog

Notes on photography, travel, and the difficulty of looking.

17 articles

Photography & Fine Art

Writing from the work itself.

15 articles

For Brands

Practical guides for the people commissioning the work.

Why Black and White Photography Is Still So Powerful
Featured
7 min read

Why Black and White Photography Is Still So Powerful

Why black and white photography still feels so strong, when to shoot in it, and what makes a good black and white frame — notes from a photographer who keeps reaching for it.

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How to Start Film Photography
7 min read

How to Start Film Photography

A photographer's beginner guide to film: what an analogue camera is, how to choose your first one, which film to start with, and how to survive your first roll.

How to Shoot Better Portraits on Your Phone
7 min read

How to Shoot Better Portraits on Your Phone

How to shoot a genuinely good portrait on a phone: using light, keeping the right distance, when to use portrait mode, and the most common mistakes.

Creative agency or freelance photographer in Istanbul: which one do you actually need?
7 min read

Creative agency or freelance photographer in Istanbul: which one do you actually need?

Sometimes a solo photographer is exactly enough. Sometimes it is the wrong shape for the job. A plain answer from a studio that has been on both sides of that line.

Is Street Photography Legal? Permission, Ethics and Practice
7 min read

Is Street Photography Legal? Permission, Ethics and Practice

Is street photography legal? A photographer's honest, non-legal take on shooting people in public, when permission is needed, and how to shoot with respect.

How to Shoot a Portrait: What a 20-Year Photographer Actually Watches
7 min read

How to Shoot a Portrait: What a 20-Year Photographer Actually Watches

How to shoot a portrait: which lens, which light, how to relax your subject, and the most common mistakes — practical notes from a photographer who has shot portraits on set for twenty years.

How to write a photoshoot brief for your brand so the day doesn't drift
7 min read

How to write a photoshoot brief for your brand so the day doesn't drift

Most shoot days do not go wrong on set. They go wrong a week earlier, inside a vague brief. Here is the shortest useful version of what a brand should actually say before the camera comes out.

Balat photography guide: where to shoot Istanbul's most colourful neighbourhood
6 min read

Balat photography guide: where to shoot Istanbul's most colourful neighbourhood

A photographer's guide to shooting Balat, Istanbul's most colourful neighbourhood: the best light, where to point the camera beyond the famous houses, and how to photograph a living quarter with respect.

Food photography for restaurants: how a professional shoot actually works
7 min read

Food photography for restaurants: how a professional shoot actually works

How professional food photography really works: light, styling, and team workflow from an Istanbul studio shooting for fine-dining restaurants and brands.

What actually increases a campaign shoot budget, and what only looks expensive
7 min read

What actually increases a campaign shoot budget, and what only looks expensive

Clients often expect the camera to be the expensive part. It usually is not. The real budget drivers live elsewhere, and knowing them early saves far more than trimming the wrong line item.

Cappadocia Photography Guide: Balloons, Light and the Right Hours
7 min read

Cappadocia Photography Guide: Balloons, Light and the Right Hours

A working photographer's guide to Cappadocia: where to stand at sunrise, the best viewpoints in Göreme and Uçhisar, and why dusk beats the balloon cliché.

Product Photography Lighting: How We Build a Still Life for Jewellery and Brands
6 min read

Product Photography Lighting: How We Build a Still Life for Jewellery and Brands

How our team lights product and jewellery still-life photography: one light, textured backgrounds, mirrors as tools and catalog consistency, step by step.

Model agency casting or real people: what works better for a brand shoot?
7 min read

Model agency casting or real people: what works better for a brand shoot?

Some campaigns need polish. Some need lived-in truth. Choosing the wrong face can make a good production feel false, even when everything else is right.

Street photography in Istanbul: how to start, and how to stop being scared of it
7 min read

Street photography in Istanbul: how to start, and how to stop being scared of it

Istanbul photographer Sefa Yamak on how to actually start shooting on the street — one lens, where to stand, and how to photograph strangers without taking from them.

The best places to photograph in Istanbul: a photographer's real guide
7 min read

The best places to photograph in Istanbul: a photographer's real guide

Istanbul photographer Sefa Yamak shares the spots he actually shoots, when the light is good, and how to photograph people without turning them into props.

Lookbook, campaign, and e-commerce photography: what is the difference, really?
8 min read

Lookbook, campaign, and e-commerce photography: what is the difference, really?

Most brands say 'we need a shoot' when they actually need three different kinds of images. Here is the plain-language difference before you waste a day trying to make one setup do all jobs at once.

How to pose for photos so you don't look stiff: a photographer's guide
6 min read

How to pose for photos so you don't look stiff: a photographer's guide

A working portrait photographer's honest guide to natural posing. What to do with your hands, weight, chin and eyes so you stop looking stiff and start looking like yourself.

How to grow a photography Instagram in 2026 (from someone who did it)
7 min read

How to grow a photography Instagram in 2026 (from someone who did it)

Honest advice on growing a photography account, from a portrait and street photographer who built an audience of 821K in Istanbul. What worked, what was luck, and what took years.

How a brand shoot actually comes together in Istanbul, from brief to delivery
8 min read

How a brand shoot actually comes together in Istanbul, from brief to delivery

What really happens between a brand's brief and the final images: how PAM Istanbul plans a shoot, who is on set, and why production quietly decides whether a campaign works.

Photographing Varanasi: A Travel Portrait Field Guide
6 min read

Photographing Varanasi: A Travel Portrait Field Guide

Real, on-the-ground advice for photographing Varanasi and the people on its ghats. Best light, how to ask for a portrait, what to shoot beyond the clichés, and why I never pay for a face.

Film vs Digital Photography for Fashion and Portraits in 2026: Which Look Fits Your Campaign?
6 min read

Film vs Digital Photography for Fashion and Portraits in 2026: Which Look Fits Your Campaign?

A working photographer's honest take on film vs digital for fashion and portrait campaigns in 2026, plus how I get a film feel out of a digital file when a project can't carry real film.

How to choose a commercial photographer for your brand
7 min read

How to choose a commercial photographer for your brand

A practical guide for brands and agencies on reading a portfolio, matching a photographer to your product, and knowing which questions to ask before you hire.

How to Buy Fine Art Photography Prints: A Beginner's Guide
6 min read

How to Buy Fine Art Photography Prints: A Beginner's Guide

A working photographer's plain guide to buying fine art prints: open vs limited editions, why editions hold value, signing and numbering, certificates, archival paper and pigment, sizing, framing, and how to buy directly from the artist.

Golden hour: the light that does half the work for you
6 min read

Golden hour: the light that does half the work for you

Why the hour after sunrise and before sunset flatters almost everything, and how to actually use it instead of just standing in it.

Why brands work with photographers who are also creators
6 min read

Why brands work with photographers who are also creators

Hiring one studio that both produces the campaign and puts it in front of a real audience. What brands actually get, how it differs from a separate photographer plus influencer, and when it makes sense.

The print is the photograph
7 min read

The print is the photograph

A file is a promise. The print is the thing kept. Why I do not consider a photograph finished until it exists on paper.

What black and white takes away
6 min read

What black and white takes away

Color is information. A portrait is usually about one thing, and most of the time the color is telling you about something else.

Can you shoot a brand campaign on a phone in 2026?
6 min read

Can you shoot a brand campaign on a phone in 2026?

An honest look at phone vs professional camera for brand content. Where phones work, where they fall short, and why lighting and direction matter more than the device.

How to ask a stranger if you may take their portrait
8 min read

How to ask a stranger if you may take their portrait

The picture is decided in the thirty seconds before the camera comes up. Most of those seconds have nothing to do with photography.

On light, and how little of it you need
7 min read

On light, and how little of it you need

Twenty years in and I am still only photographing one thing. Not faces. Light, and what it does to a face when no one is arranging it.

AI Fashion Photography in 2026: What It Can and Can't Do
8 min read

AI Fashion Photography in 2026: What It Can and Can't Do

An honest take from a working Istanbul studio that uses AI in production but keeps every shoot human-led. Where the tools actually help, and where real models still win.

What to Wear for a Photoshoot: A Photographer's Honest Guide
5 min read

What to Wear for a Photoshoot: A Photographer's Honest Guide

What works on camera, what fights it, and how to show up ready. A working fashion and portrait photographer walks you through colors, fabrics, fit, and how many outfits to actually bring.

[ Topic clusters ]

Portrait and lookingEssays on faces, light, distance and the small decisions that make a portrait.Move into the seriesPrint and collection thinkingWhy a photograph completes itself in print, and how collector intent is built.See the printsIstanbul and street observationThe connection between essays and series built around city, rhythm and encounter.Go to the Istanbul series
Move from essays into the seriesFollow themes, places and faces from the essays into the full portrait series.See the print collectionFor visitors with collector intent: signed prints and limited edition pages.Suggest a storyGet in touch for editorial, portrait or publishing-led collaborations.