Last month, the creators of MotoCMS, an award winning DIY website building program, ran a Kickstarter campaign for Defrozo, a free display and marketing melding of Smugmug, ShootQ and Zenfolio. What could be more fun than putting up some photos and have the offers pour in, right? I was excited to get started. Look out, Big Boys, Defrozo is here, and it’s awesome!
Fstoppers.com owner Lee Morris recently decided to shave his 5 month beard while having a little fun. Lee created 8 different "characters" with different lengths of facial hair and then released his unretouched images to the Fstoppers.com. These photographers took these files and pushed them to the max, creating 8 hilarious final images.
If you're planning on attending Lin and Jirsa's Ultimate Wedding Workshop 101 down in the Bahamas you will want to act fast. With only 6 seats left in this class, Pye and Justin will be covering proper exposure and how to shoot in manual, how to pose your couples, how to modify natural light, on and off camera flash, and much more. If you have seen the wedding work of Lin and Jirsa Weddings then you know Pye, Justin, and the rest of their team are at the pinnacle of the wedding genre. Their 101 workshop takes place May 13th through May 14th.
In this next episode of Critique the Community, we'll be sitting down with Architectural Photographer, Mike Kelley. Mike is best known for his incredible light painting methods. In less than 5 years of owning a camera, he has gone from knowing very little about photography to shooting National Ad Campaigns for the Architecture industry. If you want Mike and us to consider your image for this episode, leave a link to your image within the community and we will give you our honest opinion.
Jared Polin, aka FRO from FroKnowsPhoto, is teaching a free low-light photography course today through Wednesday on CreativeLive. Using a mix of live shoots and lectures, Jared's course will be a tremendous resource for beginner photographers seeking to confidently approach difficult low-lighting situation such as tight spaces, dark halls and live concerts.
When you think of conceptual, high-fashion photo shoots, you imagine big budgets. Turns out, couture shoot concepts don’t have to cost more than $100. Professional photographer Amanda Diaz is demonstrating how to do just that right now during her CreativeLive class aimed to help photographers concept, style, and capture stunning images on a true DIY budget.
Capturing beautiful skin tones is essential to any great portrait, yet skin is notoriously difficult to photograph and retouch. For the next 3 days on CreativeLive, you can join Lindsay to Learn how to handle your subject's skin and add polish to all of your portraits. For the next 3 days, Lindsay will take you through the essentials of understanding, lighting, photographing and retouching skin in all its variations.
As a photographer, nothing defines your talent more than your ability to capture, create, and place the right light. Award-winning portrait photographer Sue Bryce joins studio lighting wunderkind Felix Kunze for a free, live, lighting masterclass covering the universally most-used portrait scenarios. You will learn how to work with both natural and studio light — so that you are prepared to walk into any environment and take a gorgeous photograph.
Time is quickly running out to book your hotel room for our first ever photography workshop in the Bahamas. You now have until Monday, April 28 to book your hotel room with the Fstoppers exclusive rate. If you book after Monday, the rooms will easily cost $450 per night so don't wait until the last minute!
Today on CreativeLive, Award-winning wedding photographer Jim Garner is sharing hard-won industry secrets — learned from decades of experience — and guiding viewers through the creative process that has helped make a name for himself in the industry. Jim will explore tools and strategies that will make your workflow more streamlined and your studio more profitable. Plus, during live action photo shoots, you can watch Jim’s “story shooting” philosophy in action — as he demonstrates how posing, shooting, and lighting contribute to the strength of the visual story.
In this video from The Slanted Lens, photographer Jay P Morgan takes you behind the scenes at East West Bank as he shoots a two camera interview of two executives. By mixing daylight with LED light, he shows you how to blend a single LED light source with natural window light while on location.
I'm a huge fan of the Profoto gear. When I came across this behind the scenes video on Profoto's blog, I just had to share it with you guys. To kick off the "Year of the Horse" Tokyo-based photographer Irwin Wong came up with a creative shoot in the middle of the forest.
As most of us are off spending time with our families and loved ones we want to wish all of our readers and fans a Happy Holiday season. Next February (2014) marks Fstoppers' 4th anniversary. It's unbelievable just how much we've grown thus far. With an amazing staff of writers putting out fresh and informative content each and every day, we have grown to over 10 million readers worldwide.
Today is the last day to save on photography training courses over at KelbyTraining.com. This is their biggest sale of the year so you don't want to pass this up. With over 700 hours of training from some of the best photographers in the world, they have discounted every subscription. Normally an annual subscription is $199 but they're offering $40 off and a monthly subscription is just $14.95.
It's been a while since we've released an Fstoppers original video, so today we want to take you behind the scenes with Mike Kelley. If you've been following Fstoppers then you know he's been a writer with us for a while and is also one of the most talented architectural photographers in the country. Mike's workflow and style is truly incredible and the amount of hours he spends on creating just one image is - as cheesy as it sounds - a work of art.
The last day of PDN's PhotoPlus is coming to an end tonight and what better way to celebrate than doing it with the best of the best in the industry. Because we just can't get enough of Peter Hurley, we're teaming up with him again to make this year's party EVEN better than last year. The party will kick off at 8pm until MIDNIGHT at the Highline lofts located at 508 W. 26 St. on the 5th Floor. We'll be charging a $20 cover but that will include all the food and alcohol you can consume.
Ready to pack in a ton of learning over six days? Then creativeLIVE Photo Week is for you. It convenes the best and brightest photographers working today, connecting you with your photographic favorites in real time. Broadcast over six days, Photo Week is one of the most ambitious events the photography industry has ever seen, and you can be a part of it.
As a wedding photographer, the engagement session is probably one of the best ways to get to know your clients before spending 8 or more hours with them on their wedding day. These sessions are about the two of them as a couple and how they fell in love. Most of my sessions are held about 2 hours before the sun sets, but what about when you have a couple that wants to shoot at sunrise? I have to admit, I hardly ever get up any earlier than 9 AM most days, so the thought of being functional at 6 AM was terrifying. But the results? The light was beautiful and completely worth it.
Beginning now until September 7, B&H Photo is offering $200 off of the Canon 35mm f/2.0 IS lens. Normally it goes for almost $800 but right now it's $599.00. In our review of the 35mm, we found it to be pretty on par with the L glass in terms of performance. It's tack sharp, has image stabilization and is equipped with a quiet, fast and reliable autofocus motor. Also on sale for a limited time are the Canon 24mm f2.8 and the Canon 28mm f/2.8 lenses.
Guest writer, Corey Rich is primarily an outdoor/adventure photographer, but last winter he decided to do something totally different and shoot CrossFit—the masochistic athletic craze sweeping the nation. More than anything, he was keen to experiment with heavy-duty artificial lighting in an indoor environment–not exactly what he's known for. His goals were simply to elevate his lighting skills, unlock his creativity in different ways, learn some new things, and have fun in the process.
It's that time again. Fstoppers.com is looking to hire several creative professionals to write for us. If you enjoy our site and think that you may have something to offer please send us a message. The only prerequisite is that you are at least a part time professional photographer or videographer. If you’re interested in writing for us, send us an email with a link to your portfolio at david@fstoppers.com and write “Fstoppers Job Opening” in the subject line.
Today at creativeLIVE, award winning wedding photographer Yervant is teaching how to shoot your weddings with an album design in mind. This is such a necessary skill to learn as you go professional. Even though we live in a fast paced digital world, your clients still want something tangible to look back at in 20 years. It's your job as a wedding photographer to take and create their story.
Beginning this Thursday May 30 - June 1, creativeLIVE will host photographer Aaron Nace as he teaches compositing 101. Aaron has taught photography and photo manipulation to millions of people for over five years. In this 3 day comprehensive workshop you'll wake away with a better understanding of how to conceptualize an idea, plan out your composite, photograph and light each piece of the puzzle, and artfully combine the many parts using Photoshop.
Along with our recent release of How to Become A Professional Commercial Wedding Photographer, we've featured several behind the scenes videos on how other photographs prepare for and shoot weddings. It's always worth a look to investigate what other wedding photographers outside of your area are doing differently. Rest assured, Doug Gordon will keep you entertained in his upcoming workshop on creativeLIVE.
If you're not tuned in to creativeLIVE right now, you should be! Today through Saturday May 18, creativeLIVE is hosting award-winning portrait photogrpaher, Brooke Shaden. Brooke is teaching some great tips to create eye-catching works of art without any flash or expensive studio props.
About a month ago we featured a video from the guys over at Neko Neko Films. In this video, they cover a mix of tips that while some may be no-brainers, you might find some very helpful if you having a tough time figuring out where to begin. We interview people all the time and I can't emphasize enough just how important the little things are to create an engaging, yet informative video.
Internationally acclaimed author Josh Kaufman will be hosting an upcoming creativeLive event dedicated to guiding you through the tenets and teachings found in every MBA program in the country. This 2-day workshop will start tomorrow April 4 at 9AM.
We've teamed up with the guys over at Viewbug to give one lucky person a free copy of Peter Hurley's The Art Behind The Headshot. We're looking for the best examples of images showing photographers doing what they do. The winner receives a copy of the instructional DVD by renowned photographer Peter Hurley plus a feature in both the Fstoppers and Viewbug blogs.
Los Angeles based filmmaker, John Irwin, customized a DSLR intervalometer and hacked his Canon's firmware to allow him the advantage of shooting long exposures in video mode during the day. The device uses a remote trigger to allow a controlled burst of exposure that is carefully calibrated beforehand depending on the available light. The key to his method was his ability to ramp the camera's shutter to blazing fast speeds (upwards of 1/93000) each time the remote trigger is clicked.
Lee, Patrick and I will be in New Orleans this weekend shooting a wedding and would love to grab a drink with any anyone in the area. The meetup starts at 8pm on Sunday March 10 at Loa Bar located at 221 Camp St inside the International House Hotel. We hope to see you all there!
Beginning bright and early tomorrow March 6th, wedding photographer, Jasmine Star will be doing a different type of workshop. hosted by our friends over at creativeLIVE, This is the finale of the 3 part series on how to completely start your photography business from scratch. Be sure to tune in on to learn how to rebrand and recreate your photography business.
Right now on creativeLIVE you can catch 23 year old Ryan Holiday giving away his secrets on how to be smart when it comes to getting free media attention for your business. You might think taking advice from a 23 year old is absurd, but since he landed a job as the marketing director of American Apparel he most have done something right. This course covers a major issue for photographers and we've come to realize we need to get even more creative in the way we market ourselves.
Two years ago, we posted this video from photographer, Sasha Leahovcenco. His mission was to literally travel to the end of the earth to photograph people who never had their photo taken. This March, he and his crew are going back to reach even more people - people who have never even had visitors. Sasha has put his project on Kickstarter to help raise funds for his amazing project.
When major brands build product enhancements or special components, it’s only a matter of time before after-market options with much lower price tags become available. Generally speaking, off-brand products have about a 50/50 chance of being successful or disappointing. With the Nikon MB-D12 grip for the D800 being so highly priced, I took a look at Vello’s after-market model to see if it’s a worthy substitute.
If you've seen the promotional videos for Lee and Patrick's new DVD, How To Become A Professional Commercial Wedding Photographer, several different wedding photographers are interviewed about how they run their wedding business. Being able to have insight into their workflow, their way of thinking when they're shooting is such an amazing opportunity. For the next two days, our friends over at creativeLIVE are offering just that.
