Lightroom is one of the most popular programs for editing your photos, and it is surprisingly powerful, able to tackle a wide range of edits entirely by itself. If you are new to photography and working in Lightroom, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you the ins and outs of working in the program through a portrait edit.
Nothing is more frustrating than having the wrong camera settings, especially during decisive moments. These images are probably beyond recovery. That’s why you have to check the camera setting every single time you go out. Just assume the settings are wrong. Always.
As a portrait photographer, learning how to work with artificial light will enable far more creative exploration and free you from needing to rely on certain times of day, locations, and conditions. The best place to start is with a single light. This great video tutorial will show you the ins and outs of working with a single speedlight and how to use it to create a professional-level portrait.
While things like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are quantifiable, and thus, easy to discuss, composition is both qualitative and a bit more nebulous and thus, a bit harder to nail down. If composition is something you struggle with in your work, check out this great video tutorial that will show you six common composition mistakes photographers make and how to fix them to improve your images.
Landscape photography is one of the most popular genres out there, and finding success in it takes a combination of good technique, creative vision, the ability to work with changing and often unpredictable conditions, and often, a smidgen of luck. If you would like to improve your landscape photography, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced landscape photographer sharing some very helpful advice.
In our biggest FAQ about product photography yet, we discuss some of the most common questions a photographer at any skill level might have, from simple ones about settings to complex ones about the type of reflection a leather surface produces under hard light. This article was created to help you create better product images.
The sky is an integral part of just about any landscape photograph, and as such, it deserves a healthy dose of your attention during the editing process. If you would like to improve your landscape images, check out this excellent video tutorial that will show you three different ways to adjust the sky using Photoshop or Lightroom.
A lower ISO means less noise, greater dynamic range, and better image quality. As such, a lower ISO is almost always preferable — almost. ISO is only one of the three exposure parameters, and if you do not consider it in tandem with them, it can seriously affect your image quality. This excellent video tutorial will show you why you should not be afraid to raise your ISO when the situation calls for it.
2023 is the year of AI, and the industry is exploding with a wide range of tools that can make your life easier, whether that is through editing, running your business, or other tasks. This excellent video tutorial will show you five such tools you should consider taking advantage of to save time and improve the quality of your images.
A fundamental lesson in photography is the exposure triangle. Learning about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture is something all photographers should do.
The awesome thing about shooting portraiture in a city is that there are so many options for locations and looks, meaning you can easily create a large volume of worthwhile images in the span of just an afternoon. If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the options and wondering what some of the best locations are, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you five of the best spots for your next shoot.
Sunset portraits are a timeless look that will always be appreciated by a lot of clients, and adding a bit of artificial light can help both to balance the exposure and to add a bit of creative flair that can really take the image to the next level. If you are new to working with artificial light, check out this great video tutorial that will show you how to combine a speedlight with a sunset to create compelling and eye-catching portraits.
When you think of compelling landscape imagery, you probably imagine rays of dramatic golden sun cascading across the scene, and while that can make for fantastic images, it certainly is not the only kind of light that makes for worthwhile photos. Flat light can be particularly nice for a range of shots, and this great video tutorial will show you both why it is useful and how to take advantage of it.
Today, we’re talking websites. What are the dos and what are the don’ts?
Rarely is a landscape photo finished when you take the shot; most such images require some level of editing to create the finished product. If you are new to landscape photography and interested in improving your work, check out this fantastic video tutorial that discusses some of the most common landscape photography editing mistakes and what you can do to avoid or fix them.
The beach and a good sunset make for a fantastic combination and a timeless look. There are several ways to approach such a shot, and it takes some careful technique to deal with some often tricky issues, such as large dynamic range. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer sharing a range of helpful advice on when and how to take the photo along with how to post-process it for the best results.
Pets are some of our closest companions, and even if you do not want to photograph them professionally, knowing how to capture them well can help you create wonderful memories that you will treasure for years to come. If you want to improve your pet photography, check out this helpful video tutorial that will give you a wide range of useful advice sure to improve your images.
Though the words only differ by a single letter, the difference between making and taking an image could not be more immense. One is a passive approach meant to capture what occurs in front of the camera should something interesting cross its view, while the other is an active engagement in the creative process that draws on the technique, imagination, and foresight of the photographer. This great video takes you behind the scenes of a stunning wildlife image to show you the difference and why it matters.
A creative and well-executed edit can take a modest snapshot and turn it into an eye-catching image. Lightroom's new masking features contain some impressively powerful tools that allow you to quickly and accurately select and edit different parts of your image, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to take advantage of them to create a moody, dark-toned edit that helps your subject pop out from that atmosphere.
Though it fell out of use for a while, the Fresnel lens has regained popularity for portraiture work, where it can provide a sharp and impactful light quality that is still flattering on the subject's facial features. If you have not used a Fresnel before and want to learn how to employ one to create compelling portraits, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know.
Lightroom is one of the most popular photo-editing programs. We talk a lot about the library module and the develop module. The other available modules are almost never mentioned. What are these modules? But more important, are these useful?
Learning how to create good headshots is no easy task. With so much advice on the internet available, it can be hard finding a good place to learn professional headshot photography. This is why we here at Fstoppers created this comprehensive article that answers some of the most frequently asked questions.
When you use a wide angle lens, you can fit so many things in the frame, it can be difficult knowing what you should include and what you shouldn't. Here, we take a look at one simple composition technique you can use to enhance your wide angle photography skills.
There are a lot of common rules about portrait photography, but rules are meant to be broken, and one photographer shares how he does that in a meaningful way after shooting more than 100,000 portraits.
Manual mode can be a bit intimidating to a lot of new photographers, but learning how and when to use it will make you a better shooter and give you far more creative control over your images. This helpful video tutorial will show you the ins and outs of manual mode and how to use it to create technically correct and creatively inspired photos.
If you’re relying solely on cloud-based storage alone such as Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, etc., stop! This is a disaster if you’re a professional or a semi-pro photographer. Allow me to explain why.
While many professionals employ the use of complex setups consisting of multiple lights, even just a single source can create vivid and compelling images when in the right hands. This excellent video tutorial will take you behind the scenes to show you how a photographer shot a striking series of full-body portraits using just one light.
Reading is what? FUN-damental! Ok, my bad dad joke aside, books are a great way to gain a deeper perspective on a topic from those making great strides within a field.
This is the video I've been waiting for! SEO is the bane of my life. If I'm being honest, I don't really understand it. Being 48 and a photographer for almost 16 years, I have a good knowledge of my job-related skills and what it means to be able to capture a great photograph. However, I, as I suspect like a lot of photographers, know just enough about social media, websites, and SEO to be dangerous. This video outlines what it takes to get to the top of Google in 2023 and where to go to get more information about the subject.
Besides composition, choosing the correct exposure is essential for your photography. Achieving that requires understanding how metering works and how to control the camera's settings. It's here that some cameras excel and others let you down.
If you enjoy taking photographs at night and want to experiment with different techniques, this is the video for you. Here are 5 slow shutter speed tricks to get some great-looking images after dark.
As advanced as editing tools have become in recent years, dodging and burning remains as one of the most fundamental and powerful techniques for shaping the light in your images, de-emphasizing blemishes, and drawing attention to your subject in a natural but compelling fashion. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to use dodging and burning for editing portraits in Photoshop.
When it comes to learning lighting, we often focus on how to light the subject in a flattering way, but of course, the backdrop deserves attention too. It is about more than just getting the exposure on the background right, however. With a bit of know-how, you can drastically alter the appearance of the background just by how you place your subject and source relative to it. This great video tutorial will show you how to adjust your lighting to take full control of the appearance of your backdrop.
Both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines now feature M2 chipsets, and as such, they all offer powerful performance in tandem with impressively long battery life. Nonetheless, there are many distinguishing features between them. So, which is right for your needs? This great video comparison pits the M2 MacBook Air against the M2 Pro MacBook Pro to help you decide which to get.
In this video, Glyn Dewis effortlessly explains how he manages to capture the iconic Prince of Wales bridge spanning the border between Wales and England. As a proud Welshman, this was intriguing to me, and as a photographer this is engaging and really shows the potential that mobile technology has to be able to improve the availability and quality of immediate photography.
As a headshot photographer, it's your job to make sure your clients look their best. However, taking the perfect studio headshot isn't just about lighting and composition. It's also about understanding your client's needs and making them feel comfortable in front of the camera.
Lightroom for lefties? No problem. Adobe's latest update is designed to make Lightroom Mobile more accessible for everyone. Glyn Dewis shows us what to do if you're a left-handed user in Adobe's Lightroom and Photoshop.
One of the challenges of wedding photography is that you are on a tight timeline, and if conditions are not flattering or conducive to portraiture, you have no choice but to power through them and still create the best images you can. So, what can you do when the big day presents with harsh, hard light? This excellent video tutorial features an experienced wedding photographer showing you how she handles harsh light to still create flattering, memorable images.
If you look at the work of top photographers, you might be fooled into thinking that the only way to create professional images is through the use of complex setups with several lights. However, you might be pleased and surprised to discover that you can create compelling portraits with just a single light, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you everything you need to know.
Our allegiance to the big camera companies is weird, isn't it? Sometimes, it's a real badge of honor. Other times, well, I'm a little "meh" about the whole thing. Nikon reds pitched up against Canon reds, in a technical tug-of-war? Stripped to the waist and battling it out to the death? Side-by-side comparisons and sensor wars? Not for me, my friend. If you think I'm going to type out 300+ words on as painfully contrived a topic as Canon versus Nikon, you're wrong. Kind of.
The term "boudoir photography" brings to mind scenes along the lines of a woman dressed in lingerie, standing near a window, adjusting her attire. Perhaps we imagine a woman who is partially nude lying on a bed. However, this interpretation of boudoir photography does not have to be the only way this genre is defined. If you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and expand your interpretation of what a boudoir session looks like, you may be able to dramatically increase your clientele and sales.
When it comes to landscape photography, wide angle lenses are the most frequently chosen tools, but they can be particularly challenging to work with. If you are new to landscape photography and wondering how to best handle a wide angle lens, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced landscape photographer sharing useful tips and techniques and a lot of examples images sure to help you improve your photos.
The beauty of macro photography is that you do not have to travel, book a model, or do anything involved to produce fantastic and compelling work. We are literally surrounded by potential subjects everywhere we go, and with a little bit of knowledge and patience, you can capture an entirely different world hidden in plain sight. If you are new to macro photography, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you everything you need to get started.
ISO can be used as a tool to adjust exposure, and you can even use an automatic ISO setting. I’ll explain how you can use auto ISO in the best possible way.
Landscape photography is a challenging genre that takes a combination of strong camera technique, planning, the ability to predict conditions, good post-processing skills, and often, just a bit of luck. If you are new to landscape photography and looking to improve, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced landscape photographer discussing six common mistakes and how to fix them or avoid them altogether.
Here are some helpful tips on camera settings that you should use to capture crisp movement in the studio. I made a detailed video, but here is a breakdown of the settings you need to understand to keep your images sharp.
It seems like a strange thing to say, but many people actually prefer to shoot using their rear LCDs. On the other hand, viewfinders have a lot of advantages over their rear screen counterparts, and if you do not use yours, it is worth reconsidering it, and this great video tutorial will show you many of the benefits you can get from a viewfinder.
Running a photography business is a challenging thing that requires a wide range of skills that go well beyond your ability to work with a camera. Whether you are new to running a photo business or a seasoned professional, this excellent video tutorial will show you seven common mistakes that can derail your business and how to fix them or avoid them altogether in the first place.
Along with the umbrella, the softbox is one of the most affordable, versatile, and important light modifiers. Thus, every photographer who is learning to work with artificial light should spend some working with softboxes and learning how to use them to their full potential. This fantastic video tutorial will show you everything you need to know about them, including shape, size, rendering, and more.
Pursuing photography in the modern world, whether as an amateur or professional, is a tricky and complex thing full of many pitfalls that can derail your development and success as a creative. This great video essay discusses one of the most common traps photographers fall into, how to recognize it, and what you can do to avoid it or break out of it.
