Are photographers artists? This question causes endless debate and, up until now, my answer has always been yes. I've begun re-thinking that answer though, and now my answer is a bit different and, unfortunately, more vague, but I think it may be closer to the truth than my self-aggrandizing, knee-jerk reaction. Now, I believe that photographers are craftsman and, sometimes, artists.
After losing almost my entire photo kit due to blatant stupidity on my part (yay insurance), I was put in the unenviable position of rebuilding a camera system from scratch. Being a portrait photographer, I immediately gravitated towards full-frame bodies. I was close to pulling the trigger on one when it hit me: Why not try a crop sensor? I'm glad I did.
A casual conversation leads to an interesting question. There I was again. Spouting endless drivel at the beginning of a date. Trying desperately to impress her with my chatter. Listening to her and responding with what I hoped were deep and probing questions that both relayed my interest in her personally and required a significantly lengthy response which would provide me the necessary time to catch my breath and subdue my nerve-induced racing heartbeat.
There's something I've always loved about the photography community and in the age of the internet, it's nearly a unique quality: we give constructive feedback and rarely tear in to a photographer unprovoked. It is a welcoming environment that cultivates growth, for the most part. One particular area in which all previously mentioned qualities are magnified many times over, is young photographers. Their successes are fawned over and their mistakes excused, as they should be. Unless, of course, you're called Brooklyn Beckham.
We've all done it. We've rewatched movies that we knew were bad. I watched the 1995 classic "Waterworld" with Kevin Costner two weeks ago. Maybe we do it to reflect on our past or to get in touch with ourselves again to some degree. This video analyzes bad films and why we keep watching the worst movies. Its main argument is that these bad films actually have some intellectual merit. The video focuses on "The Room," which came out in 2003. It's a movie with bad acting, a low budget, and terrible accents and dialogue.
A little handshake can go a long way.
Strobist. Natural light shooter. These words are at two opposite ends of the spectrum of photographer that seem like they're always a hair's breadth away from starting a photographic civil war, both sides preaching their philosophy as if deviation is blasphemy. One side is derided as being "afraid of learning to use flash" and the other side is jeered at for creating "flashy," "fake," or "contrived" images. Both sides seem immovable in their adherence to their preferred light source. Despite this disagreement, a popular saying in photography is, "light is light." So which is it? Is one better and the other worse, are they just preferences or are both sides cutting themselves short?
Video cameras' resolution war has already started. So has the frames-per-second race. Current DSLRs shoot high resolution stills and lower resolution video. What if you can have an 8K video camera that captures both raw stills and raw video in 8K? Would you replace your stills camera with it?
I worry about becoming stagnant. I'm quite sure lots of us share that worry and conversely, most of us will know people who don't have that worry at all. I envy them in many ways; they want an easy life and concentrate on enjoying things. As far as I can tell, that sentiment isn't compatible with self-employment, or if it is, it's so far away on the horizon I can't make it out yet. In my efforts to always grow and always be moving forwards, I invented a minor way to achieve this and I'd like to see if it works for other people.
I'm going to open with a somewhat obvious statement: Women make up roughly 50 percent of the world population. But when it comes to Hollywood, and frankly many other industries, we don't see those numbers reflected. Women In Film, an organization promoting increased roles for women within the entertainment industry, is trying to shed light on this issue through comedy.
Sometimes the who, what, and how is surpassed by the when. Timing can be everything. It’s a fact of life, even if a rather cruel one.
There’s no question that the New York Times photo of James Comey during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, where he detailed his uncomfortable and suspect dealings with President Donald Trump, is going to be one of the iconic ones of our time. There’s also no question about who overwhelmingly seems to dominate the photojournalism field based on this photo: white men.
Photographers tend to bemoan that everyone's seeming belief that they are a photo critic. Event though the vast majority of people aren't really experienced enough or aware enough of what makes a good photo to be taken seriously. This position is often weakened by the fact that even top photographers generally can't agree on what makes a great photo. I'd propose the argument that the average viewer actually is quite aware of what makes a great photo while the nit picks of us pros more often than not have little to do with photographic greatness and more to do with photographic elitism.
As a wedding photographer, we are always looking for new and interesting ways to add to our income. This usually comes in the form of photoshoots, prints, albums, and various types of upgrades, but most wedding photographers seem to be missing out on one of the easiest ways to make more money.
Sometimes 30 seconds can change your life. Has the following story ever happened to you?
With the upcoming release of “Off the Tracks,” a documentary that chronicles the seismic shift that Final Cut Pro X introduced to the video industry in 2011, there been some chatter, even here on Fstoppers, about the video editing software’s place in history. I don’t have any qualms about its place in history: Simply put, it deserved better than what it got, which was heaps of shame, blame, and ultimately denial.
I don't know about you but I've been a little overwhelmed about the power of artificial intelligence and the speed it's replacing jobs that can be automated. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have recently stated that a basic salary should be paid to every citizen in America to make sure that people who have lost their jobs due to automation can keep on their feet and do whatever it is they've always wanted to do.
At what point do we say something is too far? My opinion is that using photography as a medium to gain fame, be it good or bad, isn’t a new thing. But as time goes on, seemingly, these things are lacking in taste more and more.
There's one question photographers should ask themselves everyday, and that is: What did you do today to build your business? Emphasis on the word “today.” Simple words I first heard while taking a business of photography class a few years back from a noted photographer. And while the class itself droned on a bit and may not have been as compelling as I’d initially hoped for, those simple words stuck with me then as they do today.
Bokeh, it’s something that we all love, whether we like to admit it or not. It seems like every other client I work with asks me to "make the background blurry" or tells me "I want everything behind me to be out of focus." The obvious solution would be to shoot wide open, but the truth is, having your aperture wide open can actually have a negative impact on the quality of your image.
There’s an interesting documentary in the works if you’re a video editor. With an obvious pun for the title, "Off the Tracks" interviews professional editors, trainers, and application developers to dig into why Apple made such a shift, when their existing app suite was already successful. I’ll provide some background, but also some editorial commentary below, as I feel like this documentary has potential to either be very interesting or completely pointless.
Perhaps this article is a risk to my career by virtue of being too honest, but it's a subject I have wanted to discuss publicly for some time. In the era where social media is the backbone of perception, it's all too easy to feel you can never measure up. This isn't new information and in fact, it's a rather well-trodden path. Even armed with the knowledge, however, I still feel I walk in to the trap of taking the world that is presented to me as the only facts worth knowing. I want to sacrifice my self-consciousness to do my bit to rectify this.
For just about the past year now, I have been working in real estate and aerial photography. I mainly work with the agents directly and the most important thing for me to do is be able to establish a good relationship with each and every agent I work with. These agents are my clients and I want to be able to keep them as clients so they continue to come back to me for any photo, video, or aerial work they need to market their properties. Within this short little year I have been working, I've dealt with so much and learned more than I ever could have imagined.
When you’re starting out as a photographer, it’s natural to lust after the lenses at the top of the food chain. You know the ones. Sometimes they have red rings around the front, or they are the portrait lens that can obliterate a background. Maybe you want the zoom lens that can survive a monsoon.
As a professional photographer, money is never too far outside of the frame. But even as the budgets and day rates continue to rise, it is important that an artist never forget why it all started in the first place.
Creatives are notorious for being unsatisfied with their work and for that translating to a general unhappiness in life. Hidden in that, though, is a real key to creativity, as long as one can find the proper balance.
As a young, rebellious teenager in love with music and films, I discovered my love of photography when I was handed an old Olympus film camera and I have since fallen deeply in love with the art of photography. Years went by as I experimented with different ways of shooting and discovering new ideas I wanted to pursue in this medium until I finished school and needed to think seriously about what I wanted to do in life. The choice was easy: either become a musician or a photographer.
This year’s Travel Photographer Society (TPS) competition culminated in a beautiful exhibition of interesting and unique work from travel photographers all over the world in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Surrounding the exhibition, TPS also held a series of talks by prominent travel photographers. In his standout presentation and follow-up blog post, Pics of Asia’s Etienne Bossot questions us deeply about the ethics surrounding travel photography and just what constitutes the genre.
I used to always think that in order to take a good picture you needed a good camera. It never mattered how good these phone cameras were or how good they would get, I would always tell myself a photo from my camera is better. In the past few months, I've learned it's not and that the camera on my phone is the one that is always there when I need it. Though it may not be able to capture the photo exactly how I picture it, I am still able to use it to capture photos that are interesting to me without having to carry around an actual camera.
Art is subjective. No matter how many books are written. No matter how many advancements in technology tout how the newest device will turn you overnight into a photographic Picasso. At the end of the day, art comes from you. The individual. It is a reflection of your voice and how you see the world. What are your hopes and dreams? Your fears and obsessions?
Anyone who uses off camera lighting is familiar with the Profoto brand name; the Swedish company has been revolutionizing the market for years, continuously upping the ante with the products they release.
It’s happened to all of us – you’re driving, in a hurry to get to work and you pass by something you see every day and think “I’m going to shoot that." Except that you never do. Just like we’re always told to “stop and smell the flowers,” it’s something that’s also true for photos. Photos exist to show a moment in time – and if you wait too long, that moment will be gone forever.
As a photographer, your tool kit is filled to the brim; Your expensive camera, your collection of lenses, your years of experience, your boundless creativity. But there is one element at the root of it all that is essential to success: optimism.
Today on the Internet, I watched photographers draw analogies between a retouching technique and using nerve gas in warfare. While I stared, aghast at the immaturity, I began to wonder: "What would a customer think of this?"
In today’s world, the quality of work being put out into the creative space is as high as has ever been. Now with the cost of entry being low and the quality of technology being constantly updated, making a name for yourself is getting harder and harder daily. We are always looking for that “edge” as professionals that set us apart from the crowd or that little extra boost of energy needed to finish that late-night editing session. Lucky for us the answer isn't more caffeine (though it never hurts) or something we have to go out and buy. It's as simple as dedicating a few minutes a day to personal fitness.
There’s nothing worse than wrapping up a shoot that you’re really proud of only to have your client tell you that they’re not happy with the final images. If this happens, you really only have two options: either take the time to re-shoot or provide a refund. Either way, there’s about a zero percent chance that you will get a referral from them. By simply sharing your images with your clients on set, you can make sure that everyone is on the same page and you can begin the editing process with peace of mind and confidence that your client is going to be thrilled with your final product.
There is nothing worse than feeling the desire to create something amazing, only to look at the work of other photographers and feel that desire slowly fade into dejection and hopelessness. With the advent of social media, we have more access than ever to the work of our peers.
This will be short, because it has no reason not to be. If I've learned one thing in business over the past seven years of being a full-time professional photographer, it's that you should always, whenever possible, grant your clients some grace.
The film versus digital debate has raged on for over a decade now. Digital cameras are so capable that it seems silly for anyone to go back to an archaic medium like film. Film is slow, expensive (sort of), lacks many game-changing features found in today's digital cameras, and has lower resolution (sort of). But it has some qualities to it that make it an entirely viable medium for working photographers and enthusiasts alike. One of which that I firmly believe in is that it will make you a better photographer.
I'm guilty of it. Are you? Have you ever heard about a cool place nearby, and the photographer inside you can't help but search Google Images for it to see if it's photogenic? Based on a few photos you see that were taken there, you decide right then whether or not it's worth your time to check out. Couldn't this actually be a huge disservice to yourself in the pursuit of creativity?
Being good at photography or filmmaking doesn't automatically lead to a successful business. You have to make yourself known to the world. Making that possible doesn't always require a lot of money. In this article I will share my personal approach to marketing my photography and filmmaking business.
It doesn't matter if you work for an employer or run your own business, having one eye constantly on the jobs market will change your perception of the industry and help your career going forward. Your future self will thank you for this.
Photographers today are the first generation of image makers who are entering an industry completely dominated by social media. Over the course of the last decade, social media has utterly surpassed virtually all other forms of marketing and has quickly become a dominating factor in lives of a huge part of the population, especially photographers. Social media use, however, suffers from some pretty severe implications that can have a limiting factor on the quality of work a photographer creates.
I'm taking a second to reflect on the lessons I learned from working with the legendary Art Streiber. Part one in the series is the benefits of preparation.
As a full-time freelance photographer, we often ask ourselves why we should work for free, especially at the start of our careers. Are we being taken for a ride, or is it worth investing in our client for possible future returns?
If you are like me, and many others, you love photography. It is something you think about constantly and wish it could sustain you full time if at all possible. So you set out to become a photographer and then…
As one of our site's regular film shooters, I naturally tend to post a lot of articles on the subject. Without fail, I'll get a few comments to the effect of digital being so much better than film or vice-versa. I've always laughed off such remarks, but since they keep on coming I figured I'd address them. Maybe the mediums have more in common than some would like to admit.
Who here owns a drone? Who here knows every single minute rule, regulation, and flight path allowed to actually fly it personally or commercially? Probably not very many. As the market grows, we find the FAA expanding rulings and steps to go by to make sure you are being safe and responsible when flying these types of devices. Though, even with all those in place we can still find ourselves with a wild neighbor prepared to shoot the thing straight out of the sky with ease.
Alongside the highly-anticipated a9 announcement, Sony also introduced the FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master telephoto lens. After the initial buzz and excitement over something shiny and new being announced subsided, I began to question why Sony released this lens at this particular time of intense market expansion.
We've all seen the Instagram feeds where people post a daily painting, photo or post that displays their art. I've attempted it and lasted about a month before I missed a day or didn't have the time to post. As inspiration I follow the people who make it though, like the woman who made a paintings for ants and posted them to Instagram every day, and the guy who made a movie poster every day for a year, and then the daily vloggers like Casey Neistat who once posted a video once a day. The determination is what inspires me the most, and seeing the development of that person's skills and the following grow and the success coming from that.
