Fstoppers Original Articles

Using a polarizer in landscape photography is often advised. And with reason: colors will be enhanced, reflections in water and on the leaves can be removed, and skies can turn deep blue. But it is not advisable to use a polarizer as a standard filter, because there are situations when it can turn against you.

The Fstoppers community is full of talented photographers producing images beyond the average photographer’s capabilities. When you view them all together in a gallery, there are certain things that make excellent photographs stand out beyond the mass of above-average images being shared regularly. Here’re a few of the things that catch my eye.

Landscape photography used to be about discovering new places and creating incredible images that no one had seen before. Nowadays, it feels like it's more about checking the location tag of something spotted on Instagram and photographing a scene that has already been shot to death.

I suspect that many of you can relate when I say that Flickr will always hold a special place in my heart. When I think about the photo-sharing platform founded in 2004, I am filled with nostalgia of a time when things were simpler and arguably better for photographers looking to share their work and find a community of like-minded creatives.

Making the jump from amateur to professional photographer can be both an exciting and scary thing, and it’s important to know how to do everything correctly. Make sure you do all these things before you open for business.

At the beginning of October, I challenged photographers to make amazing photographs using only a flashlight, and the winning image is a testament to the creativity of the Fstoppers community.

A chilly September morning. The crispness in the air added weight to the solemn moment. My composition was all figured out. I patiently waited for the final elements to come into place.

Running a photography business can be a lonely job. When you take the plunge into running a small business full-time, you quickly realize how solitary the work can be. Here’s why it’s so important to meet and build relationships with other photographers.

A little over a month ago, I got married. Now that the dust has settled, I thought I might share some realizations I had from being on the other side of the camera lens for a change.

When it comes to liquify, less is usually best. Unless you have a model or client who specifically asks for heavy shaping, chances are you are going to have an unhappy client if this tool is overly used.

It doesn’t always take expensive equipment to make big changes to the mood of a shot. Here are a couple ways I found to improve my portraits with a tool I didn’t so much buy as I found laying in the trash.

There is a lot of debate within the photo community on the importance of a social media presence. As social media has increasingly evolved as an essential in daily life, it’s time for photographers to stop fighting against the current. No matter your niche, there is value in participating in an online presence. Instagram is a particularly important tool for photographers to generate leads.

If the majority of what we and our clients see online are beautiful couples' portraits, is there a place for reportage wedding photographers, and how would you step into it?

It’s an awfully exciting time to be a creative, as the tools we use are becoming more portable, more powerful, and more connected. Fstoppers sat down with Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, and Scott Belsky, Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud, to discuss how new tools are empowering creatives and where the future will take us.

Whenever a new iPhone is released, we start to see comparisons being made against "proper" cameras. Generally speaking, these comparisons are met with some hostility and the most frequent comment I see is about how iPhones will never replace proper cameras. I wonder, would it be a good thing if smartphones actually did replace our cameras?

Using your personal interests and hobbies can be a great way to create a stock photography niche that is both creatively and financially rewarding.

Lenses are primordial, yet many photographers tend to attach mediocre entry-level zoom glasses on their camera when there are plenty of affordable quality lenses on the market. Here is a personal selection of some of the best optics that can be found under $300.

By now, no one is surprised by the actions of reality television star, Kim Kardashian-West. With such a massive following on social media, it seems like she could wipe her rear, post the paper on Instagram and we'd have an instant Instagram hit. After all, art is subjective, right? Were the images she used in her recent campaign to launch her newest line of perfume used in good taste, or was the advertising concept a fail supported by her massive... following?

When someone asks me how long I’ve been doing photography, it’s a complicated question. I worked in the film industry for years and still do. Many of those concepts and techniques are directly translatable — composition, exposure, color, etc. I fooled around with photos, but I didn’t really start photography, putting my life on a whole new path, until someone told me not to.

In this article, go behind the scenes on a year-long photo project, a "Century of Portraits," and see what it took to make this ambitious series a reality.

Yes, you read that correctly. But before I’m berated in the comments section, let me explain how this has worked for me.

"Laughter is the best medicine," they say. Find out how I used photography and laughter to overcome feelings of sadness in this photo series called "The Beauty of Laughter."

Capture One is regarded as one of if not the best pieces of raw-developing software available for professional photographers. Image quality resulting from Capture One processing is undoubtedly among the industry leaders, but the software itself could use some updates to make it the absolute gold-standard for raw developing and digital asset management.

It turns out that every different kind of paper out there isn't going to be the right choice for every shot that you have. Sometimes, you'll make the wrong choice and the content won't make sense on the type of paper.

Running a business always entails risk, and photography businesses are no exception. Let's explore the various financial challenges we face and ways we can protect ourselves and our livelihood.

Whether you are a professional or an amateur, you will eventually be asked to work on a project in an area of the industry you are not so familiar with. Assuming you are technically savvy, would you accept the challenge?

The Eyemore S1 was supposed to be the next big thing in mobile filmmaking. Instead, it's one of the worst video cameras I've ever tested.

Televisions are not only a great place to view horror, but they have also played a key role in a number of scary films over the years from Poltergeist to The Ring. See how an artist has tapped directly into our psyche with some truly chilling imagery created using a series of analog devices to create the effects.

Throughout the course of my creative career, I’ve overdrawn my bank account a lot, shed tears over stress, and stared in the mirror for hours in dejection. I’ve made my share of professional and personal mistakes and certainly learned the hard way from all of those choices. I’ve lost, I’ve won, I’ve sacrificed, and I’m blessed to have earned.

A few days ago, I decided to challenge myself by attempting to photograph a toy car and make it look real.

When Melissa Ngo stepped out onto Taft Point in Yosemite National Park with her fiancee, Charlie Vo, and saw him drop to one knee, present her with a Ring Pop, and ask for her hand in marriage, she was shocked — probably because they’d been engaged since February. She was shocked once again a couple weeks later when Vo asked her to confirm they were, in fact, the mystery couple captured in photographer Matthew Dippel’s viral photo that recently gained worldwide attention.

Perhaps you’re like I was one week prior to the writing this – a West Coast native who had only gone as far as making assumptions about one of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere – New York City. I’m back in the Arizona desert where I call home after attending PDN PhotoPlus Expo 2018 and I brought back an importantly refreshed outlook on myself and my career in photography.

When taking a portrait of an artist, I find it is always a good idea to try and tell the story of the artist through the image. If someone is a musician, the aesthetic of a photograph should help you understand the type of music they play. Similarly, if someone is a drag queen – I try to photograph them in a way viewers can instantly ‘get’ their character. Join me behind the scenes in photographing Mango Sassi, a Drag Queen from Toronto, ON, and have a look into what it can take to create a collaborative image!

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2018, we're featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

The pain came on like a sharp knife digging into my back. In a moment, years of lifting heavy lenses and avoiding exercise caught up with me and I couldn’t move.

Atomos debuted its five inch monitor and recorder a few months back, but the problem was that a regular SSD is be slightly too big for it. So how much will a full set up actually cost you?

Are you a photographer or writer looking to upgrade your on-camera audio for basic video clips and interviews? Check out some basic hardware and software essentials to improve your basic audio workflow for transcribing interviews and simple video clips.

Every couple weeks we release a new episode of Critique the Community where Fstoppers members can submit their best images to a genre specific contest for a chance to receive feedback and win a free Fstoppers original tutorial. This week, we changed things up and selected only 5 star images to discuss.

Knock on wood, but I walked outside this morning following the Halloween holiday and there were no smashed eggs, no toilet paper covering my trees, and about a hundred notifications on my phone from community members who had already downloaded the Halloween portraits I had taken for them.

Ten years ago, I attended my first PhotoPlus Expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. No other event each year brings as much opportunity to learn, check out new gear, speak with other photographers, editors, manufacturers, meeting folks outside of the matrix of social media. Here's a brief round-up of the 2018 PhotoPlus Expo from a different take than simply the latest gear.

While Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz face off for Texas' Senate seat in one of the fiercest battles of the midterm elections, one man has been able to photograph Rep. O'Rourke throughout the campaign.

As a street photographer, how far do you go to engage with strangers? Crash Taylor, currently a UK based photographer, not only asks strangers to pose for a portrait but also asks to reveal their deepest wish. Find out how he does it!

With a show of hands, how many of you have practiced long exposure photography using your camera and some neutral density (ND) filters? Whoa, that's a lot! Now, how many of you have practiced this type of photography with your mobile phone?

What are the differences between a traditional SSD and a NVMe drive? Should I upgrade to NVMe? Which model should I pick? What are the main specifications? What about the new Intel Optane? Here is a detailed explanation to understand the advantages, weaknesses, and differences of these storage technologies.

Lament a lowlife that lurches and lurks the local lanes, and I'll let loose a listless laugh. But tell me tales of a memory card formatting itself in the middle of a wedding and I'll hide behind the proverbial sofa, toes curled in fright.

We've been working on "Photographing The World 4 with Elia Locardi" for a year and a half, and it's finally complete. I'm excited to say that the tutorial is now available, and the first episode of the behind the scenes series is live as well.

This year, my kids have plans for Halloween that don’t require me to be there. Instead of sitting by my front door, passing out tooth decay and diabetes wrapped in a pretty package (candy), I’m going to give my community portraits instead.

Hiring a professional makeup artist for your studio can be a daunting task, but one that can be rewarding when it comes to client satisfaction. In the second half of this two-part interview, we will delve a little more into what we, as photographers, should be looking for when we set out to hire a makeup artist for our own studios.

Today, we are excited to announce the newest adventure in Elia Locardi's Photographing the World series. Welcome to Photographing the World 4!

If you’re anything like me, you spend half your time fighting for new business and the other half fighting your urge to spend the money you make from new business on gear. So, for a bit of fun, today I thought I’d share my own personal, self-directed pep talk whenever I feel the urge to splurge.