Fstoppers Original Articles

This is the long and wonderful story of ending up right back where you started.

Nowadays, it seems that every YouTube photography celebrity has a batch of presets that they want you to buy. This begs the question: is it worth handing over your hard-earned cash when you might be better off investing your time rather than your money?

In the six years that I've been using Lightroom, I've never paid for a preset. In the past, I've downloaded a few free packs, clicked laboriously through every preset and decided that they were all useless: blunt tools creating over-edited results and deploying settings that I could easily have achieved myself had I...

In this week's lighting breakdown, I'm going to explain the three-light setup I used to create these striking portraits in studio.

I’ve been working as a full-time professional photographer — meaning that 100 percent of my income is from photography — for over eight years. For the most part, I know what I’m doing. But I still make the time to assist other photographers when I can, and here’s why.

There is a ton of information and so many great resources on how to raise money for a project with crowdfunding these days. So I’m going to skip the tips and show you proven strategies to fund your projects no matter what they are.

Free, fast, multi-platform, and easy to use. PhotoRec is the great data recovery software that I ran after one of my card got corrupted. Here is a short review and tutorial.

If you’re just starting off with marketing yourself and your photography business, building and displaying your portfolio is probably at the top of your to-do list. Here are a few aspects to consider when putting together your initial photography portfolio.

BuzzFeed is a global news organization and entertainment division set on sharing video and content across multiple platforms. You would think they would know a few things about photo rights, but they chose to ignore them.

2018 will be the year of mirrorless cameras, but before ditching your current system and switching to a mirrorless system, you should think twice.

Name brand speedlights — like a lot of things in photography — are absurdly priced, and although they carry the big brand names, they also lack in a number of key areas versus the lower cost, third party alternatives. Take a look at my reasoning for steering clear of the big camera manufactures brand speedlights.

One of the struggles I have as a photographer is knowing how much to edit an image. This became increasingly difficult once editing became a major part of my artistic workflow when shooting landscape photography, so how do I know when a photo is finished?

Staying afloat as a photographer means having several revenue streams. Here are seven ways I had not expected to be paid as a photographer.

Beauty can be a lot of fun to shoot and it’s fun to find different ways to light a face in a flattering way. We might not be perfect in real life, but on camera? On camera we can be as perfect as the lighting setup and editing allows us to be! Magic? No. We still need gorgeous models but a great setup certainly helps.

A perpetual challenge for landscape and travel photographers is capturing original images. One photographer went underground in pursuit of that challenge. His images will inspire you to look deeper on your next photography trip.

It doesn't matter what kind of photography you do, there will be times when an unwanted element in one of your pictures needs to be taken out in Photoshop. Here are six different techniques to use to remove practically anything from your images.

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about copying. It is true that almost everything has been invented or someone has already done it one way or another, but I am still having difficulties thinking about copying as a basis for inspiration for work.

Everyone has an origin story; neither you nor I were born a photographer. I want to know what your photography is about and what your story is so far.

Every photographer out there needs a portfolio, but times have changed, and with digital technology growing at a fast pace, the way people look at our work is changing too. Does this mean that the printed portfolio is dead?

Graphics are international, with photographic ideas and images spreading like wildfire. They speak a universal language, are pan-cultural, yet have their own local meanings and understandings. This sounds like the world of Instagram, 500px, YouTube, and Flickr, but it’s actually 1858, and the Abdullah Frères are setting up their photographic studio in Constantinople.

We all know that Nikon and Canon are fueling up for a big battle for the mirrorless wars, with Nikon firing the first salvo in the form of the Z6 and Z7. But it just does not interest me.

When a photographer is desperate for bookings, an inexperienced business owner will turn to the only option they know of: lowering their prices. Before doing this, you should consider all of the other options you have before deciding to compete with others on price.

As with any first-generation product, there's good and bad when it comes to Nikon's new mirrorless cameras, lenses, and accessories. Here's a little more information about some of the features of the Z6 and Z7 cameras and the system as a whole so you can decide if it's right for you.

[Update]: This is not necessarily Nikon's answer to a completely pro-line mirrorless body (scroll down for update).

Why do we care so much what people think of our photos? Do we shoot for others or do we shoot for ourselves? Does it help us progress by having strangers or even people we know comment on our photos? What about formal reviews by so-called experts?

The wedding photography industry can be described in one way: over-saturated. With this in mind, it can be an overwhelming and discouraging thought to stick out from the crowd. However, creating a niche for yourself is a surefire way to get seen by more clients.

Are you on Instagram? Yes? Do you want to learn more about good lighting and technology used to create beautiful images? Of course you do. Go follow the ASC.

Pet photography is as popular as ever right now, as more and more people become pet owners. In fact, according to a recent survey by American Pet Products Association, nearly 80 million American households have pets.

It is no secret that “bad” weather provides great opportunities for moody, dramatic and atmospheric landscape photos. In this article, I will share a few important tips for photographing in such weather.

As more and more photographers are starting to dabble into video, the need for versatile yet affordable constant lighting gear is ever changing. Today I test the new Boling BL-50 lights to see if they could be the best bang for the buck.

In this week's lighting breakdown, I'm going to explain why and how I used a flash outdoors during midday to create this fun, casual portrait.

As any filmmaker knows, time is money. Falling behind on a project doesn’t just put a dent in your schedule, it can also put a dent in your income. That's why it’s so important that you have some time-saving strategies up your sleeve to ensure that if some unforeseen delay occurs, you have the ability to steer your project back on course.

Given the choice to bring one accessory when shooting landscapes, it absolutely needs to be a circular polarizer and this is why.

When photographing interiors, flash is your friend, but a friend who needs some management. While flash brightens rooms, reduces glare, and brings out true colors, it can also produce the frustrating issue of ugly shadows.

Most photographers are familiar with using a neutral density filter to create dreamy, long exposure photographs, but should you use a neutral density filter when shooting time-lapses too? In today's video, I explore why using a 10-stop ND filter might be perfect for more than just still photography.

Over the years, I’ve acquired an interesting array of “tools” that I use for setting up and maintaining my underwater camera housing. I wish I had known earlier about some of the items I travel with, as they have made my life quite a bit easier. Most of what I carry with me has been a result of trial and error, and I’d like to pass along that information to any budding underwater photographers out there.

Let’s talk some more about photographing motocross, and this time, let’s get down to the technical aspect of photographing this great sport. Don’t worry, you don’t need lots of expensive gear to get decent photographs, especially if you are shooting at your local track.

I had to deal with a problem, when the video editor's processed footage looked great, but once exported and uploaded on YouTube, it looked dull and desaturated.

Too often, we think of our personal or professional failures as something that will negatively impact us for a long time and others will judge or look down on us for, when in reality, these mistakes and failures are what help us grow.

For photographers, taking pictures comes naturally. Marketing, creating content, and blogging, however, may not flow as easily. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing when creating content for your blog.

With all the excitement in recent weeks about the release of the new Nikon mirrorless camera and its homage to the history of a great camera company, I thought I would take a moment to look back at the evolution of the Fujifilm X100 series into its current form and talk about why it still isn’t truly a mature camera.

I’ve had the fortune of being let loose with a high-end Phase One medium format full frame digital camera; here is what I learned.

While the Perseid Meteor Shower was putting on a show earlier this week, I was fast asleep. Luckily for all of us, a lot of talented photographers planned ahead and captured some great photos.

All I’ll say, is that I owned the original a7 and it kinda sucked. Is Nikon going to get it right the “first” time? Or will next week's supposed announcement of the Z-series cameras begin a long cycle of trying to one up themselves while trying to keep up with the major mirrorless players?

Making a photograph can be a painstaking process involving location scouting, test shots, lighting setups, model releases and so much more, depending on your subject. However, some subjects — such as wildlife, children, sporting events, and such — require a photographer to be much more nimble. That's why I try to follow a few simple rules to be ready for when that unexpected magic moment arrives.

Artists invariably love color, and artists using camera mediums are no different. However, for photographers and videographers, there is a foundational element of color in our work that is too often neglected: color management.

Mirrorless cameras may well be the future, but I'm not buying the hype that they're revolutionary. Not yet anyway.

Nikon will officially announce its new Z mount full frame mirrorless system in a few days while Canon and Sony are expected to follow with major product release. Meanwhile, DJI should unveil a new version of the Mavic Pro.

I love photographing actions sports like surfing, skateboarding, cycling, MTB, and of course motocross and Supercross. Motocross and its cousin Supercross are great sports to photograph and are easy for fans with cameras to get close to the action. Read this first article of a three article series to get some tips to make your first outing or your hundredth outing a little more rewarding.

Most of you might be saying: "you're nuts! Haven’t you been sailing? Luxury car driving? Golfing all over the place?" And luckily, I have, and let me tell you, photography is the most expensive sport I have ever practiced.

Though Adobe Photoshop CS6 came out more than six years ago, there are a good many people still using it in 2018. Some don’t need to upgrade, others can’t afford the monthly fee, and still others refuse to buy into the software as a service model.

The art of photography can mean a lot of different things but no matter what it means to you, the fact is that what we know as photography is the product of an endless journey of experimentation from artists all over the world.