When working with models, you’re often plagued with the idea of trade shoots and working for free. You could blame the hobbyist, the models mentality, or just the nature of that industry. Regardless, it can be discouraging for those who are trying to make a living with photography. Through discouragement, Todd Merrifield has developed a set of forms and diagrams, helping those to determine paid vs free work. [more]
Denver photographer Michael Sasser got some attention when this behind the scenes video showed how a simple setup could produce some great portraits. He dropped a new video, so I reconnected with him to see what he has been working on. Turns out he has a new slow-motion video camera, and is now offering video production to clients. This video will give you a taste of one of his shoots, and in the interview Michael shares some insight on his methods, gear, and experiences. [more]
Are you interested in adding food photography to your portfolio, but don’t know where to start? Don’t be intimidated. Yes, you can spend a lot of money on expensive lighting equipment, lenses and cameras, but these aren’t necessary to make a beautiful food image. If you are a portrait photographer, landscape photographer, sports photographer, or an expert instagrammer, you can use the gear you already have to make beautiful images of your food! [more]
Guest writer, Adrienne Erin is an amateur photographer/designer and freelance writer who does social media marketing and has found that Pinterest is a fantastic social space to market a photo business, given the visual nature of the platform. She has shared 5 simple steps at how to get started on Pinterest.
Pinterest is the most visual of the emerging social media platforms, and this makes it an ideal platform for a photography business looking to reach new clients. If you’re unfamiliar with Pinterest, it serves as a sort of virtual pinboard. [more]
Jonathan Smith is a chemist from Indiana who captures colorful light bulbs exploding at high speeds. Smith recently told Flickr in an interview “I needed something to balance out the analytical part of my brain, something that I could control and have fun doing.”
Smith packs the light bulbs with everything from feathers, ball barrings, marbles, chalk dust, sprinkles, flower peddles and even beer bottle caps. The bottom of the bulbs [more]
Have you ever wondered how dance companies and productions get those amazing photographs of their artists in perfectly posed dance stances? Well, Benjamin Von Wong has recently thrown some light over the intricate process of lighting and shooting a complex dance campaign. [more]
Camera theft is always a concern to photographers. Unlike many electronics that connect to the internet or cellular service, cameras that are stolen are inevitably gone forever. There is no deactivating, no locking, and no real recovery methods (CameraTrace & Stolen Camera Finder aren’t perfect). However, Nikon is looking to change this, with password protection of your gear. [more]
Ryan Moore is a professional retoucher. He recently wrote a list of five tips that can help save your client time and money. Saving time and money doesn’t just benefit the client. It also lays a firm foundation for an ongoing relationship between the photographer and the client.
According to Moore, “there are many contributing factors in a modern day retail campaign, [more]
We can all be a little shy: it’s not the easiest thing to go up to a stranger and start taking pictures or strike up a conversation. Adam Marelli had an interesting post on his blog called, Can I Take Your Picture, How to Talk to Strangers, in which he discusses how most people are okay with being photographed if you just take the time to talk with them. He even argues that you should always talk to a stranger you’re about to photograph first. But are there exceptions? [more]
Author Dan Ariely gave an interesting talk on motivation and how to feel good about our work at TEDx Rio de la Plata. Ariely suggests that it isn’t money that truly motivates us, but meaning. Ariely believes this is the difference between those that love what they do and those that don’t. Through a series of experiments Ariely shows how much we actually value meaning in our work. No, the talk doesn’t specifically [more]
I’m sure most of us would love the opportunity to view the northern lights. Well some of you might be in luck. Due to a solar flare this morning some parts of the world might have the chance to see this phenomenon. The lights are estimated to be seen around 8pm but can differ up to several hours. Read on for more details. [more]
A few years ago I set out to do something I had never seen done with my own wakeboard studio shoot. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Patrick Rochon‘s unique take on the sport for this year’s Red Bull’s Illume contest. The behind the scenes video speaks for itself and the resulting light painting photographs are pretty interesting. Check out a few of the outtake photos [more]
The ‘Slow Mo Guys‘ are no strangers to Fstoppers. Anyone that uses a Phantom at extremely high FPS and breaks stuff or blows stuff up in HD has a pretty good shot of me posting their videos. I love being able to see things happen in such a different way than what we are used to, and this video is no exception. Low production value, messy backdrop, terrible lighting … still awesome! Enjoy!
500px took the industry by storm in 2010 when it was released to the public. It seemed to have all the best parts about flickr, without the messiness. Since then, it has grown to be among the most popular portfolio websites available for photographers, and they’re about to do another overhaul, at a price of course. [more]
Photographer David duChemin posted a pretty provocative rant on his blog yesterday. This rant needs a warning, though: COPYRIGHT LAWS MATTER, and SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO FIGHT FOR UNFAIR USAGE OF YOUR IMAGES.
That being said, this isn’t an opinion that is going to be agreed with by everyone. Some are going to support it, and some are going to hate it. [more]
