Backlit portraits can be a fantastic way to add drama and visual interest to a photo, but they also require some special considerations to get the effect you want and to maintain the best possible image quality. If you would like to improve your backlit portraits, check out this great video tutorial that features five excellent tips to help you get your photos just right.

Creating a successful portrait photograph takes knowledge of lighting, posing, proper camera settings, and a lot more. A good composition brings it all together, though with a person as the main focus, you have to make some special considerations. This helpful video tutorial discusses seven common mistakes photographers make when composing portrait images and how to fix them or avoid them entirely in the first place.

It's time to be honest with yourself. It's time to ask some hard questions about your work and answer them straightforwardly, even if you hurt your own feelings. Grab a pen and paper, drop your ego, and tackle these questions.

There's no getting away from it, social media is both important and ever-changing. One way you can keep up and generate a bigger following is by creating short-form videos and this little camera is great for that.

Adding artificial light to your natural light scene is a relatively simple technique that you can use to create an image that depicts the scene more dramatically than it appeared to your eyes when you were there.

Andrew Interisano, a digital advertising specialist and an amateur photographer, has won Picfair's Urban Wildlife Photography Awards. Scroll to see all of the category winners! Of note, all of Picfair's profits on winners print sales will go to global conservation non-profit Re:Wild.

What a time to be alive for photography! Advances in technology, combined with reduction in pricing and the “gear wars” that brands wage against each other continue to make image-making hardware of the highest quality more and more accessible to the every person. This market process continues to make it possible for us to minimize sacrifices in image quality we once made when shooting in less than optimal conditions.

The default behavior of pretty much every camera is to activate autofocus through a half-press of the shutter button. This works perfectly well for most scenarios, but you can often improve your experience and hit rate by using a different method: back-button autofocus. This helpful video will show you why it is so useful and how to take advantage of it.

You’ve received an enquiry from a potential new client and you’re looking forward to booking them in. Here are five questions to ask on your discovery call to make sure you understand what the client needs and that you can quote for the job accurately.

Summer is here, and many wildflowers are in full bloom, making it a great time to grab your camera and head out to enjoy the warm weather and photo opportunities. If you want to improve your wildflower images, check out this fantastic video tutorial that offers some helpful tips and also discusses some common mistakes and how to fix or avoid them in the first place.

A 35mm lens with a wide maximum aperture is one of the most versatile a photographer can have in their bag, offering a wide but relatively neutral focal length in tandem with the ability to leverage narrow depth of field or work in low-light situations. For Sony shooters looking for the best of the best, there is the FE 35mm f/1.4 GM, and this great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it.

You probably have one or more camera bags for transporting your camera equipment. A shoulder bag, a backpack, perhaps a trolley. Do you place your camera in your bag with or without a lens attached? Or does it depend on how you use your camera bag?

Lightroom is more powerful than ever before, and it is entirely possible to edit a landscape photo from start to finish without having to switch over to Photoshop. If you would like to learn how to do so and pick up some useful tips along the way, check out this great video tutorial that will show you one such edit done entirely within Lightroom.

Perhaps no camera brand generates stronger opinions than Leica, with some photographers absolutely swearing by the equipment and experience and others seeing it as overpriced niche gear. Just like any other brand, there are good and bad aspects of using Leica cameras and lenses. This interesting video essay examines the company's lines as they stand in 2022, what they are doing right, and what could be improved.

While browsing through various photo-sharing platforms, you might get the impression that everything has already been photographed. After all, millions of photos get uploaded each day to Instagram alone. But if you take a closer look, you'll see a lot of repetition. Many photos show the same places, the same compositions, and often similar light and editing. Even today, it's possible to discover new photo spots. In this article, I show you my favorite way to do so.

Being new to photography can be a bit daunting, as you have to build a variety of technical and creative skills simultaneously in order to create competent and compelling images. This helpful video tutorial discusses five common mistakes new photographers make and what you can do to fix them or avoid them altogether in the first place.

Depth of field is one of the most fundamental and powerful tools a photographer has at their disposal, and as such, mastering it is crucial to taking full technical and creative control of your images. If you are new to photography and wondering about how depth of field works, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know.

Sometimes, two is better than one when it comes to gear purchases.

Ever since the release of the RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM, Canon has had the pedal to the floor when it comes to lens development, and it seems the company has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. The company is planning the release of another lens later this year that will be an update of one of their hidden gems.

Tamron makes some fantastically affordable yet high-quality lenses, but perhaps no lens in their lineup offers more bang for the buck than the 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2, which comes in at just $199. Despite that exceedingly modest price, the 35mm f/2.8 is a particularly versatile lens, and this great video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

The Gitzo Systematic Carbon Fiber tripods are known for a few things: reliability, stability, and price. The build quality, weight capacity, and overall feel of the tripod are great. The price bites. So, is the price justified? Let’s dive in and see.

Here comes the shock: you can get extremely sharp photos with cheap gear. Let’s have a look at what sharpness is and how we can improve it.

Color psychology is one of the most important theories to understand as a photographer. But why is it such a powerful tool for influencing perception?

Your portfolio is your calling card, and as such, it requires a lot of careful thought and care when you are putting it together. If you are looking to build yours into one that attracts clients, check out this helpful video tutorial that discusses five tips sure to put you on the right track to an effective portfolio.

Calling raw handling software a "Lightroom Killer" is a cliche. Nevertheless, this powerful suite of tools is starting to overshadow the Adobe Photographer's Plan. It is now posing a real challenge to Lightroom and Photoshop. ON1 Photo Raw has another update, and now it offers everything most photographers need. It's why I've said goodbye to Lightroom and Photoshop. Will it tempt you too?

50mm lenses with wide maximum apertures are both versatile and popular, but such lenses can be quite expensive. That is why at $218, the TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 is a super intriguing option. Does it hold up in usage, though? This great video review takes a look at its performance and image quality to answer that question.

Over the years, I've been following the software offerings of Italian astrophotographer Angele Perrone. He aggressively updates his Photoshop extensions, and he adds a lot of very simple functions that would be difficult to accomplish in Photoshop without a lot of time and trouble. So, here's a look at Astro Panel Pro 6 for Photoshop.

DJI’s Ronin 2 is hard to beat, but perhaps the latest option comes close?

It's really a shame that quite possibly the world's most advanced all-in-one 360 camera shares a name with the world's most popular social media platform. It makes the new Meta Three camera really hard to find online. But YouTuber and 360 content creator Hugh Hou was able to get a hands-on look at one in the flesh, and what a look it is.

When you think of landscape photography, you probably think of using a wide angle lens, but a telephoto lens can be an equally effective tool. Nonetheless, it comes with its own set of challenges. One such aspect is the increased difficulty in getting sharp shots. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use a telephoto lens for landscape photography and give you some useful tips for getting sharp photos when doing so.

There are two general philosophies in landscape photography: stay light on your feet and ready to move from scene to scene, or plan ahead, plant that tripod in the ground, and wait for the scene to develop in front of them until it is just right. While both are equally valid approaches, there is something to be said for being willing to adopt either as needed, and this excellent video discusses why.

CineStill film is hyped to the absolute max, and whether you love it or hate it, they have built a pretty impressive company and injected new life into the film community. Thanks to them, we now have packaged motion picture stocks, ready to shoot in film cameras and be developed in C-41 chemicals.

Lightroom recently rolled out a new and far more powerful masking panel, and if you have not taken the time to incorporate it into your workflow yet, you are missing out on some highly useful tools. One particular function, Intersect, is a bit strange and not necessarily intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it enables quick and powerful edits, and this excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know about it.

Adobe has released another update for Photoshop, bringing improved features, usability, and workflow for photographers and artists alike. However, one update from a while back has constantly irritated me, the save as feature, but there's an easy solution to fix it.

If you are a Profoto user who has always dreamed of the day you could see the actual power settings of your strobes directly on the remote, today, your dream has come true. I was one of the first photographers to test the new Connect Pro in my own studio, and I have to say, this is a very welcome upgrade for any Profoto user.

There are lots of reasons why beginner photographer might avoid using strobe lighting, but a common answer is that they don't like the look. While I know exactly what they mean, there doesn't have to be a "look" at all.

If you have not shot in infrared before, it is a unique and fun form of photography that can breathe new life into even the most overly shot scenes. This neat video will show you some of the stunning, eye-catching images you can create with an infrared-converted camera.

With technology continuing to move on at a swift pace, there's been plenty of recent discussion as to whether digital renders can truly ever replace product photography. Taking this one step further, is it possible that one day, artificial intelligence could simply create images without needing any input from a photographer or digital artist at all?

A wildlife photographer must be prepared to wait hours for a shot to emerge. And once that shot appears, she may only have one second in which to capture the scene before it changes. Making things more complicated are the dozens of variables that can affect the quality of the shot, including weather, erratic animal behavior, and even other photographers working in the same location.

There are few natural phenomena that are more exciting to witness and photography than storms. However, chasing them can be dangerous, and capturing them can be difficult. In this video, go behind the scenes with Brent Hall as he photographs storms in New Mexico.

A few years back, I managed to find a beater of a Hasselblad XPan for a song. I've tried to find a shooting style that would help me stand out from the crowd, and the panoramic format appealed to me. I didn't realize it at the time, but this purchase sent me down a rather obsessive path, trying to find the best panoramic cameras for news and editorial work.

Running a photography business is challenging and earning your first client can be tough. In this article, I will show you how to charge for photography in the three stages of a beginner photographer's career.

Adobe is really trying to make editing videos on small screens a more enjoyable process. They've looked at ways to give us more screen real estate. They've combined some tabs and made switching between workspaces much easier. It's even possible to do everything you need to in one workspace, and the workspace can be customized and saved as usual.

No matter how uncomfortable it might feel to send out a photography contract at the beginning of your commercial photography journey, having a robust contract in place is essential for creating professional relationships with your clients.

A 50mm lens with a wide aperture is one of the most versatile a photographer can carry, able to handle everything from portraits to low-light events coverage. For photographers looking for some of the best quality they can get from a 50mm lens, there is the Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM, and this great video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

When it comes to creating a professional-level portrait, knowing how to light, pose, and photograph your subject is only half the battle. A great portrait also needs a strong edit to be complete. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to edit a portrait from start to finish and show you some helpful tips along the way.

Skylum, known for their AI-enabled Luminar Neo software, has launched a new update. To celebrate, they are offering a special discount to Fstoppers readers! Read on to find out what’s new and how you can save up to 50% on the purchase.

SmugMug, known for its photography management and sales platform, is launching a new marketing campaign titled “This Lens.” Aimed at celebrating the power of photographers to change perspectives and the world, “This Lens” aims to tell stories of real-life photographers and their pursuits.

Take a nice subject, awesome conditions, build up a pleasing composition, and you will get a great photograph. But there is still something important missing for getting it to world class. Therefore, we have to go even one step further.