5 Hacks for an Inovativ Camera Cart

Camera carts can be an expensive tool on set, and Inovativ are at the top of the bunch. Hopefully, these ideas can get more out of your cart for less.

How to Pitch an Article to Fstoppers

At Fstoppers we love having our readership contribute articles to the site. There is a dedicated link on our contact page that makes it easy to send in your pitch. Your suggestion is sent to all of the Fstoppers writers and this gives you many opportunities for someone to find your pitch interesting and have it be published on the site.

What's the Best Computer for Your Work, the Mac Studio M1 Ultra or MacBook Pro M1 Max?

Apple's M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips have blown the doors off the industry by providing highly powerful performance with equally impressive efficiency to match. The Max and Ultra chips sit at the top of the line, but the Ultra chip is only available in the desktop Mac Studio. So, should you opt for the Studio and its top-level power or the versatility of a MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip? This excellent video comparison will help you decide.

Removing Flash From Portraits in Post: How and Why?

Shooting off-camera flash outdoors can be tricky, as you need to contend with the brightness of the sun. This means that the flash can get pretty close, especially if you want to get a really soft light on your subject. What if it is in the frame?

You Don't Need a Style to Create Good Images!

When I was first starting out, I got deeply into conversations about style. What is this thing that will get me hired? How do I get it? Recently, I’ve realized that a photographic style isn’t the be-all and end-all magical thing that many beginner photographers think it is.

You'll Be Amazed What You Can Accomplish With a $25 Camera

Modern cameras are highly impressive, able to tackle just about any challenging situation you can throw at them, even those that just a few years ago would have thrown the best options off their game. As such, it can be easy to rely on that technology a little too much and to forget just how far you can get with good technique and a solid creative foundation. This neat video reminds you of that by showing what you can do with a $25 camera that is almost two decades old.

A Complete Beginner's Guide to Using Flash for Portrait Photography

Using flash for portrait photography is something that scares a lot of photographers, but once you master it, you will wonder how you ever worked without the complete creative and technical control it offers. If you are just starting out and unsure of how to get rolling, check out this fantastically comprehensive video tutorial that covers everything from the different types of flash through to how to use TTL and complex multi-light setups.

Can This Affordable Portrait Lens Compete With Top Options?

85mm lenses with wide apertures are some of the most popular out there, but a high-quality one is often far from affordable. On the other hand, the Rokinon AF 85mm f/1.4 bucks that trend by coming in at over 75% less than the price of the highly respected Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM, making it quite the intriguing alternative. Can it keep up with those top-shelf options, though? This great video review takes a look at its performance and image quality to answer that question.

Better Retouching Results With These Three Questions

When it comes to retouching, or more concretely, the removal of unwanted objects from photos, there are a few things you can do to make the editing a lot easier. In this article, I share three questions you can ask yourself in the field before taking your photos. Those questions will help you to get much better starting material for your retouching.

Get Perfect Color Correction Every Time With Curves

The Curves adjustment panel is probably one of Adobe Photoshop's most frequently used tools, right alongside Levels. But did you know that there is a tried and tested way to quickly get perfectly color-corrected images every single time? Knowing this basic technique will save you hours of time and effort when learning how to color correct your images in Photoshop.

The Only Rule You Need for Landscape Photography

Seven years ago, I have stopped using photography rules, which massively improved my photography. But there is one rule that makes the difference between an average shot and a masterpiece. And it is something different than you might think.

A Review of the Tokina SZ SUPER TELE 500mm f/8 Reflex Lens

Mirrorless lenses allow you to experience the fun of supertelephoto focal lengths without the often stratospheric prices, but they generally come with a few compromises as well. Nonetheless, depending on your needs and budget, they can be a decent alternative. One such option is the Tokina SZ SUPER TELE 500mm f/8 Reflex, and this excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

A Review of the Nikon Z 9 Mirrorless Camera and NIKKOR Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S Lens

The Nikon Z 9 has put Nikon back into competition with Sony and Canon in the upper echelon of the full frame mirrorless market, offering a no-compromises design at a competitive price. When combined with the NIKKOR Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S lens, it offers a highly capable option for anyone needing top-of-the-line performance for things like sports or bird photography, and this excellent video review takes a look at the performance and image quality you can except from them.

How to Deal With Boring Clear Skies in Landscape Photography

While clear blue skies are often desirable simply for the nice weather they bring, when it comes to landscape photography, they are rather boring and can make it hard to create compelling images. It is not impossible, however; it just takes a bit of adjustment to your technique and creative approach. This fantastic video tutorial will show you some helpful tips for taking great landscape photos even when the sky is totally clear.

Why Great Movies Use the 60-30-10 Percent Color Rule

There are many characteristics of great movies that you may miss unless you spend the time to really consider all the components. Color is a major factor in any visual medium, but did you know about the 60-30-10 rule?

This Legendary Camera Is Just $330

There have been a few digital cameras that have been landmarks in the industry, whether as major technological steps forward or impressive performers. One such groundbreaking camera was the Canon 5D Mark II, and this neat video takes a look at the camera and how you can still use it for great shots even 14 years after it was released.

Which Is Better: The DJI Mic or Rode Wireless Go II?

Video is more prevalent than ever, and along with the expectation of high-quality production and editing, clients expect top-notch audio to match. The Rode Wireless GO II has been a popular choice for some time, but the DJI Mic has recently challenged it and offers some compelling features and smart design choices that make it a great alternative. This excellent video review takes a look at both options to help you choose which is right for your work.

A Beginner's Guide to Masks and Layers in Photoshop

Two of the most fundamental and important features in Photoshop are layers and masks, and it is rare you will ever edit an image without using one or both of them. If you are new to Photoshop and want to begin building your knowledge of the application, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you the ins and outs of layers and masks and how to use them to edit your images.

Can Sigma Dethrone This Impressive Fujifilm Lens?

Sigma has finally arrived on the Fujifilm X mount, and it has photographers excited at the prospect of using the company's popular lenses that are well known for providing excellent image quality at impressively competitive prices. One such example is the affordable 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary, and this fantastic video review compares it to the XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR to see which provides better performance and image quality.

5 Tips To Reinvigorate Your Photography

Lost your photography mojo? It's something that happens to us all and not just once, it's a part of life but let's not get philosophical here, let's just look at a few ways to reinvigorate your photography.

Your First Photos Will Be Bad, but That's Alright!

Photography is a high. The magic that some of those first images a photographer takes is difficult to put into words. The joy that comes from image-making hooks you, and often, there is no turning back.

How To Mix Lights on Location

Being a photographer means being able to adapt to any given lighting situation to create images that are remarkable. In this video, Sophia Carey shares some of her insights with a behind-the-scenes look at a night portrait shoot on film.

How to Choose the Right ISO for Your Photos

Along with shutter speed and aperture, ISO is one of the three fundamental parameters for determining the correct exposure of your images. ISO is a bit different from aperture and shutter speed, however, as you almost never use it for creative purposes like the other two. So, how do you manage it properly? This helpful video tutorial will show you what you need to know to choose the right ISO for every photo.

Perfect Your Compositions Using the Principles of Art and Design

Following on from my article about the seven elements of art and how they can perfect your photography, I thought I would share a summary of the principles of art. Knowing how they work can make all the difference to how well your compositions work.

How to Use Lightroom and Photoshop to Sculpt the Light in a Photo

Flat light in an otherwise interesting photo can be a frustrating thing, but with the dynamic range and post-processing latitude of a lot of modern sensors, you can do quite a lot to reshape an image in post and turn it into a compelling photo. This fantastic video tutorial will tell you how to take a photo that suffers from flat light but that has potential and use Lightroom and Photoshop to turn it into something great.

A Six-Month Review of the DJI Action 2 Camera

DJI's Action 2 is a tiny action camera meant to be placed in a variety of challenging environments and still come away with compelling footage, making it potentially quite the fun sidekick. This great video review takes a look at the camera after six months of usage, including how it holds up and the kind of performance and quality you can expect from it.

Picfair's Urban Wildlife Photography Awards

Picfair is sponsoring a new Urban Wildlife Photography Awards competition intended to celebrate our growing connection with urban wildlife. Enter here. Hurry, entries close May 31, 2022 at midnight.

A Powerful Way to Change Focus With Photoshop Filters and AI

Have you ever had to shoot a photograph at f/11 while wishing you were shooting f/1.8? If you've ever wanted to change the depth of field of a photograph, you know that creating a depth map isn’t the easiest thing to do. Instead of struggling to create the perfect depth map in Adobe Photoshop, using selections and brushes, this video guides you down a simpler path.

Are Your Photos Not Sharp? Here Are 15 Reasons Why

It's taken me years to figure out the myriad reasons why my photos weren't always as sharp as I expected. You can cut out all of that learning time by watching this one video that sums it all up.

Filmora 11: Unleashing the Power of Video in Your Business

Like it or not, video is the preferred means of communication for most content creators these days. A quick look at Fstoppers itself proves that. Even when it is a photographer who is providing information to other photographers, video is the medium of choice.

Focus Stacking Made Easy With Helicon Focus

A few weeks ago I published an article here on Fstoppers about handheld focus stacking. In this article I share my in-the-field workflow, as well as the automatic stacking option Photoshop offers to put all images together during photo editing. This option has its limitations though and because I lately had to work on some very complex stacks, I had to look for a better solution. And with Helicon Focus I found it.

The Nikon Z9 Is Better Than the Sony a1, Or Is It?

It's no secret that everyone is buzzing about the Sony a1 and the Nikon Z 9. Both are beautiful mirrorless cameras that have a lot of great features to offer. But, which one should you pick?

Are Photos Supposed to Show Reality?

In this video, MIT Associate Professor Ramesh Raskar says that photo-realism is dead. They're discussing machine learning and technologies working to give us evenly exposed night-time images on our mobile phones. If these technologies are not available in professional cameras today, will they ever be, and would you want them as a professional photographer?

How to Create a High Key Background and Rim Lights Using a Softbox

Creating a high key background and adding rim lights is a fantastic way to add a really professional touch to your images, but doing so can take three or four extra lights on top of whatever you are already using to light your subject, often making it particularly cumbersome. What if you could add the high key background and rim lights using just a single light? This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do it.

8 Common Mistakes Beginner Photographers Make

There are a lot of different facets you have to learn and master when you are starting out as a photographer, and as such, things can go wrong due to a variety of reasons. If you are new to photography and looking to improve, check out this excellent video tutorial that details eight common mistakes beginner photographers make and how to fix them or avoid them entirely in the first place.

100 Photoshoot Ideas in 6 Minutes

Are you feeling a bit stuck creatively lately and unsure of how to break out of the rut? This fantastic video tutorial will show you 100 interesting and creative photoshoot ideas in just six minutes, and it is sure to help you find the inspiration you need.

Can You Tell the Difference Between the 24-70mm EF and RF Lenses? Look For Yourself and Prepare to Be Shocked

I upgraded my camera to the Canon EOS R5 last year and have since been shooting with my adapter ring and the EF lenses. If this sounds like jargon to you: let me catch you up to speed. Canon launched its first mirrorless camera in 2018, and the mount on the mirrorless cameras is different than the ones of the previous DSLRs. As a workaround, you can use an adapter ring to shoot with your older EF lenses on the new mirrorless cameras.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (March 2022): Hajnalka Beren

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 2021, 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.

Does Color Accuracy Make a Big Difference in Professional Photography?

When starting out in photography, we get busy trying to understand the basics: shutter speed, aperture, composition, etc. As we progress, we start to care about much subtler things, such as color reproduction, sharpness, and, of course, color accuracy. But is color accuracy just a myth? Let’s find out.