Things Nobody Teaches You About Photography

Becoming a successful photographer is a remarkably complex thing that takes the confluence of a range of skills, creativity, and often, a bit of luck. If you are new to photography and wondering how to bring it all together, check out this great video that features an experienced photographer discussing things no one really teaches beginners.

What's the Advantage of Having Studio Setups Logged In Your Metadata?

Imagine you can open up Lightroom and browse through the lighting setup (a graphic from top down) that shows you what you did during your shoot, where each photo has its lights, and the setup of these lights, all embedded. Would that be beneficial?

Get Her a Camera!

I operate a channel that helps photographers on YouTube and Instagram, and both audiences are predominantly male. I've worked on sets for over a dozen years, where there is the expectation that men are the directors or photographers and women handle the glam. Is that a problem? Yes, it's a big problem, and here's why.

How To Get Cinematic Footage in Any Location, Every Time

If you're pursuing filmmaking and you want to start shooting documentary-style films, this video will give you what you need to make sure you get cinematic shots and can tell a compelling story.

Fstoppers Reviews Venus Optic’s 85mm f/5.6 2x Macro Lens: Amazing Magnification From a Tiny Lens

If you’re into macro photography, you might be wondering why so many macro lenses emphasize a wide aperture; f/2.8 is nice to have, but when focused down to 1:1, it’ll leave you with no depth of field. From my point of view, Venus Optics seems to have had the same thought. They built a macro lens with a spec sheet that’s focused on delivering macro results. Is this the new best option for macro photographers?

Why a Drone Is My Favorite Purchase That I Did Not Need

Drones are appealing to a wide gamut of people, from creatives to tech-heads, to aviation enthusiasts. For me, it was perhaps a blend of all three, but something I couldn't easily justify. Nevertheless, I bought one anyway, and it turned out to be the best poor decision I've ever made.

A Review of the Quirky and Capable Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera

I have never loved a fixed prime lens camera, except for the Fujifilm X100 series. Quirky, fun, and impressively capable, these small cameras have become quite respected across the industry. Now in the fifth generation, the newest version is highly refined and versatile, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it.

Sony a7 IV Versus Sony a7 III: Should You Upgrade?

Sony kept fans waiting a long time before finally unveiling the a7 IV, and with the release date quickly approaching, a7 III users will be weighing whether it’s worth the upgrade. And what if you're pondering your first a7 camera? Should you shell out the extra cash for the newer camera?

A Review of the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 Lens

It might not be the most exciting lens out there, but Nikon's NIKKOR Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 is highly portable, affordable, and surprisingly sharp given its size and price. If you are looking for such a lens, check out this excellent video that takes a look at the performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Sam Newton Shares His Four Tips to Film Maker Success

Sam Newton made a big impact in the YouTube community when he filmed a music video about how he'll be the next Peter McKinnon. He dropped a lot of names, and since all the big YouTubers watched it, he got mentioned by most of them and therefore got a large following on the platform. This is how he started and his advice for the long game in making films.

What I Took on a 10-Day Commercial Ad Campaign

Knowing what equipment you should take on a job is always difficult, so I thought I would share with you what I ended up taking on a 10-day ad campaign, and more importantly, why.

How to Choose the Right Camera Gear

Camera gear is not only meant for professional work, it is a ton of fun as well. However, it is quite expensive, and as such, every purchase you make should be carefully considered beforehand. This helpful video tutorial features some good advice on how to choose the right gear for you.

Ways to Improve Your Photography Without a Camera

Photography is the sort of thing you can always find new ways in which to improve, whether it is your technique, creativity, business, or something else. If you are looking for ways to improve your photography, be sure to check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you several ways to become a better photographer that will not require a camera.

10 Very Affordable Gifts for Photographers

If you’re plotting a gift for the photographer in your life, check out this list of ideas. I should warn you, some of them are slightly silly, but they are all very affordable and could make for some excellent stocking fillers.

A Review of the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens

The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens was highly respected for being relatively affordable compared to other premium lenses while still offering tack-sharp images, fantastic image stabilization, and of course, 1:1 macro capability, all making for one of the most versatile lenses out there. The RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM follows up on the EF version's legacy by introducing a range of new features and improvements, and this great video review takes a look at how it performs.

How to Shoot Kodak's Incredible Aerochrome Film

I recently interviewed Australian film photographer Rob Walwyn on his incredible images documenting the aftermath of the bushfires that devastated Australia’s east coast in late 2019 and early 2020. Walwyn’s project, "Karrikins," led to his first solo exhibition at the 2021 Head On Photo Festival in Sydney.

How to Retouch a Dramatic Portrait From Start to Finish

Portraiture is one of the most popular genres of photography for many reasons and photographs of people are often the ones that are looked at the most and for the longest. One style within portraiture that is a staple is the dramatic look. In this video, watch a start-to-finish edit of a portrait with the dramatic look as the end goal.

Will Sony Release These Four New Cameras in 2022?

2021 has been a busy year for flagship cameras from Nikon and Canon and while Sony made a significant impact after finally announcing the a7 IV, the company might feel that it is now behind the competition. With that in mind, what does it have in store for 2022?

Fstoppers Reviews the HEX x Misshattan Ranger DSLR Sling Bag

I’ve never been one to consider style in my bag purchases, but if that style comes at no extra cost, then, why not? That’s certainly the case with the new HEX x Misshattan Ranger DSLR Sling, a different take on the company’s regular Ranger DSLR Sling.

Helpful Tips to Improve Your Portrait Photography

Portrait photography is a challenging genre that requires you to not only be deft and confident with your camera and post-processing, but also able to make the subject comfortable in front of your lens. If you would like to improve your portrait photography, check out this awesome video tutorial that will give you a wide variety of helpful tips to get you on the right track.

Photography Gift Ideas for Under $100

With Christmas lurking over the hill like a bright red flashing pickpocket, it's time to start figuring out what to buy your loved ones. If they are a photographer, here are some ideas that won't bankrupt you.

How to Photograph a Translucent Product on a White Background

A product shot on a clean, white background with no distractions is a look that will always be in demand, though it presents some challenges to the photographer creating the image. Those challenges increase when the product is translucent and lets light through it, but this excellent video tutorial will show you how to deal with such a situation to produce a professional final image.

5 Common Mistakes New Photographers Make

When you are new to photography, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to learn and master a multitude of techniques and technical parameters all while developing a creative style at the same time. It is completely normal to make mistakes along the way. This helpful video tutorial discusses five common mistakes beginners make and how to fix them or avoid them entirely so you can get on the path to better images more quickly.

Improve Your Astrophotography With Topaz Labs

Astrophotography and nighttime photography generally come with their own respective challenges. The biggest problem tends to be increased noise especially in the shadow areas of an image. But what if there was some incredibly smart software that could magically get rid of the noise and improve your images, would you use it?

A Lesson on How Spotting Interesting Light Can Improve Your Street Photography

Light makes or breaks most scenes, whether video or stills photography. In many genres, it's controllable and you can set it up how you like it. But with genres that are candid and wild — street photography for instance — you need to be able to identify brief opportunities as scenes and light interact.

Fstoppers Interviews Rob Walwyn on His Upcoming Photo Exhibition 'Karrikins'

Australian photographer Rob Walwyn is hosting the first exhibition of his project ‘Karrikins’ as part of Sydney's Head On Photo Festival. Karrikins documents the aftermath of the bushfires that devastated Australia’s east coast in late 2019 and early 2020. What makes Walwyn’s images even more stunning is his use of Kodak’s discontinued false-color infrared film Aerochrome.

When Should You Make a Photo Black and White?

Of all the edits you can do to a photo, perhaps none is more fundamentally transformative than converting it to black and white. However, how do you know when to make that conversion? This excellent video tutorial discusses the topic as it applies to wedding photos and portraits and offers some helpful advice.

A Comprehensive Guide to Lightroom

A lot of people think of Lightroom as the place for organizing photos and performing basic edits and Photoshop as the place for more involved and serious edits, and while that is true to a degree, you might be surprised by just how much you can do in Lightroom. This fantastically comprehensive tutorial will show you everything you need to know to edit photos in Lightroom.

100 Adobe Photoshop Tricks and Tips You May Not Know

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most complex pieces of software in the industry. While it is relatively easy to do the basics as a beginner, it has layers of depth that go far past where even many experts go. In this video, learn over 100 different tricks and tips.

How Good Is Photoshop's New Landscape Mixer Neural Filter?

What if you could change the season of a landscape photo with just the click of a button? Photoshop's new landscape mixer neural filter promises to leverage Adobe Sensei technology to do just that, allowing you to turn a summer landscape into a snow-laden wonderland with a single click. Does it produce worthwhile images, though? This neat video features a Photoshop pro taking the new feature for a test drive to see what it can do.

Why We Shouldn’t Give Up When We Struggle in Landscape Photography

It is good to have a plan B in landscape photography. But what if even plan B doesn’t work? Should we give up? Or is there still the chance, any way to get some really strong photographs? I came exactly into such a situation recently – and oh man – finally it turned into one of the best photography days I ever had. I even got 360 degrees surrounded by compositions!

A Review of the Hasselblad 907X 50C Medium Format Camera

Hasselblad's 907X 50C is one of the more unique cameras to come along in quite some time, putting a modern medium format sensor in a body completely devoid of a viewfinder, meant to be used like a TLR camera of yesteryear. This great video review takes a look at the camera and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

3 Tips for the Struggling Photographer

It's not easy and if it were, everyone would be doing it. You have to keep repeating that to yourself because it's true and you are entitled to some grace, as you grow. These 3 tips help me continue and I'm sharing them with you!

A Review of the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM Lens

A 100-400mm zoom lens is highly versatile, useful for anything from sports and wildlife photography to landscape work and more. They come in many different options with a wide variety of price points. Canon's RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM sits at the affordable end of the spectrum but still offers some great features, and this excellent video review takes a look at the performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

7 Helpful Winter Landscape Photography Tips

The beauty of winter is that even landscapes you have photographed dozens of times can become entirely new scenes with fresh, vibrant looks. Winter landscape photography presents its own unique challenges, though, and this excellent video tutorial will give you seven tips to help you get the most out of your photos.

How to Use the Tone Curve Tool in Adobe Lightroom

Adobe photo editing software has been around for so long and seen so many iterations that its depth is almost unknowable. Even some of the fundamental tools have nuance and required skill to get the most out of them, and the Tone Curve is one of them.

This Might Be the Craziest Lens Ever Made

Lens designs have been pushed to some pretty extreme lengths in the past decade or so, with full frame options like 50mm f/0.95 or 28-70mm f/2 becoming standard fare. However, the most extreme consumer lens design ever made might be from several decades ago. So crazy is the design that only one copy was ever made, and this fascinating video takes a look at what you can do with it.

Epic Views From a Secluded Fire Lookout

I have only been to a fire lookout once, and it was by accident. The experience of being high above the landscape was exhilarating, and the views were outstanding, but I didn’t stay long, as I thought I was trespassing.

2021 Black Friday Deals for Photographers

Black Friday sales are here and we want to keep you up to date on some of the best photography deals available. These savings are only available for a very limited timeframe, so if there's something that piques your interest, make sure to act on it now!

Mistakes Beginner Photographers Make Regarding Lenses

Perhaps no piece of equipment has a bigger impact on your photos than your lens. There are some common misconceptions about lenses, however, and as expensive as they are, it is important to make sure you know everything you can about them. This helpful video tutorial discusses some common mistakes photographers make when thinking about lenses.

The Capture One Magic Brush is Sorcery: One-Click Complex Selections

Over the evolution of photo manipulation and editing there are those features that have come about that truly change not only how we do things, but how quickly, and have us reevaluate what we think is possible; things that seem like magic.

Tamron's New Secret Weapon: Smarter Lenses

If there's one area of photography that has stagnated with regards to improved tech, it's lenses. That isn't to say they haven't improved, but by nowhere near the rate at which cameras have. Perhaps that's about to change.

Canon R3 Versus Sony a1: Which Has Better Autofocus?

Canon’s latest full frame mirrorless camera, the EOS R3, was launched only a few months ago, and we’ve had to wait patiently to find out how its autofocus system compares with that of one of its biggest rivals, the Sony a1. This video puts the pair head to head in a real-world situation.