Great photographers are not born, they are developed. The habits we form as beginners play a huge role in that development overall.

Perhaps no type of lens generates more admiration, envy, and fighting than a wide-aperture 85mm lens. As the classic portrait focal length, such lenses often carry their respective manufacturer's best technology, offering that shallow depth of field and buttery bokeh so many photographers crave. This fantastic video takes a look at seven of the sharpest such lenses out there and which comes out on top.

Gimbals are now as much of a consumer item as they are a high-end professional one, which means far more videographers are using them. Although stabilized footage is the goal, you can get extra creative with how you use it, and these three techniques can really help you stand out.

A 24-70mm f/2.8 is the bread and butter lens for a huge range of photographers and filmmakers, offering a wide maximum aperture in tandem with some of the most commonly used focal lengths. Nonetheless, such lenses are rarely cheap. Samyang's 24-70mm f/2.8 AF Zoom bucks that trend, however, making it quite the interesting option for a lot of creatives, and this great video review takes a look at the image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.

Creating a successful landscape image takes a combination of many factors ranging from solid technique to creative vision and careful planning in advance. When you are trying to bring everything together in the field, it can be easy for something to go wrong. This excellent video tutorial will show you five common mistakes landscape photographers make on location and how to fix them or avoid them entirely.

Creating something new is the most important ingredient for making art. But we can’t create something new when we just capture a scene in reality. The trick is bringing an artistic concept to your photographs.

Infrared photography can be a wonderful new avenue to explore and can really get the creative juices flowing. It can also produce some otherworldly and beautiful images. Unfortunately, the cost and commitment of converting an existing camera to be capable of infrared is a barrier for many to trying it out. But, as this video demonstrates, you really don't need any specialized equipment to create great infrared images.

Smartphones have been around for over a decade now. In this time, although there have been great technological advances, such as longer battery life and larger screens, the most important one to photographers is better image quality.

After a long weekend with too much food and too little exercise, I found myself receiving a gift that contained both a product and a lesson.

The age-old question of whether great images are made by the photographer or the camera is a boring one. However, a more interesting topic is the gap between high-end cameras and entry-level cameras and whether most people can tell the difference.

On1 Photo Raw has changed from being an app that once played catch-up to advanced software with unique features well ahead of the competition. They have released three sneak peek videos of exciting features that are coming soon.

Have you ever considered using a phone for a professional project? I hadn’t but I was pleasantly surprised by what the vivo X70 Pro+ phone was capable of. Sure, it has all the technical specs with an imaging system co-engineered with ZEISS and their color correction technology built-in, but what was it like to shoot with?

Breathing life into your photographs can make the difference between an average shot and a masterpiece. But how can we bring life into a flat piece of paper? Depth is all you need.

It’s no well-kept secret that cell phone cameras have made digital photography ubiquitous. Over the last few years, film has regained popularity. In her video, Madison Beach shares a few reasons why you should be shooting film!

With winter approaching fast (for our readers in the northern hemisphere), it's time for landscape photographers to prepare for snowy scenes and cold sunrises. Though it can introduce a new level of challenge to your standard photography routine, photographing landscapes in the winter can also be very rewarding and will certainly add a new dimension to your portfolio.

Product photography is a tough genre that will really challenge your lighting skills and attention to detail. The great part about it, though, is that you can practice it at home, even if you do not have much space, and the techniques you pick up are applicable to a wide range of other genres. To help you get started, this great video tutorial will show you a simple and straightforward product shoot walkthrough.

When it comes to shorter telephoto primes, 85mm is probably the most common choice, but 135mm is often a popular second option. So, which is the right choice for your work? This fantastic video takes a look at the two focal lengths and shows you some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

A few light rays in something like a backlit portrait can be a nice finishing touch that adds a bit extra to the image. Of course, we can't always be so lucky as to capture them in camera. However, it is not overly difficult to add them in post, and this great video tutorial will show you how to do it easily in Photoshop.

When you combine modern photography gear, even at the entry-level, with today's post-production software, it has never been easier for people to get high-quality images. The days of perfectly matching time, elements, and light are essentially done.

While many of us hold printing photographs in high regard — myself included — digital displays of photography are becoming more prevalent, affordable, and effective. But is Samsung's range of frame TVs worth your hard-earned cash?

There have been some incredible cameras released this year and the leaked information on some upcoming release from Canon suggest it's about to get better. So, what gaps are the Canon R1 and R5c intended to fill within the industry?

A decade ago, the differences between zoom and prime lenses were stark: zooms offered convenience and versatility, while primes offered better image quality and more extreme apertures. However, the gap has closed in recent years, with zooms showing marked jumps in image quality and pushing their designs to new extremes, blurring the line between the two. So, can you get by with just zooms now? This insightful video takes a deep look at the question.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the season of shorter days and more time spent indoors is upon us. Indoor pet photography can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to result in leaving the camera down until spring.

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.

Sometimes, a black and white edit can be what really breathes life into a photo. However, a good black and white edit is about a lot more than simply pulling all of the color out of an image. This excellent video tutorial will show you 10 steps to creating a compelling black and white image using Lightroom.

No doubt, photography is in a time of change. As the abilities of cameras skyrocket, ironically, the demand for photographers decreases, as all that technology makes it easier for normal consumers to get photos that are good enough for their needs. So, what is the future of photography? Is the industry going to look completely different in a decade or two? What will cameras be like? This interesting video tackles some of those questions.

In some sense, it is harder than ever to be a photographer producing truly original work. The world is absolutely inundated with images, and creating something that stands apart from the pack is quite the challenge. So, how can we be original with our images? This excellent video essay discusses the topic and offers some good insight.

Lightroom's masking features recently got a huge upgrade, and they have enabled some new capabilities that truly make working on your images far easier and more efficient. If you still have not taken a deep dive into the new masking panel yet, check out this great video tutorial that will give you some useful tips for getting the most out of it.

In the first part of this series of two, I introduced bokeh — out-of-focus areas — and outlined the main controls of defocus. These include sensor size, focal length, aperture, distance to subject, and distance to the backdrop. How, then, do you compare defocus between lenses and cameras? Read on.

Two years ago, Ricoh executives claimed that most users would return to DSLRs in one or two years. Two years later, that has not happened, but it has not stopped the company from continuing to march to their own unique beat, as this interview reveals.

Creating a successful landscape image takes a variety of skills, some that don't even involve a camera. If you want to get on the road to success, check out this great video tutorial that will help you frame your approach to landscape photography through three major aspects.

Perhaps some of the biggest dealbreakers for images are sharpness, resolution, and noise. No one likes a blurry low-res ISO 25,600 file. Yet, sometimes the client picks the worst possible file that is the definition of poor image quality. Luckily, Topaz Labs have developed AI-enabled software which lets you save your portraits. Act fast and take advantage of their Cyber Monday prices.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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 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?

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 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.

A polarization filter is a great tool for reducing glare on shiny surfaces. A welcome side effect is the more saturated colors. Especially during autumn, a landscape photo will get a nice warm appearance. Unfortunately, automatic white balance may counteract the effect.

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.

There are a plethora of lenses available for Sony’s E-mount, especially when you factor in both APS-C and full frame. Here’s a list of the ten best that you can buy as we approach the end of 2021.

It was the best of tripods, it was an even better tripod. This is why I ended up upgrading what I was already very pleased with to what I think is the best tripod my money could buy.

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.

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.

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.

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.