Reviewing Images From a Professional Editorial Assignment

In the age of social media, we often only ever get to see the best version of things: the best-looking meal images, our best-looking selves in selfies, the best this, the best that. For photographers, this too can mean that we only ever get to see the best images from other photographers.

What Makes a Truly Special Landscape Photograph?

Landscape photography is a wildly popular genre. Hop on Instagram, and you can quickly find thousands upon thousands of jaw-dropping images. But what is it that separates a really good image from a truly world-class photo? This excellent video essay examines the topic.

Should You List Your Full Prices on Your Wedding Website?

Wedding photography is a very competitive business, and with so many options, many couples will make initial decisions based on what they find on your website. So, should you include your pricing on your website, or is it better to save that for a phone call or in-person consultation? This excellent video discusses the topic.

A Deeper Dive Into Canon’s Lens Aimed at VR Content Creators

It looked like 2021 was going to be somewhat of a dry year for virtual reality content creators, and then out of nowhere, Canon drops the RF 5.2mm f/2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens aimed squarely at creators of 180 VR content. It's now possible to more easily shoot this kind of content in 8K, but beyond that, what other new features does it bring to the table? Expert VR content creator Hugh Hou explains.

6 Pieces of Camera Gear That Improved a Landscape Photographer's Work

Landscape photography requires a fair share of specialized gear, and knowing when to upgrade or what to splurge on can make a big difference in both your image quality and the ease and enjoyment of the experience. This excellent video features an experienced landscape photographer discussing six such pieces of gear that improved his landscape photography.

What Must Camera Manufacturers Do to Challenge the Smartphone?

Cameras just aren't good enough at processing photos — witness the inexorable rise of the smartphone which leverages adequate hardware and clever software to produce images that look as good as those from a high-flying $2,000 camera. What can manufacturers do to remain relevant in today's market?

Film Photography Photowalk on the Gold Coast

The best thing about starting my film photography podcast, Matt Loves Cameras, three years ago is the connection it’s brought me to the film community. I’ve appeared as a guest on other film photography podcasts, I’ve run competitions, and I’ve produced community photo zines.

Sigma Offers $60,000 in Prizes to Celebrate Its 60th Anniversary

To celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary, Sigma is offering eight prizes of $7,500 to four photographers and four filmmakers. Entry — which is free — is open to any resident of the U.S. who is enrolled in a photography or film course.

DXO Launches Version 1.5 of PureRaw

I've been impressed with PureRaw since it first launched in April of this year. It is meant to be a starting place as you enter your raw workflow. It uses an extensive database of camera and lens profiles and corrects distortion, lack of sharpness, and reduces noise.

A Review of the Affordable Samyang AF 45mm f/1.8 FE Lens

A good 50mm lens with a wide aperture is one of the most useful a photographer or filmmaker can own, suitable for everything from portraits to low-light work. At $299, Samyang's AF 45mm f/1.8 FE is an affordable option, and this great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.

Is This the Best Lens for Landscape Photography?

The workhorse lens of choice for a huge range of photographers is the 24-70mm f/2.8, and while it is an extremely useful optic, there might be better choices for certain genres and photographers. For landscape work, an interesting alternative is a 24-105mm f/4 lens, and this great video discusses why it might be the essential lens for such imagery.

How to Take Nighttime Portraits

Normally in portraiture, you get a high level of control over the lighting, but in some scenarios (weddings, for example), you will have to think, light, and shoot on your feet. This excellent video tutorial will show you several ways to shoot nighttime portraits with a variety of different techniques and for a range of different creative looks.

A Detailed Review of the iPhone 13 From a Photographer

Apple's latest iPhones have arrived, and they come with a wide variety of improvements on the photography front. With everything from Cinematic mode to macro capabilities, they promise to be versatile and powerful tools for photographers and filmmakers, and this great video review takes a look at the sort of photo capabilities and image quality you can expect.

A Review of the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary Lens

A good 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is the workhorse of choice for a huge range of photographers and filmmakers, offering a versatile focal length range and a wide aperture suitable for a lot of uses and applications, though they are not always cheap. Sigma's 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary lens offers impressive image quality and performance in a small package and at quite an affordable price, and this great video review takes a look at just what you can expect from it.

A Review of the Nikon PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED Tilt-Shift Lens

Few lenses are more versatile and useful than a tilt-shift lens, offering high levels of sharpness, the ability to control depth of field independently of aperture, correction of verticals, and more. For Nikon shooters, there is the PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED tilt-shift lens, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.

Canon Announces a Surreal and Completely Unexpected Lens

Canon has just unveiled the latest lens for its R-series cameras: the 5.2mm f/2.8 L Dual Fisheye that projects two image circles in order to create 180-degree stereoscopic footage for 3D virtual reality capture. It’s ingenious and bizarre.

How to Photograph Tiny, Quickly Moving Birds

Wildlife photographers deploy a range of tactics when attempting to capture birds, and those which are very easily scared and move incredibly quickly offer a particular challenge. This video shows you some tactics to deploy in order to get some fantastic photos.

How to Set Up Sony Cameras for Great Looking Slow Motion Video

Slow motion is one of the most common and powerful techniques in videography, but it has a few elements to it that can be tricky to get right without some prior knowledge. In this video, get a brilliant beginner's tutorial on how to get your Sony camera setup for slow motion footage.

3 Key Things I Keep in Mind for Every Fall Photo

The season of red, orange, and yellow leaves is just about here. Whether you’ve already gone out and taken some photos or are just about to, it can be really helpful to keep a few key concepts in mind. In this guide, we'll be taking a look at what to do when you’re behind the camera, as well as in front of the monitor editing those shots.

Nikon Drops First Z 9 Preview Video

As Nikon shooters worldwide await with bated breath the announcement of the brand’s flagship mirrorless camera, Nikon has dropped a first look preview that gives us a clue as to their priorities.

Transform Your Portraits With the 'Ring of Fire' Special Effect

There's a good chance you've heard of the "Ring of Fire," a technique popularized by wedding and portrait photographer Sam Hurd. The Ring of Fire is a special effects technique that uses a piece of copper tube to reflect light and create a highlight flare in the shape of a ring. This technique has been widely adopted, and to create this effect for yourself is pretty easy. Today, I'll be walking through the steps to transform your portraits using the famous Ring of Fire technique.

Test Shoots Are Important for Portfolio Building

Photographing for free can hurt your brand or build a whole new business branch. There are photographers who work for free because they are afraid to charge. Then, there are photographers who work for free in the form of test shoots.

Is the Fujifilm X100V a Secret Macro Camera?

Fujifilm’s X100 line has been one of the most popular compact camera choices over the last decade. Even diehard shooters of other brands buy one for their everyday carrying. Starting with the X100 in 2010, the series is now in its fifth iteration with the X100V.

Are Good Photos by Horrible People Worthy of Your Attention?

Perhaps one of the biggest moral debates I have with myself is when I look at the good work of “bad” photographers — work that has a life of its own and work that has become culturally significant. Yet, that work has a dark side to it: the creator. Is it possible to look at photographs without ever thinking about the photographer behind them?

A Review of the Canon EOS R6 Mirrorless Camera

The Canon EOS R5 received most of the fanfare when it was first announced alongside the EOS R6, but the latter is no slouch, and in some ways, it might be the more appropriate and balanced camera for a lot of photographers and filmmakers. This great video review takes a look at the camera and the kind of performance you can expect from it in the real world.

For Seascapes, One Setting Can Make or Break the Shot

Seascapes can be beautiful and it's almost impossible to shoot the same image twice, so the genre can keep pulling you back in. However, one setting almost rules them all when it comes to the final image; get it wrong and you can leave with nothing.

When and How to Use Soft and Hard Light

There are many combinations and properties of light, all of which have different consequences and effects on both the technical and creative aspects of your images. One of the most fundamental properties every photographer needs to know is the hardness of light, and this excellent video tutorial will show you both when and how to use soft and hard light for portraiture.

The Rumor About Canon’s Next Lens Is Completely Unexpected

A rumor describing Canon’s next lens for its full frame mirrorless cameras has taken everyone by surprise: a 5.2mm f/2.8L “dual fisheye” designed for virtual reality. What is Canon planning, and who is this lens for?

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

It was only a matter of time before Canon would release a true macro lens for the RF mount. Instead of an RF version of the ever-so-popular EF 100mm macro lens, Canon had a little surprise up its sleeve. I got a chance to review this amazing lens.

Editing Tips for Photos Shot Into the Sun

Shooting into the sun can do anything from providing a nice visual element and contrast to creating stunning rays that cascade across the frame. Because of the extremely bright (and often partially blown out) source of light in the frame, it can sometimes require some specialized editing techniques, and this helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to produce the best possible images.

A Beginner's Guide to Planetary Astrophotography

As we transition from summer to fall, two of the most photogenic planets, Jupiter and Saturn, have passed the point of closest approach (opposition) to the Earth for the year. Yet, they still make great targets for planetary astrophotography, especially since they are now high in the sky soon after sunset. As another bonus, photographing these planets does not require traveling to a dark sky site. This kind of astrophotography can be done from our backyards.

How Photography and Architecture Are Intertwined

Architectural photography is an art form that is intrinsically dependent on the mind of another creator. Without architecture, there would be no architectural photography. Normally, one wouldn't imagine this to be a two-way street, but this insightful video posits a different view.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes a Seasoned Photographer Made as an Artist

Photography is an art form, and sometimes, we can forget to treat it as such and to help ourselves grow as artists. This excellent video featured a seasoned photographer detailing five mistakes he has made as an artist and how to avoid or fix them.

Is Photo Mechanic Plus a Lightroom Killer? An In-Depth Fstoppers Review Part 2: The Image Catalog

In Part 1 of this In-Depth review, I outlined the core philosophy of Photo Mechanic Plus before going on to summarize and test the ingestion process. Arguably, this is the star in the crown however, Camera Bits have now added an image catalog allowing it to manage your photo archive. Read on to find out how it performs, as well as a comparison with Lightroom's own catalog.

Wedding Photography
Critique the Community

Wedding Photography

We Critique Your Most Exciting Wedding Images

I can't believe October is finally here because in one week, I will have finally tied the knot and experienced my first wedding as a groom.

Closed for new submissions. Voting is open.
A Look at One of the Coolest Cameras of Yesteryear

One of the neatest things about early digital photography was that because few things were really standardized, there were numerous interesting designs and experiments with features. Sony's Mavica line was one such example of this, and this awesome video takes a look at the camera 24 years after its release.

A Look at Cinematic Mode on the New iPhone 13

The iPhone 13 is here, and it brings with it a bevy of improvements and new features, particularly in the camera department. One of the most exciting new capabilities is Cinematic mode, which allows filmmakers to shoot footage with shallow depth of field and focus pulls, and this great video shows off what it is capable of.

Fstoppers Reviews the Insta360 Go 2: Leveling Up the Action Camera

On the surface, it doesn’t look like Insta360’s latest entry in the GO lineup is all that different from its previous model. Looks, in this case, are very, very deceiving. The Insta360 GO 2 fixes every issue with its predecessor and in the process, has become a versatile and eminently usable camera in its own right.