Shooting With the Canon EOS R5 and RF 50mm f/1.2L

The Canon EOS R5 and RF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens are two of the company's best offerings, offering top-notch image quality, high resolution, and performance even with an extreme aperture, making them an especially exciting option for portrait shooters. This excellent video shows the kind of performance and image quality you can get from the combination.

5 Tips for Capturing the Milky Way With Your Astrophotography

The Milky Way is the first major landmark after capturing stars in astrophotography, depending on where you are in the world. However, capturing it can be tricky, require some know-how, and the right equipment. So, here are five tips to help you get it right.

Sony a1: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Sony Netherlands gave me a Sony a1 for a review. During two weeks, I dove into this amazing camera, learning about all the things that make the Sony a1 the top of the Alpha line-up. I shot a lot of pictures and learned a lot of things about this camera. These are my thoughts.

Using the Incredible Canon 200mm f/2L for Portraits

As far as extreme lenses go, Canon's 200mm f/2L IS USM is near the top, with one of the most extreme focal length and aperture combinations out there. Though it was generally designed as a sports and wildlife lens, it has found a second home as a portrait lens, and this fun video discusses what it is like shooting with it, both the pros and the cons.

Using a Supertelephoto Zoom Lens for Minimalist Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is traditionally done with a wide angle lens in order to capture the majority of the scene in the frame, and while there is nothing wrong with that approach, you can make images that are just as visually interesting with longer focal lengths. This excellent video shows how one photographer uses a supertelephoto zoom lens to create minimalist landscape photos.

Learn to Utilize Frequency Separation in Landscape Photography

Frequency separation is a Photoshop technique that involves "separating" the colors in an image from the textures. Though typically used by portrait photographers for retouching a model's skin, it's a useful tool for landscape photographers to have on their belts. In this article, I outline two cases in which frequency separation helped me process a recent image.

Helpful Tips to Make You Work Faster in Lightroom

A lot of us spend a ton of time working in Lightroom, and anywhere we can increase our efficiency, even by just a little amount, can add up to big savings in the long run. This helpful video tutorial will show you a variety of ways to work more quickly in Lightroom and save a lot of time.

Easy Tricks To Create Moody Portraits in Adobe Photoshop

The art of creating an appealing and memorable, moody portrait is often in the post-production of that image as much as it is in the lighting. In this short video, you get some tricks for getting the most out of your shot when you're creating a moody edit.

Drone Crashes Into Icelandic Volcano Capturing Its Own Incredible Demise

There are few videos I have clicked on faster than a drone filming itself crashing into a volcano in Iceland. This video shows a DJI first-person view drone as it records the rivers of lava flowing out of Fagradalsfjall before plummeting into a fiery death, all in glorious 4K.

How to Use V-Flats to Create Eye-Catching Light for Portraits

Lights and specialty modifiers can be quite expensive, and filling out your collection can be a major hit to your wallet. However, one of the most versatile modifiers and a favorite of many studio photographers is also one of the cheapest. The humble v-flat is tremendously useful, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to use them to create eye-catching light.

How to Direct and Pose for Better Headshots

Whereas things like camera settings and lighting can be quantified and thus committed to memory in a straightforward manner, posing and directing a subject is a bit more nebulous and often gives photographers a fair amount of trouble. Peter Hurley is well known as a master of directing and posing, and in this excellent video tutorial, he shares some of his best advice that is sure to improve your own work.

Creating Time-Lapse Videos With Just Lightroom and Photoshop

Lightroom and Photoshop are generally considered to be tools for standard (still) photography, but simple video tasks can be handled entirely within your photographer’s Lightroom and Photoshop subscription package (no need for Adobe Premiere Pro), and without any third-party add-on tools. In particular, the pair of programs handles time-lapse videos quite nicely.

How to Color Grade a Photo in Lightroom

It used to be that for serious color grading work, you needed to work in Photoshop, but Lightroom now offers some powerful controls for color grading that let you take precise control to dial in the exact look you want. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to leverage those controls to color grade your photos.

The Blueprint: How to Create Cyanotypes

Cyanotypes are a type of printmaking process invented in the 1800s by Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH FRS. What a name!

A $300 Full Frame Camera Shootout: Canon Versus Nikon

There have been so many cameras over the last 20 years that there are certainly some bargains to be had now. In this video, two cameras each costing less than $300 are pitted against one another.

Photographing Black Cowgirls on Film

Vuhlandes is a film photographer based in Detroit, Michigan. In this video, he collaborates with cowgirl Brianna and her horse, Dapper Dan, to create images that meld Vuhlandes’ urban style with a distinctly nostalgic, yet new Americana.

How Many Lenses Do You Actually Need?

With more and more amazing lenses being introduced at a dizzying pace, I find myself asking a very basic question: How many lenses do I actually need?

How Good Is the Impressively Affordable Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 Lens?

Currently on sale for just $249 and weighing less than half a pound, the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 lens is an affordable, versatile, and highly portable lens. How does it hold up in practice? This excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it.

Is This the Best Laptop for Creatives?

Apple's M1 Macs turned the computing world on its head a bit, offering impressive performance and jaw-dropping battery life at prices that were much more affordable than traditional levels, ushering in a new era of computing for creatives. This great video review discusses the M1 MacBook Air as a long-term solution for creatives and if it can handle the often heavy demands we place on our computers.

How to Create a Panorama From Start to Finish

Shooting a panorama is quite simple in concept, but there are a few tips to follow that should give more consistent results. Whether you have never shot a panorama before or you're well versed, there may be something in here for you.

Why So Many People Fail at Their Creative Passions

Making photography a career is the dream for a ton of people, but very few find lasting professional success. Why is that? There are many things that make it difficult, but one of the most common and damaging is something we often do to ourselves.

Learn How to Light and Photograph These Outdoor Portraits

Learning how to balance artificial light with ambient light is one of the most important and versatile skills for a portrait photographer to learn. If you are still working on that, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you a series of outdoor portraits shot using a combination of strobes and ambient light and how they were lit.

Why the Platypod Is a Game-Changer for Landscape and Travel Photography

When I first saw the Platypod, I honestly thought it was a gimmick. Compared to the lightweight Gitzo travel tripod I’ve loved for years, the Platypod is really just a piece of aluminum with some holes in it. I scoffed at the concept of it for a long time since I had no idea how much it would improve my travel photography.

Domestic Cacaphony: A Frank Lee Film

Frank Lee blends mundane domestic visuals against the backdrop of equally repetitive sounds to create not mere actuality, but reality.

Testing Vidhance's Video Stabilization

I had the opportunity to check out what a team behind stabilization technology can do with regards to shooting video on mobile devices.

10 Pro Tips for Photographing Landscape Reflections

As landscape photographers, one skill that always requires honing is composition. Essentially, we seek to find a bit of beauty in the chaos of nature and then capture it in a frame. Finding and capturing reflections is a great way to portray order and symmetry. Here I've compiled some tips and tricks that can help you master your reflection compositions.

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

The original Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens was well known for being a versatile performer, offering 1:1 macro capabilities, sharp images, excellent image stabilization, and reliable autofocus, becoming a favorite of not just macro photographers, but portrait and wedding photographers as well. The new RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM brings some major improvements, and this excellent video review shows the image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.

Rankin and the BBC's, The Great British Photography Challenge

Somewhere between Allen Funt and season 245 of Survivor, reality television has become the most popular genre of television. We’ve seen a handful of photography-centered shows, but not nearly enough. Frankly, even I got tired of watching the drama of America’s Next Top Model just so I could watch 10 minutes of photography. Thanks to Rankin and the BBC, we’ve been giving something much better.

Shooting One Light Commercial Car Photography in London

Even if commercial car photography is not your thing, there is always something to learn from seeing professionals on a shoot. Especially when the results are this impressive and the gear used was minimal.

We Can Expect New Gear From Nikon This Week

While some manufacturers have been releasing gear at a breakneck pace, Nikon has been quite quiet the last few months. It seems they are finally waking up, though, with a lot of lens announcements rumored to come this week.

Why All Photographers Should Take Self-Portraits

Self-portraits tend to get a somewhat bad rap, in part because of the selfie craze. But, self-portraits can be an incredibly beneficial process for photographers that can lead to great growth and skill development.

The Battle of Mesa Arch: Landscape Photography Gone Wrong

Twenty feet away from arguably the most spectacular high desert scene lay a pile of photographic detritus. Busted tripod legs, smashed lenses, and camera bodies pulverized beyond recognition, the scene looked more like a badly bungled camera store robbery than a National Park vista.

Apple's M1 iPad Pro Can Comfortably Handle Canon EOS R5 Footage

With its latest line of M1 devices, Apple has really shocked the market. Laptops such as the Apple MacBook Air are demonstrating performance that is on par with more expensive computers. Now, the Apple M1 iPad Pro is demonstrating incredible performance.

Is It Worth It to Enter Photography Competitions?

There are a ton of photography competitions out there, often promising prizes, prestige, and more to the winners. Are they actually worth taking the time and spending the money to enter, however? This excellent video essay discusses photography contests and their pros and cons.

A Common Mistake Landscape Photographers Make

A successful landscape photograph takes the confluence of multiple factors, and because you are dependent on multiple factors, it can be easy for just one to go wrong and derail the entire shoot. It is common to overlook that phenomenon and to be left stuck, and this excellent video essay discusses what you can do to ensure you still come home with a worthwhile image.

Simulate Light Setups On Your Computer With Set.A.Light 3D

If you are going to shoot a model, it is great to have an idea about the right lighting setup. Experimenting when the model is standing in front of your camera may not be the best time to do this. With the software set.a.light.3D, it is possible to simulate any possible lighting setup imaginable.

Shooting Long Exposures With a 90-Year-Old Camera

We are lucky to live in an era where we have vastly powerful cameras that can tackle extreme situations with ease, but of course, that was not always the case. This neat video follows a pair of photographers shooting long-exposure landscape images, one with a modern camera setup and one with a few older film cameras, one almost a century in age.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (May 2021): Thomas Andlauer

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.

Don't Overlook the 70-200mm Lens for Landscape Photography

The majority of landscape photography is done with wide angle lenses like a 16-35mm. And certainly, these are highly useful for the genre, but on the other hand, they are not the only appropriate focal length. In fact, much longer lenses can be just as useful, and this excellent video discusses why a 70-200mm lens could be just what you need for your work.

A Review of the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens

A quality macro lens can be one of the most useful optics in a photographer's bag, suitable for a huge range of applications from detail shots to portraits. For Sony shooters, there is the FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS, and this excellent video review takes a look at the kind of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.