After 101 Album Covers, One Woman's Quarantine Photo Project Is Complete

After five months and 101 albums, Mercedes Murray has finally completed her biggest creative project yet. Finding herself homebound in mid-March along with millions of other San Francisco area residents, Murray started out by searching for a way to keep busy and entertained, but her work quickly turned into a valuable creative outlet, offering a method to voice her feelings on both COVID-19 and her frustrations with politics. From Bruce Springsteen to No Doubt, Murray set out to replicate some of music’s most iconic album covers using only what was available in her home.

Review: Topaz DeNoise AI Ups the Game for Removing Noise

I took a look at Topaz DeNoise AI earlier this year and found it effective at removing noise without killing the details in your images. My only complaint was that it was not a speed demon. On some large images, I had to wait almost a minute before the image was cleaned up. Is that better in the latest version?

What Gear Do Restaurant Photographers Need?

Getting into any genre of photography can be both daunting and expensive. Knowing what to buy, how to prioritize your spending, and in which order to procure the new camera kit can be very time-consuming. Hopefully, this will help.

4 Tips for More Creative Still Life Photography

Still life photography is both enjoyable and accessible for many photographers, but it's easy for your work to become stagnant. Here are 4 tips for more creative still life photography.

Learn More About Using Off-Camera Flash With This Great Tutorial

Having the ability to work with off-camera flash can make you a far more versatile photographer and enable many new creative avenues that simply are not possible with natural light. This great video follows a photographer as he moves from working with natural light through to multi-light setups with a wide variety of modifiers and techniques, and you are likely to learn a lot from it.

Nikon Just Teased Their Next Gen Bodies: Here's What They Need to Have

Nikon has just teased a countdown to the Z 7 II and Z 6 II, with an announcement apparently coming October 14th. Are these just going to be iterative improvements, or is Nikon going to deliver an enticing upgrade for Z users to strike back at Canon's mammoth R5 announcement?

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (September 2020): Michele Buttazzoni

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 2020, 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.

Bokeh Monster: A Review of the Fuji XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR Lens

Fuji's new XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR lens is one of their most ambitious to date, and it brings with it the promise of ultimate portraits, with buttery smooth bokeh and very narrow depth of field. How does it hold up in practice? This fantastic video review shows the kind of images you can create with this unique lens.

13 Tips for Better Fall Landscape Photography

Fall is undoubtedly one of the best times to be a photographer, as the leaves change and give rise to brilliant scenes full of vibrant and dramatic colors. To make sure you are able to take full advantage of the season, check out this fantastic video tutorial that details 13 helpful tips for better fall images along with a lot of great example images.

9 Mistakes Almost Every Photographer Makes

Photography is a remarkably wide pursuit, with dozens of genres and career paths, but there are some common mistakes that almost all photographers make at some point. This excellent video discusses nine common mistakes almost every photographer has made at some point.

A Review of the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24mm f/1.8 S Lens for Mirrorless Cameras

A good wide-aperture 24mm lens can be a versatile option for anything from astrophotography to events coverage and even portraiture work. For Nikon mirrorless shooters, the NIKKOR Z 24mm f/1.8 S lens could be that option, and this great video review takes a look at what you can expect from it in practice.

This Clever Technology Can Detect Deepfake Videos

As deepfake videos become more and more believable, they are a cause for serious concern over their ability to be leveraged to misrepresent things like news stories or politicians. Researchers have come up with a clever new technique for detecting deepfakes that can help fight this problem.

Fstoppers Reviews the Billlingham Hadley One Camera Bag

In my experience, I find that luxury bags can be a polarizing issue among photographers. Some see absolutely no reason to spend hundreds of dollars on cameras bags; however, there are many that simply won't settle for less.

A Review of the New Sony a7C Mirrorless Camera

The Sony a7C is the latest mirrorless camera in Sony's popular a7 line, and it offers a different design from past bodies that is much more compact. This excellent video review takes a look at the new camera and what you can expect from working with it.

5 Tips on How to Use Lightroom’s Tone Curves Panel

Lightroom’s Tone Curves panel can give you a huge amount of control — if you know how to use it. This video offers you a deep dive into understanding how the various elements work and gives you an extra tool when it comes to editing your photos.

A Review of the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM Lens

When Canon announced its RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens, a lot of photographers were a bit perplexed by the f/7.1 maximum aperture at the telephoto end. Nonetheless, it is a versatile lens, and this great video review takes a look at how it performs in practice.

10 Things to Know Before Buying the Panasonic S1H

Just looking at the Panasonic S1H you can tell it’s ready for business, and by many accounts it is a great hybrid-style camera to shoot video with. However, there are some important things to be aware of before buying.

Testing the ISO Performance of the Sony a7S III in Low Light

As the years roll by, one constant remains in all forms of tech: consumers (and in particular, prosumers) demand more and more from equipment. One area videographers will always cast a critical eye, is low light performance.

Fstoppers' Long-Term Review of the Fujifilm X100V Mirrorless Camera

Fujifilm's X100 series of cameras have won the hearts of photographers the world over. As a second body on client shoots or a walk-around camera with excellent image quality for travel or recreation, there are not many cameras out there that can take its place. On the fifth iteration of the camera, the X100V, Fujifilm made some major changes to the camera, but are they enough to make it a worthwhile upgrade from previous models?

Fstoppers Interviews Legendary White House Photographer Pete Souza

Pete Souza needs little introduction. As the Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama and an Official White House Photographer for President Reagan, Souza had the crucial duty of documenting innumerably many historical moments, a job he did with an empathetic touch that has made his work the model for many aspiring photographers. I recently had the chance to speak with Souza about his work, his approach, and his new film.

Are You Missing Great Photos by Avoiding Bad Weather?

Few of us enjoy standing in the cold, the rain, a snowstorm, etc. But if you follow a lot of the world's best landscape photographers, you might notice that they will frequently brave the elements for photos. This excellent video discusses why you should bundle up and head out into bad weather with your camera more often.

10 Great Tips and Tricks for Better Editing in Photoshop and Lightroom

Both Lightroom and Photoshop are complicated and nuanced applications with wide ranges of capabilities and features. This excellent video tutorial details 10 helpful tips and tricks for using them that will help you edit more quickly, find new capabilities and ways of doing things, and create better overall images.

A Review of the Godox SL150W II LED Video Light

Constant video lights have come a long way in the last few years, providing more power, higher quality, and quieter operation. This great video review takes a look at one such light, the Godox SL150W II.

DJI Mavic Air 2: Heavy Features, Light Cost

Over the past few years, drones have really come a long way. In 2020, DJI launched what is perhaps the biggest step up in terms of features to cost with the $799 Mavic Air 2.

Affordable Reach: A Review of the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary Lens

A decade ago, high quality supertelephoto zoom lenses were generally the exclusive domain of first party manufacturers, but in the past few years, companies like Tamron and Sigma have brought affordable and well-performing alternatives to the market. This great review takes a look at one such lens, the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary.

Using Shallow Depth of Field in Landscape Photography

When you think of aperture choice and depth of field in landscape photography, you likely trend toward using narrow apertures for a wide depth of field. And while that is certainly a great way to approach images, you can create unique photos by using a narrow depth of field, which is what this excellent video explores.

2020: The Year the World Tried to End, But Canon Finally Awoke

This year has been... memorable. While half the world is locked in their homes, forests are burning down to celebrate a child's gender, companies are going belly up, and it's starting to feel like the apocalypse, Canon has finally awoken from their slumber.

The Personality Trait That Makes Every Photographer Better

You can spend a lot of time studying techniques, reading gear reviews, and viewing the work of other photographers, but a certain personality trait is probably more important than any of those for becoming a better photographer. This great video discusses that trait and why it can help you improve as a photographer.

Does Your On-Site Workflow Have Sufficient Data Backups?

At this point, I don't think anyone is not aware that they need to have multiple backups of their data, but at what point in your workflow does your backup process start? Depending on the type of work you shoot you may need more backup options and you might need to start your backups on location.

A Spot Metering Crash Course

Spot metering is just a camera feature that measures the exposure from a single point. However, it is often misunderstood, and utilizing spot metering correctly may widen your technical capabilities when shooting in manual mode.