Conducting a Portrait Shoot for Billboard Magazine During COVID-19

Shooting for Billboard Magazine would undoubtedly prove exciting for any photographer, but especially so if it was your first assignment since the global lockdown began. This is the story of how one photographer completed a portrait shoot for the renowned publication, taken in the back garden of the subject’s home.

Boris Johnson's Disgraced Right-Hand Man Criticizes UK Paparazzi for Breaking Social Distancing Rules While Reporting

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Chief Adviser has been facing heat this week after he was caught repeatedly flouting lockdown. However, even more criticism has been heaped on the UK’s press, after several videos emerged of huge swarms of paparazzi photographers defying social distancing guidelines after they clustered together, each attempting to get the best shot.

Tips And Tricks To Improve Your Outdoor Portraits

In this great video, Brandon Woelfel takes us through photographing with natural light at golden hour and dusk. Explaining his ISO, shutter speed and aperture options at every stage makes it nice and easy to grasp the secrets he's sharing.

Flying Drones Over Sensitive Sites

The use of drones over sensitive areas is certainly a point of contention here on Fstoppers. I think we can all agree that airports are a no go. Even if the risk is small, the damage could be catastrophic. What about irreparable heritage sites?

Can You Save a Photo Through Lightroom Editing Alone?

While it's important to get things right at the source, if you've made that age-old mistake of not changing your camera settings before taking the shot, is it possible to recover the photo? Or is it destined for the recycling bin?

What Is Wrong With Shutterstock?

Shutterstock sent an email to its contributors recently and informed them about their new earning structure. As you might guess, it was shocking and disappointing for the vast majority of contributors.

These Images Brilliantly Convey the Struggle of Life Under Lockdown

While people’s physical health has been hard to ignore, the impact of the global pandemic on mental wellbeing is definitely being felt, but often goes unseen and undocumented. One artist’s project has evolved under lockdown, giving a means of expressing how mental health may affect us long after the stay-at-home orders have been lifted.

Here's Why You Get Noise in Long Exposures Even at Low ISOs

Noise is something we pretty much all try to minimize in our photos, and we know that one of the best ways to avoid it is to shoot at as low an ISO as possible. But even at low ISO values, you can still see noise, particularly as you shoot longer exposures. This great video will show you what long exposure noise is, why it happens, and how you can fix it.

Your Camera's Auto Mode Is Not Evil

A lot of photographers think that using automatic modes on a camera is a sign of a lack of technique or ability, but it is not such a black and white issue. Here is why you should consider using automatic modes in certain situations.

What Happens When Total Strangers Edit Your Sushi Commercial?

In the past few years, there has been a surge of online freelance marketplaces, and on them, you can often find photo and video editors waiting to process your work for fees ranging from just $5 to well into the hundreds. This fun video shows what happens when total strangers edit a filmmaker's sushi commercial.

How to Retouch Portraits Using Capture One 20

Capture One is already quite a powerful tool for working with portraits (and is used by a lot of top professionals), and the latest version brings a variety of useful new features. This great video will show you how to retouch portraits using Capture One 20.

Is the DJI Mavic Air 2 the Drone for You?

The DJI Mavic Air 2 is the latest drone from the company, and it brings with it a range of improvements along with new features. This excellent video review takes a look at the new drone and the sort of performance you can expect from it.

What Do You Do When the Sky Is Blue and Boring?

For the normal person, blue skies make for a lovely day, but for the landscape photographer, they can be pretty drab and boring. That does not mean you can't take great shots, though; it just means you need to try for different images than you would otherwise. This great video discusses how you can turn monotonous blue skies into fantastic images.

How to Get Dark Backgrounds for Close-Up Photos

A dark background is a fantastic way to keep the focus on your subject, and all it takes is a little lighting know-how to make it happen. This great video will show you how it is done and how you can use it to create dramatic, vibrant images.

A Year With a Leica: Is It Everything This Photographer Dreamed?

Leica cameras are some of the most expensive out there, and while some see them as a niche product for enthusiasts, other photographers swear by them for their work. This great video features a photographer discussing his thoughts on Leica ownership after a year with his camera.

Video Editing Plugins That are Worth Buying

Plugins for both photography and video are plentiful nowadays, and the quality of them varies hugely. Here are one cinematographer's favorite video plugins that he is glad he invested in.

Sony a7 III Versus the Sony a7R IV: How Do They Compare in the Real World?

Sony’s a7R IV arrived in September last year, offering incremental improvements over the a7R III, but possibly quite a big step up from the a7 III. In this video, photographer Julia Trotti did some tests to try and find out where you’ll feel the difference when shooting stills.

Fstoppers Reviews the Kandao QooCam 8K: The Holy Grail of 360 Cameras for Photographers?

In the automotive world, there’s a saying that there’s no replacement for displacement — a bigger engine is a bigger engine, and that’s all there is to it. One can say that this is the approach that Kandao is taking with its new QooCam 8K: more resolution and larger sensor sizes that make for quite an appealing 360 camera on paper and, as it turns out, in real life too.

A Tour of a Commercial Photography Studio

In this video I show you around my commercial food photography studio. This is very much a place to create and steps away somewhat from the pristine white, minimalist set up to complete and utter (organized) chaos.

Man Pushes Photographer Into Lake in Unprovoked Attack, Damages $3,000 of Gear

Video footage shows the moment an unprovoked man decides to push a photographer into a nearby pond, injuring her and submerging her $3,000 worth of gear into the water. The clip sees members of the public rally around to support the woman, while the attacker tries to downplay his actions.

Photographers Unite: A Free Worldwide Conference to Raise Money for Charity

Finding free photography education is about as easy as it is to find a cup of decent coffee. But finding world-class education for free is another story. But until June 6th, you can get free education from 30-plus educators on the top of their game through Photographers Unite.

How to Use Speedlights for Easy and Portable Headshots

While dedicated studio lights are much more powerful, speedlights are far more portable and can be a perfectly viable substitute in a lot of situations, especially location work where full monolights would be cumbersome and tedious to use. This great video will show you how you can use simple speedlights and portable modifiers to shoot professional headshots anywhere you go.

A Demonstration of Every Single Effect in Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is something of a companion to Premiere Pro, offering a range of visual effects, motion graphics, and more for video work. And like other Adobe production apps, it is a fairly intricate and often complex application. This great video demonstrates every effect in the program so you can see what they can do and where they might be appropriate for your own work.

Why You Should Be out Shooting Even on the Most Boring Days

Some days are beautiful and full of vibrant color and interesting skies, while others are, well, just plain boring. However, those boring days can be the most important of all. This is why you should still be heading out with your camera, even on the least interesting days.

Why Zooming With a Lens and With Your Feet Produce Different Images

You will often hear proponents of prime lenses tell fans of zoom lenses to simply "zoom with their feet." However, zooming with your feet will not produce the same image as zooming with your lens, and understanding the difference will give you lots of creative capabilities for taking more powerful images. This helpful video will show you the difference and the impact it will have on your photos.

Why Manual Mode Is Sometimes Overrated

A lot of beginner photographers hear the advice that professionals only shoot in manual mode and that it is a necessary method for becoming truly adept with a camera. And while there is certainly some truth to the benefits of using manual mode, you might be surprised just how often professionals use various semi-automatic modes, and this great video discusses why and how they can benefit your own work.

Can This Unbelievably Cheap Lens Actually Deliver Good Images?

Generally, you need to get into about the $300 range before you start to see any lenses that can really deliver great results, but occasionally, a gem comes along at a price that seems too good to be true. The Pergear 35mm f/1.6 seems like it could be one of those lenses, and this great video review takes a look at it and what you can expect.

9 Creative Tricks Using 360 and Action Cameras

360 and action cameras are experiencing increasing popularity, especially as video quality improves more and more. This great video will show you nine creative tricks for better 360 and action camera footage.

5 Different Ways to Use a Single Octabox

An octabox is a highly versatile and relatively affordable modifier that many photographers use in a wide variety of genres and scenarios. This fantastic video will show you five different ways to use a single octabox.

Don't Be a Photography Snob

Photography seems particularly prone to creating an air of snobbery around it for a variety of reasons, and it can impede us in lots of ways. This great video discusses the problem, and it poses some greats points I am sure a lot of us will agree with.

Which DJI Drone Is Right for You?

DJI makes a range of consumer drones at varying price points, sizes, and capabilities, and you can generally find one that fits your needs within their lineup. If you are wondering which one is right for you, this great comparison video takes a look at the Mavic Air 2, the Mavic Mini, and the Mavic 2 Pro to help you decide which one is right for you.