Throughout the course of my creative career, I’ve overdrawn my bank account a lot, shed tears over stress, and stared in the mirror for hours in dejection. I’ve made my share of professional and personal mistakes and certainly learned the hard way from all of those choices. I’ve lost, I’ve won, I’ve sacrificed, and I’m blessed to have earned.
A few days ago, I decided to challenge myself by attempting to photograph a toy car and make it look real.
When Melissa Ngo stepped out onto Taft Point in Yosemite National Park with her fiancee, Charlie Vo, and saw him drop to one knee, present her with a Ring Pop, and ask for her hand in marriage, she was shocked — probably because they’d been engaged since February. She was shocked once again a couple weeks later when Vo asked her to confirm they were, in fact, the mystery couple captured in photographer Matthew Dippel’s viral photo that recently gained worldwide attention.
Perhaps you’re like I was one week prior to the writing this – a West Coast native who had only gone as far as making assumptions about one of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere – New York City. I’m back in the Arizona desert where I call home after attending PDN PhotoPlus Expo 2018 and I brought back an importantly refreshed outlook on myself and my career in photography.
When taking a portrait of an artist, I find it is always a good idea to try and tell the story of the artist through the image. If someone is a musician, the aesthetic of a photograph should help you understand the type of music they play. Similarly, if someone is a drag queen – I try to photograph them in a way viewers can instantly ‘get’ their character. Join me behind the scenes in photographing Mango Sassi, a Drag Queen from Toronto, ON, and have a look into what it can take to create a collaborative image!
We have all heard photographers claiming photography is art, but what is art really? Moreover, who has the right to define it in the first place?
Frequency separation can be a very overwhelming technique used most commonly for skin retouching. It is a technique that is very easy to overdo and destroy texture when not used correctly. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, where do you start?
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 2018, 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.
The pain came on like a sharp knife digging into my back. In a moment, years of lifting heavy lenses and avoiding exercise caught up with me and I couldn’t move.
Atomos debuted its five inch monitor and recorder a few months back, but the problem was that a regular SSD is be slightly too big for it. So how much will a full set up actually cost you?
Are you a photographer or writer looking to upgrade your on-camera audio for basic video clips and interviews? Check out some basic hardware and software essentials to improve your basic audio workflow for transcribing interviews and simple video clips.
Got a killer black and white image? Submit it to this weeks episode of Critique the Community for your chance to win a free Fstoppers original tutorial and receive feedback from Lee and Patrick.
Every couple weeks we release a new episode of Critique the Community where Fstoppers members can submit their best images to a genre specific contest for a chance to receive feedback and win a free Fstoppers original tutorial. This week, we changed things up and selected only 5 star images to discuss.
Knock on wood, but I walked outside this morning following the Halloween holiday and there were no smashed eggs, no toilet paper covering my trees, and about a hundred notifications on my phone from community members who had already downloaded the Halloween portraits I had taken for them.
Ten years ago, I attended my first PhotoPlus Expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. No other event each year brings as much opportunity to learn, check out new gear, speak with other photographers, editors, manufacturers, meeting folks outside of the matrix of social media. Here's a brief round-up of the 2018 PhotoPlus Expo from a different take than simply the latest gear.
While Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz face off for Texas' Senate seat in one of the fiercest battles of the midterm elections, one man has been able to photograph Rep. O'Rourke throughout the campaign.
Get ready, get set, and go. How a short five-minute exercise could help improve your photography and you could have fun doing it.
A young couple fell to their deaths in Yosemite National Park last week. We should all take it as an unfortunate reminder: no photograph is worth your life
As a street photographer, how far do you go to engage with strangers? Crash Taylor, currently a UK based photographer, not only asks strangers to pose for a portrait but also asks to reveal their deepest wish. Find out how he does it!
With a show of hands, how many of you have practiced long exposure photography using your camera and some neutral density (ND) filters? Whoa, that's a lot! Now, how many of you have practiced this type of photography with your mobile phone?
What are the differences between a traditional SSD and a NVMe drive? Should I upgrade to NVMe? Which model should I pick? What are the main specifications? What about the new Intel Optane? Here is a detailed explanation to understand the advantages, weaknesses, and differences of these storage technologies.
Lament a lowlife that lurches and lurks the local lanes, and I'll let loose a listless laugh. But tell me tales of a memory card formatting itself in the middle of a wedding and I'll hide behind the proverbial sofa, toes curled in fright.
We've been working on "Photographing The World 4 with Elia Locardi" for a year and a half, and it's finally complete. I'm excited to say that the tutorial is now available, and the first episode of the behind the scenes series is live as well.
Set up photo shoots at home, as in inside your house? Yes, it really is something you should consider doing and here are several excellent tips for how to go about doing it.
It is an often debated topic these days in landscape photography. Should you shoot the same locations that everyone sees ad nauseam on social media? Watch this video to see one photographer's take on the subject.
The spookiest day of the year is upon us and it might have you in the mood to create something frightful. Photoshop, of course, offers nearly limitless creative opportunities to scare your social media followers, but what if you'd rather create something horrifying using practical effects rather than digital?
If you’re in search of some festive-themed inspiration, check out this short video from Tajreen & Co that will also show you how easy it to create a fun image for Halloween with very limited resources. Some basic editing knowledge can turn a simple idea into a striking and spooky image.
One of the features about Canon that I've always liked is that they offer f/1.2 lenses where most everyone else offers f/1.4. I am a bokeh junkie, so that extra little bit really does offer a different look to the background.
See examples of how Apple’s latest computational photography technique, Smart HDR, allows the iPhone to compete with the dynamic range in several of the top full frame cameras on the market today.
