Fstoppers Original Articles

Running a photography business and gaining new clients is exciting, but sometimes clients have unreasonable requests. Here’s how to respond to a client when you have to tell them “no.”

Melissa Rodwell has been there, done it and got the t-shirt. A thirty year veteran of the world of fashion photography, she has paid her dues and then some. She has seen the trends come and go, and now has the knowledge and experience to help those just starting out. Anyone interested in fashion photography, or simply how to survive as a professional photographer will benefit from this frank and exclusive interview.

Drawing tablets have always been a necessary tool for photo retouchers but just about everyone can benefit from incorporating one into their workflow. Now the new Huion HS64 is a great affordable entry-level option.

Every day sees tens of thousands of copyright infringements on Instagram, and despite this vast number, reporting violations is very confusing — perhaps deliberately so. While my first attempt took almost 20 minutes, I can now complete a report in under 90 seconds. This quick guide walks you through the process and helps to make it as painless as possible.

With the launch of Mike Kelley's 3rd Architectural tutorial, we released eight new episodes of behind the scenes madness. In this episode, Mike continues shooting one of the most extravagant homes on the Mayan Rivera, Lee's nightmare trip becomes worse when he comes down with food poisoning, and I make the most of the situation and explore everything the coast of Mexico has to offer.

One week of photography in the wild backcountry of the Scottish highlands. In this "episode," I’d like to share with you the story about a recent trek into Glen Feshie in the Scottish Cairngorms National Park. It’s the behind-the-scenes tale of my successful image titled “Catch the Spirit.”

Canon’s cinema line of cameras ushered forward the post-DSLR years for video users, and now, they could be set to do the same with mirrorless designs.

Dodge and burn are one of my favorite go-to techniques. It can be used in so many different ways by using numerous techniques.

Selling prints is a tricky business with seemingly infinite reasons for someone to decide they don't want to purchase your image. But one simple question can dramatically increase your odds of convincing a potential customer to pull the trigger on investing in your art.

Nikon and Agence France-Presse (AFP) are collaborating on a practical verification system to ensure image provenance in the field of photojournalism. Recently, I spoke to Nikon about their plans for the function as well as how it might help viewers and photographers in the modern age.

Have you ever seen someone's work and been not only blown away by the technical ability of the photographs, but how it emotionally moves you as well? In this article, take a look at the inspiring work and message behind photographer, Russ Watkins new series, Black and White:Perception vs. Reality.

If you are like me, you probably have a closet full of random tiles, boards, and construction scraps just in the event you need an interesting surface to shoot on. These new photography surfaces by Duo Boards set out to change my messy studio, and this photography tutorial shows you how useful these backdrops can be!

YouTube has made it easier to improve your landscape photography. Videos are available about any facet of the topic you could want to explore. Are you confused about a technique? There is a video for it. But can you really learn everything about landscape photography from YouTube?

A lot of people think TikTok is juvenile, or have not even heard of it. Yet, after 1 billion downloads and upwards of 500 million monthly users, the app is on the map.

Having used flash for most of the work I've shot, it’s fair to say that I made a number of mistakes when starting out with a flash kit. Everything that could go wrong did, but I learned a number of techniques along the way. In this article, we will dive into some of the most common mistakes I see photographers make when using flash.

There’s been a tug of war in the last few years in photojournalism. On one hand, you have the skill and excellence of craft with photojournalists doing their jobs with professional DSLR and mirrorless cameras, and on the other you have reporters doing a “good enough” job with smartphones.

Sometimes, the most obvious things are the most powerful.

Your website is more important than ever. It is likely the first place potential clients look when they want to evaluate your work and if you are a good fit for them. So, to increase the chances of landing the job, make sure you do not make this mistake.

"Oh no, it’s the same location, yet again!" That’s a statement you’ll hear frequently from wedding photographers when they are assigned to shoot in a location they’ve visited frequently. I agree that shooting at the same location over and over can be testing. It might look like reinventing the wheel with very little space to innovate. This post is about how you can win over such a tricky situation of a repeated location on cards for your next outdoor shoot.

Artists strive not only to share their creative works but many also want to be known for their talents. Research is now finding what makes an artist known to the world and the findings may surprise you.

With more and more jobs at risk from the progression of automation and AI in society's workplaces, how does the photography industry fare?

An agency I work with for product photography hired me to photograph not one, but two race cars. I had already photographed motorbikes, but cars was going to be the first time. With cars the problems are almost always bigger: the surfaces are bigger, the reflections are bigger, the areas to be illuminated are bigger. Everything is bigger.

Work hard. Create personal work. Blog. Be active on social media. Pick up the phone. These (any many others) are tried and true ways to promote yourself and your business while you're trying to get noticed in a sea of other artists. But what happens when life gets in the way of your success? How do you balance taking care of your family while giving photography an honest to goodness shot?

Rain during a couple’s portrait session can be hugely annoying for a wedding photographer. A dramatic rain shot can be the silver lining, but only if you’re fully prepared, especially on the lighting front.

Legally, the first amendment of the US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Given the current trend of hysteria on social media towards just about everything, is it right being censored by political activists and guardians of moral hygiene in the artistic world?

Have you ever felt unsatisfied or disconnected from your photos? It’s important to know we all go through this and these are a few things you can do to help.

As photographers, we often find ourselves at exciting places such as concerts, parties, and sporting events. Many photographers spend hours of their day working with other people. It is common to see photographers interacting with people and asking the people they are photographing to move a bit to the left or to position their hands differently. On the surface, it might seem that photographers are extroverts who love being out and about.

Instagram appears to be in the process of rolling out a surprising change to its platform: hiding the number of times that a post has been liked. While the internet giant claims that it’s making the change in to help us focus on the thing we love, the truth is different. If it really wants to improve things, it should go one step further and hide follower counts too. You can be sure, however, that it never will.

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.

Wedding photography has changed vastly over the years. And as much as there is a growing potential for newcomers, there is also an amassing amount of challenges that one has to encounter. It is wise to have a clear understanding of the industry before taking the plunge.

Capturing a great street photograph during the day is hard enough, let alone at night.

"Get it right in the camera", correct? But sometimes you can't and sometimes you won't on purpose, but it works out only if you know how and when to crop!

Rules of composition seem to get a lot of flak. Really though, they are simply commonly appreciated methods of composition and certainly have a place in our repertoire. This is especially true while we learn the ropes.

There's so much we photographers can learn from watching what others in our industry do, whether we watch a tutorial or start an online photography course. But have you thought about improving your business by looking beyond photography industry?

In the age of the selfie, a truly well-crafted self-portrait can make us take pause. Courtney Emery's images are intriguing and multifaceted creations that draw the viewer in and offer a very interesting look at her identity.

I love 360-degree video. I've spent a bit of time with a few different brands on the market. While there are many things I love about the medium, the actual cameras aren't one of them. I don’t rave about them the way I do about perhaps a Nikon DSLR or Fuji mirrorless. That's because the manufacturers of these 360-degree cameras aren't making it easy.

After reading an article about a wedding photographer who has taken over eight months to deliver photos — only doing so when a local news station got involved — I wondered how long is considered acceptable for image turnaround times.

Dodging and burning is an art in itself when used to clean up images. For example, when retouching beauty shots or portraits, it can take a really long time and require a high level of precision to yield beautiful results. What’s extremely frustrating is that our viewers and clients often don’t understand how much really goes into such work. Showing before and after isn’t really flattering, and showing each mask individually isn’t visually powerful enough. However, there’s one way to make it look abstract so that the model’s reputation isn’t hurt along the way, but visually strong enough that people realize the time put in.

Update - Congratulations to Mack Bartlett on being selected as the winner of the Fujifilm X-T3 with a 18-55mm lens. His entry to sign up for the Fstoppers and Fujifilm newsletter won him the giveaway. We will be in touch with you to claim your prize.

Photographer Magic Owen was offered the opportunity by HUNGER Magazine to set her own brief for a shoot at the gorgeous venue, Castle Ashby. Having been given the chance to shoot in a location that magical with such creative freedom, Owen decided to create a modernized Wonderland style shoot.

The holiday season is the best time to buy a new monitor; with Black Friday right around the corner, now is the perfect time to update your most important tool for editing. But do you know what to look for? Let's discuss what important qualities you should be watching for and go over some highly rated monitors for photo editing.

Many articles about composition highlight compositional tools like the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Section. However, the essential concept of visual weight is often overlooked and unknown to many photographers.

Imagine a world that, wherever you traveled, you were the first to capture an image. That was the ten year experience of John Thomson, but it was 1862 and he used the wet collodion process with photographic requirements that are about as far removed from today as imaginable. So what were his achievements?

You're a landscape photographer facing a choice: invest in new camera gear or embark on a photography trip with some extra funds in hand. Which option is the better choice for enhancing your photography?

When we think what defines our brand as photographers, we think of our logo, website, and even the style of imagery we create. But, everything that is related and connected to us and our company is a representation of our brand — from the way we answer our emails, interact with our clients, down to the pants we wear, the bag we carry our gear in, and the overall way we present ourselves to the world. Every detail reflects back on our company and in the end reflects back on our bottom line.

The mirrorless versus SLR debate is the most hotly discussed topic in photography circles. One of the main reasons given for sticking to the SLR system is the superiority of the optical viewfinder (OVF). Over the past couple of years, I’ve started to question this point. In this article, I explore the areas where an electronic viewfinder (EVF) offers an advantage over on OVF.

What’s keeping you from being the photographer or even the artist that you hope to be? How much of it is under your control, and what can you do to get past the roadblocks?

One thing I love the most about my job is to be able to work with hugely talented people in my team. It’s always so inspirational to be around them and never fails to serve as an outstanding learning opportunity.

I hold these truths to be self-evident. One, things don’t always go the way we’d like them to. And two, how we respond to failure is equally, if not more important than how we deal with success.

The end of the year is always a time to both make one final push to close the business year strongly and to reflect on the current state of affairs. As a photographer, it’s also a good time to look back on where you stand as an artist and where you still want to go.