Fstoppers Original Articles

At this point in our lives, the majority of us have come to understand our capabilities and our limitations. If we were never good at sports, we have come to accept this as truth. If we are great at math, we have likely received this "gift" and possibly moved into a career field where we can maximize the ease of which numbers have come to us. As photographers, you have the "eye" for it, or you don't. Are these established beliefs, based likely on past evidence in reality, or are they limitations we have placed upon ourselves?

To capture this affecting photo series, photographer Emily Teague traveled to India and met with the women affected by sex trafficking and the women fighting to stop it.

Jonathon Keats is an American conceptual artist based in San Francisco. This year Jonathon began a new project he calls Century Camera in which he (and the people of Berlin) hide 100 pinhole cameras with the hopes of creating the first series of century-long exposures. Jonathon was kind enough to make time to speak with me and share the details, inspiration, and process behind this ambitious project — you don't want to miss this.

Today is the International Women's Day so while it's nice to celebrate how far gender equality has come, it's even more important to look at the issues still present in photography industry today.

If you’ve been following along, you may remember that back in July, I packed up my apartment, loaded up my car, and set off on a month-long cross country tour of the southern United States with my girlfriend Holly and my dog, Olive. Along the way we met and hung out with some incredible people, had the opportunity to take great photos, ate at some great local places and most importantly, got to experience first hand the freedom of the open road.

Can photography be more than just work? Can it be a calling? How do you know? And what if that calling coincides with a transformational period in world history and you are called upon to document every move? Lauren Greenfield’s new exhibition and book, “Generation Wealth” is a time capsule a quarter century in the making.

A couple of years ago I was tasked with getting a shot of grape stomping for a local food magazine, Edible Ozarkansas, who were doing a story on the history of local wine production in Arkansas. Right away, images of Lucy and Ethel of "I Love Lucy" stomping grapes in the giant barrel came scrolling through my mind. Challenge accepted.

In the world of photography today, it is pretty common that the relationship between creative concept and photography skill is intertwined and very much expected from a photographer. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into this discussion between these two relationships to see how photographers can unleash their artistic potential and bring their work to the next level and how one skill affects the other skill. Everything from the spark of inspiration from the basis of creative concepts to the technical skills required for project execution will be discussed in hopes of achieving balance between creativity and technical skill to push a photographer’s work to a greater height.

In today’s article, I’d like to pose a fundamental question. Has the growth of social media been a net positive or negative for the world of photography?

Anyone who's shot Comet NEOWISE has noticed one thing: it looks a bit small in the frame when shooting on wider lenses. That's why with the help of some image editing, creating a composite where we replace the sky may be the best way to produce a stunning comet composite.

It's Christmas, you finally got that camera you wanted, and you are ready to dive into the world of photography. How do you get the best pictures possible immediately, though?

One of the worst gut wrenching feelings any content producer can face is opening up a memory card only to find that a file is corrupt or missing altogether. Recently we sold most of our Nikon gear and switched over to the new Panasonic GH5 cameras because of their better video features, superior image stabilization, and overall smaller size. Unfortunately we have found that unlike our Nikon cameras, the GH5 can corrupt files pretty easily if you are using their battery grip. In this video, I show you how these files can easily corrupt as well as a few software options you can use to recover any files corrupted during a loss of power.

My photographs are hardly ever representative of objective reality, but they are representative of my vision, my artistic interpretation of the scene. In this article, I will talk about why I made a particular photograph, what was done in the camera, and then what I did in the darkroom to realize the finished image—or at least the image as it is right now. Realizing that I hardly ever reach a final conclusion on a photograph, especially when I am working on it in a wet, traditional darkroom, everything remains a “work in progress.”

Most of the time, photography relies on good relationships. They make the business run smoother and ease the shooting. In some areas of photography, smooth jobs are not the best, though.

When we think of history and how dry it may appear as a subject to some, what role do visuals play in increasing genuine interest and cultivating understanding of things that have happened?

There's yet another short film in your feed. You play it, and a few minutes later, you wonder why it ended in such a meaningless and abrupt way. Sound familiar?

The business of photography can sometimes be fairly cutthroat, but it can also be a community full of great people who care and support each other. This is precisely the experience that one photographer shares after losing everything to the recent wildfires in California.

Can you emulate studio gel lighting with Lightroom's new masking tools? In short, yes, but is it as good as the real thing?

I love using reflections for my landscape photography. A nice sunrise or sunset with a reflection of the colored sky in a pond or lake is very rewarding. But you can find reflections everywhere. I tell you about it in this article.

Branding is important for any photographer, and with 2020 behind us, I thought it best to update my own personal branding with some new profile photos across all of my socials. This is how I got the shots.

Photographers can be greedy when it comes to knowledge, hoarding techniques, shoot locations, and general valuable information on our craft. While we photographers need to be competitive, we also need to share our knowledge.

Needless to say, there's a fair few logistical complexities when photographing ice cream. After shooting for a vegan ice cream brand for a couple of years now, here are my best tips for running a smooth shoot when you’re capturing ice cream.

I begin with a story about a location nestled in the picturesque landscapes of Cork, Ireland, where there lies the ancient friary ruin of a monastic settlement—a scene that, despite its historical roots, breathes life through the ever-changing interplay of light, atmosphere, and clouds. In the pursuit of capturing the feeling of this timeless location, I embarked on a photographic challenge that spanned two hours leading up to sunset. The unique challenge? To take 10 shots from the exact same composition, without altering my camera position or perspective.

One absolutely invaluable thing that a person can learn in life is how to deal with negative people in a healthy way. The unfortunate truth is that at every stage of your creative journey there will always be people looking to bring you down. How you handle this negativity and choose to respond to these kind of people can say a lot about you too. Is there a right answer or does each situation demand a different kind of response?

As photographers we tend to always look for the big sweeping image; one that says as much as possible. But sometimes it's the little things that say a lot. In the context of storytelling, the detail shot is often overlooked for its power and simplicity.

Online creative marketplaces seem to pop up often. Most are laughable jokes that devalue creative work to the point of absurdity. They all seem to promise great things, in theory, but in practice they are just filled with potential clients looking for professional service for the price of a latte.

If you happened to see the recent press release and subsequent articles, you may be under the impression that Canon has become the number one brand of mirrorless cameras. And this data is probably correct. But after their release, Sony was asked about it and decided to share their end of the same data, which also says they are number one in mirrorless. So what's the deal?

Your client’s terminally-ill grandfather is the only one not smiling in the shots of the entire family. Do you liquify his facial features to make it look like he might be smiling? Do you transform a flat gray sky in your latest landscape to a dramatic sunny one? Where do you draw the line?

Would you judge a photography competition? Do you compete with other photographers? Although competition is accepted in photography, it has significant drawbacks that prevent you from succeeding.

In the wake of what the World Health Organization has declared a pandemic, meetings of all sizes are being canceled left and right. Unfortunately for many of us photographers, these cancellations are delivering a big hit to our businesses.

It’s easy to celebrate our successes in photography — the proud moments in-between creating and presenting a picture that we’re particularly fond of. But what about the times we fail? I think there’s a good argument for celebrating our photography failures, and here’s why.

Skylum, who made quite a splash in the image editing space with Luminar and then Luminar Neo, is setting out to conquer portrait photography editing with Aperty. The company says it's aimed at professionals and serious near-professionals, and it will be available on November 7.

It takes years of practice to become good at sports photography. Basketball, for example, is fast-paced, with frequent turnovers. When covering a game, you need to be attentive to all of the action happening on the court. But even if you photograph all of the crucial plays, something may be missing from your coverage. This article will help you understand the variety of potential shots at a basketball game and what you need to do to ensure that you capture them properly.

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 2017, 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.

Photography can be challenging at times. It may frustrate you and lead you to think that buying new gear would solve your problems. But before you press that add-to-cart button, perhaps it's best to go back to the basics.

In the nausea-inducing argument of "gear doesn't matter," one of the lines often peddled by one side or another is that the camera, no matter how sophisticated, is just a tool. It's the equivalent of a hammer. Its job is to collect light and any romanticizing over these "light boxes" is just an exercise in GAS. I agreed with that sentiment for a long time, but now I'm not so sure. Here are my reasons why the camera is more important than its obvious job as a way to catch an image.

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.

It's Monday so it's time for another speed retouch and episode of Retouching Mondays. This week image comes courtesy of last weeks winner, Ben Scott. If you would like me to retouch your image and send you back the full-high res final image, all you have to do is post your image in the comments and wait to hear back. I will email the winner on Thursday morning, so post your newest favorite image that you want retouched. It can be any genre, beauty, fashion, landscape, wedding! I'll record the retouching and send you the final image to use as you wish! Take a look at the speed retouch of Ben's image and let me know in the comments if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Now lets take a look at the before and after and the challenges for this week's Monday Retouch.

Like many small businesses, I decided to use the very popular restaurant recommendation site Yelp to advertise my business after seeing they automatically created a page for me. Here’s how you can avoid the disasters that come with making that same mistake.

I live in a small city far from popular landscape photography locations and seemingly devoid of fellow photographers. I oftentimes find myself feeling a bit alone in the creative process. To remedy this, I went online to find peers and look for resources to get constructive feedback on my work. I ended up meeting someone who helped me improve my work and whose generosity took me completely by surprise.

Over the next week the best brands in the industry are offering their best prices of the year. Whether you're in the market for new gear, a faster workflow, or want to study a new skill, there's a way to save money on what you need.

Traveling and photography are a perfect match. It’s so fun to photograph in a new place. Yet, for portrait photographers, locating models while abroad can be a challenge. There's nothing more disheartening than finding yourself in an incredible place with no one to photograph. Here are some tips for finding models while you travel!

Shooting on location can be a stressful time. So, what are some of the questions I ask myself before heading out into the wild?

I love prime lenses—they’re always my preference—but I had to travel across Spain recently to make a documentary film and was traveling light. I had to pick my lenses carefully, so I chose the 24-70mm as my main lens. I quickly discovered it was the perfect travel lens.

Flying a drone is a feeling that can be hard to describe. However, the photos and videos people are able to achieve using these tools are absolutely amazing and can have people staring at their screens for quite a while.

The in-between stages of fashion photography can be knowing which ideas for stories serve best as test shoots and which are worth pushing forward as a full editorial. Do the benefits of a cohesive editorial outweigh the efforts required to make it? This article breaks down the steps required from idea to execution.

As a parent and photographer, there is nothing I would love to do more than collaborate on a photo series with my son. Growing closer through collaboration - and a mutual learning process from both ends of the lens - appeals to me the most about this idea. And naturally, the memories and images produced in the process. But until he is willing to cooperate with me, I will have to lurk from behind the sofa, “paparazzi mom”.

Having a creative mind is a wonderful gift. Whatever your discipline, you love the thrill of making new things out of nothing. Sometimes when the creativity slows it can land you in a rut. When this happens to me, I like to grab the camera, and head out in the backyard for some dewy grass exploration.

I finally received my DJI Mic after pre-ordering it more than a month ago, and at first, I was disappointed. When I did the initial test with the DJI Receiver connected to my Canon R5, the audio I recorded was much noisier than what I was used to from my old setup, for which I used a Zoom H1 with a Rode Lavalier GO. But there's a solution to this problem, and in this article, I share it with you.