Fstoppers Original Articles

We all love a good composite, don't we? C'mon! You're probably going "No! They're all fake. It's all Photoshop, therefore it should be easy and shouldn't be a genre of photography at all! While some bad composites do exist, why not look at the other side of Dali's surrealistic, time-melting deserts and analyze the way it makes you feel when you study these types of images? How about we dive into the rabbit hole head first and find out what it takes to create a composite image?

Greece is not only a country of rich history and culture, but it's also full of stunning landscapes and picturesque islands. This makes it a great place for photography, and in this article, I share some of the best photo spots Greece has to offer.

If you're looking into hiring a wedding photographer, you may not have much experience with the profession. Although you can pick photographers you like, there is more to the story than just that. So, how can you make sure you're hiring the right photographer? Here are seven tips that can help ensure you aren't disappointed.

Does true love really exist? In this heartwarming photo series, photos capture a 90-year-old couple who have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary together.

Running a photography business can be a lonely job. When you take the plunge into running a small business full-time, you quickly realize how solitary the work can be. Here’s why it’s so important to meet and build relationships with other photographers.

Frequency separation has long been a popular technique for skin retouching. However, for a lot of photographers new to photo editing, beauty retouching, and ACDSee, it can seem like a very difficult process. Within ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018, the process has been made easier with the addition of an automated frequency separation tool.

The month of May closes out with a New Moon (moonless sky), to which deep sky astrophotographers always look forward. This month brings a potential bonus of an intense burst of meteors, perfectly timed for North American astrophotographers. In fact, it’s so perfectly timed (for U.S. residents) that it falls on a Monday evening of a U.S. three-day holiday weekend.

We're big fans of SLR Lounge. Alongside our friendly rivalry in photography shoot-offs, we have a huge appreciation for the education and tools they provide to photographers. That's why we think you should pay attention to their Black Friday sale.

A common misconception surrounding success on YouTube is that it all hinges on the best or right gear for the job. A lot of readers of Fstoppers are here to research cameras and lighting to level up the quality of their videos, and rightfully so. But without the right processes in place, no amount of professional quality gear will matter. I can guarantee you that 99% of where content creators go wrong on YouTube is in the planning stages, before they even press record. Trust me.

The future of photography. Are we photographers in danger of being replaced, or is this just another fad due to pass us by? Who owns the digital rights? How much of a photograph that's generated by AI still belongs to the original artist, or does it belong to no one?

Last week, Lee Morris, Mike Kelley, and I posted our best image taken during our boating trip to the US Virgin Islands. We asked you which image was the best and who shot what. Today, we reveal the results to see who is the "greatest photographer of all time."

Photography is a tough profession to get into. Just knowing how to get from A to B can be half of the battle. In this article I go over 3 tips to help get your first ad campaign.

At first look, this image can evoke a sense of fear of some post-apocalyptic chaos. However, if you are are a documentary photographer it might remind you of the long held traditions that symbolize the start and end of religious customs.

If your partner is not involved in the photography or videography industry, you may not have thought about teaching them to become your assistant or second shooter. But what if this could be a great addition to your photography? Let's look at how this could help you build your business!

Sometimes, it can feel really daunting to try to create original images like no one has ever seen before. With social media oversaturated with photography, it often seems like we have captured it all. So, when I came across surf photographer Ben Thouard’s tropical landscape images captured through the back of a breaking wave, I was a little jealous, but more so inspired and hopeful.

Every now and then, the opportunities for creativity can be found right under your nose, or in your own backyard, in this case. I turned my backyard into a photo studio to create wild conceptual images.

Over 100 days ago, Russ Cook (aka The Hardest Geezer), who aims to become the first person ever to run the entire length of Africa, set off on this epic 15,000-kilometer journey. Join me in this article as I interview the filmmakers behind this epic adventure and find out what has happened.

Hello, my name is Jason Vinson. I'm a wedding photographer, and it's been three weeks since my last photoshoot.

Reduction of single-use plastic is increasingly on the minds of conscientious consumers, and the practice of shooting with physical film in preference to digital does bring with it considerations in the area. But fear not, Ikigai Film Lab is here to recycle, reuse, and repurpose, to put our anxiety at ease and help us keep shooting with a clearer conscience.

Sometimes, photography, like life itself, can be a dance of one step forward and two steps back. So, allow me to divert from the nuts and bolts of camera gear for a moment to talk about something just as important to sustaining a career.

One of the interesting trends in the comments on a previous article on the rule of thirds was a reaction not just to that rule specifically, but to “rules” more generally. That got me thinking a bit. What are “rules”? Where do they come from? Is breaking them an act of rebellion; or one of self-destruction?

If you are using Lightroom Classic for your photo editing, you have the possibility to use the presentation module. This module makes it easy to create a slideshow and export it as a video file. Try Premiere Pro if you want to take your slide shows to the next level.

You've just arrived at a meeting with your prospective wedding clients. Examples of a canvas, acrylic, and aluminum are with you, but first up is a slideshow sequence you've authored as a video. You're there to impress and so whip out the pico projector and plug in the USB stick. This is going to be big — two meters big. You navigate to the video folder which has 30 or 40 files in it. And… they are only vaguely sorted by name. Where the heck is the file you are looking for?

Makeup artists and hairstylists are as much artists as we are as photographers. However, when starting out, they often lack quality content to promote their work. Even later on when well established they sometimes require content to keep their social network feeds regularly updated. While working for free all the time for everyone isn’t sustainable, helping out people we work with may be beneficial for everyone. Here are two simple things you can do while on set to help your team out with their social presence and marketing. Best of all, it may even boost your social engagement and followers base as well as your work.

So, I went ahead and launched a virtual model agency. Let me tell you about Gen V.

Securing your cameras and laptops for your business during storms is just the start of the preparations that need to be considered before a storm hits. Safe guarding the essentials is not the only issue when storms arise but also the thought of how can you keep your business running if you are not able to work?

There is a growing tendency in photography to produce commercially viable portfolios. I can't say that this is a bad tendency, as it nurtures image-makers who are more profitable. However, there are a few negatives to this. One of them is that everyone's portfolio looks the same.

Every photographer out there needs a portfolio, but times have changed, and with digital technology growing at a fast pace, the way people look at our work is changing too. Does this mean that the printed portfolio is dead?

There are endless apps and web services available for small business owners to build a CRM database. For those not familiar with CRM, it stands for Customer Relationship Management. Basically, it's where you store, categorize, and update your customer’s information.

March Madness is almost here! For the players, that means a lot of press and hype both on and off the court. For photographers tasked with showing them off, it means doing our best to make it all run smoothly.

Entering the world of photography can be challenging enough. The world of video can feel even more daunting! For someone who has solely focused on photography 100% from day one, taking on the challenge of video is a whole new world. Here are the things I learned from creating my video for my work as a photographer without video experience.

Trains, trains, trains. Heritage Railroads offer a lot of fun and a great photographic subject for those who like to travel. In this article I share my methods of capturing these magnificent vintage iron horses.

Several years ago, Fstoppers created a comprehensive tutorial on everything wedding photography. The tutorial includes over 14 hours of content revealing shooting techniques and successful tips on running a wedding photography business. Today, we're offering a free excerpt from the full tutorial to the Fstoppers community. Additionally, to celebrate our 30 videos spree during January, we're offering one of our biggest discounts ever if you choose to purchase the full tutorial. To save $200, simply use code "CAKE" at checkout.

As more and more photographers dive into motion graphics, I thought I’d mention some utilities that can help get the job done.

Have you ever gone to the top of a mountain covered by a glacier during the night to fly a drone? That is just one of the personal projects by Ozzo Photography. Here, you can read an interview and see how the fantastic experience turned out.

The value of video production in today’s fast-paced environment should not be understated. In fact, many would argue that anyone hoping to make it as a photographer in today’s world better know how to shoot video in addition.

In 2013, a small quadcopter flew close to German Chancellor Angela Merkel who was attending an outdoor political meeting. A year later an inebriated federal agent crashed his Phantom in the White House perimeter. Fortunately, the drone did not damage Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden, but following this event DJI implemented the no-fly zone feature on its entry-level drones. However, this measure is not completely effective to prevent rogue flights and authorities are looking for solutions to counter drones from flying in restricted areas. Let’s review the current anti-drone solutions and challenges associated with neutralizing a small UAVs.

A wedding day is a marathon for photographers. Finding the time to grab a quick bite and refuel can feel impossible, but this is the perfect time to do it.

No sun? No problem! Fake natural light in the studio.

Personal projects often take a lot of planning and persistence to pull off. They are passion driven assignments which is a big part of why they are so important to evolve as a photographer. However, sometimes opportunity and timing don't line up so you have to make the best of a poor situation. This is when experience and determination make or break an idea.

You’ve probably seen the viral video of the toddler whose father mic’ed him up during hockey practice, where he discovered that his son was thinking mostly about naps and McDonald’s. If you wanted to find out what’s on your kid’s mind instead of sports, here are tips to accomplish what Hockey Dad did.

Our newest photography tutorial with Elia Locardi, "Photographing the World 3," was released earlier this week and once again, we filmed a massive behind the scenes series on the creation of this tutorial. This season has 13 episodes and today we are releasing episode 1.

We're coming to that time of the year again for yet another huge photography event. PHOTOPLUS in New York City is one of the largest photography events in the world, and each year, it seems to get bigger and better.

A few social media platforms, especially those owned by Mark Zuckerberg, monopolize the sharing of images online. Those platforms do have controversies, and Apple’s changes to how Facebook handles data is starting to shake up that dominance. But will it be a good thing for photography? Furthermore, should we consider doing something else with our images instead of posting to social media?

Ever since I bumped into the limits of my memory card at a wedding when I forgot to format it, I’ve been extra cautious about making sure I format before every shoot, which has served me well, except when it didn’t this past week, and I wiped out my children's first trip to Adventureland by accident.

The easiest way to decide on which digital camera is right for you is to consider budget, size, features, and a few more things. Follow this guide on what to look out for and help make a decision for your first digital camera purchase.

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.

Chances are, you can't afford the latest and greatest thousand-dollar smartphone, and you'll have to make some compromises when it comes to the smartphone camera and features. Learn from my mistakes. Here are four modern features smartphone cameras have.

In this extensive breakdown, go behind the scenes of a 1950s themed shoot and see how I shot, lit, and edited it from start to finish.

Running a successful photography business presents many challenges. When a photographer goes from hobbyist to professional they quickly learn that there is much more to master other than being technically adept at their craft. From learning how to organize a business to discovering the many hats we wear as business owners, it quickly becomes apparent that there is much more to running a successful photography business other than simply picking up a camera and snapping some great shots.