Fstoppers Original Articles

Not the Moulton Barn: Carol Highsmith's America

It's not the famous Moulton Barn in Jackson Hole and those definitely aren't the Tetons rising majestically in the background, yet this image of a barn in Idaho is perhaps more impressive. Not because of what it is, but what it represents in the form of the Carol Highsmith Archive.

A to Z of Photography: Image Stabilization and Into the Jaws of Death

This installment of the A to Z of photography begins with perhaps the most exciting photographic technology of the 21st century — image stabilization. This is followed by one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century — Into the Jaws of Death — which marks a tipping point in history. The I's have it!

Join This Collaborative Discord Community for Landscape Photographers

Landscape Photographers Worldwide is a dedicated Discord channel for landscape photographers to come together and discuss the tools of the trade. Whether you are looking to discuss gear and locations, share your images, or receive direct feedback from your peers, this community delivers immense benefit for landscape photographers looking to connect and collaborate with like-minded creatives, and it is entirely free to join!

Are You Ready to Capture the Other Moment?

There is an old saying that "you only find what you are looking for." It's critical for any artist, including we photographers, to know what it is that we are working to create. To have a vision and stay true to it so that it will become a reality. When you go out with the intent of creating images you know what you want, right? You choose the location, the time of day, maybe the lighting, certainly the subject, and of course what gear that you need to bring it all together. We tend to be control freaks to make sure that we get what we want.

The Aparo Meteor 30 and 60 RGB Tube Lights Are Pretty Wild

With so many amazing new RGB LED lights on the market, it's easy to see why so many content creators are utilizing these in both their photography and videography projects. Today, I look at the Meteor 30 and 60 Pixel Tube Light by Aparo and show you how I plan to use it in my own studio.

A to Z of Photography: Inge Morath and Minolta

With M we reach a significant milestone in the A to Z of Photography as this is the halfway mark. So far "Bronica and Burtynsky" and "Fujifilm" have been the most read with the "Family of Man" and "Image Stabilization and Into the Jaws of Death" languishing at the bottom of the popularity charts! Onwards then to Inge Morath and Minolta.

How Long Do Your Images Speak For?

When you look at an image, how do you interpret it? Is it able to inform you about what has preceded the events that are depicted and what is about to happen? The ability of an image to "speak" is something John Berger believed lifted it from being ordinarily graphic to providing a visual narrative.

One Easy Way You Can Film BTS of Your Photo/Video Shoots

Look, I think we've all been there, none of us want to have to bring extra stands, tripods/monopods, or even extra cameras just to get behind-the-scenes images (BTS for short from here on out) or video for our websites or social media, even though we'd all love to have that content. After some trial and error, I think I've landed on a fun and flexible solution by using a 360 action camera but there are some things to know before you get started so let’s get into it.

10 Tips for Shooting Polaroids This Fall

Are you even a photographer if you’ve never taken a Polaroid? If you’ve yet to experience the magic of instant photography, or if you’ve been away from the game for a while, there’s good news. The film being produced by Polaroid over the last couple of years is more consistent than it has been for a long time.

Three Cheap Gift Ideas

The holidays are over, you’ve spent all your money. How can you save money on a birthday or Valentine’s gift?

PSA: Don’t Make the Mistake of Lowering Your Prices When Business Resumes

The draw to lower your prices will be just as strong as the economy is weak, but while that may be good for new business volume, here’s why you should stay firm on existing business, even as rescheduling occurs. Don't know how to handle that? I also have a few tips for what to say to your clients to avoid falling into the trap of discounting services to the point of driving yourself further into debt.

Nurturing Inspiration Over A Decade: Rankin

Finding the creativity and inspiration to succeed as a premier fashion and editorial photographer is hard enough, keeping it up for more than three decades is a completely different story altogether. Rankin's new show at 180 Studios is a retrospective of Rankin's first decade of work at Dazed and Confused, one of photography's most influential magazines.

Learn More With ACDSee and Their YouTube Channel

For many photographers, the Adobe software suite is the main suite they use for editing and to manage their content. Over the last few years, however, many creatives have become dissatisfied with the monthly subscription model that Adobe has now opted for. For this reason, many photographers have been looking for a viable alternative.

A to Z of Photography: Weegee and Wet Plate Collodion

The cult of celebrity is alive and kicking, now seemingly the domain of the "influencer". However history is littered with photographers who attained celebrity status — step back 80 years and Weegee made the unusual step from press photographer to, well, influencer! This was long after the second of our two articles, which looks at the wet collodion plate process.

Behind the Scenes: 'Sing Like No One Is Watching' Photo Series

We all have our favorite songs that we sing when are going through bad times or want to pump ourselves up. In this hilarious photo series, a photographer captures his friends singing their favorite songs and imagining that the camera is not there. See which song each person was singing!

Ten Photography Tips for Epic Aerials Out of a Fixed Wing Plane

With drones being so accessible and easy to use, everybody is taking aerial shots these days. But there's nothing like crawling into a tiny Cessna and exploring the skies from a plane for yourself! Here’re 10 tips on how you can do just that.

Filmora 11: Unleashing the Power of Video in Your Business

Like it or not, video is the preferred means of communication for most content creators these days. A quick look at Fstoppers itself proves that. Even when it is a photographer who is providing information to other photographers, video is the medium of choice.

Star Trail Processing and Six Tips that will Boost your Night Photography Skills

You're about to become better at post-processing! Raiatea Arcuri, a landscape photographer from Hawaii, has an impressive portfolio. I was pleased to learn that he also shares some of his secrets to processing his landscapes. Arcuri teaches you how to process a stack of images shot at night to create a wonderful star trail nightscape using Lightroom and Photoshop, and I will share some additional tips to help you achieve stunning star trails.

We Interview With Scott Bacon, Managing Director at Nature First

As a landscape photographer, what is my impact upon the very thing that I love to photograph and how can I reduce that impact? This was the overarching theme of the conversation when I recently sat down with Scott Bacon, Managing Director for a group called Nature First, the Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography, to ponder this question. Scott’s passion for the subject was immediately evident, and I found him to be an engaging and committed ambassador for what Nature First is all about.

A Basic Tutorial on How We Can Overcome Real Estate Photography Challenges With AI Editing Tools

For those who specialize in real estate photography, it is common to say this genre of photography is fraught with its own unique set of challenges, from dealing with challenging lighting conditions such as balancing interior and exterior light to time constraints to low budget and short turnover time. In the competitive world of real estate, it is almost non-negotiable for photographers to produce high-quality images to help properties look their best through the help of post-processing. While mastering these post-processing techniques has proven to significantly improve the outlook of the deliverables and also overcome the shortcomings of on-location shoots, they often take years to learn and master. Thankfully, the advancements in AI photo editing tools are making these hurdles easier to overcome and helping you gain a competitive edge in this tough market. In this article, we will explore the common challenges faced in real estate photography and how AI photo editors can help address them efficiently in editing real estate photography.

What Will Surprise the Next Generation About Photography Today

Technology moves quickly, and it only takes a few generations for there to feel like a profound divide between age groups. What do you think the next generation will not know about the photography of today or will be surprised by?

Who Was the First Global Social Media Travel Infuencer?

You take photos, you write books, you're published in weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines, and travel the world with the sole purpose of... traveling. You sound like one of the early social media influencers of the 2010s who was "living the dream," constantly on the road, distributing a drip of photos and articles to the travel-enthused general public. However, it's 1888, and your name is Frank Carpenter.

Filming and Editing a Cinematic Wildlife Video

In this article I will be giving some insight behind the creation of my latest video, “Green Heron: A Cinematic Portrait,” which includes dealing with gear limitations, working with music and sound effects, and forming wildlife footage into a story.

Photographic History: Documenting an Empire, by the Abdullah Frères

Graphics are international, with photographic ideas and images spreading like wildfire. They speak a universal language, are pan-cultural, yet have their own local meanings and understandings. This sounds like the world of Instagram, 500px, YouTube, and Flickr, but it’s actually 1858, and the Abdullah Frères are setting up their photographic studio in Constantinople.

Start Placing the Blame on Yourself

The other day, a few guys on my team and I cooked up some new content for the 2018 Skypixel competition. Turns out we weren't able to submit them fore a silly reason that mainly took place on our end.

Pushing a Camera to its Limits on a Low Light Husky Ride

If you want to know how good your camera is, pushing its abilities as far as they will go is the way to find out. Combining speed, vibration, and low light stretches its photographic capabilities, and flying mud, rain, and thick fog help too.

My Bokeh Is Better Than Yours Part Two: How to Calculate Blur

In the first part of this series of two, I introduced bokeh — out-of-focus areas — and outlined the main controls of defocus. These include sensor size, focal length, aperture, distance to subject, and distance to the backdrop. How, then, do you compare defocus between lenses and cameras? Read on.

How Our Community Made Senior Photos Happen During COVID

Our local high school had an idea to get senior photos taken for the young adults that have been working their whole life to achieve something, only to have it turn into an afterthought overshadowed by a serious global pandemic.

Online Vote: Best of the A to Z of Photography

Well it had to come… the final installment of the A to Z of Photography appeared last week and with that a huge void in my life! With every end there is a new beginning, but before we reach that, where did the A to Z start, what topics did it traverse in its winding journey, and what were some of the highlights?

A to Z of Photography: Zeiss and Emile Zola

And so with some sadness, tinged with a sense of relief, we reach the final letter of the alphabet. And what better way to finish than with a vastly successful company that has virtually spanned the lifetime of photography, along with some photographic input from yet another novelist.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (March 2023): Leigh Schneider

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 2023, 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.

Mark Mann As You've Never Seen Him Before

We all know Mark Mann from the close-up, soul-bearing portraits of what feels like every celebrity, public figure, and president in current times. Prolific seems a fitting word that should be permanently grafted to any discussion of the artist’s work. Today, however, we are getting to know Mark Mann in a way that you never have.

Behind the Scenes of My Short Film 'The Letter'

If you think this is a sci-fi horror thriller film with Transformers-style VFX you'll be disappointed. In fact, the action takes place in the 50s as a young man turns unfortunate obstacles into a romantic outcome.

A to Z of Photography: Daguerrotype and Frederick Douglass

Following along on the path of the ABCs of photography, we reach D and the process that kicked off photography in the first place: the Daguerrotype. But what or who will join such an auspicious and founding technique?

How to Become a Commercial Photographer

Have you ever walked by a beauty image on the shelf at ULTA or scrolled by a brilliant shot on Instagram and thought: “I want to make images like that”? Or perhaps you are a photographer who saw a picture and thought: “I could have shot that better!” You have the skills, but you don’t know how to break into the commercial market. In this article, I’ll share about how to break into the market and disclose tips and tricks to succeed in the commercial photography space.

Don't Make a New Year's Resolution...

New Year's resolutions have a bad rap — it starts with a well-meaning desire to lose a few pounds in weight, drink less, or quit smoking. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later those "promises to self" lie in tatters and you discard any further well-meaning thoughts. So don't think about making one, instead, go the whole hog and make three!

A to Z of Photography: Family of Man (Part 2)

The Family of Man is the second of our two monumental Fs in the A to Z of Photography. Can it usurp the 77,000 strong workforce and $22 billion turnover of Fujifilm in the last post? Surely there is nothing more all encompassing than humankind.

Dissecting How Social Media Algorithms Diminish Our Creativity as Photographers

Social media has undeniably dominated a major part of our lifestyle and played an even more irreplaceable role for us to express our opinions on the net. This social media domination has somewhat become both a blessing and a curse for photographers where most of their work is held hostage under the power of the scrolling algorithm. While some photographers may have taken the opportunity to market and broadcast their work to the world, it is still pretty challenging to maintain the utmost creativity and artistic integrity under the influence of the constantly evolving algorithm.