Fstoppers Original Articles

Wireless devices have become a part of our daily life and work. As someone who uses them professionally, I decided to measure their electromagnetic radiation to see if they are a threat to my health. The results may be interesting to you.

We've briefly covered the release of this very special filter before. It blocks out the artificial light of our modern world, light pollution. STC's Astro-Multispectra Filter is designed to block out the orange and green hues from sodium and mercury street lamps. But what's really intriguing for any Nikon full-frame shooter is that this is the first and only option when you shoot wide-angle landscape shots.

Golden hour. That time of the day where the warm sunlight makes every shot look like a magazine cover or a movie poster. It would be great if that light could last all day long. Yeah, well a lot of things would be great but not likely to happen. Location fashion and lifestyle photographers have to be able to manipulate daylight in a variety of ways in order to have a productive shoot that lasts more than an hour. Using the techniques of shade, diffusion, reflection, and strobe photographers can work with and against natural sunlight to create beautiful images all day long.

I can see it in your eyes! Excitement is brewing for some sort of fancy new lens or the latest camera body that breaks all the megapixel records. I know because I do the same thing! Surprisingly, though, in my experience it isn't the latest, fancy, glass that truly improves my photography, rather, I've found that making the right small upgrades tend to have a much more profound impact as they make the act of doing photography so much less of a hassle. Which, in turn, frees more of my focus to attend to the images I'm creating rather than fighting with gear which is refusing to perform.

Lightroom offers a ton of useful features, but some are pretty well hidden. Want to see some of the best editing tools you might not be using?

I think that it is fair to say that photographers have probably been doing bad things to public lands, popular landmarks, and other natural resources since around the time that the camera was invented. There’s no way to keep ignorant people from acting irresponsibly. But, with the power of the crowd and the reach of social media, photographers need to think twice before staging shooting sessions that could result in damage.

Instagram is a great way to promote your photography business. Not only can you make yourself seen by potential clients in your area, you can also be seen by millions of users across the world. With more than 300 million users though, it can be easy to get lost within the massive crowd. There are a lot of things that you can do to help grow your following, but there are also a lot of things you can do to hurt your following. If you want your business to be the next Instagram sensation, then don't make these seven Instagram mistakes.

ChatGPT has been a breakthrough moment for some industries this past week. It can literally turn ideas into reality, but is it good enough to create motion graphics in Adobe’s After Effects?

In our last photography shootout, Lee Morris defeated Pye Jirsa and I to regain the crown of "world's best photographer." Yesterday we teamed up again to have another battle and we need your help deciding who took the most beautiful or interesting image.

That's right you boudoir photographers, if you haven't tried shooting boudoir outside before then you are seriously missing out. There really are quite a few reasons why you should give it a try here are a few of my favorite reasons why I shoot boudoir outside instead of in a studio.

For many photographers, particularly hobbyists, making an image black and white is almost arbitrary. I remember in the early days of my photography, I was the same. I would mutter: "I wonder if this would look good in black and white," and then, I'd try it. Sometimes, it would look better, but usually, it would not. I presumed it was all just down to taste, but that's not true. After years of reading around the subject and experimenting, I began to understand why it worked when it did and conversely, why it often didn't. Here are some key elements that ought to be present in black and white images, and why.

They can change the ordinary to the extraordinary. However, there is a lot more to creating low- and high-key photographs than just under- and over-exposing. Discovering how they work can dramatically improve our photography. It's also the reason why cameras should have one specific feature.

About a week ago I was in New York City visiting for pleasure and decided there was no way I could leave without visiting my favorite store in the city: the B&H superstore. This was something I had been looking forward to since it would be the first time I could get my hand on the new Sony a9 and see what all the fuss was about. During my visit, I was absolutely floored by the performance of the a9 and how the Sony kiosk had way more attention than anywhere else in the store. This along with the recent announcement of Canon’s 6D Mark II and Nikon’s company woes made me realize how much the industry needs a company like Sony.

Shooting with the rear LCD screen on your camera may be convenient, but you're also peering through a filter of colors and shades that you may not have been aware are altering the way you perceive your shots.

2020 was quite the year, starting relatively normal and then spiraling quickly out of control as few have seen before. Plans were shredded, and normal daily life was abruptly changed like a cold bucket of water to the face.

A few weeks ago, Lee Morris pulled an interesting prank on Mike Kelley and I, where he placed valuable Ansel Adams prints next to snapshots taken off our own Facebook pages and asked us to blindly critique all the images. Today, it's time for payback! Can Lee and Mike pick out an Ansel Adams print when they are mixed in a sea of images taken from the Fstoppers Community?

One feature of our digital cameras that evolves with every single generation of sensors and processors is ISO performance. With astronomical ISO numbers now available, just how high should you push your ISO?

In the vast majority of my photos, I aim for one specific thing during editing.

We all know that being a photographer can get expensive, from camera bodies to lenses, there is a never ending list of gadgets and goodies that we can spend our hard earned money on. The last thing anybody wants to do is spend their money on the “must haves” of photography when we could just as easily drop some cash on the things we want. Below is a short list of gear that every photographer should have in their arsenal, but probably doesn't want to spend his or her money on.

A week into the war, many start to ask about the long-term impacts of the war. As a Ukrainian-born writer with family and friends in Ukraine, I am keeping a very close eye on the news surrounding the war. A war on such a grand scale will have a profound impact on most industries, photography included. Here is my analysis of how this war will echo in photography.

Whether you love or loathe Instagram, today's post looks at just how powerful a tool it can be. Last week, a friend took a simple shot from his bedroom window. Within an hour, it was picked up by the AP, and began appearing in major publications nationally. Depending on how you treat it, Instagram can be a firecracker or a stick of dynamite for your business and social presence. The punch it packs is up to you.

Photographing the busy city doesn’t have to be complicated. If you don’t have filters and other specialized tools for landscape and cityscape photography, here are some tips to do it with ease.

One of the most common retouching catastrophes I see on a day to day basis is an overzealous attack on eyes. Like over-baked HDR, obnoxiously over-retouched eyes have become almost ubiquitous among less experienced retouchers. Awareness is the first step to recovery, so in the spirit of painting a big obvious flag in front of all of you eye ruiners out there, take note. Your models will love you if you learn how to make their eyes look amazing without making them look like they belong in an episode of "Stranger Things."

You have a daily workhorse camera that gets used for all your run-of-the-mill jobs. Like most businesses you go with a five year replacement cycle, so why would you replace it with a seven year old camera?

As a self-taught photographer, I’m an advocate of learning through doing. I didn’t study it, but I can imagine that reading all the Photography 101 books that are available still wouldn't prepare you for actually being on a set, with a model standing in front of you, and a team awaiting your creative direction. In my journey, experience has meant everything. Here are some of the things I’ve learned over the years that may help when shooting your own portraits.

Never work with children or animals, but if you have either, you know you're going to be photographing them. Whether you're photographing your own children or someone else's, here are some tips on how to take better photographs of them.

Everything starts from nothing. Thousands dream of being full time photographers, but knowing how to start a business - and how to grow it - are really tricky parts of a complex equation. Emily Soto today celebrates 4 years of full time professional photography. In this exclusive interview, she shares insights on how she has grown her business, as well as the struggles, hardships and rewards she's encountered along the way. If you're curious about what it takes to make it as a successful photographer today, this might just provide the answers you've been looking for.

Since the beginning of my adventure into photography, Photoshop has been the go-to tool for cutting out a subject and creating complex masks. With ON1 Photo RAW, this process has become so much simpler.

In an era where technological advancements have revolutionized the way we capture and manipulate images, the question of the histogram's relevance in today's photography is a pertinent one.

For years I found myself making excuses as to why I wasn't creating the type of images that I so desperately wanted to make. I didn't have the gear, I didn't have a model, I didn't have access to a studio. At the end of the day, it came down to one simple thing, I never tried.

I always tether. Whether it's for a client or fashion editorial, the CamRanger has played a very important role in capturing rock solid images. But, before the wonderful technology of wireless tethering came into the picture, I always tethered to a workstation. However, that came with the annoyance of a long tether cable dangling off your camera. I always felt the sense of being trapped or held back from moving freely, I was always concerned and it was always a distraction.

On one hand, it’s understandable to be territorial over the features in our technology and sensitive to change. But technology inherently demands change — and that change is demanded at the fastest rate possible. We can complain about it all day long, but if we stop complaining at the whims of our feelings and start thinking logically, we can and should start to feel better as we realize the true nature of our so-called upgrade-cycle and innovation-searching frustrations. In reality, the only thing lacking innovation is our expectation.

About every five years a company comes along and really shakes things up. Rather than try to make slight improvements over their competition they completely redesign the concept and reform the way we do things. Over the last decade many of us have experienced the painful, time-consuming task of making ourselves a website. We've probably all wished their was a better way. Fortunately in 2015, The Grid is about to change all that.

If money is of little concern and cameras are what you're interested in, then let us guide you through the realm of exotic and super-expensive cameras.

Yesterday, Canon swapped the Cripple Hammer for the Tickle Spanner: the EOS R5 is going to be a game-changer. With price and sensor size unknown, there are still some major questions waiting to be answered, and while it’s a dream for many videographers, some photographers might yet be a little frustrated.

Whether you are shooting film or have a large collection of negatives, chances are you will want to scan them one day. The process to digitize your analog pictures can be expensive and sometimes even disappointing regarding image quality. When I started playing with my Mamiya RB67, I wished there was a cheap and quick scanning method that would offer me a good amount of detail and decent colors. I found it using gear I already owned and that most of you actually also have at home. It even surpassed my expectations to the point that I decided to share the technique with you in this article.

We are all photographers because, well, we like taking pictures. But just because we like taking photos doesn't always mean we should be taking them. When is it time to put the camera away?

Did anybody purchase an old school DSLR this year? Could the iPhone 11 have affected camera sales?

I’m a nerd. There, I said it. It’s out there now, and it’s never coming back. I’m adamant that all facets of life are infinitely improved by statistics. I paw over numbers, percentages, and graphs for academia, sports, science, films... the list rolls on. Even reeling off the sort of stats I like makes me want to forge some sort of Excel spreadsheet to identify the stats for which areas benefit the most from stats. Sorry, I digress. The point is fewer things are richer in information than statistics. We often use this approach to compare lenses and cameras, but what if we could apply it to something far more subjective: portraiture?

If you want to photograph small things, you need to get close. For that, you can choose a macro lens. But there is an alternative that is much cheaper. Extension tubes transform any lens into a macro lens. But what is the better choice?

The title of this article could be described as clickbait; however, it is factually correct. I will be discussing how you can legally make money from other people's content in this article.

During the last weeks I took a look at the free and open Software “Darktable”. In this round-up I’ll explain why Darktable is a true and legit alternative – but not suitable for everyone.

Recently Adobe released Lightroom version 11 and with it came a completely revamped interface for masking. After a month of real-world use, this guide will help you get up to speed on anything you could possibly want to know about masking in Lightroom for 2022.

Some photographers in Toronto, ON have used the ever-popular colored smoke grenades for some sort of video/photoshoot, leaving behind a deep red stain on a beautiful marble archway, and were even careless enough to simply leave behind the grenade instead of taking it with them, which brings me to my point: we need to be better.

As far as perks of being a photographer go, traveling the world and documenting everything you see along the way is right up there with the best of them. Luckily for Pep Bonet, he’s been around the globe as Motorhead’s previous resident photographer of 7 years, as well as documenting the impact of war and disease in Africa. Then, he became one of the first in Europe to test out the Nikon Z7 and S-line NIKKOR Z lenses. So how did he find it faired against DSLRs?

Editing images is no easy task to undertake. Using editing software such as Lightroom or Capture One requires quite a bit of learning and getting used to. However, even if you know how to use editing software, you still need to edit images in such a way that enhances their beauty, rather than destroys it. Essentially, you need to know the why behind the how. Here are some mistakes I made when editing pictures because of not knowing the why.

One of the best climbing photographs that I’ve ever taken came out of my recent trip to Switzerland. Here’s how I edited it using Lightroom, deploying a few subtle techniques using adjustment brushes to make the most of the colors and dramatic conditions.

There are so many camera options when considering a primary camera and a secondary backup, so there’s quite a bit to take into consideration. As the saying goes, two is one, one is none, so for big trips and always for professional work, a backup is a must. If you are looking for a second camera, how do you know what to choose? Rather than looking at specific brands, here’s a look at which gear combinations might be the best for your still photography projects.

We all have those pivotal moments in our lives where a single decision changes everything. When I picked up a camera about five years ago I quickly became obsessed with composites. In the beginning, I honestly had no idea where to even begin learning how to create these marvelous hybrids of photography and digital art. I had to learn how to create composite images! I knew if I could get to a point where I could create what I saw in my head, I could change the path of my career. Little did I know composite photography would change my life forever.

If you're thinking of taking the leap into professional photography, or have wondered if you can possibly make a living in such a saturated space, take this one piece of wisdom and chant it like a mantra.