Fstoppers Original Articles

We've all bought things impulsively, and on occasion it works out. But often it doesn't, and a few times for me those purchases have been an unambiguous waste of money.

Whether you are just starting out or you have been shooting for years, pricing is always top of your mind. For a long time, I just plucked figures out of the air, which made for very awkward conversations when clients wanted to know various ways to save money on a shoot. I eventually got my arse in gear and had a long (like a week-long) sit down and I went through everything in the smallest detail. Today, I give quotes with confidence, knowing that if a client says no, I am simply not the photographer for them.

Sometimes it’s fun to set yourself a challenge, maybe shooting with limited gear or with a very quick turnaround. On this occasion, I had no choice. The shoot was conceived and captured in under fifteen minutes, and the images were edited and submitted less than half an hour later. Here’s how it came about.

Product photography is a great way to experiment with lighting and editing techniques. For me, it’s a chance to shoot in a relaxed environment where I have complete control over the subject, lighting, and camera. I can set up something small in the living room and find solutions that can be applied to my portrait work or professional product photography. It also requires a lot of creativity. Homemade items or DIY solutions are abundant on sets. From light-shaping tools to methods of creating parts of a composite, a lot can be created simply and at a low cost. You may be surprised to see how minimal of a setup can create some stunning photos.

Let’s assume for a moment Nikon was a genie and could grant me one wish. Aside from wishing for 1,000 more wishes, here is what I would ask for.

High-speed sync is a hot topic in the world of portrait photographers today and Francisco Hernandez is someone who has this technique dialed in.

How many photos do you have in your Lightroom Classic Catalog? Thousands, tens of thousands, or perhaps even more? I have 10 tips to create order in your Lightroom Classic Catalog.

As a creative artist, I am always looking for new perspectives as a way to improve my work, and usually, when I see something fascinating, an orchestra plays inside me; I crave to try something new. However, not all cravings can be satisfied, simply because they are way too extravagant and unaffordable. Here is a fascinating list of some lenses you might have never came across before.

Most photographers are generous with their knowledge and supportive of others. Sadly, this is not true of everyone. Here's why a toxic minority gives all photographers a bad name and how to deal with them.

It’s 2024. The number of options available to use when choosing gear and accessories has rapidly grown. Have you considered these crucial factors?

You lose information when an image is saved in JPEG format. This is acceptable, unless you save the same image more than once. Let’s have a look at how much information you really lose.

Living in the Southwest, I'm always out with my camera, looking for that great new vista just beyond the next curve in the road. For years, I didn't pay much attention to photo apps, because I was seeing stupid apps that put hats on people or distorted their faces, or worse.

As I stood at the edge of the tranquil beach, a sense of both calm and disappointment washed over me. Having checked the weather forecasts closely, I was once again feeling let down as instead of crisp morning light, I instead had low clouds and very little light.

In August last year, IG Audit — a free web app that allows you to check the authenticity of an Instagram user’s followers — went viral on a wave of press centered around Instagram’s fake follower problem. Just one month later, Facebook’s lawyers abruptly forced the website offline, and IG Audit’s Instagram account of 20,000 followers was deleted. These aggressive moves might be hints of a scandal that Instagram is trying to keep quiet.

We all have genres that we usually shoot, but sometimes, we want to dabble in photography outside our comfort zone. It is possible to start getting great photos in other areas without them becoming a full-time occupation or costing a fortune in the extra kit. Here's how to do that with wildlife photography.

There are different breeds of wildlife photographers. At the top of the food chain is Photographicus Obsessius. They study individual species, so they know all their behaviors and can call them by their Latin names. They get up at 2 a.m., drive fifty miles or more,...

Even if we're not professional photographers, most of us at some point have fancied getting paid full-time to take photos. Weddings? Sports? Fine art? Press? Commercial? How about a medical photographer?

The use of Photoshop by companies is changing and it’s indicative of a much deeper trend. Earlier his year, American Eagle stopped retouching the models in their 'Aerie' lingerie shoots. They claim that the 9% sales increase last quarter is directly related to this position. This is an unprecedented commercial statement, and has wide implications for photographers, videographers and post production specialists everywhere.

In 1985 there were approximately 40 recorded felonies on the New York City subway system. Every single day. It's a wonder how young photographer Chris Morris mustered the courage to set off on to the mean (subterranean) streets and begin months of personal project work documenting the New York subway.

Mirrorless, mirrorless, mirrorless... it's the most public camera debate for some time and if you're already sick of it, don't click this article. We're going to look at the specs of all three of the big brands' mirrorless cameras and see who comes out on top.

This is one of my favorite tips that I teach in my beginning photography workshops. I’m focusing this article on nature and landscape photography because it’s mostly what I do, but I think this is applicable in almost any genre.

Very few things get me riled up like buzzwords, soundbites, and marketing drivel. And over the years, I've noticed some words in the photography vernacular that are right up there on the gibberish scale. Here are a few examples.

We have been sold on the biggest myth of all time; In order to succeed at anything and have a lustrous career you must spend 4 years in an overinflated educational institution and spend a small fortune, which doesn’t include costly textbooks, supplies and living expenses. All in exchange for a fancy sheet of paper we call a degree… a piece of paper that gives us instant credit and a golden ticket to the gravy train. Right?

Adobe Lightroom is full of useful features and tools to help edit your images, but sometimes everything can just get in the way. Here's how to clear the clutter in Lightroom Classic to get a better look at your photos.

The words “fine art” have got to be some of the most misused and abused in photography. For a term that is pretty much meaningless, it’s quite impressive.

Being a long time Lightroom user has helped me have a well polished workflow for my photography projects. So why should I bother trying Capture One Pro?

Many photographers live and breathe by keywording their photos in Lightroom. Keywords can be used both for describing images, as well as combined with other features of Lightroom for organizing, searching, publishing, and exporting photos.

The day has finally come when photographers can sync their powerful off-camera flashes with their Apple iPhone using Profoto's new AirX syncing system. Being the skeptic I am, I had to see for myself if using 500 Ws of powerful strobe light with your cell phone was simply a gimmick or potentially an industry game-changer. Today, I'm left swallowing my pride.

Photographer Tony Ross and Designer Nephi Garcia imagined what Disney princesses would look like as fully grown queens, and the concept resulted in this wonderful series that captures the imagination and unites daughters and mothers and mother-in-laws. Check out the final images and go behind the scenes of this Disney-themed shoot.

You may have had the same reaction I did when I first started loading up the Develop module in Adobe's new Lightroom Classic CC update: oh no, why did Lightroom change all of my photos to an old process version!? First things first: don't worry. The process version did not change. Instead, Lightroom Classic CC introduces the fourth iteration of these so-called process versions, but this one (the first in half a decade) is different for a number of reasons.

Exposure bracketing is one of the most important tools to know how to use for landscape photography and is likely a term you've heard from every major name in the business. Find out why it's so important and just how easy it is to learn.

I’m a bit of a dreamer. I’m also a huge aviation geek, and I often catch myself browsing the web at 2am looking up articles on aviation and aviation history. So when I found Anthony Toth and learned more about his life’s work, I knew that I had my next personal photography project in mind. As I'm mostly an architectural photographer, I got bored of waiting around for an airline to hire me to photograph their next ad campaign, so I decided to hire myself into my dream gig.

While it certainly wasn't my first time using one, a recent shoot I did for TEDx at the Ohio State University made me realize how much easier life is with a light meter. For almost all the time I've spent behind cameras, I've been creating portraits. And for most of that time, I've been using flash. Starting out, I would just shoot and tweak power settings and my aperture and the light placement until I got what I wanted. As an amateur, it worked. But once I decided that photography was a career for me and as I began picking up client work, this method became quite ineffective, forcing me to get the one tool I never realized I needed.

Many photographers buy and sell gear at a steady pace, always looking for some interesting new lens or body to try. I am no different, and I have bought and sold my fair share of gear over the years. I have come to regret selling one specific camera and lens, though.

Mirrorless cameras have now been on the market for a few years, and though initially, they weren't for some, have they now reached a level where you should ditch your DSLR to go mirrorless?

Canon has announced a hilariously boring and ambiguous camera, just in time for NAB: the ME200S-SH (catchy, right?). They want it to be an all-rounder, but it may just be subpar in every single category.

OM Digital Solutions announced an update to their lens road map, and macro photographers will be excited about what's there. Plus, they have a new Linear PCM sound recorder.

In recent years, boudoir photography has experienced quite a surge in popularity, attracting women of all ages and backgrounds who want to capture their beauty in a classy and sensual way. While it's true that the rise in confidence and body positivity among women has played a significant role in this trend, there are several other factors contributing to its growing popularity.

Adobe just released the latest version of Lightroom that removes the split toning module and replaces it with an updated version, "Color Grading." In this article and video, I quickly go over how to use the new tool, and I even edit a few photos along the way!

When it comes to taking a great photo, many photographers argue that it starts and ends with great composition. I’m not sure I’m so black and white in my outlook, but good composition is hugely important without a doubt. And one of the most overlooked parts of great composition is adding foreground interest. Today I will discuss how foreground interest in your photos can really improve your end results, and what you can do to nail the foreground every time.

In every photoshoot, I will always perform a three-part culling process, and it ensures I always pick the best images.

The Fuji X100VI has been riding shotgun on the hype train since its announcement. And while it's a good camera, this camera is better.

At the end of the year, when the nights are long, and the days dark and weary, photographing can become less interesting. Some may even lose inspiration during these days. I have some ideas for you to get through the dark winter months in the Northern hemisphere.

As a photographer, it is easy to get bogged down in creativity, without really thinking about how effective your process is. As time is the most valuable resource that you have, you need to use it most efficiently. In this article, I will break down a few tips that helped me become a productivity master.

I love shooting landscape photos at the beach. It’s an ever-changing landscape dominated by the sea and its waves. You might think shooting photos at such a location is easy, but you have to know a few things before you go there. It's all about safety.

Social media is the place for photographers to show their work and discuss photography. It is great looking at those photos, but there are also some things that keep annoying me. I have identified 5 things photographers should stop doing.

The visual arts have a long history with the naked form. What could be more natural than nakedness, more natural than how we entered the world? Or are we kidding ourselves, and is boudoir just softcore porn?

In this week's article and video I go over my process of capturing an image from start to finish. Everything from how I found my location, captured the photo in the field, and my entire Lightroom editing process.

When you combine modern photography gear, even at the entry-level, with today's post-production software, it has never been easier for people to get high-quality images. The days of perfectly matching time, elements, and light are essentially done.

In an industry where every day seemingly brings the announcement of a new camera system promising to up your photography game while simultaneously depleting your bank account, it can be hard to know what is really worth the investment. So today, I’ll have a quick look at three areas where I’ve found you almost always get an appropriate level of bang for your buck.

I wanted to see if I could turn a 600mm telephoto lens into a makeshift macro lens. Did I manage to get any decent macro photos out of it? You tell me.