Fstoppers Original Articles

Dodge and burn is a well-known technique amongst the retouching community. Most retouchers will use it to smooth out transitions and micro-contrast on portrait, fashion, or beauty images. However, it can be utilized for any genre of photography and broader uses than just skin cleaning. It can be used to direct the viewer’s eye and create more compelling, dramatic images with a few clicks. If you shoot and edit weddings and are looking to step up your post-processing game, this article is definitely for you!

Canon is king, but they sure aren’t getting that level of respect from photographers. What does this mean for their future?

Purists say they don't edit their photographs at all and they don't have to if the right camera settings were used. I'm fine with that philosophy if cheap old low-end cameras are used and they only can shoot in JPEG mode. Otherwise this approach is a complete waste of money on expensive cameras.

There are a deceptive number of moving parts in a portrait shoot, and it's easy to get overwhelmed and let some slip through the net before you have many shoots under your belt. Here are seven crucial tips to remind yourself of the key areas that need your attention.

If you work in a competitive area for your photo or video work, chances are that you’ve experienced losing a client at some point. Whether there were creative differences, budget issues, or you weren’t available, there are some things that you can do to alleviate some of the sting from breaking up with a client, and perhaps put you in a better position to work with them in the future, even if the root cause is simply that they couldn't afford your rates.

I am a wide angle fanatic, especially when it comes to prime wide angles. I carry four lenses in my camera bag: two of them are prime wide angles, one prime nifty fifty, and one telephoto. Out of all these four, I found myself reaching just for one particular lens: the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art. This came to substitute my old Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM lens which I adored, but it used to struggle a bit with chromatic aberrations and at times I craved for a wider view.

Because of the pandemic forest photography is more popular than ever. Forest photography is also one of the really hard genres of nature photography to be successful at. Fog and good conditions are usually necessary for success, but they are just not enough.

I recently spent time working alongside Alice Prenat, the portrait photographer behind the elegant Parisian studio, Portrait Madame. After her talent was discovered by Sue Bryce, Prenat launched an upscale brand and studio in Paris, where she celebrates the "everyday" woman.

Photoshop's latest release included such things as sky replacement tools and the ability to change the expression of faces. This is in line with what other software platforms offer. Are these features helping or hindering creativity and the future of photography?

Often, I see the term "bokeh" being used when "depth of field" is meant. That’s wrong, simply because it is not the same. Although many will understand the distinction between the two, I will explain the difference for those who do mistake depth of field with bokeh.

You’ve probably captured some stunning travel photography from your last couple trips. But months later, your library is still full of unfinished photos. Nothing seems to bring out the potential that’s hiding in plain sight: curves, drastic white balance changes, various crops, random techniques on YouTube. So, they remain in post-production purgatory.

Careful selection is the first and most important step in our creation process that is often left out of conversation. Nearly every client I photograph asks me "How do you choose?" It's actually a great question. After perfecting this process, I guarantee your solid and confident answer will blow their mind.

Night photography is something that every budding photographer will play around with at some point in their learning process. It’s a great way to get star-filled nighttime landscapes or to capture the light-painting shots in which you write in the air with sparklers. Most people don’t associate night photography with wedding photography, though, which is a shame, because it can be a good way to capture some non-traditional wedding images. These nonyraditional wedding images can help you stand out in the sea of wedding photographers and can help you book more weddings.

Sony Netherlands gave me a Sony a1 for a review. During two weeks, I dove into this amazing camera, learning about all the things that make the Sony a1 the top of the Alpha line-up. I shot a lot of pictures and learned a lot of things about this camera. These are my thoughts.

Sony has created a few gems when it comes to lenses in the past few years, with the 90mm Macro and 16-35mm f/4 potentially being some of the best in their class. 50mm for some reason seems to be their favorite focal length to produce, seeing as they now have seven different "normal" lenses with the release of their new 50mm Macro this morning.

In a saturated market of incoming photographers each holiday or tax season, it is easy to get discouraged when you are trying to get paid clients in the door. When we think of photography sessions we generally tend to lean on the idea of photographing only people in portraits. Families, boudoir, fashion, and even underwater sessions. With so many other creative ways out there to get paid why not tap into another resource for marketing?

Ask yourself a simple question, it's 2019 and digital pretty much everything is and has been in full swing for a while now, do you still watermark your images? I do, I have no plans on stopping, and apparently it really upset someone on Instagram recently.

Opinions matter to most people, but when the opinion of another photographer goes against or deviates from what the original photographer intended for that image, does that that make the image wrong?

Black and white conversion can be a complicated ordeal, and you can find yourself down a deep rabbit hole of theory if you're not careful. There are times where that kind of in-depth analysis is critical to a perfect image, but sometimes you just need a quick fix. That's where this tip comes in.

As photographers looking to improve our craft, we watch YouTube videos, buy online training, read articles, and maybe even take a class or two. We can pursue our quest for information and consume all of these trainings and never see a marked improvement. The key to getting better? Get those reps in.

What to name your photography business is one of the first questions any entrepreneur has to answer before venturing out into the freelance world. Many photographers simply use their full name as their business name, but could that be the worst decision ever? Today, we discuss some of the most important things to consider before making the jump into being a full-time photographer.

There’s a good chance that your camera neck strap is connected to your camera incorrectly. If so, your camera is in danger. Here’s how you should be doing it to stop your camera from falling to its doom.

Everyone has their baby. You know, that one camera that speaks to them in a way that all other cameras fall short. Of course, saying something like, "best portrait camera ever" is pretty loaded, but I calls it how I sees it! The Mamiya RZ67 is, for a variety of reasons, one of the best cameras ever made. In this article and accompanying video I'll give a birds eye view of the camera and its features, show a little work produced by it, and give you some insight into why this camera is at the top of the heap for me.

Dear Fujifilm, on behalf of all instant photography fans, please give us a decent Instax camera — one that excites us, one that inspires us.

In the digital world it may almost seem as though selling albums or wall art would be a thing of the past. The majority of clients will want to post their session to social media and go about their day. As photographers, it is up to us to educate the client about the importance of having a physical piece of art as well as the right type of art for their home.

If you look back to the beginning of photography, color didn’t exist. In fact, it didn’t exist for a long, long time. Even as 35mm film pioneered the way that photography was used and purchased, black and white was king. Slowly, as time progressed, color film began to take a foothold in the industry. Once legendary color films like Kodachrome and Kodacolor became widely available, black and white became far less popular for commercial use. Now, in the digital era, almost every digital camera records information in color. Why then, would I bother viewing my images in monochrome during my shoots, even if I know I’ll deliver them in color?

Three days ago we gave you a tour of the new Fstoppers studio in Puerto Rico but we didn't answer your biggest question: why in the world did we move to Puerto Rico?

Adobe released version 11 of Lightroom a little over a month ago and with it came a lot of new features. In this part of the guide, we'll go over the new sky selection tool, how to apply color or luminance masks, and how to use intersections.

Now is the time to head out and capture beautiful fall colors, and in this article, I give you five tips on how to do so.

Cinescapes Collective is a Saskatchewan, Canada based production group that has been putting together unique documentary content that has a dramatic and cinematic aesthetic. Their most recent short tells the story of Kessler, the creators of popular video production gear like sliders, cranes, and now motion control products.

Clichéd new year resolutions are as much of a tradition of the holidays as building snowmen and eggnog. Why not change things up a bit this year and set yourself a resolution which is related to helping you grow as a photographer. Here are 10 promises worth trying to keep in 2018.

Feeling lost on your photographic journey is common. So are being in a creative rut or having periods of low motivation. At times, we can all struggle to feel inspired to pick up the camera and get out there. A lack of direction, purpose, and reason can be the culprit for these aforementioned photography ailments. So, let’s dig into these questions and uncover the possible “whys” behind your keen need to capture.

DxO grabbed the popular Nik Collection in 2018 after Google cut it loose. The company has continued to improve it and add features. A case in point is the new Nik Collection 7.

The beauty of art… there are no rules, no curriculum, no set path that you must follow in order achieve what you aspire to be. While the freedom to learn as you wish at your own pace is great, a little guidance and direction didn't hurt anyone. In this article, I’ll explain further. I’d like to share some thoughts looking back on past experiences when I started to learn photography for those beginning in photography that may find useful.

Many photographers start out as hobbyists and part-time photographers while relying on a day job to pay the bills. Maybe you shoot on the weekends and edit after hours. But at what point should you quit your day job and commit to becoming a full-time professional photographer? Here's how to take that first big step in your photography career.

After the release of the new DJI Spark and its ability to fly without a remote, it is believed that DJI has the technology for anybody to fly. Steve Kampff and I decided to put this concept to the test comparing DJI's Intelligent Flight Modes to the Manual Capabilities of the user. In this video, we see that flying can be pretty challenging, but DJI definitely steps up to the plate allowing users to achieve more complex shots with little to no skill or experience.

Many aspiring photographers get intimidated by landscape photography because of their unfamiliarity to filters. While filters are not 100% essential to learning landscape, understanding this topic before making choices can lead you towards better gear decisions.

We often look at photojournalists and think, how could you do what they do. How could you stand around taking photos while people are suffering or could benefit from your help? On the other hand, we rarely think about transfering that realm into something tragic that happens in our own eyes, but that is exactly what Abe did.

If you, like I, are stuck in less than inspiring locations you might need a little push or kick to actually get out and do what you love: landscape photography.

Photographers across social media channels chimed in late this week as leaked documents were made public by the Washington Post on Thursday detailing the proposed size reductions and restructuring of both the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as well as the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

Are you a creative photographer? If so, there are pitfalls that we can avoid. Some are of our own making, while more are set by others to deliberately ensnare us.

Astrophotography and nighttime photography generally come with their own respective challenges. The biggest problem tends to be increased noise especially in the shadow areas of an image. But what if there was some incredibly smart software that could magically get rid of the noise and improve your images, would you use it?

I recently posted an article about getting the most from the Fujifilm X system cameras. One of the points of discussion and contention that came up in the comments was that of autofocus. Other issues, such as flash system and software support were also raised. The flash system is a matter of needs. All manual systems are supported and HSS/TTL is also becoming more fully developed. As for software, although Adobe's support is still in a developing state, speed has increased somewhat, as has detail rendering. Software is mostly now a matter of taste. So, I have decided to address the...

One of the big things lacking in my workflow was the ability to schedule Instagram posts. I have a personal Instagram as well as two work focused Instagram accounts and remembering to post on each one is time consuming and frustrating. About once a month I'll check to see if Hootsuite has added the ability to schedule instagram posts, but unfortunately it still does not. This month, my Google search led me to Latergramme and I was instantly smitten.

If you need a break from the overly technical photography articles that seem to have taken over the Internet, look no further than “More Than a Rock: Essays on Art, Creativity, Photography, Nature, and Life” by Guy Tal. This brilliant 256-page book is filled with topics that can both enlighten your artistic mind as well as challenge your views on the craft of photography, and I could not recommend it more.

Before you finalize your images for posting or print, here are five general quality control steps in Adobe Lightroom that you should not miss.

Apple recently announced that they will soon begin a two-year transition away from using Intel chips in their computers to using in-house ARM chips instead. How will this major paradigm shift affect creatives who use Macs for their work?

The Royal Photographic Society today announced that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, will be receiving an honorary lifetime membership. She will likely become the first person to receive the accolade without having won one of the society's awards. Question marks have been raised as to whether the amateur photographer's work is deemed worthy of such an honor.

How do you make a photograph that sells for more than $100,000? Gregory Crewdson may not have the answer, and I suspect he probably doesn’t care, but that is what his prints will routinely fetch, if not more. What is it that allows him to create such staggeringly powerful works of art, and what are the struggles he endures through the creative process?

Being able to recognize an Instagram cheat will stop you getting ripped off and taken advantage of by brands, models, and colleagues alike. Once you know how to spot a faker you'll be surprised at how many accounts are actually doing it and how sophisticated this deception has actually got.