It’s almost a daily occurrence: you open Facebook or Fstoppers, and someone is telling you that it’s not okay to shoot for free. If you’re not getting paid for your work, you’re devaluing the entire industry. But chances are we’ve all done it at some point, we’ll probably all do it again, and If you don’t, you’re only hurting yourself.
Early on as photographers, advice you often receive is to take your camera everywhere. I did this as a beginner and have advised others to do the same. That said, this camera is one I carry for a different reason, and here’s why.
Right before Christmas a sale popped up for the FitBit Flex (a fitness tracker) and even though I didn't "need" it, the FitBit would help me stay in shape. So of course I bought it. Over the last couple of months I have been making a conscience effort to make sure I am active. I love seeing how different activities affect my daily step count and, well, shooting a wedding sure does.
It’s summer now, and that means we have good temperatures and conditions to go out and shoot. Sunrise and sunset are especially great moments to get good photography conditions, not only because you can catch incredible colors but also because the light can be too harsh during the day.
In 2019, Canon did something weird: they crowdfunded a camera that no-one wanted. 18 months later, the reviews are largely terrible and you can now buy it for almost one third of its original price. What happened with the Canon IVY REC?
Storm chasing on the Great Lakes can be a hit-or-miss enterprise. In particular, Lake Michigan presents a formidable challenge because the weather here typically travels west to east across the lake and often changes rapidly once over the water.
In this article, I share some techniques I used to edit my most popular photo here on Fstoppers. With 4.36 points from 95 votes, it appealed to many of you. But aside from the great subject with Mohamed and his dromedaries and the beautiful, golden evening light, the final image required quite some work to achieve this pristine look.
If you're using the monthly Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop package, make sure you make the most for your money and have looked at the free available resources to help you design, from collages to branding mock-ups.
There's plenty of dumb stuff that people say when they get into photography. So, let's dispel some of the common myths that are floating around.
As a macro photographer, I commonly get asked questions about shooting fast-moving live subjects, as well as how I create my compositions. Many elements come into play when creating these images, and so, I would like to discuss a few macro photography tips, including some that often get overlooked.
Now that the dust has settled on Nikon's big Z 9 announcement and pundits have chewed the cud over the raft of firsts that the announcement heralded, let's pause for a moment and consider some of the reality that will undoubtedly follow this.
It is advised to shoot raw, always. Although many think that is a wise thing to do, a lot of photographers still shoot JPEG only. For those group of photographers I have 10 tips for better photos, and it has nothing to do with raw.
Whether you’re a film photographer who also shoots digital or a film photographer exclusively, a life after film is on my mind and should be on yours as well.
As photographers, we’re constantly re-crafting our portfolios, building new work, and (hopefully) growing as artists. Along the way, many of us will face challenges, get burnt out on locations, and ultimately feel in a rut. Through time and education, we invest so much into our portfolios, however the best advice I can give is to invest financially too.
In this second article about image sharpness, we will look at some more reasons why your photos may not be as sharp as you would wish.
Wedding photographers make the worst wedding guests. I know that when I’m at a friend’s wedding, I have a hard time turning it off. And no one should make me - least of all the hired guns photographing the bride and groom for the day. If that sounds blasphemous, let me explain.
I’ve always been enthralled with first person movie scenes, games and music videos. Clocking countless hours with Duke Nukem 3D in my parent’s basement on an old Packard Bell PC planted a seed that forever changed me. To this day I think The Prodigy's breakbeat electronic hit “Smack My Bitch Up” is one of the greatest first person videos of all time.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a successful photographer? To determine what creates success, we first have to define success. While success can take many forms, in this case we are referring to it as a healthy coexistence between business life and personal life, while following a profitable career that you love. For each individual the criteria changes, but for the past several months, after lots of reading, listening to podcasts, and through personal experiences, I have compiled a list of five words that describe a successful photographer.
Photographers often have a hard enough time getting the proper credit and payment they deserve for the images they create. And now, Instagram is enabling brands to make money off your images without you ever even knowing it.
Trying to capture a perfectly balanced shot during blue hour has its challenges. These three tips will have you capturing more successful images for your portfolio.
Most of the problems I get asked to fix in my role as technical support for photographers has to do with Lightroom. This article will show you the way I use Lightroom to be able to find any photograph I've shot in the last 10 years in under a minute. This is how best to organize and categorize your files to best serve you as a photographer and the tips and tricks that you might have otherwise missed.
GuruShots is the host of "The World’s Greatest Photo Game” and has released yet another fantastic challenge. Participants submited their best macro photos. The challenge received thousands of entries and millions of votes. Check out the three winners of the challenge as well as hundreds of top rated images below.
My favorite season is about to hit the Northern hemisphere, autumn. With its riotous color and vibrancy, the forests of autumn transform into a landscape and nature photographers' playground. Here are my tips for planning your ultimate fall color adventure.
The tilt-shift lens is probably one of the most special lenses available. It allows the photographer to turn, shift, and tilt the lens in many different ways. In this article, I explain when and how to use the tilt function.
The huge forest on my doorstep is stunning, so why were we six months into the global pandemic before I started photographing it? For someone who never liked landscape photography, I certainly take a lot of landscape photos.
There are many things to consider in order to capture great photos. You need to know about exposure, composition, and how to operate the camera. It’s easy to get on the wrong track, which can introduce confusion and disappointing results. Here are some tips for beginning photographers.
The majority of landscape photos are shot with a maximum or almost maximum depth of field. Everything is sharp, from front to infinity and beyond. But have you ever considered shooting a landscape with a shallow depth of field?
Great photographers need to be excellent problems solvers that can rig up anything. Getting lights into tight spots or building new sets in tight quarters are just a few examples of what a photographer is faced with on a daily basis. When you are running a team of people, working with clients on set, or doing a test shoot by yourself, you will always have a new idea or inspiration that challenges you to light something differently. The Master Clamp is the tool to help you rig it up and not look like a fool in the process.
Most cameras are similar in many ways, but they also have unique features that other models lack. Choosing the wrong camera can be an expensive mistake. Here are things to consider before spending your hard-earned cash.
Huge advancements in technology have changed the way we approach editing. But maybe before adjusting our photos, we should consider what harm it is doing.
You've spent the time learning your craft, you've built a portfolio, and you've invested in your business, but the clients still aren't rolling in. Here's why how you craft your portfolio can hold you back.
The vast majority of photographers often flounder in a state of perpetual mediocrity wondering why their photos aren't getting better. They invest thousands of dollars in gear along with hundreds of hours of practice only to see what amounts to the most minimal of improvements. One of the most often overlooked characteristics of great shooters is that they never complacently accept that "good enough" is an acceptable metric in relation to their photography. Being picky enables great photography.
Cold weather landscape photography is one of my favorite times to be out photographing. Familiar landscapes become unfamiliar once again. But you must be prepared and comfortable while out in the elements. Here is my approach to staying warm in the winter.
Many of us associate DJI with their dominance in the drone market for photo and video; however, there is an entire world of enterprise solutions that you might know about. These are innovations that could even show up in the next drone you purchase.
A few weeks ago, I came across a post on social media from the Jônt about a shoot out contest inside a staged multi-million dollar estate which piqued my interest. Reading more about the shootout, it would be geared toward several different genres of photographers, as they would have vendors on site providing food, drinks, cars, and models at our disposal for the shoot out. First, you had to submit your info along with your portfolio to be one of the selected photographers to join the contest, I figured I would go ahead and throw my name into the hat and see what would happen.
After reading an article from a fellow Fstoppers writer on following the herd, I realized the power one person actually has when it comes to sharing a photo. Here is my story on discovering a location that doesn’t exist.
Finding a good composition can be tricky at times, especially when photographing landscapes. After all, nature can be a bit chaotic. I believe the key to capturing interesting images is finding a good balance in your composition. Of course, this principle applies to other photography genres as well.
Most of my photography friends have been playing around with some form of AI Art, and the results are pretty remarkable. However, as amazing as this technology is, I'm sure I am not the only one wondering if Artificial Intelligence will leave us all looking for new careers.
A lot of modern cameras allow you to create multiple exposures. Not many photographers are using this function. At first, I forgot about it, thinking it was just a gimmick. But it turns out to be a very creative tool. Perhaps this article will inspire you to try it out.
That's right, it's just about every photographer's favorite time of year. The last thing that anyone wants is to have the season come and go without having had the chance to capture as much of it as we can. Whether you shoot landscapes, or portraits, or even if you don't take pictures at all but still want to have the chance to make the most of the autumn colors then here are some tips that might help.
We use the verb "shoot" when we take pictures. The similarities between photography and the actual shooting of guns nearly stop there. Nearly.
Every coin has two sides, and today, we're going to take a look at the natural light side of the lighting conversation. Here are seven different reasons why I think that natural lighting for portraits is pretty damn rad when compared with using flash.
If you have spent any amount of time on photography NFT Twitter recently, you’ll notice that everyone is so positively happy and supportive of each other. As the adage goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That seems to be the case here.
While Lightroom seems to be the editing program of choice for most creatives, it’s far from perfect. Here are five features that are missing from Lightroom that you can find in ON1 Photo RAW.
The Nikon Z 9 is built for speed. Here are the first customizations I’ve chosen to make mine even faster.
We've seen them at every company event...the dreaded photo booth! Well there are photo booths...and then there are HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT? Photo booths! This year, to close out PhotoPlus Expo, Resource Magazine with Scheimpflüg & Bathhouse Studio held their 6th annual Flügoween party and the Fstoppers team were there in force to see and play with one of the most epic Bullet-time Photo setups since The Matrix!
A bit of panic leads to a fun diversion. Today, we pose a hypothetical question.
Ultra Music Festival is one of the largest electronic dance music concerts in the world and brought in over 300,000 people last year in Miami. The heavy-hitting festival along with Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week just wrapped up this past weekend. I reached out to members of the EDM Photographers group that attended Miami's craziest week and asked how their experience was shooting these massive events.
Cornwall is one of those places I cannot get enough of. I've visited three times over the past years and can't wait to be back. In this article, I show you five of my favorite photo locations in Cornwall.
I recently picked up a Mint RF70, a fully manual camera designed to accept Fuji’s Instax Wide film. After capturing a few images with it over the past few days, I’m reminded of why I love instant film so much. Yes, it’s magical watching a print develop right in front of you, but that has nothing to do with why instant film is so exceptional.
