Fstoppers Original Articles

Even if you take out the cameras on your smartphone, it can still play a huge role in making life easier for you when you shoot. In every step of your creative process, your phone can be a tool to make everything easier.

The crop tool might not be as fancy as many others in your editing suite, but its importance cannot be overstated. Here are two very important reasons you should always think about starting with the crop tool when you first sit down to work on your images.

Canon has announced the launch of the EOS M200, a small camera featuring a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor, Dual Pixel autofocus and 4K video. Canon has also packed in a few features that make it more accessible to those without a deep knowledge of photography who are looking to produce and share content quickly on social media. What’s more interesting, however is the marketing video itself.

New cameras deserve a bit of time for initial setup and customization. This guide should help you with your new Sony camera.

Artist Jason Shaltz explores the everyday lives of some of horror's biggest icons in his latest personal project, “Everyday Horrors.” Most of us know who Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers are, but outside of their gruesome yet successfully franchised acts, what do we really know about them? Well, like any good horror fan, Jason sat down and tried to capture what it might look like if they lived among us, had errands to run, or just enjoyed a nice day off.

We've teamed up with 49ers photographer Terrell Lloyd and Datacolor to talk about Lloyd's prolific career as a sports photographer and the importance of accurate colors in sports and action images.

We all know how highly respected the Pelican brand is when it comes to protecting your photography equipment. The case's waterproof qualities and seemingly indestructible nature make them the go to choice for many professionals. If you thought they were just for keeping your gear safe then think again, they actually have many more practical benefits than just the obvious.

While many have tips for keeping travel expenses low regionally, what happens when you start flying to landscape photography destinations? Things that work with regional travel don’t scale when limited on what you can bring. I have several tips for keeping travel costs low when flying to your destination.

Landscape photography is somewhat synonymous with shooting large scenes with a wide angle lens, but what about more intimate landscapes? On a recent trip through Colorado, I found myself using a telephoto lens almost exclusively and came up with five tips that might help your try one out for yourself.

We at Fstoppers do our best to keep the photography community informed of noteworthy holiday deals. Since Black Friday week is here, we wanted to let you know about some deals we've heard of from various photography and video companies. Some of these deals are only available for a very limited timeframe, so if there's something that piques your interest, make sure to act on it now!

Import and culling have always been two of the most time consuming and, frankly, annoying parts of Adobe Lightroom. Despite all of its improvements over the years, the process of getting files into Lightroom has remained a huge bottleneck in an otherwise swift workflow application. With Lightroom Classic CC, Adobe finally made a full attempt to address this by allowing us to use the embedded previews from our raw files as previews for culling within the app and improved the overall speed of adding files to the catalog. So, what’s changed, and just how useful are those changes?

Even if you aren’t the type of photographer to be interested in a cicada, let me tell you why this summer’s event will be an amazing photo opportunity. It might just not be what you expect.

In last week’s article, I introduced you to the inspiring work of Minnesota-based fine art photographer, R. J. Kern. This week, I connected with him again and was able to gain insight into what it took to create his most recent project, "The Unchosen Ones". If you were inspired by his work last week, I can assure you you'll be blown away by this one, too.

Through a matter of circumstance, I found myself working with multiple camera systems to fulfill a variety of assignments over the last month. Here are a few thoughts on why I chose each system and what I learned from the process.

Canon’s big announcement this week was the brand new EOS M50 Mark II, an upgrade to the insanely popular M50 that was released in 2018. But how “brand new” is it, and does it qualify as an upgrade if all of the new features could easily have been delivered through a firmware update?

Want to start the new year with a free tutorial from Fstoppers? All you have to do is help us choose our Photographer of the Year!

It’s a common belief to think that creativity is a skill that you either have or don’t. While in reality, all creativity truly is a process through which you perceive things and situations differently than others around you. Coming up with an alternative way of seeing requires hard work but it becomes easier with time. Sometimes, we get lost in our thoughts or simply don’t know how to find any new ideas. So in this article, I have laid out for you a straightforward process to come up with unique concepts for your shoots and turn them into great pictures.

I've bought expensive lenses I've barely used and a couple of value lenses that have become workhorses. This one, however, may be the best example of images taken per dollar spent.

Apple’s Photos app on MacOS has been through many changes. We’ve come quite far since its predecessor, iPhoto. This time around, Apple has its sights set on bridging the gap between a consumer app and something more professional. Where does it fit in, and is it worth using?

I love visiting the countryside. It's a great way to unwind, relax, and forget about the daily office hustle, the traffic, and whatever else is synonymous with a suburban lifestyle. As a photographer, the first thing I pack is my camera bag in the hopes that I'll get a chance to capture some landscape shots. What I did not expect is to get more than I bargained for. Especially this last weekend.

I own a ton of photo and video gear, but if I had to keep only what I could fit in a single backpack, this is what I would choose.

When we shoot photographs, we may or may not want to increase the appearance of depth in the image. Many more tools than depth of field are available to us. Here are some things we can do to add or decrease perspective.

As the discourse around Black Lives Matter and police reform grows ever coarser, racism is revealing itself through protests in all small corners of the country. And that means communities unfamiliar with the role of photojournalists are encountering firsthand the consequences of exercising free speech to spew hate in public spaces.

Some people are naturally very cluttered while others try to take a very minimalist approach. Does your workspace reflect your personality?

A key factor in the success of any photography business is the ability to produce technically sound images that stand out and differentiate your style from that of other photographers. As a pet photographer, one way to generate bold and professional-looking images from your outdoor sessions is to light your subjects with off-camera flash.

Filters are some of the most transformational tools when it comes to creating possibilities in landscape photography. Aside from the intended exposure effects, there are some things you might need to learn about using them that will help you achieve better-quality images.

What is the key to growth as a photographer? Is it buying the best gear you can possibly afford? Nope. Or is it strategically curating your Instagram feed? Probably not.

Third party manufacturers have transformed the Sony full-frame ecosystem, giving the brand the most affordable and wide-ranging lens line-up of any mirrorless camera. Tamron has been at the center of this evolution, offering excellent lenses with intelligent compromises. The new 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD is no exception.

It’s too easy to think about how photography has been democratized and how anyone today with a camera can call themselves a photographer. It’s an excuse in fact.

Infrared photography can reveal an eye-opening world of visual wonders, one that will continue to surprise you with its possibilities. And you might be surprised by its affordability.

Every photographer is different: we all have our own personalities and values. Even with all our differences, there are five key traits that every photographer needs to have no matter what they do.

Whether you know it or not, psychology plays a big role in successful pricing strategies for both products and services. Our brains are wired to pick up on subtle cues when it comes to weighing the value of something. So how do we successfully price our photography services? Here are a few tips to help you restructure your pricing for a successful year.

It’s often read and repeated: Micro Four Thirds is dead! Olympus’ camera department has been sold and full frame mirrorless is currently ruling the game. Am I the only one who doesn’t care?

I’ll admit that I’m in a creative rut. And like any photographer that feels frustrated, there’s only one thing to do: go in a different direction. For well over a year I’ve been shooting hardly anything besides studio portraits. While I love that genre and the work that I’ve created in that time, I feel like my work has hit a wall creatively. After watching several photographers and filmmakers doing these a-photo-a-day projects, I decided to give it a go in 2017.

The dream of becoming a professional photographer is extremely common. It looks like a glamorous gig, but it’s not as simple as getting paid to take photos. Becoming a pro photographer also means becoming an entrepreneur, and that’s way harder than learning how to shoot on M.

Photo editing is a powerful tool that allows you to transform your images in many ways, from enhancing the atmosphere in a photo to increase of image quality. However, common editing mistakes can negatively impact the final result. In this article, we'll explore five of those.

Check out these time-lapse selections from Google Earth Engine that run from 1984 to 2018. They're an epic way for photography and time-lapse to show the massive changes that have occurred to our planet within the span of a lifetime.

Are you trying everything and still failing to feel genuinely proud of your photographic work? Do others around you influence what you shoot and why? Let's take a look at if you have fallen into this self-destructing trap without realizing it!

The Sony world felt a little bit disappointed when Tamron’s recently announced primes turned out to be only f/2.8. Is Tamron about to cheer us all up with some glass that’s a little more up to speed?

You may have read an article about how Getty removed their "sexiest fans" gallery due to receiving backlash from social media. What's interesting is Vogue Magazine posted a similar type of article about men, which didn't seem to receive much in terms of outrage. Is it more offensive to objectify women than it is to objectify men?

We look at the world in color, even when we want to shoot black and white photos. Color can be very distracting in that case. Thanks to digital photography it is possible to change the world into black and white before you take the picture.

The rise of social media over the past few years is undeniable. It’s come to shape our habits and behavioral patterns, as well as redefine social norms. So, it’s inevitable that the creative industry has been influenced too; but in a world where our brand’s worth is often dictated by our follower count, just how important is mastering social media to any creative trying to make it in the industry in 2015?

Landscapes are often the gateway drug into other genres. Be careful; it can be addictive and lead you to harder photography. Here’s how to get high from what might seem a benign habit.

Pye from SLR Lounge is once again visiting us in Puerto Rico. In this four-minute video, we each teach a quick and easy two-light setup.

A spectacular shot of a bride in her gown can be one of the most enduring images in the spectrum of bridal photos. I’ll state up front that I am not a wedding photographer, but as a fashion photographer specializing in bridal fashion, I’ll wager that I’ve shot more bridal gowns than the average wedding photographer. Along the way I have picked up a few tricks that wedding photographers might find useful when taking a bride’s formal portrait in her gown.

As I am constantly saying, I am a huge fan of workflow optimization. I work alone and automating even the simplest of tasks is crucial to staying organized and being able to keep up doing what I do. This tip is the first in a series regarding automation I will share, and this is such a key to thinking differently: creating your clients folders. It's something we do every session, over and over, so let's automate it.

Aperture is one of our strongest technical creative tools as photographers and filmmakers. Although it’s simply just a hole for light to pass through, it can be used to create so many different effects in our images. By considering the effects it has and working with them, we can intentionally make very different images just by changing our aperture.

Allow me to be the first to ask the question. Are we really worth it? Now, don’t get me wrong. I come from an economics background. I understand price equilibrium. Pour me a large blonde roast with cream, and whisper me sweet nothings about Adam Smith all day. Leave all that behind for a second. I’m talking on a more philosophical level. Are we really worth the money we charge?

Automotive reflections can be a pain, especially if you are restricted to where you can shoot the vehicle. Reflections of the surrounding environment can really ruin your image.