Fstoppers Original Articles

While bringing color to your images is best done manually, LUTs accelerate things. Here’s how I customize LUTs to get the best of both worlds in a pinch.

Fashion photography is a team effort. You just can’t be the photographer, makeup artist, stylist, retoucher, assistant, and a whole crew by yourself. But how much should you outsource? Most photographers are happy to leave makeup to a dedicated specialist, but when it comes to retouching opinions differ. Some claim that retouching is solely the photographer's job as no one can convey the exact vision, while others choose to trust a professional.

It is common to see family members using their phones to take photographs at family events. Often these images aren’t memorable because of poor composition and bad lighting. Here’s an easy lighting setup you can use to create professional-quality photographs.

It is a truism that the rich and famous are early adopters of the latest technology. Given that photography was unleashed on the world in 1839, what is the earliest surviving photo of a US President?

Have you ever wondered about the secrets of camera trap wildlife photography? Find out how one photographer captures striking images of big cats and more in this interview with expert Robert Yone.

Chasing clients to ensure I am properly credited for my work takes up more of my time than I care to admit. It’s frustrating to see my images used without due recognition, but none more so than this particular incident in which a relatively well-known musician’s team seemed to prefer removing the image from Instagram entirely, rather than simply adding my handle to the caption.

Nikon recently posted its first quarter financial report which shows improved sales but still leaves many questions unanswered about its post-COVID recovery. Is it making or — indeed — losing ground to its competitors?

Three years ago, I suddenly became obsessed with the colorization of old photographs. It soon led to me creating a time-lapse of the largest colorization job I'd had, which took over 14 hours to complete.

Photoshop has a multitude of distortion tools that allow you to correct parts that distract from your image or they can creatively alter the image into a new reality. With so many options is it best to know which tools work best for optimal results in the final image. With the three most popular and sometimes misunderstood explained here you will be able to take those images that might have been discarded and create something new.

Recently I found myself setting up lighting for a headshot session only to find out my flash was stuck on full power. The "on" switch for the flash worked just fine and it fired as normal but all its buttons simply didn't work, presumably because they were worn out. I had several backup flashes back in my truck but I wasn't looking to make the client wait while I walked back to where I parked, so I figured it was a good time to flex those problem solving muscles and make the shoot work with an un-adjustable flash.

There was once a time when Canon and Nikon users warred like zealous tribes and the act of switching made you a heathenish deserter. Now it's just par for the course. So what happened to brand loyalty? Did it ever really exist?

Have you ever seen images and wondered how they create an editorial look that you just can't seem to recreate? It's clean, it's crisp, it may be edgy or sleek... you can't quite put your finger on it, but whatever "it" is, you want it for your work. Here are a few tips, from composition to post-production, that will upgrade your images and give you a more professional look.

After Google, Youtube is the second largest search engine, and thus having a video-portfolio of one's photography can be a great addition in so far as getting one's work seen. Any time we get to offer our work in a different format, it allows us to both see and showcase different angles which otherwise may remain hidden or less apparent. Give a client the option to watch your video or scroll through your portfolio, and they might well take you up on the video, which, in being rarer, can also be more memorable.

For a lot of photographers, the act of traveling is a double-edged sword. We travel to be able to see the world and draw as much inspiration as we can from everything we see and experience. At the same time, the act of traveling often requires pushing out of our comfort zones and leaving behind a lot of the things that allow us to operate with fewer worries and limitations.

If you want to keep your business relevant or have that breakthrough year you’ve been dreaming of, you need to have a plan in place that continually attracts quality clients. Here is where you can find them in 2019.

Commercial photographer Geoff Ang was approached by one of the top CGI companies in Singapore “CUM Creative” to create an entire series of images for Razer’s newest line of gaming headphones.

If you have ever been assigned a full-day catalog shoot for a big retail brand, you probably know about the hectic process, especially if you are not working with a producer who deals with everything. Besides, a catalog shoot consists of innumerous steps from creating the concept to delivering the final images, and if you don’t have a producer ready for you, there are some steps that you need to consider before start shooting.

In the last few weeks I interviewed both the Wickstrom’s and the Hage’s, creative couples who make their living while traveling full time. In this article, I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned from spending two months on the road with my partner, while trying to stay on top of projects and work on new ones. Come to find out, it is not as fun and dreamy as it sounds.

Photographer Randal Ford has photographed over 100 animals up close and in person and has no plans on stopping. Why would he? These are some fascinating creatures that we share this planet with and so anytime we can interact with them, its probably a good thing. They are also super cute!

Landscape photography can become an addiction — including your photography gear. When is the right time to give in to the urge of trying something new — and what's important in the beginning?

One of my biggest problems when using Lightroom is just how long it takes to start viewing my images. Thankfully, ON1 Photo RAW does things a bit different.

Landscape photography is one of the most accessible genres of photography. As long as you don’t live in the middle of a city or sprawling suburb, it’s easy to just go outside and start shooting. I was always drawn to the natural world, so landscape photography was an easy path for me, but sometimes, the most rewarding shots are well off the beaten trail. That is why I’ve made a list of safety precautions you can take to reduce the risk you take and to minimize your impact on the environment.

This travel photography series definitely speaks volumes beyond just travel and photography.

It's maybe time to let go of everything you know, take on board new beliefs, and change the course of your photography.

Adobe’s latest update to Adobe Premiere CC has made it more accessible than ever for beginners to start editing video, but if your processing power is limited, playback lag can make the editing process frustrating. Here are six ways to reduce playback lag when editing your timeline.

As a follow up to my article on the best advice in respect of turning pro, I thought it would be fun to dig into the worst advice we've ever received as photographers. As Oscar Wilde wrote, "one might consider always passing on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself." So, what's some of the worst photography advice you've ever received?

Logic and emotion don’t always mix. In this article, I’ll tell you about one such moment for me.

In case you aren't tired of looking at photos from Monday's incredible solar eclipse, I've put together another list. This time I tried to some find photos that maybe everyone hasn't already seen. The eclipse was not only a spectacular natural event with worldwide attention, it was also one of the most covered events via the photo community itself. Browsing the popular hashtags for the solar eclipse produced results from professionals, amateurs, hobbyists, families, and a ton of everyday people armed with nothing more than a capable cell phone excited to share what they had witnessed.

Let's be honest, regardless how creative you may be we all have our highs and lows. In the field of photography, creativity should be an essential part of why we started. Our passion needs to be unleashed. Here are some ways to help you unlock your creativity.

Halloween is almost upon us. October brings the opportunity to photograph a huge array of exciting costumes. As a photographer who specializes in cosplay photography, I’m accustomed to shooting elaborate costumes all year-round, but for most photographers, Halloween presents a fun time to step outside of their normal photography box.

Nothing is more frustrating than having the wrong camera settings, especially during decisive moments. These images are probably beyond recovery. That’s why you have to check the camera setting every single time you go out. Just assume the settings are wrong. Always.

The photography world is full of questions. Many of these questions are met with few answers and even fewer absolutes. Perhaps the biggest question of all is: “Do photographers exist today?”

Despite the deep-freeze of a cold January day, a lone photographer moved swiftly through the graffiti-covered halls of what was once a bustling psychiatric center in the heart of Long Island in New York.

Back in my college days, when I first started taking photographs, I pursued magazine photography because I loved seeing my name printed in the magazine. Often, I wasn’t being paid for my services and the photo credit was payment enough for me. When I incorporated my business some 20+ years ago, I named my company "photo: John Ricard, LLC" because it resembled a photo credit.

Hungarian photographer Flóra Borsi is not your average self-portrait artist. Many of us are satisfied with the regular glamorous makeup and looks, but Borsi shapes her own perception of the perfect selfie through her exceptional creativity. A while ago, Flóra took a picture along with her dog in which the eyes of the dog overlapped with her own, creating a feeling as though this was an eye of hers. This was the initial trigger to create the "Animeyed" project, a series of self-portraits with different animals whose facial features overlap with her own, giving an illusion of one, common eye.

Members of the mysterious and magical craft of photography may have mentioned that mastering manual mode may be the most meandering path to making magnificent masterpieces. There's a shortcut, though.

In September last year, I asked myself whether Canon should release an RF-mount camera with an APS-H sensor and quickly dismissed it as daft. A new rumor suggests that an APS-H camera might be already being tested, and upon reflection, it might be a stroke of genius.

Mary Ellen Mark is one of the world’s greatest and most influential documentary photographers. Next month, 65 years after she took her first photograph, she will be the recipient of the Sony World Photography “Outstanding Contribution to Photography” 2014 Award. What is it that earns a photographer such an esteemed accolade? Let's take a brief look at her work to find out.

In recent years, technological advances in camera sensors have made it possible to capture incredible landscape images at night, but they still struggle to capture detail when the light is very low or nonexistent without introducing high amounts of noise to the image. This technique, known as "median stacking," will help reduce or even eliminate noise in your nightscape foregrounds, resulting in clean, detailed images that are ready for print or online scrutiny.

I’ve been a stalwart defender of “real” cameras when it comes to shooting portraits. But a slew of phone cameras over the last few years have included portrait modes, and so has the time come to change perspectives?

Should we separate the art from the artist? Are we complicit in perpetuating terrible behavior when we elevate talented creatives who also happen to be poor humans?

Fashion magazines, brand-name advertisements, and catalogs of all sorts seek out interesting locations to stage their photo shoots. Some are simply looking for controllable surroundings for privacy and security, but other productions are seeking something special to enhance their photos. Many locations, however, come with a price.

As an aspiring photographer, it eventually becomes obvious that likes on Facebook or comments such as “Beautiful work Kiddo!” from your mother aren’t exactly providing an objective evaluation of your talent. Constructive feedback from others in your field is something that everyone can benefit from at times, even as a professional. The problem is, most of us don’t take criticism very well especially when it comes to something we’ve poured our heart into and may actually love on a personal level.

There is great satisfaction in landing that amazing shoot with an A-List client, but even the perfect gig can sometimes leave us wanting more. Often the answer lies only within a project of your own conception. Adventure photographer/director Tim Kemple shares with us how he's fueled by personal projects, and why they are often more important than any paid assignment.

As photographers, we are bombarded by thousands of courses, books, and educational materials. But, what if I told you that before you learn photography you must, really must, learn something else? Well, you must know this one thing well before you even start taking pictures.

It's hard to look at our photography with objective eyes. We know how much planning went into the shoot. We know how complicated the shoot was. We know how many hours in Photoshop we spent. The sad truth is, none of that matters. Your image should speak for itself. Let me help you rate your photography fairly.

In the world of professional photography, the value of our work doesn’t always line up with our client’s budgets. But as tempting as it is to take the money and run, holding firm can often be more profitable in the end.

Jim Reed is a renowned extreme weather photographer who, in 1992, started a 30-year project on climate change. His day-to-day work includes tornadoes, blizzards, floods, and droughts - not to mention 19 hurricanes, including Katrina. Here's what he's discovered.

Getting new clients is exciting, but often difficult. If you've got no mutual connection, no contact to introduce you, or no event you can bump in to them at, you're against the odds. So don't make it even harder.