Fstoppers Original Articles

The arrival of a new camera at my doorstep yesterday and the coming holiday weekend brought to mind an easy but often overlooked lesson from long, long, ago. Here is a short story to highlight what I learned.

I've written often on the need for more focus on areas outside of the technical photography skills and equipment, but some areas I see a lack of interest in could be significant barriers between you and more clients.

There comes a time in every budding photographer's life, and for you, that time just might be now, when the promise of an incredible opportunity comes along — an opportunity that seems like just the thing you've been waiting for: a chance to travel to someplace tropical and live that insta-influencer dream life.

Just as Tamron has been asking us to reconsider the accepted focal range of an ultra-wide angle zoom, up steps Canon with the rumored 16-28mm f/2. You can be sure it will be huge and costly, but do we need it? And do photographers really want a holy trinity that is so heavy and expensive?

Let's be honest, landscape photography is just fun no matter where in the world you are shooting. I would even venture to say that it is growing with more and more popularity over time and with increased exposure from social media outlets.

I keep on wondering about the discussions of photographic enthusiast about camera technology and brands. Some enthusiasts even react very angrily at brands they used to have, or at other people when they mention some sort of shortcomings of their new camera. I would think a camera is just a tool… isn’t it?

At a momentary glance, Kando 3.0 might seem like the traditional photography workshop you see announced almost every day. But give it a minute instead of a moment and you’ll see Kando is way more than that. In fact, it’s not really a workshop at all.

Canon managed it. Nikon managed it. And, thinking about it, the new mirrorless cameras from Panasonic would feel weird if they didn’t have it. If I could change one thing about my otherwise awesome Sony a7 III, this would be it.

I might have been in Tokyo to watch the GFX 100 be ushered into the public eye, but I had been armed with a GFX 50R, and I intended to bleed every last moment out of it.

J takes us back to the very foundations of digital photography with none other than the, love-it or loathe-it, JPEG file format. If that seems like old hat, then step back another century to the iconic work of William Henry Jackson who produced some of the first photos of Yellowstone National Park.

I shot these images for fashion ecommerce store Zilingo when we were doing a recent campaign/catalog shoot. What a fun team to shoot with! They really have a vision for what they want to pull off and are very supportive in terms of getting there.

Printing your photos is one of the best things any photographer can do for themselves. There are lots of reasons why you should be printing and it gets brought up here on Fstoppers all the time.

I’ve always loved the color red and the emotions it invokes. I suppose that's the fun thing about backgrounds, props, and general settings in that a color theme can evoke so many different thoughts and emotions. Needless to say the power of a model is critical but what you can create around the model can go a long way in conveying the feel you’re aiming for.

My ultra-wide zoom spends more time attached to my camera than any other lens, so for me it’s fascinating to see how first Tamron with its 17-28mm f/2.8 and now Canon with its alleged 16-28 f/2 have decided to shake things up. I'm in the market for a new lens and it's coming at quite an interesting time.

There is often a lot of talk of "taking the leap" to full-time photography. It might be a cliché, but it does feel as if you have to throw yourself into the partially unknown to have any chance. But whether you're winding up to jump, or you've landed on the other side and are wondering what's next, you can benefit from the Tipping Point.

Capture One is one of those programs that, once learned, is hard to do without, but due to the common experience of learning post-processing software within an Adobe ecosystem, anything different like Capture One can appear less intuitive or more challenging, even if it isn’t.

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2019, we're featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

This month's winner is Aritz Atela! His work is notable for its fascinating concepts and perfect technical execution. Be sure to check out our favorite shots of his below...

Photography has changed beyond all recognition from the profession of the 2000s, so it is time that we re defined what it is to be a professional photographer.

2019 marks the 100th anniversary of The Grand Canyon’s designation as a National Park, but for Arizona resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, Jack Dykinga, that’s not the only milestone to celebrate this year. For Dykinga, this summer also marks the 5th anniversary of his life-saving double lung transplant. Both occasions are being celebrated in the summer-long exhibition Jack Dykinga: The Grand Canyon National Park (1919-2019) at Tucson, Arizona’s Etherton Gallery.

Pricing your work as a small-scale filmmaker or videographer is not that straight-forward, because it has many nuances that are specific to the type of work, style of work, and type of client. Here are my 10 suggestions for items you may probably miss from your estimate.

Do cameras with larger sensors have a specific look? Last week I posted images taken with four different sensor sizes and let you decide. Spoiler Alert: Nobody could tell the difference.

If you’re reading this, the likelihood is that you are currently or were recently a Lightroom user and are looking for better software with which to treat your images. That quest to find the best software is not necessarily an easy one, but it is necessary. While you may change camera bodies, lenses, lights, locations, and styles, the one constant that touches all of your images is the software used to develop them.

For many photographers, the Adobe software suite is the main suite they use for editing and to manage their content. Over the last few years, however, many creatives have become dissatisfied with the monthly subscription model that Adobe has now opted for. For this reason, many photographers have been looking for a viable alternative.

Photography is a fun, creative field, where we get away from the tedium and soul-sucking nature of the 9-5 to chase our dreams, to be creative, to be our own bosses. It's amazing, right? Meh, sometimes. Sometimes, it sucks.

Art mimicked life and photography captured it. Then photography mimicked art until it too became an art form. But will it follow the trajectory of paint and canvas trends?

This installment of the A to Z of photography begins with perhaps the most exciting photographic technology of the 21st century — image stabilization. This is followed by one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century — Into the Jaws of Death — which marks a tipping point in history. The I's have it!

Photojournalism helps to shape our collective consciousness. In thinking about how important photojournalism is, I’ve often found myself considering what happens when amateurs with amateur equipment find themselves in extraordinary circumstances.

After finding myself in yet another strange new world last week, I began to reflect on the future of photography and steps necessary to protect the profession we love.

Over the years, many companies, from Lytro to Light, have tried to come up with small, funky cameras that use technology to pack DSLR punch into a small package. Invariably, all of these have more or less failed, but there’s one company that’s just sitting on a sleeping giant in this market: Apple.

Success in wedding photography can depend on a lot of factors that are both in and out of your control. One thing I recommend is going the extra yard where and whenever possible.

An old phrase too often associated with dreamers and the work-shy became a foundational philosophy behind my photography, once I fully understood it.

Pilots have to juggle a number of responsibilities, in high stakes situations. They rely heavily on one tool to help with all their tasks, one which you should be using too.

From contemporary to classic in one breath, in this installment of the A to Z of Photography I outline the current, and oh so trendy, hyper-lapse technique before showcasing the work of the classic, and brilliant, photography of Horst P. Horst, including his signature work the "Mainbocher Corset". Read on for more!

For many of us, we’ve been using Adobe Photoshop for so long that at this point we don’t question our own workflows; we do what we’ve done before because that’s the way we’ve always done it. I did something crazy the other day though. I questioned if a tooltip’s displayed information could be changed. And I was a little shocked that yes, it could be.

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?

I derive motivation as well as enjoyment as a photographer by seeing continuous improvement in my work. In this article, I’ll share five factors that have pushed me further along in my photographic journey.

We may be pro at all things photographic, but is it enough for us to succeed as photographers in this day and age? What are the other components for the winning formula?

Have you taken beautiful landscape photos at Lofoten, the Faroe Islands, or Iceland? Or perhaps you only dream about trips to these breathtaking locations. Don't worry; perhaps the best landscape photo you will ever shoot is in your home town, just around the corner.

Jeff Whitlock’s work as a high-end retoucher has been gaining notice for the last several years, and just about every time I turn around, Jeff is sharing some amazing project he’s just worked on. From the "This is not Magritte" series to his work on portraits of celebrities, Jeff has been knocking it out of the park with great regularity.

We all make mistakes. They are part of the learning process, and if we want to improve, we have to accept that we'll make plenty of them. Photographers are no different, but there's one big mistake I see so many photographers make time and time again, yet it's so avoidable.

As much as social media is about fun, for many of us it is about getting work too. Here are some quick tips to help you along the way.

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.

There is no way to stay on top of your creative game if your body is falling apart. The wear and tear of shlepping gear up 4 flights of stairs, down alleys and packing, repacking and packing again takes its toll on our bodies. Here’s a few ideas, tips and tricks to help you work until freelancers get good healthcare….

Lensbaby has announced a new set of filters which attach to a lightweight ring atop your lens via magnets. The new kit allows you to use glass and crystals in order to create novelty blur and bokeh effects hands-free, but is it worth using such novelty items in-camera, given that their rather niche effects are irreversible?

When Canon and Olympus were experimenting with live view on their cameras in the mid-2000s, it seems almost comical now that they didn’t think to record video with the feature that already existed on their cameras. History is repeating itself, but this time with the lowly pop-up flash.

An award-winning photojournalist stands accused of faking a series of images documenting hit men carrying out acts of violence in Honduras. It is alleged that Swiss/Italian photographer Michele Crameri staged several shots of men wielding guns and threatening to kill people, following revelations from the Honduran fixer who helped him gain access to local gang members.

I've been meaning to make this video/post for a long time but I kept putting it off because it's probably the most polarizing subject in the photography world. Is microstock, and now free stock photography, ruining the industry? Is Fstoppers promoting this?

Photographing underwater possess its own challenges even in clear visibility. Coming into a body of water you are unaware of the conditions can make or break you, only if you allow it to.

Do medium format cameras have a specific look? Do Micro 4/3 camera take horrible still photos? You tell me.

With sensor prices dropping and leading manufacturers keen to get consumers on board with their latest mirrorless offerings, increasingly budget-friendly options are expected to emerge. However, would you buy an affordable camera that is cheap because it doesn’t have a viewfinder?