Modern business exists for one primary purpose: to maximize profit. In this article, I’ll explain why, for the past six years, I’ve run my business in the opposite spirit, often knowingly leaving money on the table.
Have you ever wanted to make a documentary film, but didn't know where to start? In this video, find out four simples ways you can improve your documentary films and take your work to the next level.
In the process of creating good content for their clients, creative professionals often have to use their knowledge and experience to come up with solutions to problems on set. But what if you don't have a set?
If you travel with gear, you know one of the most important rules to follow is to carry on all the cameras and lenses and pricey equipment you can. The expanded line of Manfrotto's Pro Light Reloader carry-on trolleys are designed to meet these needs of traveling creators.
Color grading is an essential skill for both photo and video editing. Check out this great video to learn how to become a better colorist using Photoshop.
It's not a glamorous topic, but managing an ever-growing photo catalog is something we all face. Here are a few smart ways to get yourself on the right track with Adobe Lightroom to spend less time searching and more time editing and delivering.
What's the best wildlife photography camera and lens combo for under $500? Here are four different systems to check out.
Creating high quality, print-ready, stitched panoramic images takes more work than simply switching your iPhone over to "Pano" mode and scanning the horizon with the cell phone. In this tutorial, Serge Ramelli walks through each viable step in the process of creating quality panoramas.
One of the worst things that can happen to you as a photographer is to lose your images due to a corrupt hard drive or memory card. Here is an excellent plan to put in place to protect against hard drive failure.
As the baby was crowning, Megan Mattiuzzo was clicking away. This might sound like a normal scene for most birth photographers out there, but Mattiuzzo was up against an extra layer of difficulty: she was photographing her own delivery.
You may have the experience of putting together a project proposal for a potential client, but what about making life easier for clients at the very start by showing them how to prepare a photographer's brief to help them define exactly what they're after and, subsequently, help you understand their requirements?
Making mistakes is how we improve, but in this age of infinite online resources, you can learn to avoid potential photography landmines without having to experience them first. Check out this great video on how to avoid five common photography mistakes.
Adobe's Lightroom is a divisive piece of software. Proponents love the consistency and close compatibility with Photoshop, while others argue it is inefficient with resources and has inferior processing compared to competitors. I want to take a look at a much simpler, fundamental issue with Lightroom.
Up-selling is part and parcel of the wedding and portrait photography business. Many photographers depend on these selling techniques to generate a decent income. But similar opportunities can be found in the commercial genre — you just need to know how to target them.
Our new studio in Puerto Rico had so much echo that it was ruining the audio in all of our videos. I'm happy to say that we have finally figured things out, and we've learned a few things that might help you as well.
Today, I found that someone has stolen one of my photographs. Here is what I did.
There's something exhilarating about getting a new client. I love the buzz of working with a new creative direction, team, and objective. But new clients are expensive, and repeat clients are where businesses thrive.
It's so simple yet so powerful and has literally saved me hundreds of hours and untold gallons of frustrated, angry sweat. If you want to know a quick, fast camera hack that can make your photography life a rosy ride of comfort, then keep on reading.
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.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the team at Interfit just took the crown for "Best Affordable Strobe With A Nature-Inspired Name" from the longtime champ Alienbees.
Initially, there wasn’t much about the idea of photographing high school seniors that excited me. Boring portraits of kids wearing their caps and gowns and flashing whatever year they’re graduating with their fingers like an awkward gang-sign always came to mind. After all, it’s this type of cliche portrait that I most often stumble across online, but this doesn’t mean that all senior portraits have to be so boring. Below are a few tips that I've learned over the years.
Bumping into my old mentor at an American Photographic Artists lecture yesterday reminded me of the importance of building a photography community and the benefits beyond the obvious.
Artists strive not only to share their creative works but many also want to be known for their talents. Research is now finding what makes an artist known to the world and the findings may surprise you.
Social media is something that many photographers rely on regardless if its to showcase their work or to bring in clients or subjects to work with. For many, there are some downsides on how social media is changing how photos are respected, so what is the proper etiquette for Instagram?
Seascapes are one of the most imaginative sub-genres of landscape photography. It’s challenging enough to create a compelling landscape image when “what you see is what you get,” but with the energetic waves constantly changing a sizable portion of the composition, seascapes can be incredibly difficult.
Many of us have heard that variable neutral density filters give a softer image, or that more expensive filters have less color cast, but few of us have actually tested these "facts" for ourselves. Here are the results of a range of 23 neutral density filters compared.
What happens when you can't "get it right in camera"? There are different scenarios when you have to shoot the subject with what's available at that moment. What can you do afterward to improve the shot?
Water dripping down the side of a beer bottle, splashing around a shampoo bottle, or sparkling on a flower petal are staples of product photography, but creating water effects in a controlled environment doesn't have to be difficult or expensive.
Windows can be a great way to add some elegance and visual interest to a portrait. This great video will show you three different ways to incorporate windows into a portrait shoot using only natural light.
The documentary photography of Steve McCurry has come under intense scrutiny in recent years. In this thought-provoking video, photographer Tony Northrup explores the truth around how the image was created and the story of its subject that rarely gets told.
If you've read my past articles on Fstoppers, you know that I love editing shortcuts. These quick tricks save you time and frustration, making your business more productive and profitable.
Bringing attention to your subject without being over the top takes a subtle touch, but it's a very important skill for every photographer to master. This excellent video will show you a few techniques to bring more emphasis to your subject using Photoshop.
There are always an abundance of lists explaining misconceptions and lies about being a professional photographer, but there are almost none telling you which rumors are true.
If you’ve been a fan of VSCO’s Lightroom presets, one of the company’s original co-founders has branched out and is releasing his own pack of presets, each of which automatically detects your camera type and color temperature.
If you are into landscape photography, you likely use a wide angle lens for most of your shots, and when you work with that range of focal lengths, there are special considerations to be aware of. This great video talks about the importance of using foreground in your landscape compositions and how it can lead to better photos.
When processing your precious photos in Lightroom, Photoshop, or any other photo processing software, you make sure the exposure is spot on, the colors are perfect, and the contrast is pleasing. For that reason you may have a calibrated monitor, and the optimum light situation in your room. But did you think about the background shade of your photo processing software?
Where once information and advice was sparse, it's now abundant. With that come sits own problems in identifying that which is worth retaining, and that which is worth discarding. This is the greatest advice for up-and-coming creatives I've ever heard.
What's the point of your photography? And how do you engage viewers with your images more? I reached a stage where I struggled to clearly answer these questions but then I implemented a few very helpful techniques evident in these images that really helped me define my photography.
Golden hour or overcast skies usually offer the best conditions for capturing models while avoiding harsh shadows, but sometimes time and weather are against us and that’s when Lightroom can come to our rescue. Photographer Julia Trotti gives a quick lesson on how to balance your highlights and shadows.
In today's video we take you behind the scenes in our new Fstoppers studio and show you exactly how we built and designed our latest video set. We will show you all the microphones, cameras, and lighting gear as well as our thought process in tackling this empty canvas of a room.
In an industry where supply is abundant, saying "no" to work can feel both counter intuitive, and suicidal for your business. The truth is, it has quite the opposite effect.
ISO is known as one of the exposure factors. The higher the ISO the more brightness. Camera manufacturers are even boasting about how high their ISO is going when they want to sell you a camera.
One of the negatives of owning software as abundant as Photoshop is that the majority of the tools that it offers go unused. Here is a rundown of the multiple options for adjusting color in Photoshop.
Working with the brush tool is one of the most fundamental techniques every photographer should be well versed in when it comes to Photoshop. This great video shows you how to take your skills a step further by creating your own custom brushes for a variety of purposes.
Whether you're a world-class photographer working with a world-class model, or a hobbyist doing time-for-prints with an aspiring model from Purpleport, everybody can use some posing inspiration from time to time. The Study of Pose aims to be the ultimate solution.
Real estate photography is a reliable staple as a source of income for many photographers. The commercial applications of quality real estate imagery are self-explanatory and if you're just getting involved, this video is here to help you with the basics.
Go on assignment with a full-time professional landscape photographer to catch a glimpse of working life on location and making money from photography.
Have you wanted to give macro photography a try but don’t have the budget for the proper gear? Here is an excellent lens hack to get close up photos without losing depth of field.
When shooting beauty, there is a lot to keep in mind. How does the makeup look? Is the lighting clean? In the background clean? How is the model's expression? Learn my own process and join me behind the scenes in shooting a male beauty story with the Fujifilm GFX 50S.
A security guard shot a YouTuber who was filming a synagogue as part of a live-stream on Thursday, with thousands of followers watching the events as they unfolded live.
