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Creating a good brand is a tricky and subtle thing, and most of us don't have the benefit of a marketing team at our beck and call. Luckily, there's this helpful video to get you on the right path to having a stronger and more recognizable brand.

One of the things I really love about Photoshop is the fact that there is invariably more than one way to achieve a particular effect in the editing software. For this reason, it's hard to get tired of seeing other people's workflows as you'll always find someone doing something which you haven't thought of before.

Adding to your arsenal of camera movements is always a good thing to do. If you just bought your first gimbal, this great tutorial will show you 13 essential movements that will add more visual interest to your work.

Being overcritical of yourself can seriously hold you back in your photographic career. If you listen to those seeds of doubt too much you could end up crippling yourself to a point where you no longer feel able to create work or know what your next move should be. Let's see how three photographers manage to cope with an extreme version of that inner critic while on a photoshoot.

As a wedding photographer, we are always looking for new and interesting ways to add to our income. This usually comes in the form of photoshoots, prints, albums, and various types of upgrades, but most wedding photographers seem to be missing out on one of the easiest ways to make more money.

Whether or not you have an interest in wedding photography, as a photographer it’s inevitable that at some point in time, you will be presented with an opportunity to photograph a wedding. It could be a request from a friend who is well aware of your abilities. It could be from a recently engaged bride who came across your online portfolio, and after not seeing any wedding photos, contacted you to ask if you shot weddings. One of the most difficult aspects of venturing into the dark side that is wedding photography is deciding on your fee. There are several popular schools of thought on how much to charge for your first wedding.

Across the board boudoir photographers have seen an increase in the number of inquiries for couples boudoir sessions. While boudoir photographer was generally more known as a more intimate session for a female to either reconnect with her own sensual side, or perhaps to give as a gift to a significant other, the trend is now becoming for these couples to capture these moments together. So how do you coach and pose for emotions during a session if the inquires start to roll in?

Gear Acquisition Syndrome isn't just about camera bodies and lenses; it definitely extends to lighting as well. But sometimes, it's great to see someone go back to the bare basics of manipulating light. That's exactly what Daveed Benito does in this great video in which he uses only flashlights, and watching his process is a valuable lesson in lighting. 

At some point in time, almost every photographer will get the itch to try their hand at astrophotography. It could be that image of the Milky Way or an aurora that inspires us to bring our cameras out in the middle of a clear night to photograph the stars. Josh Katz created this tutorial for newbie astrophotographers who may not live in an ideal region for capturing the night skies.

Back in 2010, I was commissioned to do a photo of some spices for a family friend. I had never done anything like that, so I wanted to do a good job, and invested in my first off-camera flash setup. It was daunting at first, but I’ll never regret dipping my toes in the water and starting to learn about one of the most important things about being a freelance photographer: learning to control light.

Last year, the Fstoppers team joined Joey Wright in Curacao to film one of our best tutorials to date, Swimwear Photography - Lighting, Posing, and Retouching. Not only was the location and team incredible, Joey's photography techniques and ability to work with models produced some of the best photography information I've learned in years. Every lesson spans well beyond the genre of swimwear and can be applied to any shoot involving a model. As a tribute to the tutorial, we are releasing a free excerpt from one of the best lessons on posing I've ever watched.

The evolution of boudoir photography has changed drastically over the years however the core of what it stands for remains the same. It is a look into a clients insecurities and help regain the strength through the newly found confidence. While looking over some images of a fellow boudoir photographer during his Body Confidence Campaign, the final images where something no one saw coming.

This is the fifth in the series of my bite-size Photoshop tutorials and on the face of it, it's one of the most basic. Indeed, the technical side is rather basic but my application of the dodge and burn layers is crucial to my workflow with products and fashion.

Fear of rejection, of criticism, of failure, most of deal with many types of fear as creatives. Fear can be healthy, but it can also be paralyzing. This great video addresses a lot of where it comes from and what we can do to get past it.

Getting into medium format is quite costly. It’s difficult to know if the investment is going to be worth it and if it’s going to match your current workflow. Medium format has a tendency to slow you down, kind of like film. When I tried my first Phase One, I couldn’t afford one. So I went with the cheapest alternative I could find, the Mamiya RB67 Pro-S. Here’s why I’m glad I made that move but also why it doesn’t replace a digital medium-format system.

Mike Kelley and Fstoppers have teamed up once again to produce the third installment of Where Art Meets Architecture. Over the past few years, creating images for realtors, architects, interior designers, and property management companies has become a booming industry for professional photographers. In this tutorial, Mike focuses on how to photograph the hospitality market including how to shoot hotels, resorts, and rental properties. For the first time in his career, Mike also shares everything he knows about the business of commercial architectural photography including pricing your work, creating bids and contracts, marketing your business effectively, and building licensing fees for residual income. We are excited to finally release the most thorough tutorial we have ever produced on architectural photography and have a special offer inside.

Surprisingly small changes to the position of your camera can actually make your images much more successful. Ed over at Photos In Color decided to set himself the challenge of trying to make the perfect headshot in studio conditions. While keeping the lighting and the camera distance from the model the same each time, various heights and angles were tested and carefully captured so the differences could be compared.

There are some abilities that should just be second nature to photographers. Here are 17 such things to make you have down pat to keep you prepared to shoot and looking like the pro that you are.

Photographing an engagement session in a wide open field on a sunny day may seem like a portrait photographer’s nightmare. In this video, on-location lighting specialist Zach Gray touches on a few quick tips for incorporating strobe lighting when photographing a couple outdoors.

While working on putting together great video work, you will come across breaks in scenes where they need to come back together. In most cases, a transition effect is used to merge the scenes together instead of having one stop completely and the next one begin. A great transition can improve your video, but they can also be used incorrectly and ruin your film.

I stepped into photography world over 10 years ago and was lucky enough to have a wide variety of clients from different parts of the world. This made it essential for me to be flexible while negotiating or taking jobs despite cultural differences, from Armenia to U.S., from Mauritius to South Africa, Singapore, various European countries, and more. Usually you will get hired based on your portfolio, but sometimes there are clients who don’t understand much about photography. This is where the danger is. Everyone wants to get top results for the money they spend by hiring you, but what is considered the best for such clients?

A lot of people came to visit when I shared why most of us are not exactly the best at Instagram due to lack of hustle and effort. When someone takes the time to comment or like a few photos I will usually take the few seconds to go see their profile and immediately judge it. We all do it. Sometimes it is a good impression, but often since the majority of us don't plan the posts much, it is not. There are people out there doing it much better than us though. Let me show you some profiles that have a stunning first impression.

With digital media, the quest for more is always on the horizon. From constantly shooting photos and videos with the resolution increasing as well, the amount of space required to store all of our work is growing at an alarming rate… well at least in my case.

There are countless videos and forum threads discussing and debating about the principles of crop factor, depth of field, and sensor size. However if you are the type to geek out over the math and physics of photography then this is the video for you. This is no simple examination, at 35 minutes long it requires some advanced knowledge on camera sensors.

If you're starting out and you want to improve your portrait photography, or just be able to take someone's portraits, Peter McKinnon's video takes you through a quick crash course in how you can do just that.