There are many people out there who call themselves photographers. Probably most of them are able to take decent images, a few are professionals, and hardly anyone is a master of the art. Where do you put yourself?
Once I bought a Manfrotto pistol-grip-upside-down ball head, with the typical Manfrotto camera plate. After a while I wanted something more robust, and I choose for an Arca-Swiss compatible ball head from Kirk Enterprises, and a matching L-bracket. The latter was one of the best choices I made.
One of the best ways to get better as a photographer is to watch good movies. While the aspect ratio might be different, the same rules of composition and style apply. Here are some of my favorite films that will make you a better photographer to get you started.
There really is nothing worse than finding that dream photograph you took isn't quite in focus. Use these underrated tips to get more keepers and sharper photos each and every time.
Finding a good and yet affordable workflow and backup system is a tough task for most of us. Being not overly technical, it took me a decade to get to a point where my images felt safe.
One of the more nuanced and difficult aspects of landscape photography is composition. This excellent video features a professional landscape photographer as he talks through how he chose the compositions for two of his images.
There is a veritable plethora of ways to retouch a portrait, and a lot of the time, it is a game of balancing the ultimate quality with the time spent retouching. If you really want to get into one of the most respected techniques out there, it's well worth taking the time to learn how to dodge and burn.
I see a lot of people asking what were the camera settings for this shot? While it differs in each situation, one common setting that seems to matter to many is shooting at ISO 100. Is that really the best setting to be shooting at?
Contrast extraction is one of the most important aspects of visual processing. It plays a tremendous role in how we view images, where our eyes are drawn to first, and where they linger. In this article we'll learn a few simple tricks to create more engaging photographs — and why they work.
In photography, we are always looking for the best lighting for our subject, but when we don’t have the ability to choose the location or need to create interesting and dramatic lighting on the go, we need to be able to use the light we bring with us. This involves starting at the fundamentals and learning how to balance your flash and the ambient outdoor lighting.
Creating fantasy composites is always fun: you get to invent your very own worlds and characters. Technically, in a composite sense, you can also get away with more unrealistic elements.
Photoshop's days are seriously numbered thanks to the likes of AI, machine learning, and neural networks. The question is, what should photographers be doing to prepare for this big change?
When I purchased my first large zoom lens it came equipped with a tripod foot. I quickly learned that a standard ball-head wasn't the best way to use one of these beasts on a tripod. This started my venture into the gimbal games and actually helped in ways that I didn't anticipate.
It is easy to overlook just how important having a really strong focal point is to making a photograph truly successful. This insightful video discusses the multitude of ways a focal point helps a photo and how you can improve your own.
If eyes are the windows to the soul, eyeglasses can be the dust on the on the screen, with their reflective surfaces obscuring arguably the most important part of a portrait — the eyes.
We are now four parts into the art of composite series, and this week we touch upon style and influence.
Louis Daguerre is one of the founding fathers of photography, but little did he know, his invention opened a secret door down a street in Victorian-era London. Needless to say, this article is NSFW.
Starting out in commercial photography is a daunting prospect, especially for those who are more creator than entrepreneur. I was one of these people, and I'd like to share some tips that are very easy to implement that could save you from a lot of headaches down the road.
We would all love to have large, sprawling studios in which we can have the freedom to experiment and tackle any sort of job with ease, but the reality is that that simply is not the case for most of us. This helpful video will show you how to set up a working, versatile studio in a small space without spending a lot of money in the process.
Welcome back to The Art of Composite Photography. In the previous parts, we have covered pre-visualization, planning, and unbreakable rules.
Confidence is one of those important attributes that are really useful for a photographer. While too much can definitely be a bad thing, not enough can dramatically reduce the opportunities you'll have to make great work.
Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill feature is a highly powerful way to quickly and convincingly fill in small or large patches of an image or to remove unwanted objects. It is not always perfect, but with this helpful tutorial, you can get a lot more mileage out of its functionality.
Everyone in the industry must know who Pratik Naik is by now. And if you don't, then you should. In ten years Pratik has become one of the most famous retouchers on the planet.
To make a living as a photographer, you have to do more than take great pictures. You have to be a photographer, a supply-chain management expert, an entrepreneur, and, perhaps most importantly, you have to be great at selling — selling both yourself and selling your product.
There’s no denying that Italy’s Dolomites are stunning. This monumental mountain range in northeastern Italy is an idyllic playground for both outdoor adventurers and those seeking a taste of the region’s cultural heritage.
When it comes to photography, the most time consuming part of the process is the editing. Retouching a beauty photo can take 3 hours with no breaks. Because of this, I’ve been trying to find new ways to be more efficient without cutting corners.
If you have dipped your feet into the movie poster or book cover industry, like me, you will know that one of the most underrated aspects of the poster and the cover industry is typography. The typography you use can make or break an image. Most digital artists, think of it as an afterthought but I guarantee you it is one of the most vital pieces of the puzzle to publisher or distributor.
You can have all the talent in the world when it comes to handling a camera, but if you don't know how to properly market yourself, you simply are not going to get very far in the professional photography. This great video details 10 common marketing mistakes photographers make and what you can do to fix them.
Added colored gels to your lighting can have a bigger change than you first expected. It's not quite the same as shooting with white lights, as there are a few additional factors you have to consider to get the optimal color you are looking for.
Sending a photography quote out is always a stressful moment, especially if it is for a job you really want. Here are a few memorable reactions from potential clients.
A common misconception is that boudoir is for younger women. I have heard prospective clients think it is only for brides, for newlyweds, or for 20-somethings. A boudoir photographer in New Jersey is working to bring light to all the clients 50 and older who book sessions.
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.
Macro photographers learn over time that this genre of photography can break rules you’d always follow in other areas like landscape or portrait photography. It’s a different world to explore, and taking a different approach is an asset when mixing science with art.
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.
One question I often get from my photography students is: "What the heck is that graph?" I often enjoy teaching photography even more than creating it, but explaining concepts like the histogram is one of the tougher parts of teaching photography.
We've all cut out people from the background. I have edited several magazine covers where things needed to be changed or replaced. Hair is always the biggest hassle and concern.
Today, I’d like to share with you a story. A story about a brief moment that was a long in the making.
One of the most difficult but important aspects of running a photography business is knowing how to price yourself. This helpful video will give you three pricing strategies to help you work toward becoming financially stable and successful in photography.
Beauty photography is a fun genre that takes both creative vision and technical skill and precision to achieve successful results. This excellent video will teach you how to shoot a classic beauty image from lighting to post-processing and more.
What happens when you fly half way across the world to shoot portraits of a model on an exotic beach, but then realize the light is not as soft or usable as you thought? In this video, learn how you can sculpt the natural light the way you want to create the most flattering results.
If you are a wedding photographer, then at some point in your career you will be faced with the challenge of making great images with conditions that are less then ideal. These tips can help you make the best of any situation.
Blending modes are one of the most foundational features in Photoshop and something that almost anyone working with the program should understand well. This in-depth video will show you the ins and outs of every single blending mode, allowing you to better understand when to use each one and how they can help you achieve your desired results.
There aren’t many things photographers unanimously agree on, but the desire to improve post-processing results and reduce the time required to do it is one. With so much of a photographer’s time spent behind a computer, anything that not only expedites but enhances the experience is welcomed with open arms, and using a Wacom pen tablet is one such thing. For Capture One, using a Wacom Tablet can be a real boon, and here’s how.
In the world of Instagram and social media, what we see, is a lot of times not as it really seems. The line between what is real and what is fake is quickly blurring. In this article, go behind the scenes with instagram photographer, Calob Castellon and see how he creates captivating portraits using nothing more than a camera, and a little bit of creativity. If he can do it, you can too.
For my latest photoshoot I decided to use harsh light to photograph my buddy Bart in two different ways. If you've wanted to learn how to get that vintage movie style look, you'll enjoy this full tutorial.
There is a very distinct and fundamental difference between being a successful photographer and being successful in the business of photography. This helpful video will give you three tips to ensure you're successful when you start a photography business.
One of the fundamental issues in astrophotography is the general lack of light. To combat this, many serious astrophotographers turn toward equatorial mounts to allow them to get more light, but this can create difficulties if you have a foreground subject as well. This helpful tutorial will show you how to composite a foreground shot with a tracked night sky shot.
A lot of cityscapes and cinematography of urban settings are moody and it's a very popular aesthetic. Here's how you can achieve the look with your own images using Lightroom.
I write a lot of articles about photographers not price cutting you, so I am going to try and approach this from the opposite direction. Here is how photographers are price cutting you.
Hasselblad was one of the first that used super resolution techniques. Today it can be found in many cameras, producing resolutions that are up to four times higher than the pixel count of the sensor. You can also do this with your camera. This is how it works.
![Breaking the Myth of the Ideal Boudoir Client [NSFW]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/med-16-9/s3/lead/2019/07/3fe75a6761722166ba941b00c92805fb.jpg)
