Photography gear keeps getting better and better, with 2017 bringing us some great products. The Fstoppers team has been working on a list of our favorite gear of the past year, and we're happy to present it now. Here's the top photography gear of 2017.

Photography can become very expensive, especially if you like collecting a lot of gear. So who wouldn’t like to receive discounts, or even better, free gear? I have spent a good amount of money on my gear and I would've loved to save some money on those purchases. So how do you go about saving money?

The beauty of a studio space is the ability to carefully craft light exactly as you'd like it to be, giving you the opportunity to get as nuanced as you would like. In this video, you'll move beyond some of the more common three-light setups and see a very precise design and the portraits that were shot with it.

Even though Instagram seems to be the more interesting platform for photographers, YouTube is not one to forget. It offers a ton of possibilities to showcase our work and even make money out of it. If part of your business is education, Google’s video service should definitely be part of your marketing and business plan. Matti from TravelFeels gives us a few tips on how to turn it from a hobby to a money making platform.

You've heard the name. Listed among the accolades as one of the greats, Herb Ritts' ability to seamlessly blend together both environment and model set him apart from his peers. A mastery over lines, shapes, and all things pertaining to light that trademarked his work as timeless. He had an eye for capturing a moment and creative intuition for creating one. This documentary gives us a glimpse into the man behind the work. In a sense it is even more intimate then we could've hoped, as it is told by those who were closest to him.

By now, you should already know the importance of backing up your data, and while storage (even cloud storage) isn't all that expensive these days it's still an expense. So here is my holiday gift to you: unlimited Google Drive storage for free. See for yourself if you qualify.

If you're new to Photoshop, Smart Objects can seem a bit foreign, but they're extremely helpful when you're doing certain kinds of work. This informative video will show you five reasons to consider using them when you're working in Photoshop.

Greg Benz, creator of the luminosity masking Photoshop script panel Lumenzia, is one of those experienced photographers who doesn't hesitate to share their technical knowledge with followers. In his latest video, he explains file formats in detail, both for Photoshop and Lightroom.

If you're new to photography, you've likely heard other photographers talking about shooting in raw and how it's a crucial step in one's workflow. This helpful video will give you a quick rundown of what raw is and why you should be shooting in it to maximize your image quality.

As someone who shoots 90 percent of my professional work with wide lenses, it seems like a daunting tasking to go reaching for a 70-200mm or longer when looking to capture a landscape. Long lenses require a lot more thought in how the compression is going to affect the way the viewer sees the image and its a focal length that the human eye can’t really grasp until you look through the viewfinder. With that being said, learning to use these long focal lengths will go a long way in making us more versatile in our craft. Lucky for us, Thomas Heaton has decided to make a video specifically about this.

Despite the rise of social media, having a website is still imperative in order to showcase your best – and not just latest – work as a photographer. Here, five professionals, including editors from the Guardian and the British Journal of Photography, offer an insight into what makes a photographer’s portfolio stand out.

The only times my strobes see the light of day is when they are facing down onto the surface of the water from poolside for my underwater work. In the studio, the amount of natural light that fills the space has created a look and signature feel to my images. However, I started to wonder if I was just taking advantage of this light and not truly challenging myself to the work that can be created using a strobe light.

As Adobe continues to grow its customer base with its easily accessible subscription plans, other companies are looking to capitalize with their own software solutions. Luminar has been around for a while, but their new 2018 version introduces some amazing features. Regardless of how you look at it, at $69 for a perpetual license, it’s a steal. Nevertheless, how does it really compare to industry standards such as Lightroom or Photoshop?

I created a photobook with captions, for my sister, featuring her two daughters. I had never created an album or photobook before, so I wasn’t sure how to organize the shots. Added to that, the photos were taken over a four week period. So, how did I combine all these to make a cohesive narrative? I wrote a bedtime story.

Airport authorities officially say that film at or above ISO 800 may be damaged by X-ray scanning. But they really should tell you that ISO 800 film will be damaged and that less sensitive film still could be affected. I found this out the hard way. Here's how I learned an important lesson along with a few other tips for avoiding issues while traveling with film.

There are many methods and reasons behind dodging and burning method for photography. Some use it for retouching and some for adding a more punchy and contrasty look. While those are the only reasons to use dodging and burning, those seem to be the more popular uses out of the many. Interested in seeing a quick and easy way of dodging and burning to add some stronger contrast to your work?

World-renowned photographer Peter Lindbergh has given a candid interview on his thoughts about the use of airbrushing, ahead of the release of his new book.

If you shoot a lot portraits or beauty work, you likely spend a lot of your time thinking about lighting, including what the right modifier for the look you're going for is. This very comprehensive and well-explained video will walk you through the standard octabox and beauty dish, as well as the more exotic adjustable parabolic reflector and Satellite Staro.

The fashion industry is home to some of the most dynamic and fluid trends that the world has ever seen. No doubt, the existence of this ever-changing and highly creative environment is mainly as a result of the diversity and creative uniqueness of the individuals that constitute it. However, even with this seemingly all-inclusive and globally encompassing genre, there is a prominent neglect that seems to be growing even further: the underrepresentation of black female photographers.

Photoshop is a tremendously intricate and nuanced program, and you can never have enough tips and tricks to navigate all its features and options and make your workflow both more powerful and more efficient. This helpful video will show you 20 more tips and tricks you might not have seen before.

Last Tuesday, Adobe hosted an event in London, which was headlined by a keynote speech from Nick Knight OBE, the world-renowned fashion photography visionary. He spoke about his views on the world of photography and innovation in his field, whilst offering some fascinating takeaways for his audience, not least the blending of formats and mediums that has lead to himself retiring the term “photographer” from his CV.

Antti Karppinen is a digital artist, photographer, retoucher, and instructor from Finland with a unique eye for visual storytelling through photography. His work relies on traditional photography skills combined with an active imagination and complex Photoshop editing work to create fantastical images. He spoke with me about his work, process, and the inspiration behind a couple of his most popular composites.

Whether you are a full-time video editor or just occasionally edit some of your own projects like me, you have probably found yourself on Youtube at some point trying to learn. Tutorials are an amazing tool at our disposal and we share and create some great tutorials here on Fstoppers all the time. However, sometimes I just want to see how someone does what they do from start to finish. That's where Taran Van Hemert comes in with his newest editing video. It's not a tutorial at all. It is 4 hours and 20 minutes of a standard video editing job for the Youtube channel Linus Tech Tips from start to finish.

Whether you're shooting a high-fashion model, a mom to be, or a high school senior, the clothes always matter. I'm a sucker for over-the-top drama in my own work but am not always able to find a stylist to help me out with these shoots. Even if you don't have a need to do this yourself, give it a go from time to time. It will improve your work from behind the camera too, as photographing people is usually involving fashion in one way or another. In addition to keeping up with the latest trends, you might even start to confidently help your clients out when they ask for your opinion about what they're nervously wearing.