Everyone knows Peter Hurley uses fairly expensive Kino Flo lights to give his clients nice soft beauty lighting. Fstoppers reader Tristan Penner decided to build a portable and inexpensive alternative to Peter's setup using standard Fluorescent lights. The setup might not improve too much on the portability but the quality of light does look really nice. What's really cool is Tristan is able to travel to people's homes with this setup bypassing the

It's a common problem to have a variation of colors across the skin in any image. This may occur for many reasons, such as blood flow, skin quality and texture, or lighting changes. It's always been a hassle to fix this since it requires some guess work and tweaking. It's often not as precise as it could be either. Michael Woloszynowicz has come up with a brilliant way of color correcting skin in a way that I've never seen before!

So many photographers dream of shooting the Pirelli Calendar, but so few make it. German Photographer Peter Lindbergh shot the 2017 edition, and he’s probably someone we can all learn from. There must be a reason as to why he is working with all the big names in the cinema and modeling industry. For those like me, who love watching other photographers at work to learn, you must watch this hour-long behind the scenes video of his work for Pirelli.

Shooting portraits with beautiful, creamy backgrounds is a very popular look right now. Using the right gear, you can achieve this look in camera, but one common question that arises from shooting wide open is how do you get perfect focus?

A long time ago, I got to visit a friend down in the south of England. We drank (quite a lot of beer), we ate (lots of chocolate brownies), and we set up to shoot a moody portrait.

If you've ever had to photograph a large group of people, you probably understand how difficult it can be to capture every single person looking great. Imagine if that group photo was made up of 12 of the worlds richest Billionaires! That's what photographer Michael Prince did when he had to photograph the cover of Forbes Magazine during the 400 Summit on Philanthropy back in June.

Brandon Cawood, from Dalton GA, has taken appreciating first responders to the next level. What began as a personal project to photograph local EMS personnel, soon blew up and went viral. Cawood captures priceless moments in the daily lives of firefighters, police and other public safety personnel. He has a movie poster style and pulls it off in a flawless manner.

Is it just me or are the Olympians this year extra revealing? Each year ESPN releases a Body Issue which features men and women Olympians fully nude but this year other publications are also jumping on board with extra sexy Olympic imagery. For every image you have seen there are dozens of other photoshoots that also took place. In this video we go behind the scenes on a handful of these lesser known shoots featuring female athletes.

Are your portraits missing a few vital factors? These tips might just be what you need.

How do you move beyond using someone else's actions and presets to tone your images? It’s a lot simpler than you’d think. There are so many different ways to achieve similar results in post-production, and having so many options can be extremely intimidating when you’re just learning how to edit. This is the reason that many photographers will rely on actions and presets to “color grade” and tone their images when they are first starting off.

Weapons of Choice is a powerful visual series that demonstrates, through painfully jaw-dropping imagery, the damage verbal abuse has on a person. I found myself saddened yet amazed while looking through the photos. Richard Johnson takes the power of a photo to a whole new level by eloquently illustrating the invisible and eternal scars victims of emotional, sexual and verbal abuse endure.

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.

There's something special about taking a picture on film. That said, film also lent itself to a lot of error: a botched exposure, missed focus and light leaks could all serve to ruin an otherwise lovely image. There are few things more frustrating then getting a roll back from the lab with an error note on the envelope. Occasionally the results were a novelty, perhaps adding interest to an otherwise boring image but all too often light leak was nothing but a bother. So why would anyone want to replicate it in Lightroom?

Erik Almas, one of the best commercial composite photographers, has recently teamed up with the team at PRO EDU to create a fully comprehensive tutorial on his complete shooting and retouching process. In this video Almas takes us through an hour-long tutorial, retouching and completing the backplate for one of his tutorial images. I'm always impressed when photographers and retouchers, especially those at the top of our industry, open the doors and reveal their entire process and Almas has done no less here.

I will soon be releasing a start-to-finish retouching tutorial video here at Fstoppers on my most recent fashion editorial photoshoot. But before I do, I wanted to start warming our readers up with a complete gear list. In this article, I share with you everything I used on my shoot, the breakdown of costs, and where to find all the gear and extras: from the Profoto Strobe all the way down to the gaffer tape.

The debate whether to work for free is an old one. It’s also one that I don’t care to get into. However, for most of us, there comes a time when we do shoot something without payment, whether it be because we’re testing lighting, doing pro bono work, or we just aren’t very good at asking for what we’re worth. But what do we do with the images after the shoot?

Now this is fascinating: Lady Gaga worked with photographer Robert Wilson to produce a stunning video portrait. The portrait was one of a set of others that were on display in the Lourve last year, but are only released to American audiences last Saturday at the Watermill Center in New York. Likely as a marketing initiative, two minutes of those 6 hours have been uploaded to YouTube.

One of the defining photographers of our time, and recently one of the most controversial, is without a doubt Steve McCurry. His strong use of color and ability to tell a story visually have won him places in some of the world's most celebrated magazines, galleries, and photographic collections, and his image "Afghan Girl" is among his most well-known works.

Wildlife photographer Simon Dell has made the most of the wildlife inhabiting his garden by assembling a village in which his resident mice can live and play, providing them with such amenities has provided him with the opportunity to snap some closeup portraits.

About 5 years ago, when I was still in my Photography college in Australia, our teachers would regularly introduce us to the new and noteworthy Australian photographers' and digital artists' work. Among others there was one artist, whose work really grabbed my attention and I have been watching her growth and success ever since.

You don't need a ton of gear to produce dramatic portraits. By using focal length and lighting to your advantage you really can add so much more power to your images.

Medium-format cameras have long been in the hands of working pros because of their combination of ease of use and incredible image quality. While large format was always the king of resolution and dynamic range, it is difficult to work with on location and cumbersome. Today, medium format is a little different. Phase One and Hasselblad have both released 100 MP options, allowing for unparalleled image quality.

Skin tones are one of the most crucial parts of a portrait edit. Get them right, and they can elevate the image to another level. Get them wrong, however, and they can sink your image. If you are new to shooting and editing portraits, this helpful video tutorial will show you three steps to get better skin tones in Photoshop.

You may be familiar with portrait photography, but have you ever had the pleasure of experiencing the fine art form? If you haven’t, it’s time you did. Fine art portrait photography has exploded in the luxury portraiture photography market in recent years. The results are superbly evocative and make simply stunning wall art.

For many, the 7’ parabolic umbrella seems like a one-trick pony. The textbook move of sandwiching the camera between the subject and the light for an edgy, high-key look is quickly growing old. In this video, commercial photographer Joel Grimes shows a different way of using the 7’ parabolic to create soft, high-key images best suited for beauty photography.

If you are a beginning photographer who has only worked with amateur models, it may be your dream to work with a professional model one day. Is there a noticeable difference between working with a professional model and an amateur model?

Selecting the right lens for portrait photography is a pivotal decision for photographers of all levels. This comprehensive video offers valuable insights into the intricate world of portrait lenses with in-depth exploration of various lens types, from prime lenses to zooms, wide angles to telephotos, making it an invaluable resource for photographers seeking to refine their portrait photography skills.

By now, we’ve all seen the gigapixel landscape shots over the years, but I’m pretty sure never seen anything like the 900 gigapixel portrait series Swiss photographer Daniel Borschung has undertaken. I’m not much of a numbers guy, but when you have a robot arm taking 600 pictures of your subject with a macro lens, the results are a tiny bit mind blowing.

We do not always have the luxury of shooting in stunning locations, which can make it difficult to take great portraits. Nonetheless, you can still take compelling portraits even in drab locations with a little bit of know-how. This excellent video will walk you through the process as a photographer shoots in such a location.