Last year, Fstoppers produced a tutorial with Monte Isom, which has helped numerous photographers including Gregg Shipman. In this video, Shipman details how he earned an extra $31,000 in just one photoshoot using the knowledge gained in the tutorial.
One of the first things I learned early on after becoming a full-time photographer is the importance of establishing a diversity of revenue streams.
In Part One of this series, we began writing our business plan by focusing on the nuts and bolts of our business. In this section, we will start to expand on those roots and add to the "what" by knowing our "why".
Lifestyle photographer Denise Crew was approached by the producers of Netflix’s Queer Eye about a book they were producing that had a very quick turn-around. It typically takes 18 months to publish a book from start to finish and they needed to do this book in 6 months.
A lot of writers and experts in the photography world have been joining the chorus of “photographers should add video to their skill basket.” But, as far as business models are concerned, photography and video can be as different as sushi and gelato. So, before you jump head-on into video, consider my words of caution.
Today begins a three part series on building a successful business plan as a photographer. The topic deserves its own full book, but hopefully these essays will give those of you just starting out a primer on things you need to consider when turning your hobby into a profession.
Want to know what it's like to shoot world-renowned athletes for a magazine like Sports Illustrated? In this video, commercial, editorial, and advertising photographer Alexis Cuarezma shares the method behind his very first cover shoot for SI, including light setups and how he overcame unexpected obstacles.
Earlier this year, I released an in-depth tutorial on product photography with Fstoppers called "The Hero Shot: How to Light and Composite Product Photography." As I started publishing images from this tutorial on Instagram, I found it extremely interesting that the most liked image was the cordless drill.
If you are thinking of taking a full-time photography position, you should read this first.
Commercial photographer Geoff Ang was approached by one of the top CGI companies in Singapore “CUM Creative” to create an entire series of images for Razer’s newest line of gaming headphones.
We live in a time when photography becomes more and more commonplace but appreciation of the commercial value of photography is uncommon. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that copyright lawsuits from photographers are increasing.
Yes, photographers can and do have bad days. Following your favorite photographers on Instagram, it might seem that all the photographers in the world are cruising along while you alone battle horrible days. And guess what, bad days are more common than you might think. So, it is important that we as a community learn and help each other survive bad days.
When you're getting into genres of photography that require working with models, navigating the landscape of who to hire, when to pay, and more can be a bit confusing. This great video will tell you exactly when you should pay for a model, when you should offer a trade, and where to find them.
Throughout the course of my creative career, I’ve overdrawn my bank account a lot, shed tears over stress, and stared in the mirror for hours in dejection. I’ve made my share of professional and personal mistakes and certainly learned the hard way from all of those choices. I’ve lost, I’ve won, I’ve sacrificed, and I’m blessed to have earned.
It's no secret that color toning in photography is a incredibly deep subject that helps bring life to the vision you have in your head. This video is a great entry point on the subject to help get you going in the world of color toning.
Submit your best product photos for your chance to win a free Fstoppers tutorial
It's time to pull out your best product photos and see how they stand up against rest of the community.
Car photography is a sharp learning curve, with the incline coming primarily in post-production. A tutorial like this can save you incredible amounts of time learning techniques.
In case you haven't heard, Apple announced some new devices about a week ago, one of which was the Apple Watch 4. One of the most striking things about the announcement was the intense new watch faces shown during the demo that varied from fire, to water, to colored clouds of dust.
We all have our favorite songs that we sing when are going through bad times or want to pump ourselves up. In this hilarious photo series, a photographer captures his friends singing their favorite songs and imagining that the camera is not there. See which song each person was singing!
Dear Thumbtack, you’ve been a major national player in service-sector networking, including the field I love, professional photography. I appreciate the jobs I accessed through you in the past. But the door on that past, I’m sorry to have to say, is closed.
Deciding which images to keep and which to throw away is one of the hardest lessons to learn for new photographers. One would think that it gets easier with experience, but the more you learn the harder it can get.
Sometimes, you find yourself in a bind and need to get some work done quickly without spending your usual amount of time retouching. Check out this video for some techniques to get things done if you find yourself in a bind.
With 2018 being the year of mirrorless, it is tempting for many of us to fall into the trap of trying to spend our way to good photography rather than using our own talents. And while having appropriate gear is essential to the trade, it’s equally important to think twice before sacrificing your business for the latest trends.
When photographing commercial interior images, a common issue is an unsightly glare on reflective surfaces. Removing these reflections by compositing image layers significantly improves your images, separating you from the pack of "run-and-gun" real estate and interior photographers.
When photographing interiors, flash is your friend, but a friend who needs some management. While flash brightens rooms, reduces glare, and brings out true colors, it can also produce the frustrating issue of ugly shadows.
The cinematic look is everywhere in photography. But is this trend, rich with orange and teal tones, on its way out? PJ Pantelis thinks so, and he has an idea of what he thinks the next big editing movement will be.
It’s likely that if you're reading this, you are interested in some aspect of photography. If you are interested in making an income from your photography, something you may be struggling with is marketing yourself and your work. This video from Don Giannatti will give you the kick in the pants you need to get yourself out there and get paying clients.
Leigh Campbell served in the military for six years as a photographer, documenting the war in Iraq. Learn how his time in the service shaped his commercial photography career.
Monte Isom is a super successful commercial photographer based out of New York City. However, before he made a career of his own, he assisted some of the biggest names in the photography world. In this video he recaps his experience shooting the president of the United States of America.
Every four years during the summer, the sports world pauses to draw its attention to the top echelon of professional football. I decided to put together a World Cup inspired shoot, shoot some concepts I haven't done before, and give you a behind-the-scenes, education glimpse.
For many photographers, taking portraits of celebrities, athletes, and government officials seems like the pinnacle of a successful business. Sometimes, however, those jobs require an insane amount of work, risk, and safety precautions to pull off the shot.
Photographers and videographers both tread water in a crowded pool of competition, and often we feel in danger of drowning in that pool. In this week’s and next week’s articles, I will present the most common reasons we lose out on work we otherwise might have won.
In this six-minute video, YouTuber workphlo breaks down a simple DIY diffuser that works especially well when going for a "glossy" look in your product photos. This technique applies to close-ups of reflective products.
Today, I conclude my two part essay about a difficult two months of negotiation over a commercial photography shoot that may not have ultimately come to fruition, but taught very valuable lessons along the way.
After a lengthy and involved negotiation for a large commercial project came to an unfortunate conclusion, I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned that may help you in your future business.
Being a working commercial photographer requires consistent self-marketing and, according to award-winning commercial sports and portrait photographer Alexis Cuarezma — whose work can be seen on the cover of Sports Illustrated — portfolio reviews are a great way to do just that.
Most of us reach a stage in our career (usually early on) where we feel a bit lost and like we are on the wrong train. If you are stuck in that rut, here are some great reasons to get out there and start collaborating on test shoots.
Matthew Vandeputte is a Belgian photographer living in Sydney, Australia, whose work is at the forefront of commercial time-lapse and hyperlapse photography. In this video he gives a short insight into his work and offers a nice introduction to time-lapse photography while also providing some inspiration to anyone seeking to turn a hobby into a profession.
Very often it’s not the actual skill as a photographer that’s lacking, but rather the ability to ask and help someone solve a problem they have. In this video, Chris Do of Futur shares how you might be able to change your approach and thinking.
2018 is certainly well underway. It’s getting toward the time of year where we start to let our goals slip. In the UK, summer has arrived and it's far more appealing to sit in a beer garden than it is to lock yourself away at your desk.
The age of social media has brought with it a new type of advertising campaign. Companies are more in touch with their customers than ever and are always looking at creative ways to engage with their audience and show a bit of personality. KFC’s latest adverts are doing exactly that, after their released images creatively using fried chicken to imitate explosions.
In a saturated market of incoming photographers each holiday or tax season, it is easy to get discouraged when you are trying to get paid clients in the door. When we think of photography sessions we generally tend to lean on the idea of photographing only people in portraits.
You’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on a fantastic camera body that outputs 5K or 8K imagery, but the film you’re working on requires some time-lapse b-roll for transitions. Instead of breaking out that DSLR, you can set up your RED camera to shoot that time-lapse and use the near same post-processing as you would for the filmed imagery you are currently capturing.
Let's be honest, how often do we get perfect conditions where everything just simply falls in the right place?
Today I take a trip down memory lane to identify a few of the television commercials that, for me, have exceeded the level of infomercial pitch to touch the mantle of enveloping art.
Photography agents are nothing new. They've been around for a long time, but since the advent of social media they seem like something we are all a lot more aware of; anyone who's anyone has an agent, right? However, there are a few misconceptions out there as to what an agent offers.
On a multi-day assignment in Portland last week, I took advantage of my day off between assignments to experiment with the Sony a7R III and try it out in my normal workflow.
Two years ago I featured a macro videographer who was creating incredible visuals using chemicals and substances. Roman De Giuli has done it again, this time for the Winter Olympics. Creating truly unique bodies of work is harder now more than ever.
While I was initially slow to adopt the notion of being literally tied to an external machine while I went full throttle through my photo shoots, I’ve found the process not only beneficial, but absolutely essential.