Editorial Photography

Have you ever wondered what went into creating the most iconic images? In this insightful breakdown, see how photographer Alexis Cuarezma shot one of his favorite images.  

Every well-rounded photographer needs to be able to tell a story in three images or less. This is particularly important when shooting editorial content for online publications and in print magazines. On today's assignment, I explore three different focal lengths to capture a well-rounded story of a local musician.  

V-flats are traditionally not portable by any means. For those that have a little DIY in them, I made my own portable v-flats that I can take with me anywhere I need. Here’s how to make them. 

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.

In this review, we’ll look at a book that celebrates a man who needs no introduction, Steve McCurry. Bonnie McCurry has taken it upon herself to celebrate Steve’s life and work in the form of the beautifully crafted 'Steve McCurry: A Life in Pictures.' 

In this article, take a behind the scenes look into how I shot this fall-themed shoot in my 8x8-foot living room.  

To make great images, you do not need a large space or thousands of dollars of lighting. For this series of images, I created them all in the heart of my living room. Simplicity is key. 

A chilly September morning. The crispness in the air added weight to the solemn moment. My composition was all figured out. I patiently waited for the final elements to come into place.  

In this article, go behind the scenes on a year-long photo project, a "Century of Portraits," and see what it took to make this ambitious series a reality.  

We all have those big ideas, but often, the fear of the unknown and doubt stand in the way of our dreams. However, it is crucial that you overcome those obstacles and bring your visions to life. 

"Laughter is the best medicine," they say. Find out how I used photography and laughter to overcome feelings of sadness in this photo series called "The Beauty of Laughter." 

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. 

As professional artists, at some point in our careers we will feel as if we reach a plateau in our work and are not growing. In this article learn the ways you can continue to grow and reach your greatest potential and work past that creative rut.  

This past weekend in Colorado I decided to give my full frame mirrorless camera a break and shoot some portraits using the much smaller Sony RX100V. I was curious to see if a small, pocket-sized camera could give me the kind of results that I would be happy with. Here are my experience and recommendations if you choose to do the same!

Playboy Magazine is famous for one thing, — okay, maybe two things — but there are no nude women in any of my photos, nor do I have any shots of the late Hugh Hefner. So, how did I do it?  

A rare sight was captured at the Jersey Shore this week. When photographer Jon Entwhistle saw a peculiar sight, he aimed his camera to the heavens and virality ensued. 

I caught up with Matt Lever, one of the top photographer’s you’d expect to see backstage at Fashion Week. He explained how he’s shooting for Elle Magazine, and the hoops you’ll need to jump through to break onto the scene.

Approaching strangers whether in your own community or from a foreign culture is one of the more difficult skills even veteran photographers often struggle with.   

Traveling to create new photography can get expensive fast, but whether it's for personal work, stock, or your portfolio, it is often a necessary part of advancing your work. There are lots of ways to monetize these images and tricks to shoulder the upfront costs involved in creating them. This is the approach and tips I use to get the most out of my travel photography. 

Fashion and Editorial Photographer Clay Cook recently partnered with Stash, a mobile investment app, to photograph Instagram personality Baddie Winkle for a retirement themed campaign. I had the opportunity to pull up with Cook to discuss the shoot as well as learn more about how he approaches his business and brand. 

If you have never been to Copenhagen in Denmark, I highly recommend going in summer. All the locals are out enjoying the sun and heat. This 3 hour photo walk is only an introduction to the most common places you must visit.  Bicycles are also a great alternative to walking if you wish to cover more area quickly. Canal tours can also give you a very different perspective from the water.

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.

When shooting tethered, it’s easy to get lost in files and make things more complicated than they should. However, with Capture One there is an easy way to stay on top of things and cut your image selection time drastically.  

Do you ever feel that you want to take your studio images to the next level but only have a few seamless paper rolls laying around? In this short video learn how you can make the most of your seamless paper and take your images to the next level. 

It is well known that if your client can hold the photograph, whether in an album or print, they are more likely to purchase it. They can feel it in a much more intimate way than just being on a computer screen.

Most of my food photography is lit with only one light source and after a few years of taking a special interest in shooting food and drink, I know exactly where I want the light to be and why.

Starting in the photography field is difficult but this is one crowd I don't have to convince. For that reason, I've taken to surprise-interviewing friends in the industry for the most unedited answers to our questions. This is access to people I wanted during my first years, and now I am making sure other photographers have what they need (and what I needed when I started out). 

Women Photograph, an initiative launched in 2017 aimed at giving greater voice to the female photojournalism community has teamed with Nikon and Getty Images to offer $35,000 worth of grants to up-and-coming and established photographers around the world. 

Creating a photo project can be daunting and it takes a lot of planning. Here are six important tips to ensure your photo project is a success. 

I’m a big believer that you don’t need expensive equipment and a complicated lighting set up to create beautiful images. Some of my favorite images were captured with a really simple lighting setup and with little or no lighting equipment at all. Sometimes too much emphasis is often put on equipment and we can easily get caught up in complicated lighting and expensive gear.  

March Madness is almost here! For the players, that means a lot of press and hype both on and off the court. For photographers tasked with showing them off, it means doing our best to make it all run smoothly.

We all know that humans are destroying the earth, but we live in a time where the destruction has become too much to take lightly anymore. Will artists be the ones to bring the earth together to clean and protect it? Benjamin Von Wong shows us that the answer is yes, and he asks all of us to join him.  

What does it take to shoot for some of the largest magazines in the world? Not as much as you might think. 

Photographer and artist Tyler Shields has announced in a short video that "celebrity photography is dead." No stranger to divisive statements, Shields is exploring the discussion around the democratization of photography and the implications of a new generation of celebrity photographers creating images of themselves and others.  Of course, Shields is drawing us in with a clickbait ti

At different points in our lives we experience happy moments, but also tragic ones. In this emotional photo series, we see how one person overcomes their dark past and stands strong immersed in the light of their new beginnings.  

A week and a half ago we asked the community to submit their best environmental portraits to be critiqued by Lee and Patrick. We got some awesome submissions and one lucky entrant won a free Fstoppers tutorial.

Sports Illustrated is doing something it has never done before in a project titled, "In Her Words," for its 2018 Swimsuit Issue. The magazine ditched the swimsuits for fully nude, all black and white, unedited shots that convey incredible messages to society. 

I have always loved shooting in ugly places such as gas stations and abandoned buildings, but it took me a while to learn how to make these places look magical in my images. You can't just put a beautiful woman in front of these places and expect it to work. 

Do you think you've taken an incredible environmental portrait? Would you like to hear what we think about it? The next episode of Critique the Community will feature a selection of 20 environmental portraits which we will give feedback to. Make sure you do the following to be eligible to be chosen. 

 To submit your environmental portrait images, you must:

What happens when a visual artist overhears his uncles discussing how women "are better off cooking, taking care of the kitchen, and fulfilling their 'womanly duties?'" Eli Rezkallah, who's a photographer and a visual artist currently residing in Beirut, came up with the idea of creating a controversial set of photographs that reverse the traditional gender roles, that had been so str

You wouldn't expect that certain locations alone could assist you in learning the art of photography, but they do — especially if you are one that needs to experiment to learn. Photographing someone in these two locations will force you to learn about all kinds of light, get creative with posing, and help you create images that are full of substance and all the elements of art. 

As I set up to shoot an assignment last week, I found myself in a casual conversation with the owner of the location. He was also a photographer, and as I opened my Pelican case and began to set up my strobes, he commented on the fact that he owned the same one. He then lamented the fact that this particular kit was no longer made by the manufacturer.

With the new year upon us, I found it insightful to reflect on tutorials that not only taught skills, but focused on heightening your attention to detail. Join the Breed has been a wealth of knowledge in regards to editing techniques as well as ins and outs to becoming a successful photographer.

Here we are on day five of our 30 for 30 where we are releasing 30 videos to the Fstoppers YouTube Channel the entire month of January. Yesterday Charleston, South Carolina was hit with the biggest snowstorm in over 25 years. I decided to team up with my crazy friend Bryan Young and take ski portraits around town.

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.

For first time travelers to Kyoto, it can be a bit confusing to choose where to shoot. Unlike my previous posts on Madrid and Barcelona which are about three-hour photo walks, this article will be similar to my Tokyo article which involves five different locations. Here is a link to a great website to give you a better overview of each location and other locations worth a look.

So you have a great photoshoot idea that's been burning a hole in the back of your brain. As amazing as it sounds to you, you continue to push it back. Finding the task of planning and executing said shoot has been daunting to say the least. I'm someone who as a beginner found this to be a problem that held me back more times than once.

Sam Stuchbury and Hilary Ngan Kee’s enchanting new book "Hideaways" is a stunning showcase of tucked-away escape spots all over New Zealand that the creative, urban couple sourced and stayed at while researching the book — and they’re all available to the public. 

Let's chat about stock photography. I've used stock sites for nearly a decade while working as a designer and commercial photographer with great success. Most of the options I used in the past left a lot to be desired, which is why last year, I switched over to Adobe Stock.

For over a year now, I've been the lead freelance photographer for Stock and Barrel Magazine, a food and beverage publication here in Columbus, Ohio. Often, assignments get thrown my way with not a lot of time to get them done before deadlines hit. That means I get to shoot a lot of places in a very short amount of time.

From the outside looking in, the creative industry can be daunting. We think we need thousands of dollars of equipment to take images on par with our peers – but that’s not strictly true. Here’s a breakdown of how I photographed one of British pop’s biggest acts using cheap lights from eBay. 

In September I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of a couple of hours of Liam Gallagher’s time to shoot a magazine cover and 12-page spread. Here’s a detailed breakdown of my thought process, creative ideas and how the shoot was executed on the day.

For this shoot I used the following equipment: