When I read the description of most photographers' websites, I see them describing themselves as storytellers. In certain genres, like photo journalism, this makes sense. But how do you tell a story with one landscape image. In this video, Colby Brown gives his take on storytelling and goes a long way towards answering my question.
Over the past 7 years since I first bought my camera, I have been lucky enough to meet a fair amount of the people that I looked up to in the industry. Some of them I have become very good friends with. Enter Renee Robyn, ex blue-haired rock chick. The face of an angel, the mouth of a sailor.
Before I became a photographer, I had ideas as to what the career might be like, boy was I wrong. Here is what a week as a professional photographer looks like.
The exposure triangle claims to explain the relationship between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. At first glance, it looks like a useful diagram, until you realize that it’s not all what it's cracked up to be.
One of the things I love about the photography industry is that there's no shortage of myths and folklore. You'll probably hear a bunch of different myths and claims as you develop your career and I have to say it's a lot of fun.
A lack of light is the enemy of any photographer and, in certain situations, it may force you to bump your ISO far higher than you're comfortable with. The resulting visual noise in the image can render it unusable. Unless you follow this tutorial from PiXimperfect, that is.
Photography is supposed to be a fun thing; after all, it is something we all willingly choose to do, as opposed to a career chosen out of necessity. But that doesn't mean it always is; in fact, sometimes, it's downright tedious. This great video follows a landscape photographer as he discusses how the job isn't always as great as we make it out to be and why that's still ok.
Taking the jump into becoming a professional photographer can be a bit daunting, and you might be wondering if the move is right for you and what you can expect.
Returning to the same landscape photography location several times can vastly improve your photos. Here are three reasons to why returning is a good idea.
Seeing the world through someone else's eyes is an invaluable tool for any photographers to have. How you learn this skill could be much closer to home than you think.
Travel tripods aren’t just for travel: if you want something lighter to carry around all day or hike with, or you’re just using a lightweight or mirrorless system that doesn’t need a big beefy tripod to support it, they might be right for you.
Do you have an image that is more popular with people than any of your others? One that stands out head and shoulders above all your work?
For me, it is my Ablutophobia horror image. In this Photoshop walkthrough, you can see behind the scenes of what went into the editing side of this image.
It can be tempting to constantly try to find new locations in which to shoot, but that can be both tedious and exhausting. Furthermore, you can get a lot more out of a location than you might think you can, and it can be well worth revisiting the same spot more than once. This great video examines why you might want to start going back to places in which you've already shot.
Photography is a combination of technical and artistic technique and decisions, and it can be easy to make a misstep somewhere that derails an entire image. This great video details 13 common mistakes photographers make and provides some helpful tips for avoiding or fixing them.
For photographers, ND filters are generally useful, but rarely a necessity. However, for video shooters, ND filters are absolutely crucial pieces of equipment, especially if you want to shoot at wide apertures in daylight. This great video shows you just why ND filters are so crucial and what they allow you to do.
One of the most important skills any wedding photographer needs is the ability to quickly and effectively use artificial light in both a practical and creative way, whether it's to supplement or supply the light for a scene. This great video will show you a few techniques, tips, and tricks for using off-camera flash in wedding scenarios.
I always say, once you have the core foundations of Photoshop down you are pretty much set. There are plenty of neat tricks to learn, but most of the time the tricks are one-offs. It's the core foundation where you should put your focus and master. So what are the foundational tools? Things like Layers, Layer Masks, Curves, Gradient Map, and Selective Colors.
Nostalgia is an incredibly powerful feeling that often guides the way we express ourselves through our work. But the effect it has isn't always good, and it is important to be aware of how it can change your images in very tangible ways. This interesting video dives deep into the phenomenon and examines how it can impact your own photos.
Color grading is one of the final and most important steps to giving any image a really professional touch. This helpful video tutorial will show you everything you need to know about color grading using the Color Balance tool in Photoshop.
We’ve all seen it before. Everyone runs out to shoot a storm, weather event, or just the sunset at the lake, but it just turns out to be an uninteresting event. Next thing you know someone inevitably posts one or more mediocre photos from it on social media as if it was the greatest thing ever.
It is common in landscape photography (and other genres) to want to wait for the best conditions before heading out to shoot, but sometimes, that can make you miss other great shots. This awesome video talks about the importance of not becoming too reliant on conditions and instead learning to rely on your skills to make great shots.
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.
Astrophotography can be a very tricky and specialized genre, but it is also highly rewarding when you get it right. This awesome video will walk you through the entire process from start to finish to get your first image.
Shooting in the sun isn't easy — for you or your equipment. While you're at risk of heatstroke, dehydration, and sunburn, your camera also needs taking care of. Here are some tips to follow if you're caught in Europe's current heatwave or if you live somewhere hot year-round!
Portrait photographers normally have a go-to light modifier they prefer from the standard array and might work with two or three lights to completely sculpt the light as they see fit. However, this neat video shows the awesome results you can get by using a lesser-known modifier as your only light source.
Landscape photography often aims to capture grand scenes full of drama and beauty, but what if you don’t have a convenient mountain just outside your back door? This great video follows a photographer as he shoots storms near his home and deals with the challenge of a flat and generally featureless landscape.
You might think that when a piece of art is finished, it is done in every sense of the word, now a static object — unchanging, permanent forever. But it’s anything but; in fact, all art is fleeting when you place it on the timescales our planet runs on. Just how do climate and art interact?
In his latest video, wildlife photographer and educator Steve Perry talks about specific autofocus problems to be aware of in the field that could prevent you from getting sharp images.
Regardless of how long you've been into photography, every so often, you'll wish you had tried a different setting, shot the photo with a narrower or wider composition, or shot a vertical orientation. I have a technique that I employ from time to time to ensure I get the perfect photo.
Last week, we addressed the concept of mastery in photography. Now that we've touched on the basics of photography history and education, let's dive deeper into more tangible elements of this subject.
As photographers, we might spend our entire lives behind the camera without ever experiencing what it is really like to be the one in front of it. This fun and interesting video follows a photographer and model as they switch roles to see just how difficult life is on opposite sides of the camera.
Modern cameras are remarkably capable machines, and with all those capabilities come a veritable plethora of options, features, and customizations, and it's well worth taking the time to explore them to customize your camera and make it work better for your personal shooting style and needs. This excellent video discusses 10 settings you should consider changing on your camera.
Lens filters are a great addition to any photographer's camera bag. The question is: should you buy square or round ones? Is there really that big of a difference?
If you have one camera with a much larger sensor size than another camera, does it have a considerable impact on depth of field in your images? It's put to the test here.
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.
Use two threaded circular filters at once and you run a terrible risk: they might get stuck together. It happened to me when I was using a neutral density filter and a circular polarizer. Here’s how I got them unstuck.
Joey Wright's swimwear photography tutorial is one of the best projects we've ever filmed here at Fstoppers. For the rest of the month, we're celebrating the warm summer months by selling it for 50% off when you use code JOEY150 at checkout.
Photography equipment is hardly cheap, and it's important to properly maintain it so it can last longer and you can maximize the return on your investment. This great video will show you everything you need to know to properly maintain all of your photography equipment.
1999 seemed to be a cultural accumulation point in many ways, and it led to some very interesting trends and creations. This great video examines why so many movies from 1999 seemed to revolve around the same central premises and constructs.
Landscape photography can be a deceptively difficult genre to master, but with a lot of practice of technique and refinement of your creative vision, you can make big strides in the quality of your work. This helpful video will give you 10 guidelines to help get you on the right track sooner.
As you can probably tell by my work I am a huge fan of composite photography. I chose the path of the composite warrior for a couple of reasons in the beginning. One: My ideas were too big for me to afford all the locations, models, props, and costumes. Two: In the beginning, I wasn't the best photographer (shh!).
Landscape photography can be a tricky genre full of nuance and requiring excellent technique, and it is easy to fall prey to some common mistakes. This excellent video details five common mistakes landscape photographers make and how to fix them.
A good location portrait is the successful combination of a number of factors — lighting, wardrobe choices, props, location choice, and more. This excellent video goes behind the scenes of just such a set of portraits to discuss how all these factors come together to make successful, compelling images.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, everyone has moon fever. There has never been a better time to grab your camera and head outside to take a shot of our moon, and this excellent video will show you everything you need to know to do just that.
Summertime can be a bit tricky for landscape photographers, but that doesn't mean you can't get great shots during the warm weather. This excellent video shows you five great landscape photo ideas for summer.
If you don't have control of the lighting in which you're shooting, you may end up with an otherwise great image that has a harsh, distracting shadow somewhere on the subject. This helpful tutorial will show you everything you need to know to remove such shadows using Photoshop.
If you’ve ever wondered what plant is in the foreground of your last magical landscape image, there’s a few apps out there that can help.
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.
In this composite walkthrough, I take you through the various processes it took to create this advertising image. Throughout the video, you will hear my thoughts and why I decided on certain aspects.
When photographing landscapes with a wide-angle lens, you probably want something in the foreground, to give the photo some extra depth. It can make your landscape photo more interesting to look at. Just make sure your foreground subject is interesting enough.