Photography Education

Whether you just picked up your first camera or you've been shooting for years and hit a plateau, there's always more to learn. This section is where Fstoppers publishes educational content aimed at genuinely improving your photography — not just gear tips, but the foundational understanding of light, composition, and visual thinking that makes the difference between a competent photographer and a compelling one.

The Three Best Photo Spots in Lisbon

Not only is Lisbon the capital of Portugal, its largest city, and a major tourist destination in Europe, it's also a great location for cityscape photography. Its hilly profile offers beautiful views of the narrow streets and Mediterranean architecture. All across the city, you'll find interesting photo spots, and in this article, I show you three of the best in Lisbon's center. 

How to Use a Powerful ND Filter for Long Exposure Landscape Photos

ND filters are a favorite tool of a lot of landscape photographers, useful for creating otherworldly long exposures that simply would not be possible otherwise. If you are new to using them, this helpful video tutorial will show you the process of using a 10-stop filter to create images.  

What Do You Lose When Compressing Images With JPEG?

We encounter and use JPEG files daily, but rarely do we give any thought to what the process entails. More importantly to us as photographers, what data do we lose when using this lossy image compression technique?  

Is This the Year To Start Selling Your Photography?

When you are first starting with photography and developing your skills, it can be hard to know when and if to start pursuing selling your work as art prints. Is this the year you give it a try? 

Helpful Tips for Editing Black and White Landscape Photos in Lightroom

When you think of landscape photos, you likely think of vibrant, eye-catching colors. And while that is a popular look for sure, a black and white image can be uniquely powerful. Lightroom contains some surprisingly versatile tools for creating black and white edits, and this helpful video tutorial will show you some great tips for getting the most out of those features.  

Are You Guilty of This Very Common Mistake When You Shoot New Places?

When you photograph a place for the first time, it's thrilling. You might have been planning it for months or years in advance, so when it finally comes to fruition, you can often get overexcited and forget some very important things once you start shooting. Here's one very common error that you should avoid. 

9 Ways to Improve Your Photography Website

Nowadays, the majority of people turn to the internet when they are looking for services, including photography. As such, it is crucial that you understand and anticipate the way potential clients interact with websites and how to create the best experience to give you a better chance of turning them into paying customers.

What Can You Do When You Forget Your Lens Filters?

Neutral density and polarizing filters are an essential part of most landscape photographers' kits, giving them the ability to better control long exposures, suppress reflections, and add contrast. So, what can you do when you forget your filters at home?

23 Fantastic Tips to Make You a Better Wedding Photographer

Wedding photography is a challenging and complex genre that takes a lot of different variables coming together to produce successful work. If you are looking to improve your own work and gain more confidence in your abilities, check out this fantastic video that will give you 23 helpful tips from a seasoned pro.  

8 Must-Haves for Making Videos in Your Home Studio

Most YouTubers have set up their home studios bit by bit and learned how to achieve the shots and looks that they want by trial and error. In this video, veteran photographer and YouTuber Becki, of the duo Becki & Chris, shares eight tips that they've learned over the years, and I think they just might help you. 

Finding Your Own Photographic Style, and Why It’s So Important

Should you think more about having a coherent and distinctive style to your photography? If you want to raise your game, then finding your own look is imperative. There's one surefire way of developing that. However, some big obstacles will try to trip you up along the way.  

 

A Good Reminder You'll Need the Next Time You're Frustrated With Photography

Photography is a wonderful thing that can be tremendously satisfying, but on the other hand, it can also be very difficult and quite frustrating. The next time you find yourself in that space, remember that you watched this video and that you are not alone in experiencing those feelings.  

What Can Truly Improve Your Photography

Spend any amount of time looking up photography on the internet, and you will be bombarded from every direction by claims of how you can improve your work, a lot of them centered around gear. Really, though, if you want to improve, it comes down to how you approach your photos, and this insightful video discusses what you really need to make better images.  

How to Customize Lightroom to Give You More Useful Information

Lightroom contains more customization capabilities under its hood than it might seem initially, but one that rarely gets mentioned is the information the program shows you about your photos. Lightroom actually lets you display all sorts of data in these cells, and taking a few minutes to change their default settings can make your workflow a lot easier.

Do You Suffer From the 'Curse' of the Photographer?

Do you find yourself in a seemingly never-ending cycle of being excited by your work, only to become disenchanted with and disappointed by it when you look back at it later? Maybe you suffer from the "curse of the photographer." 

Strengthen Your Eyesight With This Simple Daily Routine

As photographers, our perception of the world around us is our most important tool, and our only interface to the visible world. There's much to be said about reducing screen-time, but it may not be practical for everyone. Instead, here's another way to relieve your eyes; with a simple daily routine.

10 Steps for Finding the Perfect Camera Angle

We can learn a lot from experienced filmmakers and cinematographers, and one of their strongest skills is their ability to tell stories. Whether you shoot video or photos, this excellent video tutorial will give you a 10-step process for finding the best, most compelling angle for every shot.  

How to Become a Wedding Photographer

Being a wedding photographer can be a really enjoyable career if you have the drive and the right personality for it. If that is something you are interested in but are unsure of how to get started, this helpful video tutorial will give you some important areas to focus on to put you on the right track.  

Five Great Photo Spots on Madeira

With its cliffs, spectacular mountains, and moody forests, Madeira is a dream destination for landscape photographers. It's a relatively small volcanic island, and you can drive from one end to the other in about an hour. So, wherever you stay on the island, you'll have various photo spots within reach. In this article, I show you five of the best. 

5 Rules of Lighting Every Photographer Should Know

Working with artificial light is something a lot of photographers struggle with, but if you understand some fundamental rules about how it behaves and how to control it, you can make your life a lot easier. This excellent video tutorial will show you five fundamental rules of lighting that every photographer should know and how to use them to make better images.  

How to Make Your Best Landscape Photographs

Landscape photography is a challenging but popular genre, requiring you to have good creative vision, solid technique, savvy editing, and often, just a bit of luck. If you are ready to make better images in 2022, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will give you plenty of great advice to set you on your way in the new year.  

Why Is Becoming a Photographer So Difficult?

Learning how to use a camera, control lighting, and edit to consistently produce compelling images is hard enough, but turning that into a successful business is an entirely different challenge altogether. If that is something you have been wondering about or struggling with, this great video contains an important reminder to help keep you from becoming discouraged.  

How to Create Hard Shadows and Soft Shadows in Your Photography

Did you know studies have shown that viewers form an opinion of people within 1/10th of a second of seeing them? In a similar way, viewers judge brands with a cursory glance. Brands rely on design elements such as color, shape, line, and font to communicate their identity and values.  

How to Improve Your Wedding Website and Get More Bookings

The website is the calling card of most photographers nowadays, and its design, user experience, and information all contribute to whether a potential client is likely to book you or move on. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced wedding photographer discussing several ways you can improve your website to increase your bookings.  

10 Common Questions About Using Vintage Lenses

Vintage lenses have exploded in popularity in the last few years, offering photographers much more affordable options and unique looks that are not seen in more modern lenses. However, with so many options out there, it can be a bit hard to know where to look, what to buy, and how much to spend.

The Proper Way to Use a Wide Angle Lens for Landscape Photography

When it comes to landscape photography, the lens of choice is almost always some sort of wide angle, whether a 16-35mm, 24mm, or something similar. And while such lenses are absolutely effective in the genre, there is a common mistake landscape photographers make with them, and this helpful video details both what it is and how to correct it.  

How to Create Dramatic Headshots With Three Lights, One Light at a Time

Creating dramatic headshots using multiple lights doesn't have to be difficult. One of the best ways to become proficient at using a three-light setup is by building it one light at a time. In this article and the accompanying video, I will demonstrate how you can easily create dramatic headshots and portraits using a key light, kicker light, and fill light. 

A Reminder Every New Photographer Needs to Hear

Taking successful photographs take a combination of a wide range of techniques, creative vision, timing, and often, a little bit of luck, and as such, it can take a long time to become consistently successful. If you are feeling a bit discouraged by the slow process, this great video has a message you need to hear.  

The One Technique Everyone Should Be Talking About

Edward Weston began his career making soft, almost out-of-focus images that emphasized patterns and light. After a trip to Mexico in the 1920s, he decided that photography was really about details and realistic depictions of the world. He made a complete turnaround in his work and began making work that was simple and focused on tones and textures.

7 Camera Settings You Should Consider Changing

Modern digital cameras are remarkably complex machines, and there are a lot of parameters and settings you can adjust that will improve both the quality of your images and your ability to get the shot you want.

How to Make the Most of the Wedding Photography Off-Season

In most places in the Northern Hemisphere, wedding photography is in the middle of its seasonal dip, giving photographers a chance to catch their breath and focus on other things for a while. So, what can you do to keep your business well oiled and ready for the next season? This excellent video tutorial will give you some ideas. 

A Look at Portraits Shot at Every Aperture

There is a bit of an obsession with shooting portraits at extremely wide apertures nowadays, and certainly, that is a popular look for a reason. Nonetheless, always shooting at f/1.4 to blow the background to smithereens can become a bit of a crutch and end up making your work a bit one-dimensional.

The Best Way to Hashtag for Instagram

Using hashtags is still one of the best ways to get new eyes on your content regardless of what social media platform you are using. This method will save you time and change how you apply hashtags forever. 

The Importance of Taking Pictures for Their Own Sake

When was the last time you grabbed your camera and went for a walk or a hike with no particular purpose in mind? It can be more beneficial than you might think, and this great video essay discusses why.  

8 Tools to Help You Improve Your Photography Business

If you want to be a successful photographer, it takes a lot more than being good with a camera and having creative ideas. All the most successful photographers are there because they understand how to run a proper business.

5 Helpful Tips for Bird Photography

Bird photography is a challenging and fun genre that takes a lot of good technique, patience, understanding of animal behavior, and creativity to make compelling images. Whether you are new to the genre or a seasoned pro, this awesome video tutorial will give you five excellent tips that are sure to help you produce better photos.  

5 Excuses That Are Holding Back Your Photography

More often than not, a photographer's greatest enemy when it comes to improving and growing as a creative is actually themselves. It can be a sneaky thing, though; we do not always notice when we are making our own lives unnecessarily difficult and holding back our work.

How a National Geographic Photographer Selects the Best Images From a Shoot

Capturing hundreds of images on a shoot is easy. Culling a large number of images down to a handful of keepers is a time-consuming and often mentally difficult process for an artist. In this video, originally posted by Wired, photographer Steve Winter takes us through his thought process as he reduces 112 images down to one single select. 

Important Rules for Wedding Photographers

Perhaps no genre will put more pressure on you in the moment than wedding photography, which requires you to be at the top of your game and gives you no second chances if something goes awry. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced wedding photographer discussing some important rules that will help to put you on the track to success.  

Don’t Mistake Depth of Field With Bokeh

Often, I see the term "bokeh" being used when "depth of field" is meant. That’s wrong, simply because it is not the same. Although many will understand the distinction between the two, I will explain the difference for those who do mistake depth of field with bokeh. 

How to Take Advantage of Lightroom's New Masking Tools

Lightroom got a major upgrade to its masking capabilities in 2021, and the new features can make your editing far more efficient and easier. If you have not yet taken the opportunity to dive into the capabilities, this great video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to get the most out of them.