Fstoppers Original Articles

Exclusive articles and expert opinions written by Fstoppers’ talented team of creative professionals. Here we cover everything from the latest photographic techniques to advice on running a successful photography business, to first hand accounts of working in the photography industry.

You Don’t Need a Macro Lens for Mushroom Photography. There, I Said It.

There is a tendency in photography to believe that if we want to photograph a particular subject, we need to buy the equipment designed specifically for it. Want to photograph wildlife? You need a long telephoto lens. Want to photograph the night sky? You need a fast wide angle lens. Want to photograph mushrooms? You need a macro lens.

But do you really? 

The Fake Photo That Helped Sink a U.S. Senator

In the last stretch of the 1950 Maryland Senate race, roughly 300,000 copies of a four-page tabloid called From the Record went out across the state, and inside was a picture of Senator Millard Tydings standing close beside Earl Browder, the former head of the American Communist Party. The two men had never posed together, and the caption underneath called the picture a composite.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (October 2026): Dave G

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess.

He Shot an Iconic Photo—and Lost the Copyright

Lester LaRue shot 44 frames on the morning of April 19, 1995, with his employer's camera, his employer's film, and his employer's car to get him there. One of those frames ran on the cover of Newsweek's May 1 issue. A federal court later ruled the copyrights had never been his.

 

How Two Fluke Photos Revealed a Humpback Had Crossed the World

On July 10, 2013, Natalia Botero-Acosta photographed a humpback whale's tail going down in the Gulf of Tribugá, on Colombia's Pacific coast. On August 22, 2022, Ekaterina Kalashnikova photographed a fluke off Fumba, in the Zanzibar channel, on the far side of the planet. The two frames belong to the same animal, and the two sighting points sit 13,046 kilometers apart.

 

The Night Sky Is Getting 9.6 Percent Brighter Every Year, and 51,351 Naked-Eye Observations Say So

At 19,262 places around the world where people walked outside and counted stars, the satellite that maps Earth at night recorded the ground below getting slightly darker. Across North America, upward radiance measured at those exact sites by the VIIRS Day/Night Band fell 0.80 percent a year. Over those same locations, artificial sky brightness was rising 10.4 percent a year.

 

How to Use a Tripod Like a Pro: Field-Tested Tips From a Night Photographer

Here are several easy tips so you can use your tripod like a pro. You'll get the most from your tripod this way, with lessons drawn from professional night photographers who use tripods in genuinely challenging conditions.

 

First… Get a Quality Tripod

Pros use quality tripods. They know better.

How the 'Blue Marble' Became One of the Most Reproduced Photographs in History

One of the most reproduced photographs of Earth ever made was shot upside down. When an Apollo 17 astronaut framed the fully lit planet through a Hasselblad on December 7, 1972, the South Pole sat at the top and Africa ran sideways, exactly as the crew saw it on the way to the Moon. The version fixed in your memory has been turned a half circle from the original frame.

 

Why I Take the Chance When Planning a Landscape Photography Trip

Planning a landscape photography trip is something I spend a considerable amount of time doing, and living here in Ireland means that checking the weather is an important part of that process. The conditions can change quickly, and even when you use several weather forecasting apps, there is never a guarantee that things will work out as you hoped.

I'm Looking for Beta Testers Who Want AI to Run Their Business

For the last few months, I've been doing something that has completely changed how I run my businesses. I set up agentic AI to handle the parts of business I've always hated: email, bills, bookkeeping, taxes, client follow-ups and advertising. It watches everything, it never forgets anything, and when it needs me, it asks a quick question and I tap an answer. 

Going Mirrorless Without the Stress: Sell Your DSLR Kit and Fund the Switch With MPB

You have decided to transition from DSLR to mirrorless, and that should feel exciting, with a whole new way of shooting waiting for you. Changing systems does mean planning around the cost, but you may already own more of the funding than you realize. The DSLR kit sitting in your bag can pay for a good part of the switch, and how you sell it decides how smooth the whole process feels.