Ever wondered how the filmmakers of probably the best-looking Star Wars movie managed to light Darth Vader's blacker than black costume without seeing the light fixtures in the helmet? The answer to this and a few more nuggets of film history and cinematography tricks are revealed in this short but fascinating interview.
2019 marks the 100th anniversary of The Grand Canyon’s designation as a National Park, but for Arizona resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, Jack Dykinga, that’s not the only milestone to celebrate this year. For Dykinga, this summer also marks the 5th anniversary of his life-saving double lung transplant. Both occasions are being celebrated in the summer-long exhibition Jack Dykinga: The Grand Canyon National Park (1919-2019) at Tucson, Arizona’s Etherton Gallery.
Architectural photographer and Fstoppers alumni Mike Kelley recently did an AMA (ask me anything) over on Reddit that’s easily worth checking out.
A groundbreaking court ruling has been overturned in Texas, and the ramifications could affect thousands of Texas creatives and their copyrighted property.
Artificial Intelligence is there to serve us by making our lives and routines easier, and is already an integral part of our photography. But, are we right to question it? Dima Sytnik, CTO and Co-founder of Skylum shares his thoughts on the subject.
What lengths would you go to in order to capture an amazing, unique perspective of one of the most photographed events in human history? Photographer Jon Carmichael shares with us the extraordinary story about how he captured an amazing aerial shot of 2017’s total solar eclipse.
For a lot of people who aren't in the film industry, it might see like filmmaking is all kinds of fun and glamour. Peer just a little bit behind the curtain, though, and you'll realize just how complex and stressful that life can be.
Carrie Beene has long been one of the top retouchers known for her amazing work on ads for cosmetics and hair product companies. We recently sat down with Carrie to learn more about how she started and what advice she has for aspiring retouchers.
Art and inspiration go hand in hand. For photographers, curling up in the corner of the bookstore with a stack of magazines, oohing and ahhing at photographs we wish we had created seems to be a part-time job. However, equally as important as what our heroes produce is how they produce it. We can learn a lot from the methodology of the folks that do what we want to do day in and day out. With that in mind, here's a conversation with Art Streiber.
We recently attended The Photography Show in Birmingham and had the pleasure of speaking to various companies. One of the companies we had a chance to catch up with was Olympus.
What happens when you combine an incredible collection of horror movie action figures, a vivid imagination, and awesome photography skills? Meet Jesse Diaz, a toy collector and photographer from Los Angeles, CA, whose incredibly realistic images of his toy horror figures in action are both entertaining and impressive.
Think of forensic science and what images are conjured in your mind? Possibly something out of Silent Witness, CSI, or even The Wire. What then is involved in forensic imaging? John Smith explains.
He doesn't always know how the second half of the movie will go. He needs to be inspired enough to actually start writing, and if you've seen Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, the dialogues of his characters are gripping right through.
For most of us, photography is a passion, a business, a hobby, or an artistic escape. For Maureen O'Sullivan-Day, however, it's helped her to recover from a stroke. This is an inspirational story that reminds us of how powerful artistic expression can be.
In this video, CookeOpticsTV sits down with the acclaimed cinematographer to discuss his process.
Canadian creative Jordan Manley is a master of capturing artistic, storytelling moments in the outdoors through both stills and motion. Find out some tools of the trade and learn what makes him tick.
I recently spent time working alongside Alice Prenat, the portrait photographer behind the elegant Parisian studio, Portrait Madame. After her talent was discovered by Sue Bryce, Prenat launched an upscale brand and studio in Paris, where she celebrates the "everyday" woman.
Greg Beadle has once again received an invitation as one of the photographers at this year's WEF conference in Davos. This time, Sony gave him their gear to try out. Here are his thoughts and some of the pictures he took.
"Canon's new 400mm f/2.8L III and 600mm f/4L III lenses are a lot lighter and much better balanced than the II series." Those words were easy to type, and it's all too easy to dismiss as "so what?", but what kind of work went on behind the scenes to make that statement a reality?
Self-expression can be a powerful way to help one cope with mental anguish. Painting and music are often used as a tools for rehabilitation, be they for physical or mental illnesses, and photography is no different.
You've just copied your camera's full resolution, high dynamic range raw files onto your new Android phone. How on earth do you start processing them? An app called raw2dng is the Play Store's most popular solution. Meet its developer.
Can outstanding customer service take your portrait photography sales to the next level? Megan DiPiero thinks that it can, and she’s here to tell you how.
The Hollywood Reporter recently sat down to discuss the art of cinematography with some of the best directors of photography in the business.
Once again Fstoppers talks with cinematographer Gonzalo Amat about his work on the third season of "The Man in the High Castle." In this interview we will dive deeper into the technical execution of the project: preproduction and shooting. A significant part of the article will be on the way Amat worked on lighting the scenes.
A photographer renowned for spending months at a time carefully curating his sets has just completed his latest project. He has now built a life-size replica of a local 1960s Chinese takeaway; complete with the original paintings and fittings, the series features genuine customers and the owner of the real takeaway. It debuts exclusively on Fstoppers.
With their multi award-winning documentary Free Solo coming to streaming platforms next month, the filmmakers have described what went into capturing a 3,000-foot ropeless ascent up on of the world’s most iconic pieces of rock.
Each and every photographer has their own unique way of working and the finished image they try to achieve. For some, this may be purely aesthetic beauty, for others, a mood or feeling. In this video, the i-D Meets team spend time with three photographers from the U.K. to discover how and why they work.
As far as perks of being a photographer go, traveling the world and documenting everything you see along the way is right up there with the best of them. Luckily for Pep Bonet, he’s been around the globe as Motorhead’s previous resident photographer of 7 years, as well as documenting the impact of war and disease in Africa. Then, he became one of the first in Europe to test out the Nikon Z7 and S-line NIKKOR Z lenses. So how did he find it faired against DSLRs?
Even if we're not professional photographers, most of us at some point have fancied getting paid full-time to take photos. Weddings? Sports? Fine art? Press? Commercial? How about a medical photographer?
The business of photography can sometimes be fairly cutthroat, but it can also be a community full of great people who care and support each other. This is precisely the experience that one photographer shares after losing everything to the recent wildfires in California.
There are so many ways to approach photography. We can search for artistic expression, money, Instagram fame, or any number of other things. Photographer Damari McBride believes we should all do a volunteer photo-journalistic project at least once. Let’s find out why.
Sometimes, life decides to throw a load of crap at you. It's up to you how you deal with it.
Joe McNally — the name alone brings up so many thoughts of photography-related topics that could be written about. So, where does one begin when having a coffee with this world-famous photographer and storyteller? This is the thought that kept running through my mind on my 90-minute drive to have coffee with McNally and to talk about his work and life in the photography industry.
How good are we at remembering former presidents decades after their service is over? What are the things that help us to remember their time in office? Obviously, since this is a photography community and education website, I'd wager this: that the photographs taken during their presidency help shape our memories of those years.
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.'
Have you ever wondered what would happen to your business if you were unable to work? I talked to one such photographer about his experience with a near catastrophic injury, and the fallout surrounding it in regards to his business.
How does a photographer have names such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, Powder Magazine and The New York Times on his client list? And how might you be able to do the same?
With the wealth of options out there for lens-adapting and DIY modifications, many industrious photographers are taking things to the next level. The process of adapting anamorphic projection lenses to a take-up lens has been well-established for years now.
Gabriel Isak’s evocative fine art photography is simple and clean in its style, yet it draws the viewer inward, precipitating a contemplative mood with bold surrealist imagery and cool color tones. Fstoppers had the opportunity to interview the artist recently. Delve deeper into his work here.
Thomas Stewart made headlines back in 2015 when he posted a rant about wedding guests and their mobile phones. Fast forward 3 years and things don't seem to be getting any better. So should we put the cameras away?
I suspect that many of you can relate when I say that Flickr will always hold a special place in my heart. When I think about the photo-sharing platform founded in 2004, I am filled with nostalgia of a time when things were simpler and arguably better for photographers looking to share their work and find a community of like-minded creatives.
It’s an awfully exciting time to be a creative, as the tools we use are becoming more portable, more powerful, and more connected. Fstoppers sat down with Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, and Scott Belsky, Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud, to discuss how new tools are empowering creatives and where the future will take us.
While Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz face off for Texas' Senate seat in one of the fiercest battles of the midterm elections, one man has been able to photograph Rep. O'Rourke throughout the campaign.
As a street photographer, how far do you go to engage with strangers? Crash Taylor, currently a UK based photographer, not only asks strangers to pose for a portrait but also asks to reveal their deepest wish. Find out how he does it!
Hiring a professional makeup artist for your studio can be a daunting task, but one that can be rewarding when it comes to client satisfaction. In the second half of this two-part interview, we will delve a little more into what we, as photographers, should be looking for when we set out to hire a makeup artist for our own studios.
As a portrait photographer, you’ve probably considered hiring a professional makeup artist to prep your clients. In this first part of a two-part series, a professional makeup artist tells us everything we need to know about making professional makeup a part of our portrait photography offerings.
Great shots are often a combination of experience, planning, timing, effort, and of course, luck. A talented newspaper photographer got the shot of a lifetime while photographing an air show in Niagara Falls earlier this year.
In an earlier article I bemoaned the state of Android camera apps and in particular, how they lacked the features that even moderately specced cameras have. Find out what one developer has to say about the prospect of Android camera apps.
As soon as humans realized their dream of flight, photographers started dreaming of photographing from high above. I had a chance last week to have my dream of shooting New York City from above come true.
We all wish we could make money doing photography, but one macro specialist found a way to have his photography made into money. Twenty Canadian dollars, to be exact.