It’s not rocket science, but there’s certainly a whole bunch of trial and error involved with shooting something as bright and spectacular as a launch. I spoke with John Kraus, a young photographer doing just that, to guide us through the process and obstacles that are involved.
Forget "shotgun wedding," Jay Philbrick brings us literal cliff-hanging wedding photos that take more than a little preparation. Jay knew about the Cathedral Ledge at Echo Lake State Park in North Conway, New Hampshire because of his many years as a climbing guide there. Jay says that only two of their couples have been climbers, and this couple was not one of them.
Many photographers go through the purge status in life with the "out with old and in with the new" mentality. So what started out as a fun and playful idea from award-winning boudoir photographer Beth Claire of Lost Highway Imaging, turned into a lucrative niche for her already thriving boudoir company.
Finding the perfect soundtrack for a video project or short film can be a laborious and painful process for budget filmmakers, yet it’s a task that requires plenty of care and attention. Websites like Audio Jungle make it affordable to license music, yet the huge library means finding the ideal track difficult. On the other end of the scale, Marmoset provides excellent, curated music but may be too expensive for your budget. Music Vine claims to have filled this gap in between by providing affordable, high quality, curated music licensing. We sat down with Co-founder Lewis Foster to speak all things music licensing for video projects.
For anyone who has been to India, you will know that it is the very definition of chaos. The streets dazzle your senses. The smells, sights, and sounds are unforgettable. You cannot move too quickly or you will miss things, but cannot stop too long for the same reason. Life is raw, and comes in all shapes and sizes.
We all dream of having huge production budgets for our shoots, so imagine being one of the lucky few who get to work as stills photographers on one of the TV’s biggest shows, "Game of Thrones." With a budget of $10 million per episode for its latest season, you can only imagine the fun these photographers have on set.
American renowned former White House photographer and photojournalist, Pete Souza, for his first ever audio interview hosted by Ohio University, speaks of his time documenting the professional and personal life of former President Barack Obama.
Climbing is a sport that has existed for centuries, however, over the past few years it has started to skyrocket in popularity, rapidly becoming a mainstream activity. So much so that even the folks at the Olympics have noticed and added it to the docket as a new medal event in 2020. With an increase in professional climbers competing at the highest level also comes a need for photographers who are able to capture this impressive sport. Christopher Beauchamp is one of the sport’s leading shooters and was kind enough to chat with Fstoppers about his career.
Benjamin Von Wong's work is a tour de force of creativity, technical skill, and the ingenuity and planning ability to pull it all off. Learn more about how he began shooting, the evolution of his methods, and his advice on the creative process and working with others.
As the phone rings, I breathe easy to calm my nerves. I'm about to interview one of the most successful modern portrait photographers in the world. I'm halfway through leaving a stuttering mess of a message when he cuts in. "Hello? Hi, I had the music going and didn't hear the phone ring..." Buck has built a career over the past 30-plus years photographing some of the biggest names in Hollywood and politics. He has carved out a space for himself in the upper echelon of photographers working today. And he has a land line. Somehow, given his old school, dogged approach to portraiture and his recent switch to digital, I think that's just perfect.
Being young is something I hope to never let go of. There is a sense of invincibility that can't be taught or explained. You just have to live it. Sometimes a photograph can take you to a point in time, or evoke feelings beyond what your eyes are seeing. Alex Currie is a photographer and director currently living in Los Angeles, California, who knows how to tell a story with a single frame.
When a D1 collegiate athlete becomes a photographer, you should watch out. Zach Ancell is a commercial sports photographer from Portland and has been shooting for almost 10 years now. As any self-respecting creative, he does his own personal projects between the commercials he shoots. Pan"Tone," which is one of Ancell's recent shoots caught my attention, and he kindly agreed to share all we want to know about the set.
In this short video series from Canon, the company’s professional “Explorers of Light” photographers are featured and share their backgrounds of how they got started in the business and what drives them today. Today we hear from Jeremy Cowart, Douglas Kirkland, Damian Strohmeyer, Stephanie Sinclair, and Michel Tcherevkoff.
Get acquainted with Urbex photography as we chat with the Nikon-endorsed photographer who has travelled the globe to visit the best abandoned spots in the world.
Creative genius rarely erupts onto the scene full force and in your face. Its entrance into the world is often quiet, gentle, allowing only a few to see it and recognize its brilliance. Such is the case with Portland, Oregon-based Kate Woodman, whose use of color in her work produces an instant halt to the ever scrolling feed of images - causing even the average user to stop and appreciate the story unfolding before them.
Photography is more than just taking a pretty picture. For many, it’s about capturing a moment. This couldn’t be more true for Benjamin Von Wong with his latest project.
Following up his 2012 viral video hit "Fall," Filmmaker Jamie Scott has only become more focused and experienced as exhibited in his timely new time-lapse titled "Spring." Watch the amazing video and get a behind-the-scenes look at how he pulled it off right here.
If you've not seen Felix Hernandez' images before, you're missing out. The Cancun-based photographer's work is as brilliantly resourceful as it is creative. In this interview, we go behind the scenes of his shoot using 1/45 scale models for Audi Middle East and Hernandez guides us through his process and offers advice for up and coming photographers.
In this episode of #BehindtheGlass, Albert Ayzenberg sits down with Cinematographer David Klein on the set of "Homeland" to discuss preparation, video gear, and what it's like to join in on an Emmy Award-winning show already in full swing. There's a lot of great insight here on what goes on behind the scenes of filming for television.
Love it or hate it, social media has taken over many of our lives. And in the case of a photographic life, no social media name reigns more supreme than Instagram. With its photo dependent backbone and emphasis on visuals over verbals, shutterbugs rush to the app either as a means of expression, or a means of impression. It’s the one single place where your posts have an equal opportunity of being seen by a stranger in a small remote village as by a photo editor in the slightly larger village of Manhattan.
I was 14. After a year of mowing lawns and shoveling driveways I had finally saved up enough money to buy my first real camera (a Canon S30). At the the time, online stores like Amazon barely existed. Still growing in their late-90s infancy, the global online marketplaces we have become so accustomed to (like eBay) were barely a blip on the retail radar. Instead, I got in the car, and my mom drove me to an amazing place that felt like the center of the photography universe. Housed in an old bank (vault and all) was this incredible, gear-packed mecca called Milford Photo. My visit that day changed my life forever.
Ever wonder how to go about raising your rates for an existing client? Perhaps you’ve been struggling to find your niche. You may be in luck because episode number one of Chase Jarvis’ new show, The Daily Creative, was just released and these are a few of the topics that were discussed.
When I first heard about Chase Guttman’s book on drone photography, I was intrigued. Not so much at the subject, or the photos, but in the person behind them. As a person who loves to travel and photograph while doing it, I’m always curious as to how people get their foot in the door in this very competitive industry, especially at a young age. The answer is: he didn’t do it alone, as none of us do.
Last week I shared a video that used a couple of alternative techniques for aerial video, and coincidentally I was contacted shortly after to check out another video that had some unique drone video shots. In this kite surfing video, you'll see some interesting macro-style clips, speed ramps, zooms, and more. The fact is, all of this was done in post.
Mannequin poses in fashion e-commerce photography is now a thing of the past. Fact. Fashion website brands are now dominated by a hybrid style of photography that mixes editorial influences whilst satisfying the desire of the customer to view garments before purchase. We go behind-the-scenes with British fashion photographer Luke Ayling as he shoots 40 looks for The Sports Edit in one day.
Panasonic's new Lumix GH5 mirrorless micro four thirds camera is making a big splash in the photography world. If you haven't stayed up to date with it's release or don't know much about the camera, this is your chance to get an in depth preview. Join in with a group of filmmakers and photographers as they discuss the new camera on a livestream panel hosted by B&H.
If you are like me, you don’t necessarily dread your annual trip to visit your accountant. Yes, it brings with it some anxiety, but a big part of running a business is knowing what your tax burden will generally be, and preparing for that throughout the year. Even with all the planning, we all know the feeling of being hit with a larger-than-expected tax bill, or a smaller-than-expected refund. That’s why I reached out to Brandon Scott, a fellow professional photographer who spent years as a working CPA in his home state of California.
One of Billboard magazine’s latest covers – featuring former Fifth Harmony babe Camila Cabello – was recently shot quite infamously using the portrait mode on an iPhone 7. The spread itself was shot using both the iPhone and a DSLR. What does all of this mean for our ever-changing industry? Should we be worried? I chatted to commercial photographer Jay Mawson, who has shot campaigns for Nike and Adidas, to gather his perspective on all of this.
Like many other members of the Fstoppers community, I’m often inspired and taken back by the images I see shared here. Canadian Fine Art Photographer Micahla Latta is one of those community members posting some incredible conceptual photographs to her portfolio, enriching the community with wonderfully surreal creations.
So, you’ve discovered a passion for photography and after lots of practice, you’re starting to feel more and more confident in your skills. Great! But what comes next? How do you take this growing passion from a hobby to a full-fledged career? When you’re trying to figure out how to make the jump from amateur to professional, figuring out the best way to get there can be a bit daunting, especially if you didn’t have a formal photography education. So we asked a few of the photography mentors at RookieUp to share a few of the major tips and lessons they learned while growing their own successful photography careers.
Mark your calendars for this Thursday, March 23 at 2 p.m. EST for a chance to talk with Clay Cook, the instructor of our newest tutorial covering fashion and editorial photography. This is a great chance to ask Clay anything you want to know about shooting, lighting, post-processing, and the business side of his work. The event will be held over Facebook live on the Fstoppers Facebook page.
Digital photography, especially concerning smartphones, is taking the world by storm these days. It's become the norm to see people whip out their phones when something dreadful happens in public, or when they want to photograph that special moment with their friends while cruising down the freeway at some awful speed. When that wasn't extreme enough, there's the very recent case of the model hanging off the edge of Dubai's 307-meter Cayan Tower.
If you're a photographer or videographer, keeping abreast of creative trends is pivotal to best positioning yourself to continually evolve and turn profits. Fstoppers spoke with Shutterstock Creative Director Terrence Morash about how creative trends are analyzed and predicted and how photographers and videographers can use that information to their advantage.
It's been 9 years since Australian photographer Alexander Khimushin left home to travel the world, and he's since been to over 80 countries. While many travelers prefer short-term sightseeing tours, Khimushin is a firm believer that off the beaten path is the only way of traveling. Meeting indigenous people all over the world was the most inspiring part of his journey. This realization led to a personal project called, "The World in Faces," which he started around three years ago.
How far would you go to get the shot? If you're Andrius Burba, the answer is "however far it takes." Meet the photographer with the vision, ingenuity, and talent that came together to create this remarkable project, titled "Under-Horse."
Most of us use it every single day for one reason or another. Whether it’s searching for inspiring images or it's a part of our pursuit for the best priced and most highly reviewed camera equipment, Google has changed the way we access information and will shape the future of education by streamlining the search for data - but where is all of this data kept?
Jason Miller works as the Global Content Marketing Leader at LinkedIn by day, but is somewhat of a rock 'n' roll photographer by night. With an extensive portfolio consisting of the likes of Marilyn Manson, Foo Fighters, and KISS, Fstoppers chatted to Miller to get his thoughts on working as a semi-pro photographer, and how he balances his day job with his passion for photography by night.
I started my journey in photography back in 2011. Since then, there are only a handful of photographers that I have really paid attention to in terms of actively keeping up with their work. One of those photographers is Commercial Photographer Dave Hill. His work has taken a more drastic turn in just a few years than any photographer that I’ve followed. That’s one of many reasons that I reached out to Hill to chat about his work and photography.
Most of us don’t typically associate fashion model and reality television star Kendall Jenner with photography yet. During her recent appearance on NBC’s "The Tonight Show," she had a few pointers for host Jimmy Fallon.
If you follow world class retoucher and owner of Solstice Retouching, Pratik Naik, you already know he is something of a jokester. Routinely posting quirky comments, mostly photography or retouching related, Pratik could very well be the Ellen DeGeneres of our industry, although I can't say for sure until I see him dance. Pratik's blog often carries over many of his antics.
"It's a vulnerable thing being photographed," says the photographer sitting across from me, "It's not abnormal for me to sit and chat with people for 20 minutes before I photograph them. I'm timing myself; I am watching for a look in their eye... Once I see it, I know we are ready to start photographing." Sitting down in Michael Schacht's studio, nestled in the heart of Chicago's meatpacking district, I have come to realize he is all about human connection.
Artist Jason Shaltz explores the everyday lives of some of horror's biggest icons in his latest personal project, “Everyday Horrors.” Most of us know who Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers are, but outside of their gruesome yet successfully franchised acts, what do we really know about them? Well, like any good horror fan, Jason sat down and tried to capture what it might look like if they lived among us, had errands to run, or just enjoyed a nice day off.
A car review channel on YouTube has recently been caught using Philip Bloom’s footage without a license. What’s worse? They used it often enough that they racked up a potential copyright claim for £80,000.
Hungarian photographer, Robert Capa is regarded as being one the greatest combat and adventure photographers in history. That’s no small remark, considering the immense amount of danger involved and the technological limitations that were present during the time he created his body of work.
Gonzalo Amat brings us through how he started in photography, and grew into a cinematographer for Amazon. Are they the new HBO, free from rules and regulation, and does that make the job more fun?
When you ever have a creative idea for a photo shoot, what do you do with that idea? When considering my own creative ideas for automotive photography, then tend to go into realm of compositions. Shooting a toy car instead isn’t the first thing that pops into my mind, but that is exactly what photographer Felix Hernandez of Hernandez Dreamphography did.
Three years ago Yulia Taits fell in love with the process of conceptual photography. The hard work of planning, searching for the perfect location, and matching styles to create something beautiful and magical fascinated her. Yulia was hypnotized by the pure and almost fairy tale beauty of people having Albinism since she remembers herself. Yulia always knew that she will make a project dedicated to them one day.
It’s been a week or so since San Fran-based photographer Scott Borrero was crowned the winner of Adorama and Nigel Barker’s new series "Top Photographer." The series saw five hopefuls take on a number of weekly photo challenges – including action sports, landscapes, and fashion editorials - to prove they were an all-rounder. Here, Borrero chats exclusively to Fstoppers about the experience and what’s coming next.
My latest fascination in the photography world has to be toy photography. Not just any toy photography either, I love seeing it mixed with other elements and effects to create a sense of realism to the project. Felix Hernandez of Hernandez Dreamphography is one person in particular that has me in awe.
If you haven’t yet come across the whimsical, awe-inspiring dog portraits created by Kaylee Greer of Dog Breath Photography, they will forever change the way you look at dog photos. Within the last few years Greer has risen to be one of the most recognizable dog photographers in the world, with her colorful style and ability to capture humorous and fun expressions. On a recent episode of The Grid hosted by Scott Kelby, Greer answers a variety of questions about her craft.