Fstoppers Originals

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.

Do We Still Need to Treat Photography as a Profession?

Professional photography expanded under conditions of limited access, high risk, and irreversible failure. Those conditions no longer define most photographic tasks. As they collapsed, professional involvement narrowed to a much smaller set of requirements. What remains is a persistent mismatch between task complexity and professional scale. 

Macbook Neo Vs $600 Windows Laptop

After comparing the new MacBook Neo to Apple’s Air and Pro, a lot of people asked the obvious question: what about Windows?  

Yesterday I went to Walmart, bought a $659 Asus Vivobook, and tested it directly against the $600 MacBook Neo using the exact same real-world tasks.

Macbook Neo Vs Macbook Air Vs Macbook Pro

Apple just released the incredibly cheap Macbook Neo for $599 and you might be wondering what it's capable of. In this video I'll put it head to head against the Macbook Air, and Macbook Pro.  

To see the results of each test, you'll need to watch the video above but I'll give you a quick summary of what I discovered. 

10 Unwritten Rules of Photography That Nobody Teaches You

Photography education has a blind spot. Workshops teach you exposure. YouTube teaches you composition. College teaches you history. But nobody sits you down and explains the professional norms that separate working photographers from talented hobbyists who can't figure out why clients aren't coming back. These aren't technical skills.

6 of the Best Street and Travel Photography Shoulder Bags

Travel and street photographers need a bag—but something too big draws attention and can become a burden if it's on your shoulder and you're on your feet all day. The other option is a backpack, but they tend to be too big and bulky, and can become a nuisance when you're in a crowd.

10 Things Non-Photographers Say That Drive Us Crazy

Every photographer carries two things at all times: a camera and a mental catalog of phrases that make their eye twitch. These aren't insults. They're worse. They're delivered with complete sincerity by perfectly nice people who have no idea they've just committed a felony against your entire profession. What follows is a support group meeting in article form. 

Do You Really Need a Photo Studio to Make Great Photos?

One of the most common comments we get online is, "One day I'll create when I have a studio." 

So David and I decided to challenge that idea. Over the next 100 days, we are building 25 photo sets inside our attic.

A Practical Guide To Milky Way Photography

Embarking on a journey to capture the night sky can be both exhilarating and challenging. In this article, I will share essential tips and insights from my own astrophotography adventures, guiding you through the intricacies of planning, gear selection, and settings to capture images of the cosmos. 

How to Create a Street Photography Workshop and Actually Make Money

Most photographers assume street photography workshops are only for established names with large followings. If you've spent years working the streets, you already have what people will pay for. The question is whether you're ready to structure that knowledge into something teachable.

 

5 Ways to Make Photo Culling Faster (Without Regretting Your Picks)

Culling is the least glamorous part of any photographer's workflow, and it is also the part most likely to quietly devour your evening. Whether you are trimming a 3,000-frame wedding or whittling down a portrait session, the process of deciding what stays and what goes can stretch from minutes into hours if you let it. The frustrating part is that slow culling rarely produces better results.

10 Things Every Beginner Photographer Should Know

There is a particular kind of frustration that comes in the early months of learning photography. You see images online that move you, you understand on some intuitive level what makes them work, and then you pick up your camera and the results look nothing like what you had in your head.

What Is Photography Actually For?

What is photography even about? What’s the goal? Billions of photos are made every day, shared instantly, and forgotten just as fast. When I first picked up a camera, I struggled to understand where my photos fit into all of that and whether making them mattered at all. 

Why Your Technically Perfect Landscape Photos Still Feel Empty

Photography is currently undergoing a crisis of distinctiveness. Landscape photography, in particular, falls victim to mediocrity: a convergence toward a homogenized aesthetic. In today’s world, where algorithms reward consistency over unique culture, the cookie-cutter approach to landscape photography has become a currency rather than an art form. 

Are We Mistaking Technical Skill for Photographic Art?

Photography once had clearer purposes. Everyday images were made for practical or personal reasons, while others sought to express meaning. Technical prowess was the hallmark of professionals. Now the lines are blurred, and the resulting confusion may be reshaping how we understand photographs. 

What Happened to Sigma's Foveon Sensor? The Most Ambitious Camera Tech We Still Haven't Seen

Somewhere in Sigma's factory complex in Aizu, Japan, the company's sole manufacturing facility, where every Sigma lens and camera is built, there is an engineering team that has been working on a single image sensor for nearly a decade. They have built prototypes, found flaws, gone back to the drawing board, lost their manufacturing partner, and started over.

How To Become a Street Photographer Cliché in 12 Easy Steps

Street photography is a deeply personal pursuit that somehow produces a shocking number of identical results. If you’ve ever wondered how so many photographers end up making the same choices, here are twelve easy steps to help you join them. 

Why Authenticity Is the Most Bankable Aesthetic in Photography Right Now

Cameras can identify human eyes at 30 meters. AI retouching erases decades from a face in seconds. Color grading that required a professional colorist and a full day of work in 2010 now runs automatically on your phone. By every measurable standard, we are living in the most technically perfect era photography has ever produced.