Fstoppers Originals

Sometimes the only things standing between us and achieving our photography dreams is... ourselves. 

They are always so beautiful up on the wall. We live in an age dominated by the disposability of digital images. Where one’s thrift when swiping left or right on a phone is considered a skill set. Where its often said that if an image doesn’t exist online, it doesn’t… exist.

It's going to happen. You're going to mess something up or you're going to get the impossible-to-please client. Knowing how to deal with the inevitable when it hits is key to preserving both your business and your sanity. 

The third and final sunrise in this series was by far the easiest to pull off and the most successful. Once again our setting is on a family vacation, except this time it featured Grandparents. Close your eyes (after the sentence of course) and imagine yourself alone about to enjoy a sunrise all to yourself on a beautiful beach in Cape Cod, MA.

I pride myself on bringing ideas to life using minimal equipment and whilst working on low budgets. I’m also in the process of setting up my second photography-related business, so I don’t currently have a ton of expendable income to splash on new gear. However, I recently invested in a cheap set of portable lights I found on eBay for a little over $200.

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. 

Constructive Criticism is a unicorn in online photography groups; much sought after, but rarely found. Good constructive criticism, or CC as it's often referred to, can be some of the most helpful and growth inducing feedback a photographer can receive but, in the wrong hands, it can be a sword that cuts confidence to ribbons.

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?

If you follow the super-brand Gucci on their social networks, especially Instagram, you would've noticed them posting memes. Instagram is a photography and video platform, but there is quite a considerable amount of humor profiles with followings that most of us dream of achieving.  

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.

Dodging and burning is an art in itself when used to clean up images. For example, when retouching beauty shots or portraits, it can take a really long time and require a high level of precision to yield beautiful results. What’s extremely frustrating is that our viewers and clients often don’t understand how much really goes into such work.

The National Park Service in the United States is one of the few organizations to have made clear policies regarding the use of drones, or small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) on their property. Yet some people continue to ignore these rules, and it’s only going to make things harder for the rest of us if this trend continues. 

Seldom is as much thought given to what the subject will wear than when preparing for a newborn photography session. Clients will often choose a color scheme to complement the baby room, or will select a relatively neutral palette, so that the finished artwork will look appropriate in any room.

If there's one thing I've learned from scoring films, it's that the importance of the interplay between music and moving pictures cannot be overstated. Here's how to choose the right music for your video.  

(Beware that some might find some of these clips graphic or disturbing.)

Photographers typically spend a lot of time thinking about color, everything from editing in Photoshop, calibrating a screen, or lighting with gels and filters, to deciding on wardrobe, set design, and locations. There is no escaping the importance of color in this profession, and yet the way we see and describe color is not so simple.

This week, I acquired a shiny new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, which surpasses all cameras in its class when it comes to speed. This is thanks to the advanced silent electronic shutter mode. And this got me thinking, will there come a day when the electronic shutter will ever fully replace the mechanical shutter? And do we want it to? 

I recently posted an article about getting the most from the Fujifilm X system cameras. One of the points of discussion and contention that came up in the comments was that of autofocus. Other issues, such as flash system and software support were also raised. The flash system is a matter of needs. All manual systems are supported and HSS/TTL is also becoming more fully developed.

When starting out in photography, the number one obstacle I encountered was finding opportunities to learn from mentors.

I think it’s safe to say that we are all photographers because we love photography. I know I do, and I am so thankful that I am able to wake up every day and make money doing something that I love. However, like any other job, you’re going to run into an occasional gig that might not be right up your alley.

Lincoln, NE: A local photographer is causing a ruckus in his city's Facebook photographers group after he claimed he could shoot a better version of an image another photographer posted.  

Potential leads may not book you for many reasons. Maybe you are out of budget completely for them, maybe your style is not on par with what they wanted, or perhaps it was just not the right time for them. Knowing how to work with your leads can help create a solid stream of clients to book you solid throughout the year. 

One of the most obvious telltale signs of an unprofessional commercial or product image is color. The most famous and readily cited issue is color grading, but it's not the only problem and the uniformity of color is often neglected. That is, the even color of the object or two objects' colors truly matching.

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.

Apple’s MacBook Air isn’t long for this world. When Apple announced its new lineup of MacBook Pros in October, absent from the update party was the MacBook Air. In fact, Apple quietly removed the 11-inch model from the website around the same time, leaving only the 13 inch to soldier on for the time being.

In the world of film and commercial video work, there are so many working components that need to come together in order to have a successful production. So when it comes to bringing all those components together, you want it to be as smooth and simple as possible to minimize stress and streamline efficiency so that production does not fall behind schedule.