Community Photos

Jim Colton of the National Press Photographer's Association is publishing a three-part primer on the Perfect Portfolio on the NPPA web site this week. While the series is tailored to emerging photojournalists, all photographers could take a few tips away from the series. With advice from award-winning photographers as well as photo editors, art buyers and curators, the primer explores the fundamentals of editing, sequencing and presenting your strongest work.

Astrophotography is one of the most interesting types of photography, but it is also one of the rarest ones. Shooting galaxies, stars and planets is among the the hardest forms of photography, and in order to do it you need to get the right equipment, and also the knowledge and techniques.

Eduard Zhikharev, lead motion designer at Transparent House in San Francisco, created a interesting conceptual series Shining, a body of work that depicts glowing figures from street scenes that his wife Olga Tsybulina had photographed one day. I reached out to Eduard after running across the work on Behance and asked him about the series.

If the guy wasn't already talented enough, now Brad Pitt is showing off his ability to shoot photos of his gorgeous "wife" and family using black and white film. The photos are quite spectacular and give us all an interesting insight into his life behind closed doors. You will want to see these.

Posing multiple people can be a difficult task as it is, but throw in parkour performers into the mix and the shoot can quickly become tedious, but if done correctly the results can turn out nothing short of amazing. In this video Benjamin Von Wong walks you through the lighting set up he used to bring a three dimensional feel to the photographs. He also explains the different composing techniques he uses to get the posing and composition spot on for the shoot.

One of the most frustrating things that can happen in photography is seeing a perfect moment and snagging a shot, only to get back to your computer and find out the picture was barely out of focus. As a wedding photographer, I can't count how many times my couple has been composed perfectly with that magic moment that only lasts one frame, and my autofocus drags away from their eyes. To be fair, there is a lot of human error that goes into focus problems. However, did you know the problem doesn't always lie in the user?

We received over 1000 submissions from our readers to our new POTD contest, and yes, we looked at every single one of them. There were some brilliant entries and it was incredibly tough to select the top 30 for the month of April, but they've all been chosen, and you can check out the gallery here

Beauty retouching can be an arduous task in any photographer's workflow. The amount of detail that can go into retouching a glamor portrait can easily run into several hours. Learning the secrets of the pros can be even more difficult. Julia Kuzmenko McKim has made learning easy with her new book entitled  'Digital Photo Retouching: Beauty, Fashion and Portrait Photography'

David Stephenson used multiple techniques to photograph the night sky in his series Star Drawings. The lines and shapes created by the earth's rotation make for interesting views of the stars and dark sky above.

His technique is a blend of interval exposures and multiple long exposures giving each of the photographs in his series a unique look. Stephenson says he is drawn to the awesome vastness of time and space, referring to his practice as a search for a photographic sublime.

A photographer and digital artist by the name of Terrence Blanton has released a new website and photo series called "Eagle Faction" that is explosive and very influenced by Call of Duty and Battlefield. Terrence got ahold of a local Airsoft team to help create a fictional series about a team of former military and outdoorsmen that band together to help salvage their local territory of America after a collapse and invasion in the year 2023.

Aaron Nace from PHLEARN wanted to make an image that was based on the idea of a future where the sun had become so bright that humans would be forced to see the world through technologically-advanced glasses. Watch how they went from concept drawing to finished photo in their most recent tutorial.

Since last November I have been shooting a photo series titled 'Comedic Value' which consists of NYC comedians shot in NYC locations for NYC charity, Art-Start. Of the 25 comics featured in the project, 1 of my favorite shoots was with Jim Gaffigan and his fantastic family. When discussing concepts with Jim, he mentioned that he needed a shot of him and his kids for his new book, 'Dad Is Fat' which will be out next month.

Earlier today Zach Sutton posted a creative way to use baby powder as a smoke replacement for your photoshoots. Now we're taking that to a different level. Have you ever tried to shoot powder as just, you know, plain powder? By throwing powder (flour, baby powder or color pigments) on your models, you can get some very creative results. Check out these great examples found on Flickr and get inspired.

People create photo series for a number of different reasons. Sometimes you come up with an idea and pursue it while others just fall into your lap unexpectedly. For portrait photographer Willis Bretz the Washington D.C. metrorail system is where his series was brought to life or rather awakened from other commuters' slumber. We sit down and talk about his series entitled, 'Sleep in Transit'.

The Overseas Press Club of America is an organization who recognizes photojournalist and photographers for exceptional reporting in the photography medium. Since 1939 the OPC has seeked to maintaining an international association of journalist working abroad and here in the United States. Last night, they awarded 4 different photographers with awards of exceptionalism.

As one of the writers here at Fstoppers I do quite a bit of scouring the internet trying to find the best 'behind the scenes' videos to share with our readers. Sadly much of what I see lacks content, rather it is most commonly just a music video of a photographer on a shoot. Fortunately, this video by Simeon Quarrie documenting his shoot in Italy is quite the opposite. Packed with great information and lots of tips this video is worth checking out. Read on to see a lighting diagram and some of the photos from the shoot.

Social media has progressed to a point where anyone can personalize their online experience. Through your own network of friends and filters, "Likes" and "Shares" now prioritize funny or relevant content for you and those you share commonalities with. Talenthouse now seeks to utilize that method of content sharing to popularize your artistic capability. The site is designed to set apart the best of the best in any category of art through popular vote.

This post contains nudity.

Phillip Toledano's series A New Kind of Beauty, is a harrowing look at individuals who go through an extreme amount of plastic surgery to modify their bodies.

"I’m interested in what we define as beauty, when we choose to create it ourselves. Beauty has always been a currency, and now that we finally have the technological means to mint our own, what choices do we make?" 

Last week, exactly 2 months after the Superbowl 'Unflattering photos' fiasco, Beyoncé started her 'Mrs. Carter Show' world tour. As someone who followed the 'Unflattering' story very closely, and as someone who is a big fan of hers, I had no doubt Beyoncé and her publicist will learn from their mistakes on how to deal with bad pictures taken of her, and wont make horrible mistakes again. I was wrong. Beyoncé banned all professional photographers from her shows, hoping this way no unflattering photos will make it to mainstream media. She was wrong.

Using just basic props and a lot of attention to detail, French photographer, Cerise Doucede has manage to create images that captivate, and inspire. In the series entitled “Egarements” (French for distraction), Cerise has spent approximately 3 days of prep time for each photo, creating images of levitation that boggle the mind.

Just the other day a buddy introduced me to hypersync via this video from PocketWizard featuring Chris Garrison. Hypersync is technology in PocketWizard FlexTT5's and MiniTT1's which enables you to sync your camera with big studio strobes at speeds up to 1/8000 with certain setups. PocketWizard has more information on hypersync over at their site. This video is pretty long (over an hour) but Chris walks you through several of his setups as well as talks about how he got his career to where it is now.

As someone who spends a lot of time looking at photos online - if it's on Flickr, Facebook or Tumblr - I come across hundreds of photos of couples every month. The problem is: the photos are almost always kitschy, boring and make you feel sick inside. You know what i'm talking about. This is why I chose to feature some great images of couples that will actually make you stop and think. Maybe even smile.

After the initial shock of Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon social media on the internet ran non-stop to try to help find the suspects responsible. The only problem, they pointed to the wrong people. Redditors have been crowd-sourcing and deconstructing photos that the FBI has released and cross referencing them to photos found on social media sites.

There is that popular phrase that goes "the best camera you have is the one on you." That phrase has never been more true in this day and age with considerably powered cell phone cameras living in the pockets of nearly every person you might come across. Even as professionals with thousands of dollars in gear, sometimes we will find ourselves in a situation we shoot on our mobile cameras, whether by choice or by circumstance. I spoke to the product manager of Lightroom to get his take on the best ways to bring the most out of your iPhone images.

When I saw this series of photos from Rob Turney, I dismissed them as photographs because they looked computer generated. It turned out that I was completely wrong when I read the description of how they were made. They were beyond brilliant. What's even better is the 'how to' video Rob pointed me toward.

Adobe just released a teaser video for their May 6th event where they will announce few new products and features. In this video they show one of their new tools for Photoshop - "Camera Shake Reduction". This tool will allow photographers to save photos that were always considered as garbage - photos taken in a rush, or in low-light situations. The tool analyzes the photo, and deblur it to make it sharp.

Owing to the success of our April POTD Contest, where we received over 1000 awesome submissions from readers all over the world, we are happy to now announce the contest for the month of May. In order to have a shot at a gift certificate worth $100 to B&H Photo & Video, be sure to check out the full post for details about how to submit and what to submit.

Noam Galai recently wrote an article showing us how to use reverse image searching like Google Images and TinEye to see where your images are being used online. Today I used reverse image searching to prove that my ex-girlfriend is a liar.

A good photographer or videographer depends on good lighting to create a shot. Lighting creates the mood of any scene and sets the stage for the story you're trying to tell. In an unusual but entrancing method, Nacho Guzman creates a dramatic scene and shows how quickly light can change the mood and expression on a woman's face. Although the woman in the video only moves her face subtly over time, the rotating light around her causes striking mood shifts in the image.

Denver photographer Michael Sasser got some attention when this behind the scenes video showed how a simple setup could produce some great portraits. He dropped a new video, so I reconnected with him to see what he has been working on. Turns out he has a new slow-motion video camera, and is now offering video production to clients. This video will give you a taste of one of his shoots, and in the interview Michael shares some insight on his methods, gear, and experiences.

Guest writer, Adrienne Erin is an amateur photographer/designer and freelance writer who does social media marketing and has found that Pinterest is a fantastic social space to market a photo business, given the visual nature of the platform. She has shared 5 simple steps at how to get started on Pinterest.

Pinterest is the most visual of the emerging social media platforms, and this makes it an ideal platform for a photography business looking to reach new clients. If you're unfamiliar with Pinterest, it serves as a sort of virtual pinboard.

Jonathan Smith is a chemist from Indiana who captures colorful light bulbs exploding at high speeds. Smith recently told Flickr in an interview “I needed something to balance out the analytical part of my brain, something that I could control and have fun doing.”

Smith packs the light bulbs with everything from feathers, ball barrings, marbles, chalk dust, sprinkles, flower peddles and even beer bottle caps. The bottom of the bulbs

Have you ever wondered how dance companies and productions get those amazing photographs of their artists in perfectly posed dance stances? Well, Benjamin Von Wong has recently thrown some light over the intricate process of lighting and shooting a complex dance campaign. 

Who doesn't like a little artsy nudity now and again? The guys at PHLEARN certainly aren't against it in their latest tutorial that teaches one of the many methods for this type of photography.

I know you all have seen tons of life style photographers, all the happy, smiley shots of girls wearing weird, fashionable clothing. However, I think each photographer who shoots these is able to tell a different story with them. Joseph Tyler is one of these photographer who is able to tell a different story then the others. These shots are not all happy, smiley, and fun looking. They are more on the serious side of things which is a nice little change from the ordinary life style shots.

Kevin Jairaj, wedding and sports photographer based in Dallas, is usually shooting for USA Today Sports Images or for different unknown couples. Recently Kevin was hired by one of the most famous girls in the world to shoot her new set of images, for her own portfolio. Her name is McKayla Maroney, and she has more Olympic Gold medals than you. Check out the BTS video, and the final results.

Venus is the Roman goddess who encompassed the concept of beauty, love and various other traits. She embodies all that is beautiful about a woman. Now, if you took the classical definition of beauty and brought her over to our age today where everything is retouched to 'perfection', what would she look like ? 

Extreme action photographer Alexandre Socci and a team of professional kayakers Pedro Oliva, Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic do not seem to fear much.

The crew can be seen here pushing the boundaries by paddling through Hawaiian waters to get up close to Kilauea Volcano, one of the world's most active volcanoes. The footage and stills were created for a television show out

To say that I have been absent from writing lately is a slight understatement. In all reality I have been absent from life in general. I have been sitting on planes listening to podcasts more than I have been sitting at bars listening to friends. All for one giant campaign: "Give Me Strength" by Muscle Milk.

Photojournalist David Eulitt recently completed Punching Back Time, a series of photographs that features senior athletes who at seasoned ages, strap on gloves and spar in the ring.

The boxers were participants in the 2nd Annual Ringside Masters Championship boxing tournament, a competition for amateur boxers ranging in ages from 35 to 75. 

Multiple exposures is not a new technique in photography. Though uncommon now in the digital era, multiple exposure is the art of double exposing film in order to create interesting and unique results. With the latest DSLRs, this tool is now found tucked away in your camera settings, and is perhaps your camera’s best kept secret.

It is always inspiring when when we are able to view things unseen by the human eye. Thanks to Jean-Pierre Aube, we are able to see the radiofrequency spectrum. The radiofrequency spectrum is at the heart of telecommunications, used by police, emergency personnel and public transport services, as well as the armed forces.

If you're a photographer who likes to keep track of your images, and know who has used it and how, this post is for you. In the past, photographers had no real way to search for their photos online and finding illegal uses of those images was almost impossible - unless they came across it by chance. Today with reverse imaging technology by TinEye and Google Images, you can find all the different uses of your photos and in seconds. Here are five tips and tricks on how to find even more of your images online.

Shooting underwater is not a simple task, and usually not very affordable. To shoot underwater you need not only the knowledge, but also expensive DSLR housing (or point and shoot cameras designed to shoot underwater) and also underwater lighting system if you want to fully control the lighting. Once you get underwater with your subject, the water lets you create striking and beautiful images, that you can never create out in the fresh air. Check out these great examples of underwater photography.

Visual effects have been a huge part of the movie industry since well... movies began. Adding that extra little touch of magic makes a movie that much better and there are millions of ways to do that.

Photoshelter is hosting a webinar featuring retoucher Kristina Sherk this week, and to advertise the webinar they posted an animated gif showing before and after Sherk got her hands on the image. I was shocked, as Sherk not only easily erased 10 years off the model, but even more amazingly did it without making it look fake.

David Oliete has shot some amazing photos at the Concurs de Castells, a biannual human castle building competition held in Tarragona, Spain.

Oliete's position, along with the colorfully adorned participants make for a unique perspective of the event. The photographs showcase some of the astonishing feats of human determination that goes into building

Every week Benjamin Von Wong releases a new behind the scenes video for your viewing pleasure and this week is no different. I find that Ben is probably one of the most talented conceptual photographers that likes to use fire in his photographs, but this week he decided to switch it up a bit and the results are stunning, to say the least.

In Michael Wolf’s latest photography series, entitled ‘Architecture of Density’, the urban landscapes of Hong Kong are explored. While his photos in the series rarely contain people, creative angles, or any context, they still manage to provide a mind-blowing look into the haunting and seemingly endless buildings of mega city Hong Kong.

Nick Saglimbeni is back with an all new episode and photo set of his imaginative series, SlickForceGirl. This time Nick shoots model Nazanin Mandi in a espionage-themed role in which apparently Nick kept secret even from her until it was time to start shooting. What's wonderful about this series is that a portion of all of the proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Charities of America (BCCA) for their iGoPink campaign. Way to use creativity to help spread good works.