Community Photos

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

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.

After Bar Refaeli took over the Superbowl with her controversial commercial, Bar found time to do something she never did before: pose nude for a magazine shoot. The magazine that paid her to do that is currently unknown, but somehow the photos leaked earlier today. Check out the BTS and the final results in the post.  

Fabian Oefner’s latest series entitled Black Hole shows us a world of paint, drills, and motion, all within 1/40,000th of a second. While high speed photography is nothing new, the art of it is still underground, as its still incredibly expensive. Oefner’s newest work uses high speed photography to show us a world of color that our eyes normally could not process. 

Double Exposure is something most of us who ever had a film camera experienced at least once. By accident. It happened when the film got stuck, or when we used a used film again by mistake.

Most people think lifestyle photography is over rated. Just pictures of people hanging out having a good time and thats about it. Technically, yes that is it. However, it's more than just that. It's not that easy to just have the shots look like people hanging out. They have to work well with each other, you have to be able to tell a story with the images, show emotions, ect.

Over the last 48 hours I have looked at these photos time and time again. I have shared them with my wife and daughter. I have been touched tremendously and my water-filled eyes have been opened to the daily struggles and emotions those face who are fighting cancer.

So, what happens when you bring two very popular themes in photography, fashion and pyrotechnics, together? A combustion of epicness emerges on your screen. Fstoppers favorite, Benjamin Von Wong, is at it again, and this time he's brought along a few friends to help create the stunning images you see in the video.

Mirrors. Something each one of us owns. Most people use it to make sure they look OK, but some people use it to create awesome portraits. Using a mirror can give depth to your image, give you more detail you'll never get without it. It shows you things that are usually hidden from the camera.

The photo a day project is something that has been done now hundreds of times. You know the one, in which a person snaps a photo of themselves every day and combines it all together into one video. While I have seen a number of these videos before, I have never seen one quite like this.

If you're familiar with Fstoppers, you'll know our love for Benjamin Von Wong. We've featured him so many times over the past couple of years on our site. We just can't help ourselves! With his equally educational and entertaining BTS videos, everyone seems to love them.

There is no specific way to define what 'moody' portraits are, but when you see one you know it's under that category. It could be the lighting, it could be the tone (usually blue and green), or just the body form and expression. Whatever it is, it makes you stop and think. Makes you feel something.

*Edit* Since writing this article I have since moved from PASS to Pixieset as my online gallery of choice for my clients. You can read more about why I feel Pixieset is the best solution here, "Top 10 Reasons Pixieset Makes Sense for Professional Photographers."

Today Facebook held a press conference at their Menlo Park headquarters to announce changes to the News Feed. While in the past Facebook has taken heat each time a change has been made, I have a feeling users are really going to love what's in store.

Creating panoramas with your DSLR is not too hard to do, but it takes time and effort, and it's something you dont always want to spend time on. Also, we photographers don't always take our equipment with us everywhere we go. With the (kind of) new iOS its now easier than ever to create on-the-fly panoramas on your phone. Easy as snapping a picture.

Personal feeling: we don’t give our websites enough attention. It’s usually a “good enough” situation. It shows our photos, gets our name on Google and it serves as a place for us to send clients and prospects. That attitude tends to result in an attitude of “settling.” We settle for what we find and it is, again, good enough. Or is it?

If you've ever wondered how photographers stitch together elaborate sequences of sports maneuvers, here's your answer. Pete Webb takes some of his snowboarding shots and offers us a detailed walk through on how to composite such an image in post.

Just recently a friend of mine posted some rather stunning images on his Facebook page. While vacationing in Vegas, Réjean Brandt, a very talented fashion photographer from Canada decided to take the opportunity to organize a portfolio shoot.

Lighting is one of my favorite things to play with on a shoot. Creative lighting can really give you're photography a large edge over just shooting natural/ambient light. I love using lights, because I am always growing and learning new techniques. This week I will walk you through the relatively simple setup for one of my favorite shots in my portfolio.

Magic lantern is by far the best thing to happen to the DSLR cameras. It offers so many options not given to you by the normal Canon firmware that it should be sin not to install it. This is a quick little walkthrough on how I use ML for easy, accurate free-lensing.  

I have had quite a few people ask about my skin smoothing ways. Its really, really simple. I use Imaginomics Portraiture 2 and have figured out how to get it so it smooths the tones instead of all the texture. So if you use Portraiture, follow along and stop killing your textures!  

For a quick look at the settings, they go in this order:

Car photography can be done in many different ways using different techniques. Some people like shooting it with gelled strobes, some like to lightpaint it or just shoot with available light. There is no one right way to do it.

The finalists for the 3D category of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards were announced today. Selected by the judges from the World Photography Organization, the three finalists are: Michele Abramo Puricelli (aka Michael Abraham) from Italy, Matjaž Tančič from Slovenia and Nick Saglimbeni, USA, who won the 3D Photographer of the Year title in 2012, the award’s inaugural year.  

Last week I tried my hand at emulating Martin Schoeller's portrait lighting with a single bare-bulb speedlite. Though the experiment was technically a failure, it still produced a nice portrait. Since then, I have tried two more lighting scenarios before finally nailing it on the fourth (please excuse my OCD tendancies) and final attempt. 

Patric Bergkvist is making a strong case as one of the better Swedish liquid photographers with his fantastic handle on the ideal lighting in very humble shooting spaces. We featured his exploding coffee and milk photo tutorial in early February and now he is back showing how to make a perfect shot of Whiskey. Photo that is.  

I've always found that photos that capture and freeze rain to be exceedingly interesting. Rain gives the photo depth and a moodier feel, but usually you have to wait for a storm to blow through your area, or invest in a rain machine. No longer. Benjamin Von Wong has figured out a way to create those wonderfully drenched and moody shots without even stepping outdoors. 

Some people love filters. I personally really like neutral density filters and I know there are those who swear by UV filters. For those of us who love these little glass lens enhancers, we have to separate from that love when we use ultra wide-angle lenses. That is, we used to.

I have had quite a few people ask how I achieved this look. So I figured I would do a quick little photoshop tutorial on it to help you guys out! It is much much easier then you think. Hope you enjoy!  

Written version:

1. Duplicate current layer (CMD+J)

2.Double click layer.

3.Turn off green and blue channels.

The Aurora Borealis (Also known as "The Northern Lights") is a light glow of the upper atmosphere caused by energetic particles that enter the atmosphere. There are 2 main colors associated with the glow: Green and Red, but because of limits of the human eye, we cant always see the red aurora.

The other day Phlearn came up with a way to emulate Martin Schoeller's portrait lighting. I have been wanting to lock down Schoeller's technique for years now, so when I saw Phlearn's post, I was stoked. And they did a fantastic job. I even learned their cool Photoshop technique of adding natural looking highlights and shadows.

Early in February of 2013, Rovio announced a new side project called "Angry Birds Superstars," which juxtaposed athletes with the hugely popular Angry Birds imagery. Though there likely are more on the way, Rovio has started the project with NHL Stanley Cup champion Anže Kopitar and NBA All-Star Veteran Andrew Bynum, both photographed by Jere Hietala. The point? Because it’s fun and awesome.

"What If My Red Is Your Green?" is a question I ask myself for many years now. As a photographer this question/issue was always on my mind: I work so hard to get (what I see as) the perfect colors, and what I see as beautiful, but I have no way to know if the colors I see are the same colors you see. We all agree that red is red, and green is green.

Guest Writer, Paul Monaghan is a self taught photographer based just out side of Glasgow in Scotland who has has been shooting for the better part of six years. When he first started, he would shoot everything around him from landscapes, people and concerts. Eventually, he found his way to birds.  

Niko Tavernise has every portrait photographers dream job. Well at least my dream job. He hangs out on movie sets and takes pictures of what he sees. And what he sees are the top actors of our time in impeccable costumes and makeup, on sets that are pre-lit by masters in lighting.

If you've dug through your camera's settings a few times, you've likely ran into the Color Space setting. You may have asked another photographer what it all means, and they've probably just told you to set it to one or the other, and forget about it. However, both sRGB and AdobeRGB have their advantages and disadvantages, so how do you distinguish one from the other? 

Architectural (and real-estate) photography is one of the most challenging and technical types of photography. In most cases, the goal is to get a clean shot with perfect lighting showing the place at its best and "sell" it to the viewer. It usually means the photo will show the location in a wide-'normal' angle and without distortion.

Martin Schoeller is a very successful portrait photographer whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, Outside Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, GQ, Esquire, and Vogue. The style of these portraits is beautifully simple regardless of the nature of the person in front of the lens, and the guys at PHLEARN wanted to try and recreate his unique style.  

It is pretty common knowledge that photography is based on understanding the principles of good lighting. It's also pretty common for the average photographer not to have the budget to afford a studio and light their subject from 8 different directions. Instead of worrying about not having enough, use the natural light you do have. 

For reasons unknown, I receive many calls to photograph pseudo reality TV shows more than almost anything other than athletic campaigns. Like sports, I try not to watch the shows I photograph. It is not out of disrespect for what the celebs and athletes are doing, but rather I want to remain distant from the connotations put upon them from commentators or editors.

Israeli based photographer Dima Vazinovich is specializing in news, documentary and wedding photography. One thing that separates him from other photographers in the industry is the unique and creative look his photography has. Recently Dima decided to try adding a new kind of look to his portfolio, and the results are truly amazing.

When dealing with a client’s project I will bend over backwards, even do summersaults and cartwheels if they ask. I will give 100% before, during and after the photo shoot to take their ideas or concepts and do what I can to knock it out of the park for a client. Sometimes the photographs end up in the portfolio, other times the photographs do not make the cut.

I really like the team at PLEARN because they consistently come up with great photo shoot concepts, but they don't just leave it at that. They also show you have to make those images yourself in a casual yet informative manner.

As photographers we always look for that different angle, something that will make our images unique and special. Sometimes it means laying down on the floor, and sometimes it means renting a helicopter or a drone. Shooting from high-up is not only different and interesting, its also unique and pretty rare. Check out this great collection of Bird-Eye view images found on Flickr.  

So, how do you shoot at the legendary Disney Concert Hall without breaking their rule of 'No Professional Photography'? You do it with finesse. Benjamin Von Wong was faced with the task of shooting the Trio Dinicu at the location without looking like a professional photographer.

A month or so ago I was touring NBC's studios at 30 Rock with a friend of mind who works on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and he introduced me to the show's photographer, Lloyd Bishop. After meeting Lloyd I checked out his work online and discovered that this guy has an impressive portfolio!

So much is done as computer graphics these days that I've grown to really respect photographers who still want to truly make an image. Last week Fstoppers twitter follower Patric Bergkvist asked us to take a look at an image he made, and I'm glad we did.  

David Loftus has been working with food television star, Jamie Oliver, for over 15 years taking dynamic imagery of the culinary masterpieces that Jamie creates in his kitchen. In this behind the scenes video David is shooting with the Nikon D4.

Man-made air pollution is everywhere and it's woeful. There is no one we can blame for it. we all contribute to the destruction of our world - if its by using cars, smoking or using different kinds of sprays. But as any bad thing, man-made air pollution can help creating striking images that are both beautiful and sad.