Portraits

For the majority of people, the day after Christmas is usually filled with farewells to extended family members, house cleaning, writing thank you cards, and crashing on the couch to watch the final games of the football season. But for many Americans, the day after Christmas offers a unique opportunity: a chance to head out to the firing range and test the new guns and accessories they received from loved ones. This year, I decided to take my camera out to a local rifle range and document the people and guns who showed up the day after Christmas.

Lumopro has had several flashes on the market, like the LP160 and the wildly popular LP180 of Strobist fame. This fall, however, Lumopro announced a brilliant new unit, the LP180R. As far as specifications, the LP180R is almost identical to the LP180, but there is one key difference that makes it an excellent tool for photographers both experienced and inexperienced.

As a photographer and an artist, one of the most rewarding accomplishments you’ll have is when you see your work featured in some type of way, whether it is in a magazine, an art gallery, an advertisement, etc. In this piece, I will take you behind the scenes of the exciting and riveting experience of a fashion editorial, from the preparation, to the actual shoot, post-processing, and beyond.

Have you ever tried to photograph a black and white portrait, but had trouble getting the results that you were looking for out of camera? Maybe you have played around in Lightroom, or used a simple adjustment layer in Photoshop to convert your image to black and white and adjusted the color channels, but the results were just not dramatic enough for the look that you wanted to achieve. In this tutorial, Andrei Oprinca shows you how to create a dramatic, faded, vintage-looking black and white portrait using Photoshop.

An annual award that TIME magazine started three years ago has chosen it's official 2015 winner. Stacy Kranitz is an Instagram photographer who is most famous for her work in the Appalachia area. The poverty stricken, drug and alcohol filled area is certainly an eye opening subject. But why her in particular?

As photographers, we're used to being behind the camera, contorting and squishing our faces against the viewfinder to get the shot. Wondering what we looked like behind all of that, Richard Johnson used his latest project, "Behind the Mask," to capture the moment when photographers capture a moment.

I have been unfailing in my anti-spoiler vigilance. I haven't watched previews, I haven't read articles, I haven't clicked links. A trailer came on during the finale of Fargo Monday night and I ran from the room with my hands over my ears. I'm taking this seriously. So it was with much trepidation that I finally clicked on this link I've been seeing around for Time Magazine's cover photos featuring the world-renowned R2-D2, and the king of the Weeble Wobbles BB-8.

Cooperative of Photography has brought us this slick little video that gives us a taste of the evolution of camera technology from the past 200 years condensed down into a sub-two minute demonstration. Austrian photographer Leo Rosas executes this project with a single model and 11 portraits, each representing a significant milestone in the development of photographic capture tools starting with the pinhole camera obscura, all the way to the modern cell phone.

Being involved in any creative industry usually guarantees one thing: we’re never happy with the work we produce. At least not for long. We’re constantly striving to better ourselves and the work we’re putting out. And in the age of the internet, we’re consuming more images from other photographers than ever, meaning that it’s all too easy to compare our work to that of our peers. For years I questioned my own shooting style, but here’s why I believe you should learn to love your photographic approach just the way it is.

Recently, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with photographer Noah Abrams. I talked with him about his work, some ongoing projects, and his day to day life. Noah grew up skateboarding in Columbus, Ohio. He also mentioned to me that he never truly considered photography as a career until later into his 20's, although he had dabbled with it for years throughout high school and college. To learn all of this, I began with a question that many people have for working photographers: where did your initial interest in photography come from?

Have you ever wondered how to create dramatic cross or Rembrandt lighting using only one light source? In this short, concise, three minute video, photographer and retoucher Glyn Dewis explains exactly how to create this look using one light. Whether you are using a giant octabox or a simple speedlight with a flash bender, Dewis shows you how to achieve this look with enough light to slightly spill onto the other side of the subjects face as well as how to check your lighting before even firing a shot.

Fstoppers is adding a little something extra to this week's episode of "Critique the Community." We are inviting everyone to submit your lifestyle photography images for review. This means your images shouldn't just be portraits of people, they need to be images of people in action or living some sort of life. Like we've done in the past, we will be choosing 20 images give our thoughts and feedback to. In addition to our normal critique, we will also be giving away two camera bags to two individuals who will be randomly chosen from the critiqued image pool. Submissions must be made by Sunday, December 13th.

What's your response when you're told that you're beautiful? Eighteen year-old photographer and student, Shea Glover, decided to "film what I thought was beautiful." Without intending to, she has conducted an amazing social experiment on the effect of simple positivity and a compliment. The reactions are perfect!

It is understandable that many beginners new to taking photos often get impatient when learning photography. Learning this craft is a process and involves the gradual addition of techniques that will eventually turn into second nature. We all get “the bug” and want to learn anything and everything as soon as possible, it’s natural. There are all sorts of elements that factor in to a well composed final image. The fact of the matter is, we’re all still learning new things from our experiences that we encounter.

No stranger to unique and challenging photography pursuits, Ben VonWong's latest adventure sent him across the Western United States in search of summer thunderstorms, with an entourage of assistants, filmmakers, and models helping along the way. VonWong shared this behind-the-scenes video, but also some insightful information as to the conversation he hopes to start– one about the seriousness of climate change.

Portrait and Wedding Photographer Jordan Voth joins me for this month's exclusive chat, in which I ask him about his signature move of taking clients out into some of the most beautifully scenic backdrops I've ever seen.

The world’s best photographers are defined by their styles. For example, you can instantly look at an image by Martin Schoeller or Annie Leibovitz and recognize what you’re seeing. Their work is distinctly theirs. I believe that a big part of a photographer's success lies in finding this style. It may not come easily to everyone, however.

Retouched Magazine, the interactive magazine from retoucher and beauty photographer Julia Kuzmenko McKim, has recently announced that they are also now available in PDF format. The magazine brings some of the most talented and experienced photographers and retouchers together to teach and share their insight into the field of retouching. Topics from the pro tools and methods for retouching, building your portfolio, and being successful in the field of retouching. Articles come from the top photographers and retouchers in the world including Pratik Naik, Benjamin Von Wong, and Joel Grimes.

Everyone wants to look their best when they are in front of the camera. Most people practice in front of a mirror to get their perfect "photo face" nailed down but did you know that your shoulder and arm positioning can actually make you look thin in one photo and fat in another? Headshot photographer Peter Hurley has released his latest photo slimming tip video and it is called "hold your sub."

Back in October I posted a portrait of myself that quickly became the most popular photo on my entire Facebook feed for 2015. The image was never meant to be anything other than a test shot for a few lenses we were reviewing but people kept asking how I created it. In this Fstoppers video, I will show you a common lighting setup every photographer should know and how you too can achieve this simple look with your clients.

As a fashion and catalog photographer moire is an issue I am all too familiar with. These days, as more and more cameras opt to do without the low pass filter, you might find yourself dealing with moire in some unfortunate places. Adorama has put together a wonderful video that explains moire, how to avoid it before taking a shot, and how to deal with it after the shot has already been captured.

Moustaches and Beards. The ultimate sign of masculinity, or so some say. Every year there is a National Competition, "The Just for Men National Beard and Moustache Championship presented by Hanes X-Temp," to show off all of hard work of beard connoisseurs. Photographer Cristopher Benitah was there to capture the show.

If, like me, you've found your niche within photography and now shoot a lot of similar projects, it's easy to fall into the trap of sticking with what you know. Here are some of the things I find helpful in staying inspired when shooting portraits.

Veterans Day comes and goes each year and for many of us, it doesn’t extend too far beyond Facebook shout-outs to our friends and family who have served in the military. Perhaps it’s the introverted nature of our times, but it does seem like an adequate show of support. Or does it?

Nevada-based Photographer Tim Conzachi showed us this week that photographers can be doing so much more.

With Veterans Day having just passed, there are a lot of thanks and praises going around to our past service members. We all give our gratitude in different ways. Photographer Louis Amore decided to create a series of portraits focusing on mostly elderly veterans. Amore said that the Remembrance Parade last year inspired him to create this series in order to preserve their memory and show thanks for their sacrifice.

A couple weeks ago, we asked the Fstoppers Community to submit their swimwear images for a special episode of "Critique the Community" with Dixie Dixon. Patrick met up with Dixie and went through 20 images of the submissions to give their thoughts on the quality of each image according to the Fstoppers rating system and how the images could be improved. Check out the image selection below and add your thoughts and ratings to the comments below.

A few weeks ago we offered to critique a handful of head shot photographs from the Fstoppers Community. Patrick Hall and Peter Hurley sat and gave their feedback for 18 images. Since there were so many submissions for this genre of photography, Lee and I decided to add on an extra round of critique for the photos that were submitted. Check out the images we chose below and add your own thoughts and critique to the comments.

Hey, friends! I recently shot in a natural light studio and thought I would share some tips on indoor natural light for those of you who are interested. Enjoy!

Here's something pretty cool. Canon Australia has created a thing they call The Lab, described as "a series of experiments that are designed to take you out of your comfort zone, and get you thinking — and shooting — in a different way." Their first experiment, DECOY, involves having six photographers shoot the same man, but they are each told a different story about the actor's background.