It's been a little while so I reasoned some new free Photoshop Actions were in order! As you may recall, I create Actions based on simple processes I find myself doing regularly in my retouching workflow, mostly in the interest of convenience and efficiency. Today, however, I've essentially updated a previous Action I gave away, now dubbed Smart Flare. Let's break down what it does and why.
2016 has been a year that has seen Joey L plunged in to unusual situations. His name is usually associated with is masterful lighting and portrait style of A-List celebrities. Then, in October this year Joey reached out to me about his work for the legendary Lavazza calendar which a more travel orientated series of portraiture. Now, Joey has gone one step further and taken his beautiful image style and applied it to a crisis in Qayyara in Iraq.
The 2017 edition of the Pirelli Calendar has finally been revealed in Paris, and in the words of Al Green, it is simply beautiful. Shot by German Photographer Peter Lindbergh, it features actresses Robin Wright, Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman, and Lupita Nyong’o amongst others. It has been titled “Emotional.” Expect to see nakedness in a different way, because the calendar of this year was all about “stripping down to the very soul of the sitters” without shedding all their clothes.
The arts — very much including photography — under the umbrella of expression and free speech can explore the boundaries of what is acceptable. Often these boundaries are harmless and prompt little more than a debate regarding the meta of the relevant discipline. Occasionally, however, the debate is darker in nature as the boundary being pushed is one of moral significance. The photographer and director David Hamilton was somewhat of a permanent resident of such debate and his suspected suicide recently has brought a number of questions to fruition.
I am a firm believer that the very first minutes of interaction between two people is a breaking point for their collaboration. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, you have an obligation to create a trustworthy bond, even if both of you are meant to know each other for only a couple of hours. This is especially crucial for portrait photography. The easiest way to start is being polite. A welcoming smile will break the ice and let you make a comfortable zone for both you and your subject.
London-based photographer Harry Skeggs began his love affair with traveling at the age of 17 with what he describes as a "rubbish little camera." He says it was his disappointment with the quality of the images that pushed him to seek out better. Here, we take a look at some of his finest wildlife images from around the world.
Wedding photography has evolved into a stunning genre of photography. Photographers across the globe are bringing a level of creativity to wedding photography that elevates the images into something more than just photo-documentation.
Peter Hurley, father of the squinch, has a great new tip for people on both sides of the camera. This quick video demonstrates a way for tall people to still look good while being photographed next to someone more height challenged. The days of hunching are over; All hail the spread.
Short version of the story: I love issuing challenges to the awesome readers of Fstoppers, but I also have this wild schedule of mine that changes at a moment's notice this year. So, without wasting more of your time, I'll just say "my bad" and get right to the Capture One Pro EIP Challenge winner.
Jaana and Lorenzö of the studio Cahute have put a spin on the digital age of instant viewing by taking a step back into the past with a classic process of portraits on paper. They created a market for themselves that is so micro-niched they have yet to find another studio specializing solely in this process.
Some of you might not consider what you do as art, but as a photographer, you're an artist. A lot of small pieces and parts come together to make your images what they are, and that process of deciding everything from the model, to the clothing, the lens choice, to the lighting, is an artistic one. Many genres of photography are heavily dependent on other artists; portrait photographers need models and more than likely a makeup artist and stylist to bring their vision to life. Networking is key to our work in order to meet people that we trust to help us craft our images.
One of the best things about shooting film is that there are so many cameras to choose from! Of course, your wallet may disagree with me. The number of formats, combined with the different brands, form factors, lenses, and options make shooting with film almost impossible to get bored with. If you're at all familiar with my articles on Fstoppers, you know that I tend to focus on film and bringing it to a new audience. To that end, I've created a new video series profiling various film gear, some of it well known, some not so much! In my quest to learn about and use different systems, I hope you'll learn along with me. First up, a medium format rangefinder style camera from Fujifilm: the GF670.
In the latest updates from Adobe for Photoshop CC 2017, not only is the software faster, but Face-Aware Liquify comes with a new feature.
Camera resolutions are soaring in recent years, with Canon unleashing a 50-megapixel DSLR and Phase One showing off the new XF 100MP back. The unending argument of why manufacturers bother with such resolution swirls around one thing: printing. Photographers argue that a higher resolution camera will produce a better print with more detail. Technically, that is absolutely true, but most photographers aren't printing much these days.
Music photography is a heavily saturated industry. With many emerging photographers happy to shoot for free to have their name associated with musicians, it has become very difficult to make a living by specializing in music. But there are a few pioneers who have risen amongst this heightened competition; this is the story of renowned music photographer Kana Waiwaiku.
