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We live in a world of excessive options, often leading to crippling cases of “analysis paralysis.” This reality is particularly prevalent in the world of online learning. I can’t even count the number of YouTube videos I have to search when I want to learn a particular skill, before I finally find a half decent one or give up and teach myself.

Ever since I got my drone, I basically keep it in my car at all times in case I happen upon some cool spot while driving. It turns out that all these random excursions have become something very useful to me: profitable stock photography.  

If you are a shooter or video producer, you know that there are many things that go into creating great video. Sure, using the right gear is key. Composition and lighting are key. But after the video is shot, shot selection, pacing, and color correction have to be considered for the edit. Then there are graphics. Titles, lower thirds, transitions, and the like have to be designed and animated.

For many photographers, the holy grail of “making it,” as a photographer is a sponsorship. The truth is that it’s really not as difficult as it sounds, but to make it easier, I’ll give you three tips to landing your first sponsorship.

Our friends at ViewBug teamed up with Discovery Photo Tours to offer an unforgettable Italy photo adventure to one lucky photographer. Submit your image to the completely free “Around the World” photo contest and you could win a seat on Discovery Photo Tours' Spring 2017 Italy Photo Tour!

Motion Array has been hard at work adding new features recently. For example, they recently came out with a video portfolio site builder. With this feature, any paid subscriber can create a custom site to show their video work, complete with text, images, and contact information (all editable).

Modernity has brought increased convenience and comfort to countless lives, but there have been unintended consequences as well. Increasing urbanization has caused more and more people worldwide to lose their primal connection with nature, something that is almost impossible to replace by technology alone.

The entire Fstoppers office and many of the Fstoppers writers are at PPE this year. Today we will be wandering around the convention center and we hope you'll come say hello. Tonight at 8pm we're throwing a small get-together with a few big names in the industry.  

One of the biggest hits at a wedding reception (or any event) is the photobooth. It’s an area where guests can gather around and make ridiculous faces, dress in silly props, and have an overall great time.

It's about time for a new approach. There are a few online stores and stock libraries where you can get templates, videos, and music that help you save time when creating professional videos. Some of them can get really tricky when dealing with prices and licensing.   

[UPDATE] The winners have been announced! Check out the winners page to see some incredible video editing.

As an entertainment and tour photographer, Susannah Brittany primarily shoot stills and video shots for some of the world’s top pop and country music artists.

The winners of the contest have been chosen. Congratulations to:

Joshua Jeppesen

Hector Reyes

Ian Johns

We will be in touch with you via your Fstoppers messaging system to receive your prize! Thank you to everyone who participated.

You don’t need the best gear to take good photos, but it sure doesn’t hurt to have them. PRO EDU just dropped the covers on their latest tutorial featuring one of world’s greatest, two-time winner of the esteemed “International Photographer of the Year Award”, Sandro Miller.

Helped by great design, marketing, and a superb product to boot, Syrp’s motorized time-lapse aid, the Genie, became incredibly popular with photographers. As the product that launched the company on Kickstarter three years ago, it was a premium offering, though. And sometimes, it’s useful to have something fantastic in a “light” version. Enter the Genie Mini. 

Most photographers get into the field to pursue their passion; it's when they start to plan the business aspects that they hit the road bumps. Most experienced photographers will tell you that you can't expect to get booked simply because you have good pictures. The only way to become relevant in your niche is to consistently stay in front of your audience.

HEX is a creative brand, and photographers are creative people. Just like we as photographers want our shots to be our own, we want our camera bags to have a unique look. That's just what HEX did through design, aesthetics, and protective elements - they designed HEX camera bags for the modern photographer.

[UPDATE: A winner has been chosen. Congratulations to Verginiya Yancheva for getting 48 upvotes for her image! Check out her winning image below.]

Smartphones get a bad rap. They’re ruining the photography business, they’re the downfall of society - you know, that sort of thing. Wedding photographers complain about the glare of screens dotting the aisle like a runway landing strip. Newborn photographers cringe when mom shoots over their shoulder.

This week, I was able to watch Karl Taylor's "Making Money From Your Photography" tutorial. As a young photographer, I learned a ton from this three-hour tutorial and believe that any photographer, regardless of age or experience, could learn something new.  Karl Taylor is a well-known photographer and instructor from London, England.

Although the summer heat is still lingering, fall is swiftly approaching. It's that time again: time to hit the books and head back to school. Books are expensive, but we have some exciting news: The New York Institute of Photography is giving three lucky winners their choice of a free photography course!

What do you keep in your camera bag that helps you stay inspired and creative? The team over at Format and ONA Bags want to know. They also want to give you $6,000 worth of prizes. Interested? It's really simple to enter the #myOnHand Instagram Contest.  

I’m always fascinated when a photographer uses their talents for a greater cause than themselves. SlickforceGirl is a commercial and creative pinup brand that helps raise awareness for women’s causes and breast cancer.

When you think of branding, you might think of the basics: a fantastic logo, a clever tagline, a carefully chosen color palette. But in reality, branding goes way beyond your marketing “stuff” -- it’s the emotional connection you create with your clients, from the first time they stumble across your images to the day they walk away with their elegantly packaged keepsakes.

Last month, the creators of MotoCMS, an award winning DIY website building program, ran a Kickstarter campaign for Defrozo, a free display and marketing melding of Smugmug, ShootQ and Zenfolio. What could be more fun than putting up some photos and have the offers pour in, right? I was excited to get started.

It goes without saying as photographers we prefer gear to be highly attractive in both form and function. Usually taking a hit in one department or the other due in part by price or depth in features, it's never a flawless combination.

Drone technology and camera technology are on converging courses. Photography and flight actually share a twin history of development dating to the turn of the twentieth century, with the Wright brothers’ first flight on the heels of the proliferation of Kodak’s “Brownie” box camera.

We're bringing you great contests hosted by our pals at Viewbug weekly, and this week you can have a chance to win a wall of metal prints valued at $500 and have your photo featured at Miller's booth at Imaging USA 2015. Just show us your best outdoor portrait!  

The What:

We're bringing you great contests hosted by our pals at Viewbug weekly, and this week you can have a chance to win a new tripod and camera bag from Vanguard. Just show us a photo that would have been impossible to take without a tripod... Drag that shutter! 

The What:

We're happy to say that our weekly contests are back, thanks to our friends at Viewbug! Need a new website? Make sure you enter this week's contest to be eligible to win a new website from Squarespace (who I use for my site and love it). All you have to do is impress judge Fefo Bouvier with your best rural scenery photo. 

The What:

Color management in photography and videography extends well beyond display calibration – it includes color control from beginning to end, from capture to final output.

I became a photographer because I love taking photos, and I’m fortunate enough to be one of those lucky few who gets paid to do what they love. That being said, when I got my start in this industry, I don’t think I could have anticipated just how much work was involved in running my own photography business.

We’ve teamed up with SanDisk for a product bundle giveaway featuring the Extreme PRO CompactFlash, newly upgraded Extreme Pro SDXC UHS-I cards and the Ultra Dual USB Drive to bring you the ultimate memory storage bundle. All you need to do to win is tell us what you will shoot with all that storage space! 

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week if you impress the ViewBug community, you could win yourself a feature on Fstoppers.com!

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week, we don't want you to forget to enter to win Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers, 2014 Release by Martin Evening! All you need to do is share your best photos showing human faces. Be creative!

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week your best "old and rusty" image enters you a chance to win... a mystery prize! Once you submit your image, the prize will be revealed. You could win awesome prizes and have your photo reviewed by renowned photographers. Don't miss out!  

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week you can win the entire suite of Macphun software and an Instax 90 Mini camera. This contest is judged by photographer Karen Hutton. 

The What:

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week you can a solid year of SmugMug Pro by submitting your best photo taken way down at ground level. This contest is judged by commercial photographer Jessica Zollman. 

The What:

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week if you impress the ViewBug community, you could win yourself a feature on Fstoppers.com (we just posted one of those features today)! The winner's photo will be given a 24 hour feature on our top slider as picture of the day as well as a full featured article.

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week we want you to win a Canon Rebel T5i, 18-55mm Lens and 32GB EyeFi Mobi as well as 3 months free Eyefi Cloud membership and the opportunity to be featured in an Eyefi advertising campaign or on their website!

Joel Grimes is no stranger to commercial photography. For the last 27 years, Joel has worked for top advertising agencies and corporations across the globe, producing work for clients such as AT&T, Comcast, Hewlett Packard, Hyatt, Procter & Gamble, Visa and countless others. Today and tomorrow, Joel will be sharing what he's learned through the years on CreativeLive. 

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week, master Photoshop with Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers, 2014 Release by Martin Evening! All you need to do is share your best photos showing human faces. Be creative!

Jared Polin, aka FRO from FroKnowsPhoto, is teaching a free low-light photography course today through Wednesday on CreativeLive. Using a mix of live shoots and lectures, Jared's course will be a tremendous resource for beginner photographers seeking to confidently approach difficult low-lighting situation such as tight spaces, dark halls and live concerts.

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week enter to win a Bumblebee Pro Light Backpack by Manfrotto, while three runners up will receive a 3-in-1 light PRO backpack​. Winners will be selected based on the best images that best show moments in the wilderness! 

The What:

We've been partnering with Viewbug to host great contests with sweet prizes every week! One of our monthly ongoing contests is to give one entrant a chance to be featured on Fstoppers. Volume 1 of that contest is in the finalil stage, so head on over to see who is in the running to win that feature!

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week if you impress the ViewBug community, you could win yourself a feature on Fstoppers.com! The winner’s photo will be given a 24 hour feature on our top slider as picture of the day as well as a full featured article.  Vote for your favorite photos and help pick the winner.

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week, you have a chance to win either a National Geographic Earth Explorer Small Backpack or an Earth Explorer Messenger sling bag. Show us your best photo of a journey into nature to win!  

The What:

When you think of conceptual, high-fashion photo shoots, you imagine big budgets. Turns out, couture shoot concepts don’t have to cost more than $100. Professional photographer Amanda Diaz is demonstrating how to do just that right now during her CreativeLive class aimed to help photographers concept, style, and capture stunning images on a true DIY budget.  

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week enter your best photo featuring tree trunks to win a WoodSnap Photo Collage worth $1000, with the People's Choice winner nabbing one worth $500. Woodsnap is a nifty way to showcase your images printed as custom wood wall art. 

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly!