Being busy doesn't mean being profitable. Working on all kinds of projects doesn't lead to a successful photography career. This article is not the usual "Five quick steps to become a wealthy photographer." To be honest, it's a slow process, but if you understand its principles it will guide you on the journey to success.
My love for street photography pre-dates my time as a photographer. But one thread that runs between all my favorite street photographers is a characteristically dark and moody aesthetic. Here are my top 10 to follow.
Hi, my name is Tam. Most of you don't know me, but I've been with Fstoppers for a few months now. As a system engineer, I'm more or less like a ghost in the machine; I make sure the awesome writers here have a functional server to keep the fresh content coming, and everyone else have their daily Fstoppers fix. The job is simple 90% of the time; the other 10%... you probably don't want to be near me.
Images are extremely easy to copy, repost, and republish on the Internet and as photographers we have an inherent interest to not let that happen without our permission. We work hard to create our photographs, investing time and money into our projects. But with a few simple clicks or the help of apps, people can take images and do almost whatever they want with them without many technical restrictions.
Lensbaby has always been an enigma to me, and I've never been quite sure what niche they're meant to fill. Perhaps you can help me.
Photographing forests is one of the harder parts of landscape and nature photography. This editing trick might change how you approach your subject.
"I'm a natural light photographer. I don't shoot with artificial lights. I don't like the look of strobe-lit portraits." That's fine, but why are your post-processed images look so unnatural?
Having your images stolen at one point or another is virtually a formality when it comes to being a photographer. It’s frustrating, not least when it happens through one of your customers. One new website claims to have the solution to make sure you never get ripped off again.
Instagram Stories have been around for quite a while now, and we have actually already shared a few articles regarding how you can make better use of them to build engagement on your account. In this new write-up, I wanted to share with you a couple of techniques that aren’t too tedious to use on a regular basis to help you build higher quality stories. The goal is to create stories that people will want to follow on a daily basis and thus start to engage more with you. Content may not be king on social networks anymore, but it’s still the only thing that retains followers.
Today, we will eschew all the glitz, glamour, and pixel-peeping and get down to brass tacks on why I chose to use a specific camera for a specific use case.
Anyone who is interested in portrait, fashion or/and beauty retouching knows how wonderful the Dodge & Burn technique is for skin retouching. We have talked about various methods and the fundamental knowledge of light and shadow rendering in 2-dimensional art before, and I would like to offer you yet another important piece of the D&B puzzle - the brush settings in Photoshop, which will help you achieve greater results when using this technique.
Though the Panasonic Lumix S1R remains a dark-horse contender among its full frame mirrorless competitors, I believe Panasonic made a strong entry into the market that is still worth considering over the more established and up-to-date competition. Check out this article to learn about some interesting features that the S1R has to offer for landscape photographers.
Today is a good day for many Sony shooters because it will feel like getting a new camera in some ways. Real-time Eye AF, Real-time Eye AF for Animals, and Time-Lapse Interval Shooting have arrived to the Sony a7R III and a7 III mirrorless cameras in firmware update 3.0.
Nikon Rumors has recently reported on the potential for, among other things, a 60MP Nikon Z8 with “two CFExpress cards, improved VR”, and a pixel-shift mode. As they point out, this would seem to dovetail with their earlier reporting that Nikon had previously entered into an agreement with Sony to purchase Sony’s new 60MP sensor.
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.
Retouching photos is as much an art as a skill, and portrait photographers must understand the proper way to retouch images, even if they prefer to have a retoucher do this work for them. Although there are a variety of ways to retouch an image, using frequency separation is the most common method and is considered one of the best. In this article and the accompanying video, I detail the process I use to retouch my headshots and portrait work.
Infinite Tools released a range of great plugins for Photoshop. Being a fan of black and white, I decided to delve into it and see how well it works. Would it help Photoshop compete against the ever-growing and very good competition?
Platon has photographed many of the world's most powerful leaders and biggest celebrities and often shoots covers for magazines such as Wired, Esquire, Newsweek, Rolling Stone and New York Times Magazine. Most recently, he captured comedian and TV show personality Stephen Colbert for the cover of Time, which you can see in the video posted above. His style of shooting proves that you can take some of the most legendary portraits of our most powerful people with nothing but a light or two and a real connection between subject and photographer. In fact, I learned that from him directly when he came to teach a couple of classes to some of us lucky photo majors back at Rochester Institute of Technology over 10 years ago. It was those classes that changed my view on portrait photography forever.
When the leaves start turning those beautiful autumn colors, it’s prime time to get the camera out and make some photographs.
Leica has always tried to maintain a balance between their reverence for the past and their willingness to embrace the future through innovative camera releases that shoot black and white only or cameras that don’t have a rear LCD. I believe their next flagship release, expected to be unveiled on January 13, 2022, will take the bold step of removing all buttons, dials, and switches from the back of the camera in favor of a touchscreen-only interface.
Earlier today, DxOMark released their evaluation of the Canon 5D Mark IV, concluding that it has made notable strides in sensor performance. Anecdotally speaking, I can corroborate their results based on my time with Canon's latest generation of bodies. For years, many have bemoaned the company's sensors as lacking in dynamic range and being generations behind those of Nikon and Sony, but it seems now that they have essentially caught up to their rivals. However, for the everyday work of photographers, the story is a bit more complicated.
If you’ve viewed deep-sky astrophotos (not landscape astrophotos), you may have noticed that extremely long exposures (not counting mosaics) are used. In extreme cases, exposures may run over 12 hours. Unless you have a space telescope, it should be obvious that multiple exposures have been used.
There’s no denying the photo and video capabilities of the new Apple iPhone 11 Pro. After all, if it’s good enough for Lady Gaga to film her latest video with, it’s good enough for the rest of us! Apple has now unveiled the winners of its Night Mode, shot on iPhone competition, with some rather astounding and worthy victors.
If what we read on the internet is to be believed (and who doesn’t believe everything they read on the Internet?) film is definitely not dead. But for a debate which has been raging for well over a decade, I can’t help but wonder whether the wrong question is being posed. Is it not photography itself, rather than film, which has been dying a slow death in front of our very eyes?
If you've found yourself wondering how you can go about using hashtags on Instagram for tagging your work, here's how I go about it. Spoiler alert: I don't overthink it, and I keep it as simple as possible.
For a long time as a photographer, I did not have access to a studio nor did I have the necessary lights to help create a studio setup indoors. And let’s not talk about renting studios! So, in absence of a studio, I came up with one easy way to create the studio feel, which you will find is pretty cheap.
Photographer and Author Tony Northrup has put together a video tutorial on how to use your DSLR's histogram and exposure compensation to get proper exposure when working with backgrounds that are too dark or too bright. He also talks about spot metering vs. evaluative metering, and discusses when and why he chooses the different modes. There are a number of good tips in this video, and if you're out taking photos in the snowy North, you might find them helpful.
I was recently involved in a conversation via Facebook that centered around new camera gear and becoming a better photographer. The saying generally goes: “It’s not about the camera gear at all.” While I generally agree with this way of thinking, it’s not always accurate.
Yesterday four Panasonic GH5s finally arrived at the Fstoppers studio and I spent all day playing with the cameras. As you may have heard, we have decided to finally switch from shooting videos on Nikon DSLRs and the GH5 is quite an upgrade. There seems to be one major issue though... The auto focus while recording isn't reliable.
Most cloth backdrops I have found cost between $70 - $100, but today I was turned onto a cheaper alternative. Photographer Elena Jasic posted a tutorial today on her blog on how she made her on distressed canvas background for around $50. The materials can be purchased at local stores such as Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart.
