After updating the firmware for many of their lenses just a couple weeks ago, Sony today has released firmware updates for many of their popular full-frame and APS-C mirrorless cameras. The updates mainly focus on overheating indicator issues as well as resolving the “star eater” problem that was introduced in a prior firmware version, plus other various support and stability fixes.
It seems like the whole world (or at least the photographic world) is buzzing about the new Osmo Pocket 3 from drone maker DJI. It's a portable, full featured kit for video makers, YouTube creatives, and even regular consumers who want to easily capture high quality 4K video with a gimbal mounted camera.
A major update is now available for Creatic, the free iPhone photo editing app. In Creatic 2.0, users now have access to many more editing tools, a preset manager, live filter camera, and a newly designed discover tab for browsing and interacting with the community. After using it for a few days, I found that there’s actually a surprising amount on editing control in this app not found elsewhere.
Editing takes time, quite often it takes a lot of time and many of the steps can be quite repetitive and boring. The best thing I've ever done for myself to speed up this process is memorizing keyboard shortcuts, so I've put together this list of five resources (in no particular order) that I've found to practice familiarity with these shortcuts and become more comfortable with the programs themselves. In order to cater to the largest audience I will be focusing on Adobe-tailored tools, however some may crossover into other programs.
Plus three gorgeous Brazilian triplets. But that's not the point here.
Seriously though, I've seen a lot of crazy things done with the Red Epic, but I've never seen it shot without it's IR pass filter. The results are the definition of ethereal. The biggest shocker to me though was that none of these shots, which included a very complicated Handheld to Rope to Handheld shot that looked like a crane shot, were all done without any post-stabilization or complicated steadicam rigs. All of the shots were done using the Movi stabilization system.
Are your handheld landscape photography photos never quite sharp? Do you struggle with what camera settings to use once you start trying to handhold the camera for your photos? I have five tips to help maximize your success with handheld landscape photography.
Photographer Jimmy Nelson is facing backlash over his portrayal of some indigenous people in his book, Before They Pass Away. The book (which is stunning to look at) portrays tribes and cultures supposedly untouched by the modern world. But some people are upset that the photos represent a stylized version of these cultures and are not a representation of how they actually appear today.
When it comes to boudoir photography, everyone has their own opinion as to what constitutes as a boudoir session. It is soft and romantic? Is it edgy and seductive? Is it only meant to be seen by the clients partner? Or is it an expression of the client finding comfort in their own sexuality?
Location, Location, Location. We've heard that for years, but if you're in the right place with the wrong message and the wrong means, then you're doing more damage than good for your business. Wedding Photographers know that our target demographic is on facebook, so let me show you why they are and how you can use this to your advantage.
The highly-anticipated Mavic Air finally landed at Fstoppers a few days ago. This tiny quadcopter comes with an impressive set of features but everything is not perfect. Here is short preview of what I like and dislike about this drone.
Canon has had the pedal to the floor when it comes to lens development for the last few years, and it seems they have no intention of stopping. Two new patents have emerged that show two more extreme lens designs, both based on respected DSLR lenses.
As one of the most popular autonomously flying apps on the market, Litchi is taking the complexity out of flying drones. Drone enthusiasts now can easily set waypoints and POI’s in Google Earth, before even leaving home. By using state of the art technology, Litchi is attempting to corner the market, by replicating features which were once only available through more expensive apps and providing them in a simpler and more affordable format.
We all wish we could make money doing photography, but one macro specialist found a way to have his photography made into money. Twenty Canadian dollars, to be exact.
Sally Mann is an American photographer who has pushed the limits of black and white fine art. Early in her career, Sally captured both real and staged moments of her children's youth that quickly became subject of much controversy. Immediate Family, a collection of images of her children under the age of 10, showcased mainly normal, happy childhood moments. However other images featured her kids unclothed with themes of depression, anxiety, and even death. Obviously Sally's work sparked strong emotions, and the debate about what is exploitation and what is art became synonymous with her name. The acclaimed What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann is an interesting documentary that focuses on Sally's work and how she approaches her craft. Now a praised nature photographer, Sally discusses her contraversal early images as well as many of her current projects including landscapes in the deep south and portraits of her husband as he deals with muscular dystrophy. Check out Sally Mann's bookstore for great reading material from this revolutionary photographer. Click the full post for the full documentary.
NYC-based commercial photographer Kenneth Volpe sat down with the good folks over at Profoto to give some insight on the way he lights his images and a bit of his philosophy when it comes to his photography business, Transposure. With Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Engineering, Kenneth is a guy that definitely understands fine light and exhibits it in the way he makes his photos. Check out the full write up over at
Finally, the greatest mobile lens company is now kicking things off in serious fashion with offering their lenses to more major phone brands. With iPhone being the flagship for the longest time of prime users they are also offering it to the Google Pixel as well as the latest and greatest from Samsung with the Galaxy S8.
In the days when film reigned, most people thought that once you took a photo, the image was completed. They thought that clicking the shutter was the end of the process (They obviously didn’t know much about darkroom manipulation). But, as photographers know, that “click” is only a small part of the photographic process. The rest lies in forethought before taking the image, and the way in which it’s processed after it’s taken.
For an instant, she stares blankly out into the distance as she would for any photograph. But almost immediately, she takes notice. You're there. She turns her head, looks over, and then slowly turns back, looking down at her outstretched legs. Her eyes move slowly, looking down, as her chin lifts her gaze from the top of her legs to her feet. She's admiring herself — for you. She even starts crawling toward you. You turn your head to look around ("Toward me?," you think, but no one else is there). You turn back to her. The clip is over. You can take off your Google Cardboard viewer and go back to flipping channels on your living room TV.
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!
Like most parameters in photography, resolution has an upper limit dictated by the laws of physics. However, a team of clever scientists have discovered a way around that fundamental bound, creating new possibilities for imaging in many realms.
Just a couple months ago Patrick and I made the last minute decision to move to Puerto Rico. We've rented a giant house to live and work in and we will be sharing the process of turning this empty home into the new Fstoppers Studio.
I'm not a strong supporter of business cards nowadays. It's not because they don't do any good, but because most people are throwing them in the trash bin without even visiting your website and seeing what you do. Despite of that it's good to have some in your pocket. Here is my solution to using a special type of business cards that your potential clients may not throw away.
Packing cubes and camera inserts are pretty straightforward in terms of their purpose. But as an anxious packer who obsesses over making sure that everything is in place, using these packing tools revealed a hidden benefit.
At first, packing cubes and camera cubes seem to have only the benefits that they physically offer, which would be having dedicated compartments for different kinds of things. Camera cubes are there for objects that need a lot of padding and internal dividers, while packing cubes are there for personal items like clothes and other travel essentials....
Something that happened last week really hit home for me. Everyone probably already has heard, as it has been reported by almost every single news agency in the world; Australian photographer Brett Costello was robbed of $40,000 of camera gear in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last week while in town to cover the Olympics. However, this article isn't about him specifically.
I stepped into photography world over 10 years ago and was lucky enough to have a wide variety of clients from different parts of the world. This made it essential for me to be flexible while negotiating or taking jobs despite cultural differences, from Armenia to U.S., from Mauritius to South Africa, Singapore, various European countries, and more. Usually you will get hired based on your portfolio, but sometimes there are clients who don’t understand much about photography. This is where the danger is. Everyone wants to get top results for the money they spend by hiring you, but what is considered the best for such clients?
We love to look at beautiful, flawless people in our ads, tv shows, and movies. For some reason drenching someone's face in makeup is totally acceptable but for many people, Photoshoping skin imperfections or removing fat is unrealistic, disgusting, and dangerous. Well most of these people haven't even considered video retouching.
Everyone has a different feeling on collaboration. I feel that it's a very good thing for a new photographer, but I also feel it can be greatly misused or misrepresented. I used a model/photographer finding website to gain skills and experience via collaboration, and I feel it was a shortcut to what would otherwise have been years of work.
Nowadays, it seems that every YouTube photography celebrity has a batch of presets that they want you to buy. This begs the question: is it worth handing over your hard-earned cash when you might be better off investing your time rather than your money?
In the six years that I've been using Lightroom, I've never paid for a preset. In the past, I've downloaded a few free packs, clicked laboriously through every preset and decided that they were all useless: blunt tools creating over-edited results and deploying settings that I could easily have achieved myself had I...
Polarizing filters are one of the last camera filters that cannot be replicated by software. But is a polarizing filter better to reduce haze in landscapes than Adobe Lightroom's Dehaze tool?
About seven months ago, we posted an article about an application called 'Paddy' that connects a MIDI controller desk to Lightroom. Unfortunately for me, that application is Windows only, so I set out to find a solution for this gadget that I needed in and around my life. The solution is something called 'Knobroom.'
