Creating Drama in Your Photos with Flash

In my last article on flash photography, I gave you a few simple techniques for keeping your flash looking natural and allowing it to blend in with your existing light without calling attention to itself. This time around, we're going to do exactly the opposite, and look at how varying the amount of ambient light in a photograph can affect the way your flash appears and how this can be used for dramatic effect.

Haunting Portrait from Bangladesh Tragedy

WARNING: GRAPHIC It's incredibly difficult for many people of the world to have a point of reference on this type of tragedy, but this image my be one of the most tragic images that I have seen in recent memory. It is both devastating and incredibly heartbreaking. The image is of a male and a female, embracing in their final moments. The couple hasn't been identified, nor is their story known. They were found about 2am buried under fallen concrete with blood coming from the man's eye like a tear.

Fstoppers Reviews the DJI Spark, the Company's Cheapest Drone

This year has seen the number of people owning a drone grow like never before. That’s probably due to the units becoming more affordable and more accessible to use. One great example is the DJI Mavic, or more recently the DJI Spark. The latter is advertised as a drone you can take anywhere but still offers an excellent image quality, and that anyone can use. I bought one earlier this year as I wanted to see if the drone trend was something for me or not, and I thought I’d share my opinion on this adorable little thing.

Is This The Most Unique Camera Setup In New York City?

I spend a lot of time shooting or walking on the streets of New York. You see every type of camera imaginable here, from the latest and greatest DSLRs to old Rollei’s and film cameras. If you hang around B&H long enough, you’ll probably see Louis Mendes with his old Speed Graphic. But I have never, ever seen anyone shooting with what Justin Borucki is using. This guy might have the most unique camera setup in New York.

Color, Cinematography, Storytelling and Beauty Combine Wonderfully (Interview) - NSFW

I’ve just watched one of the best fashion shorts I’ve seen in months. It combines gorgeous color, cinematography, camera movement and Hitchcock-styled, film noir sensibility beautifully. Interestingly, after speaking to one of the directors, regardless of budget or what we’re shooting, there are real gems to be gleaned from their experiences. Read on for the full scoop.

Filming Big Ideas With Small Budgets

“Dress for the job you want, not the job you have”. I’m sure we’ve all heard this saying at one point in our lives. Even though I never took the advice (In your face Mom!) it can easily be reworked into something I firmly believe. “Film for the job you want, not the job you have”.

How To Tether Your Camera To An Ipad Without Jailbreaking

Last year I released a video explaining how to wirelessly tether your camera to an iPad by jailbreaking the iPad. Since then Eye-Fi has released a firmware update that makes wireless tethering possible without the need for jailbreaking. Now, not only is the whole process much easier to set up, it is also much cheaper because you no longer have to pay for the more expensive Pro Eye-Fi card, you can make this work with the cheaper Connect X2 card.
How to Become a Professional Commercial Photographer

There are many paths in professional photography. I have gone down the route of commercial photography, and whilst I am nowhere near where I want to be in professionally, I thought I’d share a few points that can go a long way to making it as a professional commercial photographer.

Fstoppers Reviews the Huion H610 Pro Graphics Tablet

In the retouching world, graphics tablets are pretty much a standard. I don’t know of many retouchers that only use their mouse to get the job done. Graphics tablets allow for a more precise, and thus refined, work. They also used to cost a fair amount of money, but that was until Huion came along.

How One Photographer Captured a Unique Royal Wedding Image

Besides my daughter's first birthday party, the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was the premier event this past weekend, watched by millions around the world. One photograph stood out for its unique viewpoint, rightfully going viral and being widely praised. The photographer has spoken out about he got the shot.

2x Macro at Half the Price: Fstoppers Reviews Laowa’s 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens

If you’re looking to get into macro photography, the first party lens options can seem too expensive for a lens with a more niche use, particularly on the latest Z and R mounts. Laowa, however, has a very promising 100mm lens that even exceeds those other 100mm options in one notable way. hould it be the lens you choose when shooting up close?

Nikon's New Flagship D6 Announced Along With New Mirrorless Z Lenses

Nikon has announced their new flagship DSLR, the D6. With headlining features like the most powerful AF system in Nikon's history and a 20.8-megapixel full frame sensor capable of boosting to 3.2 million ISO, Nikon is promising to deliver a camera "purpose-built and inspired by the valuable feedback of professional users."

Sony RX100 VI Hands-On Rundown

Last week, Sony unveiled their latest compact camera. Now here’s the clickbait: 24-200mm f/2.8-4.5 Zeiss lens, 24 fps continuous shooting while utilizing its 315-point hybrid autofocus, added touchscreen, Sony a9-inherited Eye AF and face detection algorithms, and 4K video recording. Let’s take a look at the new RX100 VI.

How to Naturally Whiten Eyes in Photoshop and Capture One

When we hear about eye whitening our thoughts immediately turn to disturbing cases of retouching gone bad where subjects look more like dolls than humans. While YouTube is littered with videos on the subject, a good chunk of them take a brute force approach to the problem. They either crank up the luminosity or reduce the saturation; both of which will produce unnatural and sometimes frightening results.

Shame and Art: How to Stay Sane in Your Second Job While Trying to Make It as a Photographer

I am a bartender. After 15 years of slinging drinks it’s still hard to come out and admit that shooting isn't what I do full time. The path I've taken has been a twisted, gnarled, winding thing fraught with frustration and surprise. I've been shooting for 11 years and I never expected to still be behind a bar. But, such is life! I’m here to talk about dealing with that gut-wrenching feeling that comes along with any artist who hasn’t quite made it: shame.

How to Create a Moody DIY Set in a Plain White Studio

Breathing new life into your studio space shoot after shoot doesn't have to be difficult and it doesn't have to be expensive. With just a few simple DIY tricks, it's actually pretty easy to transform a plain white studio space into a stunning set.

Why Have Accounts in Multiple Photography Communities?

There are quite a few different photography communities here online where you can display your work, create a portfolio, and even enter photography contests. Is it really necessary to join all of them? Managing portfolio accounts across multiple platforms can be quite a chore, especially if you want to keep them all current.

How to Paint Light Using Radial Filters in Lightroom

Sometimes you might not have time to take every photo you’re editing into Photoshop but you still need to make significant changes to make an image look great. This tip can make your photos stand out without spending a lot of extra time in your editing suite.

QNAP's TVS-871T Solves All of Your Home and On-the-Go Data Storage Needs

For me, storage is a huge pain. On one hand, it’s simple. Buy a bunch of hard drives, back everything up, repeat. But I want to simplify it further. I hate having one system that’s speedy for in-office editing and another that’s slow, but network-connected. I couldn’t find anything that offered both a network connection and fast thunderbolt-like speeds when attached locally until I came across QNAP’s TVS-871T networked-attached storage solution that also features dual Thunderbolt connectivity.

How to Upload Content Older Than 24 Hours to Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories have become more and more attractive with the latest features such as the tag- and location-based stories. People seem to enjoy these features, and they can drive more potential followers to your account. However, quality content, even in Stories, remains king; and posting a video or a photo that stands out can really make a difference in bringing more followers to your page. As photographers or videographers, we truly have a massive advantage in producing great content that people want to see. So in this article, I’ll show you how to post your amazing work to your Story even if said content is older than 24 hours.

Plan Your Next Shoot With the Ultimate Golden Hour App

Apps for working out the best times to shoot in natural light based on your location are not new, but the GoldenHour.One App by Hana Kusova brings together the perfect ingredient of features to compliment any photographer’s planning process for outdoor photography.

3 Ways To Improve Your Photography Today

Despite what social media may tell you, there is no such thing as a magic path to success. But what are some concrete steps you can take to reach your goal of becoming a successful artist?

Win A Synology DS418 NAS Device

Are you still buying external hard drives? It's time you consolidated all of your data on a NAS device and today, you can win a Synology DS418 NAS.

Blackmagic Cinema: The Camera That Surprised Us All

I can’t have been the only one caught by surprise when I first heard of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera earlier this year. Let’s be honest: to those of us in this field, there are only a handful of companies from whom we expect to see new cameras. Sure, once in a while we get a newcomer to the field, but they rarely capture our attention for long. Fact is, they just can’t hold up in a market saturated with top quality equipment. We as consumers only have so much money to spend. Blackmagic Design turned that stigma on its head.

How To Shoot A Car Ad In NYC With No Permits And No Notice

Recently, I was approached by my Creative Director, Scott Rodgers, over at the ad agency Tier 10 Marketing to shoot some ads with the newly redesigned 2013 Honda Accord. The problem? The shoot had to take place in less than 48 hours, we were shooting with 2 of the first cars in the United States, and there was literally NO time to permit for a shoot that had to take place in New York City. Why the rush? US Honda dealers needed these images right away for some new ad campaigns as the first new Accords hit our shores.

How to Pack Your Gear for Airplane Travel

In this useful video by Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens he walks you through how to pack your gear to be ready for airplane travel whether it be within the United States or overseas. Jay explains the proper paperwork you should have for your gear when traveling internationally and what gear he typically packs when flying and most importantly why. The video and the advice that Jay gives you is very detailed and extensive. It's a great resource to watch every time you're about to fly out to your next location and might just save you a headache or two.

Elia Locardi's New Eight-Part Long Exposure Tutorial Series Is Here

Today, Fstoppers has teamed up with NiSi filters to launch a brand new, free tutorial series with landscape photographer Elia Locardi. Not only are we releasing new video lessons every week, but we are also giving away over $600 worth of free gear with every video. Welcome to our long exposure adventure in Puerto Rico!