It sounds counterintuitive, but heading out without your camera more often will make you a better photographer and not for the reasons you may immediately think.
Don’t get me wrong, Pentax has made some incredible cameras in the past, many of which are still brilliant to this day. One of my favorite SLRs to this day is the KM released in 1975. But technology is advancing, and this “new” camera feels a little out of place, even though it produces great files.
You might think your progression is slow, you might think you suck and will never be as good as your idols. It takes time to learn photography and here I show you my development.
Transforming one image look into a LUT can be a daunting process for people who don’t know much about LUTs (Lookup Tables). According to this video, Picture Instruments came up with something easy to help you give any of your pictures or footage the look of another image.
The Contax 645 AF is a relatively small and lightweight medium format film camera dating from the late 1990s. It’s a camera that will largely appeal to analog photographers looking to benefit from the greater resolution of 120 film, while still retaining many of the advantages of a 35mm SLR in terms of speed and mobility.
As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, the African Wildlife Foundation just launched the Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards exhibition. The exhibition displays the winners of a worldwide competition that received almost 9,000 entries from 50 different countries. If you're a fan of wildlife photography, this exhibition is worth a look.
Any seasoned filmmaker or photographer will tell you that it’s not the size of your camera, sensor, or lens that matters, but how you use it (or craft your supporting elements like lighting, composition, etc.). But what I’ve come to realize is that size does matter– because impressing a client on set is just as important as impressing them with the final product.
Anyone who happened to see me speak at Photo Plus this year knows that I am obsessed with both photography and business. I love learning from those who have been big successes in any field because the idea of building something in general is so exciting to me. This 60 minutes interview with Nick Woodman, the creator of the GoPro Camera is the most inspiring video I've seen in years.
There is a romanticized dream of what it is like to be a destination wedding photographer. Outside of that idea lies a reality of what it actually entails. It is hard and exhausting work to photograph weddings full-time, let alone fly internationally on a weekly basis to cover them while also hosting workshops across the planet. But what is it that actually drives some of us to quite literally go the extra mile? There is a narrative behind the work you are about to see as well as the individual who has completely redefined the meaning of destination wedding photography.
Last week I received a message from my buddy and talented photographer Ben Von Wong. We all know him for his incredible photos that mix practical effects as well as precisely-applied post production visuals. His recent photoshoot entitled "MAKING OF: BALLANTINE’S PRESENTS VON WONG’S UNDERWATER RIVER" is no exception. To make this all happen, Benjamin created a portrait shoot with a set his crew built aboveground and installed 30 meters underwater just feet above toxic hydrogen sulfide. Learn more about his shoot below.
Hasselblad has just released one of the fastest medium format lenses out there today and after being able to test it out, I think its safe to say that this thing is awesome.
Today Sony has announced the latest in their RX10 series of cameras. The 20.1-megapixel RX10 IV takes all-in-one cameras to a new level with its Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-600mm f/2.4-4 lens, 315 phase-detect autofocus points, 4K 24/30p video recording, 24 fps stills shooting, anti-distortion shooting up to 1/32,000 second shutter speeds, and more.
It’s almost a daily occurrence: you open Facebook or Fstoppers, and someone is telling you that it’s not okay to shoot for free. If you’re not getting paid for your work, you’re devaluing the entire industry. But chances are we’ve all done it at some point, we’ll probably all do it again, and If you don’t, you’re only hurting yourself.
Early on as photographers, advice you often receive is to take your camera everywhere. I did this as a beginner and have advised others to do the same. That said, this camera is one I carry for a different reason, and here’s why.
Right before Christmas a sale popped up for the FitBit Flex (a fitness tracker) and even though I didn't "need" it, the FitBit would help me stay in shape. So of course I bought it. Over the last couple of months I have been making a conscience effort to make sure I am active. I love seeing how different activities affect my daily step count and, well, shooting a wedding sure does.
It’s summer now, and that means we have good temperatures and conditions to go out and shoot. Sunrise and sunset are especially great moments to get good photography conditions, not only because you can catch incredible colors but also because the light can be too harsh during the day.
Bulb ramping is a technique used by time lapse photographers to adjust the shutter speed throughout the time lapse to compensate for natural changes in exposure. If you're looking to shoot timelapses of sunrises, sunsets or any change from day to night, this technique is critical. In his latest tutorial video, BC based photographer Joel Schat takes us through the steps needed in order to create a bulb ramping time lapse with ease.
Marvel's 'The Avengers' is the top grossing movie of 2012 and the third of all time, ensuring that the superhero genre of movies are here to stay. Industrial Light & Magic have finally released the behind the scenes and walkthrough for the post production on one of the most amazing scenes in the movie, a long take of all the heroes fighting off the Alien horde that is uninterrupted and seamless with New York City as its backdrop.
Nik Tools (now called the Nik collection) has been around since 1995 as an Adobe plugin. Google bought the tools, then dropped them, and DXO rescued the popular photo-editing aids in 2017. They've undergone continuous upgrades since then, and this new version will please Mac users with the new M1 chips.
Coming off of its previous reputation as an extreme budget brand when it came to DSLR lenses, Sigma has now had well over two years to fend off quality concerns with their restructured Global Vision lineup that began with the superb 35mm f/1.4 Art lens. Since then, Sigma’s Art-, Contemporary-, and Sport-series lenses have proven themselves better than or on par with their Nikon and Canon counterparts for far less capital; and the 24mm f/1.4 Art gives us no reason to suspect the new direction doesn’t have a clear vision to go global.
In 2019, Canon did something weird: they crowdfunded a camera that no-one wanted. 18 months later, the reviews are largely terrible and you can now buy it for almost one third of its original price. What happened with the Canon IVY REC?
We have known the Nikon Z 9 mirrorless camera is on its way fairly soon for a while now, and specs have been slowly trickling out. Another set of specs have leaked, and it looks like the camera will be quite impressive.
We've all seen behind-the-scenes videos before right? Most are quick little tidbits showing how much fun a shoot is and how amazing the life of a photographer is. Some of them even give you some amazing insight into the techniques used by some of the top pros working today. Well, this is NOT that kind of BTS video. This 16 hour (yes, you read that right) marathon of a video is by far the BEST BTS that I've found that really shows you what the elite in the fashion world actually do to make those amazing editorials we all love.
Camera straps: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. The SpiderLight Backpacker Kit may be the answer to break free.
Storm chasing on the Great Lakes can be a hit-or-miss enterprise. In particular, Lake Michigan presents a formidable challenge because the weather here typically travels west to east across the lake and often changes rapidly once over the water.
Today, Apple has announced their latest MacBook Pro, their popular powerhouse laptop for creatives. Headline features include a new keyboard design, 16-inch Retina display, an 8-core processor, 64 GB of RAM, 8 GB of VRAM, a new thermal management system, faster performance, and longer battery life.
In this article, I share some techniques I used to edit my most popular photo here on Fstoppers. With 4.36 points from 95 votes, it appealed to many of you. But aside from the great subject with Mohamed and his dromedaries and the beautiful, golden evening light, the final image required quite some work to achieve this pristine look.
We all know the classic way to light paint photos, usually with a flashlight or a similar light source, but recently a new technique came to life: Light Stenciling. The idea is simple - instead of moving a flashlight in the frame to create shapes, you use a computer display (iPads, iPhones, Laptops) to add characters and items to the image by placing a graphic on top of a black background. The results are really awesome, so check out some of the best stencils we could find on Flickr.
If you're using the monthly Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop package, make sure you make the most for your money and have looked at the free available resources to help you design, from collages to branding mock-ups.
As a macro photographer, I commonly get asked questions about shooting fast-moving live subjects, as well as how I create my compositions. Many elements come into play when creating these images, and so, I would like to discuss a few macro photography tips, including some that often get overlooked.
