Using Google Maps and Other Photographers To Locate Your Landscape Locations

We have all been there: you see an image online that gives you the best perspective of a location but you have no idea exactly where it is located. Sometimes the photographer lists the location on social media, but more often they leave you wondering where exactly they were standing. Last week I set out to film a time-lapse of one of the most photographed skylines in the world. However, finding the exact location I wanted required me to use multiple resources. Welcome to project "New York Harbor."

Nine Things You Should Be Taking to Every Business Meeting

It doesn't matter if it's a scheduled business meeting, job interview, or you're cold calling potential clients, the items you bring along with you can dramatically affect how things play out. Here's what you should be taking to each and every meeting to maximize your chances of success.

It Can Happen to You: My Photo Hard Drive Just Failed

In between my music and photography work, I have a lot of hard drives. But even so, I've never had one fail, until just two days ago. It went without warning: no crunching sounds, no notifications, just a red light.

Five-Year-Old Fashion Photographer Should Be an Inspiration to Us All

Jayden Bethea is a toddler on a mission. At an impressively young age of five, Jayden has already discovered and developed an impressive passion for fashion photography. Following in the footsteps of his mother, Selah B. Marie Bethea, Jayden is showing that creating great photography is within the reach of anyone who has a passion to create and a willingness to experiment. Armed with his trusty Nikon D5300, 18-55mm lens, and the support of his energetic mom, Jayden is creating work at a quality far beyond his years.

How to Evaluate Your Own Photography

One type of question we see on social media and photography forums again and again is the “do you prefer this or this?” or “which image do you like best out of this set?” These sorts of questions are completely meaningless as they disregard the most important part of the decision: the photographer’s intention. What were you trying to achieve?

Fstoppers Reviews the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens

In my camera bag, there are two lenses I use the most and it all comes down to what I am shooting that decides which of the two I am using. For a majority of my event coverages, I pull out my standard zoom lens as my go-to weapon of choice. Occasionally, I do find myself yearning for extra reach, especially when I am stuck at a certain distance and can’t walk any closer to the subjects. Looking for a telephoto lens, I tested out the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary telephoto lens, aka the “light-bazooka,” which is considered highly compact and lightweight to the other contenders on the market. This lens sounds like the perfect fit for me.

Double Review: Editing With the BenQ SW271 and SW320 4K Photography Monitors

The BenQ SW271 is a new, high-end 27-inch 4K IPS monitor aimed at photographers who demand color accuracy at competitive price-point. In this review we will test both the SW271 and its larger cousin, the 31.5-inch BenQ SW320, to see if these big photography monitors lives up to their expectations.

It's Now Possible To Look 20 Years Younger In Video

Foton inc. recently released a video showing off their video retouching skills. As photographers most of us know the time it takes to make someone look younger in a still image but what if you had to do that with video, frame by frame. To do this Foton created a new retouching technique they have named “Age Reduction FX".

Worlds Fastest Camera Shoots at 4.4 Trillion Frames per Second

How fast is your DSLR's frame rate? Does it shoot at 4.4 trillion FPS? Doubtful, but researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a a system they call "sequentially timed all-optical mapping photography" or STAMP for short. Shooting at 450x450 pixels with a record breaking frame rate of 4.4 trillion they are able to tote the worlds fastest camera title.

How to Create Eye-Catching Photo-Based GIFs in Photoshop

We've all seen the cute cat GIFs and the funny GIF memes. But, making your own photo-based GIFs is a great exercise and can be a fun way to spice up your photography work without having to dive headfirst into video.

Interview With Lifestyle Photographer Noah Sahady

I have been following Noah's work for some time now and have fell in love with every shot he has ever put up. His work is absolutely incredible and I feel everyone should take a look at this. I decided to do a quick interview with him to get to know him a little bit more.

Is the Narcissism of Photography Ruining Art?

Human beings have rendered images of themselves in one form or another since the beginning of our species. The desire to try and capture the human essence in something that will outlast the physical body is universal; the need to encapsulate our understandings of “self” and “others” is found in every culture throughout the world. But have digital cameras, selfie sticks, iPhones, and Snapchat made such a pursuit so mind numbingly easy, that it has now completely lost it’s value?

Becoming a Photopreneur: Essential Reads

It's no secret that most photographers are really bad at actually running a business. After all, the idea is to make a living making art and art doesn't require you to know what ROI means. All you need to know is how to create with your chosen medium right? Yes, if you love Ramen noodles. I don't know about you but I've certainly had my fill of them and despite the fact that I could easily win Iron Chef: Ramen...I'm not in any hurry to be that broke again.

Tips for Creating Dramatic Seascape Images

Seascapes has always fascinated me!.I do not have a preferred vision for seascapes; I love both minimalistic and simple versions, as well as those highly dramatic ones full of action and movement. Here, I will share some of my tips on creating the latter.

Fstoppers Review: The Absolutely Stunning Leather Union Street Camera Bag by ONA

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. These two things for many companies is difficult as they balance high-end product design with outstanding thought in function all while fitting it inside an appropriate price point. Enter the perfect blend of both with the Union Street Camera Bag by ONA. It's not just another accessory in the world of camera gear, but rather a perfect pairing of design and functionality that I can truly stand behind and wear with distinction.

Great Automotive Rig Tutorial By Nigel Harniman Using A Phase One

You may recall my previous automotive rig tutorial with the Green Hornet Black Beauty. My buddy, award-winning commercial photographer Nigel Harniman (www.harniman.com), recently put together another great automotive rig tutorial post using his Phase One ALPA and a Ferrari. I think the shot came out awesome and I definitely learned a few things, which you can read about below!

Amazon's 'Snowball' Might Be the Best Way to Back Up or Transfer Large-Scale, Critical Projects

With a slightly more enterprise-solution twist, Amazon has announced a new 50-terabyte "Snowball" drive that ships itself to your address, gives you ten days to load it with as much data as you can, and then gets picked up by UPS to transfer the data back to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud storage — all for $200 per job. The process works in reverse, too; so, you can import or export a job between any AWS product more quickly and at less cost than alternatives.

Where Does the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM Fit in, If at All?

Alongside the highly-anticipated a9 announcement, Sony also introduced the FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master telephoto lens. After the initial buzz and excitement over something shiny and new being announced subsided, I began to question why Sony released this lens at this particular time of intense market expansion.

Hero Food In Recipes And Products

When you are on a food photography shoot, you will hear the term the "Hero _____ " throughout the day. DO NOT EAT THE HERO. The hero is the picture perfect version of the food that will be in the final shot. Here is a look at what goes into finding the hero for your shot.

Cheap Telephoto Challenge - Brock Whittaker's eBay Discoveries

Brock Whittaker, a landscape photographer in Phoenix, AZ recently decided to take it upon himself to look at some of the unknown and dated telephoto lenses that can be bought on eBay for ridiculously cheap. Among those, he was able to pick up a Sigma 400mm f/5.6 APO, Five Star 500mm f/8, Sears 2x Teleconvertor, and a Generic 3x teleconverter all for $50. His findings, were actually quite impressive.

3 Key Things I Keep in Mind for Every Fall Photo

The season of red, orange, and yellow leaves is just about here. Whether you’ve already gone out and taken some photos or are just about to, it can be really helpful to keep a few key concepts in mind. In this guide, we'll be taking a look at what to do when you’re behind the camera, as well as in front of the monitor editing those shots.

Two Hours of Gregory Heisler and the Story of his Photographic Life

I had the opportunity to hear Greg Heisler speak a few months ago about his book 50 Portraits. I hadn't even thought of it at the time but once it finished I immediately regretted not filming it for our readers here. As luck would have it he repeated a similar lecture in NYC Ilford, and they recorded it! Yes, two hours is a decent chunk of time to devote to watching this, but you need to.

Lindsay Adler’s 10 Day Creative Challenge Aims To Take Your Work To Another Level

What do you do to continually push yourself and develop your work? Often it can be tricky to figure out how best to push ourselves, as well as keep the momentum up to continually do so. The best photographers I know are constantly pushing, challenging themselves a little each day and now one of them has given us the chance to up our game - welcome to the next 10 days of the 'Stay Out There' Lindsay Adler challenge.

Photograph Product on a Whiteboard to Easily Ensure Consistent Angles

When shooting catalog images of product it is very important to have consistency throughout the project. Oftentimes a single product might have several versions and each has to be shot separately. Since we want to ensure a consistent look for our clients we have to make sure the product lines up perfectly from shot to shot across all versions. Here is how I personally tackle that for tabletop images.

Tips for Responding to Photography Inquiries

Now I'm not sure about the rest of you, but the art of responding to a new lead is an ever shifting task for me and my photography business. We all do our best to stay on top of the trends, by researching our genre of photography to better understand our perspective clients and keep our responses fresh and interesting. However, just how often should we re-evaluate our approach?