How I Shot and Edited This Solar Eclipse Photo Using Only My Phone
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Who out there captured the eclipse this week? Did you plan ahead, travel hundreds of miles, purchase the right gear, and capture the phenomenon that is a total solar eclipse for that perfect shot? The photos are coming in by the thousands and each seems to be better than the last. Here is my photo capturing 90 percent coverage of the moon over the sun and also a little behind-the-scenes on how I shot and edited it completely with my phone.

[Pics] Fluid Sculptures (deconstruct these shots)
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It's time to put our Fstopper monkeys to work yet again. That's right, I'm talking about you guys. A Milwaukee-based photographer (Jack Long) has spent a year perfecting his very own, 11 herbs and spices kinda recipe, for shooting liquids in suspension and claims the effect is not created by dropping liquid as seen in other splash photography. So, put your brains to work, and tell us how you think he does it, in the full post. The Gear: Canon 1Ds MkII with a Canon 28-70 f2.8 lens at 50mm.

"I have been working for over a year with this unique, self discovered method of suspending liquids into the air and capturing them with short duration flash lighting. The shutter speed was set at 125, but because I was using high speed flash I just needed to trigger the lights while suppressing ambient light. I have used an infrared flash trigger at times but these are triggered more by eye and feel than with an electronic system."
Dave Kai Piper Shoots in a Historic Theatre
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While on a recent trip in the US, Dave Piper had the chance to stop by The 1905 Academy of Music Theatre in Lynchburg, VA. This historic theater is in the middle of a fund raiser to help raise money to complete their renovations. However while there, Dave had the chance to shoot a model with his Fuji X-Pro in this amazing historic environment.

Here's a First: A Photo Editor for Drone Images
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This is a really good idea, and as far as I know it's an original one. The folks at Skylum, who have given us the Luminar and Aurora image editors, are today offering AirMagic, a Mac or PC app designed to apply AI (artificial intelligence) to any drone or aerial-based image you drop into the app, either a single image or a bunch of images. The app will be released March 21, but I got an early review copy and I'll share my impressions below.

Fstoppers Reviews the Haida M10 Filter Holder System
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Our regular readers may remember a recent traumatic video for Fstoppers’ founders Lee and Patrick, where Lee’s D850 spent some intimate time with a wave and didn’t come out the same. Today, we’re going to look at the filter system he was testing on the day, the Haida M10.

Official Study Guide for Commercial Drone Pilot Certification From the FAA
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As most of us know, those who would like to fly for commercial use (any flying where the pilot will be paid) must now pass a test from the FAA and score 70% or over to fly legally. Now, I am a few days into studying for the test and realize that there is really a decent amount to know.

Using Colored Gels to Make a Boring Location Interesting
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As photographers, part of our job often involves making a relatively unexciting location into something exciting. Everything from subject to exposure to framing plays a part in this transformation but one often overlooked tool at a photographer's disposal is color. By adding color to a scene with the use of gels a photographer can bring an uninteresting scene up a notch by creating ambiance and drama.

Renaming Files in Lightroom
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I had originally been using a simple program called NameChanger to rename all my files before importing them to Lightroom, but ever since I realized that Lightroom had all the controls that I needed for setting up custom naming sequences for my files, this is all I use anymore. Here's how you find and use it. It's pretty simple.

Real World M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14” Review: Small Size, Big Power
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After about five years of using an Intel MacBook Pro, I made the jump to the M-Series. I bought the M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14” edition. While a downgrade in screen size, it was a huge upgrade pretty much everywhere else. In this article, we will review the new M3 MacBook Pro.

A Review of Shimoda Designs New Action X Series of Adventure Backpacks
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Shimoda Designs made a big entrance into the adventure outdoor camera bag market with its original Explore series. Since then there has been a lot of competition from both new designers and industry leaders. Not to be outdone Shimoda is back with a new evolution of their previous bag with the Action X series.

Flickr Wants to be "Awesome Again"
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The Verge recently interviewed Markus Spiering, Flickr's 'head of product.' Since Spiering has taken over in 2011, Flickr has received a visual face-lift and an updated iPhone app among other things. Flickr was starting to get lost amidst Instagram and Facebook, but with over eight billion photos from over 87 million users, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon.

Prepare Your Website, Flash Is Finally Going Away
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As I wrote in a previous article, using Flash for your photography website is a very bad idea with some very negative consequences. Now Adobe is announcing end of life for Flash.

Skateboarding + Fireworks = Quality BTSV
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Our good friend Dave Lehl is at it again and this time he's moved out of the snow and into the skate park. To add a bit of flare to the standard skateboarding shot Dave taped sparklers to the bottom of the board and used smoke bombs to set the mood. Check out the full post to a link to the high res finished shots.

Compare to Get Better: Analyze Yourself and Learn
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Since the very first session I had, I knew I wanted to be as good as I could possibly be. Without any real formal school, I learned most everything by doing. Coming from a background as a retoucher, and web developer and graphic artist before that, there were things I thought I knew and did know that were more advanced than beginner stuff. But I was lacking some of the formal training.

How to Easily Make Epic Panoramas
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Panorama photos are huge, sharp, and fascinating. In this article, I will show an easy way to automatically stitch a panorama in CameraRaw and finish them off in Photoshop.

Ultra-Premium Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 Announced
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The rumored Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 is now a reality with its official announcement today. This uncompromising premium lens, available for both Canon and Nikon mounts, is the second offering in the Otus line-up following the well-received Zeiss 55mm. Carrying the price tag of $4,490, the Otus 85mm is a nod to professional photographers who require impeccable image quality and lens construction.

[News] Nikon D3200, WU-1a Transmitter, and 28mm 1.8G Leaked!
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Due later tonight is an official announcement of Nikon's new D3200 DSLR. But Nikon Switzerland seems to have beaten the rest of the world to the punch. They published a wonderful PDF: a price list outlining Nikon's entire line-up -- including the D3200, a wireless transmitter, and new lens...

Time Magazine Celebrates the 100 Most Influential Photographs in History
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Time Magazine will be counting down their selection of the 100 most influential images of all time this month. According to the magazine, the very first photograph was taken back in 1826, so they are presenting this project to coincide with celebrating the "175th anniversary of photography and the birth of photojournalism."

What Is Minimalist Photography and How Do You Do It?
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What the heck is minimalist photography? How do I take minimalist photos? And what kind of gear do I need to do it? Well, read on to find out the answers to those questions and more.

Nikon Continues to Market the D6 with Videos About the D5
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In a slightly odd move, the page on Nikon’s website announcing the development of the company’s forthcoming flagship sports shooter, the Nikon D6, has just finished publishing a series of promotional videos — all of which focus on its predecessor, the D5.

[Gear] Who Needs Color? $8,000 Leica Camera Shoots Only Black And White
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Leica has gone against the grain of recent camera bodies with this interesting release of a digital camera that shoots only black and white images. The Leica M-Monochrom is a full-frame, 18MP Rangefinder style camera. What do you think of the price of something like this? Novelty or in a class all on it's own? Product photos and tech specs after the jump.

One Simple Tip That Will Level Up Your Portraits
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All it takes is this simple composition tip to take your portraits to a new level. In this video and article, I'll be demonstrating this tip and how you can use it in post-production to completely transform your photographs.

The Power Of Social Media Got This Guy A Ride With Ken Block
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I have been following Taylor Morris' story since the beginning. We share a mutual close friend, and because of that I was quickly exposed to the story of a Navy EOD tech who lost all of his limbs in Afghanistan. His story has been nothing short of inspiring and motivational, but furthermore he has had the help and support of a few amazing videographers and photographers to help spread his story.

Using Subtle Compositing Technique To Enhance A Photo
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When the term "compositing" comes up, one often considers it a destructive, transformative process that involves frankensteining a myriad of images into a single, completely new, composition. This method can draw as much ire as it does praise. Personally, I love great composites, but many feel that they are too fake. Not all compositing has to be a metamorphosis creating a brand new image, however. By leveraging compositing technique to make slight alterations to your image you can, instead, create a shot that is much more true to reality but still creates a sense of fantasy or surrealism.

ON1 Software Announces Photo RAW 2018
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Today ON1 Software announced the 2018 version of their flagship editing software, Photo RAW. With the addition of a variety of new features, Photo RAW 2018 promises to be the most compelling version yet. Among others, ON1 has added support for HDR, panoramic stitching, and more powerful masking to Photo RAW. A free public beta of Photo RAW 2018 will be available Friday, October 6.

[Photoshop Tutorial] Creating a Vintage Look Part 2: An FS PPT by Sean Armenta
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Happy New Year Fstoppers! My name is Sean Armenta, and this is my little spot on Fstoppers called The Post Production Tutorial. If you enjoy these videos, be sure to subscribe to the Fstoppers PPT Youtube Channel for the latest updates. Feel free to connect with me on the right side bar and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have about retouching. In this second part of the mini series, we will introduce some light leaks using photoshop to magically transform your expensive digital camera bodies into $30 plastic toy cameras.