How To Overcome Disappointment as a Photographer

Sometimes the best lessons in photography can come from sources far from the art world. Last week I saw an image that helped to remind me of one of the best lessons for a successful business and a successful life.

Stuck In a Creative Rut? Stop Taking Photos and Do These 5 Things Instead

Creative ruts happen to every photographer but some are deeper than others. In some cases, switching up your gear, trying a new genre, or changing your approach can lift you out of a slump. You can’t always shoot your way out of a creative rut, though – sometimes, the best thing you can do is put your camera down and try a different approach.

Fstoppers Reviews DJI's Digital FPV System

When DJI's digital FPV system was first announced, it was big news for a lot of people in the drone industry. How does this new system stack up against what already exists in FPV and how will DJI's Digital HD FPV system play a role in its new ecosystem?

Three Things I Appreciate About Olympus Cameras

There’s been lots of (digital) ink spilled about how great Fujifilm cameras feel to use. While I share many of those sentiments, there’s another seemingly oddball camera brand that I find myself reaching for, even when I have (ostensibly) much better options available: Olympus. Here’s a look at why I often find myself reaching for the company’s pint-size powerhouses.

Stunning Graffiti Artwork Video “Limitless” BTS And Interview With Creator, Selina Miles

I’ve just had Selina’s answers back for this interview and feel sick. Some numbers - 80 hours shooting, 7000+ stills, 40+ hours of rendering, sleeping in shifts to meet deadlines. I thought my current project was tough - compared to her's, I feel like I'm sat on a beach drinking a piña colada. Her video “Limitless” has had 6+ million views in 2 weeks, so all her hard work paid off. Read on to find out how she put this beautiful video together.

Fstoppers Reviews the Porteen Gear Camera Bag

So, it's kind of a running joke in the office whenever we see an email about a bag that someone wants us to review: "Wow! Do you think it will hold all the things!?" Because let's be real, a camera bag is just that: a bag to hold your camera and other gear. I've used the same cheap camera backpack for about five years now, and it was starting to look a little raggedy. So, much to my surprise (and chagrin), I found a camera bag that I, dare I say it, loved, the Medium Long Bag from Porteen Gear.

London College to Offer Course in iPhoneography

According to Huh Magazine, Kensington and Chelsea College in southwest London are going to be the first college to offer a class in iPhoneography called "iPhoneography: An Introduction to Photography with the iPhone." And while I think the iPhone is a legitimate creative imaging tool, the monetizing nature of this course makes me shake my head.

[Behind The Scenes] How Chipotle's Willie Nelson Commercial Stole The Grammys

As a music lover myself, the Grammys is one of the few awards shows I sit down to watch year after year. This something interesting happened I had never seen before; a commercial featuring Willie Nelson singing Coldplay's The Scientist actually outshined the live performance from Coldplay moments before. [Read Full Article]
[Video] How To Shoot Moving Images Of An Audi R8 GT

There are a ton of car photographers out there but very few of them are this good. Lee Howell just sent me his newest portfolio shoot that involved shooting a new Audi R8 GT in a soon to be opened tunnel. Lee got his hands on one of the craziest car rigs I have ever seen and walks us through the basics of his production. With a little bit of post work, the images become world class shots. Head over to Lee's website to get more info and pictures.
Sandisk Releases Massive 400GB MicroSD Card

Sandisk continues to push forward with the release of their record breaking Sandisk Ultra 400GB microSDXC UHS-I Card. Now owned by Western Digital, Sandisk once again topped their previous record-breaking 200GB & 256GB models released in the prior two years.

Hey Photographers! Why Are You So Mean Online?

The internet has been an integral part of allowing photographers to showcase their work to the world. Yet, no one is safe from the trolls hiding behind their computer screens.

Shooting Portraits Underwater Can Create Beautiful Results

Shooting underwater is not a simple task, and usually not very affordable. To shoot underwater you need not only the knowledge, but also expensive DSLR housing (or point and shoot cameras designed to shoot underwater) and also underwater lighting system if you want to fully control the lighting. Once you get underwater with your subject, the water lets you create striking and beautiful images, that you can never create out in the fresh air. Check out these great examples of underwater photography.

Zenfolio Wants to 'Help' You Create Photo Albums, Take Hefty Commission

I'm generally not a fan of the opt-out model. It's an easy way to push unwanted features, changes, or price increases onto an end user, often without them noticing until it's too late. It's like someone slipping a steak into my all-vegetarian cart at the grocery store when I'm not looking. Unfortunately, Zenfolio just slipped a big T-bone into its users' carts.

Filmmaker Matt Mangham Is Back Sharing His Love for Film - Analog Episode 2

Film fanatics rejoice because filmmaker Matt Mangham is back with the second installment of Analog, a personal series he put together to find and tell stories which explore the current state of film photography. You can find the first episode here on Fstoppers. In this episode, we get to follow fashion and action sports photographer Julian Martin as he locks and loads his Leica Minilux and heads out with a model along the California shore.

Fstoppers Reviews The New DryZone Bag From Lowepro

Lowepro’s new DryZone bags come in two different models, a 40-Liter backpack (40L) and a 20-Liter duffel (20L). Lowepro has been making bags for years, and these are a new entry into their DryZone series. These new bags have an IPX6 waterproof rating, which means they can take a significant amount of water blasted onto them and keep your kit dry. Think rappelling through a waterfall or taking on some white water rapids in a small boat. This review will focus solely on my experiences with the 20L and how well it performed.

How I Shot and Edited This Solar Eclipse Photo Using Only My Phone

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.

How to Create Adjustment Layers Based on Color in Capture One 9

Before Capture One 9, no raw editor software on the market could create a mask based on color. With their recent update, Phase One created something unique with the improved color editor panel. It is now possible to select precisely one color – or a range of – and then create a mask to adjust only the parts needed.

[Pics]  Fluid Sculptures (deconstruct these shots)

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."
Is Computational Photography Still Photography?

It's incredible to learn about all the technologies that are built into smartphone cameras that weigh as much as a paperclip. But, with all this technology, is it still you taking the picture or are you just a moving tripod carrying a computer around to take the picture for you?

Here's a First: A Photo Editor for Drone Images

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.

Dave Kai Piper Shoots in a Historic Theatre

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.

Official Study Guide for Commercial Drone Pilot Certification From the FAA

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

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.

Fstoppers Reviews the Haida M10 Filter Holder System

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.

Renaming Files in Lightroom

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

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.