Add a Deeper Kind of Depth to Your Photographs

In last week's article, we spent some time discussing methods of adding the illusion of depth to your images using compositional techniques. This week, we will take that a step further and look at adding depth to the content of your images.

Six Important Shortcuts That Won't Harm Your Photography

There's almost an infinite amount of decisions that a photographer has to make on their journey to becoming a professional. While many of these choices may be somewhat trivial, other decisions will place you on the wrong path, cost you money, or slow your progress down dramatically.

Jain's 'Makeba' Music Video Displays Incredibly Creative Thinking in South African Culture

Jain is a musician from France, but she's lived all over the world during her teens, from Dubai to the Republic of Congo and even in South Africa, where the music video for 'Makeba' was shot. The song's name is a reference to Miriam Makeba, a well-known South African singer and songwriter during the 50s and 60s. Her mother used to play it at home, and she noticed how different the African beat and rhythm is to that of the Middle East and Europe. In the music video, it's smart editing and visual effects that bring simple ideas together to give the video the rhythm that perfectly taps into the African beat.

Critique the Community: Submit Your Best Swimwear Photos Now

Our next episode of "Critique the Community" will feature swimwear photography. This featured image was taken by the amazing swimwear/fashion photographer Dixie Dixon. In our next episode, Dixie and Patrick Hall will critique 20 random images submitted by our readers. Please post your submissions into this post by Sunday November 1st at 11:59PM EDT for your chance to get direct feedback from Dixie and the FS staff.

Stunning Helicopter Drone Footage of Climbers on Trango Tower

Armed with a RC helicopter drone and a head-up display, Mammut "pilot" Dedicam Andrew Peacock navigates while Remo Masina captures some stunning video of the Trango Tower in Pakistan. See more of Remo Masina's work at Dedicam.tv . This sample footage will be used in Mammut's upcoming 150 Year Peak Project video.

How to Edit Video on a Slow Laptop

Beginning your video editing journey can be painful on a slow machine. I’ll explain a few tweaks that might help smooth out the experience.

Future of XQD Cards: Lexar Still Producing, Hoodman May Start, CFexpress Is the Future

A lot of information came out of NikonRumors regarding the current status and future of the XQD format, which is so far only used by Nikon's high-end DSLRs since the D4. Lexar's XQD cards recently showed as discontinued on numerous online stores, leaving Sony to be the sole manufacturer of the fast (but expensive and sometimes unavailable) cards. Now, the future looks much brighter for XQD with Lexar announcing they will still distribute and fill stock of their own XQD cards and rumors of Hoodman's entry into the market. There's even news of developments with CFexpress, which will replace XQD in the future.

United States Olympic Committee Restricts Media Usage Even More

You might remember a recent story in which an athletic sponsor was forbidden from referencing the Olympics when reporting on one of their athletes. It seems the US Olympic Committee is now clamping down all the more, issuing very stringent restrictions.

The Biggest Tool Photographers Aren’t Using in Their Creative Work

Have you been taking the same images with slight variations over the last few years? Have you seen new technologies shake up the photography world, yet largely kept your distance from them? Today, the esteemed Kristina Sherk from Shark Pixel shares with us one such tool that can revamp the work you've been putting out. Following her tutorial written for us below, I decided to try it out myself. I encourage you to break out of your comfort zone, give it a try, and share your photos with us in the comments.

The Wednesday Rundown 11.09.11

Howdy and welcome to the Wednesday Rundown. This week we have an amazing photo shoot from a Vogue photographer. Her behind the scenes video of a Native American styled shoot is a must see. Check out the other fashion shoots that were posted also. If you have a video that you think we might like to post, please click on "submit content" above.


Getting Better Photos When Walking With Your Camera: Part Two

Do you take your camera for a walk? In this second article on that topic, we will be considering why it is good for you and your photography in ways you might not think, why you could leave the telephoto lens behind, and how to improve at photographing animate subjects even with a shorter lens.

ONA Releases New Bags: Prince Street and Berlin II

ONA, makers of some fine fashion-forward camera bags, has announced the availability of new camera bags: the Prince Street and Berlin II. The bags are designed to carry a camera, two lenses, an iPad and personal items. The Berlin II is a Leica collaboration and made for the Leica M-System. It features one signature red rivet and a red interior.

Put Your DSLR On Wheels With CineSkates

If you've been shooting stills or video for any length of time, chances are you've often thought about making a product that could make your life a bit easier. Cinetics designer Justin Jensen's own idea was to make a simple dolly system for DSLR cameras that was also portable. He designed and launched his CineSkates on Kickstarter and the response has been huge. So far Justin has raised more than 6x his initial goal of $20,000 so it looks like this production version will soon be in photographers' bags world wide. The system basically adds skateboard wheels to the versatile Joby Gorilla Pods and creates a system that gives your video footage high production movement. You can also the CineSkates for timelapse photography. Check out the video below to see exactly how the system works.
Douglas Sonders Photographs Blink 182 In Under 30 Minutes

Douglas Sonders has always created some pretty interesting behind the scenes videos of his photo projects. Recently he shot the band Blink 182 for the cover of Alt Press Magazine. The behind the scenes video below doesn't show much mainly because Douglas only had about 30 minutes with the band and had to shoot 3 separate covers with each band member individually as well as 1 complete band photo. The lighting is pretty straight forward though with a few rim lights, a soft over head key light, and a ring flash. Check out the full post to see a detailed video on how Douglas photoshopped the final images for print and how he uses the Nik Software Viveza in his workflow.
Bayhem: When Too Much Isn't Enough

Michael Bay, the American movie director and producer, is worth millions of dollars. In fact, Forbes has Bay making $66 million in 2014 – and that’s just through the first six months of this year.

How’s he do it? Well, Tony Zhou has created a mashup of Bay’s movies for us to study. Let the Bayhem begin.

Are Your Photo Editing Habits Impairing Your Creativity?

Loads of photographers enjoy a little light entertainment during the often monotonous process of editing photos. When you’ve got to bang out edits on a 10-hour wedding or work your way through vacation photos, it’s nice to have something playing in the background. However, recent studies suggest that whether you listen to music or podcasts or binge-watch your favorite shows, you might be hindering your creativity.

The Best Time-Lapse You Will Never Be Able To Create

It seems every day someone is creating an interesting timelapse that shows something we've never seen before. This one comes from the International Space Station as it orbits around the earth at night. The video was made from using data from the Gateway To Astronaut Photography Of Earth and stitched together with the open software Virtual Dub. It's pretty amazing how much light pollution makes it to each exposure and look carefully for bursts of lightning over the Pacific Ocean. Props to the person who spots the satellite that makes the frame as well!
BTS: Plan, Shoot, and Edit a Vintage Travel Set

As part of a commitment to expand my portfolio in 2017 with work that showcase a broader understanding of concept and light, I decided to plan a shoot centered around a vintage travel theme. After weeks of planning the style, location, and overall shots I wanted to take away, I finally had the opportunity to execute the shoot yesterday and I’d like to share the results as inspiration for any interested readers.

Creating a Photo That is a "Vision of the Future"

Aaron Nace from PHLEARN wanted to make an image that was based on the idea of a future where the sun had become so bright that humans would be forced to see the world through technologically-advanced glasses. Watch how they went from concept drawing to finished photo in their most recent tutorial.

[Gear] Sony Reveals NEX-FS700, '4K Ready' and 240fps Camera Body

Hot on the heels of NAB 2012, Sony's Europe website posted the NEX-FS700E Camcorder. The hitlist of features include a Super35mm CMOS Sensor, 4K RAW output with a future upgrade, up to 240fps @ 1080p, built-in ND filters, and 50/60Hz switching. Pricing is still unannounced, but EOSHD's sources tell them it will only be $8,000! Hit the jump for actual product images and a detailed feature list.

Fstoppers Reviews The Pad Prompter by OneTakeOnly

Speaking on camera can be stressful. Some people are born with that fearless gene that allows you to get that first take right out of the gate... the rest of us are not as fortunate. Thankfully for us there's teleprompters that help walk us through the process of speaking on camera. One of these popular teleprompters is the Pad Prompter by OneTakeOnly. A prompter that utilizes your portable tablet and transforms awkwardness to smooth takes.

Lomography's New 6x12 Multi-Format Metered Camera

The Lomography Store has a new camera available for pre-order, the BELAIR X 6-12 camera. Featuring multiple formats and auto-metering, the camera is perhaps the most flexible of its kind for an unprecedented price. Pre-order now for a 30% discount!

Fstoppers Reviews the 170-Degree Superfish Mobile Lens by Moment

If you weren't aware, there is quite a market for mobile lenses within the photography community, and sitting atop the pack is a little company called Moment. They came bursting on the scene about two years ago with the plan to bring high quality glass to the mobile photography market. Here are my thoughts on their brand new super fisheye lens, the Superfish.

[Video] The Photographers Behind Their Iconic Photos

Photographer Tim Mantoani has been working on a 5-year project called “Behind Photographs”, where he has been capturing the artists that were responsible for some of the iconic images that have shaped our culture. In this video he talks about his process a bit more, and shows the rare 20x24 Polaroid camera he used. Very cool historical piece here, it’s an interesting juxtaposition showing the photo with the photographer.
Shooting A-List Celebrities with Polaroid Cameras

It seems like everyone is a photographer nowadays, and with technology getting cheaper and cheaper, it seems like every which way you look you are seeing another person snapping away on a DSLR. The question is how do you separate yourself from the masses. It can be a daunting task to do something different. But It’s not as hard as you think. It might be something you stopped using a long time ago.

Ricoh GXR Mirrorless Camera Review

The Ricoh GXR is an oddball. It’s different than any other mirrorless camera out there -- with the GXR, you use the same base body, but switch out sensor/lens combinations. This format has some serious advantages and disadvantages compared to its competition.

A Scouting Checklist: What I Look For in a Location or Studio

Art is about storytelling. It’s about using all the tools at one’s disposal to convey and idea or an emotion. To connect an audience to a brand, or a personality, or a moment in a way the no other medium can. Along with my own technique, the ingenuity of the on-camera talent and the creative team behind it, plus the tools necessary to complete the job, the location you select for your shoot is one of the many raw materials that will have an effect on the eventual alchemy you bring forth to produce a great image.

46 Billion-Pixel Image Is Now the Largest Space Image by a Factor of More Than 30

From photos of Pluto and its moons to constantly expanding catalogs of images of our planet, NASA's releases seem to be never-ending lately. The latest epic space image, however, comes from German astronomers from Ruhr University Bochum. At a massive 46 billion pixels and a unwieldy 194 gigabytes, the image unseats the previous record holder for the largest photograph of space: NASA's 1.5 billion-pixel Hubble photograph of Andromeda.

Your Camera’s Meter Lies: Take Advantage of It To Improve Your Photos

Metering and exposure are uneasy companions. Although they seem to work well together on the surface, the metering can trick you into exposing badly. Here are some experiments showing you how to take control of exposure and use it creatively, especially in aperture priority mode.