Dealing With Fear as a Photographer

Fear is a dangerous thing. We all have to find ways to deal with it and maybe even use it to our advantage. Unfortunately, I let fear make decisions early in my career, and I'm still feeling the effects. If you struggle with putting your work out in the open, maybe you can learn from my mistakes.

Samyang Introduces VDSLR 16mm T2.6 Wide-Angle Cine Lens

Samyang introduced a new cine lens to its VDSLR line-up. It's an affordable wide-angle lens suitable for filmmakers using DSLR or mirrorless cameras with a 35mm sensor. Samyang's VDSLR 16mm T2.6 offers quiet and smooth de-clicked focus and aperture gear rings. Distance scale and T numbers are marked on both sides of the lens for optimal convenience when filming.

How to Better Inspire and Communicate with your Team

In the photography business, collaboration among all the players at a photo shoot is the key to success. We all know that concept is king, and effectively communicating that concept to your production team, model, retouch artist, makeup and hair stylists, and printer can make or break your idea.

But let’s step back for a minute and understand how you even got to the concept.

The Wednesday Rundown 4.18.12

Howdy and welcome to the Wednesday Rundown. This week we have a Titanic photo shoot in honor of the 100th anniversary of it's maiden voyage / last trip. Also check out the fashion editorial "Milk" by Natash Kertes and her team. With some unique images and contrasting colors her shoots turns out great. If you have a video that you think we might like to post, please click on "submit content" above.

Filming a Documentary in the Mongolian Wilderness for Three Weeks

San Francisco-based photographer Jeff Colhoun spent the last three summers in Mongolia documenting the activity of various environmental protection projects. The Genghis Khan nation is a huge country with a thin population of three million inhabitants spread out across a vast territory. The remoteness of the place is what made this assignment both appealing and challenging. Here is the story of this photographic journey.

Fro Interviews Fred Dingelhoff, a Blind Photographer

Fro Knows Photo received an email from Fred Dingelhoff, a blind photographer in the Netherlands. Fred lost his right eye when he was 9 months old to a tumor and then when he was 21 years old a tumor in his optic nerve took his sight in his left eye.

Sony Spins Sensor Business Off Into Its Own Entity, Sony Semiconductor Solutions

Sony Corporation announced today that it will spin off its semiconductor business into its own company in April 2016. Other parts of the corporation will see a restructuring of operations while all of the research and development, business, sales, and other operations related to the semiconductor and image sensor business will benefit from more autonomy under one separate roof. It has long been known that while Sony's other ventures have struggled recently, their semiconductor business does extremely well, as it is positioned as a market leader, whereas many manufacturers (including Nikon and Apple) use their sensors almost exclusively.

How Has the Pandemic Changed Your Approach to Photography?

The pandemic has been one of the most impactful events in the lifetimes of most that are alive today. It has been singular and brutal, affecting people, businesses, and infrastructure. Whether you're a professional photographer or a hobbyist, it undoubtedly changed the status quo for you, but how?

Now Available For Pre-Order Tamron 150-600mm

If you have a little bit of Christmas cash from grandma burning a hole in your pocket consider this lens. BH Photo just announced the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD lens for Nikon and Canon. It is available for pre-order now and is expected to ship January 17th, 2014. Also check out the link below to save $400 on the Nikon D800.

Creating Titles that Add Value to Images

Capturing an image is one of many steps in the process of putting together a photographic body of work. While titling your images is not obligatory, if you are thinking of exhibiting them or submitting to competitions, then this can be an important step. Although this can sometimes seem daunting, it need not be. If you’ve struggled with this, then read on.

A Green Screen Lesson With Freddie Wong

If you've followed Fstoppers for any length of time then you know we are huge fans of Freddie Wong and his crazy hilarious Youtube Channel. What's so great about Freddie's work is that it's not big budget at all and he mixes his great sense of humor with relatively simple After Effects to create one of the most watched channels on the internet. Last Call With Carson Daily premiered this video, Gun Size Matters, back in the Fall and I just now came across this behind the scenes video showing how they filmed it with green screen. Click the full post to watch the final short video of Freddie's dream date with Shenae Grimes come to a not so happy end :)
How Photography Helped Me Stay Positive Through Cancer Treatment

I'm not the first photographer that ended up going through the fun life challenge of combating cancer, and I sadly won't be the last. I did, however, find that my passion for photography and sharing with others helped me through some incredibly tough times.

Hang Out With Vincent Laforet And Other Creatives In Europe At FREE Events This Month

This month I'll be traveling to 5 European cities with Vincent Laforet to shoot and edit video for him as part of Project AIR, his new night aerial stills project. We have been working hard to offer something pretty unique – a totally free, direct first hand social event open to anyone who is interested in photography, video or the creative process, where we can share skills, technique and project support for your own projects as a result of what we’ve learnt with AIR. If you live in London, Barcelona, Berlin, Paris or Venice, we are throwing the doors open to you all.

Rules Will Kill Your Photography Creativity: Part One

Here is a fact: You will not find your creativity by following a rule, regardless of how many people believe it. In this series of articles, I aim to put this right. I’m on a mission to change how photography composition is taught — forever.

Adobe Photoshop Mix and Fix Add Support for Split View, iPad Pro, and the Apple Pencil

I don't have specific numbers. I don't even have vague numbers. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me Adobe's mobile photo editing apps have seen a huge success. The biggest reason: they're free. And the second: they really work, which makes the first reason even better. Today, Adobe updated two of these apps, Photoshop Mix and Photoshop Fix, with support for split view in iOS 9, for the screen size of the iPad Pro, and for the pressure and tilt sensitivity of the Apple Pencil for use on the iPad Pro.

Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art Lens Coming Soon [Rumor]

Several rumor sites are reporting the same release coming from Sigma in the coming weeks: a new, fast ultra-wide zoom that may compete with Nikon’s legendary 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. Will this be a favorite of astrophotographers in 2018?

Film Fans Rejoice: The Logmar Super-8 is an 8mm System for the Modern World

Anyone who shoots film (either stills or motion) knows the frustration of an ever-shrinking pool of available equipment. Finding a quality, tested and working 8mm system can be particularly difficult. Danish father/son company Logmar Camera Solutions, founded in 2009 in Aalborge, DE has the dream of reviving and reinventing the 8mm movie camera. Enter the Logmar Super-8, an 8mm system for the modern world.

Is Reflectance Printing Here To Stay?

In this scientific project, a group of researchers decided to find a way to make normal 2D prints react to light the same way 3D objects react to it. As you can see it works really great, but the photo quality is still not so good. I'm sure that with some more research and development it will get much better. This can change the way we print and see physical pictures the same way Lytro Changed the way people take pictures.

It's Official: Sony Will Take Over All of Toshiba's CMOS Manufacturing Facilities and Operations

It's no secret that Sony is the amongst the biggest players in the imaging sensor business. Aside from the sensors that go into their own cameras, they make the sensors that go into your iPhone, Nikon's DSLRs... you name it. Even Canon is recently reported to be testing outside sensors for the first time (and there's a good chance some of those are Sony's). Needless to say, all of this talk and excitement over Sony's sensors means they're going to need to scale up manufacturing. Solution: buy and manage Toshiba's CMOS chip factories.

A Time Lapse Shot Of 3 Locations At The Same Time

Everyone likes a good time lapse right? Well Philip Bloom just created one but it has a unique twist. Bloom's video was created with 3 cameras shooting simultaneously outside of his hotel window. He shot with a 5DMII, T2i, and T3i all shooting towards different areas of the landscape at different focal lengths. Check out the full post to see the finished product.
My Journey to Create a Composite Image

We all love a good composite, don't we? C'mon! You're probably going "No! They're all fake. It's all Photoshop, therefore it should be easy and shouldn't be a genre of photography at all! While some bad composites do exist, why not look at the other side of Dali's surrealistic, time-melting deserts and analyze the way it makes you feel when you study these types of images? How about we dive into the rabbit hole head first and find out what it takes to create a composite image?

Heartsapart:  Creating Stunning Military Portraits

Rob Moody, a good friend of ours at Fstoppers, has been working on an interesting video project with Heartsapart.org. Heartsapart has made it their mission to capture military soldiers and their families before they are separated through deployment. Photographers from all over the Southeast have come together to help this in this cause, and Rob has done a great job bringing this story to the public. I can really appreciate this because I grew up in a military family, and I know how important a photograph can be for those who are stationed overseas for extended periods of time. Check out this great video as past Fstoppers spotlight photographer Brownie Harris takes you in his studio to photograph several families.