PTW III Behind the Scenes: We Got Stuck in the Dubai Desert Overnight

Our latest series of behind the scenes episodes with Elia Locardi are almost over. In today's episode we continue to explore the rooftops of Dubai in search of the perfect cityscape photograph of the city. We then head out to a remote desert to photograph the stars only to find out our guide had other plans. This is “Photographing the World III” behind the scenes episode 12!

Enter Your Wildlife Images in "Big Picture: Natural World Photography Competition"

There are a lot of contests out there this time of year, but I wanted to take a minute to bring the California Academy of Sciences Big Picture: Natural World Photography Competition to your attention. Now through March 31, 2014, Cal Academy is inviting photographers to enter their wildlife and conservation images to this competition for a chance to win a share of the $20,000 in cash and photography gear prizes.

How To Photograph A Spacedive: BTS With Red Bull

Red Bull is about to attempt a feat never accomplished before. Stratos is the name of the project where Red Bull will attempt to have Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian skydiver, free fall over 22 miles above the Earth and in the process break the speed of sound. The video shows the video and photography equipment, including 15 cameras, used to document the entire thing which is planned to go off around December.

Project Impossible Tries to Bridge Analog/Digital Gap with Instant Lab

You remember Project Impossible right? The self admittedly "crazy" group of former Polaroid employees who banded together to buy the last remaining Polaroid factory in their attempt to save instant film for the future? Yeah, those totally awesome folks are trying to get funding for their latest project that brings digital images to the physical world: Instant Lab.

An Interview With Eric Magnussen: The Art of Drag and Photography

RuPaul’s Drag Race is the Emmy-winning global phenomenon taking reality TV by storm. The show is in its 13th season but boasts several spin-offs including All Stars, as well as localized seasons in Canada, UK, Thailand, Holland, Spain, and Australia. Drag race, as it is called by fans, is a reality competition that challenges contestants to find the drag performer who possesses the perfect blend of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.

I Screwed Up the Northern Lights. How Did You Do?

Your social media feeds have probably been full of purple and green night skies that last few days if you're almost anywhere in the United States, or if you have U.S.-based friends. Chances are, they got a good glimpse of and possibly photographed a rare event: Northern Lights.

Interview with Adventure Photographer Curtis Jones

The first gig adventure photographer Curtis Jones ever had was an unsupported kite traverse of the Greenland Polar Ice Cap. Before that, he was a pharmacist on remote Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The surprising jump from pharmacist to adventure photographer actually makes sense when you hear Jones’ story and could give hope to photographers out there who want to make the leap, but aren’t sure where to start.

Kickstarter Iphone Camera Captures Your World In 360 Degrees

Kickstarter is a fun website that allows inventors to demo their prototypes in an effort to raise funding for an actual product. The company Kogeto creates 360 degree pano devices, and recently they tackled making a fun accessory for the greatest fashion photography camera: the iPhone. David Sosnow demos how the Kogeto Dot will work if put into production as well as how their own mapping software combines the footage into a explorable 360 video not unlike the Yellowbird Camera we featured last year. I know many of you will say this sort of thing is pretty gimmicky but I think there is a ton of potential for this sort of videography in events, weddings, action sports, etc. Check out this 360 video of Muse playing last year. I can only imagine what people would do having this technology in their phone.
Google Develops New Auto-Captioning Technology

We all have a huge number of photos on our computers these days. But how often do you find yourself searching endlessly for that photo you took three years ago on Thanksgiving because you forgot to tag it with any relevant information when it was saved? Well, Google has once again solved all your problems. They've revealed a new captioning system that can teach itself how to accurately describe a photo.

The Top Images from GuruShots "Tell A Story" Challenge

Our friends over at GuruShots, hosts of "The World’s Greatest Photo Game,” recently offered a challenge where particpants submitted their best images "Tell A Story." There were thousands of entries and millions of votes throughout the contest but the top winners have been selected. See who won as well as the 60 top rated images below.

Photo Throwdown Episode 2 Part 1 Released! The Show Goes West Coast!

Photo Throwdown returns for their second episode! Last time we were with them in New York City for their premiere episode. Now the gang are tearing it up in San Diego with challenges pitting two of their own very talented crew against each other! Both competitors will have to scramble to win the mini-challenge in hopes of getting a leg up on their compeitition for the main challenge!

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Your Photography: Hahnemühle's Green Papers

Optical printing is a dirty and time-consuming process. The chemicals involved in printing are bad for you and bad for the environment. Digital printing hasn’t changed much of this impact for the better. The chemicals used to treat photographic printer paper aren’t great for the environment. The paper itself uses a significant amount of resources to cultivate. Do you ever wonder if there is a better alternative?

Timelapse Of The Happiest Place On Earth

Typically, when you see timelapse videos it's of beautiful metropolitan skylines, celestial light painting or visions of nature, but Youtuber, Dsnedit (Daniel Navarrete), decided what better place to do a timelapse than the quintessential childhood staple, Disneyland. It is after-all the happiest place on earth (or so Disney tells us).

Robots Have Taken Over The Desert

Douglas Sonders has been one of the most featured photographers on Fstoppers because he not only has great photoshoots but he also makes great BTS videos. Recently he headed out to Nelson, Nevada (a requirement of any photographer traveling to Vegas) to shoot a few promotional posters for The Showbots' Droidz. In the video, Douglas uses a few White Lighting Strobes with 7" reflectors and does some desaturated edits with Nik Software's Color Efex Pro. Click on the thumbnail image to view the final images.
Breaking Free From the Photo Business Rollercoaster

Why are you a photographer? You probably didn’t get into this thing assuming it was a get rich quick scheme or for status and power. More likely than not, you love taking photos, being around people, and the excitement of running your own business.

A Photographer's Guide to Protecting Your Business and Client Relationships

Running a photography business is not as easy as you would like to think it is. A very common misconception starting in this industry would be thinking that you will be successful if you are good at taking photographs. While it was probably true decades ago, the steep competition and the change of industry landscape these days pushes the difficulty to the next level. In this article, we will be discussing an ongoing issue about client ghosting that has become increasingly common and continues to bug the industry as a whole.

Sigma Announces the 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Lens

The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art was the company's first in the Art line, a series that has grown to become some of the most respected optics in the industry. Now, the company has introduced the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art, an update to the classic lens, with a variety of new features and improvements.

A Photographer's Journey Back To Chukotka

Two years ago, we posted this video from photographer, Sasha Leahovcenco. His mission was to literally travel to the end of the earth to photograph people who never had their photo taken. This March, he and his crew are going back to reach even more people - people who have never even had visitors. Sasha has put his project on Kickstarter to help raise funds for his amazing project.

How To Make It Through The Hard Times as an Artist

The life of an artist is often romanticized as living a dream. But what often gets lost in that framing is that the road to happiness more often resembles a roller coaster than a straight line.

The Wednesday Rundown 8.11.10

Hello everyone and welcome to the Wednesday Rundown. This weekend all of us here at Fstoppers got out on the open road and got away for a couple of days. It feels great to free your mind and see some new landscape. This week we have a line up of fashion shoots and one of a band. Send in some videos you find on the net.contactfstoppers@gmail.com
The Ultimate Checklist for Staging Property Photography

Creating an effective staging plan for property photography involves careful planning, attention to detail, and a focus on highlighting the property's best features. Here's a comprehensive staging plan that I use that includes the use of props and emphasizes cleanliness.

Fstoppers Reviews the Movavi Video Suite 18

As someone who has previously used the Movavi Video Editor 15, I was really interested to see what the full suite had on offer. After using the Movavi Video Suite to edit some of the videos that I recently posted on YouTube, I have to say I'm quite impressed.