Fstoppers Original Articles

Last year Team Stuart was faced with a big storage problem. Our 9-plus terabytes of photos were a few weddings away from out growing their 10 terabytes of storage. This meant we needed to shell out a bunch of money for more hard drives to even think about storing more photos. Money that I didn't have, especially considering we'd need a whole new NAS setup. That is when I made the bold decision to forgo on-site storage and move to the cloud. In retrospect, it may have been a big waste of time.

These days, there are endless ways to get your images in front of clients, and it is more important than ever to put your best foot forward at all times. A tight and well curated portfolio is absolutely essential; trimming the fat and staying true to your brand. But keeping a consistent brand and level of presentation isn’t the same as duplicating your presentation, and to best reach your intended audience requires consideration of the end-user experience.

Instagram Stories have become more and more attractive with the latest features such as the tag- and location-based stories. People seem to enjoy these features, and they can drive more potential followers to your account. However, quality content, even in Stories, remains king; and posting a video or a photo that stands out can really make a difference in bringing more followers to your page. As photographers or videographers, we truly have a massive advantage in producing great content that people want to see. So in this article, I’ll show you how to post your amazing work to your Story even if said content is older than 24 hours.

Ever since my childhood, there has been a connection to the old world. The look and feel of maps, an alidade, a sextant, and a sailor's log book were just a few of the things that were thought of when my own company's brand was being developed. However, there was always something missing to truly meld the old world with new world products until I found a fine art display that not only awakened that connection but also did not break the bank.

That thing that everyone keeps talking about — The creative fuel for your creative fire? Where exactly does that come from? If you're looking for the short and sweet answer, it comes from wherever the hell you want it to. It comes from music, movies, television, books, nature, cities, and the people all around you. It comes from the weirdest and most random places. Sometimes it hits you like a truck and you know right away; “Holy shit, I just got inspired!” Other times it's much more subtle and you don't realize for a few days or weeks, maybe even months that something happened and you've got your creative wheels spinning.

Many of us have been there. You upload your work to a social media platform only to find out months later that your photos have gained the attention of the masses. Immediately you start getting bombarded with emails, phone calls, and publications start reaching out. You quickly realize the moment you have always been waiting for is happening right now, but a new reality also sinks in: you have no clue what in the world you are supposed to do with all of this attention. In this video I sit down with Mike Kelley to discuss some of the steps you should take to capitalize on your viral photo series.

For the last 10 years I have been regularly visiting this remote and pristine island state. Tasmania is about a 1.5 hour flight from Sydney to the city of Launceston. The diverse choice of landscapes and close proximity by car make this a unique and accessible environment still largely untouched. Around 40 percent of Tasmania is protected National Parks and Reserves. If you are looking to get off the grid and discover a magical wilderness, this place is filled with adventure and convict history. Here are some of my favorite spots to photograph in spring or autumn. I have also added a few other locations as side trips that are also worth a look.

Deciding if you should go to photography school takes more than looking at its perks. First, you will have to realize who you are, where you are coming from, and where you want to go. Looking at the outrageous amount of money you will have to spend in order to attend university, the answer should be based first and foremost on what your needs are and what the school can offer you in order to satisfy those needs. Our society is pushing the belief that college education is intrinsic to a successful career, but modern facilities and prestigious professors won’t be justified as long as they are not essential in achieving your personal goal. Once you realized that, the decision is actually not that difficult.

Hensel claims that their Cito 500 is the fastest flash in the world with a flash duration of 1/100,000th of a second. This is so fast that it can "freeze" a bullet mid flight. We decided to put this sales pitch to the test and set up a shoot with some live ammunition.

The largest single landscape print I have made to date is a ten-foot-wide panorama of the Painted Rock at Fort Irwin. Titled A Thousand Words Fall Short, I donated it to a Veterans' clinic on the 4th of July. Printed on Fuji-crystal archival paper, front-mounted to 1/4" museum acrylic with an anti-glare coating, and backed by a solid sheet of aluminum, it really caught and exalted the light in the humble hallway where I was honored to see it hanging a couple days ago.

The day you move from amateur to pro is one you never forget. But how do you decide to make that move? How do you know you’re going to cut it as a pro? How do you know if you’re ready? Will you ever be ready? Yes, you need a healthy interest from potential clients, and yes, you need a heap of camera gear. But what else? It is not all about the kit I promise you. That’s just a crutch. This is what you really need.

The closest art to photography is painting, and thus the two primary visual art forms share basic precepts regarding light and composition. In the same way photographers use different lenses, filters, and lights to achieve their vision, so too might they learn to use various time-honored, classical techniques in composition. While a polarizing filter is not used for every shot, neither is the golden ratio and sacred geometry. But just as every photographer will have a polarizing filter in their toolkit, so too will they have knowledge of sacred geometry, whose rules they can exalt, or break, at will.

Composition may be one of the most widely discussed artistic aspects in photography. In theory, the idea is simple. Putting it to work, particularly in motion arts, is easier said than done. Composition is one of the most important creative aspects of any filmmaking. Simply put, it is the act of defining the position, arrangement, and view of objects within the frame. The composition is, in effect, representing the point of view of your viewer and it will have a direct impact on how that viewer feels when they see it.

A photographer has claimed he is ready to retire due to his dire financial situation after a multiple year-long legal battle over the copyright surrounding images taken by monkeys on his camera.

Back in July of 2016 when my daughter was a mere glimmer in my eye, I read Alex Cooke’s excellent article on shooting drone portraits. I was immediately transfixed by this new (new to me, anyway) concept. Some 12 months after first stumbling upon Alex’s article, I have a seven-week-old at home, and my travel photography has come to a halt (at least for a while). But I can always drone the baby! Here are some tips for getting the most out of your newborn drone portrait session.

After Google, Youtube is the second largest search engine, and thus having a video-portfolio of one's photography can be a great addition in so far as getting one's work seen. Any time we get to offer our work in a different format, it allows us to both see and showcase different angles which otherwise may remain hidden or less apparent. Give a client the option to watch your video or scroll through your portfolio, and they might well take you up on the video, which, in being rarer, can also be more memorable.

It should be that it goes without saying not to be a creepy photographer. Sadly, there are creeps out there and our profession is a "good fit" for a pervert trying to look at young women. That being said, we need to be extra careful to make sure we maintain our good reputation.

DJI has released many drones over the past few years. The different models may seem similar to a newcomer, but each one actually addresses a different need. In the end, it all boils down to size and portability versus image quality and performance. Here we’ll analyze the main differences between the DJI drones to help you determine which one is the right fit for you.

Gear. Batteries. Cables. Chargers. Hubs. Do you ever feel like you spend more time managing things around creating instead of actually creating? Is your gear a chaotic mess when it comes to charging the plethora of batteries you have for your digital lineup? Is charging after you are out shooting something you don't keep up with right away? Wouldn't you rather grab a beer and download your digital assets after a shoot and skip charging? If you are anything like me and love getting more out of the gear you already have, here’s a sweet and rewarding DIY solution to make life a little easier. You can build a similar charging station for less than $50 using a few tools and simple supplies that you or a friend might already have.

We all know how highly respected the Pelican brand is when it comes to protecting your photography equipment. The case's waterproof qualities and seemingly indestructible nature make them the go to choice for many professionals. If you thought they were just for keeping your gear safe then think again, they actually have many more practical benefits than just the obvious.

More and more people fall in love with photography everyday. This will only increase the more approachable and affordable it becomes. There seems to be some people who think that because of this photography is somehow dead. Yeah, that really makes a ton of sense. Maybe the people saying there is no way to succeed in today's saturated market, are really just the same naysayers that have been telling musicians, athletes, entertainers, scientists, or charities for years that it can't be done. Anything can be done with enough determination. And luckily for us, determination is free.

For quite some time now, there have been plenty of flash options available for the Fujifilm X system. Fuji themselves have released several flashes, Nissin and Metz have also had some good offerings. However, many have been waiting for the big names like Profoto and Elinchrom to offer full Fujifilm X support and bring some serious power to the system. Over the past couple of weeks, Godox has announced and released two new products to bring their entire system to Fujifilm X users. The first of which we will meet today, the TT350F Thinklite Flash.

Yes, that's right! In fact, all of your gear and equipment are there for you to help show what you want to say, but before that, you need to use your best tool: your mind. I'm not going to talk about the quality or techniques and skills for taking a better picture, instead I want you to think one step before that. One of the most important things for an artist is to create a piece of work showing exactly what they are thinking in their head. The difference between your idea and your outcome defines how powerful you are as an artist, and that difference is small for a great artist.

Just recently after moving back home for the summer, I decided to begin a new aerial series. Up here in Bergen County, New Jersey, there is not much to shoot, or at least that is something I tell myself. One day after skimming Google Maps for spots to fly, I came upon a few islands on a lake, each with their own individual house. Intrigued by what I saw, I knew that I had to find a way to capture these homes in a way that makes them more interesting to me. So right here, my series began and I will explain why I think it is important to keep every photo consistent.

Just over a year ago today, I took the leap and made my first MagMod purchase. That first endeavor included: The Basic Kit, a set of Creative Gels, a set of Artistic Gels, an extra MagGrid, an extra MagGrip, a MagBounce, and a MagSphere. Over the last year I’ve added (and replaced) a few more items into my MagMod kit that is now to a point I’m now extremely happy with. After that initial purchase though, there was still one missing piece that kept lurking in the back of my mind. It wasn't actually a MagMod item so much as it was something I saw in a video on the MagMod page featuring TwoMann Studios.

If you haven't been paying attention to the topic of Net Neutrality, now is the time to jump on the bandwagon. To save the long explanation, take a quick visit to Battle for the Net for more info on what exactly is going on and how to add your name to the growing list of independents everywhere in support of Net Neutrality. To see the long list of companies valiantly taking this stand in support of Net Neutrality, check out their post.

I'm probably going to get a smidgen of heat for this one but I also feel it is one that many photographers need to seriously reflect on. At its core, photography is not a good business model. For the vast majority of photographers, the pursuit of photography of a career is a calling driven by passion. We can't imagine spending our lives doing anything else so we chase an industry that is vastly oversaturated with supply. If that is you, great, but if working on your photo career feels more like clocking into an exhausting day job then you are only settings yourself up to destroy your hobby by trying to transform it into a career.

Getting videos exported from Premiere Pro and uploaded to Instagram is not the most straight forward process. To help with this, I’ve created three export presets for you to use. These include Landscape, Square, and Vertical aspect ratios. To install and use the presets, follow the steps below.

Many photographers go through the purge status in life with the "out with old and in with the new" mentality. So what started out as a fun and playful idea from award-winning boudoir photographer Beth Claire of Lost Highway Imaging, turned into a lucrative niche for her already thriving boudoir company.

Editing a picture is all about making the most out of what your sensor has captured to make your creative vision come to life. How you see a scene will differ from what others, or even your camera, see at the exact same time and place. Adjusting your file in post-production is thus critical to share with others what you saw with your eyes and mind. In this article, I’ll show you one way to edit your images quickly using ACDSee Ultimate 10. You’ll see how to give a cinematic feel to your shots and also how to edit them in batch to save time.

Before taking on the definition of "fine art photography," perhaps we would be wise to consider Einstein's words: "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." Having said that, pretty much every single photographer oft considers their work and career in the context of "fine art."

A couple of years ago, I broke an important rule I made for myself: never take my camera on family outings. We were going to visit the zoo with extended family, and my grandmother said, "You should bring your camera! I bet you could get some great photos of the animals." The whole thing was very innocuous and she was well intentioned, but the results were exactly what I had decided I wanted to avoid, and a good reminder of why I made that rule for myself in the first place. If you find yourself doing the same thing I do, then perhaps this is a good rule for you to adopt.

Our lives and our art are interconnected. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can improve one without the other. Sort of like thinking you can spot reduce belly fat in the gym. Most people would love to get rid of a little here or there, but the actual fact is that reducing body fat is a global adjustment. Crunches won’t accomplish anything until you look at your overall diet and fitness from head to toe. A similar realization allowed me to take control not only of my fitness, but my life, and, as a result, my career.

As you can imagine I spend a lot of time in Photoshop. And when you spend as much time in Photoshop as I do, you want to work as fast and efficiently as you can. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot of keyboard shortcuts. Knowing keyboard shortcuts is crucial in creating a faster more efficient post-production workflow.

Photography can be quite an expensive hobby or career. Needless to say us photographers love our gear and always want more of it - or at least I do! Over the past couple of years, I've been transitioning from being primarily a wedding photographer to incorporating more studio photography in my business. I don't plan on leaving weddings, but I love having a couple more thousand dollars a month doing quick and easy headshot photography. Here's how I built my studio with both simplicity and quality in mind.

Finding the perfect soundtrack for a video project or short film can be a laborious and painful process for budget filmmakers, yet it’s a task that requires plenty of care and attention. Music Vine claims to have filled this gap in between by providing affordable, high quality, curated music licensing. We sat down with Co-founder Lewis Foster to speak all things music licensing for video projects.

I apparently don’t always have the best relationship with my equipment. Recently while setting up for an early morning outdoor shoot, I was reminded that you get what you pay for with a swift blow to my man-parts. 'Eff you light stand!

Never forget where that perfect shooting spot is ever again! If you're like me, location scouting is something that is never an oversight. In previous articles, I've often written that preparation will make or break a photo shoot, it is essential. With that said, this simple and rather obvious hack that I discovered will make the preparation process that much easier!

As all wedding and portrait photographers have experienced, things often don't go as planned. Two common scenarios are, 1) timeline delays that cut into your ideal outdoor shooting times and 2) rainy or cloudy weather that covers the sun, making the popular backlit look impossible to achieve with natural light. When either of these two things happens, we at Lin and Jirsa Photography use the following five ways to recreate or fake the sun. We hope these tips will come in handy and allow you to wow your clients despite less than ideal circumstances.

Virtually all photographers' portfolios have some form of studio work in it. The clean white background has been used the world over, from high-fashion shoots to everyday e-commerce. Here's an effective way to give your model or product shoots a touch more class for little to no cost.

Full-frame cameras are superior to the crop sensor ones. There's no doubt. Most of the professional photographers out there are making a living with full-frame bodies and thus those cameras are considered professional. What if you shoot with smaller sensor cameras? Let me share my own story.

I'm sure a lot of us drone people have been here before, where in the middle of a flight when we are deep in focus or trying to pay attention to our drones as they hover in the sky, someone walks up to you and begins playing 20 questions. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me, but I can say that it has been one of the most distracting things when I'm flying. I am working on the best way to avoid this sort of problem and would love to share a few quick tips for anyone else who has a similar problem when they fly.

I met a new contact on a job recently that encouraged me to delve deeper into the world of lifestyle imagery when thinking about my next shoot. She explained that over the years in between paid gigs, she would self-produce and fund her own micro shoots to use as portfolio material, but more importantly, as stock imagery to be sold. Over time, she has amassed an impressive collection of stock imagery that continually pays her royalties and is an excellent source of continuous revenue when work is slow.

Confession: I love me some Felix Hernandez, and I'm pretty sure the rest of Fstoppers would agree with me. Felix first came onto my radar when we did an article on his piece "The Wardrobe" in June of last year. Then, later that same month, he won "Fstoppers Photographer of the Month" where a variety of his awesome miniature-based photography was featured. This past May we featured him again after Audi hired him to do an artistic campaign for the new Audi Q2. I hope you're getting the idea now; Felix Hernandez makes magic, and he's back with more.

RED is entering a nearly impossible market, and promises to deliver a smartphone like no other – armed only with their reputation. What exactly stands in their way, and can the RED Hydrogen compete? Here’s everything you need to know about their chances.

With the launch of Mike Kelley's 3rd Architectural tutorial, we released eight new episodes of behind the scenes madness. In this episode, Mike continues shooting one of the most extravagant homes on the Mayan Rivera, Lee's nightmare trip becomes worse when he comes down with food poisoning, and I make the most of the situation and explore everything the coast of Mexico has to offer.

Human nature can sometimes get the better of us. But sometimes knowing when to apply lessons and when to forget them can be the difference between taking photographs or taking photography to the next level.

The whole "artists don't care what others think" thing is a giant lie. Most artists care what others think of their work more than anyone else in the world. Creativity is an unsure and scary thing, and a little validation makes us feel good. It's poisonous.

Photographers often treat color grading as a trivialized aspect of their workflow. Something that they only worry about once the image is complete and with no greater attention than flipping through a series of filter presets in whichever their flavor of the month plugin happens to be at any given time. Instead, obsessive time and attention is paid to aspects such as cloning, dodging, burning, sharpening, liquefying, etc. Colorists in the film industry have known for years powerful color grading is critical to great filmmaking. Directors know this as well, which is why colorists often enjoy a massive, expensive, personal theater filled with an impressive array of tools to grade the latest mega blockbuster.

Composites are a funny subject to people. Lead with it, and they are impressed. Tell them after and they just might feel duped. I found this out the hard way when I took a bunch of boring fireworks photos and added them to a night shot of the glorious Niagara Falls. Let's just say a major upgrade to the background.