Fstoppers Original Articles

With no audio to worry about, and just around four minutes to fill, music video production is one of the most accessible ways for cinematographers and videographers to broaden their creative horizons and be paid. To secure music video work, your prospective client will expect a summary of your idea first, which is known as a “treatment.” This is a guide to what you should include, and how to make your treatments stand out for the crowd.

For the last month, Fstoppers has been running a contest with our fellow friends SLR Lounge and Fundy. Last night during Fundy's world premiere of their documentary "The Power of the Print," we picked a random winner for the contest. This lucky winner will be receiving a brand new Sony a9 Mirrorless camera body. You can view the full documentary and the winner being announced here on Fundy's Facebook page, or keep reading for the winner below.

We have all been there: you see an image online that gives you the best perspective of a location but you have no idea exactly where it is located. Sometimes the photographer lists the location on social media, but more often they leave you wondering where exactly they were standing. Last week I set out to film a time-lapse of one of the most photographed skylines in the world. However, finding the exact location I wanted required me to use multiple resources. Welcome to project "New York Harbor."

It's been a month or so since I started printing in the darkroom, and what a ride it has been! After going through tons of paper and chemicals, making a mountain of bad prints, and generally messing up in every way possible, I've managed to be able to make some decent prints. Here are a few of most important lessons I've learned so far in my darkroom adventure.

You can find them on just about any street in every city come trash day. Each one a unique piece of home decor. Once the centerpiece chosen to define our communal spaces, now an abandoned remnant of our disposable lives left curbside. I call it a couch, you may call it a davenport, chesterfield, or lounge. Andrew Ward calls it a sofa and he has been photographing everyone he comes across around Los Angeles for the last five years. What started out as an odd fascination quickly grew into the personal project Ward calls “Sofas of L.A.”

Climbing is a sport that has existed for centuries, however, over the past few years it has started to skyrocket in popularity, rapidly becoming a mainstream activity. So much so that even the folks at the Olympics have noticed and added it to the docket as a new medal event in 2020. With an increase in professional climbers competing at the highest level also comes a need for photographers who are able to capture this impressive sport. Christopher Beauchamp is one of the sport’s leading shooters and was kind enough to chat with Fstoppers about his career.

It’s always important to stop and smell the photos – but what happens when your stop is at night, in complete darkness without any lights to help you out? You improvise. There are a few things you can do to help you compensate for lack of proper lighting equipment.

Sometimes the who, what, and how is surpassed by the when. Timing can be everything. It’s a fact of life, even if a rather cruel one.

Some photographers are lucky enough to work large shoots that have directors or production managers who manage the logistics of the shoot, leaving the photographer free to focus on creating images but, often, photographers are running large scale shoots without the benefit of a production manager. Instead of just shooting and directing models and grips, the photographer becomes responsible for the whole team, which can include models, grips, assistants, stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists, set dressers, etc. Under these circumstances, with everyone’s safety riding on your shoulders, there are dangers you need to be prepared for.

Are you doing enough to ensure that your story is shared beyond your years? Take a few extra steps to ensure that your family photos will be enjoyed by generations to come.

Now I know there have been countless articles posted about why retouching is important, or why it’s downright frowned upon. But imagine, as a photographer, being able to free up so much more time by outsourcing the editing to a trusted retoucher.

Last year, right around this time, Patrick and I booked a flight to Mexico to film Mike Kelley photographing the most expensive house ever sold in Playa Del Carmen. It certainly had the potential to be an incredible trip. The day before we were set to leave I decided to go out kiteboarding and I ended up breaking my tibia internally at my knee. For some reason I still went to Playa Del Carmen the next day.

UPDATE: 3 Days left to enter! Yes, are giving away another camera to a lucky reader! Fstoppers has teamed up with our good friends at SLR Lounge and the album design firm Fundy for one of the most exciting contests of the year! On June 15th, one of our lucky readers will win a brand new Sony a9 mirrorless camera... and no, we aren't entering our own contest either! There are 7 easy ways to enter and if you do all 7, you can gain up to 23 individual entries to increase your chance of winning. We have the juicy details in the full post below and make sure to BOOKMARK THE LIVE EVENT HERE.

A video camera is a machine that has recording capabilities that captures images through an attached lens. Whether it's your phone, DSLR, film, or a digital cinema camera, that's the basic principle. But wait. You watch a behind-the-scenes footage of a movie and you see a gigantic monstrous camera that has lots of cables and gadgets. If it's the camera body and the lens that do the essential work, why complicate things that much?

It’s not a secret how much I feel the Mac OS is powerful, and most often underused. Apple makes great products, but in my opinion they don't do a great job informing everyone of the really nice and polished little features, so unless you know, you may think it's just another basic OS. Today I want to talk about another of my favorite and useful tips for photographers, and that’s “tags” within Finder.

There’s no question that the New York Times photo of James Comey during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, where he detailed his uncomfortable and suspect dealings with President Donald Trump, is going to be one of the iconic ones of our time. There’s also no question about who overwhelmingly seems to dominate the photojournalism field based on this photo: white men.

Back in the day (not all that long ago, in fact), the only memory cards you would find in a “pro”-level camera were Compact Flash. That all changed as SD cards started to get faster and faster. Speeds up to 95 MB/s were great for emptying out the buffer on machine-gun mode and writing 1080p footage, which meant that space in the bodies could be used for other things. These cards were great. You could dump 64 GB of images while you watched the evening news. Then came along UHS-II cards, and if you’re not using them yet, you should definitely add them to you list next time you're upgrading cards.

Photographers tend to bemoan that everyone's seeming belief that they are a photo critic. Event though the vast majority of people aren't really experienced enough or aware enough of what makes a good photo to be taken seriously. This position is often weakened by the fact that even top photographers generally can't agree on what makes a great photo. I'd propose the argument that the average viewer actually is quite aware of what makes a great photo while the nit picks of us pros more often than not have little to do with photographic greatness and more to do with photographic elitism.

As a wedding photographer, we are always looking for new and interesting ways to add to our income. This usually comes in the form of photoshoots, prints, albums, and various types of upgrades, but most wedding photographers seem to be missing out on one of the easiest ways to make more money.

For the past few months I've been looking for a new laptop to edit videos on. As you probably know, I'm a Windows user, but because Apple just refreshed their MacBook Pro line two days ago, I decided to throw one into the mix as well. The results of my tests were both shocking and depressing.

The dramatic looks that can be achieved with strobes can very well be accomplished with natural light if utilized correctly. Understanding how to use the sources and the environment will increase the overall image every time. Using pull backs of each shot is a valuable tool in order to truly appreciate and understand how each image was shot. One photographer shows just how to light dramatically with minimal set ups.

If you’ve ever spent time shooting product photography or still life, you probably recognize and appreciate random surfaces and textures that would make flattering surfaces to photograph things on. Here’s an easy and inexpensive way to create leather texture the next time you find yourself in need of a classy surface.

Perspective Control lenses for SLR cameras were developed primarily for architecture, interior, and still-life photography applications. PC lenses simulate some of the movements and control that photographers can get from a view camera. They are great for keeping lines parallel and subjects in focus. Just as PC lenses allow photographers to control what is in focus, they also allow you to control what goes out of focus and how quickly it does that. Fashion and portrait photos with enhanced bokeh or selective focus create dreamy blur and guide attention to the areas remaining in focus.

Sometimes 30 seconds can change your life. Has the following story ever happened to you?

The camera technology in today's phones is one of the most competitive areas of modern electronics. Every big phone release leads with the specs of the camera. This includes megapixels, low light capabilities, auto focus, and of course HD video. While the capability to capture higher quality imagery has arrived, the included storage on the phones has essentially stayed in the 16GB to 32GB range. Since that storage has to share with the phone's operating system and all the apps, it is good to have all your photos on a constant conveyor belt to the cloud.

I was hired to shoot graduation photos for a client recently, a particular job that certain photographers may be at odds with accepting. Simply put, it’s one of those gigs that can be hard to get motivated for if it isn’t your style. As a working photographer however we must all make decisions with our career and in my case, work is work regardless of the genre. So how can you take something as simple as a graduation shoot and turn it into an experience? Here are a few tips.

Whether or not you have an interest in wedding photography, as a photographer it’s inevitable that at some point in time, you will be presented with an opportunity to photograph a wedding. It could be a request from a friend who is well aware of your abilities. It could be from a recently engaged bride who came across your online portfolio, and after not seeing any wedding photos, contacted you to ask if you shot weddings. One of the most difficult aspects of venturing into the dark side that is wedding photography is deciding on your fee. There are several popular schools of thought on how much to charge for your first wedding.

There are so many camera options when considering a primary camera and a secondary backup, so there’s quite a bit to take into consideration. As the saying goes, two is one, one is none, so for big trips and always for professional work, a backup is a must. If you are looking for a second camera, how do you know what to choose? Rather than looking at specific brands, here’s a look at which gear combinations might be the best for your still photography projects.

Some model poses seem to pop up everywhere repeating across different mediums and across decades. Many photographers deride these posing cliches, but these cliches can be useful on fashion and other model shoots, especially when working with new models still learning how to move. They can help create serviceable images when you are stuck for ideas or when you need shoot a series of good looks in a short period of time.

As the phone rings, I breathe easy to calm my nerves. I'm about to interview one of the most successful modern portrait photographers in the world. I'm halfway through leaving a stuttering mess of a message when he cuts in. "Hello? Hi, I had the music going and didn't hear the phone ring..." Buck has built a career over the past 30-plus years photographing some of the biggest names in Hollywood and politics. He has carved out a space for himself in the upper echelon of photographers working today. And he has a land line. Somehow, given his old school, dogged approach to portraiture and his recent switch to digital, I think that's just perfect.

When I moved in to my studio a little over three years ago, I needed a place to hang, store, and use my rolls of seamless paper. I didn’t have many — just a few nine-foot rolls of white, gray, black, and green — but I wanted them out of my way. Storing them vertically wasn’t a good option in the space, and storing them laying down is never a good idea. So, I wanted to figure out a simple system that I could build that would do the trick. Here’s what I came up with.

Across the board boudoir photographers have seen an increase in the number of inquiries for couples boudoir sessions. While boudoir photographer was generally more known as a more intimate session for a female to either reconnect with her own sensual side, or perhaps to give as a gift to a significant other, the trend is now becoming for these couples to capture these moments together. So how do you coach and pose for emotions during a session if the inquires start to roll in?

Being young is something I hope to never let go of. There is a sense of invincibility that can't be taught or explained. You just have to live it. Sometimes a photograph can take you to a point in time, or evoke feelings beyond what your eyes are seeing. Alex Currie is a photographer and director currently living in Los Angeles, California, who knows how to tell a story with a single frame.

With the upcoming release of “Off the Tracks,” a documentary that chronicles the seismic shift that Final Cut Pro X introduced to the video industry in 2011, there been some chatter, even here on Fstoppers, about the video editing software’s place in history. I don’t have any qualms about its place in history: Simply put, it deserved better than what it got, which was heaps of shame, blame, and ultimately denial.

When a D1 collegiate athlete becomes a photographer, you should watch out. Zach Ancell is a commercial sports photographer from Portland and has been shooting for almost 10 years now. As any self-respecting creative, he does his own personal projects between the commercials he shoots. Pan"Tone," which is one of Ancell's recent shoots caught my attention, and he kindly agreed to share all we want to know about the set.

With the goal in mind to write up a reference for planning a week of photography in the wild, it's almost unthinkable to not include an article about gear an rules about sleeping in the great outdoors. Not on a campsite, not in a hotel or any form of modern comfort, but out in the backcountry, sleeping under the stars. This quickly grew out to be an article to bookmark, because I don't expect you to remember everything about this after a first read.

I don't know about you but I've been a little overwhelmed about the power of artificial intelligence and the speed it's replacing jobs that can be automated. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have recently stated that a basic salary should be paid to every citizen in America to make sure that people who have lost their jobs due to automation can keep on their feet and do whatever it is they've always wanted to do.

At what point do we say something is too far? My opinion is that using photography as a medium to gain fame, be it good or bad, isn’t a new thing. But as time goes on, seemingly, these things are lacking in taste more and more.

There's one question photographers should ask themselves everyday, and that is: What did you do today to build your business? Emphasis on the word “today.” Simple words I first heard while taking a business of photography class a few years back from a noted photographer. And while the class itself droned on a bit and may not have been as compelling as I’d initially hoped for, those simple words stuck with me then as they do today.

The weather. Of the many things I wish I could control, this is certainly one of them. Recently, my home of Seoul has had some of the clearest skies and nicest puffy clouds that I’ve seen in my 11 years of living here, but typically this is not so. On the few days of the year we get nice clouds, fisty-cuffs determine your tripod’s resting place at the popular photo spots, and the Internet is afire with the chatter of excited shutterbugs. However, there are so many days of the year where the haze is too thick or a monotone blanket of clouds covers the sky. I have come up with a quick and dirty method of dropping in skies from my library that I use when the job calls for it. I’d like to share that with you today.

You can do a lot with photographs in Adobe Premiere Pro: create and customize a time-lapse with the automate to sequence feature, import a layered Photoshop file as a complex layered video sequence, or animate your images in 2D or 3D space. These are just a few of the things you can accomplish. I'm going to show you seven tips I utilize when working with still images in Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2017, we're featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

I’ve been posting my work online for almost 8 years. What’s been consistent throughout that time is the pressure to post only my best photos. With the introduction of Instagram Stories, I feel as though I’ve found an outlet that not only relieves some of that pressure, but also allows me to showcase a bit more of myself and my personality too. It’s completely revolutionized the way I use social media.

The third episode of Mike Kelley's Behind the Scenes series from his architectural tutorial is now live. In this episode, Mike shows you how you can turn an overcast day into a sunny afternoon, how to photograph a resort from a helicopter, and also teaches you an effective way to make a hotel lobby look more inviting. You can also watch as the Fstoppers crew goes night diving with massive manta rays off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Life isn't always about working our tails off just so we can turn around and blow our earnings on whatever the industry tells us the next best thing is. It’s time to take a step back from your hard day at work and think about some of the other things your hard earned income could be affording you. Like a six figure side-biz slinging wieners.

With modern cameras having incredible resolution and dynamic range, we all obsess over sharpness and the tonality of our images and how flexible the raw files are. But when broken down, what really makes a good portrait? Is it the perfect focus on the eye or a subtle transition of highlight to shadow from a massive softbox? As with all things, what defines a good portrait can go out of style. This was an interesting wake up call when a friend asked me to create an early 20th century style portrait of him.

Bokeh, it’s something that we all love, whether we like to admit it or not. It seems like every other client I work with asks me to "make the background blurry" or tells me "I want everything behind me to be out of focus." The obvious solution would be to shoot wide open, but the truth is, having your aperture wide open can actually have a negative impact on the quality of your image.

Capture One offers quite a few tools to adjust your raw files. It’s best known for its color editing capabilities, but luminosity adjustments are also very well designed. One of them was introduced last year with Capture One Pro 9, and it’s called the Luma Curve. It’s a powerful feature to adjust contrast manually while avoiding any color shift. Let’s see how it works and how it compares to an RGB curve.

There’s an interesting documentary in the works if you’re a video editor. With an obvious pun for the title, "Off the Tracks" interviews professional editors, trainers, and application developers to dig into why Apple made such a shift, when their existing app suite was already successful. I’ll provide some background, but also some editorial commentary below, as I feel like this documentary has potential to either be very interesting or completely pointless.

Perhaps this article is a risk to my career by virtue of being too honest, but it's a subject I have wanted to discuss publicly for some time. In the era where social media is the backbone of perception, it's all too easy to feel you can never measure up. This isn't new information and in fact, it's a rather well-trodden path. Even armed with the knowledge, however, I still feel I walk in to the trap of taking the world that is presented to me as the only facts worth knowing. I want to sacrifice my self-consciousness to do my bit to rectify this.