Fstoppers Original Articles

We all know what art is, right? Or maybe not.

Without a doubt, social media has revolutionized the experience, dissemination, and even creation of photographs. Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter have leveled the playing field in a lot of ways, allowing photographers to instantly share their work with hundreds or thousands of followers. Combined with the availability of high-quality cameras in smartphones and social media algorithms, the number of images disseminated to the world has absolutely exploded. Despite this democratization of the craft, has social media actually diminished the value of photography?

What if I told you there is a social media platform on which you can earn money whenever somebody likes your content? And it's not owned by a big corporation but is governed by its community. In this article, I share my experience with such a platform that has been around for several years already.

As a photographer, focusing on improving your craft is one of the most important things to do. Money can buy the latest equipment, but it can't buy you knowledge of how to use that equipment.

What’s keeping you from being the photographer or even the artist that you hope to be? How much of it is under your control, and what can you do to get past the roadblocks?

Shutterfest stands out as my favorite photography conference to attend each year! As I write this, I am wrapping up day three of the affair. I always look forward to the various workshops, lectures, and unique experiences available throughout this fun-filled event like no other.

There are different opinions about what makes good photography. Many suggest it’s a single ingredient; they are wrong. If we want to grow in our art, it’s by combining seven elements that we have any hope of improving.

Current Luminar Neo users are in for a treat the next time they open the app, which has quietly hit version 1.8.0. Some of the updates are evolutionary, and there's the usual gaggle of bug fixes, but there are some really nice updates here that will please Neo users.

Exactly what does it take to be “lucky?”

I recently posed a challenge to DALL-E 2 (or to myself?) to mimic one of my photos using prompts. I didn't think it was actually going to work, until it did. Almost.

Juxtaposition is something you can stumble upon when reading about composition. Although it’s not literally a composition theory, it is a great way to add something extra to your photo. Did you know you’re probably already using it?

A step up in ability makes a huge difference. Suddenly, the future doesn’t seem that far away.

It can be challenging for many photographers to get qualified leads, but there are steps you can take today to enhance your online exposure and lead generation.

We shoot with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II mirrorless camera at a real wedding and a live concert and test the camera that changes the rules when it comes to shooting in low light and at high speed.

The nostalgia of film and the decades gone is fascinating so no wonder film presets and looks are popular to buy for your editing software. They’re pretty easy to make yourself if you put a little bit of time into understanding what elements in editing make the film look different from digital. Follow my tutorial to make your own vintage film presets for Capture One, Lightroom or PhotoShop.

A few brief words on why it sometimes pays to have more hands in the kitchen when cooking up a creative project.

Last summer I bought a super telephoto lens to capture wildlife in Alaska. After more than half a year of using it as a lens for landscape photography, was it worth it?

A new Finnish startup business, Huhtikuu Yksi, offers software that unlocks advanced functionality in basic camera models and standardizes features from different brands. I interviewed the company's CEO, Harri Tyhmäläinen.

In the land of the photographer, times are harder than ever before, with companies ending their contracts at lower levels and shoots being less available, with budgets cut and a huge number of working photographers facing hard times. With all this uncertainty in the world, can we really survive doing what we love and live comfortably?

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 2023, 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.

Street photography is a realm of photography that carries enormous weight. A genre derived from some of the world's photographic pioneers — the big names. The generations taking cameras to the front lines of war, documenting death, destruction, humility, and the human spirit, and bringing it home to document the everyday. It’s a genre of photography like no other, and here’s why you should be shooting it.

Lighting modifiers aren’t quite as expensive as they used to be. However, some of the quality and flexibility has gotten lost along the way.

There are hundreds of cameras in existence, some more successful than others. However, some cameras have become icons that managed to define the industry and technology for years. Despite technology evolving rapidly in the past 20 years and cameras becoming too good to be true, some pieces of gear were so perfect that professionals used them despite newer versions coming out. In this article, I will look at five of the most iconic cameras ever made.

As you learned in my articles about editing mistakes, too strong image transformations can harm the quality of your photos. But if you use them selectively, they can be of great help. In this article, I show how to use selective image transformation in Photoshop to fix compositions.

Tutorials on using a 1-light setup for portrait photography are commonplace, and rightly so. There are several ways that a single light source can be positioned to create flattering lighting on a subject. You might think that switching to a 2-light setup would be twice as complicated. This isn’t the case. There are several 2-light arrangements that are easy to understand and quick to set up. Using 2 lights can make it easy for you to transition between a clean headshot and a dramatic portrait.

In this article, I share my experience with a new NFT marketplace called Fantasea.io. There's not much information available about it online. The domain has been registered just a little over a month ago, and the homepage currently feels like a work in progress. Because more and more photographers seem to get contacted to sell NFTs on this site, it's important to determine if it's legit.

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have heard about the idea of paying-it-forward. Did you know that recent studies have shown that this phenomenon is a learned behaviour? How can we as photographers use our skills to encourage others to benefit projects and philanthropy close to our hearts? I had a chance to chat with photographer Michelle Valberg, whose habit of giving back just saw her appointed to the Order of Canada this past summer.

Photography education is a constantly fluctuating space, ever evolving from one approach to the next in an effort to differentiate from the pack. The Photo Creators Conference is the next evolution in the chain.

It’s time to spring-clean your photography website! Don’t leave it until you've finally shot that new body of work you’ve been meaning to shoot. There are several things you can do to your website to freshen it up without shooting new images first.

Rhy Dyball is a photographer and artist working with themes uncanny and eerie images.

Canon CPS is changing for the better? We talk to Frankie Jim, the man in charge of Canon’s Professional Services in the UK, to find out what’s changing and assess if these changes happening are for the better or worse?

Drones provide photographers with incredible image opportunities but still lack dynamic range and pixel count of their grounded handheld counterparts. What if you could increase your dynamic range, resolution, and take better images?

I just got a new camera! Well, sort of.

Are you a photographer or a content creator? More and more photographers take on several roles and end up being content creators rather than traditional photographers. The industry is changing every year, and as it looks now, you have to learn content creation to stay in business. Photography is not enough.

There are many reasons why we take photographs. It's the intrinsic motivation that has the greatest value, and for me, it has paid off. Have you discovered why you should be seeking that and neither the money nor a pat on your back?

Collaborating with models for trade shoots, often referred to as TFP (Time for Print), provides a wealth of benefits to both parties involved. In this type of collaboration, neither party charges for their services, but both receive valuable assets in the form of high-quality images that can be used to build their respective portfolios.

We all know Mark Mann from the close-up, soul-bearing portraits of what feels like every celebrity, public figure, and president in current times. Prolific seems a fitting word that should be permanently grafted to any discussion of the artist’s work. Today, however, we are getting to know Mark Mann in a way that you never have.

In a recent article, I shared a selection of easy-to-avoid photo editing mistakes. Today, it's time for five more. Some of them might sound obvious, while others are more subtle. What they all have in common: they can ruin an otherwise great edit.

In recent years, boudoir photography has experienced quite a surge in popularity, attracting women of all ages and backgrounds who want to capture their beauty in a classy and sensual way. While it's true that the rise in confidence and body positivity among women has played a significant role in this trend, there are several other factors contributing to its growing popularity.

On the never-ending camera buyer’s merry-go-round? Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.

There are many simple and effective techniques that you can utilize to improve your photography when you're just starting out. Check out these seven simple tips to help you improve your photography as a beginner.

As a photographer, you know that having the right gear can sometimes make all the difference, and this includes tripods. With the launch of the Benro Theta, shooting just became more fun and easy. This revolutionary tripod combines portability, stability, and intelligence, making it one of the most essential tools for photographers on the go.

As a photographer, understanding your place in the market is essential to the success of your business. Whether you are just starting out or are an established photographer, it's important to have a clear understanding of your competition, your preferred target audience, and demand for the photography services you offer.

Photo editing is a powerful tool that allows you to transform your images in many ways, from enhancing the atmosphere in a photo to increase of image quality. However, common editing mistakes can negatively impact the final result. In this article, we'll explore five of those.

Automation is now an integral part of photography. There are innovative ways you can use it to make your workflow run like clockwork and allow you the time to concentrate on your creativity.

In this article and the accompanying video, I will show you how to create four unique portrait looks using one light and v-flats.