Fstoppers Original Articles

Exclusive articles and expert opinions written by Fstoppers’ talented team of creative professionals. Here we cover everything from the latest photographic techniques to advice on running a successful photography business, to first hand accounts of working in the photography industry.

The Biggest Obstacle in Winter Is Yourself

Photographing in a winter wonderland offers us so many advantages, as all the distracting elements on the ground get hidden by snow. But then there comes the photographer, who wants to get out the best possible photograph. And exactly this leads to one of the problems.

How to Succeed at Completing a 365 Project in 2022

Photographing a single image each day for a 365 Project sounds easy, but in practice, it requires a tremendous amount of dedication. If you put some thought into this undertaking, however, you can succeed in completing a 365 Project next year.

The Photo Creators: A Boutique Conference for Hands-On Learning

Not all conferences are created equal. While I am a big fan of the large conferences, sharing a room with hundreds of people isn't always the best way to learn. So, if you still want to learn from big names such as Lindsey Adler and Joe McNally, but in a small hands-on environment, then The Photo Creators may be what you are looking for.

Skylum Gives Us a New Sneak Peek at Luminar Neo

We've been keeping an eye on Luminar NEO, an upcoming raw editor from Skylum. In my last installment, I was given some preview software that showed three of the new features coming, including a relighting control, removal of wires, dust spots, and power lines.

Does Posting Work Online Make Us Better Photographers?

Being a photographer in the digital age is a double-edged sword. On one hand, we have an endless resource of articles, videos, and experts right at our fingertips. It’s truly a golden age for education, and a motivated person can go from an absolute novice to an expert almost completely on their own. But at the same time, we are more exposed than ever before, and as photographers, posting our work online means opening ourselves up to a sea of criticism — both good and bad.

Ways Wireless Printing Can Improve Your Photography Business

If you think that printing is a thing of the past, think again. More and more photographers are adding printing to their service list. This is particularly popular with event and wedding photographers, but wireless printing is actually for everyone, as every photographer should print their work - or at least the work that’s worth printing.

Clean Up a Mask in Photoshop With This Simple Trick

Cleaning up the haloing when creating selections can take some time, and even when your image is complete and you can still see some remaining it can be quite annoying. In this tutorial, I'm going to show you a seldom-used but effective way of cleaning the masks.

Click Away: A Photography Conference for Creatives and Content Creators

Photography conferences are an incredible way to build your skills, find new inspiration, and network with like-minded people. The Click Away Conference is one great option if you are seeking ways to expand your photographic experience and business acumen.

6 Things Photographers Learning to Shoot Video Need to Know

In today’s market, more and more photography clients are asking for video. Do you have what it takes to shoot quality photo and video work? There is more to it than flipping over to video mode on your camera.

Experimenting With In-Camera Multiple Exposures

A lot of modern cameras allow you to create multiple exposures. Not many photographers are using this function. At first, I forgot about it, thinking it was just a gimmick. But it turns out to be a very creative tool. Perhaps this article will inspire you to try it out.

Why You Should Avoid Using Rembrandt Lighting on Women

In the history of visual art, few figures loom as large as Rembrandt. His influence on photography is so great that “Rembrandt lighting” has become a staple method for portraiture. But Rembrandt Lighting is often a poor choice for photographing women, especially when working with corporate clients.

Everything You Need to Know About Lightroom Masking (Part 1)

Recently Adobe released Lightroom version 11 and with it came a completely revamped interface for masking. After a month of real-world use, this guide will help you get up to speed on anything you could possibly want to know about masking in Lightroom for 2022.

3 Mistakes Common to All Photographers and Artists

Growing your skillset and your career as an artist can be filled with pitfalls. But even though many mistakes are shared amongst nearly all photographers, the good news is that most can be avoided if you only know where to look.

8 Tips for Taking Photos at the End of the Earth

I recently wrote a piece for Bradt Guides' Travel Club offering tips on how to get the most out of a trip to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. I, for one, am feeling serious withdrawal from travel. If you're planning a trip to Antarctica or love landscapes and wildlife, climb aboard.

Lightroom’s Evolved: 3 Things New and Veteran Users Should Consider

Lightroom was one of the first serious photo-editing tools I used when I was getting started with photography, and it’s still a mainstay of my editing workflow. Whether you’re new to Lightroom or a veteran user, there are several unique considerations of the software: some are quirks of the program, while others are more recent changes that can impact your established workflow.

Why Can’t Photo-Editing Software Do This One Simple Thing?

Artificial intelligence is bringing incredible advances for photographers, from relighting portraits and making people smile, to cleaning up skin and swapping out skies. However, photographers everywhere would beg developers of photo-editing software to harness deep learning to create one simple tool.

Partial Eclipse, Partial Results

November’s astronomical events led me to plan for a week-long marathon astrophotography session. The catch was that it had to be around the full Moon, normally a frustratingly unproductive time for astrophotographers.

How to Trick the Eye While Also Fixing an Obliquely Taken Image

Some discoveries in life are intentional and some are just happy accidents that work out in ways we never anticipated. I rely on the Transform tool in Lightroom to correct lines and perspectives, but I learned that it can completely change the look of an image to add interest and trick the eye of the viewer.

The Secret That Makes You a Better Photographer

It is not difficult to get an okay shot as an advanced photographer. The problem is not seeing the things that would bring your photography even up to a world-class level. What if I would tell you that there exists a tiny subgenre in photography that makes not only most of the things you have to improve visible for you but also makes you a better photographer in all genres of photography?

Elia Locardi Tests Sky Pollution Filter in Puerto Rico

Welcome to the next—and 6th—episode of our 8-part video tutorial series about long exposure photography and how different filters can produce dramatic results. As a reminder, each time we drop a new video, you have the chance to win some awesome prizes. Follow the instructions included in this post to enter this week's contest.

What I Did Coaching My First Photography Workshop

It was a one-on-one with a paying client. I got to know her a bit better over the phone. This was important so I could plan the session and give her what I thought she'd find value from. We met up in Paris in a neighborhood neither of us knew very well.

How to Start With Fine Art Photography

Creating something new is the most important ingredient for making art. But we can’t create something new when we just capture a scene in reality. The trick is bringing an artistic concept to your photographs.

I Brought a vivo X70 Pro+ to a Photoshoot, Check Out the Surprising Results

Have you ever considered using a phone for a professional project? I hadn’t but I was pleasantly surprised by what the vivo X70 Pro+ phone was capable of. Sure, it has all the technical specs with an imaging system co-engineered with ZEISS and their color correction technology built-in, but what was it like to shoot with?

Make Your Photos Look 3D With These Methods

Breathing life into your photographs can make the difference between an average shot and a masterpiece. But how can we bring life into a flat piece of paper? Depth is all you need.

You No Longer Need Photography Skills to Be a Good Photographer

When you combine modern photography gear, even at the entry-level, with today's post-production software, it has never been easier for people to get high-quality images. The days of perfectly matching time, elements, and light are essentially done.

How to Take Better Indoor Pet Photographs

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the season of shorter days and more time spent indoors is upon us. Indoor pet photography can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to result in leaving the camera down until spring.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (November 2021): Melody Mellinger

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 2021, 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.

My Bokeh Is Better Than Yours Part Two: How to Calculate Blur

In the first part of this series of two, I introduced bokeh — out-of-focus areas — and outlined the main controls of defocus. These include sensor size, focal length, aperture, distance to subject, and distance to the backdrop. How, then, do you compare defocus between lenses and cameras? Read on.

Up the Production Value of Your Portraits With Topaz Labs 

Perhaps some of the biggest dealbreakers for images are sharpness, resolution, and noise. No one likes a blurry low-res ISO 25,600 file. Yet, sometimes the client picks the worst possible file that is the definition of poor image quality. Luckily, Topaz Labs have developed AI-enabled software which lets you save your portraits. Act fast and take advantage of their Cyber Monday prices.

What's the Advantage of Having Studio Setups Logged In Your Metadata?

Imagine you can open up Lightroom and browse through the lighting setup (a graphic from top down) that shows you what you did during your shoot, where each photo has its lights, and the setup of these lights, all embedded. Would that be beneficial?

Why a Drone Is My Favorite Purchase That I Did Not Need

Drones are appealing to a wide gamut of people, from creatives to tech-heads, to aviation enthusiasts. For me, it was perhaps a blend of all three, but something I couldn't easily justify. Nevertheless, I bought one anyway, and it turned out to be the best poor decision I've ever made.

How to Shoot Kodak's Incredible Aerochrome Film

I recently interviewed Australian film photographer Rob Walwyn on his incredible images documenting the aftermath of the bushfires that devastated Australia’s east coast in late 2019 and early 2020. Walwyn’s project, "Karrikins," led to his first solo exhibition at the 2021 Head On Photo Festival in Sydney.

Improve Your Astrophotography With Topaz Labs

Astrophotography and nighttime photography generally come with their own respective challenges. The biggest problem tends to be increased noise especially in the shadow areas of an image. But what if there was some incredibly smart software that could magically get rid of the noise and improve your images, would you use it?