Fstoppers Original Articles

It’s clear that there has been a tremendous upswing in the number of photographers across all markets. But also with that trend has seen a staggering number of people jumping into teaching and selling workshops.

When it comes to flash photography, there seems to be a constantly recurring question: manual or TTL flash? So at the end of the day, which one should you really be using?

Pricing was the area of professional photography I struggled with the most in the early years. However, it was far too recently that I realized I had a fundamental error in my approach to pricing and value.

Let go of the fear and leave your logo and watermark off your images. You will get more work and recognition because of it.

I recently spent time working alongside Alice Prenat, the portrait photographer behind the elegant Parisian studio, Portrait Madame. After her talent was discovered by Sue Bryce, Prenat launched an upscale brand and studio in Paris, where she celebrates the "everyday" woman.

At some point we will all get stuck. We will all feel like we’re not developing as creatives. These ruts can drive us down or they can be a wake-up call to do something different. How we handle them determines how we function as creatives afterwards. In this article, we’ll discuss the power of doing something different.

I am always looking to improve my work and increase my efficiency and my open mindedness to try new methods isn't always rewarded. However, applying one psychological principle for habit building has proven effective.

As many of you know, Lee and I recently moved to Puerto Rico, and with that move, we are having to completely redesign our new studio space. In today's video, we tackle our in-home network and wireless Internet connection. Surely the limitations in Puerto Rico will prove to give us trouble... or will it?

Bad retouching is not the subject of this article. Sometimes we read articles that talk about banning retouching or rumors that some brands or companies are going to get it banned from their advertising. If we dig deeper into the very reasons for such a decision, we should ban many other processes involved in the crafting of commercial imagery.

New gear is always fun to work with, however a new piece of glass is not going to make you a better photographer. Many new photographers feel the urge to buy the latest gear thinking it will improve their skills. Learning how to work with what you have, learning new techniques, or even changing directions for a new desired genre is far more important than that latest camera announcement.

I’ve had a long flirtation with mirrorless cameras of all stripes, from the earliest Panasonic to Fujifilm to Olympus. I’m usually quite happy with and shoot them all frequently, but at the end of the day, it’s always a full-frame DSLR that reminds me why none of those have ever become my main squeeze.

An undeniable and long-standing staple in the photography world, Fujifilm's market share in the West is still fractional. With all of its innovation and strong reviews, one must ask, what more can Fujifilm do to increase influence in the Western market?

Instagram pods have been on the rise ever since Instagram switched users’ feeds from chronological to an algorithm-based order. However, there’s one big reason why you should consider not joining a pod, and here’s why.

With Canon’s latest announcement causing a few waves, many people — myself included — are getting a bit sore from sitting on the fence. The EOS RP will no doubt sell a bucketload, but is it the right camera for you? It might be cheap as chips but I won’t be advising anyone to buy it. Here’s why.

Selling prints is a tricky business with seemingly infinite reasons for someone to decide they don't want to purchase your image. But one simple question can dramatically increase your odds of convincing a potential customer to pull the trigger on investing in your art.

It's easy to lose sight of why you love photography. It sometimes feels like you spend so much time selling the medium's power, that you forget its power can be greater than you can even describe.

Your client’s terminally-ill grandfather is the only one not smiling in the shots of the entire family. Do you liquify his facial features to make it look like he might be smiling? Do you transform a flat gray sky in your latest landscape to a dramatic sunny one? Where do you draw the line?

Today, I’ll share a brief story about a brief moment with big consequences.

Modern cameras can be set to very high ISO values. But the higher your ISO is, the more noise will be visible. There is a point when the noise levels become higher than acceptable. Do you know what high ISO value is still acceptable for you?

Last week Lee Morris and I embarked on something I like to call "The Puerto Rican landscape challenge." The goal of this series is to not only showcase some of the most beautiful locations on the island of Puerto Rico, but to also find out, once and for all, who is the better landscape photographer. Today is the beginning of this ultimate challenge.

A recent comment on one of my articles has become the straw that broke the camels back. Now, I feel the need to combat a common myth which dissuades many photographers from becoming full-time professionals.

Sony released the a7 to great fanfare and that one camera has received a plethora of well-deserved awards. Did I say one camera? How about three cameras.

One of the best investments any photographer can make for their business is in education. There is always new gear, techniques, and knowledge to learn about and there is no better way than a fun destination conference. WPPI held each year on the Las Vegas strip is all about fun, education, and the destination.

Learning about photography was once confined to books, courses, and mentorship. Now, however, there are more resources at our disposal than we could ever deplete. Here's one that flies a little under the radar.

Fstoppers is about all things photography related, so in a slight departure from our normal articles we are serializing a photography focused short story. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

If you're relatively new to the world of stock photography and trying to figure out the best way to make money, then I might just have the answer for you. With creativity, you can produce work that fills a need and earns income. In this article, I aim to provide some methods that will help give you an edge.

As photographers we're in a fortunate era where we have more tools at our disposal than ever before. That said, there's one well known one I have used consistently for years, that many photographers neglect.

For those of us that like shooting on a mirrorless camera, we’ve probably become accustomed to the lightweight and easy to manage cameras. So are the S1 and S1R a step too far on the scales?

One of the most frustrating hurdles we deal with when shooting indoors is the strong color cast that incandescent light emits. I'm going to share with you a quick and easy fix in Lightroom (or Photoshop) to remedy that dreaded "orange glow" when white balance isn't enough.

There are two basic models for licensing photography. One is suggested by most professional photography societies and organizations while the other is decried as an unfair and unsustainable model by the same groups. For the past six years I’ve licensed my images using the unpopular model. In this article, I’ll explain why.

The focus on gear acquisition is framed almost entirely around lenses and bodies. But some investments have dramatic impacts to your quality of life as a photographer, that aren't either a lens or a body. What are yours?

With more and more jobs at risk from the progression of automation and AI in society's workplaces, how does the photography industry fare?

If you are a dog lover, then you will really dig these doggone awesome photos from Kaylee Greer from Dog Breath Photography and the star of “Pupparazzi.”

Instagram has just announced that it will remove images of self-harm from its platform. The social media giant is under increasing pressure to find better ways to moderate users’ content, but this new announcement seems unlikely to address the major challenges facing both Instagram and Facebook.

I do mostly outdoor photography and anyone who does this can get bitten by the night sky bug. All those beautiful stars and the dramatic Milky Way beckon, but for many beginners it seems an impossible task. They think of needing tracking mounts, ultra-long exposures, and complicated processing. The good news is, it's not all that hard to get started with a fairly modest investment.

Patrick and I recently had a shootout to see who could take the best photograph at a Waterfall. We need your help determining the winner.

We all love gear. Even those who say they don't love gear, love gear. But my desire to create the unique has lead me to make some questionable purchases. How about you?

When talking with photographers about the photography industry, our conversation often turns to social media and the inevitable feeling of how comparison to others affects our work. Comparison is a problem in the industry. Here are a few ways to combat it.

Anyone with long hair is generally seen around town with hair ties worn as a bracelet. I keep many in my studio even to hold back wardrobe pieces that are not form fitting. While the best option is always to remember to have your client remove them before you start shooting, there is always that small chance you forget and it isn't seen until a few frames into the session.

When Per Florian Appelgren first got the brief from L'Officiel Indonesia, he was excited as shooting styled beauty is his strong suit and he absolutely loved doing it. Being able to work with a top-tier model such as Sara from GirlsClub Management Berlin was also a huge plus point.

Making that jump to full time professional photographer is incredibly daunting. Hopefully, by learning some of my biggest mistakes, you can avoid them entirely.

This shoot was an art project that Amber Gray had been dreaming of for a long time. One of the things that she often explores in her work is the relationship between feminine energy and the natural world, and this concept in particular really exemplifies that idea in a surreal way.

You've just copied your camera's full resolution, high dynamic range raw files onto your new Android phone. How on earth do you start processing them? An app called raw2dng is the Play Store's most popular solution. Meet its developer.

Today I’d like to share how a chance encounter provided perspective on both success and the value of patience.

I've always purchased medium-speed SanDisk memory cards and the cheapest USB 3.1 card readers for my computer. Have I been missing out? Are these ultra-expensive cards and readers actually worth it? Let's find out.

This phenomenon seems to happen to us all: you take or find an image that shouldn't work, but you just love it all the same. Show us yours!

If you're not getting the followers, traffic, or clients you think you should be, then it might be your website that is part of the problem.

Have you ever set out to achieve a dream or goal of yours and found yourself not accomplishing what you set out to do? In this quick article, see three things I do to make sure I'm staying on track to achieving my goals.

This exciting shoot came about when photographer Aaron Anderson was tasked to creating content for Elinchrom’s new ELB 500 TTL and Lifted Up Fitness’s web page, making it a multiple clients shoot.

If you’ve ever felt like you needed to take a break from the roller coaster of social media but you are too worried you’ll lose all your momentum, this might ease your mind.