Here are some helpful tips on camera settings that you should use to capture crisp movement in the studio. I made a detailed video, but here is a breakdown of the settings you need to understand to keep your images sharp.
Whether you're a full-time photographer, interested in making the transition from hobbyist to professional, or just using photography on the side, attracting more clients is paramount to success and growth. With a plethora of photographers saturating the market, it can be intimidating and difficult to carve yourself a slice, but carve you must. Here are five of the most important ways I have attracted new clients.
Models and photographers who shoot nude or implied images have every right to do so, but this industry is full of some bad people with bad intentions. Here are some tips on how to stay safe.
Shooting in the sun isn't easy — for you or your equipment. While you're at risk of heatstroke, dehydration, and sunburn, your camera also needs taking care of. Here are some tips to follow if you're caught in Europe's current heatwave or if you live somewhere hot year-round!
I've always been a fan of odd lenses and crazy rendering from some vintage lenses. I have even gone further than most and used vintage lenses on my Sony exclusively on actual customer sessions, and I have been pleased with the results. Today, I want to talk about how much difference modern lens technology really makes in actual real-world usage.
Regardless of whether your idea of a "small-town" is one with 100 people or 20,000, the potential hurdles small-town photographers must get over can stack up quickly if you only focus on the negatives. Perhaps your goal in photography is to simply maintain a hobby. Maybe you aspire to maintain a high-profile business instead. Either way, I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to achieve your goals regardless of where you currently reside.
Beauty photography is a very technical genre. It requires substantial lighting knowledge, as well as interest and taste for the subject photographed, and a solid team of creative professionals. The learning curve can be quite steep. Therefore having someone teaching you the ins and outs for the genre is crucial if you want to make beauty your specialization, and save years of learning on your own. Lucky us that is exactly what Julia Kuzmenko offers through her latest video training: Go Pro Studio Beauty. This week only, Fstoppers readers save $50!
You’ve covered your bases for that ever elusive amazing sunset shot: you’ve checked the time for sunset, mapped the exact location of the sun, and have composed a few frames so you know what to do when you get to the location. But what about the location itself?
In a few days, Activision will launch the 18th installment of Call of Duty, returning players to the Second World War. To market the game’s new photography mode, two conflict photographers were immersed inside the virtual world and tasked with photographing it. The resulting commercial portrays mankind’s most brutal act of self-destruction as little more than a game of football.
There are places that no one would have ever expected to see as empty but COVID-19 has really proven that even the busiest places on Earth can be turned into a ghost town.
Are you struggling to find work? Are you ready to bring your business to the next level? Are you confident in your artistic ability but lack clients? Well, I may have the answers you're looking for.
When I travel, I stay in each location I visit for several days to increase my chances of encountering great light. But even a week is sometimes not enough to get a single colorful sunrise or sunset. Either the sky remains free of clouds or it's completely overcast, preventing any interesting light from breaking through. Night photography is one way of dealing with a clear sky. But what can you do during gray weather?
If you are a wedding photographer, then at some point in your career you will be faced with the challenge of making great images with conditions that are less then ideal. These tips can help you make the best of any situation.
I worked as a travel photographer for 8 years. In this period, I shot hundreds of thousands of images. As this part of my career came to a close, I wanted to have a portfolio of images that represented eight years of commercial travel photography. In this article, I’ll share how I used Lightroom and the Creative Cloud to edit a large body of work into a portfolio.
I really believe that the URSA Mini Pro is the best camera that Blackmagic Design have ever released. That doesn’t mean that it’s the perfect camera for everybody, but it’s reaching out to a much wider audience than its predecessors.
The music video might be the perfect vehicle for an artistic statement: It's succinct, it has a built-in springboard, and it's conducive to both abstract and literal statements. Here are 18 of the most creative and interesting music videos out there.
Tripods and light stands are found in virtually all photographer's kit bags. While most of these stands already do an excellent job, a few low-cost modifications can make them infinitely more versatile.
You’ve reached a point with your work at which shooting friends and family doesn’t quite cut it. Your curiosity to challenge yourself and move forward is piqued, and you have a good sense of established skills that make you think seeking out agency-represented models is your best move. The question is: Where do you go from here and how do you even start?
In 1990, Sir Elton John got sober and unknowingly began collecting one of the most significant private collections of photography in the world. He has collaborated with the Tate Modern to exhibit an extraordinary collection of photographs from the classic modernist period of 1920-1960. On a cold and wet Thursday afternoon in London, I went to see The Radical Eye exhibition for myself, and it didn’t disappoint.
Doing photography full-time is anyone's dream. Full-time is regarded as a sign of making it in the business. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Here are some of the blessings and curses of being a full-time photographer.
Today, Luminar 3 has been updated to version 3.02, and the company, after glitches in version 3, is moving toward being a solid Adobe Lightroom competitor.
With the Perseids meteor shower set to peak in the next few days, it's a great time to review the techniques and gear involved in capturing a meteor. Want to know how to catch a picture of a shooting star?
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.
I'm envious of the fortunate people who live near Maine's beautiful landscapes. This proximity provides numerous opportunities to capture the perfect shot of some of my favorite lighthouses. But what happens when you make the trek and the skies simply don't want to cooperate?
FOMO, the fear of missing out, is seriously limiting your photography and you probably don’t even know it. Social media is the obvious culprit but we need to also acknowledge other key elements that play a part.
As the holiday season approaches, the search for the perfect gifts intensifies. For the photography enthusiasts in your life, there's no shortage of thoughtful and inspiring presents to make their Christmas merry and bright. In this guide, let's explore nine photography-related gifts that promise to delight shutterbugs, from beginners to seasoned professionals. Whether it's innovative gadgets, educational resources, or creative accessories, these gifts are sure to bring joy to the world of photography. Best of all these gifts make the perfect gift from you to you. After all, who knows what you want and need the most?
Have you fallen behind on keeping up with the tsunami of Photoshop updates and new capabilities? Or have you wanted to master this powerful tool, but you haven't been sure where to start? Well, put on your sweatpants, order in your favorite food, and thank your lucky stars, because next week, you can join Aaron Nace, Kristina Sherk, Ben Willmore and more live from your living room all week. And the best part? It's free. No, my editors did not miss this typo, it's true, and I'm here to tell you all about it.
I’ve owned a lot of bags over my photography and video production career, and as someone who travels a lot carrying a backpack when walking or biking, I’d like to point out a few things backpack designers and manufacturers should consider.
Are you in need of a powerful, versatile, and compact RGB LED light that won't break the bank? I was and this might now be my favorite hot light for shooting on location.
Someone on social media stated “A pro would never use a Z50!” If you’re not familiar with Nikon, this is their crop sensor entry-level camera, costing $860. I’ve heard similar statements dozens of times—matter-of-fact assertions about what pros do, usually made by photographers who aren’t actually professionals.
Eric Crosland is the director of Sherpa Cinema, a collective of artists who produce some pretty amazing stuff. Crosland recently went to some rather remote parts of Iceland with Dave Mossop and John Trapman working on capturing some landscapes, something for which Iceland is a mecca. While there, the Icelandic eruption occurred and Crosland was ready with a Phase One.
This is a how I did it story. Along with some “why.” Unlike most all folks my age, I am very fond of the WW2 history and even more so WW2 aircraft. My favorite plane of all time is the B-25 mid-range bomber. This concept has been in my mind for years, and I waited to actually implement it until I felt I was able to do it right. Had I done it early in my career, I feel the quality wouldn't have been up to the standard I would have liked.
Nearly every photographer owns a film camera whether it be in the dark recesses collecting dust or they use it on a regular basis. The most common reaction when people see one of these film beauties out and about is shocked that you can still acquire the film to shoot with one of these models. So if you own a 35mm, Polaroid, or even a medium format film camera, Dust it off! Don't know where to begin on buying film? Have no fear! I have become your personal film guide and have tried and tested all the major players out there in the film world, so you don't have to!
As you get more comfortable with editing, you’ll probably come across color spaces. Just picking a random color space to edit or export with can cause major issues with your photos, however. Want to know which color space to use and when?
After every trip I go on, I always end up with a favorite image. Maybe it’s the one with the best story, or the one that was the hardest to get, or the one with the nicest person I met on the journey. In 2014 I headed to Bolivia to shoot a wedding, and a few weeks later found myself wandering around on an island in Lake Titicaca. And there, my favorite image of the trip was born.
As a beginner photographer, your natural instinct often tries to capture everything that catches your eye. If you’re standing in front of the most beautiful view you’ve ever seen, of course you’ll want to show the whole scene in your image, but you’ll often create the most compelling images by showing less.
Capturing portraits of musicians is one of my favorite things to do. As a musician myself, I think that I have a unique perspective that helps me to connect with my musician clients. Working with other creatives always makes for an inspiring portrait session, and finding novel ways to incorporate an instrument into a portrait is a fun challenge. In today’s article and accompanying video, I will give you five tips that have helped me create engaging portraits of musicians.
An interesting debate around word choice among photographers is the question of whether one "takes" or "makes" photographs. There are compelling arguments behind both choices. But which is correct?
Landscape photography brings us to the most beautiful places all over the world and there are so many of them out there, that it is impossible to visit them all in one lifetime. There is no obvious reason to return to places we have visited already, but as a pro landscape photographer with more than 30 years of experience, I do it again and again, returning to places for photography.
Ansel Adams once said “you don’t take a photograph, you make it.” I have always thought that what he meant by this quote was the process involved in reaching the final image. It has never been about clicking a picture simply, but it involves the creativity the photographer pours into his image. And creativity and sensibility also are what transpire in the beautiful conceptual project of Finnish photograper Christoffer Relander, titled “Jarred & Displaced.”
This week will have one of the most amazing astronomical events of the year (besides that continent-crossing solar eclipse this past August). The Geminid meteor shower is streaking across the sky this week on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. If you didn't know or maybe just forgot, it's time to make plans to get to a dark sky area for a once a year celestial show that many astronomers call the best meteor shower of the year.
When making Stories for Instagram, it's not always ideal to chat straight into the camera, and speaking while presenting a single photograph or a webpage that you've created can be fiddly. These simple tricks make the process a lot easier, and simplifying the workflow, making it more enjoyable.
The theme this week called for "monochrome" photos and the people delivered. There a number of eye-catching photos but the selections stood out from the crowd and lacked color in a good way. Be sure to check out the new bonus group selected from the Fstoppers community.
When the dynamic range of a scenery is very large, it might be necessary to use some kind of trick in order to keep it inside the histogram. At least, if you want to prevent pure white or black in the picture. Some use filters, others use bracketing. But why not use both?
About ten years ago I was buying a new vehicle. I went to three different dealerships. All three sales personnel had very different approaches in their technique for sealing the deal. While I was not a sales person myself at the time (life prior to being a photographer), I understood the behavior. This is the same in the photography business, and there is so much to learn from all three approaches as to why you may or may not be gaining clients from inquiries.
What constitutes photographic success? What is success for you? I’ve been asking these questions myself from the day I started taking images professionally. Here is what success in photography is.
Finding ways to earn passive income as a photographer is invaluable. In this field of work, our businesses often require a large amount of direct hands-on time. Selling stock photography, especially when you have the ability to simply upload images you have already taken in a minimal out of time, can add a great deal of value. The online tools that are available today allow you to turn photos that would otherwise have been worthless, or stored hidden on your hard drive, into pieces of art that have real monetary value.
Cable management is one task that for me is bizarrely fun and rewarding. In my last article, I wrote about creating a DIY portable charging station built out of a Craftsman tool box that is serving me quite well in the studio and in the field. Clients have been impressed with the simplicity and intentional design in keeping a lot of gear charged. It communicates quite a bit about how you take care of your investments. Here are a few tips to help you manage the clutter in your office or studio.
Thomas Stewart made headlines back in 2015 when he posted a rant about wedding guests and their mobile phones. Fast forward 3 years and things don't seem to be getting any better. So should we put the cameras away?
