Fstoppers Original Articles

As a photographer, your tool kit is filled to the brim; Your expensive camera, your collection of lenses, your years of experience, your boundless creativity. But there is one element at the root of it all that is essential to success: optimism.

In recent months, AI has become one of the most widely discussed topics. A lot of creatives, not only photographers, are saying that AI will kill professional photography. However, this cannot be further from the truth. Here is why.

Last year I got a chance to work with UNICEF on a maternity project where I had to work with a lot of moms-to-be and kids. I have been surrounded with kids all my life and was a new mom myself, so I instantly agreed to be part of it. This was a challenge I was happy to embrace. It is not hard to photograph your own child, a sibling, or someone you already know. Kid photography is probably one of the most difficult genres in the industry if you don’t have a proper approach. In this article I will share my knowledge and experience I gained during years of working with kids.

Last week, Sony announced the overall winner of the 2018 World Photo Awards. British photographer Alys Tomlinson was awarded the €25,000 prize for her project documenting pilgrimage sites in France, Ireland and Poland.

Whether you're just starting out or have been honing your craft for years, the practice of photography is a continuous journey filled with discovery, growth, and boundless opportunities for self-expression. You are stepping into a world where creativity knows no bounds, and each time you press the shutter, you capture a moment frozen in time. This you already know, but has there ever been a time that you looked back to see where you started, and then suddenly realized how far you have actually come with your photography and appreciated the journey so far?

Slowly but surely, I find myself shooting more film. It’s getting to the point where my digital cameras are almost strictly for video. They may offer better resolution and more versatility, but there’s a look to film and a fascination with the cameras that pull me to it. The one man that took me into the bottomless hole in my wallet that is film photography is Mat Marrash, a coworker and an avid large format photographer. It's some of the most gorgeous landscape photos of the Ohio Valley I've seen. A few weeks ago, Mat, myself, and the good folks at Rooted Content traveled to Hocking Hills, where Steve and Kyle from Rooted created this short of Mat’s work.

The repeated process of exporting images from Lightroom is something you most likely have done many times over. With that being said, if you have not already, save yourself some steps, and set up quick and easy presets.

Is getting criticism necessarily a bad thing? How does it affect who you are as an artist?

In my never ending quest to state the obvious things that we all tend to forget, today I will talk about another simple truth. To get what you want, you first have to know what you want.

I recently funded the printing of my first book via Kickstarter. It was the wonderful culmination of a year of hard work on the project itself and almost six months of preparation and promotion for the funding campaign. In the end, it was funded well beyond my goal. The whole process of creating, funding, and then realizing the project was quite surreal. I am still pinching myself from time to time as I pack the books ready for shipping to my backers and the recipients of the project. I wrote a while back about changing your mindset, knuckling down, and just doing things. Today, I'd like to talk a little about another thing that makes work happen: the word "yes."

Burnout can happen to any of us, from hobbyist photographers to established professional photographers and everyone in between. Whether you feel like you are on the path to burnout or are already there, I have five tips to help you through it!

When it comes to being creative and personal photography, how do you approach your shoots? Do you prepare a well-researched mood board and vehemently stick to it, or do you let your creative juices flow and see where the shoot takes you? Is there a right way?

If you’re creating content on your iPhone, Apple’s storage pricing can make it very difficult to justify using storage-heavy workflows like ProRes. Lexar’s Go Portable SSD, however, is specially designed to be the perfect external storage pairing for iPhones and other USB-C mobile devices.

When it comes to cameras released in 2023, most would find it hard to argue that the DJI OSMO Pocket 3 was not only the most anticipated but also delivered on almost all of its hype upon release. However, several fixes need to happen to make this the best camera for video content creators.

If you're like me, you will find that before shooting your clients you will feel as nervous as they are, or even more! I have found that there are certain things I can do to relax myself and my clients before, during and after our session, which also helps to create a long lasting relationship and hopefully creates a repeat booking. So, what can you do to make the photographic experience as painless as possible and create a rewarding relationship with your client?

Like many photographers out there, some days I look at my work and feel disappointed. There are a plethora of reasons you can feel down about where you’re at in your work, even if it’s completely irrational. I’ve found that one of the best things to help in such a slump is to look at my old work.

Composite photography can seem overwhelming, particularly when trying to tell a story and using photographic elements from different locations. Let me break down how I created this narrative piece to provide some helpful insight.

Imagine being tasked with photographing press events featuring some of the most famous people in the world, on a regular basis. Are you confident that you can come away with photographs as strong or better than those of your peers? Can you find the small, personal moments taking place in the chaos to create images that are unique? Christy Bowe is a photographer who has successfully accomplished these tasks for the past three decades.

Some of the strongest photographs utilize shadows to enhance the mood of a photo as well as sculpt the light. Mastering the art of seeing shadows and learning how to capture them in an interesting way can greatly improve your photography.

It sounds like the dream to be able to live from your passion. It surely is fantastic and can be done if you are willing to work for it, but there are parts of this job that might be less attractive once you get to know about them.

It’s an awfully exciting time to be a creative, as the tools we use are becoming more portable, more powerful, and more connected. Fstoppers sat down with Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, and Scott Belsky, Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud, to discuss how new tools are empowering creatives and where the future will take us.

Whether you are planning your trip to the desert from across a couple state lines or from across the world, here are a few things to take into account before actually spending any money on your travel plans.

For the last few weeks, Fujifilm teamed up with Fstoppers to offer a brand new FUJIFILM X100F Digital Camera to one lucky entrant. The contest has ended and Zeke Moore was randomly selected to win the camera, congratulations! We'll be in touch with you via email.

The beauty of studio shooting is that you have absolute control over every aspect of your final image. From makeup, to the general lack of ambient light to deal with, to the subject in front of your camera, everything is up to you. This can bring some challenges _ namely, you as the photographer are also the director of the entire shoot. If something isn't going right, it's your responsibility to fix it. I apply this to everything in life, but it's especially relevant in assembling a successful shoot. Remember the six Ps of life: proper planning prevents piss-poor performance.

Sandro Miller was the first photographer to document the ENTIRE Cuban Olympic team since the mid twentieth century. Sandro was once kissed on the lips by Muhammad Ali. Sandro once made Michael Jordan cry. If you call yourself a photographer, you will not want to miss this rare video interview with Sandro from PRO EDU.

Podcasts are the latest hot broadcasting medium, so don't let those rapacious advertising executives (looking at you Google and Facebook) manhandle your listening habits with their grubby paws. No, here are 5 of the best photography podcasts to sink your metaphorical teeth in to!

Before sending wedding galleries to clients, I like to add a black and white alternative of every photo. Clients love this! So, here’s a quick time-saving trick to create black and white duplicates of an entire folder or collection of images in Lightroom CC.

Getting a new editing computer can be a confusing process. How do you know when to upgrade? What kind of computer do you get for different kinds of editing? Do you build one or buy one? Well, I hope to answer those questions here in this article in a way that will match your specific situation.

Does taking a snapshot and taking a photograph means the same thing, or is there a vast degree of skill differentiating between the two? In this piece, I explore the answer.

Stop worrying so much about your skills, and learn to think creatively. That was my favorite piece of advice from photographer and artist Pauline Goyard.

There is a tremendous amount of magic hiding just below the surface of our lakes, rivers, and seas that has yet to be documented. And while underwater photography certainly has a few barriers to entry, if approached in a pragmatic way the initial shift can be quite simple. Let’s dive in.

As the year begins, people are making resolutions and setting goals. Add in the constant social media trends and photographer communities saying how things should be, and it can be overwhelming and a source of stress. Despite all of that, remember to create for yourself and be true to your vision.

I had to make a TikTok account for this. I’ve been adamant about not doing so for the longest time. However, this is something worth talking about and sometimes even dangerous. In this article, we will take a deep dive into the world of horrible photography TikToks.

When it comes to composition rules, we often use the rule of thirds to build up a composition. It is an easy way to bring a little bit of order in chaos. Another good habit is the use of lines. It can be used to strengthen your composition.

While I'm pretty sure we said the theme was "macro" this week, I think everyone heard "bugs" instead. That's okay with me since Spring is finally here so let's check out the insanely insect-heavy list and find out this week's theme.

As a music video filmmaker, the juggling of tight budgets is a regular occurrence. Emerging artists often survive on a shoestring, so commissioning a music video director for their latest release is often their largest cost in their marketing campaign. Once a concept is decided, it then becomes my job to provide high production value for my client. Using one of my latest projects, "Youth Club - Sorry," as an example, here are the four secrets that will help create compelling music videos.

Learn how to transform a dull, washed-out portrait into something more atmospheric with a few tips and tricks in Lightroom Classic.

Photographers have a special skill that allows them to capture the world in ways others can't, and your images can make a big difference in a lot of ways. Here are 10 ways to do good with your camera.

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 2019, 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.

Do photographers have any ethical obligations towards wildlife? Drones can cause significant damage to wildlife and should be used with caution, not abandon.

Being able to preserve the ability to alter any of the edits you have already made while working on a photo is critical to ensuring that you are able to maximize the influence of your creative vision on a photo. There are few greater frustrations than realizing that an adjustment you have made was not quite right but it is so far back in the history that it cannot be altered without starting over. In order to avoid such situations it becomes quite critical to build an editing workflow designed to let you make alterations at any time to any aspect of the photo without the need to start over to undo work.

For all you creators out there! LG understands there’s more to the final output. There’s also the “process.” All the hours spent working, toiling, creating, that no one ever sees. The endless brain-strain and ideating a creator dedicates to their goal is what makes up their UltraWide Time. Few will ever see or understand the process, where all the work and magic happen. But LG understands.

Life spent in the photography trenches is what so many of us openly desire. While you may not be ready to turn that page just yet, you can still get the upper hand on positioning for the future you want right now. Here are a few thoughts on how.

Building a stock photography portfolio and generating passive income can be one of the easiest ways a photographer can make money. However, creating a sizable portfolio that generates a worthwhile income month after month doesn't just happen overnight. Chances are you have already been shooting images suitable for stock without realizing it. With just a little planning and adjustment to how you see and approach assignments, you can turn your existing and future work into a growing stock catalog. Additionally, with stock sites like Adobe Stock built right into your Creative Cloud, submitting, tracking, and learning what sells is a relatively easy task.

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.

If Sony's Imaging Division work by movie quotes then they must be using Highlander: "There can be only one!" Are they The Kurgan to Canon's Connor McLeod? And does that make Nikon, Sunda Kastagir? Welcome to the three biggest camera manufacturers — the so-called immortals.

Even though you are cold, wet, and tired, it might be a great idea just to check what is around the corner. That was what I did, and I was rewarded with several photos.

Back in the good old days of film photography, contact sheets or proof sheets were one of the best ways to view results from black and white or color negative film shoots. Printed on photographic paper, these sheets were exposed in a darkroom by laying a roll of negative film typically cut up and placed in transparent sleeves. They are a great way to see an entire roll of film in one glance. Web galleries and slide shows have all but replaced them in this digital age, but for those few who are still shooting the odd roll of film and don't have access to a darkroom, here's a film and digital solution for making contact sheets at home using a light table and a digital camera.

Capture One is a great tool for processing raw files, but it lacks one key feature found in Adobe's Camera Raw: the ability to export files as Smart Objects. While that feature seems a way off, there is a cool workaround hack that lets you come close.

Adam Hamwey has all the skills a videographer ought to living and working in New York City. However he doesn’t work for a production house, or in a marketing department — he follows somebody around all day and vlogs for them. That’s right, he’s the personal camera crew for one John Henry, a young entrepreneur based out of NYC.