Fstoppers Original Articles

When I was a kid I thought I was stupid. No one could figure out why I couldn’t remember the colors of all the crayons. My teachers thought I had a learning disability. I remember having to pick up a crayon over and over to read the name so I knew what color it was.

If you're failing to get hired as a photographer, then maybe your first impression and initial communication could be the things that are letting you down.

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.

What happens when a location becomes overrun with photographers? You have to wake up at 3 am to stake out your spot.

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.

Many photographers go through the purge status in life with the "out with old and in with the new" mentality. So what started out as a fun and playful idea from award-winning boudoir photographer Beth Claire of Lost Highway Imaging, turned into a lucrative niche for her already thriving boudoir company.

The chaotic nature in which photographers send their final galleries to a client is something I've often noticed. Galleries will jump around between scenes and cameras without any flow or organization. I am a wedding photographer, and maybe this means more to me than it would to other genres of photography. However, taking a few minutes to put everything in an order that flows well for your clients can create a tremendous difference in how your brand is perceived and in how you tell the story of their photoshoot.

In the ever-evolving world of photography, the integration of new technologies in the photo editing workflow can create fears and concerns among photographers. Many worry that AI software will replace their skills and make them obsolete. However, it's essential to understand that AI software is not here to replace, but instead assist photographers.

As a photojournalist, I often have subconscious blocks against excessive editing that seep even into other genres of photography. That’s why I often try my hand at toy photography when I want to flex my editing muscles.

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 2017, 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.

Is there a difference between a photograph and a picture? In my mind, yes! A picture is a snapshot documenting a person, place, thing, or moment without intention. A photograph is created with intention, process, and technique.

Artificial Intelligence is the next step in image editing, so find out how you'll edit your portraits of tomorrow with this tutorial on editing portrait images using Luminar AI.

Making a time-lapse video is a blend of photography and videography. While the outcome can be stunning, the process requires preparation and can pose certain challenges. In this article, I will walk you through my workflow and offer a glimpse of some real-life examples I've created.

In 2017, ACDSee started their Photographer Spotlight program to give back to their users by providing new opportunities to talented rising stars in the photography world. For 2018, the ACDSee Photographer Spotlight program is set to continue with the chance for a budding photographer to win a four night, expenses paid trip to Montreal along with a professional photography assignment from ACDSee. In addition to covering the expenses of the trip, ACDSee is offering a minimum of $1,500 for the completion of the assignment while in Montreal.

While you are waiting for me to finish the video edit on our last Puerto Rican Photo Challenge, we have a new competition for you guys to judge. This time I take a back seat and let Lee Morris and Pye Jirsa of SLR Lounge battle head to head in the streets of Old San Juan.

Abstract photography, do you hate it or love it? Either way, there’s a lot we can learn from the techniques and utilize them in our other photographic work.

Food is a fundamental part of survival. The very first thing we do after being born is eat. Human brains know food on a primal and instinctual level. Our brains automatically reject or call into question food imagery that doesn't look real. In advertising, our brains are a little more forgiving.

Most panoramas can easily be shot by hand but what happens if you want to shoot a multi-row pano? What if you want to create a truly "gigapixel" image that could require over 100 images? You're going to need some hardware to help.

Recently, I got a chance to shoot with the new Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S and compare it to its little brother, the 50mm f/1.8 S to see which is the best fit for my camera bag.

ACDSee Video Studio 2 is a software specially designed for those looking either for a simple video editing tool or a way to record their screen and create content out of it. In my recent review, I mentioned a couple of times how effortless the process is. However, I thought it only be wise to show you through an example how it works and how simple the app truly is. People just getting started in the video world or those of you looking for a way to record and edit educational content, be sure to read the full article.

In an age of digital, of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat; photos are de rigueur when it comes to promoting yourself. News is fast, which means if you want to get noticed, you need to be faster. The tool of choice is obviously the smartphone because it can take and deliver photos instantly. So, why on earth is an instant print desirable?

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.