Shooting interiors can be a daunting task for an unprepared photographer. No matter how big or small the space is, there will be challenges that you need to face and problems you need to solve. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Light is the currency of photography, it's how you use it that defines your creative outputs. As we reach the letter E in our alphabetical journey, what better place to start than with exposure? Joining it, faster than a speeding bullet, is Harold Edgerton.
A good portfolio is never finished. Portfolios, books, albums, or websites, however a photographer's body of work is contained, it should be ever-evolving and developing even after a photographer has started working on professional projects. Any perception that a photographer can leave a portfolio static once work starts flowing in is a dangerous one. For a number of reasons, developing and improving is an on-going process.
A strong community and invested mentors are crucial ingredients for sustainable growth and success. I recently had the chance to sit down and talk with two Canon Canada FUTURES alum, Eli Meadow Ramraj and Gessy Robin Shumbusho, about the importance of community in their careers. The deadline for Canon Canada's FUTURES Year Two incubator program is fast approaching. If you need that boost you can only get from a committed mentor and supportive community, don't hesitate, don't be nervous, apply.
Just over a week ago, I posted a general knowledge quiz to rattle your brains. Here are the answers and the background behind some of them. Even if you didn't do the quiz, I hope you find some of this information interesting and the links useful.
Let’s talk some more about photographing motocross, and this time, let’s get down to the technical aspect of photographing this great sport. Don’t worry, you don’t need lots of expensive gear to get decent photographs, especially if you are shooting at your local track.
Building an insightful and inspirational library of photography books can be daunting, both from the perspective of the choices entailed in selecting works for inclusion and because of the economics involved. Pinterest boards are a great way to start a photo "book" library for free.
This week's theme "thankful" was full of great submissions. It also means we are into the tenth week of the weeklyFstop theme! We have seen some very cool photos shared and put together nine completely original top 10 lists found nowhere else on the web. I'd say that is pretty awesome. We are doing it people. For that, and for you, I am thankful.
Professional photographers devote themselves to capturing once-in-a-lifetime moments, visualizing concepts for commercial campaigns, and solidifying narratives that clients want to preserve or convey. However, in the hustle of meeting deadlines and the relentless pursuit of aesthetic innovation, many photographers neglect the realm closest to them: their own personal lives, families, and close friends. The tragedy lies in the missed moments—fleeting childhood phases, subtle changes in loved ones, quiet personal milestones—that deserve the same careful attention and expert composition as any commercial assignment.
This year, October 15 through October 22, was Polaroid Week 2016 (also known, in a somewhat noisier fashion, as 'RoidWeek). On a whim, I decided to join in. Polaroid Week has been going on since 2006, but it has grown in recent years. It is held twice yearly, once in spring and again in fall.
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.
Concert photography is probably one of the most appealing genres to shoot for any photographer. When I first picked up a camera, the only thing I wanted to photograph was my favorite bands as they played live. Our good friend and Canon Explorer of Light ambassador David Bergman is launching a pretty unique live workshop called Shoot From the Pit that will not only let you work side by side with David himself but also shoot a variety of artists as they perform live.
We photographers don’t always get the perfect sunset or clear starry night sky every time we head out to photograph desolate areas or national parks. This is when we can take a little post production know-how and can still create other worldly and dreamy images that capture the viewer’s eye. Skylum Software's Luminar 4 has just made that scenario easier and faster to do with its all-in-one software and very powerful artificial intelligence.
Photography can be a lonely journey for some. If you are just beginning your foray into wildlife and/or underwater photography, then please join Mike O’Leary and me as we host a free webinar on Saturday, August 24th at 3pm EST. With this webinar, Mike and I hope to answer any questions you may have in relation to starting out in wildlife or underwater photography, as well as how one can use the medium as a positive force.
To celebrate the release of our newest product photography tutorial, the next episode of Critique the Community will be focused on product images. After having spent weeks with Brian Rodgers Jr. and watching him work, Lee and Patrick are ready to see how your images stand up against the highest rated product photographers on Fstoppers. From the submissions, we will choose one lucky person to win a free Fstoppers tutorial. We will be accepting submissions between now and Friday, February 2nd, at midnight and will select a total of 20 images for the video. Make sure you follow the submission guidelines below to be eligible to participate.
On Thursday, Visual Supply Company (makers of the immensely popular editing app, VSCO) announced the release of DSCO, their new app for creating short, GIF-like clips. I downloaded the app and spent some time with it today.
The definition of a “cinema camera” seems to be ever evolving. So what are some of the things that set them apart from mirrorless?
For years, I considered myself purely a stills photographer. I resisted video like the plague. Little did I know that creating a YouTube channel to document an unrelated project would promote my creativity in ways I couldn't predict.
Building a career as a professional artist is a long journey of ups and downs. Here’s one lesson to take along to help you on your way.
In the course of being a visual journalism educator, I’ve come to realize that while here at Fstoppers my colleagues and readers might be attuned to 360 cameras and imaging, by and large most of the viewing public is not, but perhaps it's time they should be.
Children look to superheros as inspiration for strength and courage. They dress up as their favorite characters and act out scenes to empower their imaginations all over the world. One photographer set out to take his incredible talent to a special set of children to show them and the world they are stronger than the superheros they love.
This year has taken a number of different tolls on people. For us photographers and videographers, one casualty for many has been creativity. Here are five ways you can keep creative during this testing period.
We are now four parts into the art of composite series, and this week we touch upon style and influence.
Tired of your nature photos looking drab and dreary? Well, thanks to the power of Lightroom Mobile, you can now breathe new life into your images on the go thanks to its comprehensive toolset.
I first got in touch with Yuribert Capetillo Hardy of YoSoyVideo when I found his breathtaking short film Roller Coaster chosen as a Staff Pick over on Vimeo. Since then I have been watching in the hope that there would be another gorgeous short coming out of his editing room. With the release of Strained Lebanon, it was the perfect time to reach out for an interview.
There are plenty of articles to give you the basics on how to shoot soccer or baseball, but what about sporting events that are a little more unusual, such as parkour or rock climbing? Here are a number of tips that might well carry over to lots of other different shooting scenarios.
If you are running a luxury photography studio but have not starting using in-person sales (IPS) you may be leaving money on the table. The investment menu is key to having a fluid sales session. But did you know the importance of where you place the collections on the menu?
The theme play was a perfect follow up to last week's work. Fstoppers readers delivered another diverse batch of photos worthy of some love.
A tenth of a second is all it takes - yes, the blink is a marvel of human physiology that clears dust away from the eye and helps lubricate the eyeball. We have learned to cope with momentary blackout by suppressing those parts of the brain that monitor visual change, in a manner similar to the way we are able to ignore our blindspot caused by the optic nerve entering the eye. So why the hell do I often end up photographing people with their eyes closed?!
I previously wrote about Benjamin Von Wong's latest project with Sarah Jane in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Benjamin’s portion was just half of the project set up by Karen Alsop. She invited Benjamin to join in on some friendly competition. While her approach and style was different, there was still some amazing images created out of this cooperative project.
We live in a time where over a trillion photos are taken yearly, the photography landscape has never been more competitive. For us photographers, this means that simply capturing quality images isn't enough; effective marketing in today’s rapidly evolving digital age is the only real key to success.
Photography and retouching are a lot of work. Framing, exposing, getting your color right, cropping, zooming, dodging, burning, sharpening: it's enough to do your head in! But sometimes, we can get lazy, and in my opinion, it can be beneficial to lean into your own laziness rather than burn yourself out working for 10 hours a day.
Our Behind the Scenes series continues this week with Episode 7. In this episode, we continue filming WAMA 3 with Mike Kelley in Charleston, while I also teach him how to kiteboard.
Finding the perfect soundtrack for a video project or short film can be a laborious and painful process for budget filmmakers, yet it’s a task that requires plenty of care and attention. Music Vine claims to have filled this gap in between by providing affordable, high quality, curated music licensing. We sat down with Co-founder Lewis Foster to speak all things music licensing for video projects.
A photo is taken in an instant, snapped as you perceive the moment, recording indefinitely the raw values encoded from the sensor to the memory card. How then can a photo be a living entity?
I’m here to talk about the best way to whisk away your couples for some relaxed portraits on their wedding day and get some natural photos of the two of them together.
Documentary movies and photography aim at creating plausible images of certain events and phenomena. But what is plausible? Can we even catch an unaltered scene?
Today, I’d like to talk about one easy concept that will help you break out of your ruts and grow your business.
In general, we always discuss how our industry is changing and how we should do things differently to prosper. This is not only limited to our industry of photography: take the industry of education for example. Not all that long ago, college was considered the thing to do to be respected and move forward in your chosen profession.
How much of a difference does AI-based subject detection make to your photography? The technology should increase our hit rate, but how much of a difference does it make?
Whether you are an owner of another company or someone with a nine-to-five job, you may want to start your own business offering photography or video services. This article will give you advice about how you should and should not name it.
One of the most common things clients can ask for from photographers is providing photo galleries. This allows you to not only deliver a better customer experience but also to boost sales. Let’s see how picdrop can help you create the best galleries for your clients.
When it comes to video editing software many of us may swear by one of the two popular options available from Adobe and Apple. Although they are great, they can be quite convoluted in some sense and the learning curve is extremely steep. Movavi have a fantastic alternative available with their Video Editor 14 Plus software.
Food and product photography backgrounds can be incredibly difficult to come by in certain parts of the world. There are lots of tutorials out there about how to create your own textured backgrounds and wood backgrounds. But vinyl backgrounds are the bomb when it comes to portability and saving space. Creating them isn’t too difficult either.
Audio is half of the viewing experience. Learn from these tips to improve your video’s sound quality.
With Christmas solidly in the rearview mirror and that shiny new camera that Santa brought screaming for some action, it is all on you to shake off that excess holiday cheer and head outside to see how you and your gear performs.
We all have them, those cloudy days when you just can't create no matter how much you want to. As normal as this is, it's very frustrating. I'll spend hours doing random things before getting to work in hopes of stumbling upon any crumbs of inspiration left behind. I've found a few things that always work like going for a walk, sitting outside or talking with other artists. However. I've found value in working on old images.
In an earlier article I bemoaned the state of Android camera apps and in particular, how they lacked the features that even moderately specced cameras have. Find out what one developer has to say about the prospect of Android camera apps.
Lifestyle photographer Denise Crew was approached by the producers of Netflix’s Queer Eye about a book they were producing that had a very quick turn-around. It typically takes 18 months to publish a book from start to finish and they needed to do this book in 6 months.
