Fstoppers Original Articles

Last week Mike Kelley and I competed to see who could create the best images of the iconic dome house in Charleston. We released the images and allowed all of you to vote to determine who won. Today, the results are in.

A short while ago, I wrote about a kerfluffle with White Castle’s social media team about a photo I took of their Impossible Slider. At issue was the way White Castle (and other large companies) treated people who asked for some form of compensation for their photos to be used on the company’s social pages.

Ron Jaffe is the stills photographer for a multitude of popular television shows, and occasionally, he’s asked to recreate images that could have been taken decades ago. I asked him what process he goes through to take us back to pre-war USA.

Last week’s article introduced my take on the reasons photographers and videographers lose prospective clients. I focused on two common pricing errors plus the importance of a human connection, and this week, I’m examining three other important reasons.

Having a good routine leading up to an important shoot can be the difference between success and failure. Make sure you do these 12 things well before you pick the camera up and press the shutter button.

Welcome to the second official entry in my exploration of fine art printing, paper, and why we're meant for more than cell phone screens. In this entry, we're looking at a paper that absolutely blew my mind from the very first test print I ran.

I have been doing photography for about 10 years. In that time I have moved from hobbiest film shooter to professional commercial photographer. This is what helped me make the leap.

Is it just me or do the same type of images keep appearing over and over again on screens and in print? Maybe it's the magazines I read or the people I follow, but I feel like I'm repeatedly seeing (and creating) the same type of landscape photographs. Here's how I'm trying to get out of the rut.

Anyone that has researched the best practices for gaining followers on Instagram knows that your feed and profile should follow a similar style. I absolutely hated this recommendation and came up with an alternative so I don’t feel so constricted creatively while still maintaining a curated profile.

Wedding photography is one of those genres where you need a great all around camera. Here are seven reason why the Sony a7 III is the current wedding photography champion.

Do you ever wonder how many photos you should deliver from a session? Here is why I believe that you are giving too many.

Canon has announced their new top-tier 70-200mm telephoto lenses. The EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III and the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II are finally here with their predecessors receiving updates eight and twelve years apart, respectively, but is the new flagship 70-200mm f/2.8 just a paint job?

I doubt any photographers became professional because they were excited to run the business, but run it they will. Unfortunately, the importance of savvy business practices is much closer to photographic talent that most like to admit, so take a break from honing your portraiture, and hone your abilities as a small business owner.

I recently challenged Mike Kelley to a photography competition. We both had two and a half hours to photograph the iconic "Dome House" in Charleston, South Carolina. Today, you will get to vote on your favorite photographs and choose a winner.

When you jump into doing photography professionally as a business, you quickly learn that your website’s search engine results are an essential part of making your business successful. Here’s how to improve your visibility on Google.

Traveling with just an ultra wide-angle lens is a powerful way to improve your landscape photography, but my first trip without a telephoto was rife with mistakes.

Last month, Fstoppers was commissioned by MOO to produce an ad for their printing service with Peter Hurley. Luckily, instead of a standard 30-second ad, MOO had a better idea.

A recent trip to Disneyland had me stressing about the photos I’d capture. The experience taught me that leaving my professional cameras at home is possibly the only way I can truly enjoy myself.

For many photographers, taking portraits of celebrities, athletes, and government officials seems like the pinnacle of a successful business. Sometimes, however, those jobs require an insane amount of work, risk, and safety precautions to pull off the shot. In today's Story Time With Monte Isom, we look at how Gregory Heisler captured Time's Man of the Year cover with NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani.

I love my Mavic. Having flown with drones for a couple of years I have to admit that little machine made photography even more fun. It also improved my photography, my vision, my ability to pre-visualize scenes and it increased the production value of my videos tremendously.

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.

Sunrise and sunset are often beautiful times for photography and we go out of our way to make shoots happen at those times. Once we get there, however, how is it that we best make use of that light?

If you think this is a sci-fi horror thriller film with Transformers-style VFX you'll be disappointed. In fact, the action takes place in the 50s as a young man turns unfortunate obstacles into a romantic outcome.

Photographers and videographers both tread water in a crowded pool of competition, and often we feel in danger of drowning in that pool. In this week’s and next week’s articles, I will present the most common reasons we lose out on work we otherwise might have won.

I bet that I'm not the only photographer to at least think about the idea of diving into wildlife photography while standing in the middle of wilderness. It couldn't be that much different, could it?

To grow as a photographer you have to get out there and challenge yourself. Consider joining in on the weeklyFstop as a great way to try new things and enhance your photography skills.

Taking inspiration from cinema can lead to evocative images that also strike a nostalgic chord with movie lovers. Take full advantage of that power to create cinematic photographs that will charm viewers.

Do you always resort to the same poses time and time again during your couples shoots? Need new poses for your arsenal? Check out these five ideas for your next couples session.

Our video camera of choice is currently the Panasonic GH5 but we also occasionally shoot with our Nikon D850, and our iPhones. We happen to have gimbals for each of these cameras and so today, we compared them.

Sometimes you might not have time to take every photo you’re editing into Photoshop but you still need to make significant changes to make an image look great. This tip can make your photos stand out without spending a lot of extra time in your editing suite.

Silhouettes have been a source of artistic inspiration for as long as there has been art. But why is that? And have you recently exploited this genre in your photography?

Sometimes, there isn’t a whole lot to a photo: nothing’s moving, or it’s a scene without a strong subject. How do you — the photographer — make it interesting? Here are two tips to make that uninteresting photo just a bit more lively.

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.

“What kind of camera should I get?” is probably one of the questions I get asked the most often. So, I’ve become pretty quick at coming up with recommendations, and I figured it might be nice to share how I come up with them.

The thrill of traveling to a new place and striking out to document it on our is the reason why many of us travel. But travel can include more than the rush of capturing images, it can have a payout.

Today, I conclude my two part essay about a difficult two months of negotiation over a commercial photography shoot that may not have ultimately come to fruition, but taught very valuable lessons along the way.

If anyone knows how to put together an incredible fantasy ensemble, it's creative portrait artist Laura Sheridan. Want to know where you can source amazing pieces like her for fantasy photo shoots? She's got a list for you.

As photographers, we have a responsibility not to misrepresent the history and culture of our subjects. An exchange on Instagram gave me a stark reminder of how easily this responsibility is forgotten and abused, especially in the world of urban exploration.

One of my biggest problems when using Lightroom is just how long it takes to start viewing my images. Thankfully, ON1 Photo RAW does things a bit different.

We own two Canon PIXMA Pro 100 printers at the Fstoppers office and love them. They print fantastic looking prints, are dependable, and for a limited time they are being sold for only $60.

There's so much we photographers can learn from watching what others in our industry do, whether we watch a tutorial or start an online photography course. But have you thought about improving your business by looking beyond photography industry?

Brands big and small, new and established, are heavily investing in Instagram influencers to market their products. This has opened up a relatively new market for the working videographer, and here are my top seven tips to the production of Instagram-friendly video ads.

Adding to or accentuating the color tones in an image is a very effective way of telling a story, eliciting an emotion, or strengthening the aesthetic. In this short walkthrough, I'll explain how I can speedily color grade my images.

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.

Creating drama with your edits can be challenging, especially if you are short on time and don’t have the resources to sit in Photoshop all day editing a single photo. Using this technique has simplified my workflow and enabled me to make images stand out with very little effort.

If a client has ever laughed at your quote, you know it’s hurtful and embarrassing. But there are ways to respond so that you can keep the client and get a price that’s good for you.

Your work is greater than a Graham cracker sized cell phone screen and you know it. When it comes time to select which paper you print on, you've got a lot of options. Let's take a closer look at a few things to consider when making your choice and examine one example up close.

You probably use Lightroom because of the efficiency in processing batches of images, which in turn frees up more of your valuable time. But why use the software without the convenience of its many shortcuts, which save you time and make your work easier?

Want to easily create a 3D model from a set of photos? Find out how to do it in this tutorial.

Most photographers believe that larger sensor sizes produce images with shallower depth of field, but that's not exactly true.