Fstoppers Original Articles

Some people thrive in the social media arena. However, others find it a battle not worth fighting.

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 2018, 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.

A lot can be said for the power of social media. In fact, many of today’s most successful photographers owe a lot to the beasts that we lovingly refer to as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But are these platforms that we all invest so much of our time into the final nails in the coffin of a professional photograph industry that was built less on savvy social media skill and the latest filter packs and more on actual relationships, constancy, and hard work?

As photographers, we need to put our best foot forward, especially if we're hoping to get clients to hire us or even simply aim for a quick dopamine hit on Instagram. However, one of the most beneficial exercises I have done is to look at the process of getting to my own favorite images and the process others follow to get to theirs.

"Say cheese" might be one of the most common things you think of when it comes to standard portrait photography. In the days of mall studios or even class pictures, this phrase is something we can all attest to hearing at least once in our lives. With more modern day photography, there has become less and less forced smiles and bribery in order to get that perfect image.

If your bookings are on a downward trend, you are not alone. With many photographers claiming a significant decrease in clients, let’s take a look at what is causing the sudden dip.

Gear cannot make you a better photographer. This statement is said over and over and I actually really believe it. But despite believing this statement to be true, I also believe that switching to mirrorless has made me a better photographer.

Artists are undoubtedly perfectionists and are their harshest critics. Learn why getting your next project done and releasing it to the world is better than waiting for it to be perfect.

In the past few weeks, Nikon and Canon have released their new mirrorless offerings, the Z7 and R, to much fanfare. Despite the great specs and form factor, I won't buy either for one simple reason: neither one has dual card slots. I never shoot anything without dual card slots, and neither should you.

Providing a service to clients as a small business comes with risks. At some point during the course of photographing a wedding, every photographer will run into an unforeseen circumstance. Are you prepared to face the unexpected?

With his hand wedged firmly in a crack of the sheer granite face of El Capitan, Alex Honnold looks up and scans his route as he doggedly continues his death-defying ascent of the iconic rock formation with no safety ropes to save him in case of calamity.

One of the most difficult aspects of professional photography is dealing with business. This will help.

The list of motivating landscape photographers who regularly vlog keeps growing. And if you’re interested in vlogging yourself, there just might be a solid option for weight-conscious landscape photographers.

As creatives, most of us know the value of a strong internet presence and what that can do to boost brand recognition and our business bottom-line, but we don’t always know how to make the best of that presence. I spoke with a successful web builder and graphic designer to get a glimpse of the most important aspects of boosting web potential for photographers.

Why would anyone spend $50 on a lens that's almost certain to be soft, noisy, and slow to focus? Let me tell you: because it's awesome. If you're new to photography, have a tiny budget, or have never owned a prime lens and want to see what the fuss is about, this is where to start.

What should a photographer do when surrounded by thousands of dead fish, some of the fastest ocean tides in the world, and wild bears that want to eat anything in sight? You take a deep breath and attempt to capture the beautiful scenery. Welcome to Valdez!

Years ago Instagram was filled with poorly filtered and over processed HDR images. Thankfully we have moved away from those days but how did we end up in a world without much color?

Adobe is taking all the hard work out of 3D compositing, by marrying stock models with their 3D scene creation and rendering app.

With the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, Apple introduced the ability to control the amount of blur in the background of its Portrait Mode photos. But what seems like a gimmicky tweak takes what was a gimmick and turns it into a pro feature.

Please stop tagging the exact location of your outdoor photographs.

Getting your prints to look exactly how they should is a constant battle for many photographers. Minimize the amount of time and money wasted on reprinting by downloading these free templates and using a traditional technique borrowed from the darkroom.

Playboy Magazine is famous for one thing, — okay, maybe two things — but there are no nude women in any of my photos, nor do I have any shots of the late Hugh Hefner. So, how did I do it?

You wanted it and now you've got it. Almost every single video-capturing device today boasts 4K capture. Do you feel the future is here?

Two trips in two weeks, and on the first day of each trip, I'd lost a camera. How did it all come about and where did it end?

Have you ever heard someone say they do not want to go to Iceland because it is over-photographed and too mainstream?

Patrick and I recently were recently planning a trip to Alaska, and Patrick became obsessed with a particular excursion: a plane ride that landed on a glacier on the top of Denali Mountain.

Editing your images can be a love/hate relationship depending on how you feel about post production. Getting tied down in your workflow can be a result of not having the right displays and shortcuts for better visualization of the final result. A few key tricks will lay out your most used tools and displays to get you in and out of Photoshop.

I have been a photographer for almost eight years, and to be honest, it has not always been fun. No career path is without its ups and down, and certainly, the creative industry is no different.

One of the lies we tell ourselves when presented with a challenge — an opportunity to stride forward — is that we aren't ready or aren't prepared enough. Well, you never will be.

Lighting schemes should always have a purpose, whether it's to flatter a client, show the details in a product, or create a mood. In this fantasy portrait, my purpose was both to flatter the model and to create a sense of place. Let's talk about how it was done.

A few of the major players have recently released cameras that are attracting quite a bit of attention. The Canon EOS R, the Nikon Z7, and Fujifilm’s X-T3 are all great for their intended purposes. But are new releases enough to keep you loyal as a customer?

Behind the scenes videos are a fantastic way to increase the visibility of your work, and ACDSee Video Studio 3 will help you get your BTS video edited and ready to view in less than an hour.

I find so many photographs today to be technical masterpieces, yet they lack any sense of life. They don't draw the viewer into the photograph or encourage the viewer to spend several moments viewing the photograph.

This has been the year of mirrorless! There have never been so many attractive options for DSLR shooters to make the transition as there are now. But should we?

By now, most of you have figured out that light is everything in photography. When the time of day isn't a variable you have control of, you may have to visualize how the available light will work with your subject.

Maybe you don't need any practice in Photoshop, maybe you do. Perhaps you're just looking to kill some time and create something fun, bizarre, hilarious, or something simply unlike anything you've ever done before.

In late 2017 I shared the photography podcasts that constituted my listening rotation. Thanks in part to our awesome community, 2018 has been even more insightful with these updated podcast additions.

We all have our favorite songs that we sing when are going through bad times or want to pump ourselves up. In this hilarious photo series, a photographer captures his friends singing their favorite songs and imagining that the camera is not there. See which song each person was singing!

We have all heard the old adage: buy cheap and buy twice. Here are five things you shouldn’t skimp on.

One of the most common questions photographers have is “should I upgrade my camera?” It’s right up there with “what lens I should buy” and “can I take selfies with this?” (That last one isn’t actually a common question.)

The Fujifilm X community of photographers are a loyal bunch, sometimes to a fault. It’s understandable, though, as Fujifilm provides consistent updates, even for cameras of previous generations. But recently, this seems to have become a crutch, and the X-T3 has inspired me to write this open letter.

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.

Do you have a lens in your kit that delivers results every time? Is it your go-to lens or is it one that you don't use as much as you should?

Dear Thumbtack, you’ve been a major national player in service-sector networking, including the field I love, professional photography. I appreciate the jobs I accessed through you in the past. But the door on that past, I’m sorry to have to say, is closed.

Are you stuck in an artistic routine or struggling to become comfortable photographing people in the street? Try this simple project that'll get you out there, shooting and gaining confidence!

Hashtags are a lot more than fodder for your social media posts. You need to use them and do so correctly in order to be noticed being one small fish in the giant ever growing pond we refer to as Instagram.

It’s no secret that Instagram has been working on its algorithm for quite some time. Gone are the days of tricking the algorithm to get more visibility. Now, more than ever, Instagram values excellent content. Here are a few practices to avoid when posting on the popular social platform.

The Profoto B10 is here, and it's one of the most exciting advancements in lighting that I've seen in years.

Listen, I know what you're all thinking. "Whoa, it looks cool. The modeling light is even bi-color. But it costs how much?" I get it, but bear with me.

Time-lapse videos have grown in popularity as a direct result of their unusual perspective on the world and the success of digital stills cameras. Here's my low cost route to creating them.