Fstoppers Original Articles

There are countless photographers out in the world who are producing truly exceptional work in the field of boudoir. Local to me in Utah, the field is one where most of the boudoir photographers are women. The ratio of boudoir photographers from female to male is really irrelevant, so I didn't even bother trying to figure it out. Starting to offer boudoir services as a male photographer was a fairly daunting idea to me, particularly because the community in which I live is fairly conservative and the boudoir genre itself is not as widely accepted as it might be in other communities around the globe. If you find yourself in a similar situation then here are a few ideas to hopefully help you get up and running.

As photographers, we have but one raw material to work with: light. You will hear this time and time again, you need to learn to see that light and learn how your camera sees it. Knowing what to look for is just the beginning. Figuring out how to use light, or more importantly how you will use it, is the larger part of your photographic journey. Today, I’d like to run you through five types of light I love and use often.

Being a photojournalist in the U.S. Air Force, there are often some pretty interesting opportunities to cover situations and events that most other photographers I know would probably never find themselves in. When new opportunities come up, there are usually two big questions to ask. One is, am I prepared for this? The other is, how do I even shoot this?

With all the destruction hurricane Harvey left behind from its rampage against the Texas coast, we have a tremendous number of people who affected with enormous lost. While most things can be replaced over time, there are some things that can’t be which many might overlook, like family photos for example.

Since the very first session I had, I knew I wanted to be as good as I could possibly be. Without any real formal school, I learned most everything by doing. Coming from a background as a retoucher, and web developer and graphic artist before that, there were things I thought I knew and did know that were more advanced than beginner stuff. But I was lacking some of the formal training.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed with the many different features of Adobe Lightroom. Lightroom has so many possibilities, that even after years of using it, I still am consistently learning something new. I have found that there are so many new photographers who either feel too overwhelmed to start learning the intensive software, or they still aren’t confident that they have been using it correctly. Because of this, I wanted to create a simple beginner’s guide to using Lightroom. This is the first of what will be a multiple part series of articles on Lightroom basics.

George Wheelhouse is a fine art nature and landscape photographer from Bedfordshire, U.K. I recently spoke with him about his contemporary portraits of animals, as well as his more traditional woodland and mountain landscapes. Though many of Wheelhouse's favorite subjects are local, he told me that he loves to travel to remote locations, particularly to Nordic areas. He also shared that he is quite fond of boreal forests like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Canada.

I've never been one for collecting souvenirs, not even remotely. I have always much preferred to take some extra time to hunt down a few locations in which to shoot some landscape photographs. For me, the pictures that I get to take home are the best souvenirs that I could hope for. In many ways, the more work that it takes to capture such images, the more the pictures end up meaning to me. I get to feel like I earned the right to have such a fun and print-worthy memory. I would venture a guess that there are quite a few of you who take the exact same approach when you travel.

Well, we did it. We have successfully started the weekly Fstoppers photo theme. It was not only great to see so many submissions, but the response from people hearing about the idea has been excellent. There are so many photographers out there looking to explore new techniques and grow their photography skills we are excited to see all the different ways to portray a theme prompt. Let us take a look at how the entries for leading lines went. Also, make sure you check out the new theme revealed at the bottom of this article.

The vast majority of photographers often flounder in a state of perpetual mediocrity wondering why their photos aren't getting better. They invest thousands of dollars in gear along with hundreds of hours of practice only to see what amounts to the most minimal of improvements. One of the most often overlooked characteristics of great shooters is that they never complacently accept that "good enough" is an acceptable metric in relation to their photography. Being picky enables great photography.

The photography world is veritably inundated with learning options, and it can be nigh impossible to wade through them all to find what's worthwhile. So, when Skillshare offered me the chance review their platform, I jumped at the opportunity. Here's what I found.

Photography is a commodity; It's not a secret, and we all know it. When I meet a new group of people, it seems that every time the conversation of “jobs” or “careers” is brought up, inevitably, someone is always a “photographer” by trade. Commodification is a process that happens to every industry, and we couldn’t prevent it even if we tried. So since becoming a commodity is unavoidable in any market, we, as small business owners, have to learn to overcome being branded a “commodity.”

If you work with people, whether it be kids, families, seniors, adults, or professional models, male or female, then you have almost certainly shot a TFP (trade for print) shoot before. While the definition of TFP is flexible these days, as most commonly we mean "trade time for digital images" rather than physical prints, these kinds of shoots have and will continue to be an industry staple. The most important aspect of these shoots is the one thing that often gets forgotten: getting a return on your investment of time.

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.

After a four-hour trip to London and only being able to catch whatever sleep I could during the uncomfortable journey down, I met with Peter Hurley and immediately felt welcome. For those of you who don't know, Peter Hurley is a headshot photographer based in New York City. Hurley once had a career as a model and was also part of the U.S. Olympic sailing team. He is known for his clean, white background headshots and for coining the phrase "squinch," which has now become relatively mainstream thanks to news channels and shows like Orange is the New Black. To many, Peter is known as the best in the business and this may be true, but, what is Peter actually like to work with?

Whether you’ve thought about it or not, psychology plays a huge role in successful photography. Even when considering technical aspects of photography like composition, exposure, depth of field, etc., psychology is part of the “why” behind proper camera settings. It's no surprise then that color plays a big role in emotionally provocative photography, and Michael Carroll recently published his book, “Retrographic” to document a project in which already emotionally-charged photographs from history are colorized to evoke even more emotion.

Whether you live in a football-crazed nation like America, or are beholden to the whim as another sport, nothing is more exciting than the start of a new season. As the kickoffs are underway, I think today I’ll take it from the gridiron to the studio with a few lessons I learned in the huddle.

Photography is all relative to the creator and the viewers, so the decision of whether to underexpose, overexpose, or to expose your portraits evenly is obviously subject to personal preference. There is merit to any of the methodologies that you could apply to your own photography and it really just comes down to figuring out what works best for you and your gear.

Jim Reed is a renowned extreme weather photographer who, in 1992, started a 30-year project on climate change. His day-to-day work includes tornadoes, blizzards, floods, and droughts - not to mention 19 hurricanes, including Katrina. Here's what he's discovered.

I regularly get asked on Instagram how I edit my studio headshots and yet keep them looking natural. In truth I’ve spent years learning the intricacies of Capture One Pro, Photoshop, and the various retouching techniques that are frequently discussed.

An annual pilgrimage for those among us who relish in new gear and the latest in our industry, PhotoPlus Expo 2017 is right around the corner. Taking place a few weeks after New York Comic Con, from October 25 to October 28, the Javits Center transforms into a digital wonderland loaded with the latest cameras, lenses, software, lighting, training, and seminars. It's been almost a decade since I attended PhotoPlus for the first time, and it’s a highlight I’ve only missed it a couple of times since. Here are my personal take on why you should get yourself there and how to get the most out of this great photo and video event.

I don't make time-lapses, but as a viewer I frequently happen to find time-lapse videos that I can't or don't watch at all. Here are my tips for all of you out there to make your sequence of images more appealing to any audience.

It's quite common to shoot photo sessions in unimpressive locations; it goes with the territory when shooting on-the-go and outside of a studio. Fortunately, we have options to help us transform boring locations into beautiful backdrops, and it’s easier than you think. Making simple light modifications and quick edits in post can mean the difference between creating average imagery versus creating imagery that impresses your clients.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen digital medium-format photography go from something of a hulking utilitarian beast into something a little more elegant in terms of usability. The Phase One and Hasselblad flagships, although coveted by many, were only attainable by a select few and really only intended for methodical work. The latest additions to the medium format realm have flipped this market on its head and put digital medium format into the hands of the masses. The Hasselblad X1D-50c and the Fujifilm GFX 50S are more in line with the everyday consumer's needs in terms of both price and features. I have had the chance to spend the last six weeks shooting with the Fujifilm while traveling through northeast India and today I’ll share my thoughts on it as a travel camera.

For filmmakers, our reels are often the first thing a prospective client sees from us, so why do we put so little of ourselves into the edit? Your reel should show the world who you are, just as much as it shows the world the kind of work you do.

If you don't already follow Gary Randall, I don't think it will take you very long at all to understand why you should be following him. I first ran across Randall's work on 500px back in 2012 when I first joined that site and was looking up landscape photographers to follow. He quickly became one of my all-time favorite landscape photographers and I have been inspired by his work time and time again. I feel lucky that I was able to spend well over an hour on the phone chatting with him, getting to know him a little better, and to learn about his approach to photography.

Let’s face it, in today’s world it is always better to be safe than sorry, especially for artists with demanding clients. I’m a huge believer in utilizing contracts to keep everyone on the same page, but contracts can be difficult when they are severely limiting.

When what seemed like half the photographers in the United States posted a photo to the #SolarEclipse2017 hashtag, it gave me an idea. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook all allow for fairly organic public searching of hashtags and a lot of our Fstoppers readers are active on one, if not all of these sites. Our article featuring an Instagram hashtag guide was one of the most popular of the year. Now on a regular basis, Fstoppers readers have a chance to get their work featured based on what is produced instead of likes on a photo, or how many followers they might have. Let's do this.

Most photographers use their cameras on a daily basis with little or no thought to how it functions under the hood. For the most part, this makes sense, mastering a tool doesn't require understanding exactly how it functions on the most intimate technical level. There are, however, aspects of camera operation that a cursory knowledge of can aid in being better equipped to address unexpected technical or mechanical issues. Given that autofocus can be finicky, it quickly becomes one of the critical aspects of your camera that you should take the time to learn about.

Working as a video editor can be a hectic and tedious experience. Spending some time to think about organizational tools and methods can help you out significantly when working with a lot of files, or in a large group of colleagues. Renaming files, creating proper folder structure, logging metadata, backing up files, and developing a workflow can make your life much, much easier. While some of the advice listed below is geared for Premiere Pro users, any video editor can take advantage of these tips.

Last week I was asked to shoot some model polaroids and create a comp card for my friend and a fantastic model, Mallory Mims, for her to take with her when meeting with agencies in LA. Before starting I did some research and gathered some examples so that I could give Mallory the best results and ensure she’d make a great first impression when meeting with potential agents. I got a little nervous during my Google search because I wasn't finding consistent standards or templates very quickly. Since I had such a hard time in my own research I am sharing what I found and a template to make this easier on you guys than it was for me.

The Nikon D850 is quite the beast of a camera. It holds a massive 45.7-megapixel full-frame sensor that can record 4k video and create 8k time-lapses. It can shoot at a blazing fast seven frames per second and has an enormous 51 image buffer when shooting 14-bit raw images. The focus speed is insanely fast, deadly accurate, and offers 153 focus points with 130% more frame coverage than the older Nikon D810. The only problem with such an amazing monster of a camera is that Nikon thinks it’s too much for women to handle.

Every year for the past few years, I’ve donated photo work to a local organization that puts on a half marathon in coordination with the local firefighters union chapter to raise money for local charities. Last year, I ended up doing a relatively simple shoot with just some firefighters and a ring light. This year, I wanted something different. And so, quickly and repeatedly, the question became, “Can we use real fire?”

Every couple of months it seems like there is a new story about how a magazine cover was photographed with an iPhone. Magazines like Bon Appetit, Elle Australia, and Billboard have opted out of the realm of photographers using traditional, professional gear, and into the realm of gear used for taking snapshots and selfies. For each announcement, there are thousands of photographers grinding their teeth and shouting, "this is nothing but a publicity stunt!" But is it? Maybe it's time for the photography community to face the truth: it's not the gear that matters.

At this point, we should all know that almost all jobs and opportunities to find success in photography are built off networking. Now there are tons of ways to network and the path you pick will depend solely on the niche you associate with. Either way, the main goal is to meet people with the same professional interests as yourself to feed off each other creatively and to broaden your reach in the community. We tend to forget about the community aspect as we get caught up in chasing money or companies but what we sometimes need to go to that next level is support system built off our love for photography.

Food photography is great fun and really easy to get into. All you need is a camera (which if you own a smart phone, you already have) and some food.

A few weeks ago, I came across a post on social media from the Jônt about a shoot out contest inside a staged multi-million dollar estate which piqued my interest. Reading more about the shootout, it would be geared toward several different genres of photographers, as they would have vendors on site providing food, drinks, cars, and models at our disposal for the shoot out. First, you had to submit your info along with your portfolio to be one of the selected photographers to join the contest, I figured I would go ahead and throw my name into the hat and see what would happen.

As the summer starts to wind down I know it means one thing. It's going to get a lot colder here in Boston. It also means It's time to start getting ready for Photo Plus Expo as well as some of the other winter conferences. For some, this might be simply booking travel, but for me, it's a big weekend. One that I spend a lot of time preparing for. In part, because it's one of the bigger speaking engagements for me but also its one of the best networking opportunities to help build my brand.

I had the glorious opportunity to play with the highly-anticipated (at least for me) upgrade from the D810, the D850. I wanted to touch on a few things, namely the hype and if one really needs this new camera. For me, absolutely I do and I'll explain why. This isn't a review of the D850, but just a few key things that I was really wondering about and needed to know before upgrading.

Long before I ever picked up my first camera I was always fascinated by the subject of psychology. To understand some of the reasons why humans behave the way they do is rather useful in many areas of our lives. Once I started to get into photography more seriously I began to realize how the two subjects could be used together to make more powerful images.

The Internet is full of memes comparing what people think photographers do with what we actually do. A lot of our actual time is spent inside, editing, on the phone, or sprucing up the website. And through it all, it can be difficult to meet and collaborate with others in our field while we're so busy with our own schedules. But by not getting out and meeting each other, we're missing a huge opportunity to help each other out, pass along jobs outside of our area of focus, and potentially collaborate or partner on future projects. So what if we could meet in a cool, casual environment over a beer to discuss all things photo? Enter Beers and Cameras.

I absolutely love shooting commercial work in the studio. Who doesn't? Shooting in a studio environment allows the photographer full control over the lighting and the subject. It also allows for full creative freedom over what you can composite into the shot if needed by easily matching up the lighting. Earlier this week I had a few hours of downtime and decided to shoot a bottle of Bacardi Dark Rum in my studio. Using a softbox I built myself a few weeks ago, I decided to take it on a test run using the bottle of Rum as my subject.

The latest forecast estimates that the superlative category five hurricane Irma may land directly on the most populated area of South Florida near the city of Miami. The last time a massive storm hit the region was in 1992 with hurricane Andrew. But back then, there were no Instagram or Facebook to display stupid behaviors. Here is what you shouldn't do during a hurricane as a photographer.

I'll be honest, when it came to shooting swimwear, I went straight to Pinterest looking for whatever ideas and inspiration I could find. Swimwear is different enough from the other types of shoots that I was typically shooting that I really had no idea where to begin. Granted, my clients weren't clothing line companies, so I wasn't aiming for the more routine, catalog-style shots. Since the people wanting the shots were the models themselves, I wanted to make sure that the end results looked as good as possible and hopefully a bit more stylish.

I love Lightroom. It is an amazing tool that is able to do almost everything that I need when I edit, and do so in an organized way. The one problem that we’ve all had with it though is the lagging speed that can be infuriating. This past year, I spent a considerable amount of time with one goal: to do anything I could to speed up my editing process. I can honestly say that after implementing the following tips, my Lightroom is running as fast as ever and I rarely notice the lag that would torture me before. Here is a step-by-step guide to what I did.

If you shoot photos on a professional level, there’s a chance you also shoot video. If you shoot video, there’s a chance you edit. And if you edit, there’s a good chance you have to work with audio at some point. But, it may not be something you know a lot about, especially if you are just getting started with editing video.

I remember the excitement of wanting to start and have a thriving wedding photography business. I remember how my heart would skip a beat whenever I’d get a new photography inquiry regarding my services, and I remember how desperate I was for any type of wedding photography gig. I also remember not knowing how to price myself, being scared that if I charged too much, clients wouldn’t want to book me. Or if I told a client no to a request, they’d find another photographer. I look back on the first few years of my business very fondly, but I also remember a few times that being a wedding photographer made me want to crawl into a hole and hide from the world forever.

One absolutely invaluable thing that a person can learn in life is how to deal with negative people in a healthy way. The unfortunate truth is that at every stage of your creative journey there will always be people looking to bring you down. How you handle this negativity and choose to respond to these kind of people can say a lot about you too. Is there a right answer or does each situation demand a different kind of response?

So, you want to chase a career in professional photography and have managed to build yourself a respectable portfolio that you can begin to use to market your talent. The next step in building your credibility as a professional in the space comes in the form of crafting a web presence that reflects the brand of a seasoned pro. You need customers to see you as someone that really knows what they are doing and is serious about every aspect of your brand. A big part of this aspect of your brand is your own personal website. Social media is fantastic for expanding your influence but it lacks the intimacy to fully represent you. You need a website and that website had better make you look good!

Securing your cameras and laptops for your business during storms is just the start of the preparations that need to be considered before a storm hits. Safe guarding the essentials is not the only issue when storms arise but also the thought of how can you keep your business running if you are not able to work?