Fstoppers Original Articles

Exclusive articles and expert opinions written by Fstoppers’ talented team of creative professionals. Here we cover everything from the latest photographic techniques to advice on running a successful photography business, to first hand accounts of working in the photography industry.

10 Reasons Why Wildlife Photographers Are Crazy

Sometimes photography can be difficult, but what keeps us going is our passion for creating images that satisfy something inside us. However, if your passion happens to be wildlife photography, then you have a whole other level of difficulty coming your way. Come to think of it, there are so many valid reasons to abandon this passion and yet, this group of photographers persevere and do it anyway. Here are 10 reasons why wildlife photographers are crazy and why we can’t help but respect their pursuit of happiness.

Warrior Within: How to Embrace Your Creative Rut

As artists, we have all been there. The creative rut. The most fatiguing part of being an artist and perhaps the downfall of many talented individuals who could not climb out of it. Creativity comes from many places within us all. However when a photographer's passion is absorbed by the repetition of what we specialize in, the outcome of the work becomes all too grueling to look at. So how do we get back to the love of what we do? How do we fuel once more the passion that showcases our work as new and creative?

Mauritian Photographer Shamma Esoof With Her Astonishing, Sad Owl Portraits [Interview]

A couple of years ago, I came across a portrait of a sad owl under the rain on 500px. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I never knew there existed such a deep photograph of a non-human creature. I was not the only one thinking so. That picture had won an award and I discovered Shamma Esoof (Sham Jolimie), a person who advocates for animal welfare, social justice, and is passionate about nature conservation. The cherry on top was when I discovered that the author of that unforgettable owl portrait was a mutual friend on social media and was from Mauritius, a country I call my second home after Armenia.

Stop Throwing Away Less Than Perfectly Sharp Images

Image sharpness is, for the most part, a false economy. It is mistakenly believed to be synonymous with image quality; that isn't the case. One major difference is that image quality has a ceiling and once reached (if that's even possible), the image cannot be any better in terms of quality. However, with the sharpness of an image, you can far exceed the perfect amount (again, if there is such a thing), and it begins to cost your image dearly.

Three Ways to Avoid Drama on the Set of Your Next Photoshoot

A photoshoot is a high stress situation that can often push emotions to their limits, and lead to conflict that can tear a great shoot to pieces. Part of your job, as the photographer, is to captain the shoot in a way to avoid this sort of thing. Everyone has a responsibility to be professional throughout the shoot but it is you who must ensure that they adhere to this.

What Lens Should I Bring With Me?

Being involved with online photography forums on a regular basis, I constantly see people asking that very question. I also get asked personally from time to time. It's usually something like: ''I'm taking a trip to Italy next month. What lenses do you recommend I bring?'' Or: ''I'm going to McDonalds tomorrow for brunch, should I bring my Canon 800mm or my Canon 11-24mm lens?'' So, being I was faced with this very decision myself recently, I wanted to share with you what lens I brought with me and my thoughts.

Don't Charge for Time Spent, Charge for Time Lost

When somebody asks how much they should be charging for their service, this is the single best piece of advice I’ve been able to give. It’s hardly unique, but it puts things into a much better perspective. I always suggest justifying your prices, and prevent reduced hours. Here is the problem with charging by the hour, and how I fix it.

Can't Buy Them? Just Become Them: Why Instagram Versus Snapchat Should Come as No Surprise

Virtual war. That's what Instagram declared yesterday when the Facebook-owned social media giant rolled out their latest update sharing an all too familiar user experience touted by rival platform, Snapchat. What are they doing? How could this happen? Why are they doing this? After turning over a few stones, we saw this coming from a mile away. Facebook and Instagram ultimately decided that if you can't buy them, become them.

Four Visual Help Layers to Make Color Correction in Photoshop A Breeze

For most beginners, distinguishing hues, or noticing over saturated areas, can be an issue. Even some most advanced retouchers still have problems color correcting their images. Reaching the point where our eyes see colors properly takes time and a lot of practice. Fortunately enough, visual help layers in Photoshop can aid us separate luminosity, hue, and saturation. In this article, I will show you how to isolate the latter two to facilitate your color correction.

My Experience With the Dell XPS 15 UHD - A Windows Laptop to Compete With Your Desktop

As a solo business owner, I find a good portion of my time has me tethered to a screen. For me, that means being at home in my office as I work on a desktop. I prefer having a large monitor to work on and the cost/performance ratio of laptops was prohibitive when looking at a primary machine. Recently, I also have found myself wasting a lot of time in between shoots - either waiting for the next shoot to start, or on public transport twiddling my thumbs - that could be used much more effectively. So, I decided to invest in a new laptop, and my searches took me to the Dell XPS 15 UHD.

Tips for Photographers and Retouchers for Handling a Commercial Photo Shoot

Despite being one of the best jobs in the world, photography and retouching are both technical processes in which you usually deal with some problems and find solutions afterwards. Every shoot is a different problem to be solved, and mostly, this is the fun part of this job. But sometimes, you have to be prepared when dealing with large amounts of photos with a tight deadline. So, here are some tips for fast-paced workflows for a commercial photo shoot.

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: The Struggle of Getting Rid of Gear

Hello, my name is Hans, and I have too many cameras. I didn't want to admit to myself that I had a problem, but as I stood over my camera bag, looking at those shiny bodies staring back at me, I dreaded the backache I would feel the next day from lifting that sucker to my next shoot. As I heard my not-so-young anymore bones creaking under the weight of all that alloy, I knew the truth: It was time to let some go.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (July 2016): Greg Desiatov

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 2016, we'll be featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

Systemizing Versus Empathizing Tendencies in Boudoir Photography

When it comes to boudoir photography, everyone has their own opinion as to what constitutes as a boudoir session. It is soft and romantic? Is it edgy and seductive? Is it only meant to be seen by the clients partner? Or is it an expression of the client finding comfort in their own sexuality?

Ordering the Chaos: How to Stay Organized as a Self-Employed Photographer

You are going to fail because you cannot fight the chaos. I don’t believe that, but this article is very sensible and the real first line of this piece wasn’t catchy enough: structure, organization, and discipline are the foundations of being successful and self-employed. If my formative years were anything to go by, I was the antithesis of all three. Thankfully, determination and maturity seeped in and I became obsessed with how I could be the most productive, organized, and disciplined without a boss or a separate office building and with the constant lure of Netflix.

Those Glowing Mushrooms (Part 2): 7 Steps to Processing Your Own Fantasy World

The weather outside is heinous. Seemingly perpetual rain batters the windows as we fire up the computer. The northern autumn is definitely on our doorstep and one of the first signs of this change of seasons is the increasing number of mushrooms in the forest. We’ve bagged 69 shots of just one composition previously and this is a great time to post-process them. Let’s get into Lightroom before more fungi start to come up after the showers have passed. Let your imagination run wild with the post-processing of glowing mushrooms that are straight out of a fantasy film. Here is how I process my own little fantasy world.

Mauritian Photographers: Khatleen Minerve and Her Streets Project

There is a tiny island in the Indian Ocean called Mauritius that reminds me of heaven. When my husband and I got a job offer to work there some years ago, I had no idea I would meet this amazing soul that was Khatleen Minerve. Eventually, she turned into a very talented and requested photographer.

5 Upgrades You Can Make To Your Photo Gear That Will Make Your Life Better

I can see it in your eyes! Excitement is brewing for some sort of fancy new lens or the latest camera body that breaks all the megapixel records. I know because I do the same thing! Surprisingly, though, in my experience it isn't the latest, fancy, glass that truly improves my photography, rather, I've found that making the right small upgrades tend to have a much more profound impact as they make the act of doing photography so much less of a hassle. Which, in turn, frees more of my focus to attend to the images I'm creating rather than fighting with gear which is refusing to perform.

Inside the Mind of World-Renowned Fine Art Photographer Dennis Ramos

Sometimes, we admire one's work, but we may not understand the path they took or how they perceive images of their own. For a few years now, Photographer Dennis Ramos has graced the front page with his popular photos and Photos of the Day here on Fstoppers. I had the great opportunity to sit down with Ramos for an interview at Tampa Image Factory to find out what exactly his photographic journey entailed in order to become one of the best black and white fine art photographers around.

Why Photo and Video Gear Doesn't Matter Much and Story Is Everything

What makes a photograph or movie memorable? With cinema as widespread as it is, a film needs to stand out in a big way, not only to succeed at the box office, but to be remembered in any capacity. As for photographs, it's the same challenge. We remember the Tiananmen Square protest photo because it captured the issues sweeping the globe in a single frame. Films like "The Shining" and "There Will Be Blood" are relatively simple in terms of visuals, but have stories that will forever make them classics. And that's exactly what makes a film or a photograph great: story.

Stunning Wildlife Photography: Staged or Candid?

It's difficult to denounce nature photography, especially when the shots look this good. The hours that Konsta Punkka has put into his photography are not to be sniffed at, but is it unfair if the animals are fed in order to achieve the look?

These Photos Show the Thin Lines Between Coincidence, Plagiarism, and Inspiration

What follows is one of the strangest and most remarkable coincidences I've ever come across in the world of photography. We've heard of photos that were blatantly stolen, but what happens when the concept of a major digital art project is copied? Is it even possible to copy a "copy" of an idea, or can two different artists be inspired to come up with the exact same concept completely independently? This is the tale of two composite photographs.

Those Glowing Mushrooms (Part 1): 6 Steps to Photographing Your Own Fantasy World

As the northern autumn draws closer, bizarre little creatures pop up all over the temperate forest. On the forest floor, underneath hedgerows and on trees, alive or the ones who have fallen. Fungi are the cleaning crew of the forest as they take care of layers of fallen deadwood and provide nutrients back to the forest. Surely they are great subjects for macro photography. Like everyone else, I’m looking to find their reproductive organs: Mushrooms. They let our imagination run wild as these little toadstools hint of fantasy worlds when photographed in a certain way. This is how I recreate my own little fantasy world.

Dodge and Burn for Dramatic Wedding Photography

Dodge and burn is a well-known technique amongst the retouching community. Most retouchers will use it to smooth out transitions and micro-contrast on portrait, fashion, or beauty images. However, it can be utilized for any genre of photography and broader uses than just skin cleaning. It can be used to direct the viewer’s eye and create more compelling, dramatic images with a few clicks. If you shoot and edit weddings and are looking to step up your post-processing game, this article is definitely for you!

A Fine Art Look at the Ukrainian Revolution

On November 21st, 2013, peaceful protests began what would soon be known as the Ukrainian crisis. Over the coming days, the protests would become more lively, and a brutal crackdown would begin. The following three months would see Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square, in a constant state of conflict between protesters and authorities. This would become known as the Euromaidan and would eventually lead to the Russian takeover of Crimea. Ukrainian Photographer Maxim Dondyuk took it upon himself to understand the situation and photograph the three months of violence in his home city of Kiev.
The Male Perspective for Boudoir Photography

Being a female boudoir photographer for many years, I may take some things for granted with my clients. There is not a shoot where a client doesn't ask me to assist in attaching a garter belt to her stockings. So, I am literally kneeing on the floor, with a woman's bum close to my face. We laugh the whole time, but in all seriousness, I sat back and wondered one day if I were a man, would this be any different?

Are Photoshop Plugins Still Relevant?

As Adobe’s Creative Cloud continues to grow, so does its most loved software, Photoshop. Over the years, Photoshop has single-handedly expanded its offering of creative tools to thousands of people across the globe, serving all types of industries from photography and design to forensics and astronomy.

The Importance Of Knowing The 'Why' And Not Just The 'What' As a Photographer

Photographers can often be lumped into two distinct camps. The first is the "what" group which is represented by people who study their craft and follow tutorials as if they are a scripted set of instructions never caring about anything other than if the technique works or not. The second group is the "why" group who study their craft and follow tutorials while also striving to learn about why what they are learning actually works. The second group has a tremendous advantage over the first as their deeper understanding of technique gifts them with far more versatility than those who simply collect a library of preset recipes with little care as to why those recipes work.

Landscape Photography Design Part 5: Advanced Communication

We’re living in a visual society. Every day, we see new ways of visual advertising. Some of the messages presented without the use of words can be very powerful, as if there's some subliminal code that makes us think. As photographers, we are used to delivering messages by solely providing the image. Or are we? This series is the go-to resource for compelling visual storytelling in landscape photography and closes this week with advanced communication techniques that help create spectacular images. Join me now as we dive into the deep end, far beyond compositional elements like lines and color and learn that secret code by heart.

So You Want to Become a Better Photographer?

There are many tips online. Five step listicles of composition, post-processing, editing, getting the model to smile more, and to capture a story in the best way possible. You can be friendlier to clients, communicate your vision to the team, client or model, use on or off camera flash, and setup your camera in a better way to enable easier ways to capture the shot. You can learn about better workflows and how to increase your productivity in post too. All these tools are available on Fstoppers.com for you to learn and use in your everyday photography career and life.

Useful Workstation Gear for Retouchers and Photographers

While a photoshoot takes just a one day, retouching may take several days spending hours on Photoshop. Here is a list of some items and gear that may help you to make this long process easier and uninterrupted.

Behind the Scenes on Photographer Ray Demski’s Latest Personal Project, ‘Fireball’

I know that I’m preaching to the choir when I say that personal projects, free from the constraints of commercial clients dictating production details, are an important outlet for creativity and staying sharp on your skills. Photographer Ray Demski just dropped his latest passion project, "Fireball," combining parkour, football (soccer), and beatboxing.

Behind-the-Scenes Look at Filming the Most Isolated Gaucho in Patagonia

Foster Visuals, known for the nationally-awarded "Legacy Project," recently teamed up with DJI to tell the story of Heraldo Riel, a gaucho in Patagonia, Chile. Like his father before him, Riel became a Gaucho at the age of nine. To be a Gaucho means to be kind and caring for all living things. Using a combination of equipment, including the DJI Osmo, Ronin, and Inspire 1, Brent Foster and his team tell Riel's story and captures the intense beauty and solitude of the remote section of Patagonia in which Riel lives.

Five Reasons You Should Run a Photography Workshop

It sometimes seems that everyone is running a workshop these days. Everywhere you look, there are workshops for every type of photography you could imagine. There are plenty of great reasons to attend one or even run one of your own. They provide a great forum for getting to know other photographers, sharing knowledge, and making great work. If you haven't considered running your own, whether it is something on a small scale at a local community center, a directed get-together in a local park, or something of a larger scale, I highly recommend giving it some thought. Here is why.
The Ultimate in Family Vacation Gear: 35mm Film

Ah, vacation! As photographers who shoot to put food on the table, it's exceedingly difficult to unplug. The temptation to jump into post-processing as soon as we take a photo can be overwhelming. The image is never done! If we just push this slider or that, tweak this or that, or crop here or there, the image would be so much better. At some point, though, shouldn't we be experiencing our vacation instead of documenting it? Enter the ultimate in quick and dirty memory-making: the 35mm film camera.

Filming Documentary Projects: For Friends or Clients

Documentary videos have always been there to grab my attention. These short, yet powerful videos can really pull you in, making you want to know more about what you're watching. I have made a few videos like this myself but none that I have really liked until now. I don’t usually like to share my work or go into depth about it, but here I will go over a few things to do when shooting a documentary like this.

The Grand Teton as Never Seen Before in Glorious 8K and BTS of What It Took to Pull It Off

In the latest installment of the “More Than Just Parks” series, filmmakers Will Pattiz and Jim Pattiz journey through Grand Teton National Park and capture breathtaking visuals of the natural vistas and wildlife. Their video series aims to document all 59 national parks through beautiful imagery in order to promote the protection and enjoyment of these lands. After you check out the new video (it does not disappoint), the Pattiz brothers share with Fstoppers some of their experiences and challenges working on “Grand Teton” and the video series altogether.

Four Easy and Unique Ways to Photograph Wedding Rings

When I got into wedding photography twelve years ago, I didn't know a single photographer who was shooting macro shots of their clients' rings. Today, these shots have become expected, and hopefully, if you're a wedding photographer, you've got a macro lens in your bag so that you can capture professional-looking shots of the rings.

Watch the First Full Lesson of 'Photographing the World' for Free

Last year we teamed up with Elia Locardi, one of the most followed landscape photographers in the world, to film "Photographing The World: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing." This is a 12-hour video tutorial on landscape photography, and today, we are releasing the first lesson for free.

Making Your Beauty Model Feel Special Leads to Better Photos

It goes without saying that creating a comfortable, safe environment while shooting beauty photography can go a long way towards building a strong working relationship with your model. Comfortable, however, is what I'd define as the "barrier to entry." What you really want to do is go beyond that by giving your model a slight boost in confidence. By building up the model's self-esteem you get her thinking positively, and that state of mind leads to fantastic moments which create a genuine spark of expression.

Three Ways Cinematography Can Improve Your Photography

For years, I enjoyed cinematography and photography as almost non-overlapping magisteria. I was fully aware that they played by many of the same rules, but I didn't entertain the idea of extracting elements of cinematography and inserting them into my images until much later.

Lady Godiva Inspires Boudoir Photography [NSFW]

Horses have been the subject of many powerful images throughout time. They lend a magnificent presence to any photographers portfolio. Boudoir photography has been inspired by the story Lady Godiva and her nude ride on her horse for the people of Coventry.

I Lined Beer Cans with Photographic Paper and Here's What I Found 6 Months Later

This low-tech alternative to digital photography can produce stunning art. Last year, I've recovered five out of ten “cameras." Some are found by others and stolen, others are simply blown off by a passing storm. Yet others are removed by bomb squads... I'm sharing these pictures with you, which are scanned negatives of black and white photographic paper. The brightest parts are the sun's streaks, burnt and etched in the paper - along with bubbles, rips and sand that texturize the images in bizarre ways.

Photographer Ben Sassani Takes Us Inside the Home Kitchens of Professional Chefs

Have you ever gone out to a restaurant and seen a chef slaving away in the back for hour after hour, producing one delicious dish after another, and asked yourself, “Do they even enjoy cooking once they get home?” Well the answer to that is “Yes!” and photographer Ben Sassani takes viewers behind the scenes (and refrigerator doors) of some of the top chefs around with his personal project Shoot My Chef.

Same Day Wedding Photography: How to Wow Your Clients

“How did you DO this?!” I remember watching her exclaim with her jaw on the floor shortly before turning to her bridesmaid standing next to her and saying, “Can you believe this?!” She was holding her wedding pictures, in her hand, before the wedding reception had come to a close and I was her hero, even if for just that moment.

How to Get Paid, Even If Your Client Can't Afford It

We all know how the story goes. A client has grand ideas, but a budget that won’t cover your costs. How can you still get the project done, without taking a pay cut? Here are three creative ways of getting fully paid, that should leave everybody happy.

Infuse Your Photography with Old-School Movie Magic for a Great On-Set Experience

Just like writing a good story, in photography, the setting is a character that shares equal weight with your main subject. It’s the relationship between those two elements that sells and tells the story. This is why at Cooper & O’Hara we start the planning of every shoot with a question: what is the setting going to be, and how does it tell the story?

Creatic 2.0 Is Here for iPhone and It Packs Some Serious Photo Editing Power

A major update is now available for Creatic, the free iPhone photo editing app. In Creatic 2.0, users now have access to many more editing tools, a preset manager, live filter camera, and a newly designed discover tab for browsing and interacting with the community. After using it for a few days, I found that there’s actually a surprising amount on editing control in this app not found elsewhere.