Fstoppers Original Articles

At the start of the year 2019, I told myself to make significant changes for me to achieve more this year and it has resulted to what I can definitely call the best year for my photography. Let me share with you 5 of them that I think can bring you more progress for 2020.

What do you think of when you hear the term "composite"? Lots of hours with the Pen tool cutting out elements or fiddling around with the Refine Edge tool?

A common piece of advice for photography beginners is to use your phone to take images, as it's a powerful camera in the right hands. I used to give this advice too, but after a lot of thought, I realized I was wrong.

Following up from last’s week’s article about Capture One, today, we’ll take a look at its main rival in the raw processing field, Lightroom. To keep things on a relatively level playing field, I’ll be discussing what is now called “Lightroom Classic,” the desktop version of Lightroom.

Whenever an aspiring photographer asks me for the secret to beginning their career, I always respond with the same answer: Step one is to remember that photography is a marathon and not a sprint.

It’s time to drop these bad habits and clean up your photography act in 2020. Head into the next decade like a warrior.

Every year, we all take steps to grow as photographers, but maybe it's time we start growing as a community. Here are some things we can all stop doing in the new year to grow positively together.

In 2019, I switched mounts, tried out some new gear, and built a new editing setup. Looking back at the year, there are some pieces of equipment I’d buy again in a heartbeat, while others weren’t even worth the cost of return shipping. 

A lot of people think TikTok is juvenile, or have not even heard of it. Yet, after 1 billion downloads and upwards of 500 million monthly users, the app is on the map. 

Seagate released the 5TB version of the Backup Plus Portable series. Available for $100, this hard drive represents a great value for backup and cold storage application. However, the SMR technology comes with one disadvantage.

With the year coming to an end, it’s a great time to take inventory and see what you did right and what needs improvement. This also translates to your gear. What was used the most and what should be thrown up for sale? This is a list of my most used gear for 2019. 

Want to start the new year with a free tutorial from Fstoppers? All you have to do is help us choose our Photographer of the Year! 

I've been replacing skies manually in Photoshop for over 15 years now. It's time-consuming and tedious, but I assumed it was the only way. But now, Luminar 4 claims to be able to swap skies with a single click, and it's quite impressive. 

VR180 is a relatively new format used for the interactive and immersive content. Unlike the traditional 360-degree capturing, it only allows you to capture a limited 180-degree field of view, and according to the Google, it will be the new trend for content creators.

The discount in the retail industry is a very common, if not vital, technique applied by all businesses, big and small. But is the discount applicable and economically sound in the world of photography and filmmaking?

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 2019, 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.

I'm not joking. Anyone who comments on this article will get a follow up message in December 2020 to see how you got on. Why? Because both committing a goal to paper and telling someone your goal both increase the chances you'll meet it.

I’ve owned a lot of bags over my photography and video production career, and as someone who travels a lot carrying a backpack when walking or biking, I’d like to point out a few things backpack designers and manufacturers should consider.

The concept of working for “credit” is not a new one, nor is it unique to photography. Yet, it is one of the few industries that everyone thinks should work for free.

Whether you are planning your trip to the desert from across a couple state lines or from across the world, here are a few things to take into account before actually spending any money on your travel plans. 

There have been plenty of occasions where someone has asked me which camera they should buy up to a certain price point. My first question almost always is to ask them what smartphone they currently have. The reason for this is because smartphone cameras have come such a long way that they’re now viable tools for photography and video.

I’ve always known about Google’s Night Sight mode on Pixel phones as a method to take pictures in near darkness, but it seemed somewhat overkill in daylight. As it turns out, it can actually push your pictures to DSLR-like levels of detail and sharpness if you use it right.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based headshot photographer Tony Taafe went from selling $60,000 in his first year of business to $250,000 in his third, and he wants to help other photographers do the same thing.

It's Christmas week and the 12 weeks of Christmas reaches its last installment. There had to be a number 1 and what better choice than the most iconic photo of all time?

Since this is Santa’s week of choice, I thought it might be a good time to put out a wishlist of my own.