Fstoppers Original Articles

The annual Lyrid Meteor Shower is nearly upon us, peaking on the evening of April 21-22. While it’s not the best of the annual meteor showers, it is a good opportunity to try your hand at the challenge of capturing an image of a meteor. And even better, you may already have all of the equipment on hand: tripod, DSLR or mirrorless camera, and wide angle lens.

Recently, I was lucky enough to have a portfolio review with a photography agent. It was only my second review ever and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect — so when four agents from the one agency popped up in the Zoom meeting, I was a little intimidated. They were lovely and warm and welcoming though. I just wanted to knit them a hat.

Are dull, flat skies ruining your photographs? Learn how to capture real clouds and dramatic skies in camera, no sky replacement or Photoshop needed.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to completely change an image and make it more memorable is to add a flash.

Dear Fujifilm, on behalf of all instant photography fans, please give us a decent Instax camera — one that excites us, one that inspires us.

Photography can sometimes become a bit of a gear measuring contest. Who’s got the biggest lens? Which body has the most megapixels?

Blur is generally seen as a negative thing in photographs. Sure, it can fully ruin an otherwise good image or take away from a moment that would have otherwise been wonderful to document. But, blur can also be an amazing and helpful tool, one that can add a lot to an image, as long as it is used intentionally and thoughtfully.

A problem that many photographers face is being unhappy with their photos. This ends up running shoots and makes matters even worse. Some never fully experience the joy of creating that photography can bring.

If you've been trying to get some portraits of your furry friend but your images aren't quite cutting the mustard, then these seven simple techniques might be just the thing you need.

Using manual exposure is considered professional use by many photographers. Sometimes, it is even considered the only serious way of using a camera, giving you full exposure control. But is this true, or is manual exposure just old fashioned?

The majority of landscape photographers tend to prefer keeping the entire scene in focus from back to front, using smaller apertures to maintain greater depth of field. Using this simple technique, any photographer can quickly find the hyperfocal distance, or the focusing distance at which a lens, given any aperture and focal length, will produce the greatest depth of field.

The internet has been an integral part of allowing photographers to showcase their work to the world. Yet, no one is safe from the trolls hiding behind their computer screens.

If you’re a photographer who shoots film, you’ve likely seen and had an opinion about film presets. For many, that opinion is quite negative, and for those like myself, we lean towards favoring them.

There is a trend growing in the photography world. The trend is to accompany photographs with explanatory text. I am not convinced this is a good thing. What do you think?

Photography struggles with truth as a concept. With other art forms, truth is generally a non-issue. We do not question whether a painting is real. We do not question whether a dance is real. We are generally able to discern fictional texts from nonfiction; furthermore, we’re generally able to sift through multiple nonfiction texts and combine them with our own experiences to arrive at a conclusion of truth. But not with photography.

Having WhatsApp aggressively compress your images, strip out important metadata, and delete your handpicked color profiles is downright annoying for photographers. Thankfully, there is an easy way to trick WhatsApp into sending your precious images unharmed.

Today, I’d like to discuss one of the most overused and most misunderstood concepts in photography. What exactly makes something a “professional camera”?

Exposure bracketing is one of the most important tools to know how to use for landscape photography and is likely a term you've heard from every major name in the business. Find out why it's so important and just how easy it is to learn.

Creative blocks and lack of motivation for picking up the camera happen to the best of us. While there are times it is best to just embrace the downtime and wait for inspiration to strike, more frequently, it is better to take active steps to push past the doldrums. It's important to find methods that work best for you, but there are a handful of tricks that I have found to be successful over the years.

They make good cameras. But I won't buy a Canon.

This subject comes up all too often, every time a new camera body comes out or when the industry makes a big shift such as film to digital or DSLR to mirrorless. So, what’s the best kit you can buy?

The NFT craze infuriates me, even though it's great to empower artists,and support a vital part of society through a devastating pandemic. The cost of this support is far greater. NFTs have a catastrophic impact on the environment, the true scale of which we can't even begin to understand.

Tim Huynh's new documentary, "Fill The Frame," sparked a recent controversy about who qualifies as a professional street photographer. I suggest the answer is no one.

It has been our reality for quite some time now, but the effects the pandemic has had on the travel industry will continue for the foreseeable future. How does a travel photographer get through this without completely losing everything?

COVID-19 has brought 2.7 million deaths worldwide so far; poor mental health kills 8 million every year. Jessica McGovern talks about her own struggles and helping other photographers.

Look at your gear right now. How much of it did you need and how much of it did you want? Knowing the difference between the two can save you thousands and make you a more sophisticated photographer who focuses on art.

Automotive reflections can be a pain, especially if you are restricted to where you can shoot the vehicle. Reflections of the surrounding environment can really ruin your image.

Ever look at images on your phone or tablet and think the colors don't look quite right? Quickly and easily calibrate your screen with this lesser-known IOS feature.

Vignettes can make or break an image and can literally lay waste to the final outcome if overcooked. I’ve never been a big fan of the vignette feature in Lightroom, but that’s not because of what it does or how I use it. It’s simply because of the immovability of it.

Of course photography is art. Is all photography art? Debatable. Is all photography good art? Nope. Most photography is bad art. Is your photography good art?

It's a perplexing state of affairs: the DSLR as a product category is officially on life support now that more mirrorless cameras ship every year. Of what is left of the DSLR sector, Canon and Nikon hold a staggering 98% of it. So, why on Earth is Pentax releasing a flagship model?

Photographer Roger Ballen's signature style, which has come to be known as the "Bellenesque" aesthetic, didn't develop overnight. In fact, it took five decades of trial and error to fully mature into what we see today.

Oniric, from Composite Nation, is a plugin I've been looking for for a long while. Last year I caught an advert for it on Instagram and I haven't looked back since.

Despite being a long-time Nikon shooter and a fan of their latest mirrorless offerings, it’s only fair to keep an eye on what the competition is doing. So, with the right level of begging, I was able to get my hands on the Canon EOS R5 and thought I would offer a few brief thoughts.

Audio is half of the viewing experience. Learn from these tips to improve your video’s sound quality.

A popular photo trend we’ve all seen on Instagram is to bring back the vintage look. People’s love of a good nostalgia trip means they go looking for interesting ways to add old and dated character to their images.

The NFT craze continues to explode, as for the first time, an artist has bought an NFT of the NFT that points to his own work of digital art — for $10 million.

Are you on the go for your photography or video shoots? If so, think outside the box and consider a Chromebook as your travel accessory.

It's not the famous Moulton Barn in Jackson Hole and those definitely aren't the Tetons rising majestically in the background, yet this image of a barn in Idaho is perhaps more impressive. Not because of what it is, but what it represents in the form of the Carol Highsmith Archive.

Whether you're looking to start your own YouTube channel, create a video course, or just capture some of your edits for fun, screen recording software is usually necessary. Wondershare DemoCreator, aims to be the easiest and most complete solution for exactly that.

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 2021, 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.

My favorite light for shooting landscapes is definitely sidelight. Still, I won’t let the position of the sun stop me from photographing great locations. You shouldn’t, too. There are plenty of options to become creative.

The mentor relationship in photography can be a really important formative experience for young photographers. It can also be a very difficult relationship to establish.

Extended periods of poor conditions for landscape photography can leave you feeling unproductive and stuck inside. There's plenty you can still accomplish no matter the conditions, and I've got a few ideas to get you started.

In 2016, Kim Kardashian broke the internet with a mother’s day selfie. We’ve all seen the picture; she’s stood in front of a mirror wearing pretty much her birthday suit. It becomes such a big deal that Emily Ratajkowski and Kim Kardashian go on to recreate the thing. Break the internet twice! Why is this such a big deal though?

With more mirrorless cameras shipped than DSLRs in 2020, the pivot to mirrorless has occurred. Nikkei's report on 2019 mirrorless sales was therefore eye-opening; however, it is the 2020 numbers that will show the shape of the sector. So, who are the winners and losers?

I have a closet filled with camera bags but I think I might have found the best camera bag for adventure and travel photographers. There are countless bags on the market but every adventure requires a slightly different bag. The goal is with the right features, versatility, and customization, one bag can do everything!

When I first wrote about using mirrorless cameras for journalism in 2014, the Sony Alpha series had just been launched a few months before in 2013. Panasonic was just hitting its stride with the GH series of cameras and Fuji had just really started kicking off its X-Series cameras. Things have certainly changed.

The saying goes that you need to practice 10,000 hours before you master something. I think this is a bunch of rubbish.

Even if you aren’t the type of photographer to be interested in a cicada, let me tell you why this summer’s event will be an amazing photo opportunity. It might just not be what you expect.