Fstoppers Original Articles

It's incredibly common to see any marketing campaign talk about how some accessory or lens is "life changing" and will bring your photography to the next level. And then you buy it and inevitably realize that it is your own ability that is holding you back. But there is something you can buy, multiple somethings actually, that will honestly help make you a better photographer.

Some photographers seem to have careers that appear to have started at the very top of the industry's ladder. For others, the early days of their photography careers are something they try to hide from. How has your photography evolved over the years?

There are only two things certain in life, as the saying goes: taxes and death. For something so certain, modern society has difficulty with understanding, and dealing with, our own mortality. So why is photographing death such a taboo subject?

Last week on Fstoppers, Nando Harmsen shared his technique for creating long exposures without a filter that involved stacking many, many photos in Adobe Photoshop. With my technique, there are a few extra caveats, however it only involves two photos and a mask in any layer-based photo editor.

Photographer Aaron Anderson has once again created an amazing set of images that came from an idea he could not shake. It's often been said that anyone can do something once but to keep coming back with impressive results is what differentiates the best from the rest.

Up-selling is part and parcel of the wedding and portrait photography business. Many photographers depend on these selling techniques to generate a decent income. But similar opportunities can be found in the commercial genre — you just need to know how to target them.

What happens when you combine an incredible collection of horror movie action figures, a vivid imagination, and awesome photography skills? Meet Jesse Diaz, a toy collector and photographer from Los Angeles, CA, whose incredibly realistic images of his toy horror figures in action are both entertaining and impressive.

Bumping into my old mentor at an American Photographic Artists lecture yesterday reminded me of the importance of building a photography community and the benefits beyond the obvious.

Through a matter of circumstance, I found myself working with multiple camera systems to fulfill a variety of assignments over the last month. Here are a few thoughts on why I chose each system and what I learned from the process.

Capture One Pro 12 was released at the end of 2018, and since then, it has made my workflow drastically more efficient. Let me share some of my tips to help you supercharge your workflow with this latest version.

It's so simple yet so powerful and has literally saved me hundreds of hours and untold gallons of frustrated, angry sweat. If you want to know a quick, fast camera hack that can make your photography life a rosy ride of comfort, then keep on reading.

Many creators hold originality to be one of the biggest values in their art, whether it is music, painting, photography or any other subject. Concerning photography, what is even original when billions of photos are taken and uploaded each day?

Shark photography is a popular and exciting part of shooting underwater. Many photographers travel the world over to get up close and personal with these mysterious creatures. If you are planning to start photographing sharks, it’s important to have a read through some of the items below to keep yourself and the very creatures you are in awe of safe.

Adobe's Lightroom is a divisive piece of software. Proponents love the consistency and close compatibility with Photoshop, while others argue it is inefficient with resources and has inferior processing compared to competitors. I want to take a look at a much simpler, fundamental issue with Lightroom.

You buy tutorials, you go to workshops, you read the latest article about gear, try to keep up with industry trends, run social media ads, and do everything else you can think of to create a strong career. But you might not be doing the one thing that could benefit your career the most: in-person networking.

Now that Canon has recently announced the EOS RP, is the next Nikon Z camera on its way? And if it is, where will it fall in the Nikon Z lineup of cameras? If rumors are correct, the next Nikon Z camera will most likely be aimed at an entry-level full-frame user. Perhaps called the Nikon Z5?

Have you tried your hand at unfollowing people on Instagram only to find they were wise to your move and simply unfollowed you back the next day? Apparently, there is a method to the madness, and one influencer is ready to share their secrets with the world.

Today, I found that someone has stolen one of my photographs. Here is what I did.

It was the 25th anniversary of John Candy's untimely death this week. I always found his brand of humor hilarious. Little known fact: did you know that John Candy helped to invent a 3D motion capture process that didn't need 3D glasses? Although his early work in this field was designed for T.V. only, the sky could've been the limit.

Have you ever seen someone's work and been not only blown away by the technical ability of the photographs, but how it emotionally touches you as well? That is the epitome of the beautiful work of Minnesota-based photographer R. J. Kern. In this article, take a look at his amazing work, and I can assure you you'll walk away inspired too.

I recently had the opportunity to completely replace my camera system. I chose the Canon EOS R and Canon lenses/flashes. If you had asked me a couple of days ago, Canon would have been my last option. This article is about what changed my mind.

To capture this affecting photo series, photographer Emily Teague traveled to India and met with the women affected by sex trafficking and the women fighting to stop it.

Our new studio in Puerto Rico had so much echo that it was ruining the audio in all of our videos. I'm happy to say that we have finally figured things out, and we've learned a few things that might help you as well.

Fujifilm has become quite well known for it’s excellent APS-C lens lineup and now has enough lenses that several of them overlap significantly. One pair of lenses that bare consideration for many getting into the Fujifilm X system are the “kit” XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS and the “professional” XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR. Let’s take a look at the differences between them.

If you are documenting a moment, cell phones are the best camera hands down. But if you have a choice and care about quality, stop pretending they are equally effective.

A couple of years ago my friend Rob was droning on at me about “if its worth doing, its worth doing badly”. I ignored him, and this is why I was wrong.

Today is the International Women's Day so while it's nice to celebrate how far gender equality has come, it's even more important to look at the issues still present in photography industry today.

There's something exhilarating about getting a new client. I love the buzz of working with a new creative direction, team, and objective. But new clients are expensive, and repeat clients are where businesses thrive.

You can get cool results when photographing water or cloudy skies with long exposures. For that you often need a filter that reduces the amount of light that enters the lens: a neutral density filter. But what if you don’t have such a filter? In that case there is another way to retrieve almost the same results. In this article I will explain how to shoot long exposures without the help of a neutral density filter.

Last month B&H helped us build an extremely expensive workstation. Today, we built a computer that rendered footage faster in Adobe Premiere for 1/3 of the price.

With more photographers competing for work than ever before, you need to stay ahead of the pack in any way possible. One area many people in creative professions neglect to improve is business, and you needn't be part of that stereotype.

Leica has just announced its newest camera, the Leica Q2. More than just a standard upgrade to its predecessor, the Q2 takes what was already a decent compact camera and makes it a strong competitor in the compact fixed lens market.

Think of forensic science and what images are conjured in your mind? Possibly something out of Silent Witness, CSI, or even The Wire. What then is involved in forensic imaging? John Smith explains.

I thought I'd never understand this one photo series I saw over a decade ago; it was so popular but seemed so bland to me. What I realize now is the content of images aren't the most interesting part and in fact, the project has a lesson all photographers could learn from.

Artists strive not only to share their creative works but many also want to be known for their talents. Research is now finding what makes an artist known to the world and the findings may surprise you.

Finding new ways to evolve creatively is a never-ending process. Take a deeper dive at implementing audio into your workflow in this follow-up focused on photographers and writers.

Initially, there wasn’t much about the idea of photographing high school seniors that excited me. Boring portraits of kids wearing their caps and gowns and flashing whatever year they’re graduating with their fingers like an awkward gang-sign always came to mind. After all, it’s this type of cliche portrait that I most often stumble across online, but this doesn’t mean that all senior portraits have to be so boring. Below are a few tips that I've learned over the years.

The wisdom of crowds can sometimes provide valuable insight, so we want to know which lens you think is the most underrated. Here are a few of mine too.

Sony’s lens line-up has grown significantly over the last couple of years with various third-party manufacturers stepping up to fill gaps or offer more affordable versions. However, one lens remains missing from Sony’s line-up and it’s even stranger when you consider that, from the outset, both Canon and Nikon created versions for their new mirrorless cameras.

The devastating effects of bottom trawlers lead one activist and photographer to create a campaign to drive emotional messages through their imagery.

A Portuguese inventor claims that mobile titan Huawei flew him to meet with them to pitch his patent pending 360 camera, only for them to cease all contact and launch their own with undeniable similarities.

Concluding our serialization of a photography themed short story, here is the thrilling finale of "In the Blink of an Eye." Be sure to catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 before finding out what happens to Charlie Sydcup's second attempt at capturing the soul of a dying hospital patient.

I am definitely one of those photographer's whose favorite and go-to lens for portraits is the 85mm focal length. After loads of time spent with it, I can say that even now years later, the Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art is still pretty much the king.

Whether you’re new to stock or have been submitting images for a few years, it’s always worth paying attention to how best to squeeze as much visibility out of your images as possible. Just how good are your keywords, and are they getting your photos seen ahead of everyone else's?

Mastering composition is one of the fundamentals of photography but sometimes we must learn the rules so that we know when to break them.

It's a question I asked when I first started taking my photography seriously, but the answer can, will, and probably should change over time. What's your answer to this complex query?

I’ve been pondering on how to answer a challenging question. I was first asked the question by an Fstoppers reader a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been asked the same question by two different potential clients. In this article, I’m going to attempt to answer, "what is my approach to architectural photography?"

If you've read my past articles on Fstoppers, you know that I love editing shortcuts. These quick tricks save you time and frustration, making your business more productive and profitable.

There a lots of differences between professionals and hobbyists at anything, but there's one thing that crops up time and again, and it appears to be particularly true of those in creative professions.

As photographers we tend to always look for the big sweeping image; one that says as much as possible. But sometimes it's the little things that say a lot. In the context of storytelling, the detail shot is often overlooked for its power and simplicity.