Stephen Ironside's picture
Average rating:
4 out of 5 4
Stephen Ironside
Fayetteville, AR
Menu

Articles written by Stephen Ironside

Are Your Vintage Lenses Going to Kill You?
5
by

If you stop and think about it, it's pretty difficult to exist in today's world. Vaccines are(n't) out to get your children, there could be Daleks around every corner, and even that vintage lens you scored on eBay might be radioactive, lurking between the sheets, following your every move, wreaking havoc on your DNA when you're not looking. Maybe even stealing your french fries. Or, at least that's what Mathieu Stern was concerned about before he made this video.

My First Shoot With the Fujifilm X-T2: A Tale of Love at First Click
12
by

A couple of months ago, I finally pulled the trigger; I broke out my wallet and dropped a (rather large) chunk of change on my first mirrorless camera kit, the Fujifilm X-T2. I had been researching mirrorless options for almost a year, and finally landed there for a multitude of reasons. I was mainly interested in a mirrorless kit for use while traveling and backpacking, and loved the idea of a smaller, lighter kit. All signs started pointing at the X-T2 over the other long-term contender, the Olympus OM-D EM-1 MK II. It was only a couple of weeks before I headed off to spend a month in India and Nepal, so I needed to learn this camera relatively quickly.

DIY Studio Seamless Paper Hanging System On the Cheap
12
by

When I moved in to my studio a little over three years ago, I needed a place to hang, store, and use my rolls of seamless paper. I didn’t have many — just a few nine-foot rolls of white, gray, black, and green — but I wanted them out of my way. Storing them vertically wasn’t a good option in the space, and storing them laying down is never a good idea. So, I wanted to figure out a simple system that I could build that would do the trick. Here’s what I came up with.

Anachronism in Action: Shooting Formula One Racing With a Century-Old Camera
14
by

Most of the time, when photographers are buying equipment, they choose the piece of gear that will accomplish their goal using some set of typical parameters: price, weight, build quality, warranty, size, speed, etc. These days, for shooting Formula One car races, you’d probably choose a fast-focusing, high frame-rate camera such as the Nikon D5 or Canon 1DX — if you had the budget for it — because F1 cars are fast and crazy. But that’s not what this photographer did; he decided to step back 100 years and break out a camera that was definitely not designed for shooting a modern-day race track. And the images are awesome.

You Gotta Start Somewhere: My First Off-Camera Flash Experience
9
by

Back in 2010, I was commissioned to do a photo of some spices for a family friend. I had never done anything like that, so I wanted to do a good job, and invested in my first off-camera flash setup. It was daunting at first, but I’ll never regret dipping my toes in the water and starting to learn about one of the most important things about being a freelance photographer: learning to control light.

Guy Makes A Way-Too-Epic Video to Sell His Old Suzuki
9
by

One thing to remember in life is that there is always someone cooler than you. Today, it's this guy. He decided his '96 Suzuki needed a little boost to be sold, and I don't think anyone could have done a better job. Even I want to buy that little car now.

All About Perspective: A Milky Way 'Flightlapse' from a Pilot's POV
1
by

The first time I landed in a foreign country at night was when I went to Costa Rica in 2009. I remember being wide awake for the last hour of the flight and looking out the window at the yellow spider webs of city lights as I descended over Central America. Seeing populated places from above at night was new to me; the patterns of the streets, the sprawl of the towns, the promise of life popping up at random amidst the calm of the surrounding darkness all made it one of the most exciting flights I'd ever taken. And that's not even mentioning the stars overhead.

Fstoppers Reviews the Pulse Camera Remote
12
by

Picture this: you and some friends are on a week-long backpacking trip in Alaska, and it’s a frigid 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside. You really don’t want to get out of your sleeping bag. Luckily, before you got in it, you went out and set up your camera with a incredibly lightweight remote that you can control from your phone so that you can take photos of the aurora without leaving the tent. If you want to be able to do this, and for only $100, you should check out the Pulse camera remote by Alpine Labs.

Chase Guttman: The Traveling Drone Kid on Steroids
4
by

When I first heard about Chase Guttman’s book on drone photography, I was intrigued. Not so much at the subject, or the photos, but in the person behind them. As a person who loves to travel and photograph while doing it, I’m always curious as to how people get their foot in the door in this very competitive industry, especially at a young age. The answer is: he didn’t do it alone, as none of us do.

On Photoshopping Bread and Paying Bills
11
by

There's something that isn't really talked about among the freelance photographers that I know, or at least not something that I hear about often. It's a small truth that nags at us all the time until we really, really get to where we want to be in our career, and sometimes even after that. And sometimes it involves bread.

Fighting Gear Fungus? Meet Your New Best Friend
15
by

I've spent some time in the tropics, and I've seen the effects that the climate can have on things. Shoes that don't dry for weeks start growing things you've never heard of. Fungi spores creep into the tiniest cracks and crevices of things you didn't even know had cracks or crevices. Things take a beating down there. So if you're living near the equator, or in another place with high humidity and some invasive nature, this new storage solution might become your new best friend.

BTS: Keeping it Simple with Firefighters and a Ring Light
13
by

One of my favorite things to do, when I'm able to, is to do pro bono work for local charities that need the help. There's something special, in a way, about not being paid: the "client" is usually a lot more flexible in their expectations and they allow you more leeway in your creative process. So when I got a chance to do some marketing material for a half-marathon that benefited local emergency services, I took it.

Are You a Woman Who Shoots Sports? Apply for This Internship
29
by

I'll admit that I'm not the biggest sports fan. And while that may be a huge understatement, when I do watch sports, I usually notice that the photographers on the sidelines tend to have a Y chromosome. The women shooters are few and far between. So, on International Women's Day, I'd like to shine a small spotlight on a new internship offered by Getty Images to get women into the sports photography arena.

Can't Afford a Porsche? Maybe You Can Afford Their Laptop
3
by

Crossover tech-heads will rejoice when they hear about this one. In addition to their BMW coffee maker, their 80-inch Corvette LED TV, and their Mercedes-Benz umbrella, they can now add a Porsche laptop computer to their collection. Really.

A Photo Exhibit Without Photographs?
4
by

As a photographer, I take and see a lot of photographs. As a photographer who does a fair amount of work for an art museum, I see a lot of art. So, I don't really know how to feel about this new concept I just found out about (via a user-submitted story idea! Go ahead and submit things!) that involves using a mobile device to view a photography exhibit... that has no photographs hanging in it!

Six Tips for New Freelance Corporate Photographers
14
by

I've been shooting corporate jobs since about 2010. At first, it was a little rocky. I didn't really know what I was doing, I hadn't shot enough with other photographers to learn the ropes, and I was just a self-taught photographer trying to make ends meet. Fast forward to 2017, and I'm shooting high-profile executives at Fortune 500 companies, and am expected to do it quickly. I'm shooting luncheons where half of the attendees flew in from another hemisphere on their private jets, and am expected to do it quietly. And well. So, here are a few quick tips for people who are just starting out in the freelance corporate photography world.

BTS: Kitchen Heat for an Art Museum
6
by

A while back, while on a shoot for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art here in Northwest Arkansas, I was asked to get a shot of the museum’s executive chef and the Director of Culinary for their members magazine. Time was short, the kitchen was starting to prep for dinner service, and every second I was there I was inconveniencing someone. I had to get in and out quickly and create a dynamic image in the process. Here’s how it happened.

Tamron Announces New Ultra-Wide and Tele-Zoom Lenses
19
by

I'll be the first to admit that even though I've used them, I've never owned a professional-grade Tamron lens. I've stuck with Nikon through the years based on a probably-unfounded feeling that Nikon cameras would work better with Nikon lenses, and also because I really like the five-year warranty that comes with them. I may have to change that philosophy soon, though, because there have been some great third-party manufacturer lenses released in the past few years. Tamron has just announced two new lenses. Will they be up to snuff, or is it all talk? Here's what's new.

To #Filter or to #Nofilter: It's Not Even a Question!
23
by

In the days when film reigned, most people thought that once you took a photo, the image was completed. They thought that clicking the shutter was the end of the process (They obviously didn’t know much about darkroom manipulation). But, as photographers know, that “click” is only a small part of the photographic process. The rest lies in forethought before taking the image, and the way in which it’s processed after it’s taken.