Articles written by Jaron Schneider on Fstoppers

November 22, 2011 by Jaron Schneider

[Contest] Win a Lowepro DSLR Video Fastpack through Flickr

Hey Fstoppers! We promised a fourth contest this month, and here it is. Through December 20, enter your best image that you feel defines the theme "Reflections" and win a sick new DSLR Video Fastpack 350 AW from Lowepro. Big thanks to our friends at Lowepro for their generosity this month with the great prizes!

How to win: You must submit a photo that portrays your best interpretation of the theme "Reflections" to the discussion in our Flickr group here. The photo must be in your Flickr photostream. You can only post one image to be considered for this contest. If you post more than one submission you will not be in the running until you delete the extra submissions. The contest will come to an end on December 15, 2011 and the winner will be announced on December 20, 2011. It is free to participate and anyone can enter, but all winners outside the U.S. are expected to pay any and all shipping and handling costs associated with shipping the prize.

November 17, 2011 by Jaron Schneider

[Contest] Win A Lowepro Backpack And Peter Hurley's DVD On Facebook

Fstoppers.com is completely revamping how we do contests. Starting this month, we are going to be doing at least four contests a month. It's a tall order, but we are going to do our best. You already know about our Forum Contest, and to that we are adding two Facebook contests. For the first contest, the folks over at Lowepro offered a generous prize: The Photo Sport AW 200. This bag was honored with the 2011 Popular Photography POP Award for being an Outstanding Photography Product, so of course you want one! Entering is easy: 1) Like us on Facebook. You can find our page at facebook.com/thefstoppers. 2) Find the "Contest" tab under our profile photo. 3) Answer the one question by November 30, 2011. 4) You're one step closer to taking off on your own photographic adventure. With the Photo Sport AW 200, there really is no place you and your camera can't go. The second is a Facebook Group contest. We have a great group that is growing and full of photographers who share their work. Just upload a before and after image of anything you Photoshopped and tag Fstoppers in the image. Make sure your before and after are together in one photo so we don't lose any of the entries. Lee will choose his favorite of the entries and the winner gets a Peter Hurley DVD!

November 11, 2011 by Jaron Schneider

[Video] The Ultimate Strobist Backpack

Now despite the way this apparatus looks, it's actually something that has been discussed by major photo industry companies. Event photographers continually struggle with needing to have their lighting equipment in just the right spot while simultaneously needing to be somewhere else to get the shot. Even if they do get everything in place, seconds later they will need to somewhere else. In the current economic slump, not everyone can afford an assistant, so what can you do? Build yourself a strobist backpack, that's what.

November 8, 2011 by Jaron Schneider

[Contest] Fstoppers Forum Contest: Best Self Portrait Wins An Apollo

Hey everyone! My name is Jaron Schneider and I am the latest addition to the Fstoppers team. If you have been visiting our page or group on Facebook, you may recognize me. I have been tasked with running FS Interactive which is our contests and social medias. We have been getting a lot of questions asking about the contests and we apologize for the wait. However, with patience often comes great things. In addition to our ongoing 2011 BTS Video Contest, we have three monthly contests now in the rotation. More details on the other two soon to come in the next week, but this week we start things off with the return of our forum contest! You have a chance to win a Westcott Apollo Orb, an innovative revamp of the classic photographic lighting tool, the Apollo. The Orb was only officially released last month, so it's a brand new product that we are really happy to give away. Big thank you to FJ Westcott! How to Win: What do you have to do to win? Just register on the forums, find this thread, and submit your best self portrait. This first contest will be judged by myself, Lee and Patrick, but after that the winner will be the judge of the next month's contest (just like old times). The winner will also get their name and photography added to the famed Fstoppers top banner with a link to your personal website. Below is a video showing you some of the features of the Westcott Apollo Orb, and view the full post to see more images and details on the product. Good luck!

November 6, 2011 by Jaron Schneider

[Video] Why You Might Need a Mattebox

For any of you DSLR video shooters out there, you might not know why you may need some of the equipment you often see on some of the larger rigs found on major studio sets. Well the guys over at Cinevate show you exactly why you might need one of those tools called a mattebox. Matteboxes are essentially barn doors for your camera lens and allow you to control flares and the subtleties of light that make a good film into a great film. Cinevate also shows you how using different filters can really make parts of your movie stand out. Read the full post to see some side by side examples so you can really examine the differences closely.