When it comes to shaping the light sources photographers use, there are a lot of modifiers available. Each lighting modifier has it's own characteristics which can make it difficult to determine the best light for your project. Karl Taylor has produced one of the best videos I've ever seen showing exactly how the light fall off, contrast, and specularity differs between the parabolic reflectors, beauty dish, and large octabox softbox.
As a photographer, I'm always looking to capture something in a unique way. This is the craziest landscape photoshoot I have ever done. By taping a tiny Nikon Flash to my DJI Phantom II Drone, I was able to fly my remote helicopter up the side of a lighthouse and light the entire thing with flash. Creating this photograph was one of the trickest shoots I've ever done, and this is how I made it happen.
Recently while filming video for our next educational tutorial with landscape photographer Elia Locardi I found myself asking, "Why in the world do our $4000 cameras still not do this?" Today I have laid out 12 simple features I believe would make all of our lives a lot easier, and most of them could probably be implemented right now! Give me your opinion in the full post poll.
Winner picked tomorrow! The creators of Gulf Photo Plus, one of the best photography workshops in the world, are coming to Seattle this Sept for their annual PopUP GPP event Sept 19-20. Together we have partnered to give one lucky winner the chance to not only attend the event but also $250 towards travel. Learn from Greg Heisler, Joe McNally, Zack Arias, and David Hobby and experience a taste of Gulf Photo Plus right here in the USA. Details on how you can enter to win this contest are
Oh the world of high end retouching. This week cosmetic company Dior released a new video and ad campaign featuring their hot spokeswoman, Jennifer Lawrence. With a not so subtle nod to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, this new lipstick commercial isn't so bad upon first watch. Social media has gone ablaze however once screen grabs from the video have been making their way across the internet. Where are Jennifer's eyelids! We have the behind the scenes video to see where things went wrong.
Today we are launching a great deal on our Flash Disc light modifiers for those of you living in the European Union. If you add 3 Flash Discs to your Amazon Cart, you will get a special sale price for only 2 (basically buy 2 get 1 free). The Fstoppers Flash Disc is basically a small softbox that folds up and fits into your pocket. It's perfect for photographers on the go who need soft light without the hassle that comes with using a large softbox. As we mentioned before, selling the Flash Disc in Europe has been a huge pain in the butt and once our current inventory is sold out we will not be replenishing any more in the Amazon.co.uk store.
Every couple of years Red Bull hosts one of the coolest photo competitions in the world called the Red Bull Illume. If you aren't familiar with this photo contest, the Illume showcases some of the most unbelievable sports photographs in the world. Many of the photos are landscape in a nature which give them an almost fine art feel but there are plenty of edgy closeup shots to grab your attention as well. The deadline to contribute to this year's Image Quest has been extended by 12 hours to April 1st 12:00 (CET) which I believe to be 6:00 PM Eastern if my brain is working correctly.
For the last month, Fstoppers has been running a contest with our fellow friends SLR Lounge and Fundy. Last night during Fundy's world premiere of their documentary "The Power of the Print," we picked a random winner for the contest. This lucky winner will be receiving a brand new Sony a9 Mirrorless camera body. You can view the full documentary and the winner being announced here on Fundy's Facebook page, or keep reading for the winner below.
Yes, you read that title correctly. In this episode of the behind the scenes of “Photographing the World 3,” we face the most disastrous day of filming yet! While Lee was recovering our crashed DJI Mavic in the mountains of Matera, someone on the hiking trail stole our brand new Nikon D500 DSLR and Tamron 18-270mm lens.
I recently got my hands on the new Tamron 100-400mm zoom lens and wanted to try a unique portrait idea. Unfortunately, this photo idea involved wind, tides, fast moving kiteboarders, and the ocean. What could go wrong, right?
This week we continue our Puerto Rican Photo Challenge. In our second challenge, two photographers explore the elaborate cave systems hidden deep within the central hills of Puerto Rico. In the full article, you can vote which image was the best and later this week we will reveal the winning image.
One area a lot of photographers can focus their quarantined free time is updating their portfolios. Unfortunately, taking new and fresh photos is probably not part of that process, but that doesn't mean you still can't find new images to add to your website or social media stream.
Well, we've made it to the final video in Elia Locardi's eight-part video series on using filters for landscape photography. In this final episode, we will take a look at the new Nisi Black Mist filter set and how it can be used to improve your landscape photos and videos. Make sure you enter the final contest to win a set of your own.
One of the hardest, cringiest things any photographer can do is go back and look at the images they created early in their career. In this video, Lee Morris and I revisit some of our best and worst images taken prior to launching Fstoppers.com. How bad are these photos? Let's find out!
I have always been fascinated by space travel. Back in college a friend showed me a documentary that proposed that the moon landing is a hoax. The arguments were based on photography, videography, and lighting tricks and I remember thinking "wow could this really have been staged?" Mr. SG Collins makes a pretty compelling argument claiming that neither NASA nor Stanley Kubrick were actually technologically capable of producing a video that could stand up to modern scrutiny. Collin's photographic argument should put a final nail in the conspiracists' theory for good.
