Laowa's new probe zoom lenses are finally here, and they might be some of the strangest lenses ever made. For the last two months, I've been shooting with the most unusual of the bunch—the 15-35mm T12 Periscope Lens—and the shots it produces are unlike anything I've ever captured before. Let's dive in and see what makes this lens so unique.
As content creators, we're constantly searching for that perfect balance: professional-grade equipment that doesn't require a full production crew to operate. It's a challenge I've faced countless times: wanting cinematic tracking shots, multiple angles, and broadcast-quality footage, but without all the gadgets that require additional camera assistants to run them. The OBSBOT Tail 2 aims to solve exactly that problem, and right now, it's available for $999 (down from $1,199) during its Black Friday promotion running through December 1st.
For years, I've heard the same argument repeated over and over: micro four thirds cameras just aren't professional enough. The shallow depth of field can't compete, the image quality falls short, and serious photographers should stick with full frame sensors. Honestly, I didn't know if this claim was true or just internet chatter. So when I got my hands on the brand new OM System 50-200mm f/2.8 lens and decided to test it against my Sony a7 IV with the massive Sigma 300-600mm f/4 lens, I knew this was going to be an eye-opening experience.
Applying your custom editing style to all of your raw files so every scene looks consistent can be exhausting. Lightroom presets can help, but with changing lighting conditions and variable exposure settings, you often still have to make tons of micro adjustments image by image. With the release of Aftershoot's Instant AI Profiles, you can now automate all of your presets quickly and easily.
Photographers are always chasing fresh perspectives—but this time, I didn’t just change my angle, I completely flipped the rules. During a golf-themed shoot, I turned my light modifier into something it was never meant to be: the view from inside the golf hole itself. Here’s the story (and the shot) that came out of it.
When it comes to retouching software, many photographers have felt disappointed by the promise of an easy yet professional editing solution. Could Evoto AI be the dream editing suite we have all been waiting for? Today we take a look under the hood.
Every photographer dreads the moment their work gets stolen — but what happens when the President of the United States is the thief? Last night, Donald Trump took Mike Kelley's most iconic photo and turned it into a controversial deportation meme. Will this lead to one of the more interesting copyright cases in recent history?
A few years ago, I first heard about the retouching software Retouch4Me when one of our readers asked me to review it for the Fstoppers Youtube Channel. I immediately fell in love with the software and added it to my workflow. This year, they have added some features we have all been waiting for, so let's look at what is new with this powerful skin retouching software.
If you haven't seen the new series "Adolescence" on Netflix, it is by far one of the best cinematic experiences of 2025. The four-part drama is being praised not only for its intense subject matter and acting but also because each episode was filmed in a single take with no camera cuts or movie magic transitions. Let's take a look behind the scenes to see how it was filmed.
The dream of having a gimbal that can auto-track your subject while leaving you free to focus on your own movement is finally a reality! I tested the new iSteady M7 smartphone gimbal by Hohem, and it's pretty remarkable. If this is the future of gimbals, we are in for a treat!
Every couple of years, our network access storage (NAS) gets nearly full of old photoshoots and video projects. Today, I am installing our biggest system yet, and it can hold a whopping 160 TB of data. Oh, and it's also 10 GbE, which allows us to edit video projects directly off the network.
Profoto just announced their new 500 Ws studio strobe, the D30. I've been playing with it for the last few weeks, and today I am finally able to share with you a full photoshoot using this powerful light.
For the last few weeks, I have been filming with the brand new GoPro Hero 13 Black and the new DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro action cameras. To mix things up a bit, I also tested them against and Apple iPhone. Can your older "professional" model iPhone produce video that competes with these new state of the art action cameras? Let's find out.
We are almost 48 hours from the latest Critique the Community photo contest. The theme for this month's contest is "Unique Lighting" and the prizes include several new products from the lighting company Profoto.
DJI, maker of the world's best consumer and professional camera drones, recently announced the brand new Avata 2 FPV drone. They were able to send me one to test out, and in this video, I ask the question: "is the Avada 2 worth upgrading from the original Avata drone?"
Each month this year, Fstoppers is running a genre specific Critique the Community contest with some amazing prizes. The theme for March is "Weddings," and we are giving away $3,000 in prizes to 3 lucky winners. Oh, and one of the most successful wedding photographers I know, Pye Jirsa, will be guest judging the images. Here are the details!
Today I bring you a hilarious photoshoot challenge called The Walmart Photo Shoot. Pye Jirsa and I battle head to head to see who can take the best looking images all while using $100 worth of clothing bought from Walmart. To make it even harder, none of the images can be Photoshopped either!
AI art-generating programs are progressively getting better and better at creating hyper-realistic images. For the last few months, I have been using AI to create headshot images of completely fake people with the lighting style of a few famous photographers. In this social experiement, I wanted to see if the average person could tell the difference between images of real people photographed by real photographers verses imaginary people created entirely with artificial intelligence. Take my quiz and view the results in what I call "Real vs AI Headshots."
We have a brand-new photographer shootout video in the works, and we need your help picking the winner. Click the full post and rate the four images from best to worst to decide who wins and who loses in this new "unconventional use of a backdrop" contest!
With so many amazing new RGB LED lights on the market, it's easy to see why so many content creators are utilizing these in both their photography and videography projects. Today, I look at the Meteor 30 and 60 Pixel Tube Light by Aparo and show you how I plan to use it in my own studio.
Having a few simple lighting setups available at your disposal is one of the most important tricks any photographer can have up their sleeve. In this post, I'm going to share with you six of my favorite lighting setups for wedding photographers, but really any photographer can use these simple tips.
It's not often that my favorite flash system goes on sale, so when it does it's pretty big news. Now until August 31st, Profoto is offering up to $600 off their B10x and B10x Plus flash heads. If you looking to add to your kit or are wanting to switch over to a powerful and portable flash system that uses Profoto's light modifiers, this is a great deal to check out.
Recently I was hired to film a marketing video for a $12 million dollar yacht. Initially, I thought my professional Sony cameras would do the heavy lifting but to my surprise, the GoPro Hero 11 Black became my main camera. Today I break down some of my favorite accessories and the shots they helped me capture.
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!
Photographers have preferences on everything ranging from their favorite camera to their best lens, how they edit their photos, and what photo paper they use to make prints. What if your own preferences aren't aligned with what your potential clients enjoy? We asked dozens of normal people which photo papers and print products they prefer, and the results were not exactly what I had expected.
Controlling light is one of the most difficult challenges a photographer must master. Even if you have years of experience under your belt, it can still be difficult to decide which light modifier to use with your strobes or if you should even be using strobes at all. In this video and article, I'm going to share with you five of my favorite light modifiers and how they can produce drastically different results.
Before I created Fstoppers, I was a full-time wedding photographer. Over that time, I designed a handful of wedding albums as both show albums and as client albums. To be honest, I never really enjoyed the album-making process. Now, the tables have turned, and for my wife's first year anniversary gift, I decided to make an album with images from my own wedding. How will my wife respond, and will I enjoy the process? Let's find out!
Most of my photography friends have been playing around with some form of AI Art, and the results are pretty remarkable. However, as amazing as this technology is, I'm sure I am not the only one wondering if Artificial Intelligence will leave us all looking for new careers.
If you are like me, you probably have a closet full of random tiles, boards, and construction scraps just in the event you need an interesting surface to shoot on. These new photography surfaces by Duo Boards set out to change my messy studio, and this photography tutorial shows you how useful these backdrops can be!
If you are a Profoto user who has always dreamed of the day you could see the actual power settings of your strobes directly on the remote, today, your dream has come true. I was one of the first photographers to test the new Connect Pro in my own studio, and I have to say, this is a very welcome upgrade for any Profoto user.
In this behind the scenes video, I'm going to walk you through a pretty complex photograph I shot in our garage studio. Using strobes, LED lights, a crazy light modifier, and ACDSee's new photo editing software, Gemstone, this final image turned out much more interesting than I originally thought.
What did you do during the pandemic? With most of the industry at a standstill, sports photographer James Quantz started a new company, Pro Light Mods, and designed a prototype of his "Maxi Brute softbox". Not only are they super awesome, but any photographer can pick one up now!
Being a well-rounded photographer who can succeed in any situation is the ultimate goal for most photographers. However, what happens when you are forced to take a portrait by lighting from below? Today, I take the challenge.
Over the last three years, I have built out four new photography studios, and each time, I find better and better ways to streamline my spaces. In this video, I want to share with you one of the coolest ways to mount your seamless paper or Gravity backdrops.
Chris Fain of Profoto's Geared Up has asked yours truly to share a few lighting setups I use often in the studio. Today, May 3rd at 11am EST, you can log into the live show and ask me all your favorite lighting questions!
