Christopher Sturm, a talented photographer known for his captivating work and vibrant presence in the creative community, has shared a deeply personal and urgent message. Christopher has been diagnosed with cancer, an unexpected battle that has swiftly altered the trajectory of his life and work, and he is asking for our help in the form of donations for his treatment. Please consider donating.
Photographers often write to me to share their portfolios and websites. I am not often impressed. Today's photography is repetitive and derivative in a way that I find immensely underwhelming. Yet, every so often, I am surprised. Susanne Otterberg is one such surprise.
Many street photographers might claim that the Leica M series is the best street photography camera. While they are not wrong, necessarily, I think the Ricoh GR Digital IV offers more flexibility and value.
I have long been a staunch critic of the street photography genre. One of the biggest problems I've seen over the years, most notably as a judge in dozens of major contests, is derivative work. In this article, I will discuss six types of street photographs that we simply don't need any more of.
As a photographer and a photography critic, I see and review hundreds of photo books. Most, unfortunately, are not all that good. Some are actually outright bad, and others are okay, but ultimately just bring more of the same to the table. This is not the case with Sally Davies' first-ever monograph, "New Yorkers."
The Harinezumi camera, a Japanese toy camera sold by Powershovel Superheadz, is now totally discontinued. As a highly popular cult camera, used models are now selling for more than $500 on eBay. Is it worth it?
A lot has changed in the photo world over the past decade or two. One big change has been how the focus has shifted from artist intention to end product — the photograph. A good photo is a good photo because it is a good photo. Or is it?
Bit rot, or the slow deterioration in the performance and integrity of data stored on various forms of digital storage media, is a real concern for photographers. Over time, digital photos degrade and some even become totally defective. The best insurance against this problem may actually be analog film.
Many argue for their own approach to making photographs. Some people are analog shooters, some are digital, all have their opinion as to which approach is best or superior. I say try them all.
For some time now, I've been hearing that straight photography is dead. Well, dying anyway.
There is a trend growing in the photography world. The trend is to accompany photographs with explanatory text. I am not convinced this is a good thing. What do you think?
Tim Huynh's new documentary, "Fill The Frame," sparked a recent controversy about who qualifies as a professional street photographer. I suggest the answer is no one.
Photographer Roger Ballen's signature style, which has come to be known as the "Bellenesque" aesthetic, didn't develop overnight. In fact, it took five decades of trial and error to fully mature into what we see today.
The mentor relationship in photography can be a really important formative experience for young photographers. It can also be a very difficult relationship to establish.
I love to shoot tethered whenever I can. It’s the most successful way to create real collaboration on set, and clients are more engaged when they can see what’s happening on a big screen. Depending on the environment and the demands of the production, I’ll choose between a couple of tethering approaches.
Most photographers get into the field to pursue their passion; it's when they start to plan the business aspects that they hit the road bumps. Most experienced photographers will tell you that you can't expect to get booked simply because you have good pictures. The only way to become relevant in your niche is to consistently stay in front of your audience. Social media plays a huge part in this – it gives you exposure to your target audience, peers in the industry, and experts at the same time. It is thus an invaluable resource for getting new opportunities and growing your business. Here are 5 tips to help you get the best out of social media.
Our next episode of "Critique the Community" will feature swimwear photography. This featured image was taken by the amazing swimwear/fashion photographer Dixie Dixon. In our next episode, Dixie and Patrick Hall will critique 20 random images submitted by our readers. Please post your submissions into this post by Sunday November 1st at 11:59PM EDT for your chance to get direct feedback from Dixie and the FS staff.
We all know that Western Digital is one of the ring leaders in the consumer storage industry, and buying out SanDisk has now made them a competitor in the solid state drive market. SSDs are used in everyday technology such as laptops, smartphones, and cloud computing. If you are a creative professional, you most likely own or have owned a WD hard drive. Today, they have announced that they will be acquiring all of the outstanding shares of SanDisk for a combination of cash and stock. Yesterday, SanDisk shares went as high as $78.48 but were well below the offer price of $86.50 in cash and stock.
Our next episode of "Critique the Community" will feature headshot photography. This featured images was taken by the master himself, Peter Hurley, and in our next episode Peter will critique 20 random images submitted by our readers. Please post your submissions into this post by Thursday October 22nd at Midnight for your chance to get direct feedback from Hurley and the FS staff.
Many people that want to get into filmmaking believe you need to attend film school to have a successful career. Many also believe that by purchasing a Red Epic Camera you will instantly become a filmmaker. Neither are true. After watching Casey Neistat's Guide to Filmmaking video, you learn that gear doesn't matter. Neistat does own expensive gear, such as the Canon 70D and the Canon 5D Mark III, however, he became a successful filmmaker and youtuber with dirt cheap equipment.
Quick Reminder! We are having a contest with a chance at winning a $500 B&H gift card! The survey only takes ten minutes. After filling it out you will be eligible to win 1 of 4 prizes and will also guarantee you an Fstoppers Original Tutorial discount. All we need is ten minutes of your time and your honest opinion.
RED Digital Cinema has announced the latest addition to its line of professional cameras, the RED RAVEN priced at $5,590. RED RAVEN is the lightest and cheapest camera among the RED Cinema lineup. This camera is capable of capturing 4K resolution footage at up to 120fps or 2K resolution at 240fps.
Starting your own photography business can be very rewarding. However, we often let our creative right-brain get ahead of the left-brain practicalities and fail to ensure we are adequately protected from a legal standpoint. Corporate Attorney Adriel Sanders sent us these important legal considerations that may seem obvious to some, but many overlook.
Every so often Fstoppers will post a video on Timelapse Photography. Well, it's that time again because this particular one is worth your while. David de Los Santos is a computer engineering student who enjoys making incredible timelapses of flowers blooming. His latest timelpase is a sequel to another one that was filmed in 2014 called Flowers opening timelapse. The original video received a Vimeo Staff Pick and was featured on National Geographic's website. Both videos are scored by composer Roger Subirana with peaceful and uplifting music.
The day has finally come, a camera the will automatically edit video for you. The Graava has five different sensors: a camera, microphone, accelerometer, GPS, and a heart rate monitor. It will detect objects entering the frame, your change of speed, changes in sound frequencies, and will even monitor your heart rate to detect excitement. These sensors help the camera determine which moments are interesting and which moments are boring. That way it know which parts to keep and which parts to delete.
I have never really been into extreme sport videos ever in my life. The second I see someone decked out in Red Bull apparel, I am immediately turned off. But this video in particular has caught my attention. Everything from the directing, editing, camera operating, and sound design has been formulated perfectly into a four minute YouTube masterpiece.
B&H is offering a great deal on the X-Rite ColorMunki Display for today only. Originally priced at $169.00, B&H's price for the day is $119.00.
When I was young, I first fell in love with photography as a kid in summer camp. I then went home and started pouring over the Time Life Photography books from the local library. All through grade school and high school I stayed up countless nights studying, reading, and learning everything I could about great photographers and their amazing photographs.
Were you not able to attend this year's Fstoppers Workshops in the Bahamas? Well if you want to check out some of fun behind the scenes action live follow us on Periscope. Basically Periscope is a live video streaming app that will allow you to shadow some of the top photographers in the biz including Peter Hurley, Pye Jirsa, Julia Kuzmenko, Aaron Nace, Mike Kelley, and more.
It's amazing how adding just a little bit of shadows can drastically improve the depth of your photographs. Contouring faces is a little trick that can take a few minutes to do, but ultimately increases the overall image quality. I'm going to show you how to use the adjustment brush tool in Lightroom to act similar to the dodging tool in Photoshop, and then the key areas to brush for properly contouring a face.
As a family photographer, I often find myself pushing the limits with how fast I'm moving. Sometimes I'm trying to get a shot before the 2-year-old child decides he hates what is happening, and other times I'm rushing to make sure I accomplish everything the family wanted to get. It doesn't matter what situation I'm in. Anytime I'm rushing, my images suffer. Last year at WPPI while attending one of Jerry Ghionis' classes, he said something that really stuck with me, and helped improve my photography. Ghionis said to slow down.
In three years of working in photography, I've shot roughly 1,500 family sessions. I've dedicated all my time to growing my photography skills whether it be watching online tutorials, going to WPPI, reading articles, and reaching out to fellow photographers. In my time spent doing this, I've come to one major realization; photographers seem very guarded, opinionated, and close-minded. I've tried to understand what it is that stops us from helping one another? Is it the fear that we are training our competitors, are we bitter that we may have had to learn the hard way, or is it the fact that we are too proud to admit when someone is better than us?
Everyone has heard the saying, "The eyes are the window to the soul." There is a lot of truth to this when it comes to photographs. The first thing many of us look at when we see an image are the eyes of the subject. In this article I'm going to teach you how to enhance eyes using the brush tool in Lightroom.
New Zealand photographer Tom Hollow has an interesting photo series titled "Love Lost." Tom took an old couch, put a bride on it, set it on fire, and took pictures of the whole thing. Tom initially just thought it would be a fun idea for a shoot. It wasn't until after the session he realized he could do something more with the images.
