Articles from Aneesh Kothari

The Nik Collection photo editing suite is back again, but this time the latest iteration of the popular plugin has a modest price tag.

Emilia Clarke of "Game of Thrones" fame is certainly not lacking in career opportunities, but is it possible that she's found her dream job as a stock business photography model? Check out this hilarious video from Vanity Fair to see Clarke recreate tried and trued stock imagery poses.

Besides my daughter's first birthday party, the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was the premier event this past weekend, watched by millions around the world. One photograph stood out for its unique viewpoint, rightfully going viral and being widely praised. The photographer has spoken out about he got the shot.

When done well, street photography provides compelling images that tell a story of a time and place. This video provides some great tips to help improve your street photography skills.

The Retouching Academy has announced a new contest, open to beginner and experienced enthusiast skill levels. Download the contest image file and submit your best retouch by May 15, 2018 for a chance to win some great prizes from Wacom, Capture One, and Retouching Academy.

Should you avoid shooting popular photography locations? One landscape photographer tries to answer that question while searching for a unique composition at a classic photo spot.

This great tutorial video will show you how to better sharpen your portrait images in Photoshop.

I watch a lot of time-lapse videos on YouTube and Vimeo but this one really stands out. Take a few minutes to watch this amazing video and get lost in the beauty of Norway.

In Photoshop, both the levels and curves adjustment layers allow you to control the tone of your image. So which should you use? I'm a curves man myself, but watching this excellent tutorial helped me better understand the use of levels.

Want to get better at Photoshop quickly? Master Photoshop blending modes to improve your photo editing skills immediately. 

Oftentimes the weather gods aren't kind to landscape photographers. It's part of the thrilling aspect of the genre. This handy video shows you how to use split toning in Lightroom to rescue your landscape images.

Authorities in Louisville, KY have submitted a proposal to utilize drone fleets to quickly provide situational awareness to local law enforcement in the event of gunfire. How will it work and is it a good idea?

In his latest video, Thomas Heaton shows just how committed he is to his craft, battling sub-zero blizzard conditions in search of a "cracking" image.

Samsung debuted its newest smartphones, the Galaxy S9 and S9+, at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona on Sunday. Both phones boast new camera technology that promises to be a game-changer.

Seemingly the whole world stopped and watched the successful SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch a couple of weeks ago. Here's an inside look at the camera technology behind the amazing footage.

A New York Times photographer assigned to cover the White House just made a statement that is sure to generate opinions across the political spectrum: President Donald Trump is more accessible to photograph than former President Barack Obama. 

The Pen Tool elicits a range of emotions, most commonly fear and love. If you've mastered it, post-processing life is good. For everyone else, learning the Pen Tool always seems to be put off for a rainy day that never comes. This quick and easy tutorial has five great tips to help you better use this essential tool.

Traveling 5,500 kilometers in six weeks, Filmmaker Florian Nick explored the wilds of British Columbia and Alberta in search of beautiful scenery, capturing 54,000 photos along the way. The result is a gorgeous time-lapse film showcasing the best of the region in stunning detail and sweeping scale. Nick discussed the making of the film with Fstoppers.

Casey Nesitat, popular and polarizing YouTube personality and filmmaker, is leaving CNN and Beme, the video sharing app he co-founded with Matt Hackett. CNN acquired Beme in 2016 to great fanfare at a reported price tag of $25 million, envisioning Neistat and his team as the key to expanding their digital news brand. So what happened?

Now that DJI has officially launched the new Mavic Air, comparisons have already begun with DJI's recent drone releases, namely the Mavic Pro and the Spark. So, how does the Air fare? Tom Frey of Tom's Tech Time has all of the answers in a great comparison video. 

The chief photographer of the University of Tennessee (UT) Athletics Department has been accused of "abus[ing] university work time and equipment for his personal benefit" by getting paid to photograph non-UT athletes for other schools while working for UT.

Landscape photography can be difficult in even the best of situations. In his latest video, Thomas Heaton finds himself in less than ideal conditions. He doesn't know the area well and is not sure if he'll be able to find a good composition, the forecast calls for a light snowfall but he ends up in a blizzard, and his van gets stuck in the snow. Watch how he perseveres and still manages to come home with a couple of great shots.

New Jersey lawmakers approved legislation on Monday to ban inebriated drone operation. With drone sales continuing to skyrocket in 2017, there are increased concerns of drone accidents, leading to increased regulation worldwide on the aerial gadgets. If the bill is signed into law by outgoing governor Chris Christie or governor-elect Phil Murphy, the message that the state of New Jersey will deliver is don't drink and drone.

I watch a lot of YouTube photography videos. Whether inspirational, educational, or somewhere in between, the videos that stand out to me all have great B-roll footage. B-roll is supplemental footage used to set mood, drive the story in a certain direction, visually demonstrate a point or concept, cover cuts between clips, and generally make a video more engaging and interesting to the viewer. This video provides excellent tips on how to capture compelling B-roll footage for your next project.

The start of a new year is always rife with possibility and plans for self-improvement. Something I intend to accomplish in 2018 is improve my time-lapse photography skill set. As with most self-improvement goals, this will involve a combination of education and practice. For me, the education part of the equation comprises binging YouTube tutorials and inspirational videos. First on the docket for 2018 is this behind-the-scenes video of a time-lapse and nightscape photography winter trip in the Alabama Hills.

Landscape photographers get up early and stay out late. It's all about the light with sunrise and sunset being the ideal times of day to capture images. Thomas Heaton's latest video takes us to the Namib Desert as we watch him search for the perfect shot of the dunes at dawn and dusk.

Sony's RX0 has promised to be the latest competitor to GoPro's virtual monopoly in the action camera space. With features like a 15.3 megapixel 1-inch sensor, a Zeiss F4 wide-angle lens, and a highly durable body, it has certainly been hyped but the initial results and reviews have been mixed. In his latest video, Kaiman Wong puts the RX0 through its paces and stacks it up against the latest from GoPro, the HERO6.  

Making sure your images are sharp is a necessity for every photographer. Getting your focus right in camera is of course key but there is always room for improvement in post. Like most things in Photoshop, there are multiple ways to sharpen an image, but my absolute favorite is the High Pass filter. Colin Smith of photoshopCAFE explains exactly how it works and why it's the best way to sharpen your images.

Good composition is paramount when it comes to landscape photography. Ansel Adams said, "There's nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." You don't need the fanciest gear or the snazziest Photoshop skills to pull off a great image, but you do need a strong composition. Photographers Mads Peter Iversen and Serge Ramelli have both recently released videos with great composition tips. Check them out to start taking better landscape images immediately.

With a plethora of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals flooding the market last week and over the weekend (including all Fstopper tutorials on sale), one that you may have missed is the deal MZed is currently offering, available through Tuesday. MZed is a terrific filmmaking education resource with a number of premier courses worth checking out. 

Time-lapse films are all the rage these days. They make for great personal projects and for most people they aren't anything more than that. Nathaniel Dodson of tutvid discusses how his personal project of a time-lapse film showcasing Philadelphia ended up going viral and becoming lucrative.

Antti Karppinen is a digital artist, photographer, retoucher, and instructor from Finland with a unique eye for visual storytelling through photography. His work relies on traditional photography skills combined with an active imagination and complex Photoshop editing work to create fantastical images. He spoke with me about his work, process, and the inspiration behind a couple of his most popular composites.

Philip Bloom is a world-class filmmaker with an impressive body of work in broadcast TV, feature films, and independent productions. Most recently he has been the cinematographer on the acclaimed CNN show “The Wonder List.” When I found out that he was partnering with MZed to create an immersive course on filmmaking, I jumped at the chance to review it and also had the opportunity to speak to him about the project.

Outdoor Adventure Photographer Chris Burkard has spent much of his career documenting the harmony of man and nature around the world. Best known for his surfing photography, Burkard recently directed a documentary called "Under an Arctic Sky" about a group of surfers venturing to Iceland in the dead of winter in search of waves. This recently released behind the scenes showcases the daunting and treacherous production.

Gradient maps are a powerful tool in Photoshop and when utilized correctly, make for a quick and easy way to effectively tone your images. Travel Photographer and Videographer Travis Transient has a quick tutorial on how to best utilize gradient maps to color grade your images.