Photography News

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2026, we're featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community. 

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Waterfalls, the pools of water in front of them and streams will always be popular photographic subjects but just because everyone's taking photos of these photogenic landscape spots doesn't mean all of your shots have to be the same as the next photographer who comes along. With this in mind, let us share a few tips with you on how to shoot waterfall shots that have a bit of a twist. 

 

1. Capture More Close-Up Shots

 

Instead of capturing the whole scene why not focus on a small area of the waterfall. Focus on movement and colour rather than a landscape as a whole or use rocks that cause smaller cascades further downstream to fill your images with sharp shapes that contrast well against the smooth flow of water.  

 

2. Use Fast Shutter Speeds

 

When you think of waterfall images the shot of silky water cascading down rocks probably springs to-mind but there's no reason why you can't switch this around and capture a sense of motion and power. If you're working in aperture priority you can set a wide aperture (f/2.8 - 4) to get the quicker shutter speeds you need. You can also bump up your ISO to gain a faster shutter speed. To freeze movement you have to set a fast enough shutter speed to prevent the subject’s movement blurring as it moves across the sensor. What shutter speed you need will change depending on how fast the water is moving so experimentation is key but keeping the speed under one second should be a good starting point.

 

3. Go Abstract - Shoot Bubbles

 

At the foot of the waterfall or even further downstream you'll find water bubbles that can be captured and turned into abstract pieces for your wall. Please take care on slippery rocks and obviously take care of your kit. Remember to wipe it down after use and unless you are using a camera which is weather-resistant try not to stand in a spot where the spray will be a problem. Shoot plenty with fast shutter speeds and focus manually. For more tips on this subject, have a read of this: Why And How To Shoot Creative Abstract Photos Of Water Bubbles

Further downstream the currents of bubbles can be turned into spirals that decorate the surface of the water when shot with longer shutter speeds but try to not make the shutter speed too long as this will add too much blur and you'll lose definition. 

 

4. Head Out On 'Bad' Weather Days

 

Most of us aren't fans of rain and cloudy days but after a shower, foliage appears more vibrant and it'll help your image to really 'pop'. The contrast will be lower too which makes it easier to get the shot you want without having to worry about bracketing. Later in the year when frost and ice begin to make an appearance, you'll be able to capture shots with icicles decorating banks and if it's really cold, the waterfall may be frozen all together giving you the opportunity to capture a waterfall shot that's certainly different from the norm. Just remember to be careful when walking at the side of streams and rivers as surfaces will be slippery. 

 

5. Do A Black & White Conversion 

 

If you think your shot is lacking punch, apply a black & white conversion and you may be surprised with the results. The cascade of water will really stand out against darker, wet rocks and foliage, plus a black and white conversion can often add mood to a waterfall shot that wasn't there in the colour version. 

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

The JOYROOM PODIX 140W 5-Port Desktop GaN Charger is designed to eliminate your desktop's cable spaghetti. This compact cube offers five charging ports, including two built-in retractable USB-C cables, a 140 W total output, and a live LCD display showing real-time power draw per port. The unit keeps everything safe via its smart recognition and intelligent thermal control, all in something the size of a Rubik's Cube.

 

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Premiere Pro can now bleep out swear words on its own, and that's just the first of several tools buried in the software that most editors have never touched. If you've been cutting video for years, some of these will still catch you off guard. 

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Today, let’s get close. Like, really close, with the new Laowa Aksen Ultra Macro zooms. 

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A 135mm f/1.8 that retails for under $1,000 is not something you expect to perform like a premium lens. The 7Artisans 135mm f/1.8 for L-Mount does exactly that, and it changes the math for anyone who has wanted this focal length but balked at the cost. 

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Most landscape advice tells you to pack up when the sun climbs high and the shadows turn hard, yet some of the strongest work happens in exactly those conditions. Learning to read harsh light gives you far more hours to shoot and a look most people never chase. 

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Most people believe infrared photography only works under harsh midday sun in the middle of summer. A single shoot at an isolated hilltop church puts it to the test. 

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If you're searching for inspiration for a set of photographs, choose a colour and go out and take a series of pictures of that colour, it can be similar objects or totally different subjects, but the linking colour theme means that they can hang together as a panel. 

 

Themes To Choose

Try writing down a colour and then listing as many things as possible that are of that colour. As a suggestion, try some of the following:

• Red: Poppies, phone boxes, post boxes, tomatoes, peppers.
• Yellow: Melons, bananas, daffodils, buttercups.
• Green: Fruit & vegetables, grass, trees.

Other items (cars, doors, cladding on buildings, bottles etc.) come in a huge variety of colours and can be included in any group. There's literally nothing that can't be included.

 

Composition Is Key

When you take a single colour as a subject, you need to ensure that the composition, in terms of shapes, textures and lines to counteract the lack of colour range, so look carefully and spend time composing your images. Also, try going abstract, perhaps using camera movement to take away "reality" and emphasise the "colour".

 

Work On Several Themes

If it's something that appeals to you, try having a number of "themes" on the go at once – it's not something that you have to go out and shoot in a day, but can be built up over weeks or months. The results can be a very powerful set (or sets) of images.

I, for example, spent some time at the coast and walking along the seafront, loved the countless different coloured beach huts; but to photograph a mass of different huts and colours wouldn't have given as coherent a set of images. Having wandered up and down the promenade, I decided that blue would be a good choice, as there was plenty of variety, with all blue elements and strong blues set against more neutral tones (white).

While working on the blue huts, I still made a point of photographing other colours, which can go in collections of other colours at another time.

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

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The latest winner of our popular daily photography theme which takes place in our forums have been chosen and congratulations go to AndyPedant (Day 12 - 'Signs).

 

Daily Theme Runners-Up

If you didn't win this time, keep uploading your images to the daily competition forum for another chance to win! If you're new to the Daily Theme, you can find out more about it in the Daily Theme Q&A. 

Well done to our latest runners-up, too, whose images you can take a look at below.

  Day 9

Skyscrapers

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Day 10

'Fast' Theme

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Day 11

Vertical Lines

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Day 13

'Out Of Focus'

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  Day 14

Summer Trees

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Day 15

Street Photography

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You’ll find the Daily Themes, along with other great photo competitions, over in our Forum. Take a look to see the latest daily photo contests. Open to all levels of photographer, you’re sure to find a photography competition to enter. Why not share details of competitions with our community? Join the camaraderie and upload an image to our Gallery.

1. Sit Down

Be it on the floor, or on a seat, sitting immediately gives you a lower perspective and therefore new photo opportunities. Trees and people, for example, can tower over you when sat down for that overbearing feel. Often photographing children look more natural from a seated position too, as you're at their level rather than shooting down on them.

 

 

2. Go Out To Sea

While on your travels, if you have a waterproof camera try turning round to face the beach. If you don't fancy getting wet, just walk towards the water and stand at the edge, shooting up the beach rather than out to sea as most people do. You could also get on a boat of some sort and see what spectacular pictures of the coast you can get while out there. An organised boat trip will also give you a fantastic opportunity to capture some amazing wildlife photos while you're at it, too. If you do head out to sea, taking a weather-resistant camera will mean it's protected against sea spray but do remember to wipe your kit down once back home to remove any residue. Here are some more tutorials on photographing the sea.

 

3. Climb Up High

Head for the nearest tower or hill to get a stunning view of a town or landscape below you. Night vistas of cities work well as do misty mornings in the countryside where valleys are filled with fog and only the peaks above can be seen. To give your shot even more impact, capture a panorama, a topic discussed further down the page. If landscape photography takes your fancy, then here are 10 Quick Landscape Photograph Tips.

 

4. Take A Stepladder Out

It might sound silly but if you're trying to take photos at a busy event where there's a big crowd, you'll be able to shoot above them. It will help you avoid getting people's heads in shots and give you a great opportunity to get a general overview of the scene. A stepladder will also get you closer to items that are slightly too high for you to shoot from the ground and offer a slightly alternative angle to everyday objects that are shot straight-on most of the time.

  5. Go Underwater

If you have the right equipment, shooting underwater is well worth a try. You don't even have to go diving, you could simply buy an underwater camera and have a go in a pool or at the beach in shallower water. This is a fun one for kids to have a go at, too. 

 

  6. Hold Your Camera Up High

The easiest way to change your view is by simply holding the camera up above you to give you a different perspective of the scene. Cameras with a tiltable screen let you see everything comfortably when you shoot - even from very high angles. 
 

7. Go Wide

Why settle for a standard 4 x 6 shot when you can shoot a panorama? With built-in panorama modes, it's now easier than ever to take these wider shots. All you have to do is select the Panorama Mode and sweep your camera in the direction you want to create your panorama. The camera then stitches the images together so you have a sweeping shot of the scene you're shooting.
 

  8. Lie Down

Again, this can get you some funny looks but it's worth it as you'll get an ant's eye view that can give surprisingly good photographic results. Use a small aperture to maximise depth of field and keep an eye on your exposure if you're including the sky in your shot. This position is also great for macro and close-up shots of insects and plants, and any other small items on the ground.

  9. Shoot From Under/Below Things

This involves positioning your camera so it's low to the ground but facing up towards the sky. This can produce some great images of flowers, for example, as it makes it look like they're leaning over your lens and provides a unique opportunity to get a lot of sky in the picture too.

  10. Use Reflections

Reflections can be great tools for changing perspective. As well as the obvious choices such as landscapes reflected in mirror-like lakes, look for puddles you can reflect people with umbrellas in, new buildings made of glass which can reflect slightly older structures and more abstract shots when the winds blowing so the water's surface isn't still.

    You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition

Sony has proposed buying Tamron outright. On July 30, Tamron confirmed it had received a non-binding proposal from Sony to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sony Group, and it has formed a special committee to weigh the offer. Japanese outlet Diamond put the number at around 200 billion yen, roughly 1.2 billion dollars, which sounds enormous until you notice it is less than one percent of Sony's market capitalization. For Sony, this is couch-cushion money. 

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Travel photography is having an identity crisis. Not because cameras have become worse, not because destinations have become less interesting, and certainly not because photographers have stopped traveling. The problem is something else: too much travel photography today feels interchangeable.

 

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I've studied the exotic and colonialist gaze in photography extensively. I began to develop an interest in it through some texts I read in the Mexican magazine Cuartoscuro, and then I delved deeper into it through a book a friend gave me. Other readings helped me develop an even more complete understanding, such as the National Geographic book on portraits, in which the agency itself acknowledged the colonialist gaze and the exploitation of the "naked bodies of African tribal women" to sell more copies of its magazine.

 

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A cinema camera that records 6K internal raw for $2,200 sounds like an easy call against a rival that costs more than double. The Nikon ZR undercuts the Sony FX5 so aggressively that price alone seems to settle the argument, until storage enters the picture and the math shifts. 

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Your photography website works against you the second a client needs more than 30 seconds to figure out what you shoot. That's the standard many working professionals now assume, and most portfolios fail it. 

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People break ankles, wrists, and legs chasing a wheel of cheese down one of the steepest hills in England, and someone decided to shoot the whole thing on a camera from 1999. Cooper's Hill in Gloucester hosts this event every year, and it presents every problem a photographer dreads: no space, no time, and a crowd that keeps growing. 

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When it comes to content creation cameras, there has been no shortage of innovation over the years. Action cameras became more powerful, mirrorless cameras became smaller, and smartphones continued to close the gap. However, 2026 feels different. Every major manufacturer appears to be fighting for the same crown: producing the ultimate camera for content creators. 

One company that has consistently been at the forefront of that battle is DJI.

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Elon Musk's AI company is asking a federal court to block a state law that bans tools for turning ordinary photos into fake nude images. The law is the first of its kind in the country, and it takes effect August 1.

 

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Bokeh is the term used to describe how good the out of focus blur, which is usually in the background, looks. Good bokeh will show attractive out of focus highlights and how the lens you're using is designed and the shape of its aperture play an important role in creating bokeh that works. Different apertures and how far you are from your subject also affect how good the bokeh will look in your shot.

 

1. Lens Choices

The shape of your lens aperture will change depending on how many blades are used and what shape they are. These blades are what open and close to let more/less light through onto the sensor. The more blades there are, the rounder the opening will be which can mean the shape of the out-of-focus highlights in the background of your shot (the bokeh) will be more circular. Generally, the more expensive lenses have more blades and as a result, they generally create bokeh that's more pleasing. Longer lenses tend to produce better results too, however, some lenses will produce better bokeh in some situations than others so try putting your lens to the test, shooting close up portraits against a background that has highlights that can be thrown out of focus.
 

2 Depth Of Field

You may think that using the maximum aperture will give you the best results but sometimes it's worth using a slightly smaller aperture so you can still make out some of the shapes in the background of the shot. Make sure you focus on your subject at the front of the frame too so everything behind can fall nicely out of focus. Putting a little distance between your subject and the background will also help enhance the effect. If you don't have a subject in the foreground and are going for a more abstract shot you'll need to focus manually.

 

 

3. Play With Shapes

You don't just have to settle for circular out of focus highlights as you can use black card and a pair of scissors to change the shapes that appear. You need to decide on a shape cut it out of the card then fast the card around your lens like you would a lens hood. Try to not make your shapes too small or complicated as they won't stand out very well in your final shot.
 

4. Get Out At Night

During the evening, the glow coming from various colourful lights in towns and cities make perfect backgrounds for this technique. Just remember to use a longer lens with a wide aperture, focus on your subject and everything in the background of your shot should glow. Keep an eye on your shutter speeds when working in low light as if you drop too low it can cause the lights in the background to blur rather than glow so you may need to increase your ISO.

 

 

5. Other Suggestions

Try shooting close-up portraits against a background of foliage where the speckles of light can be turned into out of focus highlights. Sun glinting off water and glass can also be turned into blurry circles of light too. You can also use fairy lights indoors to create out of focus coloured circles.
 

6. So Remember:

• Use a longer focal length
• Switch to a wider aperture
• Focus on your subject
• Put a little distance between your subject and the background
• Backgrounds with individual, glowing points of light work well

 

You've read the technique now share your related photos for the chance to win prizes: Daily Forum Competition