Andy Day
fstoppers.com
France
Contact Andy
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Andy:
How to Capture Striking Portraits of Strangers on the Street
Approaching people on the street and asking for a portrait can feel uncomfortable — both for you as a photographer and for the person you’d like to photograph. Watch how one street photographer uses his experience to get some fantastic images. Zeno Watson has been photographing on the streets of Glasgow for well over a decade, not just documenting the city as it happens in → Read More
Affordable Lighting for your Home Studio: We Review the SmallRig RC120B
Constant lighting has dropped dramatically in price, with companies like SmallRig making excellent products — along with accessories — that are refreshingly accessible. How good is the SmallRig RC120B, a bicolor packing a decent amount of power and coming in at just $259? If you’re pondering your first constant light for use at home, or are simply seeking something affordable → Read More
Why Are We so Obsessed With Sharp Photos?
For some photographers, sharpness isn’t that important — and this realization can be liberating. In this thought-provoking video, photographer Alex Kilbee asks why we as photographers have become obsessed with sharpness and why it’s so important to us, sometimes to the point where a preoccupation with image quality can be a barrier, placing a limit on our creativity. Sharpness → Read More
I Moaned About VERO on Twitter, So the Billionaire Founder Rang Me up to Ask What They Can Do Better
The other morning I posted an unnecessarily snarky tweet about VERO and a breach of my copyright. That afternoon, I found myself on an hour-long Zoom call with founder CEO Ayman Hariri after he got in touch to discuss what VERO can do to improve. I’ve written about social media freebooting extensively in the past (1, 2). So-called feature accounts spring up, spreading → Read More
We Review The GoPro HERO 11 Black: Good But Not Groundbreaking
Delivering an updated product once a year every year guarantees a spike of hype and sales, but brings with it some challenges — challenges that continue to get bigger as a product matures and competitors arrive. The GoPro HERO11 Black launched last month, but what do the latest upgrades mean for a company whose value has fallen by 90% from its peak just a few years ago? GoPro → Read More
Could an Instant Camera Make You a Better Photographer?
There’s something about the analog process that will slow down your photography, making you more thoughtful about image creation. What if you take it one step further and push yourself with an instant camera? Could it make you a better photographer? Thomas Heaton is a landscape photographer who uses a variety of cameras, usually high-resolution digital beasts that capture the → Read More
Why Every Photographer Should Try This Camera Setting
Whether you’re using full auto, aperture priority, shutter speed priority, or manual mode, there’s a setting that could make your life easier. Here’s why it could be useful to almost every photographer out there. For an embarrassingly large chunk of my camera-wielding history, I shot fully manual, setting shutter speed, aperture, and ISO myself. Typically, capturing action, → Read More
NFTs Are Terrible: 6 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Them
Given the number of big name photographers and huge brands jumping on board the NFT bandwagon, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the plethora of problems surrounding the NFT market had evaporated. You’d be wrong. NFTs are a still terrible idea, riddled with problems. Last year, I published an article entitled NFTs Are a Pyramid Scheme and People Are Already Losing Money. I → Read More
How Does the Fujifilm X-T4 Hold Up After Two Years of Heavy Use?
When Fujifilm released the X-T4 in April 2020, it didn’t feel like a massive upgrade over the hugely popular X-T3, and even Fujifilm stated that the newer camera was intended more as a sister than a successor. After two years of heavy use, how does the X-T4 hold up in 2022? Travel photographer Andrei Dima talks through his experience of the X-T4, a camera that probably didn’t → Read More
Did Sony Kill the DSLR?
Back in 2006, Sony bought out camera manufacturer Minolta, triggering a sequence of events that has all but brought about the demise of the beloved DSLR. Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography delves into the history of cameras and reflects on some pivotal moments of innovation, such as the introduction of 135 format film. Sony’s decision to aggressively move into the camera → Read More
Five Essential Tips for Better Street Photography
There are no shortcuts to producing compelling photographs on the street: just practice. However, here are five tips that will help your progression run a little more smoothly. Experienced street photographer Faizal Westcott has put together this list of ideas that he regards as essential for everyone heading out in public to capture life in the city. → Read More
This Brutal Takedown of NFTs Explains How Each New Investor Is a Bigger Fool Than the Last
The excitement around NFTs is hard to ignore, having established a cult-like following that is gaining an ever-growing foothold in mainstream technology. What if an entire financial system was built around little more than hype backed by a handful of tech millionaires? Dan Olson of Folding Ideas has put together an in-depth critique of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and while this → Read More
5 Ways to Make Your Footage More Cinematic
Footage that’s cinematic doesn’t just mean a nice LUT and some grain. It means knowing how to use light — and maybe trees. Filmmaker Mark Bone runs you through five principles that will allow you to create footage that has a more cinematic feel to it. Cinematic is a word that gets bandied around a lot, but these subtle changes to how you shoot could make your footage better, → Read More
Why and How Does Hollywood Still Shoot Movies on Film?
Cinematography has been transformed by the arrival of high-end digital cameras, bringing huge advantages to the entire workflow. So why do some directors prefer to shoot on film and what does this process look like? DOP Gray Kotzé of In Depth Cine examines how 16mm and 35mm film still plays a large role in modern cinema, despite the fact that the technology has been succeeded → Read More
Is the Nikon Z 9 the Best Video Camera on the Market Right Now?
Nikon has set the bar pretty high with the introduction of its new Z 9. As 2022 gets underway, is this the currently best hybrid video camera that money can buy? If you want to geek out on the details of what the Z 9 offers, check out this review from Gerald Undone as he picks through formats, autofocus performance, dynamic range, compression, and bit rates. Nikon has long → Read More
Why One Photographer Is Sticking With the Sony a1 Instead of Moving to Canon or Nikon
The a1 is Sony’s flagship hybrid camera and certainly caused a stir when it was announced just over a year ago. Find out why one photographer is sticking with the a1 despite some strong competition from Canon and Sony. Jared Polin has been using the a1 for 12 months, and it’s still his go-to stills camera of choice despite him having field-tested the Canon EOS R3 and the Nikon Z 9. → Read More
No, New Laws Preventing Photographs of Breastfeeding Are Not an Assault on Photography
The U.K. government has announced that it will soon be a crime to photograph mothers breastfeeding their children in public. Limiting the right to photograph in public places could be seen as an attack on freedom of expression, so is this law justified? A campaign led by mother Julia Cooper has prompted a proposal for legislation as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and → Read More
The Camera Industry in 2022: What Will the Future Bring?
2021 was another dramatic year for the camera industry despite logistical issues and ongoing battles with the global pandemic. We have a good idea of specific cameras to be released in 2022, but what else can we expect? Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake of DPReview TV sit down to discuss where brands and technology could be headed over the next 12 months and make some → Read More
I Shot My First Roll of Film in 16 Years and the Results Almost Brought Me to Tears
Until recently, the last time I shot an entire roll of film was on a Canon EOS 5, sometime in the mid-2000s. Last month, I put a roll of black-and-white film through my mother’s old Olympus Trip 35, and the results sparked some strong emotions. I have vague memories of my the Olympus Trip 35 from my childhood. I think it came with the family on a trip to Weston-super-Mare, a → Read More
Why Do Sony Users Have So Few Options When It Comes to This Basic Lens?
Sony users tend not to struggle when it comes to choosing lenses thanks to a ton of third parties complementing a large offering from the Japanese manufacturer. However, one lens now forms a bizarre gap in the lens lineup and, amazingly, companies are not trying to fill it. When I switched to Sony a couple of years ago, while I adapted a load of my Canon glass using the Sigma → Read More