Scott Choucino
fstoppers.com
United Kingdom
Contact Scott
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Past articles by Scott:
The Lighting Modifier You Didn't Know You Needed
I own a lot of modifiers. My studio contains Broncolor Hazylights, old fresnels that are as rare as hens' teeth, and softboxes of pretty much every size from under a meter to so big I can stand inside them, but this latest addition is the one that has helped me. I have never been that interested in camera bodies or lenses, as they just don't excite me all that much. However, → Read More
Gear Mistakes Beginner Photographers Always Make
The internet, as well as being a great resource for photographers, is also a black hole for our collective wallet. It seems that almost daily a new camera, lens, computer, or must-have bit of software is launched. So let's look at the biggest gear mistakes we make as beginners. First off, this is very much from the point of view of a professional photographer, and therefore → Read More
Predictions for Professional Photography in 2022
There are lots of gear rumors and predictions that come out at the start of a year, so I thought I would chip in with my predictions for the industry as a working photographer and give my predictions as to how 2022 will likely pan out. The first thing you are probably thinking is "isn't this a bit late?" And you would be right to think that. I should have posted this in late → Read More
You Are Dealing With Cheap Photographers Incorrectly
Price-cutting and cheap photographers tend to really get under the skin of many of us, but I am pretty sure that you have been approaching it all wrong. Hopefully, this helps. At some point, most of us are that cheap photographer, in pretty much the same way as we all suck at photography for far longer than we are actually aware of. I certainly was and I certainly did. I would → Read More
The Worst Photography Advice I Keep Hearing
The photography profession at times can be somewhat outdated in its approach, standards, and business practices. Over the years, I continually hear certain bits of bad advice, so let's look a bit deeper into these. Photography is changing. It always has been. It's a very modern art form and still in its infancy compared to many others. It is one of the most exciting parts of → Read More
How an Impulse Purchase Changed My Career
Back in 2017, my commercial work was struggling to make any impact. I got the odd big job, but mostly out of convenience rather than style — that was, until I purchased this lens. I have always been very practical when it comes to my purchases for my business. After all, it's a business and not a hobby for me. However, through a bit of a windfall of a re-license that I wasn't → Read More
What I Took on a 10-Day Commercial Ad Campaign
Knowing what equipment you should take on a job is always difficult, so I thought I would share with you what I ended up taking on a 10-day ad campaign, and more importantly, why. I have a habit of packing everything and the kitchen sink. It is probably an insecurity thing or down to some form of imposter syndrome. → Read More
What Is the Cheapest Camera a Pro Photographer Can Use?
Professional photography has never been more affordable to get into as a profession as it is today. Digital is now old hat, so your money goes a lot farther than it did 10 years ago. But how cheap can you really go as a commercial pro? When I started out in professional photography in around 2010, Canon had just made a consumer level full frame DSLR for stills only. It was → Read More
The Biggest Marketing Mistakes Photographers Keep Making
Why do we keep seeing photographers make the same photography marketing mistakes? In this video, I take a look at the mistakes I see photographers making time and time again and look at how to avoid such pitfalls. For some unknown reason, we seem to fall into the trap of thinking that photography as a business is something special, something different from all other businesses → Read More
When Do Pro Photographers Upgrade Their Kit?
Buying a new camera when photography is your hobby is a pretty straightforward decision. If you want it and you can afford it, go and buy it. However, once it becomes your profession, it can be a tad more complicated. We are constantly bombarded by new tech as photographers. This also seems to be accelerating with the end of an era of the DSLR era and the new move toward → Read More
How Do You Know if Your Photography Is Any Good?
Art is subjective, but the professional world of commercial photography is far less so. With this in mind, how do you work out if your work is good enough to make it as a professional photographer or one day will be? My plan was always to make a living from photography, but I came from pretty humble beginnings, so I didn't feel that I had the luxury of prattling about and → Read More
A Comparison of All of My Pro Lighting Modifiers
From very dated soft lighters and Broncolor Hazylights on big stands through to modern octaboxes and reflectors, in this video, I look at them all in relation to my favorite genre of photography. When it comes to gear in my genre of work, I place my hard-earned money into modifiers first, lights second, lenses take third, and then the camera comes in last. For those of us who → Read More
How I Got a Photography Agent
If like me, you have always wanted to be a commercial photographer, then having a good agent is a really important part of this. However, there are far more photographers than there are agents, so how do you get one? When I started out in photography I had no idea that photographers either had an agent, or an in-house marketing team and producer. I assumed that we just did everything ourselves. → Read More
Review of the Godox AD1200 From a Professional Photographer's Point of View
I have always been a bit of a lighting snob. Camera-wise, I'm happy to go 35mm instead of medium format. For lenses, I'd use a Canon instead of a Zeiss with no concern, but when it came to lights and modifiers, I'd only use Broncolor. So I was happy to review this new (ish) light. Over the years Godox has been making lights to varying levels of success. They are a great budget → Read More
How to Deal With Online Image Theft
Image theft is both morally wrong and also incredibly frustrating. As a photographer, my images have been stolen so many times that it now no longer upsets nor surprises me. Until recently there wasn't a great deal I would do about it, but now I have a great system. For me, image theft is a fact of life. It comes in many forms, from the blogger who simply doesn't know better, → Read More
Why Are Pro Photographers So Secretive?
Professional photography can be a really secretive world. Finding out what your competitors charge, who they are shooting for and how they got the contacts, and the way they managed to light that epic image can be a real challenge. However, I don't think that us professional photographers are necessarily secretive for the reasons one might assume. I would be happy to (and → Read More
Questions Photographers Won't Answer on YouTube
The internet has a wealth of information available for free, but there are some questions that photographers seem to dodge as a question. Especially the more British of those. Let's try to answer a few of these. Before making this video, I reached out to the online photography community to ask what they felt we photographers dodged and tried not to openly answer. → Read More
A Pro Photographers' Editing Set Up
Photography is as much about sitting at your desk as it is about sitting behind the camera, especially for us studio folk. I probably spend twice as much time sitting as I spend with a camera in my hand, so I have made sure my setup is spot on. Firstly, yes, you can buy far better setups than this, but as this is my job, it has to offer both time efficiency and a return on → Read More
Why Is It So Hard To Become a Professional Photographer in 2021?
It has never been an easy task to make a profession out of something that is fun, and to keep that thing fun, and in 2021 photography is certainly no exception, but are our expectations wrong? As with all things, making a living means something different to everyone. For some, it is being able to do what they want, whenever they want, and to have just enough money to get by. → Read More
Is This the Best Beginner Studio Flash?
As a long-term pro, it has been a while since I have looked into beginner studio lighting, and boy, has it changed since I purchased my first units! In this video, I look at a great first-time studio light. Where I live is a small place, about the size of a state over in the US, so when I discovered that there was a lighting shop just down the road from my house, I reached out → Read More