What the f stop

What The F Stop - The Photography Book without Pictures - by Stephan Bollinger

Learn Photography with a smile.

This is not your typical “click here, set this” how-to book. It’s a conversation. A theatrical, sometimes sideways, often laugh-out-loud and occasionally scratch-your-head stroll through the art of seeing.

Framed and seasoned by tales, reflections, and a colourful cast of references, you’ll discover what truly matters in photography: understanding and feeling. And yes, camera settings too. Mostly, however, telling stories and painting with light.

No photos, no graphs, just vivid images painted with words, humour, and insight. If you love to learn with a smile, and you’re ready to make the technical second nature rather than second-guessing, this is for you.

Guided by award-winning stage performer, photographer, and storyteller Stephan Bollinger, a man with a weakness for metaphors and iced caramel lattes.

This is not a manual.
It’s a novel with vision.

Available from MAY 30th 2025!

Available from MAY 30th 2025!

What does this all mean?

Rather than focusing solely on camera settings, this book helps you understand how photography truly works, from light and contrast to composition, colour, and emotion.

It’s a journey. Through chapters that range from theatrical tales to playful deep dives into aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, readers begin to see the world differently. No quizzes on histograms, but a renewed appreciation for shadow, space, and the language of light.

In a book without images, readers create more vivid pictures in their minds than any how-to guide ever could.

Readers will explore topics such as:

Seeing the light (really seeing it)
The history of photography. As a musical
Composition, and why rules are meant to be broken
Colour, emotion, and how to make people feel
The Exposure Triangle, sung in harmony
The beauty of limitations and storytelling
Editing, culling, delivering, and letting go

This is a book about learning, yes, and we certainly give all the fancy buttons on our cameras a flick, twist, and turn. Mostly, however, we focus on understanding ‘why’ and ‘when’ we would do so. Confidently. Intentionally. And with heart.

Whether you’re starting out, returning after a break, or seeking a fresh perspective, this book is your friendly, occasionally cheeky, utterly passionate companion.

And yes!
It also makes a rather lovely gift — not just because of the easily misunderstood title.

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Stephan Bollinger, Photographer, Educator, Author

About the author…

Stephan Bollinger is an award-winning photographer, educator, and former stage performer who believes cameras are not just tools but portals into how we see the world, and how the world sees us. With a flair for the theatrical, a weakness for metaphors, and a caffeine dependency best described as character-building, he weaves technical knowledge and personal stories into a teaching style that is as practical as it is poetic. If there is a mountain of camera manuals, he is the guy standing next to it saying, “Let’s just walk and I’ll show you.”

Having taught for years, not from a textbook but from experience, trial, triumph, and the kind of beautifully embarrassing failures that make the best stories, Stephan’s approach to education is emotional, entertaining, and unusually effective. It is not academic. It is alive.

From performing under spotlights in Europe to capturing light through a lens on the Gold Coast, Australia, his journey has been anything but linear.

His writing does not hand you rules, it hands you a compass. Whether he is talking about Bokeh or breakfast pastries, it is always with heart, humour, and just the right amount of heartfelt sidekick sarcasm.

About the author…

Stephan Bollinger is an award-winning photographer, educator, and former stage performer who believes cameras are not just tools but portals into how we see the world, and how the world sees us. With a flair for the theatrical, a weakness for metaphors, and a caffeine dependency best described as character-building, he weaves technical knowledge and personal stories into a teaching style that is as practical as it is poetic. If there is a mountain of camera manuals, he is the guy standing next to it saying, “Let’s just walk and I’ll show you.”

Having taught for years, not from a textbook but from experience, trial, triumph, and the kind of beautifully embarrassing failures that make the best stories, Stephan’s approach to education is emotional, entertaining, and unusually effective. It is not academic. It is alive.

From performing under spotlights in Europe to capturing light through a lens on the Gold Coast, Australia, his journey has been anything but linear.

His writing does not hand you rules, it hands you a compass. Whether he is talking about Bokeh or breakfast pastries, it is always with heart, humour, and just the right amount of heartfelt sidekick sarcasm.

GET YOUR COPY ON AMAZON FROM MAY 30th 2025!

GET YOUR COPY ON AMAZON - RELEASE MAY 30th 2025!