Fstoppers » David Bickley

Behind the Scenes with Michael Grecco for Mens Health

David Bickley — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:09:41 +0000

Pro commercial and celebrity photographer Michael Grecco takes us on the set of his 2-day shoot for Men’s Health and Procter & Gamble in this high end behind the scenes video. The parts of the video you want to watch move pretty quickly so there will be a lot of pausing if you want to see the lighting setups in any sort of detail. The consistent theme with light here is balance. One of my favorite things about Grecco is [more]

Lightning Captured at 11,000 Frames Per Second

David Bickley — Sun, 12 May 2013 06:32:16 +0000

Originally captured back in 2011 the National Geographic show “Naked Science: Lightning Chasers” gave us a never before seen look at the anatomy of a lightning strike in ultra-slow motion. Although the footage is older the video is still amazing, and quite possibly the most detailed of it’s kind (if there are any others). The first actual “bolt” of lightning (called a leader) proceeds in steps that lengthen by about 30 meters at a time. Each step taking about 1 microsecond [more]

Creating Drama Through Cinematic Light

David Bickley — Wed, 08 May 2013 04:16:24 +0000

WDP 2012: Photographer of the Year Lauri Laukkanen guides us step by step through two images from his World War II inspired photo shoot explaining in detail what he used and why. The entire video is done using a stand-in model so we don’t get to see much of the actual production but Lauri’s explanation of his thought process is really what matters here. In fact the one thing I expect many of you will want to pay attention to is when he addresses feathering your light. [more]

Street Bike BTS with Manchul Kim

David Bickley — Sun, 05 May 2013 03:42:31 +0000

I feel the need to preface this post by saying “don’t try this at home.” Sure, crazier things have been done to get a shot and this is relatively tame by comparison but that doesn’t change the fact that a pothole could seriously ruin your day. That said, I love this video from Korean photographer Manchul Kim. Sure, I would have liked to see a second strobe team to the rear of the subject and off camera, but whatever, it’s still cool. I especially enjoy how [more]

Adventurer by Matthew Drozd (BTS)

David Bickley — Wed, 01 May 2013 03:38:31 +0000

Originally inspired by Indiana Jones for this image, photographer Matthew Drozd almost immediately ran into budgetary constraints. In this video he sits down with us to talk about how he came up with his concept, how he found his team, how he avoided potential equine issues and how he balanced his lighting to make the final composite. There isn’t a lot of technical information to be had here (though the idea of flashes spooking a horse at night is important), but definitely take note of [more]

Building Wealth as a Photographer

David Bickley — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:46:43 +0000

By far one of the most influential and yet devastating things I ever realized in my career was that Photography alone is not a viable path to become wealthy or even truly financially independent. In fact a few days ago CareerCast.com released a list of 200 jobs, ranked from best to worst, and photographer came in at #172, beaten soundly by garbage collectors. [more]

Inspiration With Christopher Wahl (BTS)

David Bickley — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:38:28 +0000

Counted among legends like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, Christopher Wahl is certainly a photographer that will define a time in image making. Global News 16×9 correspondent Carolyn Jarvis takes us behind the scenes with this portrait master as he shares his insights with us. He has photographed everyone from the Pope to the President and still remains grounded. When a man like that speaks, I think it’s time to listen. [more]

Photographer Gives Boy With Muscular Dystrophy a Chance to Live Out His Dreams

David Bickley — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 07:27:13 +0000

Luka, a boy who suffers from muscular dystrophy, dreams of playing basketball, skateboarding and diving. He dreams of doing all of the things his body won’t allow him to. In a series called “The Little Prince” photographer Matej Peljhan strives to help Luka live out these dreams as best he can through imagery. He does this by creating imagined scenes on the ground for Luka to act out the motions of. The result [more]

Creating KFC Photos the Colonel Would Be Proud of (BTS)

David Bickley — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 03:55:51 +0000

When KFC needed new, iconic images for their redesigned website they turned to Photographer Teri Campbell (author of Food Photography and Lighting: A Commercial Photographer’s Guide to Creating Irresistible Images). After fine tuning the details of the production Teri, his 1Ds Mark III and the crew got to work. The project took a total of five days, and Teri takes us behind the scenes [more]

The Science of How to Stay Motivated in Your Work

David Bickley — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 09:18:21 +0000

Author Dan Ariely gave an interesting talk on motivation and how to feel good about our work at TEDx Rio de la Plata. Ariely suggests that it isn’t money that truly motivates us, but meaning. Ariely believes this is the difference between those that love what they do and those that don’t. Through a series of experiments Ariely shows how much we actually value meaning in our work. No, the talk doesn’t specifically [more]