Back To The Future may be my all time favorite series of movies. Ever since BTTF2, I’ve been patiently waiting for scientists to create a hoverboard but for some reason we still aren’t there yet. When they filmed this iconic scene, CGI still was in its infancy and so good old fashion ropes and harnesses were used. In this video you can see this rig in its testing phase. [more]
Leave it to Leica to produce the worlds most expensive lens. Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani of Qatar had this lens specially designed and shipped to him for a cool $2,064,500. This 1600mm 5.6 lens is the biggest and heaviest Leica has ever made and although it is a one of a kind product, you can see the prototype of this lens (the one in the picture above) in Leica’s factory showroom in Solms, Germany. [more]
Last year we posted a behind the scenes video of the 2011 Barbie fashion shoot and it was a massive hit. This year Mattel has once again teamed up with designer Robert Best and photographer/videographer Paul Jordan to create another amazing collection. The attention to detail in the clothing, set design, and lighting is staggering. Check out the full post for the images. [more]
Today, during a photoshoot in Canada a bride slipped in less than 1 foot of water. The Photographer attempted to pull her out but the dress became too heavy. The bride was swept down stream and then pulled under the water. The bride’s body was found a few hours later on the bottom of the river. This will come as a complete shock to most wedding photographers because shooting near or even in water is a very common theme these days. [more]
Have you tried to tether a D4 or D800 to Lightroom? If so, you’ve learned that neither program can actually recognize these cameras. Apparently Nikon has yet to release the developer kit necessary to make this happen. Erica Barker points out that you can use Nikon’s software “Camera Control Pro 2″ to tether your camera to a computer, and then simply point Lightroom to that folder. It’s an acceptable fix while we wait for Nikon to release the dev kit. [more]
I’ve seen some examples of some goofy poses for wedding pictures but this is the first optical illusion. The idea is a bit strange but innocent enough; “let’s have the groomsmen kneel down and the bridesmaids sit on their knees.” Who would have thought this could make the girls look like dwarfs. I’m shooting a wedding this weekend and now I have one more thing I know not to do. [more]
If you live near the coast you have probably considered shooting stills or videos of the local surfers. If you’ve ever tried it (I have a few times) you know that it’s much harder than it looks. Vimeo Video School put together a great 4 minute video that goes over the basics of shooting your first surf video. With a little practice, maybe one day you will be able to shoot something like this. [more]
When most photographers stumble upon an ad on Craigslist for a $300 wedding photographer, they get angry. Not only is this “Craigslist photographer” claiming to to be professional when they are not, they are also lowering the value of wedding photography in general, right? How can us “real” professionals ask for thousands of dollars when there are others willing to do it for almost nothing? These are fair assumptions, but I believe bad wedding photographers have made the industry better. [more]
Bruce Davidson was born in 1933 and he started shooting pictures when he was just 10 years old. Since then Bruce has become most famous for his photojournalist work that included street gangs, circus performers, and the civil rights movement . In this video Bruce talks about some of his most famous images and his love for Leica cameras.
I’m usually not a huge fan of stop motion videos but this 6 minute short by Derek Kwok and Henri Wong is incredible. Every detail of this video from the lighting to the sound is top notch. The design of the action figures and their animations were sometimes so good that they appear to be real. Even if stop motion isn’t your thing, this video is worth checking out. [more]
Using 6 aircrafts, 138 skydivers jumped at 18,500 feet and created a snowflake shape by holding hands and remaining vertical (head down feet up) to set the new vertical world record. Skydivers traveled from all over the world to take part in the record attempt, including from France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Australia and the U.K. [more]
NASA’s newest 2.5 billion dollar Mars rover named Curiosity successfully landed on the surface of the Red Planet early this morning. In this post I will try to update everyone on everything from the incredibly complex landing concept, the suspenseful live video of the landing itself, and the first images that this Rover has sent us. [more]
In Lord Of The Rings the Hobbits, who are supposed to be very small, are required to interact with much larger humans. I always assumed they did this by recording each actor separately and then combining them in post but I was very wrong. By using a telephoto lens and very small aperture that produced a long depth of field, they could place the actors on different focal planes and keep them both sharp. With some incredible set design they could fool the viewer even while the camera was in motion. [more]
I’ve been a big fan and user of Alien Skin Exposure software for many years now. A couple months ago Alien Skin asked if I would review their newest version of the software and although it took me quite a while, I’m finally done. Basically, Alien Skin has taken what I have always considered to be the best photo enhancing software available and they have made it even better. [more]
If you have been waiting for a deal on Pro level memory cards, your wait is over. Today only B&H has high end Lexar memory cards on sale from 16gb to 128gb. Keep in mind that many of these cards are still very expensive because they are some of the fastest cards money can buy (up to 150mbps). The discounted cards are broken up into 3 levels; mid level CF cards, top level CF cards, and SD cards.
