[BTSV] Blast from the Past: Creating a Nat Geo Cover in the Studio

National Geographic recently released this video of the creation of one of their cover shots. While there is no exact date on it, I’d bet that it was shot sometime in the early 2000s or late 1990s guessing from technology being used. Some real ingenuity was at work here, as evidenced by the custom-built pneumatic jaw, the hand-cast Tyrannosaurus skull, and not to mention what appears to be at least ten cameras all triggered at the same time via laser in an effort to capture the decisive moment.

Considering that the landscape of photography has changed so dramatically from when this video was made, it’s interesting to think how much less gear we might need today to pull off a similar photo thanks to the advent of chimping and strobist-style shooting (granted, of course, that we have access to the most badass skull crushing machine in history!).