Behind The Scenes

Naomi and I just celebrated our 40th month of being on the road full-time and living a 100% location independent lifestyle. Looking back, it seems like a lifetime ago when we made that crazy decision to sell nearly everything we owned and adopt a life filled with travel photography. In a way, it really was a lifetime ago because we were completely different people back then living very different lives; two people with a dream of what could be, teeming with optimism, but with no real idea of how it would all work out in the end.

Let’s be honest, there are a lot of advantages to using speed lights. They are light, portable and they run on batteries. Speed light modifiers that accompany them are also usually quite light and portable as well. But speed lights do have their draw backs and they can be a real pain to use when you encounter issues, such as a painfully slow recycle time between flashes and a lot less power then you need on a bright sunny day. If you have a love hate relationship with speed lights then this article might just have a solution for you.

This is a really clever marketing tool using photography. The prototype agency Breakfast has created a super complex billboard made entirely of spools of thread (6,400 to be exact). These bobbins are wrapped with fabric containing 36 colors and can mechanically recreate any image sent to its processor. Right now using the hashtag #f21threadscreen , clothing company Forever 21 will build and display any image on your instagram account in full 60 x 60 pixels live for the whole world to see.

What a great application for GoPro Hero Cameras. The kinds of up-close shots revealing the tight side-by-side athletes, crashes, and a few close calls, take the drama to a whole new level with this footage from the 2015 Tour de France bike racing event.

Los Angeles photographer Johnny Vy was approached by NFL.com to photograph portraits of the league's incoming at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere; a four-day event where new rookies get to wear their uniforms for the first time, pose for trading card photos, and learn some of the ins and outs of the billion dollar business that is the National Football League. He wrote a detailed blog breaking down the shoot from beginning to end.

For over two weeks in late March and early April, digital director and photographer Oliver Astrologo traveled through Vietnam exploring its best treasures. His 1,650 kilometer north-to-south journey takes the form of “Reverie of Vietnam,” a beautiful short video that places you inside the country face-to-face with the residents and the historic and natural wonders that surround you. Read on to learn more about the production as well as see many great images captured during the expedition.

With Comic Con in full swing this week we are all waiting patiently for the next big reveal in the world of cinema and sci-fi. Today is that day as we are brought through an outstanding BTS video from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Blasting onto the scene with never before seen footage of Han, Chewbacca, Leia, and many more as they show us what delicate hands of J.J. Abrams we are in. Seeing the combination of practical and visual effects we are sure to find a true sequel to the original trilogy that was released almost four decades prior.

"What the heck just happened?" I remember saying to a friend as we finished Season 5, Episode 8, "Hardhome" of Game of Thrones a few weeks ago. I was in a crowded bar with many other GoT fans as we all just sat in silence as the credits rolled. This was no "Red Wedding" but I still had that "Oh S***" feeling you get when everything hits the fan.

What do you do to continually push yourself and develop your work? Often it can be tricky to figure out how best to push ourselves, as well as keep the momentum up to continually do so. The best photographers I know are constantly pushing, challenging themselves a little each day and now one of them has given us the chance to up our game - welcome to the next 10 days of the 'Stay Out There' Lindsay Adler challenge.

Last week I received a message from my buddy and talented photographer Ben Von Wong. We all know him for his incredible photos that mix practical effects as well as precisely-applied post production visuals. His recent photoshoot entitled "MAKING OF: BALLANTINE’S PRESENTS VON WONG’S UNDERWATER RIVER" is no exception. To make this all happen, Benjamin created a portrait shoot with a set his crew built aboveground and installed 30 meters underwater just feet above toxic hydrogen sulfide. Learn more about his shoot below.

Jay P. Morgan of the Slanted Lens has recently created an image for Dynalite that is being used in their advertising. The concept for the image was to showcase a lot of motion, and the Dynalite Baja's motion stopping power. As part of the project Jay has created a behind the scenes instructional video that explains what it takes to properly freeze motion and action when working with studio lighting.

Assisting for a photographer or videographer can be a rewarding experience filled with knowledge and new perspectives. An assistant often receives an insider's view into how a photographer runs a production, and gains networking opportunities that may not have been accessible before. However, being an effective assistant requires more than holding light stands or reflectors. Great attention to detail and a humble can-do attitude can ensure your return to set, and solidify your reputation as a reliable assistant. While every photographer varies, we will review some of my tips for proper etiquette for assistants, from a photographer's perspective.

Long before "El Cap" became the easier way to pronounce Apple's upcoming operating system, it was the affectionately shortened moniker of Yosemite's most famous and respected rock climbing peak: El Capitan. Today, Google launches a project that takes Street View vertical, as each image was taken as a climber ascended the peak.

In my research to come up with ideas for blog posts, I watch a lot of videos. A few months ago I came across a few videos about the wet plate collodion process and I was hooked! The results are so unique that I just had to participate in it myself.

For those of you who get into situations where you have limited time to set up, manually light and fine tune it to how you would like, well-known photographer Joe McNally shows how quick and easy using TTL can be when pairing an Air Remote with a Profoto B1 strobe unit. This would be great for event shooters, and setting up for quick portraits. Read on for two other videos on high speed sync and lighting ratios.

If you haven't been keeping up with Casey Neistat's daily vlogs, then you absolutely need to start. They're a great source of creative inspiration, lots of running cut-scenes, and the occasional viral video. In this particular vlog, Neistat tells a story on the importance of not quitting and, while filming, experiences an error with his Canon 70D. You may not believe how he solves it.

Yesterday was World Oceans Day (it's okay if you missed it; you can make up for it today) and to celebrate, Google released an amazing new feature powered by its popular Street View technology: Street View Oceans. Working with a number of scientists and researchers, Google mapped well over 50 unique experiences around the world with GPS data to give the public access to the amazing life under the sea as well as to help track its growth and/or recession for scientific study.

Being an adept problem solver is a key skill found in most successful photographers, and with complex photo shoots, the likelihood of something not going according to plan gets pretty high. On a recent project, Ben Von Wong had everything lined up, only to have things change and be forced to cancel the shoot, or make something else happen in a very short time.

In the growing wake of low-budget, special effect action minis whose audience has become larger and larger on YouTube, Sam and Niko's "Real GTA" steps the game up once more with a perfect assimilation of the popular "Grand Theft Auto" video game into real, Los Angeles life. Complete with sound effects recreated as similarly as possible within the actual game, the same Los Angeles street scenes, and smashing special effects (like the famous wads of cash exploding out of recently killed bystanders), "Real GTA" reminds us both how ridiculous and subsequently fun it is.

Dreaming big is never a bad thing for a photographer. The more imaginative your ideas, the easier it is to stand out amongst your peers. Yet there is often a very real, and very high price tag associated with grand productions. Producing personal projects that you’re passionate about is vital for many photographers in the fashion industry. However, it can be frustrating to lack the funds necessary to bring your vision to life for more ambitious projects. Fortunately, there are many options available to photographers to help them bring that production to life, without breaking the bank in the process.

From St. Louis’ Bruton Stroube Studios comes the impressively cinematic tale of food preperation as it battles the elements within the kitchen. At just over a minute in length, “Cooking Up A Storm” manages to breathe an extraordinary amount of drama and depth into the culinary practice. This short film is testament to what a skilled production team and sound designer can bring to seemingly oridinary situations.

Rings can be considered one of the most important details of a wedding day. The groom may have spent months trying to find the right ring, and even longer saving up to purchase it. When the bride first announces their engagement, all of her friends can't wait to see the ring. It’s the only item from the wedding day that most couples will have their entire lives (besides the images of course). When I take pictures of the rings, I want to capture more than just the ring sitting on a table. I want something visually interesting and unique. Here is how I do it.

The era of 360-degree filmmaking is upon us. Google, in collaboration with The Mill and production company Bullitt, has released the 360-degree short film "HELP" for free on Google's mobile storytelling platform Spotlight Stories. The film is full of explosions, aliens, and action all within a beautiful 360-degree world.

Brooklyn-based photographer Jessica Lehrman is the subject of Format’s first video in their new documentary series, InFrame. In this debut episode, Lehrman brings us into her unique childhood experience, explains her start and development in photography, and explores the inspirations to her raw style of images that she is well known for.

If you have not yet seen "Mad Max: Fury Road," I highly recommend seeing the film in theatres while you still can. The combination of art and action brings a rare addition to the big blockbuster-filled summer. These before-and-after shots will give you an idea of the true creativity behind the movie's polarizing set pieces and live-action stunts combined with brilliant post-processing.

Summer movie season is here, and so are the movies with the biggest budgets trying to up the wow factor against their cinematic competition. "San Andreas" is the latest disaster flick to showcase some of the best effects Hollywood has to offer right now. Sploid/Gizmodo did a few behind-the-scenes videos on how effectively shooting movies (in this case "San Andreas") with huge sets and practical effects can make even the best CGI look more realistic.

In his physical prime, Bruce Jenner and his Olympic success made him a household name. With the start of his step-daughters' show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," Jenner's name became familiar to a much younger audience. Today, however, we can begin our goodbyes to the Olympic legend and welcome Caitlyn Jenner, who will be introduced to the world within Vanity Fair's coming issue (due June 9) with the front cover tagline, "Call me Caitlyn."

Film fanatics rejoice because filmmaker Matt Mangham is back with the second installment of Analog, a personal series he put together to find and tell stories which explore the current state of film photography. You can find the first episode here on Fstoppers. In this episode, we get to follow fashion and action sports photographer Julian Martin as he locks and loads his Leica Minilux and heads out with a model along the California shore.

Recently I went to New York City to do a week of headshots. As many of you know, part of my cinematic style involves shooting outdoors, but flying from Los Angeles to New York City to put this on meant I couldn’t rely on the weather. Figuring out how to translate the look and feel of my style indoors was the only way to make it a success. As I’ve had many questions about how to make this look happen inside for those that can’t always be outside, I decided to share my own experience with you.

Last spring, I got a dream call from one of the photo editors at Sports Illustrated to photograph the legendary Dan Gable, a wrestler from Iowa, and one of the most winning athletes of all time. From winning gold in Munich during the 1972 Olympics, to having coached other U.S. teams to gold after, this guy oozes excellence and passion in everything he does. I’m not one to be intimidated by people because of their status in life, but people who work as hard as he does definitely stand out to me.

Are you tired of using a kit lens for your video projects but don't know the first thing about what makes "Cinema" lenses all that special? In the latest video from Gear Dictionary, Zeke Kamm explains what makes these lenses different, and preferred, for filmmaking applications.

Last year I had an exciting opportunity to shoot what I am told is the first combined Jaguar and Land Rover USA ad campaign now that they are both under new combined ownership. The goal of the campaign was to create content that would appeal to the users of both car markers and promote brand loyalty. It was as if we were to say: "If you have a Land Rover, you need a sporty Jaguar for the ultimate garage!" (and vise versa). This campaign came together very quickly and the client had specific production requirements. Learn how I did it below and feel free to ask any question about the process in the comments section.

When Nashville-based photographer Jake Harsh was tasked with coming up with an original photoshoot where he could flex his artistic freedoms, things turned slightly dangerous. His brave subjects for this shoot, the electro-pop band Hand of Hearts, would stand in a room with 18 pounds of fireworks being ignited and what transpired after that would be unpredictable. Here’s a behind-the-scenes video of what happened and the resulting images.

This is Part 1 in what will be an 8 part series for a dramatic beauty portrait. In the series of tutorials, we will go through everything from the gear used, to the lighting setups, and all the way through the complete retouching process. In Part 1, I will breakdown my gear list used for the shoot and I will thoroughly go through my lighting setup. In this video tutorial not only will you see the gear and setup, but also a behind the scenes look as me and my team go through hair, makeup, and shooting. The complete series of videos will be available here on Fstoppers and on my YouTube Channel.

DJI and some of the film industry's finest set out to produce a short film showcasing the new Ronin-M System. The project featured an A-list actor, seasoned director of photography, and a world-class stuntman turned director.

As a huge movie car buff and lover of the original "Mad Max" films, it goes without saying that I am more than excited for the release of the latest iteration of the series. I'm going to assume statistically that you are too because it is rating incredibly well among most of the movie reviewers. One of their biggest compliments toward the film? The stunning energetic visuals, and I would agree. What's even more stunning? Most of the stunts were done with practical effects! Check out 18 minutes of pure stunt-making glory.

In this episode of Smarter Every Day, host Destin Sandlin takes a closer look at the construction of one of the most exclusive photography locations that humans have ever created: the International Space Station’s Cupola module. This seven-windowed observation module has allowed astronauts such as Dr. Don Pettit and others access to shoot some of the most incredible photographs and time-lapse videos made to date.

Austin Reza is back at it with Bentley Motors for the second in the Intelligent Details series titled, “The Bespoke Driving Jacket.” We previously wrote about him last year in this article. This time he's back utilizing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cameras, and along with an assortment of professional lighting equipment and rigs, Reza has created another exceptional looking piece of film.

Were you not able to attend this year's Fstoppers Workshops in the Bahamas? Well if you want to check out some of fun behind the scenes action live follow us on Periscope. Basically Periscope is a live video streaming app that will allow you to shadow some of the top photographers in the biz including Peter Hurley, Pye Jirsa, Julia Kuzmenko, Aaron Nace, Mike Kelley, and more.

Many new photographers hold a lot of excitement and fear inside of them waiting to be unleashed the moment they receive a call to do their first big photoshoot or ad campaign. For talented automotive photographer John Zhang, this was no different when he received a call from one of Land Rover USA's ad agencies recently. He has been nice enough to share his entire experience from the first client call to executing the shoot itself. There is a lot to learn from Zhang and his photoshoot, read on below!

Hollywood's latest A.I. thriller, "Ex Machina," promised to take viewers on a fascinating and thrilling philosophical, ethical, and human journey. The Turing test, man's domination over machine, artifically intelligent machines' potential and perhaps inevitable self-awareness and domination over man, and an eccentric Silicon Valley-like billionaire-type leading the helm... how could this not be a great film? More on that later, but to make all of this happen, director Alex Garland and VFX supervisor Andrew Whitehurst had to create a robot that would connect so well with audiences that we would treat it as any other human character.

The Russian photographer and mother, Elena Shumilova, is making a big splash again by sharing some great photo advice. In early 2014, her whimsical photos of her children went viral and inspired parents and photographers all around the world. For the first time since she her images exploded on the scene, she allowed cameras into her home and gives some great tips for others to capture images of their children.

As we all know, even the most stunning visuals require an equally amazing and unique soundtrack to bring the audience's emotions to their full potential. Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Christopher Boyles from Skywalker Sound discusses his work and the burden of creating original sounds for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" that will stand the test of time.

In this episode of National Geographic’s fantastic series "Exposure," you go behind the scenes with street and portrait photographer Wayne Lawrence who describes photographing the “real Detroit.” Lawrence describes the challenge of shooting such a diverse city, one that includes familiar, comfortable suburbs and rundown, abandoned spaces.

This ingenious video has gone viral as the true level of photoshopping to manufactures 'beauty' is exposed. In this clip, we see 6 hours of photoshopping sped up to fit into a 90 second clip. All of these hours of work has gone into creating just one perfected image of a model.

As a fairly established photographer, many beginners ask me what camera to buy to get started. What’s more important: body or lenses? Or is it the brand? My standard advice has always been to buy a cheap, used body and save your money for quality lenses. A beginner just doesn't need a high-end camera. That’s easy to say, of course, when you shoot on a Nikon D800 with some pretty nice glass. Perhaps it was time to do a little experimenting of my own to see what, if any, difference there was between a top end camera and something cheap.

With May 4 behind us, it brings us one day closer to the release of the upcoming "Star Wars" sequels later this year. Whether you are a fan of the series or not, it's going to be one of the biggest releases in history. In preparation for the launch, Annie Leibovitz had the chance to fly out to the set to photograph some of the original cast as well as the new members joining the franchise for Vanity Fair. Here is a behind-the-scenes look.

Photographer Joe McNally is out in the desert again. This time he is in a dry lake bed outside of Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil performers Daria Shemiakina and Anna Melnikova. It’s a little unclear whether he is shooting this concept for a Gitzo campaign or for the artists but if you can take your eyes off the beautiful and amazingly talented athletes for a moment you’ll be able to gleam some of Joe’s desert setup. If you're like me and prefer simple kits and small intimate teams over large crews and trailers full of gear then you’ll find it comforting to see that a master like Joe keeps it pretty basic.

Behind The Glass recently spoke with Andy Baker, SVP/Group Creative Director at the National Geographic Channels, and he dispensed some incredibly valuable information on how to make sure clients see the work you are putting out. Andy is in charge of hiring many freelancers for National Geographics creative projects so this is the best inside scoop you can get.