Peter Langehahn is a photographer from Germany who approaches most of his images a bit differently than most of us. Instead of photographing a single moment, Peter captures the “collective scene” of an entire event. Standing at just one vanishing point, Peter takes panoramic images throughout each event and combines them in a unique composite image that features the best moments throughout the day. Sometimes these images total over 3000 captures and the edits can take up to 60 – 90 days. I must say I’ve never seen anything like this but it’s definitely a way of branding your own photography into something no one will forget. I’m sure someone out there has done something like this before; what are your thoughts on this technique?
Every now and then it’s fun to go back in time to see how photographers approached photoshoots requiring a large amount of production. Back in 1988 Brian King was on the cutting edge of digital photography with his use of Sitex imaging computers. Well before the advent of Photoshop, Brian was able to piece together multiple images by scanning negatives and turning them into primitive digital media. By today’s standards, the final product is pretty comical but this is what the first results of ‘digital photography’ looked like in the advertising world. I have to say, if a single photograph took this much effort and planning today I would probably have given up on commercial photography a long time ago.
This video was recently featured on Strobist but since we’ve been getting so many emails about it I figured we’d share it with those of you who missed it. David Myrick decided to try something rather strange when the electronic group Glitch Mob strolled into his studio. Basically he shot portraits of the band members on a white seamless background and then projected those images back onto the artists as they wore white clothing. If this sounds confusing just watch the video and it will all make sense. Fresh ideas like David’s “projection technique” continues to inspire me in my own work. What do you guys think – anyone tried this technique before?
Here’s a clever idea… EA decided to make the cover shoot for Madden 2012 a promotion in itself. How did they do it? Well they created a studio in the center of Time Square in NY and allowed thousands of people to watch the photoshoot take place live, and in person.
Have you ever seen a car ad in a magazine and wondered “how did they do that?” The car itself seems to be glowing and the location is always perfect. I’ve always known that tons of photoshop is involved by I didn’t know if the car was actually shot in that location or if it was shot in the studio and dropped into the scene in post. In the case below, the car was shot on location and lit with a very simple rig (umbrella on a stick). The magic happens in Photoshop afterwards.
Have you ever tried to shoot an interior photograph and have it look like the shots in magazines or high end property brochures? If so then you probably know there are two routes to go: HDR or Flash. Photographer Dom Bower recently made a video showing the differences in both techniques and how you can combine them both to create a sort of hybrid image. Keep in mind that Dom is only using one single speedlight directly above the camera. Many of the amazing images you see for high end hotels and expensive properties often have dozens of light sources accenting very specific elements in the image. What techniques have you guys used in your interior photos? If you have examples, feel free to post your images in the comments below and check out Dom’s final photos in the full post.
Over the weekend, one of our readers sent us this amazing behind the scenes video for the bicycle saddle manufacturer Brooks England. The basic concept for the photoshoot was a couple saving a fox from a bunch of hunting hounds while out in the British countryside. Photographer Frank Herholdt and his team had to balance two models, a tamed fox, four hounds, forest smoke, well placed studio strobes, and the natural elements to pull of this classic looking image. This is such a great example of taking your photography to the next level by pushing your concept and focusing on production value rather than just lighting a simple subject correctly. If any of our readers have any opinions on one of these saddles specifically, let us know on our Twitter because I’m in need of a new bike seat myself!
There have been a few conversations over at the Fstoppers Forum lately about how to composite two images together in a way that looks consistent. Aaron Nace has a history of producing interesting composite style images; recently he tackled the conceptual idea of “Going Home”. Although I’m a bit disappointed neither Aaron or Avery gave any insight on what they were wanting to accomplish in this video, the way the two approached such a tough logistical concept is really clever. Sure there is a LOT of photoshop required in a final image like this but what’s really important to take note of is how Aaron went out and shot as much of the concept in camera with consistent lighting so everything would work together when he started piecing the two images together. Since it’s May 21st I figured this was an appropriate subject matter to tackle :)
Everyone claims that they know how to shoot subjects on pure white but many of them still struggle with the background light washing out their subject. In the video below, Olivia Speranza shows us how she created the look for a video but the same techniques apply to flash as well. The key is to light the background as evenly as possible and expose it so that it is just barely pure white. If your background is a few stops past pure white, the light will begin to eat into your subject.
This video gives a quick look at Jay P. Morgan’s latest advertising campaign for Pedia-Sure. The video isn’t quite as informative as Jay’s average BTSV but there is still a lot to learn from it. I was really impressed by the size of the campaign and then range of images that were taken.
This video is a little different than anything we’ve posted before but I figured it would be enjoyed by those of you who are celebrating Easter. Jeremy Cowart is one of the hottest American photographers right now and his portfolio is absolutely sick! But in this video he is creating a rather unique portrait of Jesus using pastels, photoshop, stock images, and random elements from snap shots. The amount of effort that went into this portrait is quite remarkable, and almost every texture is so subtle you would never know half of what went into making this image just by looking at it. It’s pretty exciting to see such a well respected photographer pushing his own craft in a way that is so different than what he does on a daily basis. Click the full post to watch a second video of Jeremy making a portrait of Tom Yorke in this style.
When you first heard of GigaPan, it was probably from David Bergman’s famous inauguration photograph. Years after David captured the first gigapixel images of crowds of people, scientists are now creating all sorts of images using the GigaPan technology. One new project recently announced is Time Machine. Essentially a video player with 100 megapixel frames, the Time Machine allows us to explore nature in both time and space with unbelievable amounts of information. Anyone can create these videos using any of the GigaPan Epic Mounts and upload them to the GigaPan website. It’s pretty amazing what photos are now able to capture and reveal with super high resolution and timelapse. Check out more of these videos over at the Time Machine website.
Director Paul Clements produced a pretty amazing commercial for Cat Footwear. By using a single high frame rate video camera and a large array of DSLRs he produced something that I am having trouble describing with words. You’ll just have to watch it for yourself.
Check out the BTS below and the finished product in the full post.
I know a couple of Fstoppers that go by the names of Tiffany and Gianna that are going to love this one… Jay P. Morgan is back again with a really unique concept. In this video Jay explains how he created a super hero concept from nothing and then shows us every minuscule detail that goes into making that image come to life. As always, Jay does an incredible job of packing his video with priceless information that every photographer can use, even if you don’t ever plan to shoot Wonder Woman.
We have all seen stuff like this done before but it’s usually some sort of huge production team. All of my friends seem to own at least 2 cameras each so I could easily pull this off if I could get 12 of them together :).
