Update: Every day has been booked. I am back up in NYC for the next 10 days and next week my schedule is totally open every day (April 18-22) from 1pm-5pm. I’d love to have lunch with anyone who is interested for absolutely any reason. You by no means have to be an established photographer or even want to talk about photography. If you are interested, simply send me a Facebook message and let me know the location (Brooklyn and Manhattan only please) and the time and I’ll be there. In some cases I may be able to meet 2 people per day.
Last time I did this I met 7 incredible people including Frank Zurita who now produces original music for us and Noam Galai who you all now know. I can’t wait to see who I will meet this time.
I know many photographers ask themselves, “How can I use my artistic talent to give back to my community in some profound way?” Bringing awareness to a great social or ethical cause can be difficult when our culture is so bombarded with crazy images everyday. Photographer Chris Jordan, author of In Katrina’s Wake, recently discovered baby albatross birds who were dying in a very unusual way. Birds inhabiting Midway Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean have been found dead in huge numbers. The cause of death appears to be from parent birds mistakenly eating plastic garbage found floating in the ocean and washing up on shore. These images are quite gruesome, and it is almost hard to believe they are real. Through this Midway Project, Chris hopes to bring awareness to the ecological problems not often seen at these remote locations. Head over to the Midway Journey’s website for more videos about this cause as well as more photography.
Welcome to the new Fstoppers.com. We put a lot of thought into the new update and we decided to keep the layout the exact same and simply add some helpful features. The update was done by the incredibly talented team at Novum Studios. View the full post to learn about everything that has been added.
About 10 days ago I received an email asking me to check out a video showcasing a new invisible camera. Initially I thought it was probably some crazy technical exercise but about half way through it became blatantly obvious that the whole video was a complete joke. Instead of reaching for my Haterade, I decided to have some fun with it and share Chris Marquardt’s story with you.
Was Fstoppers really getting a demo model of the camera? No! Was it going to be on sale “a week from this Friday”? Not quite. However we were right that you would probably be hearing some news about the camera in the beginning of April. Why did Chris create this hoax? According to this release, “We did not do this to mock you. The Invisible Camera is our humble attempt to bring back wonder and amazement.” How do you feel about The Invisible Camera? Hoax gone wrong or a fun journey back to your childhood filled with wonder and amazement?
As creative professionals, we always take extra care to notice the details in our work and to make sure that everything we do is as perfect as possible. In the video world, sound engineering and production can actually make a huge difference in the overall success of the visual elements on the screen. If you enjoyed seeing how Oscar winning editors produced the sound of Inception a few months ago, you are going to enjoy listening to Craig Henighan as he explains some of the effects used in the blockbuster hit Black Swan.
I just saw this and it made me smile so I thought I would share it with all of you. Keep in mind that you still have a few days left to help Noam with our Photoshop contest.
If you have no idea what is going on in this video then you need to watch this.
By now you are probably aware of the massive 8.9 earthquake that shook Japan and caused a devastating tsunami. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan and those affected by this horrible disaster. If you would like to help in the recovery or in a charitable way, check out a few of the links below. This earthquake was the 5th largest earthquake recorded in modern time and the potential for loss of life is very high.
Remember a few months back when we posted the video about the guy that found the lost roll of film in NYC? Well the mystery has been solved and the owner of the film finally saw the video and emailed Todd.
Exactly 12 months ago Patrick and I launched Fstoppers.com. We had never filmed a video before, we didn’t have a single follower, we had never used a blog before, and we had no clue what would happen… (full post)
Okay I admit there is nothing really “behind the scenes” in this video but it is just too cool not to post. On Feb 24th, NASA’s Discovery space shuttle launched for the final time and created a lot of media buzz. Most people travel down to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral to watch these amazing launches, but a few lucky passengers flying out of Orlando, Florida experienced the launch like few have ever seen it: 35,000 feet high in a commercial airline! Check out our previous post on NASA’s video coverage of their shuttle launches if you want to see more amazing video of the space program.
About 95% of the time I can guess the quality of a photographer by the design of their website before the first image even loads. If you want people to take your work seriously a Flickr page isn’t going to cut it. You may think that you can’t afford a professional website; think again.
For the next 18 days Creative Motion Design is giving Fstoppers.com readers 60% off their already incredibly low website prices. With this discount their websites start at just $38.00. I know there are other template websites out there that have notoriously bad customer service (I’ve experienced it first hand) but CMD actually posts their phone number on the front of their website. Still don’t believe me? Well you can test out a website completely for free by simply clicking on “free trial” by any of their sites.
We all work so hard to produce amazing images and now there is absolutely no excuse for not having a professional way to display them. Check out the full post to see a video on how easy these sites are to customize.
I thought I knew everything about shutters, sync speeds, and flash duration until I saw this video by Paul Duncan. I smugly started playing this recommended video and I got schooled. Now I am up to speed and you will be too.
Just ran across this quick BTS of a commercial Lucas Zanotto made. Check out the 40 second BTS below and then check out the full post to see the amazing finished product.
Remember the Vivian Maier story we posted a few weeks ago? Well it has been the most popular post we have ever had on Fstoppers. For those who found it as intriguing as I did, here is an update. Below, CBS News covers the story in a new interview and I would highly suggest checking out vivianmaier.blogspot.com where you can stay up to date on the newest images that have been scanned in.
One of the first early adapters of DSLR video for professional use was Shane Hurlbut of Terminator Salvation, The Guardian, The Last 3 Minutes fame. A few days ago he released a really well shot commercial for the US Marines and decided to make a short contest out of it. The video has over 27 frames shot on various Canon 5D, 7D, and 1D cameras as they do every cinemagraphic move possible. I’m thinking we might get a BTS video of the filming of this commercial after the contest is done but in the meantime Shane is going to give away a free copy of Adobe’s CS5 Production Premium Suite to whoever correctly guesses what camera shot what footage. You can head over to the contest page for more details and the entries will be accepted until the end of Jan 26th, 2011.