Stanley Kubrick was one of the most acclaimed producers and directors in American cinematography (the Shining is one of my all time favorites). Back in 1975, Stanley directed the three hour masterpiece Barry Lyndon. From a photography standpoint, the film is most noted for Stanley’s use of Mitchell BNC cameras mounted with NASA Zeiss f/0.7 50mm lenses. [more]
To put a little twist on filming one of Nissan’s most recent car commercials, the crew involved shot everything on a miniature scale by using a few different RC vehicles. Check out how the team tried to preserve some of the standard elements that you might see in a car commercial. The group gets quite creative in building customized camera mounts to keep the best angles. [more]
In 2005 Photographer James Balog began a project of immense scale and historical importance; to capture the changing climate of the earth by shooting images of melting glaciers. The documentary “Chasing Ice” tells his story, and shows the technical challenges he faced, like dealing with harsh temperatures and highly remote locations. This trailer gives us a sneak peek of the final movie, which will be released in November. [more]
First of all, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Douglas Sonders and I am a photographer and filmmaker. I’m excited to share this first post as an official member of the Fstoppers team with you. I have loved this site as a reader since its inception and am honored by the opportunity to share with you loads of new original content, much of which will come from behind the scenes of my own crazy shoots.
By now you’ve probably formed a clear cut opinion about Instagram. It’s the program we either love to hate, or just plain love! If there was such a thing as Instagram etiquette, or the ‘right’ way to Instagram, this is probably as close to anything we’ve seen so far. New York City filmmaker Casey Neistat decided to illustrate a few points. He does drop one word of profanity so be cautious if you’re in a sensitive area. [more]
With action sport videos continuing to get more and more impressive, it’s no wonder why the filming is moving away from the photojournalistic approach to more of a cinematic feel. Videographers are having to keep up with the trending demands of todays standards, using high quality gear like the Sony FS-700 for slow motion, and a RC helicopters for great overhead shots, like the Copter Kids. These guys use the RC helicopter to get some really unique camera movements of freestyle motocross. [more]
If you’re like most of us photographers out there, you don’t always have a budget for a costume designer and money for a nice wardrobe for models. For paid projects, this would be covered, but for personal endeavors, the budget simply is too much for most shooters to afford. Ben VonWong has solved this problem by learning to approach people who have already done the work for us. [more]
Having the opportunity to work on Rubidium Wu’s The Silent City I’ve become very intrigued inspired by all the great independent film makers out there who are taking full advantage of accessible technologies like the Canon 5D Mark II. The latest of which, Arrowhead: Signal, by writer/directed Jesse O’Brien was made for a ballpark figure of 600 bucks. If you don’t include the T4i, 5DMII setup and 3 years of invested time they appear to have used. But still how many of us have a kick ass [more]
Lighting Asylum has brought us this informative look behind the scenes of a sunset portrait shoot, and it gets pretty in depth with how the photographer handles over-exposed back lighting, poor color in the clouds, and flash positioning. The photographer gives some insight on his process for camera settings, and even shows how he gels a flash to get the sky to change colors.
When I first heard of Chalk Warfare I instantly thought of an office war setting or perhaps a battle of the blackboards, but the people over at SoKrispyMedia blew me away with the effects in this fun and quirky short film. It was shot by 16-year-old (you heard right… 16), Sam Wickert and buddy Eric Leigh with a Canon Rebel t2i with a Rode Videomic. Post production was done in Adobe After Effects and Video Co-pilot. Consider me impressed boys, consider me impressed. [more]
We’ve posted about how to photograph steel wool burning before in the past, but watching the process in action is a bit more exciting. Instead of taking photographs with extended shutters, film maker Joey Shanks decided to video the burning metal and edit everything into a motion graphics piece. The results are pretty interesting, and his behind the scenes video explains how the whole process came together.
Complex Magazine has started a new video series on their blog called Shots Fired. For their debut episode they feature Zack Arias and follow him through Atlanta while he does his street photography thing. I have to give so much respect to Zack (and really all street photographers) for going out and boldly shooting photos of total strangers. The thought of getting in an awkward conversation/confrontation with a total stranger is not something I think I would enjoy.
This funny video created by Julia Mattison is probably the best thing that came out of the invention of Instagram. If you’re addicted to Instagram, this song will make you feel ashamed. If you’re a friend of someone who’s addicted, this video will remind you how much your friend can be annoying. Happy watching everyone! [more]
For someone on the move, the Canon T4i is not a bad option. This camera is the smallest you can get without going mirrorless. From 9am-1pm today only, creativeLIVE will be hosting an intensive workshop with Photographer John Greengo. John will go in-depth with the Canon T4i and show you how to get the most out of what you have in the least amount of time. [more]
In a day and age where DSLR HD video is all the rage with indie film makers, Scotty Liberatore decided to take a different route. Using only a Lomography LomoKino 35mm Film Camera and a few different film stocks Scotty made a very interesting and unique video for rapper Diatribe.
