Mike Kelley Photography Tutorials

About Mike Kelley

Michael Kelley (mpkelley.com) is a Los Angeles-based architectural and fine art photographer with a background in digital art and sculpture. Using his backgrounds in the arts, he creates images that are surreal and otherworldly, yet lifelike and believable. A frequent traveler, Michael's personal work focuses on the built environment of unique

Popular Articles from Mike Kelley
Fstoppers Reviews The CamRanger: The Best Thing To Happen To Shooting Tethered...Ever.

For the longest time, I've been using a 17" Macbook Pro for tethering. The big screen is great. Everything else, however, was a nightmare. I recently saw some colleagues of mine raving about a new product called the CamRanger, which allows you to tether to your Android device (April 2013), iPad or iPhone to your camera and had to try it out, as any solution that would resolve my near-daily tethering headaches would be fantastic.

HDR Vs. Flash For Interiors And Real Estate Photography

I know that many of our readers are real estate photographers or have at least tried their hand at real estate photography. The most common method used to create 'good enough' real estate photos is HDR: whether it is tonemapping or exposure fusion, HDR is definitely the most-used method for real estate and beginner interior photographers. In this post, I'll do a comparison between tonemapping, exposure fusion, single on-camera flash, and multiple off-camera flash, and show you the benefits (or disadvantages, rather) of each.

Fstoppers Reviews The Rokinon 24mm f/3.5 Tilt-Shift Lens

There's been a lot of buzz these past few months about Rokinon's new 24mm tilt shift offering. Many enthusiasts are interested in tilt and shift capabilities, but are not interested in shelling out the $2,000+ for the Nikon or Canon equivalents. Rokinon's entry into the field has been widely anticipated and it was finally my chance to get my hands on this little lens for a review.

[Review] FlashBender Diffusion Panel, FlashBender, and Rogue Universal Lighting Filter Kit

For the photographer who likes to travel light, it has always been a challenge to find flash modifiers that are both effective and easy to use on the go. ExpoImaging has long been making accessories, but their recently released Rogue diffusion panels for their popular FlashBenders will be a welcome addition to any strobist’s kit.

Insert Here: Sensual and Artistic Portraits of Sex Toys [NSFW]

Sam Kaplan, a New York-based product and still life photographer, was inspired to create a series of photographs of an object that is often enjoyed in the bedroom rather than on a gallery wall. Sam decided to change all of that, and his series 'Insert Here' takes the taboo and transforms it into an exploration of line, form, and color: Dildart, if you will. It goes without saying that you might want to be careful where you open this post.

A Beautiful Look Into The Rarely-Seen World Of Aviation Cinematography

Wolfe Air is a company that specializes in creating air to air footage for airlines, big-budget movie productions, the military, and private commercial clients, and they recently released their updated reel, which is absolutely mindblowing. Not many people think about what might go into these shots, so as the Fstoppers designated aviation photography dork, I've decided to write up a reader's digest version of how they're made.

Behind The Scenes With Wolfe Air And Their Incredible Flying Camera Platforms

Last week I posted a gorgeous video from Wolfe Air - their promo reel for aviation cinematography, and explained a bit of the process behind it. This week, I've found and put together a few videos which detail how they equip their planes and helicopters with some of the most advanced camera technologies available, and it's pretty mindblowing. In these videos, Wolfe Air loads up a Learjet with

An Incredible Interview With The Master Of All Things Portraiture, Greg Heisler

You've probably seen plenty of Heisler's work without knowing it, and it can be said that he is one of the contemporary greats when it comes to portraiture. His work has graced the cover and insides of many of today's largest publications, and he's responsible for creating countless iconic photos of celebrities. In these videos (part two is in the post), Greg gives some fantastic advice to photographers about getting new jobs,

BTS On The International Space Station: Discussing The Cameras, Techniques, And Difficulties Involved When Shooting In Space

Astronaut Donald Pettit has spent more than a year of his life in space. Between two long-term stays on the ISS and a six-week Space Shuttle trip, he's racked up an incredible 370 days living, working, and photographing in the most hostile environment known to man. In this video, Donald shows us the techniques he's developed to create some of the jaw-dropping images and timelapses that he's created

Very Little Stars: Yet Another Amazing Timelapse That You Need To Watch

Alright, seriously. I keep telling myself that I'm sick of timelapses, that I don't need to watch five minutes of clouds, or that I don't need to watch a million cars stream past at lightspeed. We get it, we've seen a million sunsets, we've seen the stars pan overhead as the camera moves on a dolly. And then I watched 'Very Little Stars' by Ben Wiggins, and I took it all back. Oh my goodness. This movie is

Shooting Architecture on Location With Mike Butler in Bogota, Colombia

We've featured architectural photographer Mike Butler before, when he shot the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, FL. This time, Mike heads to Bogota, Colombia, to shoot the Virgilio Barco Library using a slew of hot lights and assistants. If you've ever wondered why it takes 8 hours to create a single architectural image, this BTS will show you exactly why.

[Video] An Almost-Vintage Walk Down Memory Lane For The 80s Kids

Antonio Vicentini recently created this 8-bit gallery of cameras spanning pretty much everything from antique large format cameras through modern DSLRs. It's a cute, semi-retro, nostalgia-inducing piece for anyone who grew up in the 80s or early 90s. What I find most interesting is how many cameras I was able to recognize; though I'm not sure if that means I'm an uber-dork who has spent far too much time in front of old game consoles and camera websites, or I've just got a killer memory. How many cameras do you recognize?

[BTS] Behind The Scenes Photos of Iconic 'Star Wars' Scenes

We recently came across this collection of behind-the-scenes photographs from the filming of the original Star Wars trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Return of the Jedi). To see Sir Alec Guinness working on his tan in a pair of oversize sunglasses, Chewbacca unmasked, and Carrie Fischer about to get intimate with C-3PO, check this out!