Mike Kelley is an amazing architectural photographer and guest contributor at Fstoppers. Recently, Mike published an article on B&H's Explora blog about the science and magic that went into the featured image above. In his article, Mike takes you behind the scenes in a rare look at the process behind his photographs.
When we first start out on any sort of endeavor, be it creative or otherwise, we all most likely begin same way: a head full of ideas, but a distinct lack of understanding and experience of how to achieve them. Over time, through the benevolence of others, and many hours of Youtube tutorials, our ability catches up and we reach the place where creativity meets experience
Here at Fstoppers, our goal is to hire some of the very best photographers and educators in the industry to provide some insight on how they work, and what they've learned within the industry they're a part of. Recent Fstoppers Writer and Lifestyle Photographer John Schell recently met with Framed Network to show them, and us, what it's like to work on one of his photo shoots.
Rain on your wedding day can be quite a downer for most brides even though many cultures see rain as good fortune, cleansing and fertility. Often brides wonder how they are going to still get good photos if it's raining. Here are some tips for photographers that I've picked up over the years having shot numerous weddings in the rain.
A few weeks ago Pat, Lee, Lauren and myself went to the Bahamas to get ready for the upcoming Fstoppers Workshop. While we were there, we wanted to film some kind of architectural photography tutorial video, and we're happy to share that it's finally ready. The Atlantis Resort is giving us an all-access pass to photograph anything at the resort for the workshop, and
With the release of the next installment of Marvel's Captain America series "The Winter Soldier" less than two weeks away it's great to see a full sixteen minute behind the scenes video (b-roll) to prepare us for what's to be an action-packed, movie-going experience. The movie was shot with both the ARRI Alexa and RED Epic cameras with Panavision lenses.
We live in a time where photographers and filmmakers must combine powers to be competitive in todays advertising market. Recently a huge fashion client approached our production company to capture concurrent motion and still ad campaigns with supermodel Lily Aldridge, but we had to do it all in under 10 hours with 2 complete hair and makeup changes and 12+ outfits. Advertising creatives today need to be able to shoot stellar visual content and assemble bulletproof productions.
In today's post, I'm going to walk you through how I build an architectural photograph from square one. We'll discuss composition, lighting, staging, styling, and posing models in an architectural interior in order to create the image that the client has in mind. Despite appearing as a rather simple image, this shot took over an hour to finish on location with multiple steps and a lot of pre-visualization.
Erik Almås is at it again creating etherial images for clients on location in exotic places with a color palette noticeably familiar. I must say too that this location is just about as exotic as you can get without becoming flat out dangerous. This week Erik gives us a glimpse into a campaign he shot on location in Namibia, Africa. Read more about Erik's mission statement below.
In 2007, world-famous portrait photographer, Platon shot what he later described as one of the scariest assignments of his life. He was to photograph Time Magazine's person of the year: Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Recently, CNN shared the story behind the image in a rare interview with the photographer.
I'm always fascinated by what makes the best photographers think they way they do. What shapes their ways of seeing? In the current climate of photography, it's easy to get lost in everything technical. We can often lose sight of the most important thing about photography...why we photograph. In this video from Steve McCurry's Youtube channel, we get a glimpse at what goes on in the master mind of perhaps the world's greatest living photographer.
Bokehliscious photos. That is the ultimate goal for any photographer no matter the experience level. When "bokeh" is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is the lens and the aperture. Although both play vital roles in bokeh, there are a few key elements that play an even more important role in achieving the finest milkyness in a photo. These requisites aren’t often discussed or even seen as necessary.
Some days, as we plod through our respective news feeds, it seems as though the Internet was invented for one thing and one thing only; to share photos. Although the quality of the photos we have to wade through can sometimes be questionable, and at times our feeds can become overwhelming, the relative ease with which photos are shared is in my opinion, the greatest benefit to our seemingly photo-obsessed and Social Media saturated society planet.
The camera movements in modern timelapses are impressive enough to me. However for some, like Piotr Wancerz, it's just not good enough without these movements being matched over the course of fourteen months. Using tripod timelapses, hyperlapses and a motorized slider, Piotr was able to capture the passage of time over all four seasons. As far as this author is aware, nobody has ever been able to do that before.
I've been there, standing in the middle of a field on a hot day with a scorching sun, mulling back and forth on how to capture a quality shot. In the back of my mind, I'm wishing for some cloud cover or an overcast sky to magically move in. A commercial client or art director doesn't care what time it is, they just want the right image. It’s up to you to capture that image with the weather Mother Nature has dealt.
By now, we’ve all seen the gigapixel landscape shots over the years, but I’m pretty sure never seen anything like the 900 gigapixel portrait series Swiss photographer Daniel Borschung has undertaken. I’m not much of a numbers guy, but when you have a robot arm taking 600 pictures of your subject with a macro lens, the results are a tiny bit mind blowing.
We all know that it's not the gear that takes the photo, but rather the photographer, however when we get a chance to peek into Chase Jarvis' bag, I can't help but get excited. Jarvis is probably the photographer with the most successful social media presence out there. Between his blog and Creative Live, Jarvis' reach is enormous. It doesn't hurt that he's an incredibly talented photographer as well. Now you can see what's in his camera bag!
Last year Dustin Farrell released a video that gave a quick walkthrough of his time-lapse workflow, we covered it here. He briefly introduced his workflow for shooting and processing his images from camera to export. Last week he released another video which takes a much closer look at the process behind his images.
About 5 years ago, when I was still in my Photography college in Australia, our teachers would regularly introduce us to the new and noteworthy Australian photographers' and digital artists' work. Among others there was one artist, whose work really grabbed my attention and I have been watching her growth and success ever since.
You want to know what's better than Erik Almås shooting Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models for Dodge Ram trucks? Me too cause I can't seem to find or think of anything that could possibly be better than this. The 2014 SI swimsuit edition is on news stands now and should be at the top of your reading list for the month. Erik has shot the inside cover for this magazine the last 2 years in a row. Check out the BTS of how he did it.
Pepper Yandell is a talented young photographer out of Texas who shoots some of the coolest cars in the world. He recently was given an awesome opportunity to photograph a couple of supercars in a hanger with really expensive jets - the kind of shoot car photographers dream about. Pepper was nice enough to share with me about how he put this shoot together.
When retouching in Photoshop, there are many different ways to achieve the same thing. Personally, I've always struggled to find the best method to remove shadows under the eyes. Like everything else in Photoshop, there are a slew of methods to correct this, but each of them had their weaknesses. Check out this simple - yet slightly hidden - method that you probably never knew existed.
There is an old quote that says, “If you want to shoot fashion, shoot in color, but if you want to shoot emotion, shoot in black and white.” I don’t know who said it, but I tend to agree. I do love myself a good black and white portrait. There is something special about black and white imagery which has the ability to cut through all the baggage and display both the inner beauty and turmoil which can be so easily hidden away by color photography.
Red Giant, the plugin supergroup that is responsible for filter packs like Magic Bullet Looks, Trapcode, and PluralEyes, has recently announced a new plugin model, Universe, where new and updated filters will be provided to members at low to no cost. If you're a motion graphics designer, or love sweetening your video edits with funky filters, check out the video and see if Universe is for you.
I'm going to be honest with you right off the bat. As far as behind the scenes videos go, this one leaves a lot to be desired. However, as always there is still some information to be gained from it. The first and most important being that this entire series appears to be lit with one Profoto Acute2-D4 head nestled snugly in a Softlighter. Naturally with this being a Leibovitz shoot there is a solid bit of post production and that is surprisingly where the lesson lies here.
Over the last 12-months there has been a surge of photographers wanting to learn off-camera flash. Regularly I receive emails or Facebook messages from other photographers asking for tips. Over the years I have tried to remember what made learning off-camera flash so easy for me and time and time again it comes down to one simple tip.
Online education through video tutorials has become one of the most economical and convenient ways to learn almost any topic, especially if it's photography. Joey L recently launched a new website that takes you on-location and in the studio to see the workflow, thought process, lighting design, post processing, and on-set dialogue that takes place in one of his commercial photo shoots. Check out more trailers below.
A few months ago, I was involved in a shoot that seemed to do everything right. Managing ever larger shoots, photo or video, is not rocket science but does require planning and thought. Here are some basic pointers of what I saw first hand that we can all apply to increase the chances of successful outcomes on our shoots.
Matt Davey, a music photographer based in Essex, and iPhonographer Dilshad Corleone take to the streets of London and go on a fun journey of self-discovery and in the process create a collaborative project of creative individuals using the power of photography. I caught up with Matt and he broke down the project and the great experiences that he gained from collaborating with his fellow colleagues.
Eric Kress, an accomplished cinematographer whose credits include "The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo," (2009) recently led a lighting class at Gokinema, an annual film workshop in Sweden. This video is the first in a series that captured Eric's demonstrations. Grab a coffee, sit back, and watch as he masterfully crafts a cinematic look for a mock scene.
