Behind The Scenes

I've spent the last 2 weeks in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, shooting stills and video in freezing winter conditions. Snow, ice, blisteringly cold wind and more. In this video I share what I found to be best for packing my kit, protecting it in the field, and keeping my eyes from freezing to my viewfinder.

And of course she pulls it off! There are so many articles online right now that are in a fuss over how manipulative Photoshop editing can be. Check out Fstopper's post on how Women React to Being Photoshopped As Cover Models if you don't believe me. It's not uncommon for print work to be heavily retouched by some of the best in the world, Jennifer Lawrence show's it's not needed with her latest untouched shoot.

Photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols is a National Geographic veteran and one of the best wildlife photographers working today. In this episode of National Geographic Live!, his imagery and stories about Africa's elephants and lions will both break and warm your heart. In his own words, Nichols tells his stories behind the already fantastic magazine stories - ranging from the disgusting aftermath of ivory poachers to the cute and cuddly playfulness of lion cubs

In his first ever published book Behind The Scenes, photographer Patrick Van Dam creates thoughtful juxtapositions out of snapshots taken behind the scenes on playmate photo-shoots. According to Van Dam's website there are "over 150 photos of unexpected, undirected and natural responses; humor, disillusionment, absurdism and vulnerability in an erotic setting."

Last year Sigma released "Sigma Aizu," an unexpectedly captivating video showing how the company manufactures their products. It was not only a rare look into the process, but also done in such way that mirrors Sigma's recent change in their attention to detail and love of the craft. Part 2 was just released, and it matches the artistic integrity of the original.

Setting aside the runny noses, forget the frozen fingers and the frostbitten toes, and the winter season can lend itself to some pretty magical photos. Personally, and I’m sure many of you will agree, it’s hard to find a willing subject and convince myself to drag my gear out when there is a blizzard. The truth is, if I could create a life-sized snow globe studio with central heating, I’d be a happy man. Well, I found an alternate solution.

Compositing is no beginner’s tactic. Before you dive in, provide time for the proper research and learn the skill set to prior to the job. Like many photographers in the game, initially I had serious trouble with lighting groups of 3 or more. There was always a face with a hard shadow or one more exposed than another.

It's no secret that we creatives are often introverted, or simply don't know the first thing about self-promotion. Thus there are thousands and thousands of brilliant talents out there that very few have discovered. I have been on a mission of finding such gems and helping them expose their work to the worldwide online photography and digital imagery communities. And today I would like to share some beautiful and fun images and inspiration from Spain with you.

Fashion icon, model, plaything. No matter how you see her Barbara Millicent Roberts (a.k.a. Barbie) proves that she's still got it at the age of 55 by landing the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition (technically a promotional cover-wrap for the American International Toy Fair). Even though this tongue-in-cheek video was primarily created for humorous reasons you still get a good glimpse behind the scenes with legendary photographer Walter Iooss.

Black bear bile, rhino horns, shark fins and other endangered wildlife and their illicit trade account for more than $10 billion annually. For the past ten years, documentary photographer Patrick Brown has explored this story, shooting from the jungles of Cambodia to the markets of Guangzhou. The work is now collected in the book “Trading to Extinction,” published by Dewi Llewis and released to coincide with this week’s global summit on illegal wildlife trade hosted in London.

Working at high altitude is always a challenge, but trying to follow fast moving objects that are actually people defying death is a whole other level of intensity. In this behind the scenes video for a Verizon Fios ad, Director Rob Cohen has wingsuit flyers recorded jumping off of a cliff, but then has to get creative to shoot the not-so-real landing. See how they did it and check out the final ad inside.

It's been 3 years since Fstoppers' Patrick Hall posted on the Midway project, where Seattle-based photographer Chris Jordan made us aware of the horrific plight of albatrosses living on the Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Since then Chris and his team have put together this short film documenting the tragedy that plagues the inhabitants of the island, where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch continues to kill. This short is a bit of a teaser for their featured film due to be released later this year.

Wedding Chicks has responded (located at bottom of article).

Advertising utilizing social media has been an uphill trend for those of us in the photography profession, but when does it become unscrupulous for a company to charge photographers for more exposure using their social media sites? When the social media sites say it's against their terms of service, apparently. Wedding Chicks, a popular wedding blog, is doing just that to wedding photographers on Pinterest and other social media sites.

If you are a lifestyle photographer one of your jobs is to make your images look natural- not stiff, not awkward, and definitely not staged. Your audience should see your images as moments that were going to happen regardless of whether or not you were there to capture it. The imagery that Roxy uses in their advertising is a spot-on example of this. Their photographic brand is made up of images of surfer girls living their carefree, summer lifestyle. Each image is a moment.

This brilliant video edited by Nelson Carvajal shows just how much visual effects have changed throughout movie history. The video starts with 1977's Star Wars and ends with this year's nominees for "Best Visual Effects". It wasn't until 1977 that the Academy Awards created an official category for "Best Visual Effects". Although, until 1995 the Academy Awards occasionally fell back to its old umbrella of "Special Achievement Academy Award".

Have you ever tried to recreate an iconic image? It could take days of preparations to get anywhere close to the original. The location needs to be perfect, the makeup and wardrobe need to be spot on and the lighting needs to be accurate. In this incredible video created by "US" (Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor) for The Sunday Times Culture, they managed to re-create 6 iconic images, in camera, in one seamless shot. Check out the final result and the BTS showing how they shot it.

Photographers and artists alike are extremely passionate people. With strict deadlines and hectic schedules, we all have the tendency to jump the gun and act or open our mouth before taking a step back from the situation. There is one word which you will be hearing a lot throughout this article. It is a trait at the core of what we do and it’s very much a necessary virtue: patience.

Shooting speeding boats at dusk from a chase boat with a camera on a stabilizer is the norm for Richard Steinberger, a maritime photographer based out of Denver, Colorado. For a recent advertising campaign with Boston Whaler boats, Steinberger worked in tandem with a video production unit and shared the challenges of working on location, keeping the cameras dry and coming away with compelling advertising imagery.

The concept of doing a Robocop photoshoot has always been on my wish list, but have not been able to find someone with the proper original costume... until now. You see, my friends and I have always obsessed over the original Robocop film since it first came out (don't mention the sequels). I am just thankful that my photography career has allowed me to recreate the daydreams I had as a kid. Read below about how I put this ultimate personal shoot together and see the final results.

Last month we posted an article about a unique LED lighting solution called “Strahlen” that was crowdfunding. On paper, the specs of these lights look great, but how well do they perform in a real production setting? I got my hands on a kit of Strahlens, and after an interview shoot with them I found out that they were the real deal.

I recently came upon an exhibit entitled “Faces In The Crowd” by photographer Alex Prager and it really got me thinking. Not about the creativity, the concept, or the message. I wasn’t even thinking about any of the technical aspects that would have gone into creating these images. As my eyes wandered across the sea of people represented in her images I had but one thought in my mind; it took one amazing director to pull this off.

In this video Enlight Photo highlights one of their products by showing how it can be used to get the best reactions possible from your kids. I personally haven't tested this product myself but the idea of using an audio trigger to get children involved in the process seems like a... sound idea. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

A little over a year ago Felix Baumgartner made history with his record breaking “space jump”, the world’s highest skydive from 127,852ft above ground. The jump was incredible but what many of us couldn’t understand is why there seemed to be no POV footage from Felix's perspective. Yesterday, GoPro released an edit of what many of us have been waiting more than a year for. The video, shown here in it's entirety, is stunning.

Being an avid iPhone shooter myself, I'm always looking for more ways to make my images better without adding the computer to the process. In this quick video tutorial, David Molnar shows you how to use the app TouchReTouch to clone out distracting spots in your iPhone and Android phone photos.

Kai of DigitalRev is known for his Cheap Camera Challenges where he gives successful photographers a cheap camera and asks them to create awesome images with it. Photo mogul Chase Jarvis decided recently to turn the tables and give his own challenge to Kai himself, and see how he can handle it. The challenge was to create one of Chase's most iconic images (originally shot with Hasselblad) with a GoPro Hero3+.

There is a lot of money in food, beverage, and product photography and a huge demand for photographers that can build these images. Think of the shear number of images you see when you walk into your local grocery store or while driving down the highway. Those images are being created by photographers that specialize in creating these images. Join us this May and learn how to become one of these photographers.

In under five years, Andy Frame went from being a photography nobody to running one of the most successful photography operations that I'm aware of. I had a chance to catch up with him and hear all of his absolutely inspirational story so that I can share it with our readers, and so that I can motivate my own self to do better on a regular basis.

When I first picked up a DSLR and got a taste of artificial lighting, I loved shooting in darkness. I felt like I could control light a lot easier without having to fight the ambiance of a location or sun. Using an array of speedlights, I would light the location and subject how I wanted. Sometimes, that included putting speedlights in lamps or mounting them in the background. Eventually, that style took a sharp 180 degree turn, now I love using natural light in my favor to create a dramatic portrait.

In this video from The Slanted Lens, photographer Jay P Morgan takes you behind the scenes at East West Bank as he shoots a two camera interview of two executives. By mixing daylight with LED light, he shows you how to blend a single LED light source with natural window light while on location.

Marc Donahue from Permagrin Films keeps popping up with new and interesting timelapse or GoPro projects– and his latest work features the gorgeous city of San Francisco. Using unique motion timelapses, Marc and his team put together another amazing piece of work. Marc shared some insight on the production, and we've also got some behind the scenes video too so you can see how it was made.