Although there are thousands Guinness Wold Records and some are broken every day, it's still inspiring to see large numbers of people come together with a common goal. Recently, both GoPro and Devin Graham filmed different world records.
I am a photographer. I love to shoot. I live to shoot. But I am not a gearhead. I'll use anything available to me. From film to toy cameras to digital cameras, I've shot on it all. But today, with a case full of professional photo gear, I still use whatever tool I have available to me to take pictures. This includes my phone.
Photography is an enormous, multifaceted industry that ranges from portrait and product to macro and landscape. As photographers, we owe it to ourselves to learn as much as we can about each specific genre of our trade. Even if you only shoot weddings or cars, it’s important to learn and practice new techniques, which will allow you to hone your skills and can keep you out of creative ruts. Recently, I have had the opportunity to take on several types of shoots that I either have never done before or have had very limited experience with.
Back in September I spent a few days in New River Gorge, West Virginia, rock climbing with a group of friends. For this trip I developed a plan to put together a short documentary that would involve shooting an interview in the climbing area and doing a multicamera shoot of a climber. Watch the final video, and then read on for a breakdown of how it was all done.
Clients, deadlines, prints, taxes, insurance, equipment maintenance, paperwork... these are all responsibilities that can quickly fall on a full-time professional photographer's shoulders; the weight swiftly dragging you to the floor. Between trying to make a living and trying to be creative all at the same time, sometimes it's hard for us to just, 'stop and smell the roses', but it's important to. Let me tell you why.
As I am writing this I am trying to fall asleep. I am supposed to be up in 4 hours to head off on a little snowboard adventure with some friends. Instead of sleeping though I am sitting around watching snowboard videos, smart move right? Anyway a buddy told me to check out this movie called The Art Of Flight on Netflix, and I can tell you this much, it doesn't disappoint. The cinematography is gorgeous, but they took it a step further, and really worked with the sound to make it a totally immersing experience. Check out this BTS on how they used Dolby 7.1 to enhance the sound of the film...
Every morning I wake up and walk out to my living room. I sit down on the couch and bask in the sunlight coming through my sliding glass doors. I love how the light cutting through the vertical blinds creates a pattern of lines going across my living room. I have often thought how cool it would be to shoot a photo with the light like that, but at sunset when the light is real golden. The only problem? I can't shoot a sunset like that because my door opens on the eastern side of the house...
I love it when teams can keep churning out interesting tutorials or behind the scenes videos regularly and still keep the quality high, and one team that continues to do just that is PHLEARN. We've featured them a few times in the past, and today they released this new video on shooting beauty, but with sparklers.
For the past few years DigitalRev has done the "Cheap Camera Challenge" with a professional photographer and a crappy little toy camera. This year's challenge consisted of Strobist's David Hobby, a 2MP Buzz Lightyear toy camera and 3 of the best named speedlights of all time, the Family Jewels FUQ 690. Kai of DigitalRev gives Hobby 5 photo tasks in 5 different locations and Hobby handles it pretty dang well considering the slight limitations. Enjoy!
The Slanted Lens is back with another amazing lighting tutorial. This time they venture onto a 1700's Naval ship, the U.S.S. Constitution in Boston, MA. The portraits include an early Naval captain and his shipmates loading cannons. This tutorial specifically goes through how to light creatively during the nighttime hours where lighting might be more difficult for some.
I have never personally met Mike, however I can't seem to get away from him. He definitely has some amazing shots that stand out from the rest of the crowd. I know Mike through a Facebook group called CREATIVOS, which is a group for photographers looking to share tips, tricks, and images and grow within the industry. I keep seeing his work pop up and can't take my eyes away from it.
Den Lennie from F-Stop Academy shot this behind the scenes video that documents James Tonkin as he creates visuals for his short film "A Night at Nine Elms" with the EF-Mount version of the BlackMagic Cinema Camera. James talks about his experiences with the BMCC and discusses using Canon EF lenses. See the final short film in the full post.
If you've watched the TV series "Grimm," you may be curious how the mythological creatures from Grimm's fairy tales make it onto screen. Bent Image Lab, the production company behind the cg creations of the show, explains their process of transforming characters into creatures and adding a fantastical element to each episode.
When I was a kid (and still now) I loved Terminator 2. The special effects at the time were the best we had seen yet. The way the T-1000 morphed in and out of liquid metal blew my mind. Now days it would probably be done 100% with CGI, but when this movie was made CGI was still in it's infancy and they had to use a lot of puppetry. T2 had a lot of CGI firsts though, including being the first movie to have realistic human movements on a CGI character, the first use of a PC to create major movie 3D effects, and many other firsts. Check out this BTS video on how they made some of the molds...
Australian Fashion and Commercial Photographer Peter Coulson with Arterium Creations put together this video from one of his fashion shoots in Melbourne. Not your typical studio setup, Peter is out with his crew shooting in the open streets, complete with the public watching and potentially ruining some of his shots. See as he works with his model and they have a great time creating some stunning street-fashion images.
Marvel's 'The Avengers' is the top grossing movie of 2012 and the third of all time, ensuring that the superhero genre of movies are here to stay. Industrial Light & Magic have finally released the behind the scenes and walkthrough for the post production on one of the most amazing scenes in the movie, a long take of all the heroes fighting off the Alien horde that is uninterrupted and seamless with New York City as its backdrop.
Several years ago Richard Schneider of PictureCorrect.com decided his new years resolution would be to begin training to be able to fly a wingsuit. This dream along with his passion for photography eventually led him to Dubai, where he captured the footage you'll see in this video. Learn more about Richard and the work it took to get to this point in the full post.
After all these years, Victoria's secret has just been revealed. She can't sing, not a lick. A recent VS Christmas commercial features their Angels getting ready for the holiday and singing carols while placing presents under the tree and waiting for Santa to show. The girls mess up lyrics, sing horrible notes, drop props ... and look fantastic the entire time. MERRY CHRISTMAS from me. Enjoy!
Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz best known for his amazing milk dress series is back with another amazing lighting tutorial. In this video he explains how to create some pretty nifty looking light streaks to create a fiery effect in your photographs. Using both a modeling lamp and normal flash from some Paul C. Buff Einsteins he shows how you can drag your shutter to create the effect.
Go behind the scenes with photographer Jens Haugen. Jens produces some amazing work. Probably because he shoots with a hasselblad,(jokes). A lot of work goes into fashion photography like this. From Mua's, Art Directors, Stylist, ect.. every person has an important role in developing the finished product. Not having a entourage should not discourage you tho, it just means you have to work harder and pay attention to detail with a fine tooth comb. For instance the color schemes in these photos are very well constructed and tie her outfits in with the BG. The balance of light and the way they use the light to shape her face is really beautiful too.
Check out a BTS editorial shoot with Brandon Hill. When i first started watching this video I was not expecting a solid finished product, but i quickly ate my own words after seeing the final photos. From looking at the images on the camera to the final product it is evident that Brandon, or a retoucher, did an excellent job in post. It is interesting how adding a different BG color can make the image come alive. It's also apparent that Brandon knows his light ratios very well. These portraits only being done with 2 softboxes is quite impressive. That rim light has just enough kick to separate it, but still have plenty of detail in it, a very delicate ratio.
Gavin Hoey with AdoramaTV put together this simple yet informative video that includes beginner tips on techniques for bracketing your aperture, finding different materials for textures, and finally bringing it all together in Photoshop. Gavin shows how he works in Photoshop to transform images to make them fit your composites in a more pleasing way, and also uses blending modes and layers masks to make the textured vignettes fit his images.
To shrink the hobbits in "Lord of the Rings" was not a simple feat for Peter Jackson, it took a lot of set crafting and perspective tricks. Instead of going through those extra hoops for the recently released "The Hobbit," Peter and his team took a different composite approach to the process of resizing the actors. Our friends at Popular Mechanics detailed how the results were achieved.
Alright, just when I thought he couldn't do anything more amazing, he proves me wrong, way wrong. If you have seen any sort of sports portraits, they usually do something different then your normal portrait. Adding cool lighting effects, lots of post work ect, not Wyn. His story for this shoot is a must read and great advice for anyone wanting to blow away their competition in their town. The way Wyn went about getting this all organized, shot, and edited is a pure masterpiece.
Earlier today we posted this video of an Eagle lifting a baby in the park, and it started a massive debate whether its real or not. Now we have the answer: its FAKE. Check out this BTS video showing how 4 animation students from Montreal created this viral video. Did you get it right?
I started a new project recently creating portraits on 11x14 film. I have had an 11x14 back for my Deardorff for several years, but I have never shot much in that format. I decided to try a couple sheets in hopes of kick starting a new project.
Youtube put together a tribute video where the biggest viral sensations of 2012 were invited to star in a mash-up of culturally defining moments from the year, directed by Peter Furia. Can you spot all the references? We've also got the BTS, so check that out once you've had a good laugh.
I have been following Luke Schneider's work for quite some time and it just keeps getting better and better. He has a nack for fashion photography and it clearly shows. I decided to find out a bit about him and what his goals are for the future and current project. He is still in college so he has quite a bit of time ahead of him to achieve his goals. From the looks of it, he is well on his way there.
In a recent 60 Minutes special, CBS Reporter Lara Logan spent time with Dereck and Beverly Joubert in Southern Africa. The Jouberts have been shooting images and video of the wildlife there, for over 30 years. They have produced countless amazing images and have even created documentary films from the content they captured. Embedded video inside.
I love 24 and 48 hour film contests where teams are given a short amount of time and often a budget limit to shoot, edit and deliver short films that go head to head with eachother at the judges table. "The Girl Is Mime" was created for London's 48 Hour Film Project in 2010 (which it won) and is directed by Tim Bunn, starring Martin Freeman. Also, here is a BTS video, ENJOY!
