Recent BTS Articles
[BTS] Chris Crisman Shoots Lifestyle Photography In Florida
Chris Crisman is a advertising and editorial photographer who, after a series of missed jobs, set out to add an entirely new branch to his business, lifestyle photography. This video offers a behind the scenes look at his trip, as well as a glimpse at how he shoots and some of his lighting set ups.
How to Create Neon Background Effects in Your Studio Portraits
It’s always interesting to see how gelled lighting can shape the aesthetic of a portrait, especially when we can match that colored gel with a small amount of post production to create an interesting background to a scene. Here’s a quick photography breakdown and post processing tutorial that will help you create a neon sign inspired portrait with just a few complementary colored gels and Photoshop.
A Start-to-Finish Guide on Creating Great Portraits With Smoke
There are certain rights of passage in photography that we all should try at some juncture of our time with a camera. They act as both important learning tools but plainly, they're good fun to do. In this video, Pye Jirsa walks you through how he created a great-looking portrait using a smoke bomb.
Japanese Wildlife Photographer Travels the Globe to Film Cats of the World
I happened across this serene video of a tiny kitten befriending Japanese wildlife photographer Mitsuaki Iwago as he was filming for his NHK TV series, "Wildlife Photographer Mitsuaki Iwago's World Cats Travelogue". While being lulled by the tranquility of the scene I couldn't help but think how amazing our craft is, that we can make a living doing something so incredibly delightful. Iwago-san is fortunate enough to travel the world filming and photographing cats in the streets.
A Full Edit Walkthrough of Light Painting a Porsche
Light painting might be a staple technique most photographers try and learn early on in their time with their first camera, but it has occasional commercial applications. One of the best examples of that is automotive photography. In this video, see an edit of a light-painted Porsche from start to finish.
Stunning Graffiti Artwork Video “Limitless” BTS And Interview With Creator, Selina Miles
I’ve just had Selina’s answers back for this interview and feel sick. Some numbers - 80 hours shooting, 7000+ stills, 40+ hours of rendering, sleeping in shifts to meet deadlines. I thought my current project was tough - compared to her's, I feel like I'm sat on a beach drinking a piña colada. Her video “Limitless” has had 6+ million views in 2 weeks, so all her hard work paid off. Read on to find out how she put this beautiful video together.
Some Simple Steps to Planning and Photographing a Great Image
Has it been a while since you got back to your photography roots with a creative shoot just for you? Sometimes, we need to hang up the business hat and get back to what makes us feel happy and creative. Here's some inspiration.
Filmmaker Matt Mangham Is Back Sharing His Love for Film - Analog Episode 2
Film fanatics rejoice because filmmaker Matt Mangham is back with the second installment of Analog, a personal series he put together to find and tell stories which explore the current state of film photography. You can find the first episode here on Fstoppers. In this episode, we get to follow fashion and action sports photographer Julian Martin as he locks and loads his Leica Minilux and heads out with a model along the California shore.
Fstoppers Reviews The New DryZone Bag From Lowepro
Lowepro’s new DryZone bags come in two different models, a 40-Liter backpack (40L) and a 20-Liter duffel (20L). Lowepro has been making bags for years, and these are a new entry into their DryZone series. These new bags have an IPX6 waterproof rating, which means they can take a significant amount of water blasted onto them and keep your kit dry. Think rappelling through a waterfall or taking on some white water rapids in a small boat. This review will focus solely on my experiences with the 20L and how well it performed.
How I Shot and Edited This Solar Eclipse Photo Using Only My Phone
Who out there captured the eclipse this week? Did you plan ahead, travel hundreds of miles, purchase the right gear, and capture the phenomenon that is a total solar eclipse for that perfect shot? The photos are coming in by the thousands and each seems to be better than the last. Here is my photo capturing 90 percent coverage of the moon over the sun and also a little behind-the-scenes on how I shot and edited it completely with my phone.
Dave Kai Piper Shoots in a Historic Theatre
While on a recent trip in the US, Dave Piper had the chance to stop by The 1905 Academy of Music Theatre in Lynchburg, VA. This historic theater is in the middle of a fund raiser to help raise money to complete their renovations. However while there, Dave had the chance to shoot a model with his Fuji X-Pro in this amazing historic environment.
How To Take Advantage of Windy Weather To Create Beautiful Portraits
When life serves you lemons, make lemonade. At least that’s what I was always told when I was younger. Now as a professional photographer, I’m sometimes dealt lemons in terms of weather conditions. How do you make lemonade out of less than perfect weather so it benefits your set?
See How an Advanced Modern Lens Is Made
Modern camera lenses are small marvels, absolutely packed with technology and intricate, precise machinery. Rarely do we get a chance to look inside them, however. This neat video takes you inside one of Fujifilm's manufacturing plants to see how they put together one of their newest and most advanced lenses, the XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR.
A Father and His Son Recreate 'The Matrix' Bullet Time Scene With the Help of Photoshop
We have featured Adrian Sommeling quite a few times over the summer and with reason. His composite photography work, or digital art if you prefer, is stunning and his videos give tons of inside tips to improve our very own work. In his latest creation, he Photoshopped his son and himself playing with foam guns replaying the famous bullet time Matrix scene. Learn all about the creation of this masterpiece in Sommeling’s video.
[BTS Video] Free Falling With Joao Carlos
Hasselblad Master, Joao Carlos, was featured on the Profoto Blog last week for his free falling studio images. That's right, studio images. Not underwater images. I met Joao in NYC last fall at PDN PhotoPlus and fell in love with his portfolio right away. He always lights his subjects with a minimalist approach and his workflow is powerful and consistent.
Using the Canon 1DC in the Alaskan Wilderness to Capture a Short Film in 4K
The filmmakers of “The Muir Project,” known for their first documentary, “Mile… Mile and a Half,” have just released their latest film, “Noatak: Return to the Arctic.” I interviewed Director Ric Serena who told me about the production challenges his team faced when working on a remote river deep in Alaska and why they chose to go with the Canon 1DC as their camera of choice.
Peter McKinnon's First Video of 2018 Sets the Tone for Success in the New Year
It's 2018. A brand new page. For us creatives, renewed energy, and enthusiastic drive is what it will take to kick the new year off right. And who better to personify said energy than coffee fueled, Toronto-based photographer / cinematographer Peter Mckinnon? In his first "vlogtorial" style video of 2018 Mckinnon takes to the streets of Toronto with friend and sage-like video creator Chris Hau.
Behind the Scenes of Fro Knows Photo's RAWtalk
If you're a fan of listening to photography podcasts then you're probably no stranger to Jared Polin's (Fro Knows Photo) RAWtalk where Jared and buddy Stephen Eckert (an incredibly talented concert photographer) chat about all things photography. The podcast is also recorded for Youtube and is actually a pretty extensive setup.
How I Shot a Spread for Harper's Bazaar Using Only $100 Garage Lights
Having really expensive gear can make you a versatile photographer with an advantage over your peers. In my opinion, knowing how to use gear creatively is a much more critical skill.
Shooting Large Format Portraits for the First Time
Have you ever wondered about what goes into producing images with a large format film camera? Take a look behind the scenes as photographer Willem Verbeeck tries out large format portraiture for the first time.
How I Shot This Set of Studio Images Using Backlighting
If you’ve been following my recent articles, you’ll know that I’ve been on an umbrella modifier trend. I just love how portable and easy to set up they are.
Fstoppers Reviews: Photographing Food E-Book by: Taylor Mathis
One of the biggest niches in commercial photography today is food photography. We've all had the same experience, walk into a small local restaurant and ask to see their menu. The photos look atrocious and you wonder to yourself, "who took these photos?" You know you can probably do a better job, but how much better can you really do? "Photographing Food" an ebook series by Taylor Mathis helps you take ordinary food photos and makes them extraordinary.
Photographer Cory Richards Shares the Key to Great Art
What is the key to making great photography and art? Find out by watching this video featuring Cory Richards.
The Making Of 'Paris In Motion:' How To Make a Hyperlapse
We were all stunned by Mayeul Akpovi's 'Paris In Motion' timelapse a few months ago. A spectacle of incredible timelapse techniques, the video was awesome and had many of us trying to figure out how he did it. Well, Mayeul has come clean, and let us in on the little secret. Check out the surprisingly simple technique in this short video, which was just recently released.
Caleb Kuhl's Incredible "Wild West" Photo Shoot
Take a look at this behind the scenes video and see how photographer Caleb Kuhl shoots his incredible composites for his "Wild West" series. These are very complex images and took a ton of post processing to make them work, but if you're interested in how these things are shot, you should definitely check out this video.
Dead Weight: Tony Irons’ Large and Medium Format Film Photography
I recently produced a documentary on fine art photographer Tony Irons, showcasing his new photography exhibit entitled “Dead Weight.” The collection includes images created in a studio setting on large format film and landscapes photographed in and around Taipei, Taiwan.
25-Year-Old Photographer Goes on the Hunt for the Perfect Wild Bison Picture
The beauty of animal and nature photography has nothing to envy to other genres. The work and patience that goes into creating one single frame are astonishing and sometimes, all the time and efforts don’t even result in a picture. In this video, Michel D'Oultremont describes how he ended up shooting animals and also what he feels when doing what he loves most. No matter if you love animal photography or not, this 10-minute-long documentary is one to watch!
Seven Outdoor Photography Tips
Watch this video for seven helpful mountain photography tips from fine-art photographer James Lorentson.
How I Combined Art and Photography to Bring Awareness to Social Issues
Combine sculpture, photography, and a powerful message to bring social change to the world and you get a series of impactful works that can bring awareness to important issues. In the case of this personal photography project, I covered my bathroom with over 3000 ibuprofen tablets to bring attention to the widespread problems with drugs and addiction.