Recent Location Articles

[Video] Ten Awesome Tips For Any Traveling Photographer

If you read Fstoppers, you might be a seasoned professional, or you might have just purchased your first camera and are eager to learn. Whatever your skill level, I'm sure that you've all been bitten by the travel bug at least once before, and as a camera owner, you've been inspired to bring home the best you can when shooting in a foreign location. A friend of mine recently sent me a video made by DSLR Traveler which is packed full of tips for anyone interested in improving their travel photography.

Utah Salt Flats:  Photographing Capoeira With Natural Light And Strobe

Last time we featured a video from Mike Tittel, he was showcasing his edgy lighting look on some female tennis players. This time he has taken his photography team to the salt flats of Utah to photography the Brazilian sport Capoeira. For this shoot, Mike pulls out a few Profoto 7Bs with 2x3' gridded softboxes for many of the shots. However it's his natural lit shots that really grabbed my attention which he lit using the very helpful 4x6 California Sunbounce to fill his subjects. After the video, head over to Mike Tittel's Website to check out more of his work and click on the full post to read how Mike lit these shots in his own words.
What I Learned From Shooting One Of The Worlds Best Up And Coming Mountain Bikers

Last week I traveled to Utah to shoot the athlete that landed the first ever double backflip on a downhill bike. Upon arriving at the Red Bull Rampage site, my mind was blown witnessing the extraordinary things these athletes are capable of. This trip has taught me more than any other sports photoshoot I have ever done.

Behind The Scenes Of An Epic Backcountry Ice Climbing Photo Shoot

There are a few behind the scenes videos out there that show photographers working with ice climbers, but often the climbs are right next to the road, making it convenient to bring tons of gear, power, and spend all day getting coverage. So what does it take to create those images when you're miles deep into the woods, and can only take what you can carry on your back? In this behind the scenes video, I'll show you the challenges of such a shoot.

Google Shares Incredible Underwater Journeys with Street View Oceans

Yesterday was World Oceans Day (it's okay if you missed it; you can make up for it today) and to celebrate, Google released an amazing new feature powered by its popular Street View technology: Street View Oceans. Working with a number of scientists and researchers, Google mapped well over 50 unique experiences around the world with GPS data to give the public access to the amazing life under the sea as well as to help track its growth and/or recession for scientific study.

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens traces the arc of Annie's photographic life, her aspirations to artistry and the trajectory of her career. The film depicts the various phases that shaped her life including childhood, the tumultuous sixties, her transition from Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair magazine and later her most significant personal relationships including motherhood. Check out the full post for the rest of the documentary.
Using Variable Neutral Density Filters In Bright Sunlight

Gary from F8 Photography and Mikey from Lightenupandshoot have crossed paths while traveling through Hong Kong. Lee and I ran into Mikey out at WPPI in Las Vegas a few months ago where he told us of some up coming adventures he had planned for Southeast Asia. These guys are really laid back and excited to break out into a photoshoot at any given time. In this video they take a ferry over to a local island to capture a few images of some friends they made in Hong Kong. Around 2:30, Gary talks about using a Variable Neutral Density Filter to almost completely destroy the ambient light while still shooting wide open at f1.2 and maxing out his shutter sync speed at 1/250. I've never attempted this technique, but it has been made famous by many photographers including Joey L. Does anyone have an opinion about these variable neutral density filters or use this technique in their own work? If so feel free to post an image in the comments below.
[Video] Simple Tips for Mastering Push/Pull Moves

Using a slider for video production can be a no-brainer when doing lateral tracking shots, but when you use them to for push/pull shots, sometimes the track itself can become a hinderance if it visible in your shot. In this short series you'll see cinematographer Preston Kanak give you some ideas on how to keep the slider where it belongs, out of your shot. Interested in seeing how it's done? Click here to see the full post.
Is Your Hometown Too Boring to Photograph? Think Again

As someone who spent more than 10 years living in London and now lives in a village of just 750 people, I can relate to those who struggle to find inspiration on their doorstep. In this motivating video from Evan Ranft, the photographer runs through some ideas of how to rediscover your hometown with your camera.

Learn Bounce Flash: Quick and Easy Lighting

Soft and beautiful lighting is the quintessential ideal for many portrait photographers, but what do you do when you need to work quickly in multiple locations?

New High-End Remote Trigger Released By Ubertronix

If you think you've got a quick trigger finger, then you haven't used the new Strike Finder Touch (SFT) by Ubertronix. This sleek remote trigger boasts the ability to trigger your camera shutter in less than 1 millisecond. The device has 5 different modes: Time Lapse, Lightning (or high speed flash), laser, sound and motion. All you need is 4 AAA batteries, your camera, and a great subject to get started.

The Freedom Tower: A View From The Top Of The World

Months of planning, 567 images stitched into a single panorama and a 14.6 gigabyte image results in a breathtaking view of New York City from the top of the Freedom Tower. Deemed as one the tallest skyscrapers in the US, the new Freedom Tower is about one year out from completion.

Gorgeous 4K Drone Footage of the Icelandic Highlands and Faroe Islands

If you’re especially sensitive to wanderlust, exercise caution before clicking the play button. As if Iceland and the Faroe Islands aren’t already alluring, a little 4K drone footage is the fastest way to convince me to spend a chunk of change on a flight.

How to Take Perfect Sunset Landscapes

Why is it that certain sunsets stand out more than others? After all, it’s not every day we see a good one. Well, that depends on a few different things that must come together to produce the kind of sunsets we want to capture in camera. In this piece, I'll outline what to look for and when.

How To Build A Profitable Portrait Studio

Starting tomorrow Friday January 4 - January 6, photographer Bambi Cantrell will be sharing helpful tips that can help elevate your portrait photography career. Hosted by creativeLIVE, this workshop will be take place at Bambi's studio in San Francisco. Throughout the 3 days, Bambi will cover how to create stunning backdrops, find inexpensive props, create a strong marketing brand, print images in-house, as well as hair and makeup.

Fstoppers Atlantis: The Most Fulfilling Experience Of My Life So Far

I've had some pretty amazing experiences in my life. Fstoppers.com has given me incredible opportunities like meeting Bon Jovi, or riding in the first Lamborghini Aventador in America. Our international workshop last week took a year of planning and insane amounts of stress. On top of it all, I had the flu during the entire week. Even still, last week was the most rewarding week of my life.

Behind the Scenes of Michael Herb's Test With Westcott's Zeppelin: "Desert Warriors"

Las Vegas based commercial photographer Michael Herb recently got his hands on Westcott's 59 inch Zeppelin to test out on location in the Nevada desert. The photoshoot featured three models in an apocalyptic theme at a salt lake bed. In the behind the scenes video he shows just how difficult it can be to put together the Zeppelin on the separately purchased speedring. Even with the problems at set-up Michael still quite enjoyed shooting with the Zeppelin and plans to use it in the future.

Large Format Film for Corporate Brochure

I teamed up with Luquire George Andrews, an ad agency in Charlotte, NC, to create four images for a corporate brochure for Lincoln Harris, a commercial real estate company with properties in 26 states. LGA wanted to feature b/w photographs of executives in Lincoln Harris' properties.

National Geographic Photographer Encounters Deadly Leopard Seal

It's always a great day when a massive leopard seal decides not to eat you whole. It's an even weirder day when that same leopard seal decides to feed you a fresh penguin. In this video, National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen was on assignment in Antartica to capture leopard seals in the wild when he was approached by a massive female with jaws twice as big as a grizzly bear. What happened next is nothing short of epic.

MPC's Work on 'The Martian' Impresses In This VFX Breakdown

Big movies mean big budgets, which usually mean big visual effects. The Moving Picture Company (better known as MPC) recently released another one of those mesmerizing VFX breakdown videos for their most recent feature film, “The Martian.” The breakdown reveals some aspects of the film and of Matt Damon's performance that were both challenging and impressive, like the fact that the helmets worn in the film didn't feature physical windscreens. Those were added later with matching reflections to the scenery.

The Toughest Shoot of My Career? How I Shot this Series of Action Images

I relish a challenge and I knew this job was going to be hard, but I had no idea how much improvisation would be required to complete this shoot and come away with images that worked for the client. Huge venue, one light, complex action, no reccy visit, and just six hours to get it all done.

Are You Ready To Photograph an Active Volcano?

Since July 4th, over 7,000 earthquakes have been recorded in the Reykjanes Peninsula in the southwest coast of Iceland, leading to sustained speculation that a volcanic eruption is imminent. Over the last couple of years, we have already seen this behavior twice in Iceland, and now, it looks set to happen again for a third time.

Multi-Part Video Series on Mastering Drone Footage Is a Must-Watch That Will Make You Drool While You Learn

Cinema5D founder Sebastian Wöber's latest three-part tutorial on drone shooting starts off with quite the introduction in Part I. Wöber could honestly be saying anything to accompany his to-die-for footage, but what makes it so fantastic is how great the information in this video is. From safety to beginner tips on getting started and how to get that cinematic shot you have in your head (don't worry, Wöber has plenty examples if you don't), Part I has you covered. And there's more to come...very soon.

How #BrinsonBanksing Became More Than Just a Selfie

Only the rare few of the millions of selfies taken have mass appeal, and an even rarer few get their pose/selfie named after them and their own hashtag. Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks are the husband wife photography team behind brinsonbanks.com and, not insignificantly, the main subjects and namesake of a style of pose and photo that has now become known as BrinsonBanksing, equipped with its own Instagram hashtag.

Tree Speed's Time Lapse Tour In Utah

Django Greenblatt-Seay and JJ Dreier joined together to form Tree Speed, self proclaimed as "A of couple of Mid-Western guys who spend vacation time traveling the country shooting time lapse photography."

Based out of Omaha, Nebraska, the duo recently took to the road and self produced a 10 day trip to Utah to create a series of time lapse videos. In order of appearance, the team shot in Latuda, Utah (a ghost town), Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Lake Oahe.

[BTSV] Photographer Brings Marvel's Emma Frost To Life

To keep chugging along through the daily grind, most of us have to make work fun so that it becomes, well, less like work. Darrel from BGS Studios is a fantasy and sci-fan photographer who obviously loves what he does: making the fantasy just a little closer to reality. Click here to watch the BTSV and see the finals from his Marvel-Comics-inspired Emma Frost shoot.
Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and his DSLR in Space

FS Reader Clifford Pate brought these images to our attention, asking if the DSLR Russuian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka was using on the International Space Station was a Nikon or a Canon. That legendary DSLR battle aside, it's cool to see how the cosmonauts work with a DSLR, and the kind of equipment that goes into the process (beyond just the camera).

Spectacular Entries in National Geographic Photography Contest

One of the best contests each year is the National Geographic Photography Contest. They always receive so many photographic entries that are simply amazing shot from locations all over the world. I picked out a few of my favorites to share here along with the links to go see more.

The Pros and Cons of Wired vs. Wireless Tethering

I love to shoot tethered whenever I can. It’s the most successful way to create real collaboration on set, and clients are more engaged when they can see what’s happening on a big screen. Depending on the environment and the demands of the production, I’ll choose between a couple of tethering approaches.

[Video] Jeb Corliss Runs into a Mountain in a Wingsuit

A relatively new 'sky sport' out there makes use of a wing suit. Want one yourself? You'll first have to log at least 200 sky-diving jumps just to buy one. Here, via Gizmodo, Jeb Corliss jumps on a beautiful day, but cuts it just a little too close... Luckily, for those that have the stomach for it, we have a first-person view thanks to a helmet-mounted GoPro.
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.

A Lion Goes to Town on a Canon 5D Mark II and Lens

Ed Hetherington was photographing animal life in Kenya from a remote on-the-ground setup when a lion approached and found it rather odd...and oddly tasty. The series of images that followed show the lion sniffing, carrying, and enjoying the camera for a while. The lens survived despite getting a little dirty, but the body wasn't so lucky...

Photogenic Locations You Can Rent to Add New Dimensions to Your Photography

Fashion magazines, brand-name advertisements, and catalogs of all sorts seek out interesting locations to stage their photo shoots. Some are simply looking for controllable surroundings for privacy and security, but other productions are seeking something special to enhance their photos. Many locations, however, come with a price.

A Glimpse Of Shooting Commercial Ads With Hot Lights

I was a little on the fence whether this video was good enough for the front page of Fstoppers or not. Although there is no technical information in this video, I think the final photos by Thomas Vassort are outstanding and should inspire us all to raise the bar on our commercial style shoots. I really love the aviation vibe Daniel Hechter went with on their Spring 2011 clothing campaign. It appears most if not all of these images were shot using natural light along with hot lights or HMIs which is probably a lighting style few of us have used. It also appears these were all shot on a regular old Canon DSLR (somewhat rare for campaigns like this). Check out the final photos in the full post.
[BTS Video] Light Painting Product Shoot Of A Volvo Big Rig

Product photography can get pretty tedious at times, but this shoot for the new Volvo FH 540 is on another level. Tim Bjorn shows us how to shoot a massive, shiny vehicle all while having an incredible workflow and paying much attention to detail. Check out the full post and see how you can incorporate these techniques into your shots where you're model is larger than your lights can cover.
Tips for Managing Workflow on Location for Photo and Video Shoots

Storing and transferring data from a shoot is an important, yet often overlooked detail when it comes to on-location projects. When juggling multiple cameras, each with multiple cards, it becomes critically imperative to be 100 percent sure that all of your photos and videos are accounted for. In this video, Jay P. Morgan shares his workflow for wrangling data and making backups.

Timelapse Of Golden Gate Bridge's 75th Anniversary Fireworks Show

On Sunday, San Francisco celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge with one massive fireworks display. For all of us who weren't able to attend, no worries; the guys over at The Seventh Movement captured the entire event with several Canon 5Ds (MKII and IIIs) and a Red Scarlet (at 48 fps). The editing job on this is amazing and all the shots were planned out really well...the twilight harbor shot is worth a watch alone!

On a Deadline: Quickly Shooting Food With Limited Gear on Location

For over a year now, I've been the lead freelance photographer for Stock and Barrel Magazine, a food and beverage publication here in Columbus, Ohio. Often, assignments get thrown my way with not a lot of time to get them done before deadlines hit. That means I get to shoot a lot of places in a very short amount of time. Oh the joys of the print world! In this article, I'm going to share with you how I shoot food on location quickly. No assistants, minimal gear, during business hours, and without pissing off the chef. Let's get started.

Brooke Shaden and Lindsay Adler Concept Shoot-Off

The [Framed] Network recently teamed up with photographers Brooke Shaden and Lindsay Adler for a very interesting show - "The Concept". In this show, they give Lindsay and Brooke the same missions, and they together have to decide on the concept and location. Both Lindsay and Brooke are leading names in the industry and both are amazing photographers, so it's very interesting to see how each one of them tackles the concept in a very different way. Both results are epic yet so different.

[Video] Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend, Stunning Commercial

It goes without saying that besides the Superbowl commercials, we can pretty much expect the same run of the mill advertisements. Whether it's cartoon bears with toilet paper stuck to their butts, or of babies talking like grown adults, this commercial really blew them all out of the water. Advertising film director, Bruno Aveillan, (along with a crew of about 50 people) spent two years putting together this epic 3.5 minute journey celebrating the 160 year history of luxury jeweler, Cartier.

Brace Yourself: Lavender Season Is Coming

Are you ready to photograph some lavenders? Do you know when and where to go? Here is the answer and everything else you would like to know.

A Beginners Guide To Sky Photography

Ben Canales is one of those photographers who enjoys taking photographs in total darkness. He also enjoys shooting when the skies are the clearest and the stars are the brightest which also happens to be when it's freezing outside. At some point you have probably seen these amazing night images and maybe you have even tried your hand at a few. Well Ben has a made a rather simple but exhaustive tutorial on how you too can capture the earth and the skies at night. Some of his tips like the 600 rule and how to easily setup a nice composition in near darkness are really insightful and almost makes me want to try my hand at a few long exposure shots next winter. Check out his other star tutorials, and hopefully this post helped you forget about the blazing summer heatwave going around!
Photographer Seeing Full Color for the First Time!

I remember being nervous about putting them on. I stood there, thinking: "what if they don’t work, or what if I am scared to take them off?" With one deep breath, I slid them over my eyes, and a curtain of vivid color filled my vision.

RocknRoller MultiCart: The Most Useful Tool In A Location Photographer's Kit

Ever since I briefly introduced it in my Photographer's Grip Kit video, people have been emailing and messaging me regarding the utility cart I use to haul gear around a job site. As a result, I figured a video was in order to talk about the cart in more detail, along with the modifications we've made to better adapt it to our workflow.

BTS - Outdoor Catalog Shoot In Jasper National Park From Lars Schneider

This behind the scenes video from Lars Schneider, would no doubt be a killer shoot to land.

The location for the outdoor catalog shoot took place in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies last September for Ortlieb, a company that makes various bags for outdoor activities.

[Tutorial] Light Painting Master Dennis Calvert's Techniques

We've featured light-painter extraordinaire Dennis Calvert on Fstoppers before. Many of us were left wondering just how he creates those stunning images. Dennis recently wrote a post on his site detailing his method; be sure to view the full post to read more.
A Simple Tip to Get More out of Your Golden Hour Portraits

You’ve covered your bases for that ever elusive amazing sunset shot: you’ve checked the time for sunset, mapped the exact location of the sun, and have composed a few frames so you know what to do when you get to the location. But what about the location itself?