One of the most trying experiences I've had since becoming a photographer has been coming to terms with the fact that there are places in our county where, quite simply, we are not allowed to take photos.
Capturing a high action activity like ice climbing can be tricky enough, but photographer Ray Demski took it one step further– to include the aurora borealis, and to do it in a single image (no compositing). In this behind the scenes video, see the challenges Ray faced when having to deal with capturing a long exposure of the scene, while dangling on the side of an ice cliff himself.
Intelligent Details is the new ad / documentary that Bentley Motors commissioned. It was filmed throughout New York and highlights what inspires Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley's Director of Design, and SangYup Lee, Head of Exterior Design. At around the 3:16 mark, you'll be treated to a behind-the-scenes look at how the film was created.
Weapons of Choice is a powerful visual series that demonstrates, through painfully jaw-dropping imagery, the damage verbal abuse has on a person. I found myself saddened yet amazed while looking through the photos.
During an initial meeting with local publication NFocus Magazine, the Editor-In-Chief asked for a unique aesthetic on Louisville's theater and arts community and wanted a massive group shot, but not your traditional group shot. I threw out the idea to shoot actors and their "characters" from directly overhead on a theater floor, as if they were action figures laid out and organized.
Former Fstoppers writer and Columbus, Ohio based portrait and fashion photographer, Nick Fancher has recently been working on a series he calls Studio Anywhere in which he photographs models in their own homes. Nick's an avid strobist; meticulously lighting every shoot with a small army of speed lights.
When I met Laura Grier at WPPI this year, she showcased her latest editorial fashion shoot with a behind the scenes video. It isn't everyday you get a backstage look at the work and creativity that goes into this type of photo-shoot. Not only are the photos incredible, but the designs and creations showcased on the models are one of a kind. Truly an inspiring piece.
Photography-related groups on Facebook are growing exponentially along with the exploding industry. As with many things in life, there are pros and cons when participating in these groups. One can experience valuable feedback, expertise and positive reinforcement from peers, while also experiencing nitpickers and people who pull you down.
From time to time, we show of some behind the scenes videos of popular movies and TV shows that highlight the hard work done behind the camera to make the stories come alive. However, rarely do we get to see a side by side comparison of a visual effect heavy movie such as Final Destination 5, showing us all the hard work that is done to seamlessly create exciting moments on a budget.
Photographer Sam Hurd is sharing yet another one of his artistic photography techniques with his followers. He mastered The Brenizer Method, he basically had all of Amazon on backorder for Prisming, he ripped the lens mount right off his 50mm for Freelensing, and then he did some convex Lens Chimping.
Last week Fstoppers and Peter Hurley hosted a free Illuminating the Face release party on Spreecast (view it here if you missed it). Since I had learned so much from Peter's tutorial I figured it would be exciting to use some of his studio lighting techniques for my own webcam session. What I didn't expect was all the emails, tweets, and live questions concerning my lighting setup.
Known for its top of the line outdoor adventure camera bags and backpacks, F-Stop Gear recently unveiled the Loka Ultralight, or "UL," a revision of the popular Loka backpack. In this review I’ll go over the differences between the UL relative to its older brother, and point out who this pack is and isn’t for.
It's easy to dismiss the amount of difficulty involved in location shoots. A few years ago, Joey Lawrence (JoeyL) shot a personal project of portraits in Ethiopia. Whether traveling by van, boat or Indiana Jones plane, it's great to have the opportunity to see how hard the literal journey was on the way to the figurative photographic destination.
Wired's Design FX has given us a great behind the scenes video of everything that was involved in the updated Helicarrier crash scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The sheer scale of the project is astounding as FXGuide.com's Mike Seymour and ILM's Digital Models Supervisor Bruce Holcomb take us through the design of the crash and its scale to the actors on the green screen.
Every photographer, at some point in their career, will have an internal debate to accept or decline a job because they may feel insecure about having the right skill sets or gear to complete the job. Personally, I have found myself accepting certain jobs and a few hours later, I wonder if I made a mistake in accepting the job since I may muck up a huge opportunity.
What happens when two filmmakers get together, fill a suitcase with camera gear and hop on a plane? In the case of Preston Kanak and Brent Foster, a great work of digital cinema. With only a rough idea of what they wanted, much was left to chance as these two spent 8 days in Havana, Cuba. Read on for the final film and some insight from the creators.
As far as product photography instruction goes, it's not too common to see a good (free) tutorial video that breaks down the tricks behind capturing challenging cosmetic products. Nikonian Academy trainer Andrew Boey not only makes this topic very approachable, he shows you how to do it on the cheap.
One of the hardest parts of filming on moving sets such as moving cars or trains is to maintain perfect lighting in a way that makes sense to the viewer.
New York based wedding photographer Richard B Flores is taking his job very seriously. Like all of us, he works hard on the day of the event and of course the following days while he edits. But Richard is doing something maybe not many of us do: he spends the day before each event heavily prepping his equipment - from cleaning, to syncing and charging.
"Here come the G's." Words that might not mean anything to you sitting at your computer, but if you're strapped into the back seat of an F-16, it means remember your breathing training and don't pass out. Blair Bunting, recent addition to the Nikon Ambassadors list, took to the skies with the United Air Force Thunderbirds in part to see if he could sustain 9 G's.
Shutterstock was founded in 2003 by entrepreneur (and photographer) Jon Oringer who wanted to create a 2-sided marketplace for stock photos (and later also video). Since then the company grew and became one of the biggest photography-related companies in the world. As of today they sell over 30 million stock images, and add 20,000 new images a day.
In an instant, one can feel as though they are in another world. As a landscape photographer you have the power to transport someone in the blink of an eye and send them on a journey into your photography to see the incredible world we live in. Creating amazing landscapes goes far beyond just snapping photos using the HDR setting on an iPhone.
Although it would seem like common sense, proper motivation is key toward not only getting things done, but getting things done well. This is true in any creative field and this is especially true, it seems, in the over-saturated everybody-with-a-camera-is-a-photographer world we live in.
I’m a bit of a dreamer. I’m also a huge aviation geek, and I often catch myself browsing the web at 2am looking up articles on aviation and aviation history. So when I found Anthony Toth and learned more about his life’s work, I knew that I had my next personal photography project in mind.
Whether you’re a fan of social media or not, it’s definitely here to stay and constantly evolving at lightning speed. It’s completely changed the fabric of how we (photographers) do business: from publicizing images to marketing tactics and communication, our daily life is inundated with a constant barrage of notifications and a conditioned head-down-to-phone routine.
"It is not about getting as close as possible, but to capture the feeling of being there. I don't want to just look into their world, I want to be a part of it." Asgeir Helgestad is a photographer from Norway whose wildlife imagery seems to step inside the world of the animal. In this short video, Asegir explains why he chose this pursuit, and what he hopes to convey with his work.
The iconic Windows XP wallpaper "Bliss" is widely considered to be the world's most viewed image. Though most of us are familiar with the beautiful image that has graced our computers at one point or another, not many are familiar with the story of how it came to be, and fewer yet that it is in fact a real image captured on film!
When it comes to putting together a photo shoot, if there is anything that I’ve learned (and continue to learn), is that the time spent working out the smallest details will save you from at best a tremendous amount of work after the fact, and at worst, the horror of having to scrap the shoot entirely.
Brandon Cawood, from Dalton GA, has taken appreciating first responders to the next level. What began as a personal project to photograph local EMS personnel, soon blew up and went viral. Cawood captures priceless moments in the daily lives of firefighters, police and other public safety personnel. He has a movie poster style and pulls it off in a flawless manner.
Check yourself Lytro, Google's new Lens Blur mode is coming through! Today the Google Research blog introduced a new mode in the Google Camera app that allows Android phone and tablet users to take photos and change the focus after the photo is taken. By changing the depth-of-field slider, you can simulate different aperture sizes, to achieve bokeh effects ranging from subtle to surreal.
Monte Isom, NYC-based sports, entertainment, and advertising photographer just shared a look behind-the-scenes at his most recent shoot for the World Cup. The video takes you all the way through his preproduction and makeup, to shooting with a pretty good look at his lighting setup.
Zoom, focus, spray and pray. That seems to be the M.O. of many photographers who shoot runway. I admit, I was one of those photographers. The one who scours through thousands of images at the end of the night, wishing they had shot more strategically. And, after two hours of culling, flagging three images per look, they’d be lucky if only one was tack sharp.
We might be focused primarily on photography here at Fstoppers, but many of us shoot video and many more are heading to the dark side and getting into the world of motion. This gorgeous little animation from the guys over at Inside The Edit details what a video editor does, and why editing is both misunderstood and yet so critical in the narrative process.
It's not the first time I'm sharing Michael Shainblums work and it won't be the last time. Timelapses are one of the most time consuming forms of photography and only a dedicated person with patience can produce quality results as often as Michael.
Cinescapes Collective is a Saskatchewan, Canada based production group that has been putting together unique documentary content that has a dramatic and cinematic aesthetic. Their most recent short tells the story of Kessler, the creators of popular video production gear like sliders, cranes, and now motion control products.
As a working photographer, my gear is obviously very important to me. My most-used lenses, Canon’s 35L and 50L, are both long time favorites and are glued to my camera almost 24/7. For many reasons, I’ve been a fan of Canon’s prime lenses for a number of years, taking both the good, the bad, and the price tag that they each have to offer.
Peter Menzel is an award winning photojournalist whose work has appeared in many national and international publications such as: National Geographic, Time, Wired, Geo, Stern, Paris Match, Life, Le Figaro and Forbes. Today his new project: Waste in Focus.
Even the best photographers need inspiration. 500px is a beautiful playground for some of the best photographers in the industry, and also one of the most powerful tools for motivation. There’s no sifting through rubbish to find quality work in your feed, which is often a problem with various social media platforms, like Facebook.
Getting it right in camera is one of the most important steps to achieving a great photograph, but color grading is what can really take your work to entirely new level. It has taken me nearly 2 years to find the right process and perfect combination to obtain the right look.
As a photographer, I'm always looking to capture something in a unique way. This is the craziest landscape photoshoot I have ever done. By taping a tiny Nikon Flash to my DJI Phantom II Drone, I was able to fly my remote helicopter up the side of a lighthouse and light the entire thing with flash.
Photojournalist Jonas Ginter always wanted to take the idea of the still-2D spherical panoramas and somehow make them in video format. It took him 2 years to develop the idea and tools, but finally last week he achieved his goal. Jonas used a 3D printer to build a special mount that holds 6 GoPro cameras, and placed them as close as possible to each other to make sure they overlap.
After working with lightweight, compact jib options for DSLR sized cameras, I decided to check out a more affordable and durable option. In this review I’ll show you a sample of the footage from the Taurus Jr. Heavy Duty Jib, and point out where it rocks and where it could be better.
All great timelapses typically take a long time to produce and this piece is no exception. Justin Majeczky spent over 18 months on this project scouting locations, exploring angles, and taking over 20,000 photos for his Sacramento timelapse. He uses a few different timelapse methods and used two different pieces of hardware to achieve the look.
As photographers we face challenges day in and day out, but one of the toughest facets of the job is posing our subject. Regardless of experience, when a model steps in front of your lens for the first time he or she will expect some direction. It’s up to you to give that proper guidance, otherwise your images will just come up short.
Merely two years ago, Stanislav picked up his first camera: a Lumix G3 for $600. From that point forward his inspirational journey began. The majority of his mind-blowing work was taken in his attic using friends as models. Now he is known as Sean Archer - a natural light photographer who specializes in female portraits. His work is proof that it’s not about gear.
I love aviation and I love photography. So the other day, inspiration struck and I ran to LAX to capture a photo that compresses eight hours of airport traffic at one of the biggest airports in the world into a single frame. Here's how I did it.
Michael Kormos and his wife Sophie run a boutique portrait studio in NYC & San Diego, specializing in refresh & modern family photography. They recently photographed a maternity shoot in Death Valley and have graciously shared their experience.
Corey Rich just released his new film, "Dedicated," which reveals the hard work and perseverance of 3 professional photographers. Each shooter profiled has their own version of what it takes to perform at the highest level and produce great work. A behind the scenes video is in the full post.
The photographers featured are Dave Black, Robert Beck and George Karbus.
It’s no secret that everyone can become burnt out on what they do. Whether we are photographers, athletes, truck drivers, or teachers.
I know, I know. My post last Sunday also featured Zack but when you put yourself out there as much as he does, you're going to get noticed (a lesson for us all). Besides, this isn't really about him. This is about one of the greatest challenges ever conceived in the photography industry. That's right kids.