When learning a new photographic technique, it typically takes quite a bit of practice time before you achieve pleasing results. With long-exposure photography, that learning time is extended because every frame can take minutes to complete. In this video from B&H, photographer Deborah Sandidge does an excellent job of accelerating the learning process thanks to in-depth explanations of strategy and set-up behind each photo presented.
It seems like everyone is asking for money these days. The guy starting a fundraiser for his UBER ride home from the bar to the model wanting to start a photography career by creating a GoFundMe page asking fans to buy her a $2500 camera. With campaigns like these going around, it's sometimes discouraging to donate to some of today's fundraisers for creative projects...until today. Behold the movie awesome POV "Hardcore", which has already been filmed, but needs some additional funds to finish post production. Learn more below.
Taking portraits at wide apertures and consistently nailing focus is is not an easy task. In fact, it’s a skill that must be practiced in order to master it. However, an aspect not often discussed in regards to capturing sharp images has nothing to do with the lens used or the f-stop. Here is the ultimate guide to capturing tack sharp images at wide apertures.
Go behind the scenes with one of the worlds top high-end retouchers, Pratik Naik, in this two part video as he walks us through his process of working with a model shot by David Geffin. Exploring the fine line between retoucher and photographer you can see his passion for what he does and the understanding it takes to capture the photographers vision perfectly.
Los Angeles-based Italian photographer Guido Argentini produced a series of work called, "ARGENTUM " (Latin for silver), that will be released as both a fine art book and as a film that looks into the making and thinking behind the photographs. Each model -- all of which are professional performers -- was completely painted in a metallic body paint. The effect results in an interesting study of the human form (and, specifically, of the female form) in a way that is not sexual, but perhaps quite objective.
Whether we're a photographer, graphic designer, painter, musician or dancer... throughout our career, we’ll slam right into a rock solid wall and it some cases it can be so traumatizing that some of us may never recover. It’s not really a question of if; it’s a question of when and if you’re a new artist then brace yourself, there will come a time when things just don’t click. I’ll be honest; I hit that wall with writing for Fstoppers this past month. Writing 1,000 words once a week is no easy feat, I figure it's only appropriate to write about this very topic as I sit here in recovery from a creative collapse.
If you've played a few shooter video games in the last two decades, chances are you've seen at least one with a point of view that is looking from the top-down. The team over at Corridor Digital wanted to recreate this style in a video short (which also meant doing it all in a single take!) so they partnered with DJI to make it happen. This video takes you behind the scenes on their shoot, but check the full post for the final video and a second BTS piece.
Sean Goebel might only do photography in his spare time while working on his PhD in Astronomy, but that hasn't stopped him from licensing work to the likes of Canon, the Discovery Channel, and others. A quick watch of his timelapse works, including Epochs and Mauna Kea Heavens and it is easy to see why. His latest timelapse project is included here, along with a brief look into its creation.
In this World War II period piece a steeled tank commander (Brad Pitt) and his crew of five men trek past enemy lines to attack the Germans when they least expect it. Fury was shot on Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras using Panavision lenses. What I do love about this particular b-roll is that they show you what the raw footage looks like on the monitors that the director reviews before any post processing is done to it. You can catch Fury in theaters now.
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.
In my last Fstoppers post, I shared an interesting video called Briefly, which discussed how and why a company or advertising agency might approach developing or executing a creative brief.
Remember, the brief is the information that you receive going into an assignment and client relationship. It can serve as your guide to understand what your client aspires to accomplish; a jumping off point to get your own mind working to produce concepts and content ideas. Some briefs are short; some briefs are lengthy and detailed. Some are open for interpretation; others seem rigid and strict.
This week I wanted to share a few of the tools we commercial photographers use to create our tabletop images. Particularly the items used in photographing beverages. There's a lot of trial and error when it comes to this sort of photography, often times we find ourselves using things in ways far from their originally intended purpose. Having said that, there's a lot of things that have become kind-of standard practice in food/beverage photography, some of those items I'll share with you today.
With hopes of saving at-risk environments and capturing them before they are gone forever, a team of 15 timelapse artists have decided to join forces and create a feature film. Eric Hines, Michael Shainblum, Drew Geraci, and Joe Capra are just a few of the names on the "CodeX" roster. They are crowdfunding to try and make this project a reality, and I spoke with team member Ben Canales on why this project matters.
Benjamin Von Wong is at it again. He teamed up with the team at SmugMug on yet another collaborative masterpiece. This time, he left the cold, foggy San Francisco forest, and retreated to the warm, sunny outdoor confines of the SmugMug campus in Mountain View, California. With only $20, a couple lights, and a lot of creativity, he turned everyday tech employees into athletic specimens.
Having been enthralled with how the world looks from a macro lens ever since the first Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie its always been fascinating to think what it would be like to see at that scale. The guys at Macroscopic Solutions have come up with a plan to show that vision in the most accurate way possible, with Macropod. A new photographing system by Mark Smith and Daniel Saftner
