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.
You may remember a post that we did months back of Lakai shooting a video with skateboarder jumping over huge flames... Well I believe this video is actually older but I like it more. This time the shoe company used explosives to ramp up the excitment and I love it!
After our half disastrous sailing trip in the Charleston Harbor today, it's only fitting to feature this really inspirational video on sailboat photography. Tim Wallace is an amazing auto and commercial photographer but today he is taking his Hasselblad out on the water.
Director Paul Clements produced a pretty amazing commercial for Cat Footwear. By using a single high frame rate video camera and a large array of DSLRs he produced something that I am having trouble describing with words. You'll just have to watch it for yourself.
Check out the BTS below and the finished product below that.
One of my favorite bands recently is The Black Keys (ironically, I like most bands with the world Black in them). They have really exploded in popularity with the release of their current album Brothers, and the latest video to come from that album is Howlin' For You.
EA Sports has been allowing fans to vote for the cover of their newest installment in the college football series NCAA Football 12. For the contest, they filmed four short behind the scenes videos from each player's photoshoot which can all be found below. The photoshoots consist of two primary setups: hall of fame style portraits and on the field action shots.
One of the first things you learn as a photographer is to get a proper model release when considering to sell your work commercially. However, simply having a model release still might not prevent you from litigation. A law firm recently published an ad looking to represent firefighters who were affected by the federal James Zadroga Act.
Robert Seale is a high end sports portrait photographer who was recently commissioned by Sports Illustrated to photograph Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays. His attempt to create something unique and a bit off-kilter involved using a huge 8'x5' piece of Plexiglas that was 1.25 inches thick and 400 pounds. He then set the huge piece of Plexi on a 5 foot tall frame of scaffolding.
I was going to post a video showing Rafael Nadal's latest Armani underwear shoot but figured Megan Fox might be a little easier on the eyes. Now you are probably thinking that any photoshoot with Megan Fox wearing little to nothing would probably produce strong images from any photographer and you'd be right.
If you've ever been hired to photograph an environmental portrait or a lifestyle image, most of the time your client is expecting a very natural looking image. Using too much flash will kill the mood and remove any sense of a natural environment.
Novak Djokovic is currently ranked alongside the top tennis pros in the world. Only a crazy person would put his life and talent in jeopardy...but that is exactly what Head Tennis Racquets have done for their Untek IG Speed MP racquet commercial.
As creative professionals, we always take extra care to notice the details in our work and to make sure that everything we do is as perfect as possible. In the video world, sound engineering and production can actually make a huge difference in the overall success of the visual elements on the screen.
This month NASA's space shuttle program turned 30. To commemorate the occasion they decided to take a single image that included every single employee standing together in the shape of a shuttle.
I'm a pretty big fan of Hip Hop music and I have seen every one of the pictures in these two videos. What I didn't know was that they were all taken by a single person. Jonathan Mannion is extremely talented but he also seemed to be around in exactly the right time to shoot the faces of this growing genre of music.
Have you ever seen those commercials where old footage appears to come back to life with added scenes or impossible revelations are revealed years after the initial filming?
We have been getting a lot of emails about this movie called The Bang Bang Club which is based on real accounts of photojournalists during the South Africa apartheid. I'm sure the movie is going to be a big Hollywood blockbuster type of flick but it should be an interesting watch once it hits the screens on April 22nd. Check out the trailer below and read up on their story here.
I can't tell you how many photographers I encounter think being successful has to do with being at the right place at the right time.
When I received an email from Marie-Louise Cadosch saying she had a behind the scenes video featuring "Lord Vader" I may have rolled my eyes. Chances were good though that her photoshoot would be badass because her previous videos on Fstoppers are some of my favorites.
Karl Taylor is an excellent photographer from England who has become a leading teacher in the "how to" photography market. In his latest video he explains a few lighting techniques he uses in the studio while shooting some crazy hair styles. Karl is using a single Elinchrom monolight but is pairing it up with two Canon 580EX flashes.
Yesterday I got an email from one of the Red Bull brand managers inviting me out to 2010 Illume Photo Exhibit here in Charleston, South Carolina. Illume is a traveling exhibit where dozens of images from the world's best action and extreme sports photographers are displayed on huge 6'x6' backlit panels.
Bara Prasilova is a photographer and artist from Prague with quite a list of awards to her name . Recently she teamed up with Quicksilver Women in Europe and began photographing some of their ambassadors. What I love about her work is that she creates a very dreamy mood with muted colors and often unorthodox poses.
The girls over at [Framed] have started a really great web series that profiles photographers and shows them in action behind the scenes. In this video they dive into children photography with Shannon Sewell. I know a lot of photographers have made a side business out of shooting families and children but what Shannon is doing is completely different.
Yuri Arcurs is perhaps the most well known photographer shooting microstock images in the world. His images are clean, inviting, crisp, and natural looking which are all important qualities needed to sell images in bulk.
I've had some great BTS videos piling up here so I am going to post them all now. Check out the video below where Mike Folden shoots an album cover for "The Resume".
One of my favorite directors is Robert Rodriquez, and I was about to post another great BTS video showcasing his directing skills when I came across this video. Most of this short Nike commercial is shot on green screen but that doesn't mean that you as a photographer can't take away something from this big production.
In the video below Jay P. Morgan shows us the setup for his latest sports image. Using a special body harness, the goalie is able to move in a very realistic way without the potential for injury. As always, Jay does a fantastic job of also breaking down his lighting scheme.
While browsing Creative Motion Design's blog I came across an eye catching ad for Sony's Bravia series of HDTVs. The complete video directed by Superfad had elements of slow motion, CGI effects, graphic design, animation, and photography.
As I'm sitting in the San Diego airport waiting to lose my entire day to layovers and time changes, I finally have some time to catch up on our email account. One video that was submitted to us multiple times was recently featured by our friends over at Strobist and showcases fashion photographer Martin Prihoda.
This is such a crazy idea and as I was watching the video I kept thinking about ways why this wasn't going to work. Well I was wrong. Scott Serfas had an incredible concept and he created an incredible image from it. More info and the final image can be seen here.
Mike Tittel takes us behind the scenes of his most recent photoshoot at Salt Lake Swimming and Tennis Club. This video is beautifully filmed and edited and I'm sure you will take away some great concepts and lighting ideas.
Earlier in the week I posted a video featuring commercial photographer Monte Isom photographing comedian Colin Kane. We'll it turns out Monte has been filming great behind the scenes videos of his photoshoots all along. In this video Monte shows you not only how he created the fun ad campaign for the EA Sports FIFA 2010 video game but also how he secured the job in the first place!
Yes, you read the title correctly. The famous female Mattel toy has photoshoots, and they are actually quite extravagant. When I first saw this I thought it was a joke but after doing some research I found that Mattel designer Robert Best has big production photoshoots like this for all his Barbie Fashion Model Collections.
When I think of pageant photography I often think of those glamor shot booths in the mall with the crazy hair, makeup, and horrendous props and backgrounds. Well times have changed and most young women competing in pageants around the world are taking much more fashion and beauty style portraits of themselves.
Jay P. Morgan just sent his newest video over to me and it is once again top quality. Jay was commissioned to create a professional looking image from a drawn composite and he takes us through each step of the process. The entire project is really amazing but my jaw is still dropped after seeing his lighting setup.
These days, creating a portrait that grabs the average pedestrian's attention isn't an easy task. So what did local New York City comedian Colin Kane do to spice it up a little? He added a raging mob of crazy people behind him in this awesome portrait by photographer Monte Isom.
If you watched my video on how to photograph wakeboarding then you know I'm a big advocate of throwing water at your subjects during a photoshoot! So needless to say I was excited when this behind the scenes video surfaced showing how photographer Art Streiber shot the hero shots for the television show Hawaii Five-O.
Yu Tsai is an incredibly impressive fashion and advertising photographer. He also is an established film maker and director (check out his film section on his site). Recently Yu Tsai was faced with the task of trying to make a car ad stand out in one of the most popular magazines in the world: The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
I'm not a huge fan their style of movies but I can totally appreciate the talent that Pixar puts into each of their projects. If you are at all interested in 3D animation, movie production, or incredible offices, this video is for you.
One of my favorite things about Charleston, SC is being close to the ocean. I love being in and around the water, and although I'm not very good at it, I do enjoy wakeboarding. Charleston has become a pretty big hub for sports like kiteboarding and wakeboarding over the last few years, and this city is not short on talented athletes.
The video below is a short excerpt from the DVD "Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens". Annie is commissioned to shoot for the movie "Marie Antoinette". I found it really interesting how incredibly quick her shoots are. Before the subject ever shows up the concept and lighting has already been figured out. After a few clicks, the shoot is over.
Each year Maybelline creates a limited edition calendar featuring crazy concepts and wild makeup. This year the cosmetic brand teamed up with photographer Kenneth Willardt to produce some very vibrant images. Make sure you head over to Kenneth's commercial section of his website to view a bunch of the images.
Just ran across this quick BTS of a commercial Lucas Zanotto made. Check out the 40 second BTS below and then view the amazing finished product below that.
Jay P. Morgan is at it again with his super informative, large production, BTSVs. Check out the video below where Jay shows us how to make a rain machine for a photo or video shoot. I never thought I would ever make one of these but after seeing this video it actually doesn't seem that hard.
Philippe Kerlo is a really creative beauty and fine art photographer based out of Paris France. Some people are dubbing his work as "extreme glamour" which might be a fitting title. I was recently turned onto his work by one of our readers when they sent us this video of him shooting beauty portraits through plexiglass covered with paint, acrylic, wax, and other colored materials.
Back in the Spring of 2009, Louis Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs teamed up with music mogul Madonna produce their new ad campaign. This video is primarily from the point of view of Marc but that shouldn't prevent you from seeing how photographer Steven Meisel executed the overall shoot.
Back in December of 2009, photographer turned film maker Vincent Laforet teamed up with Canon and Vimeo to start a social experiment in story telling. The idea was to create an short 3 or 4 minute video that would end on a single still frame.
If you were an Fstoppers reader back when we launched then you probably saw Lee Morris's humble attempt at how to photograph a Rolex watch. It wasn't perfect but I think it was helpful in shedding some light on how meticulous product photography can be. Well now Alex Koloskov has made an extremely detailed video on how he created his latest hero shot of a men's Marine Star Bulova watch.
Profoto has really done everyone a great service in having photographer Matthew Jordan Smith explain some of his personal favorite images in his portfolio. In this particular image, Matthew decided to photograph NBA superstar Ray Allen in his own backyard while jumping on a trampoline.
Our main focus here at Fstoppers is informative BTS content but sometimes as creatives we have the technical skills and we need a little bit of inspiration to get us going. I just ran across Karl X Johan's music video for the song "flames" by director Gustav Johansson and I was so impressed I had to post it.
Jay P. Morgan seems to be releasing one great BTSV after another. I have enjoyed them all but I must admit that this one is by far my favorite. At his last workshop, Jay used a 5D Mark II and 4 studio strobes to professionally light his western themed set.