The Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II is one of those lenses you always read about, but short of running into a professional sporting event, an affluent amateur, or Ryan Brenizer you just don’t see them. They’re rare and they’re expensive, but besides the obvious lust factor of the lens, is it any good?
The Look3 Festival of the Photograph was just held in Charlottesville, Virginia June 13-15 but the nice folks at Livestream have archived some of the best content from the weekend and you can stream it now for free for a limited time. In case you weren't able to attend, you can stream complete artist talks by National Geographic photographers Michael "Nick" Nichols and Tim Laman, Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas and art photographers Carrie Mae Weems, Gregory Crewdson, Martha Rosler and Richard Misrach.
When was the last time you went to see a live concert of your favorite artist without taking out your phone to snap a photo or take a video of your favorite song? Or what about the last time you traveled to experience the beauty of different parts of the world without seeing it though the phone screen?. The habit of documenting everything we experience developed just in the past few years with the help of smarter phones, and of course the rising of social media that pushes people to share their experiences, especially in the form of photos. But is this habit actually killing our memories and experiences?
"Set up in 1936, Life magazine believed that pictures could change the world."
America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine is a fantastic documentary from the BBC about the life of one of the most important magazines in American history. Narrated by acclaimed photographer Rankin, it follows the people who told the 'story of America' through its most dynamic decades - the 40s, 50s and 60s - and documented its growth into a world superpower.
Dream jobs are made where individuals labor in love, and passions are fostered. It is where “working” is hardly the right descriptor for they day-to-day. Seeing people who truly love their work and work for their passion is rare. I want to tell those stories, and I found one worth telling at a place where they produce the tools that make the lives of creative professionals possible- tools that often at first we never knew we needed, but now would find it impossible to live without.
Samsung has a weird, and to me slightly irritating, inclination that is bordering on habit: pushing products into hybrid scenarios that are doing just fine where they are. As someone who likes to have a camera, a tablet and a phone as separate devices (because, well I use them at different times for different things), I am continually baffled by the choice to shoehorn them into each other. I’m also disappointed that consumers are rewarding this, and Samsung is at it again with the Galaxy S4 Zoom.
Designer Roberto Cavalli recently designed a gown for Beyoncé, exclusively for the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. In an official press release that was sent out by the Italian fashion house on Tuesday, one very controversial photo of Beyoncé wearing that dress was attached. In what looks like a heavily Photoshopped image, the company behind this ad made her look very thin, unrealistically thinned and stretched her legs. As art it's interesting, but it wasn't received well by many viewers.
Late last night Adobe announced Photoshop Lightroom 5 to much fanfare. Though some of course have complaints, the general consensus has been pretty positive. Following the release, we posed a few questions to Adobe, and they got back to us on what they learned from the Beta, new features and the differences between Creative Cloud and perpetual licenses.
This year Patrick and I were invited to Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai to film a behind the scenes look of what it's really like to go to this exotic workshop. The experience itself was one of the highlights of my life but the most memorable moment for me was the few minutes I had with each of the instructors. I decided to interview them about the pitfalls of their careers and what it takes to become successful as a photographer.
The explosion of the app development industry after the colossal growth of smartphone and tablet products in the market started out as a fantastic new tech segment worth watching. It has contributed significantly the rebirth of my beloved Bay Area and Silicon Valley. However, in recent months, this once proud and innovative space has devolved into an overcrowded, hyper competitive and absurdly redundant “look at me” marketplace. This is probably most true for apps based on taking and sharing photos and videos, and I’m getting really sick of it.
This is a topic that many paid video and photo shooters tend to feel very strongly about, and I’ve tried to analyze my experiences for some rational thoughts on the matter. If you want your voice heard, leave your opinion in the comments, but first read about how one particular band actually offered pro and hobby photographers press access to shoot images of their performance. For a fee of $150.
After a horrible decision to fire an entire photo staff on Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times media writer Robert Feder, released a Facebook statement from a memo sent out by managing editor Craig Newman. It seems that in the next couple of days, editorial employees will be starting "iPhone Photography Basics."
Large, imposing and drop dead gorgeous, the new Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS APO HSM AF is one hell of a lens. Sigma has done an outstanding job in recent months producing some top quality lenses and they didn’t let up on the gas with the first Sport category offering in their new global vision. With two levels of optical stabilization, a wide open f/2.8 aperture, crazy fast and accurate AF and a beautiful body build, you want this lens, even if you don’t know it yet.
In surprising news out of Illinois today, the Chicago Sun-Times has let go of all staff photographers and will be hiring only freelancers moving forward. The estimated 20 photographers found out about the move this morning.
Think Tank launched “About A Photograph,” a video series that features stories from photographers about the photographs they have created.
The videos are co-produced by Think Tank Photo co-founders and award-winning photojournalists Kurt Rogers and Deanne Fitzmaurice. Each video will feature some of the world’s leading photographers recounting the stories behind these images that captured global attention.
"Coty Tarr is an active lifestyle photographer based in New York City," so says the not quite so lengthy bio on his website. On initial thought, one might think the concise personal description is a little off-putting, but to anyone that has ever met Coty, it is nothing if not an apt discriptor. In a world where many photographers feel the need for shameless overpromotion (not that there's anything wrong with that), Coty takes a more subtle approach, working tirelessly and letting the caliber of his images and his work ethic speak for him.
Print is not dead and celebrity portrait photographer Sam Jones has created offCamera magazine — part print magazine, website, web television series and podcast — to showcase and profile actors, musicians and artists working at the highest level of their professions. Jones, whose work frequently appears in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Men's Journal, intends for offCamera to be an artistic vehicle for further exploration of the casual chats that often occur on set during his editorial photo shoots.
Charlie Haughey, a retired cabinet maker, was drafted to the US Army in 1967. While being stationed in Vietnam, Haughey was told by his commanding officer to document the war. The twist was that the photos were not to be shot of traditional combat, but as morale boosting photographs of the unit.
It's no secret that many people have predetermined opinions about strippers and the private lives they may lead. In a recent project by photographer Bronwen Parker-Rhodes, their lives and their method of self-expression via exhibitionism are put on display.
Parker-Rhodes' began this project after forming relationships with some of the dancers at various clubs she would DJ at. It begs the question, 'How do you capture the private lives and intimate moments of someone that exposes everything (or almost everything) regularly? What do you choose to reveal?'
Reviews are a tricky subject. On one side, there are a lot of people out there who want to hear as many voices on a product as possible before they make a decision. On the other side, there are skeptics across the internet who assume the worst of people and believe every review to be somehow influenced in a particular direction by unseen greedy fingers. We really want to clear the air on what makes an Fstoppers review, both in the past and in the future.
GL Wood is an editorial fashion photographer who's work has graced the covers of Nicki Minaj's Pink album as well as magazines like Elle, Vogue, Out and Bullett. When you look through his portfolio, this caliber of client comes as no surprise. It may, however, shock you to hear that Wood rarely uses Photoshop, but instead opts for old school methods of collaging, painting and drawing to alter his final images.
On May 20th, one of the deadliest twisters in known history touched down in Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City. The Tornado caused catastrophic damage to homes (over 13,000 of them were destroyed), infrastructure, schools and a hospital. Take a look at these powerful images showing the aftermath of the deadly Tornado as found on (the new) Flickr.
The New York Times is being forced to examine their policy in regards to retouching on their images. Of course, they stand by the fact that manipulation of their news images "strictly forbidden.” But recently, they received backlash when the cover of their [style] magazine T had what many readers felt was a fashion model that looked 'shockingly thin' and 'underage.'
The longer I've been a photographer, the more I've come to realize that the quality of the camera you own is far less important than how you shoot. The iPhone fashion shoot, now an iconic post on Fstoppers, showed that quality images can be taken without the biggest or latest camera body. While I'll affirm that shooting professionally shouldn't be determined by what kind of cameras you have, I think professionalism should be somewhat defined by how many cameras (and lenses) you have.
Sigma, hot on the heels of the outstandingly successful 35mm f/1.4 Art lens, has been releasing and announcing new lenses in their Global Vision realignment like crazy. Recently they released the 30mm f/1.4 lens for APS-C cameras, and I had high expectations for it after being told that the president of Sigma was aiming it to meet the performance set by the 35mm. So did it?
Original BBC Article (w/video)
Prof. Miles Padgett and his team of scientists at Glasgow University's School of in Scotland have created a technology which can generate a 3D image using just four stand-alone pixels by capturing light frequency waves beyond what the human eye can see.
Whether I’m going out for a short hike, a weekend camping trip, shooting the zombie apocalypse, or assisting someone for their personal project, there are many times when I’ve needed to be light and fast in my video rig setup. Besides going with a single camera and lens, the accessories I choose enable me to be versatile and get better clips in the end. Here’s my top 8 list of items that keep me on the move while I’m shooting video.
You may not have known it, but I'm certain you've seen a Norman Seef photograph. What photo do you think of when you think of Ray Charles? He shot that. Carly Simon? Yup. Steve Jobs? Seef again. After reading our own Douglas Sonders' article on how short the window of time is when working with celebrities, seeing how much Seef could get out of his subjects is awe-inspiring.
Monopods, once really only useful in a handful of situations, have evolved into irreplaceable members of our creative arsenals due to the advent of high quality video being produced in DSLRs. The idea of a “video monopod” might frighten video purists, but there are those such as Patrick Hall and myself who swear by them. Manfrotto’s version was a fantastic foray into the medium, but slightly pricey. Benro recently released their more affordable versions, and I was more than ready to see if they were able to hold their own.
Photographer Mario Testino shoots my favorite super lady, Kate Upton, for the June 2013 Vogue. Kate keeps things super classy for her spread and even rocks some rather large, dark eyebrows with her look. I am certainly one that appreciates some curves on a model, so I am glad to see Vogue is beefing up to the competition (see what I did there) instead of the same ol' too-skinny girl. Click through to see the shots from her upcoming feature
Ok, so we've covered why you should love the Creative Cloud: it gives you access to everything Adobe everywhere you go. It gives you all the outstanding programs at your fingertips. It is taking connectivity to a whole new level for creative collaboration. Updates are instantaneous. But all that aside, it's a stifling, expensive system that might be forcing you into something you don't want.
Adobe Creative Cloud, in lieu of Adobe Creative Suite 7, has some great new features but also some hotly contested issues including the loss of disc support and move to a monthly payment feature for all future software. Mike Kelley, Rebecca Britt and I (Jaron Schneider) discuss what this means for creatives and why it may not be the big deal some are trying to make it out to be.
“These new ways might be found by men who could abandon their allegiance to traditional pictorial standards—or by the artistically ignorant, who had no old allegiances to break. There have been many of the latter sort. Since its earliest days, photography has been practiced by thousands who shared no common tradition or training, who were disciplined and united by no academy or guild, who considered their medium variously as a science, an art, a trade, or an entertainment, and who were often unaware of each other's work…
Since last November I have been shooting a photo series titled 'Comedic Value' which consists of NYC comedians shot in NYC locations for NYC charity, Art-Start. Of the 25 comics featured in the project, 1 of my favorite shoots was with Jim Gaffigan and his fantastic family. When discussing concepts with Jim, he mentioned that he needed a shot of him and his kids for his new book, 'Dad Is Fat' which will be out next month.
People create photo series for a number of different reasons. Sometimes you come up with an idea and pursue it while others just fall into your lap unexpectedly. For portrait photographer Willis Bretz the Washington D.C. metrorail system is where his series was brought to life or rather awakened from other commuters' slumber. We sit down and talk about his series entitled, 'Sleep in Transit'.
There is fierce competition among the top digital imaging companies, fighting for several billion in dollars worldwide. I have examined Olympus and Sony in the past, and this year I wanted to bring in Canon and Nikon to see how their last fiscal year treated them. Though the publicly filed information tends to be pretty vague in specific company categories (instead opting to give general aggregated sales), I was able to get some approximate final sales numbers in digital imaging for these four companies. Let’s answer the big question: who came out on top?
...pretty outstanding and powerful photos. Every single image that was awarded the prize was taken by photographers covering the war in Syria. What's particularly unique about the winner of the "Breaking News" category was that there was not a solitary winner; the award was shared by five photographers.
We can all be a little shy: it's not the easiest thing to go up to a stranger and start taking pictures or strike up a conversation. Adam Marelli had an interesting post on his blog called, Can I Take Your Picture, How to Talk to Strangers, in which he discusses how most people are okay with being photographed if you just take the time to talk with them. He even argues that you should always talk to a stranger you're about to photograph first. But are there exceptions?
Kevin Jairaj, wedding and sports photographer based in Dallas, is usually shooting for USA Today Sports Images or for different unknown couples. Recently Kevin was hired by one of the most famous girls in the world to shoot her new set of images, for her own portfolio. Her name is McKayla Maroney, and she has more Olympic Gold medals than you. Check out the BTS video, and the final results.
Photographer Kenneth Cappello is known for his celebrity portraiture, his advertising work for Nike and Puma as well as his flashy editorial work for Nylon, GQ, Fader and Vibe. Cappello shot musician/DJ DeadMau5 this past month for Vibe Magazine, and, lucky for us, also shot a little BTSV to give us a peek at his process.
For those photographers who do most of their work on the move, finding light-weight equipment that can really adapt to different situations is a tall order. Sometimes, even the most compact tripod or light stand still won’t fit into spaces or stay out of the way. The gratuitously named Nasty Clamps aim to amend that situation with their attach-anywhere attitude.
To say that I have been absent from writing lately is a slight understatement. In all reality I have been absent from life in general. I have been sitting on planes listening to podcasts more than I have been sitting at bars listening to friends. All for one giant campaign: "Give Me Strength" by Muscle Milk.
Photojournalist David Eulitt recently completed Punching Back Time, a series of photographs that features senior athletes who at seasoned ages, strap on gloves and spar in the ring.
The boxers were participants in the 2nd Annual Ringside Masters Championship boxing tournament, a competition for amateur boxers ranging in ages from 35 to 75.
The Phottix Mitros TTL Flash was announced in early 2012 but saw another full year of development before it was finally officially released in March of 2013. That kind of time spent building a product really resonates with me, and I was expecting a finished product that was going to stand up to the rigors of daily use. I was not disappointed.
Sometimes, I find it difficult to motivate myself to go out and just shoot for the heck of it. Unless it is a project I've planned, or a client shoot, I often find myself making excuses for not going out to shoot.
I haven’t been able to decide if this is my inner lazy shining through, or if I am subconsciously convincing myself that “There is nothing good to shoot today, I’ll go tomorrow.” but it is a counter productive habit that I decided I needed to break.
It occurred to me today that the vast majority of modern photographers are completely dependent on the perks of technology to make their images. Of course even in the darkroom there is a certain level of "tweakability" but never before have we been able to do the things we can now. The phrase "fix it in post" is so commonplace today that everyone assumes that we can alter the very fabric of reality in Photoshop...and while that may be true,
Steve Gullick, one of rock music's most prominent photographers of our time takes us into his darkroom and talks about the short time he spent capturing Seattle's Grunge scene during 1990-1993. Steve shot bands like The Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and Nirvana for Melody Maker and Sounds.
You know what I think the worst feeling is? Going into a creative slump. I loathe when it happens, but to any of us who are creative by nature and trade, occasionally you go into a slump, a mental block if you will, and creativity is nowhere to be found. I will search high and low for inspiration and still nothing moves me to create and be creative. I think though I have found a way to avoid this now.
Warning: The following interview contains adult language, adult situations and nudity.
Michael Donovan rules. It says so on his website. It also says so on his Tumblr. It says so anywhere you’d find his name. And to be perfectly honest, believe the hype. Michael Donovan does rule. This is why I’m here, in a Lower East Side bar that never left 1982, having a drink and trying to hold a conversation while Asian fetish porn plays on TVs that I’m sure were taken from the dumpster behind a Motel 6.
Since I reviewed the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 last year, I have been hit with a barrage of inquiries as to if it was better to grab the Sigma 35mm f/1.4, the Canon 35mm f/2 IS or spend some real cash and spring for the Canon 35mm f/1.4 L. After using all three lenses for the past couple months, I'm finally ready to name my favorite. And you know what? This one was closer than you might think.