Recent Film Photography Articles

Leica 100 | A Tribute to the Past 100 Years of Images | NSFW

"Not every famous photograph was taken with a Leica. But they were all taken thanks to Leica."

The German camera brand on Wednesday unveiled this incredible new ad from Brazilian agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first Leica camera and the opening of Leica Gallery São Paulo in November. The message is conveys is powerful, but is not exactly a humble one.

Is Shooting Film for Photojournalism Still Feasible? Photojournalist Mike Drew Weighs In

Mike Drew is a Calgary-based photojournalist who's worked for the publications such as the Calgary Sun and the Toronto Star since 1978. Recently, Mike was challenged by the guys at TheCameraStoreTV to try and shoot film for a day while working as a photojournalist to see if it was still a viable option for the type of work he does.

100 More Years of Analog Film | Film Ferrania Announces Comeback Plan

The film industry has changed dramatically in the past ten years. Most film companies have struggled with the reduced demand, many being forced into bankruptcy. Film Ferrania was one of the casualties of the digital age, but has decided to re-emerge stronger than ever before.
The Big Black Box - Everything You Need To Know About The LEE Filters System

I get asked day in an day out; "What is that big black box on the front of your lens?" Well, it's a matte box that mounts glass filters in front of your lens... the LEE Filters System. In attempt to cover the question I recieve so often, I wanted to address it all and explain the system, but my friend and fantastic photographer Dave Kai Piper beat me to the punch! So, instead of writing my own article on the matter, I thought it best to simply share his article...

Anna Mia Davidson on Getting Published Through an Alternative Book Publishing Model

Anna Mia Davidson has been shooting and documenting sustainable farmers in the Pacific Northwest for the past seven years. The USA Television Network and Aperture collaborated for a campaign called, “The Character of America,” which commissioned nine photographers to document the positive aspects of America. Anna was one of those commissioned to further her personal project under that campaign. She also gained further funding from Fotodocument to be able to complete the project.

#PictureBelfast: Can You Tell the Difference between a Filter and a Vintage Camera?

Let's face it, smartphone cameras are getting better and better with every release. Mobile photo editing software is getting better too, and with the rise in popularity of Instagram over the last four years, sharing vintage-looking photographs have become quite the trend. Online content studio Rubber Republic produced the #PictureBelfast campaign for Tourism Ireland featuring fashion and lifestyle blogger Donna Ross going head to head with Belfast based photographer Andrew Rankin. Their challenge was to take photographs showing off the best of Belfast – half with a smartphone and half shot on film – where Internet users would try to guess which method for each image was utilized.

The Future of Film: An Interview with CineStill

I’ve seen the future of film... and it is bright. In the next few weeks I will be interviewing companies that are pushing the film photography industry forward. As the large film companies cut film stocks from production, these people are pushing forward. Developing new films, cameras, products, and services. This week, I start with CineStill.

How This Amazing Film Was Shot Entirely on an iPhone

The old photographers’ saying, “It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer” sounds like a self-serving flattery when it comes out of the mouth of a photographer, yet has never been more accurate than today. Its ironic how, as a professional photographer, I posses the knowledge of manipulating the most sophisticated gear and cameras available, yet when I shoot an image on the iPhone the resulting image is an embarrassment. Rushing to my defense I’ll utter each time, “I’m a terrible iPhone photographer…” So when I see amazing images, shot with the iPhone, I’m impressed with what can be achieved.

CineStill bwXX Now Available in Limited Quantities

They guys over at CineStill have released CineStill bwXX (double-x) in a limited run of 2000 rolls. They are available as of last week so you’d better get over there before it’s gone. The film is a high speed, classic black & white film emulsion, with an EI of 250 under daylight and 200 under tungsten lighting. It can also be pushed up to 1600 with some developers.

Apple Releases New Promo Video, Band Cries Plagiarism

A few days ago Apple released a new promo video titled "Perspective" which aims to send the message that Apple sees things differently. In an ironic twist, band OK Go is claiming that Apple has stolen the concept from their recent music video "The Writing's On The Wall".

Memories of Overdevelopment and 9/11

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, many NY based photographers and film makers found themselves documenting one of the most traumatic events in American history, the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.

Prolost Bespoke Vintage Presets Are Like Instagram Filters For Lightroom

You might have heard of Stu Maschwitz before, possibly from his work on these Red Giant video projects, or perhaps the Plastic Bullet app he made a few years ago. His latest creation is a custom set of presets that integrate with Lightroom, and gives the user a set of vintage photo looks to choose from.

A Conversation with Ryan Muirhead on Finding a Calling

If you've had a chance to check out Framed Network's fabulous mini-series, Film, you'll be familiar with the awesome, inspiring work of Ryan Muirhead. Ryan's career as a photographer started only around five years ago, since then he's made quite a splash in the film-shooting (and otherwise) community and become a constant source of inspiration for me. In this interview he chats with The Artist Report about the importance of living in the present, embracing (or at least learning to live with) failure, and how he's gone about weighing what he wants to do against what he needs to. If you have an extra 25-odd minutes this afternoon I'd highly encourage you to check out this video, you may be a better photographer for it.

A Haunting but Gorgeous View of Chernobyl by Filmmaker Christiaan Welzel: Beautiful Ghost

Christiaan Welzel and his wife Kseniya have trekked across the world adventuring for the majority of the last eight years. They decided to start exploring places that were extremely hard to get to like Antarctica or various ghost towns, but they finally decided on traveling to Ukraine where Kseniya is from. It was in April of last year, days before the 27th anniversary of the nuclear disaster, when months of preparations finally came to fruition and they headed off to Chernobyl.

Douglas Kirkland on Photographing a Seductive Series of Marilyn Monroe in 1961

Legendary photographer Douglas Kirkland has worked with some of the most influencial celebrities in the world since 1961. Starting his career at the age of twenty-four, he was hired that same year by Look Magazine to photograph Marilyn Monroe for their 25th anniversary issue. His process and gear were simple but what he talks about to capture perfect seductive moments with Marilyn is brilliant.

Paris Through Pentax | Behind the Scenes

Mathieu Maury and Antoine Pai are two photography and filmmaking enthusiast who decided to launch a production and advertising company called Maison Carnot. They are passionate about finding new subjects and ways to explore what surrounds them. Based on this philosophy, they came up with the short film "Paris through Pentax".

Kodak Discontinues BW400CN Film

With Kodak's release of another discontinuation notice, one more high profile film bites the proverbial dust. BW400CN has a reputation for being a creamy toned, tight grained film. The smooth grain is a nice balance to the Tri-X stock, admittedly I prefer the latter but still sad to see it go. A collective sigh was seen throughout film shooter groups, some even soliciting Kodak reps for stockpiles of the film.

Why I’ve Gone Back To Shooting Film...And Why You Should Too

Our DSLRs have confused us. We obssess over the wrong things. Sharpness at 400%; bokeh characteristics of lenses produced from what-must-surely-be prancing magical unicorns; high speed burst frame rates that make cameras sound like gatling guns; 4k resolution to shoot better cat videos; 100 auto focus points that still won’t focus on what we need them to; and noise performance at 400,000 ISO. Absolutely none of these will make your photographs better. Shooting film will though, here's why.

How George Eastman Changed the World

Every one of us, in some way, has had our lives impacted by George Eastman. Founding Eastman Kodak in 1888, he set out to change how people photographed. He began by creating the first roll of film in 1884 - a departure from the traditional method of using glass plates and a sink. One year later, he put that roll of film into the first Eastman camera. These were the first steps of a 20-year quest that would lead him to his most iconic camera...the Brownie.

Photographer Brigette Bloom on Her Ethereal "Kaya" Series, Experimental Processes (NSFW)

Photographer Brigette Bloom draws from her start in documentary photography to create mystical, story-driven work. A concept photographer, Bloom works with Impossible Project Polaroid and 35mm film, which she often alters to create interesting effects (you may recognize her as “the photographer who pees on her film.”) I spoke with Bloom about her captivating “Kaya” series, and her overall process as an artist.

Dead Weight: Tony Irons’ Large and Medium Format Film Photography

I recently produced a documentary on fine art photographer Tony Irons, showcasing his new photography exhibit entitled “Dead Weight.” The collection includes images created in a studio setting on large format film and landscapes photographed in and around Taipei, Taiwan.

Lighting a Short Film with an IKEA Trash Can

David F. Sandberg goes behind the scenes of his recent horror film Not So Fast and shows us how he lit and created the short. Sandberg reveals his innovative lighting set up that allows him to create a dark and haunting scene. This great behind the scenes video demonstrates that all you need to produce your next work of art is some creativity and innovative thinking.

Behind The Scenes – Up The Ante With A GoPro

I’ve always been enthralled with first person movie scenes, games and music videos. Clocking countless hours with Duke Nukem 3D in my parent’s basement on an old Packard Bell PC planted a seed that forever changed me. To this day I think The Prodigy's breakbeat electronic hit “Smack My Bitch Up” is one of the greatest first person videos of all time.

How to Make Stylized Film Titles for Your Next Video

The guys from Film Riot catch ‘Guy Ritchie Disease’ and in the process teach you how to create the "Guy Ritchie" freeze frame effect. Whether you need an awesome intro title for your film or even a great effect for your own behind the scenes photography vlog, this Film riot video shows you how to create it in Adobe After Effects. If you’re more comfortable in Photoshop, you can put it together in there and then animate it in After Effects.

Game of Thrones Season 4 - Wight Attack Sequence Behind-the-Scenes

The ever talented team at Scanline VFX have posted their most recent BTS video of the popular wight fight scene from the Game of Thrones Season 4 Finale. In this run down you can see the incredible detail and heavy visual effects work that goes into each and every scene from that fight. This one sequence has been remored to be one of the most expensive scenes created for the show.

See the Process of Large Format Photography from Start to Finish

The guys over at Ledicia Audio Visual recently shared this beautiful video that shows process behind large format 8x10 film photography from start to finish. The film folows large format photographer, Luis Plácido López Caballero, as he sets up and composes his image all the way through his manual dodging and burning and developing in the darkroom.

Bayhem: When Too Much Isn't Enough

Michael Bay, the American movie director and producer, is worth millions of dollars. In fact, Forbes has Bay making $66 million in 2014 – and that’s just through the first six months of this year.

How’s he do it? Well, Tony Zhou has created a mashup of Bay’s movies for us to study. Let the Bayhem begin.

Top 10 Most Effective Movie Editing Moments of All Time

After watching a great film, it is rare that we give conscious credit to the editing (which is actually a silent compliment to the editors). However, how the film was cut creates most of the powerful feelings we get while watching and is a major contributor to our final thoughts on a film. CineFix has put together what they believe to be the top 10 most effective editing moments of all time, and it's certainly worth noting the editing mastery at work.

Fstoppers Reviews: Mastin Labs Fuji 400H Preset System

Late last year, Trevor Dayley wrote an article which introduced me to the Mastin Labs Portra 400 film emulation preset system. As a long time Kodak Portra 400 shooter I was thrilled to see side-by-side comparisons of Portra 400 against digital with the preset. They looked darn near identical. Now Kirk Mastin, the mastermind behind the presets is gearing up to release his Fuji 400H preset system and I couldn't be more excited.

First Colored Postcards Showcase Life In The US

This spectacular series of postcards are from a private collection owned by graphic designer and photographer, Marc Walter. Walter specializes in vintage travel photographs and has one of the largest collections in the world. This collection has been compiled into a new book entitled, An American Odyssey. The photochroms started out as glass negatives such as this: Mississippi Landing, Vicksburg

Reciprocal Gaze: An Exclusive Interview with "Visitors" Director Godfrey Reggio

Thirty years after their original collaboration for Koyaanisqatsi, filmmaker Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass are at it again with documentary where the audience is placed in an unusual situation: watching the varied expressions of others interacting with technology. This video, an Fstoppers exclusive, gives you a look into the mind of Godfrey Reggio while making the film.

Get the Rendering Software Used in Pixar's Toy Story and Wall-E for Free

Frozen, The Hobbit, Toy Story, Wall-E, Jurassic Park... these are just a handful of the blockbuster movies over the years that have utilized Pixar's award-winning VFX software, RenderMan. In fact, RenderMan has been around since 1984 - used to render computer graphics in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Now you have the chance to own the software yourself - for free! You read that right - FREE!

"Nearly New" Polaroid 405 4x5 Instant Film Back on Kickstarter

Some may have noticed a good portion of the DIY and Kickstarter projects for film photography revolve around the 4x5 format. That's likely because, for lovers of film, it's the best format out there. The negative size allows for incredibly sharp and enlarged prints. It's possible (just) to handhold a 4x5 camera for street photography. And despite many film stocks' deaths by the second, you can still get some of the most popular films in 4x5 sheet film packs.

Fstoppers Exclusive Interview: Artist Jonathon Keats' Century Camera Project

Jonathon Keats is an American conceptual artist based in San Francisco. This year Jonathon began a new project he calls Century Camera in which he (and the people of Berlin) hide 100 pinhole cameras with the hopes of creating the first series of century-long exposures. Jonathon was kind enough to make time to speak with me and share the details, inspiration, and process behind this ambitious project — you don't want to miss this.

Lomography Announces Instant Film Camera

Lomography has officially began a Kickstarter project to try and fund their first release an instant film camera. Multiple colors, lens choices, exposure settings, and more! With 30 days to go on they currently have $32,000 raised of their $100,000 goal. The settings for this camera look pretty cool and, I think, worth backing.

National Geographic Live! Revisits the Ansel Adams Wilderness

In this episode of National Geographic Live! Peter Essick talks about the journey of creating his new book, The Ansel Adams Wilderness, and what it's like to pay tribute to (and follow in the tripod holes of) perhaps the greatest nature photographer to walk the planet. The work interprets the influence of Adams' work for a digital age, capturing the Sierra Nevada wilderness in a manner that can only be described as timeless.

How to Modify a Lubitel 2 TLR Lens for Use on Canon EF

Photographer J. David Buerk was sitting around one Sunday morning with his Lubitel 2 TLR with plans of making a disassembly and cleaning tutorial when he decided to try to retrofit the lens to his Canon gear. This simple project takes advantage of the beautifully unique 75mm f/4.5 lens.

Making Light Leaks in Lightroom [With Free Brush Download]

There's something special about taking a picture on film. That said, film also lent itself to a lot of error: a botched exposure, missed focus and light leaks could all serve to ruin an otherwise lovely image. There are few things more frustrating then getting a roll back from the lab with an error note on the envelope. Occasionally the results were a novelty, perhaps adding interest to an otherwise boring image but all too often light leak was nothing but a bother. So why would anyone want to replicate it in Lightroom?

A Series To Remind Us "Why We Create"

Why We Create, a series by director/cinematographer Andy Newman, features artists and what drives them. This video is the second installment with portrait photographer Nick Fancher but I highly recommend watching all that Andy has to offer as the series will remind you why we got into photography in the first place (An easy thing to forget when on the hustle for clients). Now if you'll excuse me I feel the need to get out and create something. Enjoy the video.

Fstoppers Exclusive – Vincent Laforet Reveals His Secrets To Directing Motion

SPOILER WARNING. Listening to Vincent Laforet might leave you forever changed, never able to watch film or TV the same way again. The silver lining is he can also change the way you shoot, and engage, with your audience. With that disclaimer out of the way (you can't say I didn't warn you), join me as I talk to Vincent for this exclusive as we venture down the film and motion rabbit hole. How deep we go is really up to you...

Gh4, Gh3, 5d3, 7d, and C100 Shootout

Andrew Dean from HillBillyGripTruck.com posted his updated video shootout of the Gh4, Gh3, 5d3, 7d, and C100. The results were pretty cool and we were able to get a nice side by side view of quality from each of the cameras as they were all setup to be relatively close in settings. On top of making sure settings were close, all of the cameras shot at the same time in the same exact lighting situation to make sure they were all brought an equal scene to work with.

Michael Ash Smith Photographs an Entire Wedding on Instant Film

Michael Ash Smith is a commercial wedding, portrait, and lifestyle photographer based out of Barto, PA. As a hybrid photographer, much of Michael's work is done on 35mm and medium format film with some instant film here and there for special occasions. He recently shared images from a wedding he shot over on the Junebug Weddings blog. The difference? Everything he shot that day was with instant film.

The Story Behind "Bliss" The Worlds Most Viewed Photograph

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! Photographer Charles O'Rear shares with us the story behind how he created the image with nothing more than his Mamiya RZ67 and a roll of Fuji Film.

Travel Through Doha In 220 Seconds With This Timelapse

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.

Astonishing Sony A7s Low Light Video Demo

The Sony A7s is making a lot of buzz on the internet right now for its insane ability to push ISO high and basically see in the dark! Sony released a demo video on the Youtube channel SonyHowTo for us all to watch. To be honest, the results are impressive.

New55 Film Project Seeks Production

A new product is hoping to make its way into the market in the near future, New55 Film. This product has been making waves, and is supported by those who still shoot film. New55 Film was founded by Bob Crowley and is managed by Sam Hiser, project CEO.

Tips To Avoid Creative Burnout

It’s no secret that everyone can become burnt out on what they do. Whether we are photographers, athletes, truck drivers, or teachers. If we do something long enough, maybe unless you’re a fighter pilot, professional surfer, and/or an astronaut, almost everyone will experience a period of time in their career when they’re flat-out bored and/or they suddenly arrive at a place where they question both their work and if what they’re doing is really what they should be doing.

Pocket-Sized 10,000 DPI 35mm Film Scanner Announced

35mm film shooters will be happy to hear that German imaging company, Reflecta, has announced a new almost-pocket-sized slide film scanner that can scan up to 10,000 DPI. The ProScan 10T is advertised to have a DR of 3.9 DMax. Here’s the kicker - it comes in at a surprisingly low € 469 (just under $650).