Recent Location Articles

Danny Cooke Shoots Blurry Video... On Purpose

Sometimes videos don't require a BTS because although they are a unique idea, they don't necessarily have to be complicated. Danny writes "Everyone has experienced fireworks. It is truly a magical sight. I set out to capture them, not as we know them normally, but in a way that many of you may not have seen them before. For this, I used Bokeh, which originates from the Japanese word "boke", which means "blur" or "haze"."

Bokeh from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

How To Photograph A Movie Theater By Rich Legg

Rich Legg is a successful stock photographer, and he goes all out in this video as he tries to make the prefect stock photo of a movie theater audience. If you haven't checked out stock photography, I highly encourage you to sign up and test your skills. Nothing proves whether your photography is marketable or not like putting it up on a site like shutterstock or istockphoto. This video is great on how to light large groups and also how to efficiently gather model releases from a large pool of model.
Leibovitz Shoots Sean Connery For Louis Vuitton

Annie Leibovitz is perhaps the most well known photographer in the world and her work always stands out from the crowded world of photography. While her Louis Vuitton campaign with Sean Connery is a few years old now, there is still a lot of great information to be gained from the beach shoot. Using nothing more than a Photek Softlighter, Annie balances her ambient light well with her soft broad lighting to create a really awesome series of images. ><
Fstoppers Original: Lee Morris Shoots Oak Steakhouse

When we launched Fstoppers back in February we were working hard to create our own original video content to help kick off our website. After shooting this video it got buried in my computer before I had time to edit it because we were also working to complete multiple other videos at the same time. I finally had enough free time to finish up this quick food shoot. View the full post to read the full story.

Fstoppers Original: Lee Morris Shoots Oak Steakhouse from FStoppers on Vimeo.

Tomasz Tomaszewski Explains Shooting in Total Darkness

Tomasz Tomaszewski is a photojournalistic photographer who often shoots for National Geographic Poland. It's quite amazing to see the depth of the images he has taken inside the harsh conditions of coal mines that feature dust, moisture, and poisonous gases. Equipped with just a Nikon D3, a few SB-900s, and a small Softbox, Tomasz has some of the most compelling images of people working on site that I have ever seen. Check out the final images here at http://www.tomasztomaszewski.com/gallery.html <
Contest Entry:  Burning Steel Wool

Dave, Jono, and Braden are some fun lads from Australia who like to sling around burning metal during their photoshoots. Luckily for our readers they decided to participate in the behind the scenes video contest and show everyone how they too can get this wild effect. Check out this interesting video and feel free to leave comments for the guys below! <
Contest Entry: Diana Deaver Shoots With Window Light

Diana Deaver is a talented photographer and good friend of mine from Charleston SC. A few weeks before the deadline she told me that she was working on a contest submission that would focus on natural lighting. Diana is a master of natural light and so I was very excited to see what she could come up with. Check out her very informatve video below. You don't need expensive gear to get quality images guys! <
Contest Entry: Thomas And Grant Shoot A Corvette

The bar has officially been raised. Thomas Woodson and Grant Lankford just submitted an amazing BTSV for the contest. This video has it all; it is fun to watch, it is informative, and it has fantastic final images. The most exciting part to me though is that they did all of this with just 1 strobe and a bed sheet! These guys are both in College (Thomas looks like he may be in 5th grade) with minimum gear and yet they managed to created one of the most compelling BTSVs I have seen in a very long time. Feel free to ask them questions below and check out Thomas' detailed forum post about car photography here.

Behind The Scenes Corvette Photo Shoot from Grant Lankford on Vimeo.

The Next Generation of Fstoppers

This week we are featuring a few standout BTS videos created by our readers for the Fstoppers Behind the Scenes Contest ending this Saturday. If you want to see all of the submissions jump on over to the forum and see how the competition is shaping up. In the meantime, you have to check out what Parker Smith and his [jr]high school friends created for the contest. While the photography itself is nothing ground breaking, seeing young photographers like Luke and Trent work with other teenagers is nothing short of inspiring. It just goes to show what a little initiative and some creativity can do.

BTS - Poolside Photo Shoot from Parker Smith on Vimeo.

Contest Submission: Benjamin "Von Wong" Shoots Zombies

Benjamin "Von Wong" just submitted his BTS contest entry that was shot by Eric Bindman. This is our first large production entry and is defiantly an inspiring watch. The pictures can be seen here and I must say, they are quite stunning. I think Benjamin may have easily won this contest if he had given more technical detail about the shoot itself but hey, I am not going to be the judge. Please remember to give Ben some feedback by commenting below, he made this video to help all of us. <
Contest Entry: Rydell Belles (Who Needs Video Gear?)

Nathan Smith and Chris David had a shoot lined up with the Rydell Belles, a local roller Derby team. Nathan didn't have a video camera or professional editing software but he managed to create a BTS video anyway. The final images may not blow your mind but the video should be a huge inspiration because Nathan created this with his iPhone 3gs and iMovie. Half way through this thing I realized that I was captivated by a totally informative video with no audio and terrible video quality. This is a great example of how good editing can make up for a lack of gear. Great job guys. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPnurfSOJ08<
Cole Barash Shoots Sports Silhouette's

It's rare that I watch a BTS video that gets me all excited but Cole Barash has done it. This video reminds me of what Fstoppers is all about because I am once again inspired. When you think that it has all been done before it's nice to be reminded how wrong you are. Check out the final shots from this fantastic shoot here. Please remember to comment below and give this photographer some love. ><
Giuliano Bekor shoots BeBe campaign at World Cup

If you aren't familiar with fashion photography, Giuliano Bekor is one of the top photographers in the industry. Watch as Giuliano demonstrates the correct way to jump after a soccer ball while wearing ridiculous fashion clothing. We also featured another BeBe fashion shoot he did with crazy African animals that you should probably check out after watching this photoshoot. I figured this was an appropriate post for Monday since Spain just wrapped up the World Cup yesterday (and it seems I dropped the ball on my earlier post today). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXEXyfC3h0<
Patrick Boivin Creates "AT-AT Day Afternoon"

I have been on Vimeo for probably an hour going through one terrible BTS video after another. There is so much talent out there but so many of these videos have no details and are so boring. That all changed when I ran across Patrick Boivin's "AT-AT Day Afternoon." The BTS video has no talking but it is still totally informative. The finished video is in the full post and it is AMAZING.
The Bugatti Glamour 2009 Backstage

Our website is finally working again as the traffic from the iPhone video slows down. We are going to get back to releasing 1 BTS video every day. Friday night we had an Fstoppers get together in NYC and it was a big hit. About 22 photographers showed up including Tkae Mendez. Tkae just sent this great BTS video over to me. Enjoy...
Scott McClellan Blows Up A Kitchen

Tobi, one of our readers, just pointed me to this video. This is a fantastic example of a great concept for a photo shoot. After you check out the video you can see Scott's website here. ><
Joseph Watts Shoots Tom Anderson

Joseph just sent this BTS video over to me. The video is lacking but the images are so good that I wanted to post this anyway. It is pretty amazing what you can do with a small softbox on a stick. You can view more details about this shoot and the final images here. ><
Annie Leibovitz photographs Keith Richards

I'm a big fan of Annie Leibovitz's photography (who isn't), and a few weeks ago I was admiring this photograph she did of Keith Richards for Louis Vuitton. I was really happy when I found a short behind the scenes video of it via Strobist even though the quality is really poor. Click the post to view the final image and hopefully you can see how relatively simple this photoshoot was in lighting. It's the overall production and attention to detail that really makes this image so awesome.
Contest Entry: James Karinejad Shoots "Strange Fruit"

James Karinejad has officially raised the bar on this contest. His team shot Emma Michelle's music video and he created a great BTS video to show us everything that went into making this a successful piece. View the full post to see the finished product and remember to please leave James feedback in the comments below or on his forum post here.
Fstoppers Original: Eric Bradshaw Revisited

Back when Lee and I started the idea of Fstoppers, we contacted a few friend photographers of ours to see if they would allow us to film some of their shoots for our Behind the Scenes website idea. We first featured Eric Bradshaw's beach shoot at launch but I figured I'd post the second video as well. This video was the 2nd BTS video I ever edited and I hope you can draw some inspiration for your own behind the scenes videos. Watching Eric work is also pretty inspiring too! Enjoy this video from the FS vaults. ><
Fstoppers Quicky: David Oppenheimer Shoots Jay Z At Bonnaroo

For the last 4 days I have been at Bonnaroo listening to music and living like a caveman. The biggest show of the event was Jay Z Saturday night and to get a decent view we camped out 4 hours before the show. The guy next to me happenend to be David Oppenheimer, a professional photographer, and we ended up chatting. He decided to camp out and shoot from the crowd with a monopod and a remote.
Contest Entry: Zak Shelhamer Shoots A Motorcycle

Zak Shelhamer has just submitted his contest entry; a behind the scenes video of him shooting his buddy on a motorcycle. The shoot isn't complicated at all and that is why I love it. Zak uses a van, 2 lights, and a stick to create very compelling images. You can join the dialog about this video below in the comments or head over to his forum post here.
Heidi Klum takes you BTS on a German Vogue shoot

I have learned that there is often a lot to be gained by watching people being creative rather than simply being shown an interesting lighting setup or cool new technical gadget. This video will teach you nothing about lighting or photography in general but it gives you a good glimpse on how two of the industry's top creative people (Heidi Klum and Alexi Lubomirski ) come together to produce something really interesting. Click here to see the final photos (editorial/german vogue/2009/Heidi) along with some other amazing photographs.

HEIDI KLUM GERMAN VOGUE from DVDBIOS on Vimeo.

Joey L takes a ton of gear into the Siberut Jungle

Joey L is always an inspiration because not only is he really young but because he is really forward thinking with his creativity. Here is the behind the scenes video of his latest project The Mentawai. It's pretty wild to see the logistics of a shoot like this and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click Here to see the final images and the original video posted by Joey L.
Douglas Sonders captures a secret agent

Douglas Sonders is an amazing photographer out of Washington DC, and his work is very stylized with studio lighting and exotic action themes. Check out this behind the scenes video as he brings out the weapons, poker chips, and Bond characters during his Secret Agent shoot. Also check out his website for more inspiring work!

Secret Agent Photoshoot - Douglas Sonders Photography from Douglas Sonders on Vimeo.

Marc & Louis Photography Storyboard their bloody shoots

I was sent this video by Marie-Louise Cadosch of Marc & Louis Photography based out of Switzerland, and I was absolutely blown away by the attention to detail in their planning and preproduction. Their behind the scenes video "Bleed Like Me" is gruesome and not for the faint of heart but I doubt you have seen anything like it. And if you are thinking about our DSLR Contest, you may find some editing tricks for your own video. Click the link to find out how they shot and filmed this series. <
Giuliano Bekor puts models near lions in the name of Fashion

Giuliano Bekor is a famous fashion photographer who has had various covers of Vogue, Elle, and Bazaar to name just a few. Today he takes us to "Africa" where BeBe is doing their summer 09 catalog with wild elephants, lions, and giraffes. This video is crazy but totally awesome! ><
Pete Barrett Shoots A New Balance Ad (Update)

Here is a quick timelapse of one of Pete's latests commercial gigs. It is a bit difficult to see what he is exactly doing in terms of lighting but I am simply impressed by the complexity of this shoot. Look how many people are on the set! After you watch this video head over to his website and be prepared to be blown away. Check the full post to read a message from the photographer.

Behind the scenes on the New Balance photo shoot. from Pete Barrett on Vimeo.

Adam Swords Shoots An Audi R8

In this video Adam Swords takes us behind the scenes on his sports car photoshoot. Make sure you watch until the end to see the images he has taken. After the video you can head over to his website here. Adam Swords: BTS // Audi R8 from Adam Swords on Vimeo.
Frank Salle:  Insight on Shooting Swim Spas

I'm sure very few of you will ever have to photograph a huge swim spa in a warehouse or while being used by swimmers. Find out how Frank Salle and John Trotto pulled it off and why they needed scuba gear to do it.

The Making of a Commercial Web Video and Photography Shoot from Frank Salle on Vimeo.

Fstoppers Original: King Street Studios Shoots Charleston Fashion Week

Last month Patrick and I had the unique opportunity to follow Todd and Reese of King Street Studios around as they shot Charleston Fashion Week. Not only did they get the standard runway shots, they also setup a small studio backstage and shot amazing portraits of the models right before they were rushed onto the runway. You are about to be blown away by what is possible with a single light. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_DeoemgsqU<
Matt Hawthorne shoots fashion in a haunted hotel

Matt Hawthorne is a talented photographer based out of Dallas Texas who has a very wide range of genres in his portfolio. Today he is shooting a fashion spread inside a haunted hotel. Click on the link to read some of the back story and the gear he used to take these photos.

Matt Hawthorne Photography Baker Hotel Mineral Wells Fashion Photo Shoot from Matt Hawthorne on Vimeo.

Okay Go Films A Video In One Take

In Okay Go's newest video, This Too Shall Pass, the band decided to build a Rube Goldberg Machine and film it unfold in one take. Click the link to watch how they filmed the whole thing and the challenges that come with creating something this unique. <
Ryan Hughes Shoots A Video With The 10FPS 1D Mark 3

So this is really cool. Ryan Hughes was in film; then he got into still photography; and now he is blurring the mediums together. Watch Ryan explain how he shot his latest short "RGB MOVE" below and then watch the final product in the full post.

RGB MOVE Behind The Scenes Documentary from Ryan Enn Hughes on Vimeo.

Seth Epstein Shoots Suzuki

Check out this amazing video created by Seth Epstein from The Group Digital Agency for Suzuki power bikes. Amazing stuff and much of it is shot with only available light! <