A few weeks ago we posted a video by SLR Lounge that we called "The New iPhone Fashion Shoot." In that video a reflector was used to light a model and the results were fantastic. In the video below Pye takes us through a few of the ways that you can use a reflector to get similar results.
Many of you may know what a polarizer does in theory, but you may have never seen a side by side comparison like this. The video below from OliviaTech does a great job of showing examples of this filter in use. If you shoot outside, or reflective subjects, a polarizer like this one is a must have.
When I first saw this video I was completely blown away. Michael Levin is an outstanding black and white landscape photographer. Recently Michael teamed up with Brad Kremer to produce the most artistic behind the scenes video I've ever seen showing a day in the life of a photographer.
Ben Canales is one of those photographers who enjoys taking photographs in total darkness. He also enjoys shooting when the skies are the clearest and the stars are the brightest which also happens to be when it's freezing outside. At some point you have probably seen these amazing night images and maybe you have even tried your hand at a few.
You feel butterflies in your stomach, adrenalin in your viens and joy in your heart. As a photographer this means you either just fell in love OR you just got, "the shot". Marc Montocchio of Occhioinc.com sent me his video of how he fell in love... no wait, of how he got the shot, shown below.
Over the weekend, one of our readers sent us this amazing behind the scenes video for the bicycle saddle manufacturer Brooks England. The basic concept for the photoshoot was a couple saving a fox from a bunch of hunting hounds while out in the British countryside.
In the video below writer Ransom Riggs gives us an artistic tour of the Salton Sea in California. With a tripod, 5DmII, Steadicam Merlin, 24mm, and 100mm, Riggs creates a powerful look at a deserted town in desert of California.
Darren Samuelson created a "great big camera." Although it isn't quite as big as another camera we have featured on FS, it is still just as interesting. Darren's camera shoots on 14x36inch X-Ray negative film.
Darren's Great Big Camera from SULTAN on Vimeo.
Below is a fantastic TED Talk given by David Griffin, the photo director of National Geographic. David gives us a unique look at how Nation Geographic's images come to be and he also explains the power of photography in general. As David says, even the most average amateur photographers will take a few amazing pictures in their lives.
Don't you dread viewing your friend's and family's vacation pictures and videos? Even when I go on vacation I take so many bad pictures and videos that I don't even want to go back and view them again. What if we spent a little more time on our next vacation and shot pictures and stills with a particular project in mind?
I know that we have shown a lot of timelapses lately but our readers really love them and each month someone seems to raise the bar on quality or creativity. It is now Dominic Boudreault's time in the spotlight with his film "The City Limits". This film has the most amazing cityscapes I have seen to date. Make sure you watch this thing in HD full screen.
Many photographers claim that they will never shoot a wedding because there is too much pressure. If you miss some of the key moments, you will never get another chance. I agree with this to an extent but at least weddings have hundreds of "moments" over the course of a day. If I miss a couple, it's usually not a big deal.
When you first heard of GigaPan, it was probably from David Bergman's famous inauguration photograph. Years after David captured the first gigapixel images of crowds of people, scientists are now creating all sorts of images using the GigaPan technology. One new project recently announced is Time Machine.
I'm convinced GoPro and Redbull have the best extreme advertising on the planet. In this latest extreme skiing video, Matthias Giraud and Stefan Laude use two GoPro's each to document their parachute escape from an avalanche in the French Alps. If you don't already have a GoPro Hero, you need to get one.
Terje Sorgjerd has become one of the most popular timelapse photographers lately. His video sequence The Aurora has become a favorite here on Fstoppers, and his latest video, The Mountain, has already gotten over 3.5 million views in it's first week. In order to capture the mountains of El Teide and the skies, Terje used an automated dolly created by Dynamic Perception.
If you ever need to carry your gear through a storm or even a waterfall, the Lowepro DZ 200 waterproof backpack is your ticket. But that's not what this post is really about...no way! Craig Pulsifer is a videographer and photographer based out of British Columbia (that's Canada for you across the sea).
I know many photographers ask themselves, "How can I use my artistic talent to give back to my community in some profound way?" Bringing awareness to a great social or ethical cause can be difficult when our culture is so bombarded with crazy images everyday.
Everyone likes a good time lapse right? Well Philip Bloom just created one but it has a unique twist. Bloom's video was created with 3 cameras shooting simultaneously outside of his hotel window. He shot with a 5DMII, T2i, and T3i all shooting towards different areas of the landscape at different focal lengths.
We've featured Patryk Kizny a few times here on Fstoppers and his content is always mind blowing. Recently he decided to test a new portable and modular slide rail for the DitoGear PortaSlider. This time lapse video uses 14 one-meter long track units connected to make one single long track. Everything was shot on a few Canon DSLR Cameras and mainly wide angle Samyang 14mm and 8mm lenses.
When Denis Smith found himself faced with a dark depression in his life, he found motivation and purpose through his newly found photography hobby. After moving to South Australia, Denis picked up a camera and began to explore the serendipitous world of night photography.
Did you know that every time you look at one of those amazing images captured by Hubble cameras you are actually looking at a composite image made up by as many as 1400 still shots? Did you also know that the colors you are seeing in those images are completely faked and added by scientists in order to show off specific details within the scene?
I remember seeing this video a long time ago and really enjoyed it. Maybe we thought it was not educational enough to post it but after watching it again I think it's worth sharing. For those of you who have not already seen this short story, the Dark Side Of The Lens is a poetic journey into mind of surf photographer Mickey Smith.
Lately there has been a trend of showing super slow motion videos slowed beyond the native frames per second the original footage was shot on. We love the results of Twixter but nothing can compare to seeing the real thing especially when combined with an extreme sport.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with Help-Portrait, an organization of photographers who shoot free portraits to share their art and enrich others lives. Most photographers shoot free portraits around their communities but Sasha Leahovcenco wanted to shoot people that may never get the opportunity to have their picture taken at all.
When I tell people that I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, everyone always asks me what it's like to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). I always try to explain how it looks by relating it to a laser show or smoke streams but I've never found a way to describe it to someone who hasn't seen it for themselves.
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.
When it comes to my photoshoots, I almost always look for shade. I find managing harsh, direct sunlight to be a problem for a number of reasons but I may have to give it another shot. In the video below Phillip Dixon shows us that not only is it possible to directly light your subject with the sun, it can produce stunning results.
One of our readers just emailed us this great video of landscape photographer Ansel Adam's darkroom. Michael Adams, Ansel's son, gives us a full tour of Ansel's home studio and shows some of his prints as well as much of his equipment.
Thank goodness for the GoPro HD or else this viral video wouldn't exist. If you are ever near a cliff, make sure yours is recording too.
Michael Nichols is a photographer for National Geographic who was recently faced with the task of photographing a 300 foot Redwood in Northern California. In order to capture the tree in all of its glory, Michael had to use 3 Canon 1Ds Mark II cameras, several pocket wizards, a cinema dolly system, and dozens of bracketed photos all shot at f2.8.
A few months ago, Patryk Kizny with Dito Gear shared a really amazing video called The Chapel with Fstoppers. I was absolutely blown away by the footage but I knew our readers would want to know exactly how he created it. So I was able to persuade Patryk to create a second video that outlined exactly what he did to create the original HDR timelapse images featured in The Chapel.
Photographer and videographer Patryk Kizny from Poland has been making a lot of noise around the web with his HDR TimeLapse slider videos. I've had a chance to talk to Patryk about his setup and the electronic slider he is using made by DitoGear is quite impressive.
We have posted our fair share of the newly popular moving time-lapse videos but this one is different. Henry Jun Wah Lee created a beautiful video of some amazing landscapes in Yosemite but unlike the others we have posted, much of this video is played back in real time. If you are a fan of landscape photography, this will be right up your alley.
I'm always getting asked by our readers to post more videos on landscape photography but it is really tough to find good videos on landscape photography. Luckily landscape photographer Clyde Butcher has a nice little interview where he talks about how he got into landscape swamp photography and some of the gear he uses.
Chase Jarvis is most well known for his commercial images and a history of sharing his inspiration freely on the internet. If you've followed his work at all then you know he frequently heads down to New Zealand to gain a head start on marketing campaigns for the northern hemisphere since the seasons are opposite.
We have all seen some cool RC chopper videos with dangling DSLRs but AerialPan just took things up a notch. These guys strapped the new Panasonic AF100 to their heli and shot slomo in 1080p. I've always found that these small machines have a hard time keeping the camera steady enough for smooth shots but this looks pretty perfect to me.
Today is our final day in NYC and we are currently in the studio shooting the next Fstoppers Original on Sam Yocum. I have just a second as the model gets makeup ready for the second look. I just stumbled upon this fantastic NYC timelapse by Josh Owens.
Jeff Johnson is a very talented lifestyle and advertising photographer based out of California. He is probably best known for his adventurous images as the staff photographer for Patagonia. He has also worked with Best Buy, Macy's, Target, and General Mills. So when he sits down with Marc Silber to talk about how he produces great travel photos you better take notes.
Kent Marcus was inspired by the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and wanted to do a fashion shoot with a little Swamp flair. Half way through the shoot he looses his main strobe in a water accident but continues flashing with his backup 580EXII.
UPDATE: Rich Tully works directly with Clark Little and just sent us this much better video. Click the full post for the original video posted:
Have you ever watched a scary movie where the only part of the scene you can see is being lit by a small flash light or candle from five feet away? Well those are the conditions cave photographer Stephen Alvarez regularly works in when he climbs below the earth's surface.
Have you ever wanted to shoot aerial photos or video but thought that the cost would be too high? Well Tom Guilmette just did something that Patrick and I were considering doing in one of our upcoming Fstoppers originals. I'm glad he did it first though because now I realize our plan wouldn't work. For some reason I thought a single helium balloon would be enough to lift a GoPro...
This video was released earlier this year but I really loved watching it so I figured you would too. It's a pretty clever way to advertise a product like waterproof shoes and would have make for an excellent commercial concept for an advertising ad. Click the full post to view a BTS video about this crazy new sport called Liquid Mountaineering.
As a commercial wedding photographer, I know very little about how to take compelling underwater images. Luckily underwater photographer Brian Skerry and National Geographic have shared this short BTS video on what it's like diving with fish and swimming over coral reefs.
Adam Boozer is an amazingly talented videographer right here in Charleston, SC. His company Jewell and Ginnie has been making a big splash with very cinematic video here in the low country and throughout the southeast. Last night Adam emailed us a BTS video he created on how he sets up his camera for these incredible aerial shots.
A few editors of National Geographic sat down to talk about a few of their favorite images. What is it that makes an image memorable and interesting? Most everyone said it was something they have never seen before.
Moving time lapse videos are becoming more and more popular these days. Check out the video below to see Patryk Kizny take the DriveCam Slider for a test.
Autumn. A short timelapse film from Patryk Kizny on Vimeo.
Bob Poole is a DP (Director of Photography for you still shooters) who often works for National Geographic. While filming researcher Jake Wall who is studying the migration of African elephants, Bob and his team came across one of the most amazing things I've ever seen capture on video.
The Fstoppers team just got back from Miami and the Bahamas, and while we were there we came across Peter Lik's newest art gallery in Miami Beach. I was first introduced to Peter's amazing landscape photos at his Las Vegas gallery in the Venetian Hotel, and I'm always blown away every time I step into one of his galleries.
With a bunch of hurricanes heading our way, I figured it might be fun to show everyone that rainy days do not mean you cannot still pick up your camera. Jim Reed has made a career out of extreme weather photography and has some pretty wild videos to document his craft. Some may call it a craft and others may just call it being out of your mind but either way it puts a smile on my face.