Strobe light

As we get closer to the deadline to enter our Behind The Scenes Contest we are seeing more and more entries, many of which are looking truly great. As I was browsing through the submissions, I noticed this one by Cory Albrechston where he demonstrates how he designed and lit a set to create the look of someone trapped under a sheet of ice. With pretty straightforward lighting and a cool idea, Cory was able to make a really unusual and eye-catching image.

Russell Jamesis perhaps my favorite photographer of all time. His images of sexy women never look cliche, and basically everything about his photographs are brilliant. But few people probably know what steps Russell took in becoming one of the world's most successful photographers. Check out this behind the scenes video as Russell photographs the 2011 Victoria's Secret Christmas campaign and dives into his history of becoming a photographer. I love how much attention goes into making the models comfortable and creating a connection with them. If it wasn't for Peter Hurley teaching me otherwise, I would have completely gawked at Russell's lighting and production. In reality, what makes every one of Russell's images stand out is his subject's connection with the reader. Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did.

There are a ton of car photographers out there but very few of them are this good. Lee Howell just sent me his newest portfolio shoot that involved shooting a new Audi R8 GT in a soon to be opened tunnel. Lee got his hands on one of the craziest car rigs I have ever seen and walks us through the basics of his production. With a little bit of post work, the images become world class shots. Head over to Lee's website to get more info and pictures.

One of the biggest announcements I was really excited about this year was the release of Nikon's Flagship SB910 Speedlight. Many people were speculating that the revamped portable strobe would be smaller like the classic SB800, finally offer wireless syncing via radio, incorporate a small constant LED light for video, or add another half stop or two of power. Unfortunately none of those changes have become reality yet but the new speedlight does offer enough updates that anyone in the market for a powerful speedlight will want to check out the Nikon SB910. Click the full post to read the official Nikon Press Release. You can already preorder the Nikon SB910 as it should be shipping mid December 2011. Out of curiosity, if you could design the perfect speedlight, what features would you want that this new flash does not already offer?

When Lee and I started this website almost two years ago, our vision was to not only share knowledge of what some of the best photographers around the world were doing but to also create a community that could inspire other creative professionals. Our Facebook Group is full of photoshoots from our readers that were inspired by some of the top talent featured on Fstoppers, and it's always fun to see photoshoots that were inspired directly from something we first did here. The latest such video comes from the Netherlands where photographer Wouter de Winter recreates my very own Indoor Wakeboard Studio Shoot using kiteboarders. Wouter isn't the first to draw inspiration from the original video but he is the first to also create a BTS video about it, and I think you will enjoy it. The next step for other photographers should be to take this idea and create something even bigger! If you have ideas or thoughts about what direction the next "indoor wakeboard shoot" should go, leave them in the comments below. I'd love to hear where others would take this concept...it might even make for a great BTS Contest Video!

Most people know Joe McNally for his photojournalism or his editorial work. Others know him as the author of some of the best photography books on lighting. But Joe "numnuts" McNally is also one heck of an advertising photographer too. Recently Joe photographed the Anti-Gravity Dancers in an ad campaign for Epson's new R3000 printers. By using huge Octobanks and powerful gridded rim lights, McNally and his team were able to create some dramatic portraits of the dancers flipping and soaring above the New York City skyline. Click the full post to see the final image and a BTS lighting setup and head over to Joe McNally's Blog to view a ton of images throughout the day. This shoot looks like a ton of fun and has my wheels turning a bit!

It's pretty rare that a solid behind the scenes video comes from a super high end photoshoot. Usually they aren't full of much photography insight and instead focus on the model. But that doesn't mean you can't get inspired and learn something from the best of the best. In this video supermodel Irina Shayk and makeup artist Baltasar Gonzalez Pinel talk about their recent cover shoot for Elle Magazine Spain which involves a lot of body beads. In the second video below, you can see how a simple hard light with some reflectors can produce a super high end fashion result. Check out Santiago Esteban's website for some amazing fashion images.

Jaren Wilkey is the manager of Brigham Young University's photography department (perhaps he helped on this shoot?). His Behind The Scenes Contest submission idea was to create a photoshoot that played off a news story there at the university. Jaren and his students set out to produce an editorial type image featuring computer hackers. These hackers weren't the malicious type you typically think of but rather the winners of a large computer science hacking competition. Check out what Jaren and his students came up with and they even used the Eye-fi to ipad tethering tip we exposed here. Congrats guys and good luck with the contest!

I just realized that our Fstoppers Twitter account has tons of unread direct messages (we prefer you email us). One of them was from Douglas Sonders who had a crazy experience with one of the original Ghostbusters Ecto 1 Cadillacs. These caddies have so many lights on them that I can't make any sense of what is going on but it looks pretty cool. Douglas does a good job explaining how he plans on using a few long exposure shots to burn in the ambient light while using spot grids to pop in just the right amount of flash for specific areas of the photo. Does anyone know if the Roscoe Fog Machine in this video is made by the same company that makes Roscoe Speedlight Gels? Either way, nice touch on bringing the smoke machine to the shoot. Check out more details about this shoot over at Douglas Sonders's Blog.

There are just less than 7 weeks left to submit your behind the scenes contest video. Submissions are starting to come in and it's amazing what our readers are doing through their photography. As the video submissions come in we are going to feature the standouts here on the front of Fstoppers. In Zach Hetrick's behind the scenes video, he shows how he created commercial sports portraits of The Hoosiers's track and field team. Zach takes some time at the beginning to talk a bit about the lighting setup he used and shows how you can give your group shots a punch with some nice light thanks to a few Alien Bee monoblocks. Leave your comments below if you have any questions about this shoot or simply want to give some friendly support to Zach. You can check out all the entries on the BTS Contest Forum Thread, and remember to get your submissions in early so we can share your work on the front of the site.

Some of my favorite behind the scenes videos we've featured on Fstoppers are of Matthew Jordan Smith. He speaks well and always articulates his lighting and setups in a way that both amateurs and pros can understand. In this video Matthew talks about exposing for a high key background, metering your subject's face for dramatic studio light, and balancing ambient backlight with a studio keylight. I'll be honest and say that I've never used a Sekonic Light Meter but I can see how useful they can be for more advanced studio lighting. I think Matthew might be the only professional I know of shooting on a Sony DSLR! I guess it goes to show that your camera brand makes little difference in producing great images. Check out more of Matthew's tutorials here.

Von Wong has been featured on our site many times because he is constantly coming up with unique ideas. In this video Von Wong sets out on an unplanned photoshoot with a couple of dancers. Sometimes too much planning can actually limit your creativity. While many of us would have worked on a single shot, Von Wong came away with a group of excellent and completely different images. I asked why this video wasn't a contest entry and Von Wong said "Not epic enough!" I hope this means that an epic entry is on the way.

Some of our readers might have met up with Monte Isom at last month's Fstoppers NYC Meetup. His videos have been fan favorites on the site and this week he is sharing another one of his commercial shoots. In this behind the scenes video, Monte shows you how he photographed his latest Molson Export Ale ad campaign featuring hockey players as they slide in towards the camera. As always, Monte has a lot of fun on his shoots and hopefully you can gain some ideas for shoots of your own from this video.

Things have been pretty quiet in terms of video submissions for our big 2011 BTS Contest and I know that everyone is planning to have theirs done last minute. Let me give you a little advice, DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. As submissions are posted on the forum we will be posting our favorites on Fstoppers. If you submit your video with the masses the very last day, it will not get the attention it deserves. In this submission Dave Gruentzel (who is a still photographer) decided to film a his buddy Cory Albrechtson's new fashion concept. Cory was inspired by a simple fabric print and from that came this whole shoot. Check out the full post to see the final image.

Jay P. Morgan is a commercial photographer based out in Los Angeles. His behind the scenes videos have been a hit with our readers because they always feature some useful lighting or photoshopping technique. In his latest video, Jay shuts down a highway ramp in order to light an 18 wheeler truck against the LA skyline. It's pretty interesting that an image like this is shot in camera and not completely photoshopped but that's what makes Jay P. Morgan a hero around the office. If you enjoy this video be sure to check out some of his other videos here.

This striking image (pun intended) was shot by Blair Bunting for a Deadliest Catch ad for Discovery Channel. Curious to know how he did it? Well, luckily for us, his assistant Paul Morton filmed the whole thing, and Mike Maez was kind enough to edit it down into a digestible and inspiring video. Do not worry, it did not take any knocked out teeth or injured sailors to get the job done, but rather a couple of Pro-7a units and 3 high powered leaf blowers. Have a look and see for yourself!

via the ProFoto Blog

Jay P Morgan is a commercial photographer out of California who has a history of creating some of the best most educational behind the scenes videos out on the internet (click here to watch tons of them). In this video Jay explains how you can shoot athletes in a studio environment and composite them into any scene easily and effectively. I want you guys to take note of how Jay breaks down his photography approach and offers concise and detailed information about his shoot. If you are interested in winning our Behind The Scenes Contest (and instantly having a studio of your own), you are going to need to explain your process thoroughly and in an interesting manner. Also be sure to check out the full retouching video on Facebook to see how everything was pieced together in post.

Ryan Enn Hughes just submited his entry for our BTSV contest and it is quite impressive. Ryan teamed up with The Big Freeze and set up 48 D700 cameras in a circle and then fired them all at once as dancers did their thing. The photographs are pretty cool on their own but the real magic happened in post during the editing phase when Ryan teamed up with sound designers at Zelig Sound to create two incredible 30 seconds videos. Obviously this is an extremely high budget project but our contest will not be judge on that so don't be discouraged if you don't have 48 $3000 cameras to play with. As always, you can check out all of the submissions to our contest as they come in here on our forum.

Strobist has an interesting article by architectural photographer Mike Kelley. Usually exterior shots of homes and buildings are simply too large to effectively light with speedlights or big power packs. The tried and true method of capturing a great looking exterior shot is to turn all the lights on in the building and wait for the ambient sky light to match the build's artificial light. In the behind the scenes video below, Kelley shares his "selective lighting" technique and how it can be combined with multiple exposures from a small Canon 430EX to produce a sort of hero shot for publication. Click the full post for the final images.

Taking your creativity to the next level can make all the difference between typical photographs and artistic photographs. Orb Outerwear just released their new Fall 2011 fashion designs and they included a fun behind the scenes video to go along with it. So many photographers already have a pretty solid understanding of lighting to produce great photos. What they lack is artistic vision to do something different and unique. Everyone who reads this blog can easily create a small team of set designers, hair stylists, makeup artists, and clothing stylists to produce studio quality catalog profiles. Try putting something like this together for your entry into the Behind The Scenes Contest we are running. Unfortunately I could not find out who the photographer was so if you know the talent responsible for these please reply in the comments. Click the full post to see a stop motion video of some of the final images (the snow shoot doesn't appear to have been published yet).

I have to thank Tyler Kaufman for turning me onto this next video. Sports photographer Peter Read Miller recently shot some of the top NCAA college football players for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. There really isn't any super informative information in this video but it's still great to see how the top photographers in the world pull off cover material for magazines like Sports Illustrated. From the video, it appears that these shots are lit with only 3 light sources: One large parabolic reflector as a key, one smaller parabolic reflector as a kicker, and a spot gridded flash head for a rear rim light. If you've ever shot in this style you know that small hard rim/kicker lights can really edge out your subject. If you click the full post and look at the super high res final image you can see how the larger side light makes the highlights broad but still harsh. It's easy to think that a barebulb speedlight to the side of your subject is sufficient for a rim light but adding that one extra modifier can really make a huge difference in your final result.

I'm sure many of you have heard the saying "overcast skies make for amazing photos". While it's true that soft overcast light is usually more flattering on people's faces, it can also make your photos super boring and even gloomy. So what can you do with your bag of tricks to spice up a photo session during cold, rainy, or overcast days? Damien Lovegrove explains how you can use a "dingle" (or more commonly a Cookie) to bring some pseudo-sunlight into your portraits . This clip is from Damien's Speedlight Mastery DVD and he does a great job explaining this super useful technique that can be applied to many of your own shoots at almost zero cost. Next time you see those interesting shadow patterns while thumping through your girlfriend's fashion magazines you can imagine the dingle that created them!

A big part of what makes commercial photography so interesting is it often requires photographers to incorporate the latest graphic trends into their work. In other words, in order to cut the mustard in commercial photography, you not only have to be at the top of your game but you also have to produce something eye catching in a market full of interesting media. That's exactly what photographer Gary Land did with his latest Adidas ad featuring soccer superstar Lionel Messi. However, his arsenal of Profoto lights and heavy photoshop has caused a bit of controversy over on the Strobist website where many photographers are claiming the final image is a bit overkill. I personally love the final image and think the direction Gary went is exactly what separates the boys from the men. However, I can appreciate the purists point of view who think great advertising photos should remain true to real life and capture a more realistic vision. Check out this great behind the scenes video of the latest Adidas shoe ad and let us know what you think in the comments. Check out Gary's interesting website as well for more inspiration.

In this weeks episode of The Slanted Lens, Jay P. Morgan shows us how to light and photograph a glass bottle. This video is also about superimposing products into real scenes so that the product looks it's best. Tutorials like this are priceless for anyone who is interested in product photography. Glass can be extremely tricky but Jay makes things super simple for us.

Douglas Sonders has always created some pretty interesting behind the scenes videos of his photo projects. Recently he shot the band Blink 182 for the cover of Alt Press Magazine. The behind the scenes video below doesn't show much mainly because Douglas only had about 30 minutes with the band and had to shoot 3 separate covers with each band member individually as well as 1 complete band photo. The lighting is pretty straight forward though with a few rim lights, a soft over head key light, and a ring flash. Check out the full post to see a detailed video on how Douglas photoshopped the final images for print and how he uses the Nik Software Viveza in his workflow.

I've been saving my money for months so that I can make the switch over to Profoto and take advantage of their new D1 Air Monolights. Not only are these things small and light but they are also completely wireless! You can now control your studio lights (on/off, flash power, modeling light) all from the Profoto Air Remote. You want to know what the best part is? WE ARE GIVING A SET OF THESE LIGHTS AWAY to the winner of our behind the scenes contest. Check out the full post to see 3 videos of these incredible lights in action.

Usually when I hear someone is shooting a sexy calendar my stomach churns a bit as I imagine poor photography, less than stunning models, and ridiculously boring scenes. Thankfully this military themed calendar from Hot Shots is definitely not one of those poorly executed photoshoots. The final images are not yet public but they do have a bunch of them within this behind the scenes video so watch closely. The lighting is perfect, the photoshop is inspiring, and the amount of production value everyone put into this is something everyone should notice even if you aren't shooting sexy military bikini babes (which who isn't really?). If anyone comes across more of the final images let us know. In the mean time, enjoy a break from your typical Tuesday afternoon!