VFX for Photographers

Computer-generated imagery in movies is a common thing when it comes to blowing up stuff in space and showing giant robots fighting in downtown Los Angeles. But here are some examples where you may have never thought computer graphics were used. 

Two years ago I featured a macro videographer who was creating incredible visuals using chemicals and substances. Roman De Giuli has done it again, this time for the Winter Olympics. Creating truly unique bodies of work is harder now more than ever.

If you've seen "I, Tonya," you may have noticed the film isn't just great for its incredible acting, script, and fresh approach to an old story. What really pulls you in are the long takes of Margot Robbie actually skating like her character, Tonya Harding, as though she herself was a true Olympian. 

Writer and director Ryan Connolly, over at Film Riot, wanted to challenge himself to see if he and his crew could turn out a realistic, action-packed, science fiction short film with no script, three hundred dollars, and a whole lot of help from his friends.  But, to be clear, when I say, "Pro Sci-Fi Short," there is an emphasis pro.

If you're into travel photography and video you've heard of Sam Kolder. You can find tutorial videos about how to get his transitions and how to shoot to make your videos flow like his does.

We’ve noticed the trend. Video is becoming the way most people communicate online these days. How can you as photographer use video as a tool to influence the personal brand you are constantly building, and how can you expand your product offering to clients?

Adobe has called the new additional Effects menu category "Immersive Video." They've made it easier to apply transitions and to add text or logos that look natural to the viewer.

It’s been said that when directing any project, 90 percent of your time will be dedicated to communicating with personnel. This means that directing, while it’s often branded as a personal, individual process, is inextricably tied to the quality of the relationships you hold with the creatives on your team. 

Casey Neistat's latest vlog is a review of the Rylo 360-degree camera. What makes this different than the 360-degree cameras currently on the market is that it comes with software that makes it easy to pick your shot (in other words, the frame that'll fit your 16:9 or 4:3 frame) and compose your video like that.

Eric Flores Garnelo has made a short film using mainly cinemagraphs to create the scenes. The audio is well produced, and the production of the scenes are done with craftsmanship. Watching each of these shots with only one item moving opens up the capacity to contemplate.

"Mindhunter" is one of the recent Netflix releases that has me hooked. It has psychology, mystery, analysis, and how the FBI and police went about training for the serial killers who didn't have a motive. It's based on true events, and because the series is set in in 1977, which has different cars and fewer people and buildings than we have now.

Photo editing, retouching, and removing something from the shot isn't easy to do especially if it's a complex part of the hair, but it's common practice for a professional photographer to be able to do it if the shot and client requires it. It involves masking the new hair refining tool brush over and selecting the best feathering to make this selection as true as possible.

You want Hollywood-grade shots but you don't have the money? The bad news is most of the time you can't do anything about this. The good news is there are cases when with the help of some VFX you can go a long way, as in this case. This video will help you recreate that orange desert look from "Blade Runner 2049." 

Always looking to try something different with his aerial videos, Vietnam-based Filmmaker Rufus Blackwell recently shared with me his latest project. His techniques combine motion control through planned waypoint missions, and then manipulating the footage in a visual effects software to mirror the ground in an almost "Inception"-like effect. 

Instead of fearing the future where AI takes over and leaves us with nothing else to do other than oiling their machines, Nigel Standford made a music video and used this "man against machine" concept. It's a DJ, who also plays guitar. The machines take over. Who's making the music?

Adobe is updating its video applications and adding new features across the board. Many of these features include improvements for editing virtual reality content, smarter automated tasks, and some other features modeled after Final Cut 7, which Apple announced will not be supported in its upcoming MacOS High Sierra update. 

London-based Director Oscar Hudson recently released a mind-boggling music video for Bonobo’s “No Reason,” and it's incredible. The music video, which is an homage to Hikikomori, a growing problem in Japan of adolescents and adults who withdraw from society and become increasingly isolated, was filmed using one continuous shot and only in-camera effects and no CGI. 

I'll start with a rather obvious warning: this video and article may contain spoilers for anything that happens up to and including episode 2 of season 7 of "Game of Thrones." With that out of the way, we can look at how the incredible fight scene of that second episode was created. 

J-Cuts can be described as having the sound enter the scene before the scene appears visually, or it can be used to play out a scene where the audio is used after the shot has ended.

So many photographers have recently been dipping their toes in the world of video. You can edit photos like a pro, but maybe you just can't seem to figure out video editing; it's very complex – like an onion, so many layers – and now you have to deal with sound design! If you've used presets for your photo editing, then you should definitely consider plugins for your video editing.

Neill Blomkamp directed "District 9" and "Chappie" and now he's released a short film of a dystopian future where aliens have taken over earth and the humans have to fight with whatever they can to survive and before it's too late.

Whether you are a photographer or a videographer, special effects are one way to separate your work from the crowd. Not everyone is willing to put in the time or effort, and many don’t know how to get it done.

Captain Disillusion is back again, and this time he's uncovering the various techniques used to create the famous “Tape Measure Tricks” video. How much of it is visual effects?

Some of my favorite video editing tricks and tools are quick and subtle edits that have a lot of impact on the final piece. This tutorial from videographer Casey McPerry is definitely one of those tools that I will be adding to my bag. The freeze-frame effect McPerry teaches you how to create can be seen in this shot clip from his Instagram feed.

There are many times in the automotive industry that when you're asked to shoot a car, you frequently cannot move the car either from where it is or far from where it's being stored due to its rarity, sometimes condition, and sometimes even questionable street-legality. This can definitely cause some problems when it comes to producing high-end images of the cars for a client.

When getting into video, filming may not be the biggest issue. Post-production plays a significant role and can be quite overwhelming. There is tons of software out there, and it’s difficult to know which is best for what. Learning how to use these programs is even worse when you are a photographer.

If you're into video editing you are probably interested in visual effects to some extent. Even if you aren't, bookmark the current article as you will eventually be. Visual effects is not some software magic that works with any footage. With video you have lots of still images per second and the process of making a composite needs to be automated as much as possible.

How far had computer graphics come in the early eighties? "Tomorrow's World," an old show on BBC, shows us just how far the tech had come – and how far it was going to go.

Last week I shared a video that used a couple of alternative techniques for aerial video, and coincidentally I was contacted shortly after to check out another video that had some unique drone video shots. In this kite surfing video, you'll see some interesting macro-style clips, speed ramps, zooms, and more. The fact is, all of this was done in post. 

On Sunday night, "The Jungle Book" took home the Oscar for best visual effects. It shines a spotlight on how a story can rely so heavily on VFX, but how the industry continues to sideline the people behind it. A newly released short documentary is showing us just how digital art is a race to the bottom. 

BBC Click shared a video that gives an in-depth look at the tools used by director Gareth Edwards at ILM London to better show computer graphics supervisor Steve Ellis his desired camera angles and movements throughout "Rogue One." Using just an iPad and an HTC Vive controller, Edwards was able to explore the virtual, computer-generated world to find the best shots, which were th

We all know that visual effects have come a long way in recent years, but it’s always worth remembering that the best of the lot are the kind you don’t notice. This video – a wonderful tribute to VFX – is a smart way of showing off exactly what can be done.

Visual and special effects have a long history; they've been around since the dawn of filmmaking. Here are some great examples from silent films where the techniques used behind the scenes are still relevant today. 

"Rogue One" is the latest addition to the epic space battle in the "Star Wars" universe, and damn, did it impress. From all angles, the film looked to hit on all the cues that made the original 70s and 80s films incredible, yet still filled it with plenty of new and relevant stories to bring it to life in 2016.

Some Dads bring their kids to the playground, some even play the same sport. Action Movie Dad sends his son to other worlds with his VFX know how and childlike imagination. This time around, he's showing us exactly how it's done.

Nice lighting and a controlled experiment can yield some pretty cool results, and luckily there are folks like the ones behind the brand Beauty of Science who just released a video showing exactly that. Simply put, they dissolved some M&M candy in a dish of water. And it looks amazing. 

Filmmaker Stephen Vitale and Writer Eric Carrasco​ created a truly epic Star Wars fan fiction. When I came across this short, I found myself wishing they made a behind-the-scenes video so I could post them both for you all to enjoy. Turns out they did. So I did. And you will. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elWjSPOAN_U

Audi took advantage of Monday night's presidential debates with its "Duel" ad spot. Nearly the entire clip plays in reverse, allowing the chronology of the true story and how the action unfolded to the point at which you began to unravel itself in an action-packed scene.

Lately, I've found myself watching lots of stop motion films. It's something I've always wanted to try (I've tried very simple things thanks to Vine), but never really dove into. Now, after watching "Infinitude," my head is spinning at the possibilities of what you can create with stop motion.  

The recent remake of Mad Max: Fury Road has to be one of my favorite examples of both CGI and practical effects in modern day movie making working perfectly together. The way they created this world for which these characters live astounds me every time I see the film and truly set itself apart from other movies.

Stop motion animation is by far one of the most forgotten mediums for filmmaking, yet it holds high respect for what it is and how it's done in large motion pictures today. Those pushing the envelope in 2016 are the geniuses behind Laika Studios where they blended hand crafted puppets, CGI, and 3D printing to build a world filled with imagination and story.  

Science meets art once again. Abe Davis, a computer science PhD student at MIT, recently published a research about interaction with the objects in videos, by measuring and mapping the vibrations of their movements. His project, which he developed with Justin Chen and Fredo Durand, and patented by MIT, aims to be used both in engineering and videography. 

Drive Like Maria just released a music video for their song "Deep Blue." What makes this unique is that every frame has been rendered with the "Dreams" effect using the Prisma App. This app uses AI to create effects that make your images look like paintings of famous artists.

This Cinemagraph time-lapse was made using only 12 JPEG images. The software allows photographers to create motion within a static photograph. You need to upload each image to the website, and then you design the movement within each image.

As you probably know, much of the epic imagery in "Game of Thrones" is computer-generated. It's a monumental task, and this video from Rising Sun Pictures, the visual effects company responsible for that amazing imagery, really puts into perspective the amount of work and imagination required to pull off such a feat. 

Beyond any doubt, the effects and compositing techniques used in the first three films of Star Wars trilogy were the game changer in VFX world. Although there has been a rapid improvement in the VFX technology for the last 40 years, we can say that Star Wars was one of the pioneers. So, how was that possible to achieve realistic results in a movie produced in 1980?

[UPDATE] The winners have been announced! Check out the winners page to see some incredible video editing.

Adobe has released Premiere Pro CC 2015.3. The new welcomed features are something I haven’t yet seen implemented in any other NLE. If you use Premiere, here is a look at what’s new, and if you’re not a subscriber, this might make you consider switching. 

In their latest video, Film Riot's Frontman/Director Ryan Connolly comes to my backyard (Vancouver, BC) to film a truly epic bar brawl short. This entire series of videos is extremely useful when it comes to learning what it takes to film a quality short. The "Uncut Behind the Scenes" video is seriously my favorite of the bunch as you

From the company that pioneered the use of virtual car reskinning for video use, comes the newest innovation of film technology.