Recent Videography Articles

From an Email to a Story - A Filmmaker Runs Into Some Danger

Sometimes we receive weird messages or threats through social media, email, or text, but it's not all the time that we look into them. Maybe they are fake, maybe they are real, but this is the story of one filmmaker who looked into things a little bit deeper.

Fstoppers Reviews the DJI Osmo X5R: Stabilized Raw Video in the Palm of Your Hand

Stabilizing a video camera used to be a heavy, cumbersome, and expensive task. Today, with the help of smaller cameras and electronic gimbals, stable 4K footage has becoming increasingly affordable and compact. DJI has taken this idea to the max and created a handheld stabilized camera that can shoot 4K raw footage.

GoPro Releases Karma Drone Alongside Hero5 Black and Session Cameras with Gorgeous, Action-Packed Video

GoPro has brilliantly teased us with its careful, controlled releases of Karma drone videos. Today, they've launched the new Karma alongside a pair of Hero5 cameras that are as wonderful to see as the Karma itself. Advanced stabilization looks impressive in the videos (see the mountain biking scene at 1:53), but something to note is how cinematic the image quality now looks. It won't be as easy to tell GoPro footage from other high-quality cameras. And about that Karma: does $799, remote, backpack case, and gimbal handgrip included get you excited?

The Best DSLR Video Alternatives

We all love big sensors, affordable glass, and cheap camera bodies, but is DSLR videography a dying breed? If so, what are the alternatives that we should be looking at?

Portraits of Refugees Grace Powerful UN Video

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has just released a campaign short based on the work of photographer Brian Sokol. In the brief production, A-listers such as Cate Blanchett, Kit Harington, and Neil Gaiman recite the rhythmic poem “What They Took With Them" by Jenifer Toksvig. The poem, along with the accompanying video and still imagery, urges us to sign the #WithRefugees petition to help ensure that refugees across the world have the basic necessities needed to rebuild their lives: education, a safe environment, and work opportunities.

Stunning Stop Motion Film Is Out of This World With Handmade Cosmos

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.

One of the Most Ridiculous Photoshoots Ever: Recreating a Scene From 'Top Gun'

If you’ve ever felt the need to take on a crazy project despite consequences, photographer Blair Bunting knows exactly how you feel. In an effort to recreate a scene from the classic movie “Top Gun,” Bunting put his guts where his mouth is and attempted to photograph a jet flying 500 feet off the ground while his own jet flew upside down above it only a short distance away. This video captures that remarkable feat, along with the preparation that came beforehand, and you have to check it out.

Adobe Adding Team Collaboration to Premiere Pro

Highly anticipated for years, Adobe have finally released their team collaboration system for Premiere Pro. Until now, only large enterprises would be able to do this. However, is it powerful enough?

Mad Max: Fury Road Without Special Effects is Still Pretty Outstanding Movie Magic

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. Thanks to behind the scenes access and places like Gizmodo for the latest BTS footage.

Behind the Scenes: Aquatic Beauty Shoot With Lindsay Adler

High-end beauty photography requires images to be as close to perfection as humanly possible both in camera and in retouching. There's often a myth circulated that beauty editorials are so heavily Photoshopped that they are in essence all Photoshop. This is simply not the case.

Canon's New C700 Camera: Four Years Too Late?

While most of the photography and videography world has been pining over the 5D Mark IV, Canon has released a second camera that promises a whole lot more. The C700 is the successor to the wonderful C500. It boasts some seriously impressive specs. But is it too late?

Guy Goes Around NYC Chopping Selfie Sticks in This (Hopefully Staged) Video

In case you haven’t seen this video pop up yet in your social media feeds, check out Comedian Buddy Bolton sneaking up on unsuspecting pedestrians who have stopped to take a selfie. Instead of photobombing though, he had a different plan: cutting their selfie stick in half with gardening shears.

The Parrot Disco Is a Drone You Can Fly in First Person View for HD Video

Now admittedly, this particular device probably won't see much use in a commercial sense due to a few limiting factors. However, that being said, for those in need of fast moving aerial footage in the 1080p range, this may be worth checking out. The Parrot Disco is a fixed wing, single operator, first-person perspective flight drone that can record up to 32 GB of 1080p video on an internal storage system. It's able to reach speeds up to 80 km/h, a 2 kilometer range, and 45 minutes of flight time. This could be an interesting step forward in the direction of other high-speed aerial recording that won't require the use of full-size planes or helicopters.

'Faceless, Forgotten,' A Photo Essay On The Refugee Crisis by Photographer and Storyteller Paul Choy

A photograph that does not tell a story, is a lifeless picture – it’s a failure to capture the viewer and therefore, his heart. One single photograph can inspire a person if a photographer knows how to tell a good story. Because photographer Paul Choy wanted to find out the truth for himself behind media headlines, and because he wanted to tell the individual stories of each refugee, he set out for the refugees’ camps in Calais and Greece with his camera. The result is the ‘Faceless, Forgotten’ – a photo essay and a documentary about the struggles of refugees.

An In-Depth Look at the Video Features of the Canon 5D Mark IV

Just three days ago, the new Canon 5D Mark IV dropped, and while it's a great stills camera, all of the talk has been about what it can and can't do in the video department. This video takes a much closer look at many of those features in the Mark IV, going through menu functions and showing examples. I've included a list of the topics covered along with their time in the video within the article below.

DJI Announces the Osmo Plus, the First Handheld Gimbal With Zoom

Today DJI is adding an upgrade to their Osmo handheld gimbal with the new Osmo Plus. The Osmo+ features a 3.5x optical zoom camera with an extra 2x digital lossless zoom (while shooting 1080p), which gives it a 22-77mm focal length. Now available for $649 on the DJI website, the Osmo+ is an $80 increase of price over the regular Osmo handheld gimbal.

The Edelkrone Wing: Compact Smooth Dynamic Video Motion

Those of you who work with video will have heard the name Edelkrone passed around in regards to video and photography equipment, particularly in the compact market that's small in size, easily transportable, and reliable. Recently though they announced the release of their newest piece of gear they call, The Edelkrone Wing, marketed to achieve "perfect camera slides with no rails."

Charming Outtakes Show Off the Candid Life of a Commercial Videographer

It’s the moments between our accomplishments that define us. Particularly in an age of social media, with its carefully curated posts, profiles, and portfolios, it can be hard to appreciate the part of your persona that nobody was ever meant to see. That is until you realize that little bit of you just might be the most real. This certainly seems like the case for Iowa-based Videographer and Producer Tyce Hoskins, whose GoPro outtake reel, “GoPro & I,” is generating buzz for being, well, sort of unprofessional.

Unbelievable Behind-the-Scenes of the Greatest Deconstructed Food Shot

For me, food photography has to be one of the most complex and technical types of photography in the industry. The ability to bring life and attraction to something you need to convince other to eat is pretty impressive. Steve Giralt has done the impossible by creating one of the most outstanding examples of a deconstructed burger I have ever seen.

Gear and Tips for Lighting a Table Scene or Roundtable Discussion

In this video from Aputure, Director of Photography Julia Swain is invited to share her techniques for lighting a dinner table scene, which are common to film productions, but also have applications in the corporate and documentary video world. After the video, check out some of my own personal examples from lighting a similar setup, but instead for a corporate roundtable with an all black background.

An Alternative to VFX: Interactive Dynamic Video

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.

Mermaid to Photographer: Life in Front and Behind the Camera

Photographers Kristina Sherk and Chris Crumley have been a dynamic pair for years with their underwater photography. Crumley's shots of Sherk's mermaid modeling have gone viral around the world. However, Sherk decided to take on a new endeavor and create her own underwater art.

Aerial Film ‘Flying Into Dusk’ Proves the iPhone Is Capable of Professional Quality Video

Never underestimate the smartphone as a tool for video. That’s the lesson we learn from “Flying Into Dusk,” an impressive aerial short film completely shot using the iPhone 6s. With the use of a stabilizer and the Filmic Pro app, filmmakers Toby Harriman and Jaron Schneider have created a 4K high-quality video that rivals those filmed with far more expensive gear.

Joker Inspired Fan Film Is Both Terrifying and Beautiful

Suicide Squad opened in theaters this month and pulled in a staggering $133 million while managing to barely break a 25% critical score on the much-lauded review site Rotten Tomatoes. What this seems to mean is that when it comes to the comic-book-born heroes and villains of our youth, we'll show up in droves even if we've been warned.

DJI Phantom 4 Used to Create Beautiful 4K Video in 'An Aerial Perspective of Nordland'

Lofoten, Norway has been getting a lot of attention in the last few years, and rightfully so. Known for its incredible mountains, open waters, and unspoiled lands, it has quickly become a favorite for photographers looking to capture dramatic landscape images. Australian filmmaker Michael Fletcher took two trips here recently and came away with a fantastic aerial film, captured during the season of the midnight sun.

Pachamama - The World by Drone

It’s videos like this that inspire me to fly more and capture the beauty in this world. I myself haven’t done much traveling, but there are a lot of awesome places out there to see. Karim Iliya captured a lot of amazing content out in Pachamama and put together this video in a very fun and entertaining way.

Mastering the Art of Keeping It Simple in Photography

Something Thomas Heaton does a lot of us taking incredible and breathtaking landscape photos. Something he doesn't do a lot is show the full creation of a photo from conceptualization to presentation, including post processing. The real story here, though, is the desire to stay close to home and try to create art out of the "normal" and "familiar." What do you do when presented with nothing truly remarkable at first glance?

What a Music Video Using the iPhone App Prisma Looks Like

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. It has many effect options, and it really looks as though a lot of time, knowledge, and effort has been put together to create it. It looks like Waking Life, but instead of drawing each frame by hand, Drive Like Maria has taken every frame of their music video and run it through the app.

Budapest Captured From Day to Night in One Shot

Photographer Greg Florent has made images that capture Budapest in a new light. The images are made by taking them at the transition of daylight into sunset and then nighttime until the lights come on and the city's evening starts. He spends around four hours at a location taking one shot, making sure he gets the whole transition and changes of light to produce the images in post.

Using the Canon 1DC in the Alaskan Wilderness to Capture a Short Film in 4K

The filmmakers of “The Muir Project,” known for their first documentary, “Mile… Mile and a Half,” have just released their latest film, “Noatak: Return to the Arctic.” I interviewed Director Ric Serena who told me about the production challenges his team faced when working on a remote river deep in Alaska and why they chose to go with the Canon 1DC as their camera of choice.

The Nikon P900 and Its Crazy Zoom Lens Takes Us All the Way to the Lunar Surface

The Nikon Coolpix P900 has one monster zoom lens. With a 24-2000mm 35mm equivalence, this hybrid point-and-shoot camera really opens up the possibilities of what we are capable of capturing. In a new video from Sci-Tech Universe, we are able to see just how astonishing the results can be when they record video of the moon at full zoom.

Why You Shouldn't Overlook Sound Production in Your Films

Last week, the team over at RocketJump Film School released this awesome video about sound production in film. Sound production is probably the most overlooked aspect of filmmaking, mainly because you don't notice great sound design; it seamlessly helps you submit to the willing suspension of disbelief. Check out RJFS's experiment to see how much sound actually does affect the audience.

Things to Consider When Shooting Slow Motion Action

Video Producer Chase Kubasiak shares how to achieve exciting and impactful video through the use of slow motion scenes. In this humorous B&H tutorial, Kubasiak highlights three key variables to consider when setting up your slow motion shots.

How 'Stranger Things' Reference The 70s and 80s

As photographers we often get our visual references from film, and our ideas can originate from a single scene in a movie that blew you away. It's the combination of sounds, the anticipation and fear, and all the emotions that the director gets to capture and convey for the viewer to experience. But, it's also worth noting that most movies and series have visual cues that originate from older, classic movies too.

A Time-lapse Cinemagraph Made With 12 Images

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. Once you get a moving image "flowing" you can render it out and import it into Adobe Premiere Pro to create the final time-lapse.

Fstoppers Review of the Moza Lite II 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer for Compact Video Cameras

I’m a huge fan of gimbal stabilizers, and absolutely love how easy it is to get dreamy, floating footage with these relatively inexpensive accessories. A lot of attention has been on products like the MoVi and Ronin, but other manufacturers have stepped up their game and are making products that are just as competitive in terms of features and price. One such item is the Moza Lite II, which I’ve been reviewing for the last few weeks.

Macro Shots of Pills Dissolving Look Spectacular

Macro photography make the unseen visible. It gives our eyes that extra zoom to get in close and see the detail we usually just take for granted. From the eyes of a fly to the droplet on a leaf, you most likely have seen some great macro photography. These macro lenses are generally of superb glass which gives sharp images that contain a lot of detail. There is a range of lenses for Canon and Nikon camera systems.

Why Photo and Video Gear Doesn't Matter Much and Story Is Everything

What makes a photograph or movie memorable? With cinema as widespread as it is, a film needs to stand out in a big way, not only to succeed at the box office, but to be remembered in any capacity. As for photographs, it's the same challenge. We remember the Tiananmen Square protest photo because it captured the issues sweeping the globe in a single frame. Films like "The Shining" and "There Will Be Blood" are relatively simple in terms of visuals, but have stories that will forever make them classics. And that's exactly what makes a film or a photograph great: story.

Video Breaks Down the Impressive Visual Effects of 'Game of Thrones'

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.

A Tribute to Blue Screen Photography and Compositing

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? Mark Vargo explains the mathematics, optics, engineering, and software behind the blue screen photography and compositing in detail.

Video Editing Tricks When Cutting Together an Action Scene for Your Film

In this video from Ryan Connolly over at Film Riot, he takes viewers quickly through an action sequence he has edited, and shows a few simple ways that he was able to increase the perceived speed and create a more realistic edit. Even if you're not editing fight scenes, there are a few tricks in here that are absolutely applicable to other genres.

NASA Releases a Time-Lapse One Year and One Million Miles in the Making

NASA's aptly named EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) camera sits about one million miles from our planet, where it uses an array of sensors to monitor and provide observations of cloud heights, aerosols, vegetation growth, and the state of ozone in the atmosphere. It also provides some pretty neat images of Earth, which NASA has assembled into a year-long time-lapse.

Contentious Retouching Just Got Easier: How to Use the Face-Aware Liquify Tool

Beauty and fashion retouching has been controversial for so long that some of the argument's ground has been conceded. For example, skin retouching is rarely debated anymore and it's merely a "given" that someone in an advert or magazine will have had their skin corrected. However, criticizing body manipulation in Photoshop is very much still in vogue (if you'll excuse that glorious pun).

A Hypnotic Film About How a Tennis Ball Is Created

One of the places where photography has grown tremendously is in the manufacturing and industrial industry. People need to show how things are made, and they need to do it without actually being there. There is a vast amount of engineering and skill sets found in a factory, and if your photography is in this line of work, you'll find this video by Benedict Redgrove stimulating and inspiring.