Videography

I have always been fascinated by space travel. Back in college a friend showed me a documentary that proposed that the moon landing is a hoax. The arguments were based on photography, videography, and lighting tricks and I remember thinking "wow could this really have been staged?" Mr. SG Collins makes a pretty compelling argument claiming that neither NASA nor Stanley Kubrick were actually technologically capable of producing a video that could stand up to modern scrutiny. Collin's photographic argument should put a final nail in the conspiracists' theory for good.

Von Wong, who you should all know by now -- if not from us, then from the million and one places he scurries around the world and online -- was given a challenge by a friend, Sebastien Roignant: "To shoot and edit an insane image involving two orcs, a witch king, warrior, villager and a cinema theatre...all in 4 hours without having any information ahead of time." Von Wong is also up for a [Framed] award for best conceptual photographer this year. Vote for him here.

Timelapses aren't just for moving clouds and the northern lights (but they sure are pretty) but in fact their use for studying earth sciences is becoming a key part in learning more about our landscape and using the images to educate and inform the masses. I interviewed Forrest Pound of San Francisco based Kontent Films, who was tasked with building custom timelapse rigs to document parts of the Colorado River. He has shared this DIY project step by step, so read on to learn more.

Although there are thousands Guinness Wold Records and some are broken every day, it's still inspiring to see large numbers of people come together with a common goal. Recently, both GoPro and Devin Graham filmed different world records.

When I bought my first DSLR 4 years ago, I offered a very enthusiastic "SAYONARA!" to the film era. This wasn't because I'm not grateful for the journey that photography has endured to end up where it is, but because my ADHD spark plug of a mind needed a process that was faster and more efficient than it's film and darkroom roots.

You've probably seen plenty of Heisler's work without knowing it, and it can be said that he is one of the contemporary greats when it comes to portraiture. His work has graced the cover and insides of many of today's largest publications, and he's responsible for creating countless iconic photos of celebrities. In these videos (part two is in the post), Greg gives some fantastic advice to photographers about getting new jobs,

Back in September I spent a few days in New River Gorge, West Virginia, rock climbing with a group of friends. For this trip I developed a plan to put together a short documentary that would involve shooting an interview in the climbing area and doing a multicamera shoot of a climber. Watch the final video, and then read on for a breakdown of how it was all done.

If you own a DSLR camera, the odds are that you've tried to create an HDR image using one of the many available HDR software programs available on the market, and you might have even created what people call 'disastrous' results. But fret not, because SLR Lounge recently released the end-all, be-all HDR tutorial to conquer all other HDR tutorials.

As I am writing this I am trying to fall asleep. I am supposed to be up in 4 hours to head off on a little snowboard adventure with some friends. Instead of sleeping though I am sitting around watching snowboard videos, smart move right? Anyway a buddy told me to check out this movie called The Art Of Flight on Netflix, and I can tell you this much, it doesn't disappoint.

Earlier this week Mass. Attorney General, Martha Coakley, filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against a Millbury, Massachusetts videography studio for allegedly scamming several newlyweds out nearly $75,000 worth of wedding videography services and precious memories. The company, Sure Shot Videography is accused of taking newlyweds' deposits and either not showing up to the wedding or for never delivering the final product videos.

Nikon, who is responsible for making the film, Broken Night, to promote the Nikon D800, has now finally made it available online. The film shows off some of the low-light and shallow depth of field capabilities of the D800's full frame sensor. You can see the 10-minute short and behind-the-scenes clips online at BrokenNightMovie.com.

Kickstarter product "Lil-Mule" is small, motor-powered camera platform that has been developed to capture timelapse or real-time video for lengths much longer than most rail or slider based systems can provide. It's aim was also to give the user a simpler feature set, doing away with the complicated math and setup that other systems offer. This video gives you a glimpse of what the system is capable of, with more informative videos inside.

Samsung announced their new NX300 and 2D/3D lens last week in anticipation of CES 2013, so we had them take us through a quick rundown of the new NX300 mirrorless camera as well as their new 2D/3D lens, a first of it's kind.

This has got to be one of the most beautifully filmed behind the scenes videos I have ever seen. Sigma recently released this tour of their factory, set to an incredible ambient soundtrack by Voytak and cut with scenes of the Japanese countryside. The juxtaposition of the clinical interior scenes with the natural outside world were very effective and to be honest, I found the whole video somewhat powerful. Then again,

Have you ever wanted to film yourself while doing a photoshoot for some behind the scenes action, but not one of your videographer buddies wanted to get away from whatever indie marathon was running that weekend and help you film it? Well, now with SOLOSHOT you don't have to worry about picking up the phone and degrading yourself by begging to your cinephile friends, you can do it yourself.

I love it when teams can keep churning out interesting tutorials or behind the scenes videos regularly and still keep the quality high, and one team that continues to do just that is PHLEARN. We've featured them a few times in the past, and today they released this new video on shooting beauty, but with sparklers.

Adventurer Dean Potter is the subject of a Nat Geo project called "The Man Who Can Fly". For part of this project, filmmaker Bryan Smith with shooter Michael Schaefer worked on this stunning clip of Dean doing a highline walk in Yosemite with the moon filling the sky. Read on to find out how he got such an amazing perspective.

Since the increased availability of small, high quality video cameras, we've seen some truly amazing footage. But this video from Scott Ziegler gives us a first hand look at what firefighters deal with on a call! It's pretty intense! The music on the video might be NSFW in places so you might want to turn your sound down.

Well, the teaser ad from Canon France that we showed you last week was confirmed today. The PowerShot N is the compact camera that Canon is pushing of their four released cameras today. Here is a promo video they put on Youtube.

Last time I was writing about polar bears, some poor photographers at a public zoo had dropped some Canon gear into a tank. Word must have gotten around that lenses and camera bodies are a tasty treat, as this video shows wildlife shooter Gordon Buchanan from the BBC getting tossed about inside of his plexiglass enclosure by a large female polar bear!

For the past few years DigitalRev has done the "Cheap Camera Challenge" with a professional photographer and a crappy little toy camera. This year's challenge consisted of Strobist's David Hobby, a 2MP Buzz Lightyear toy camera and 3 of the best named speedlights of all time, the Family Jewels FUQ 690.

For years, videographers have been saying video will replace photography altogether. Last year we tested this controversial statement in our own Red Epic Video vs Hasselblad Photo Shootout. In this latest video, Abraham Joffe along with Philip Bloom and Sue Bryce test the idea of simply pulling out still shots from video and printing them at reasonable sizes. Just as we found with our own video, capturing the definitive "micro expression" with a video camera like the new Canon EOS-1DC can be both precise and incredibly clunky.

Den Lennie from F-Stop Academy shot this behind the scenes video that documents James Tonkin as he creates visuals for his short film "A Night at Nine Elms" with the EF-Mount version of the BlackMagic Cinema Camera. James talks about his experiences with the BMCC and discusses using Canon EF lenses. See the final short film in the full post.

If you've watched the TV series "Grimm," you may be curious how the mythological creatures from Grimm's fairy tales make it onto screen. Bent Image Lab, the production company behind the cg creations of the show, explains their process of transforming characters into creatures and adding a fantastical element to each episode.

Everyone who has ever taken any interest in photography has thought about attempting to take one picture a year in order to fuel creative growth or to create an interesting and varied body of work in a relatively short time span. Jonathon Britnell put his own spin on the 365 project (technically a 366) by shooting one second of video every day for a year and compiling into a very cool documentary look at his life over the last year.

Dr. Amir Amedi, brain researcher and Neurobiology professor from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, developed a technology that lets blind people 'see' with their ears. In this TEDx talk (TEDxJerusalem) he shows how he managed to use a simple camera, and transform the video captured into sound waves that quickly become visual images in the brain. It's amazing to see how they can 'see' when someone smiles at them, just by listening to the video they capture with that small camera.

Though we are still working on our review of the Canon 6D, Gizmodo just published their Lightning Review and besides the expected nods to the high quality of the stills, the unexpected moire issues they found in video have me frowning.

DIY photo/video gear projects can almost always save you a few bucks if you have the skills and time to make it. But there are a few DIY gems out there that can save you hundreds of dollars, if not more. One of these gems is stillmotion's tutorial on 3 point lighting for video interviews made from a whopping total of $26! They did a great job of pinching every penny while still yielding a great DIY product. If you end up trying this (or variations of it) we'd love to see your outcome in the comments below. Enjoy!

Australian Fashion and Commercial Photographer Peter Coulson with Arterium Creations put together this video from one of his fashion shoots in Melbourne. Not your typical studio setup, Peter is out with his crew shooting in the open streets, complete with the public watching and potentially ruining some of his shots. See as he works with his model and they have a great time creating some stunning street-fashion images.

Marvel's 'The Avengers' is the top grossing movie of 2012 and the third of all time, ensuring that the superhero genre of movies are here to stay.  Industrial Light & Magic have finally released the behind the scenes and walkthrough for the post production on one of the most amazing scenes in the movie, a long take of all the heroes fighting off the Alien horde that is uninterrupted and seamless with New York City as its backdrop.

This past week I was conversing with a taxi driver while in Jamaica. At one point I noticed a slum of houses and quickly shot a picture of it as we drove by. He responded abruptly, "Why are you shooting the ugly parts of our country. All of you media do the same. You should focus on the beautiful areas, not the ugly ones." He was absolutely right! I had fallen into a trap that so many of us tend to when traveling. This video from Devin Graham addresses this and other issues and gives some great tips on ways to get wonderful photos and video while traveling in foreign countries. 

"In A New Light" is non-profit that uses nature photography to empower, teach, guide, and ultimately change the lives of it's students- students whose background often includes struggling in school, abusive homes, and general hopelessness. Both the photos captured and stories told are simply inspiring. Read on for an interview with Ben Thwaits, pro photographer turned teacher for IANL, and to see some of the students' impressive work. A Kickstarter to publish a photobook along with stories of the students is in the making as well.

In the last several years camera development has taken huge strides in giving photographic capabilities of stills to video. Non film makers now have the capability of taking cinematic quality video without needing to upgrade from their dslr. In this video, Untitled Film Works unpacks the continual merging of stills and video.

Several years ago Richard Schneider of PictureCorrect.com decided his new years resolution would be to begin training to be able to fly a wingsuit. This dream along with his passion for photography eventually led him to Dubai, where he captured the footage you'll see in this video. Learn more about Richard and the work it took to get to this point in the full post.

The New York Times just released an absolutely incredible piece of journalism titled 'Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,' which is a story told through the use of still images, video, computer animations and one hell of a piece of writing. I have to say that this looks like (I at least hope) the future of editorial journalism. It's been a long time since I've read, watched, or looked at a piece that captivated me like this one.

Earlier today we posted this video of an Eagle lifting a baby in the park, and it started a massive debate whether its real or not. Now we have the answer: its FAKE. Check out this BTS video showing how 4 animation students from Montreal created this viral video. Did you get it right?

The folks at Candy Glass Productions have posted a cool tutorial on how to spin a camera around a building, using the CN Tower in Toronto as an example. This would be an awesome technique to highlight a landmark from a vacation if you're throwing together a video for friends and family. You could also scale down this technique for use on a portrait subject for any mixed media projects.

Meet the Decelerator Helmet, it is quite a ridiculous experiment in time and space dreamed up by German artist, Lorenz Potthast. The DH is made up of a camera that leads to a notebook computer which is connected to 2 monitors, all of which is mounted to a bicycle helmet that is encapsulated inside an XL silver globe. The wearer controls the speed of what they see via a wireless hand control.

A few days ago my buddy Bryan Bowden called me and said that he was in possession of the currently unreleased Black Magic Cinema Camera. This camera could be the next big thing in videography because it's incredibly cheap ($3000) for what you get (2.5K RAW footage). I personally only got a moment to see the camera but I asked Bryan to write up something for our readers about his very short experience with the camera and release some RAW clips straight from the camera.

For one of the most epic trailer sequences of the year, youtuber Genrocks compiled over 100 films into one sequence. Although the movies range into every genre, the sequence flows amazingly well from one scene to the next. For a list of all the movies and music used in the compilation, click here.

Youtube put together a tribute video where the biggest viral sensations of 2012 were invited to star in a mash-up of culturally defining moments from the year, directed by Peter Furia. Can you spot all the references? We've also got the BTS, so check that out once you've had a good laugh.

In a recent 60 Minutes special, CBS Reporter Lara Logan spent time with Dereck and Beverly Joubert in Southern Africa. The Jouberts have been shooting images and video of the wildlife there, for over 30 years. They have produced countless amazing images and have even created documentary films from the content they captured. Embedded video inside.

I love 24 and 48 hour film contests where teams are given a short amount of time and often a budget limit to shoot, edit and deliver short films that go head to head with eachother at the judges table. "The Girl Is Mime" was created for London's 48 Hour Film Project in 2010 (which it won) and is directed by Tim Bunn, starring Martin Freeman. Also, here is a BTS video, ENJOY!

This is a crazy concept that is truly amazing: Directed by Emmy-award winner Patrick Moreau of stillmotion, the docu-short PULSE profiles the making of the BioBeats app, a new technology that utilizes cameras to generate custom music based on a human heart rate. The subject of this short is awesome in itself, but it's also one of the first Short films to be done on the Canon C100. Let us know what you think!

How do you turn the mobile email inbox into a to-do list, but in a non-obtrusive way? Cloud to-do list company Orchestra today announced Mailbox, an email client for the iPhone it's been building for the last year which will launch soon — a beautifully designed messaging client meshed with a swipe-able productivity app. "Most everyone uses email on their phones, and most everyone hates it," Orchestra CEO Gentry Underwood says. "We feel like that's a big opportunity to make a small improvement in a lot of people's lives."

The guys over PHLEARN have a lot of cool content, and this is their most recent. The original idea for this photo shoot was inspired by childhood, drawing on references from stories such as “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak and the classic comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes." The result is a playful look at the imagination of a child.

Photographer James Balog has put together a documentary called "Chasing Ice," which we featured last October, designed to look at the controversial issue of climate change. The video here is the trailer if you haven't yet seen it, but I stumbled upon another video of the largest iceberg breakup ever caught on camera over at The Guardian.

Sometimes we post content that's just worth watching. Videos that speak for themselves and just make you feel. Google has done a great job with their search-based videos in the past, and this is no exception.

As a part of a recent TED series, 'Be Fearless', Cameron Russell, who has been a professional model and walked for some of the biggest names in fashion, advises young women everywhere not to look at modeling as a viable career path. In such bold claims, she gives a look into the fashion industry from the viewpoint of a model. 

For the past 3 years the One Day On Earth community has set out to capture video of the entire planet on triple digit days (10.10.10, 11.11.11, 12.12.12). In short the project is comprised of amateur and professional filmmakers from every country, background, technique, etc. and creates a beautiful, geotagged video archive of the day.