This was done a while ago, but Red Giant, the maker of a number of software tools to help image-makers create more realistic visual effects, created a short to showcase the capabilities of their software. The short, "Plot Device," has a great BTS video to go along with it -- they even share all the products they used. Enjoy the finished product after the break.
Touting some impressive specifications, (15 stops of Dynamic Range, Super 35mm Sensor) the Apertus Project is aiming to create a modular camera system that operates on an (free) open source software. This opens up opportunities for coders to develop and modify the system to meet their needs, and share with a community.
Not many people are able to travel around the globe and play with photography and video. In this trip to China, Ryan Emond puts together some shots of a few beautiful scenes from China. For the shoot, he used both a Nikon D700 and a 5D Mark III along with some tools from Dynamic Perception to help with camera movement.
The Amazing Spider-Man has been out for about 2 weeks and has made 137 million dollars. I saw it last week and was really impressed by the special effects but I've never had a full understanding of what really goes into it. In this video Jerome Chen from Sony Imageworks takes us through the basics of creating an all CG fight scene. Check out the full post for 3 additional videos.
Foton inc. recently released a video showing off their video retouching skills. As photographers most of us know the time it takes to make someone look younger in a still image but what if you had to do that with video, frame by frame. To do this Foton created a new retouching technique they have named “Age Reduction FX".
Get an inside look at German photographer Jan Leonardo Wöllert's techniques, practices and philosophy as he is featured in this Deutsche Welle TV interview. Jan Leonardo Wöllert is considered to be one of the original light painting pioneers and has done work for prestigious clients such as Diesel, Nike, Covenant and The Strokes.
Benjamin Von Wong walks us through a shoot he does with Olympic paradressage rider Natasha Baker. As always Ben goes into great detail about the shoot's subject, preparation, setup and the execution and even more detail in his blog.
via [BenjaminVonWong]
Gary Fong takes 2 minutes to show us how you can trick your camera's custom white balance into producing a colored background in white environments.
We all take a lot of photos with our phones. And you know what? That's ok. The camera on the iPhone takes pretty darn good images, and the plethora of mobile editing apps gives us all more flexibility than we would ever need. But what happens to all these photos after we edit them and post them to Facebook or Twitter? We forget about them.
Here is a rad way to spruce up the background of almost any photo or video shoot. Whoever Unallocated Space is (cant find anything on who or what that is) has created an amazing tornado of fire by using a bunch of box fans and a tub filled with fire. This video demonstrates how you can easily create a beautiful and deadly looking whirlpool of fire in your own backyard.
Michael Zhang (PetaPixel) dug up this promotional video that shows in great detail how digital cameras work and how they are made. If you are a photographer (and I know you are) or have an engineering background then you will find this video fascinating.
Ken Block, owner of DC Shoes and action sports mogul is well known for his incredible skill in a rally car. He's also been known to make some incredible videos, such as his original Gymkhana piece. For this installment, Gymkhana 5, Ken decided that he wanted to take over San Francisco: and that is just what he did.
A few years ago, after about 10 phone call attempts, I got in touch with a guy who was in charge of licensing the music for a major band. I wanted to purchase the rights for a single song to to play in the background on my wedding website. I was told that if my budget was below $15,000 he didn't have time to talk to me. Since my budget was around $100, our conversation ended quickly.
Dave Dugdale from Learning DSLR Video has put together a fantastic video comparison of the Nikon D800 and the Canon 5D MarkIII. It's a unique view as Dave is an amateur and not an endorsed pro, so the video is unbiased and stays true to the facts.
If you've never heard of the Ronald McDonald House, it's not a house full of fast food novelties. AJ Parker takes us behind the scenes with a video showing how this string of houses helps families going through tough medical circumstances.
American Photographer Art Wolfe has been making photographs for over 30 years, including work for National Geographic and authoring many books. In this video, Art talks about his beginnings as an amateur, but then explains his approach for finding emotive and meaningful photography.
In this beautifully shot video, get an inside look into the process of which Leica crafted a limited edition Leica M9-P "Edition Hermès". This video has very dynamic sound that adds another level of texture, where you can almost feel the materials they are hand crafting into place.
FilmRiot has been quietly working on a series of educational behind the scenes videos over the last few months, and I think this one is definitely worth a mention (avoid the random skydiving tangent at 6:00). Aimed at beginner and intermediate videographers, this short video will walk us through some techniques for lighting people as they move through multiple rooms.
Update: Live Now! As a wedding photographer myself, I think the most important thing any photographer can do for their business is adding video to their services. I met Rob and Vanessa earlier this year and was excited to hear they are teaching this new "Fusion" video/photo hybrid to other photographers.
See how the insanely skilled, commercial photographer Alex Koloskov and his passionate retouching counterpart Genia Larionova (aka AKELstudio) turnout the Google splash logo in this fun and insightful behind the scenes video. I love these two already.
via [ISO1200]
Clever camera angles and captivating b-roll are important when making a solid and complete video product. When you’re on the move in a car, dune buggy, sailboat or tank, great videographers create enthralling footage by capturing unusual angles and movement.
To promote their new app aimed towards making the film making process easier and to help the filmmaker really understand the decisions they are making, SMAPP has put out this quick and concise video on DSLR lens choices for video making. "when we are first starting out its often easy to shoot with the same lens over and over again.
What do you do when the product you are trying to sell is an entire state? When that state is Colorado, it's not hard to find majestic scenery to showcase the state in it's grandeur. Director Tim Kemple, in collaboration with Forge Motion and Karsh/Hagan, crafted a series of spots for the state of Colorado, all being set to music by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
Projection Mapping became a big hit in the past few years, and many brands use it for making cool looking ads outside over big buildings. Basically they all use the same shticks: Changing what you see in windows, making bricks fall down, or making part of the building explode. This is why AntiVJ's "Omicron" is so different.
Last week we posted a video featuring a high speed robotic arm that is used for precise movements during high frame rate filming. Although this robot isn't as fast, it is on a dolly, which gives it the ability to move around the room. Check out Bot & Dolly's website to learn more about their "bot" and see a few examples of their work.
In another great behind the scenes video from Michael Sasser, Denver Photographer Ryan Tortorelli is shown working with three students at several different locations to capture there senior portraits. Using what seems like a single light setup in conjunction with the sun, the resulting captured images show the quality of this setup.
Well, the light painting bar has been raised again. Sweatshoppe, a European creative collaboration, recently created this video showing off their new technique of video light painting. While that may sound a little strange at first, it's actually a really, really neat technique that they pioneered on their own.
Days of preparation, hundreds of people, and 57 Profoto strobes culminated in just five minutes and forty-two seconds of fast-paced shooting. In photographer Art Streiber’s own words, “it was pretty huge, and a little out of control.” I’ll say.
When we as photographers jump into movie making using our newly video-enabled DSLRs, there is a lot of new info to learn and an entirely new vocabulary begins rearing its head. For me frame rates, shutter speeds, interlacing and how digital video all relates were a mystery, but thankfully the good ol' folks over at the Videomaker blog have answered these questions for us already.
In this behind the scenes video, Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens shows us his concept and execution for a :30 commercial shot in a single take! Jay takes you through the rigging and setup up a burn bar, and has some fun along the way. This informative video gives us a look at the lighting set up too, and how he planned this shoot to get both stills and video.
In this video, Ren Ng discusses the history and future of photography. Ng has spent years studying light field technology and computational science. He created the Lytro camera in 2006 and is continuing to develop some mind-boggling photographic technology. This particular video is from a recent TEDx event in San Jose.
Watch as photographer Florian Schulz takes the shots for the "To The Arctic 3D" movie companion book. The best part of this video is seeing the exhalation and excitement of Florian when he realizes that he got "the shot", that would later be used as the cover. Don't you just love that feeling?
Cinema5D's Sebastian has put together a video reviews of the Canon T4i / 650D and even has a video at various ISOs to compare the noise to that of Canon 7D.
Back in May our very own Noam brought you this mind face blowing picture post where Lithuanian photographer Tadao Cern, had taken portraits of people as their faces where being blasted by g-force winds. Since then Tadao has put out a slow motion video that shows all the lip flapping, teeth rattling, eye twisting, jaw dropping (you get the idea) action from his “Blow Job” series.
Filmed on a Super 8 camera without audio or narration, this is a clip for the true Star Wars aficionado. Created by Jeff Broz, this series of clips affords us a rare glimpse into the making of an incredible blockbuster film that is adored the world over. There are a number of recognizable iconic scenes visible in their rough and unedited form.
Just when I thought I had seen it all I was sent this incredible video by one of our readers. The Marmalade, a special effects studio in Germany, has created an incredible high speed robot used to film precise moments during ultra high frame rate takes. The results look so perfect that I thought I was watching CGI at first.
Gnarly Bay has been doing quite a bit in the past few years. Their demo reel for 2011 is just them saying "we're better than you", but in the nicest way possible. Do yourself a favor and head over to their Vimeo page and check out some of their work.
Photographer/videographer, Cameron Michael, spent roughly 5 months making this timelapse view of Manhattan. It spans across the entire area and shows the stark contrast that makes the city so appealing.
Being referred to as a "fingerprint of the photographic process", this video essay produced by Daylight Multimedia displays images of John Cyr's work, which are a series of stills of famous photographer's developing trays. Each tray has it's own unique look, and seem to provide a thoughtful display that makes one think about the iconic images possibly produced in them.
Besides getting a great glimpse into the filming of a well put together sunscreen commercial, Gary Lankford offers some great perspective on the usefulness of DSLR's as opposed to using some of the bigger and more expensive rigs that might be out there. The versatility of having several cameras and being able to take them anywhere can outweigh some of the higher quality option cameras.
Here is a short video featuring Charlie Sheen commentating on his RollingStones cover shoot. No offense Charlie but I would personally love to see this video with comments from Peggy Sirota, the photographer taking the shots. Maybe if we ask nice, our very own Reese Moore could track her down for an FS Spotlight.
An idea can start small but very quickly grow into something bigger and better. Such was the case with "The Silent City", a web series written and directed by Rubidium Wu. Listen/read as Rubidium talks about how his small 3 person project grew into a full scale production.
Portrait orientation captured on mobile devices. Your Facebook newsfeed is riddled with this horrible phenomenon. You know it's wrong, but you're not quite sure how to tell your social media buddies that they're committing a video faux pas. If you feel apprehensive bringing the subject up in fear of being ridiculed as a camera phone nazi, then look no further.
The Aurora Light Painters troupe performed a light painting routine that used a large digital display as their recording medium (as opposed to your camera's sensor or film) for "America's Got Talent" judges: Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel. Light painting is no doubt old news to our readers but for most of the mainstream this is their first encounter with this technique.
Here is a short video that features The Sartorialist with Loewe in Madrid. If you're quick and pay attention there are a couple tips in this video about good approach practices as The Sartorialist discusses his process.
via [ISO1200] [TheSartorialist]
Film makers Deep Green Sea follow guitar maker Vassilis Lazarides through the entire process of making one of his beautiful handcrafted classical guitars. A lot of wood, love, knowledge and 299 hours of work are condensed into this 3 minute film. Enjoy!
In what may well be the most outrageous photo shoot that I have ever seen, Olaf Hauschulz was presented with what must be an incredibly rare opportunity to shoot a Lamborghini Gallardo for Lamborghini Magazine. The setting?
GoPro has become one of those companies like Redbull where everything they put out there is pretty cool. It has been fun seeing such a small startup become the industry leaders in tiny HD video cameras. With their new Wifi BacPac, GoPro gives users the ability to control their cameras through tablets like the iPad and smart phones.
This little clip shows you how little equipment you need to create an eye catching scene. The Theory uses a simple mini projector and an iphone to create a creative high speed police chase. Although this kind of technology has been used for a little more high end commercial output, it's refreshing to see people having fun and doing it well.
Filmmaker Brandon David Cole recently started a Kickstarter Campaign for an interesting new product called the "Snap Focus". This device uses brake levers like those found on bike handlebars to add tension through an interchangeable gear system, turning the focus rings of DSLR lenses, effectively creating a very quick rack focus adjustment.