To put a little twist on filming one of Nissan's most recent car commercials, the crew involved shot everything on a miniature scale by using a few different RC vehicles. Check out how the team tried to preserve some of the standard elements that you might see in a car commercial. The group gets quite creative in building customized camera mounts to keep the best angles.
In 2005 Photographer James Balog began a project of immense scale and historical importance; to capture the changing climate of the earth by shooting images of melting glaciers. The documentary "Chasing Ice" tells his story, and shows the technical challenges he faced, like dealing with harsh temperatures and highly remote locations. This trailer gives us a sneak peek of the final movie, which will be released in November.
First of all, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Douglas Sonders and I am a photographer and filmmaker. I'm excited to share this first post as an official member of the Fstoppers team with you. I have loved this site as a reader since its inception and am honored by the opportunity to share with you loads of new original content, much of which will come from behind the scenes of my own crazy shoots.
By now you've probably formed a clear cut opinion about Instagram. It's the program we either love to hate, or just plain love! If there was such a thing as Instagram etiquette, or the 'right' way to Instagram, this is probably as close to anything we've seen so far. New York City filmmaker Casey Neistat decided to illustrate a few points. He does drop one word of profanity so be cautious if you're in a sensitive area.
With action sport videos continuing to get more and more impressive, it's no wonder why the filming is moving away from the photojournalistic approach to more of a cinematic feel. Videographers are having to keep up with the trending demands of todays standards, using high quality gear like the Sony FS-700 for slow motion, and a RC helicopters for great overhead shots, like the Copter Kids. These guys use the RC helicopter to get some really unique camera movements of freestyle motocross.
Having the opportunity to work on Rubidium Wu's The Silent City I've become very intrigued inspired by all the great independent film makers out there who are taking full advantage of accessible technologies like the Canon 5D Mark II. The latest of which, Arrowhead: Signal, by writer/directed Jesse O'Brien was made for a ballpark figure of 600 bucks. If you don't include the T4i, 5DMII setup and 3 years of invested time they appear to have used. But still how many of us have a kick ass
Lighting Asylum has brought us this informative look behind the scenes of a sunset portrait shoot, and it gets pretty in depth with how the photographer handles over-exposed back lighting, poor color in the clouds, and flash positioning. The photographer gives some insight on his process for camera settings, and even shows how he gels a flash to get the sky to change colors.
We've posted about how to photograph steel wool burning before in the past, but watching the process in action is a bit more exciting. Instead of taking photographs with extended shutters, film maker Joey Shanks decided to video the burning metal and edit everything into a motion graphics piece. The results are pretty interesting, and his behind the scenes video explains how the whole process came together.
Complex Magazine has started a new video series on their blog called Shots Fired. For their debut episode they feature Zack Arias and follow him through Atlanta while he does his street photography thing. I have to give so much respect to Zack (and really all street photographers) for going out and boldly shooting photos of total strangers. The thought of getting in an awkward conversation/confrontation with a total stranger is not something I think I would enjoy.
This funny video created by Julia Mattison is probably the best thing that came out of the invention of Instagram. If you're addicted to Instagram, this song will make you feel ashamed. If you're a friend of someone who's addicted, this video will remind you how much your friend can be annoying. Happy watching everyone!
For someone on the move, the Canon T4i is not a bad option. This camera is the smallest you can get without going mirrorless. From 9am-1pm today only, creativeLIVE will be hosting an intensive workshop with Photographer John Greengo. John will go in-depth with the Canon T4i and show you how to get the most out of what you have in the least amount of time.
In a day and age where DSLR HD video is all the rage with indie film makers, Scotty Liberatore decided to take a different route. Using only a Lomography LomoKino 35mm Film Camera and a few different film stocks Scotty made a very interesting and unique video for rapper Diatribe.
Amidst all of the hype over the new DSLRs from Canon and Nikon (the 6D, 5DMIII, D800) Panasonic seems to have slipped under the radar with some still shooters, and I don't think this is one that us video people should simply brush off. This new camera body comes equipped with wifi, a weather sealed body, and In this video, see Philip Bloom using preproduction GH3 on a short film shoot...
Lunch time here at work which means it's time to set the stylus down and lurk Facebook. Once upon a time I would have been saying "time to lurk Myspace," and it looks like that time could be coming back. Myspace is rebuilding itself from the ground up, and it honestly looks stunning.
Armed with a Canon 5D Mark II, After Effects, CS5, Color Finesse, Sapphire and Final Cut, director Francois Ferracci turns out a striking short film that looks at the direction of social media and digital content. There are quite a few messages that you can take away from "Lost Memories" but the one that hits home for me is how it reflects our future current state of social interaction and how we can so easily get caught up in sharing our moments that we forget to actually experience them.
In an attempt to create the best camera review video the interweb has ever seen, FCTN (Fiction) put the Phantom Miro up against Gallagher, 80's icon and nemesis to watermelons the world over. There's enough 80's power, shirtless old men, whacky hair, glitter and splattering in this video that some of you may confuse this for a Richard Simon's workout tape. But be certain, Phantom Miro + Gallagher = you're all going to watch this, love it and share it.
With just under a week left for our Blackmagic Cinema Camera giveaway here at Fstoppers, we figured this would be a great opportunity to show you how impressive this camera is in comparison to the Canon 5D Mark III. This video, produced by One River Media, really shows how well the Blackmagic performs in every aspect. With 13 stops of dynamic range along with many of its other features, the difference is quite apparent in this video.
Be fair warned, this video contains SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't seen season 2 of Game of Thrones yet. Ok, the warning is out of the way. This video, while lacking any commentary, gives an awesome insight into the CGI effects used in this visually stunning show. The group who did this, Pixomondo, actually won a Creative Arts Emmy for outstanding special effects for this season. Check it out! (I just wish it was in HD)
Back again, Benjamin Von Wong takes on family portraits this time in another one of his behind the scenes videos. See how he put together 4 different scenes to make typically mundane photography style come to life. Using a D800E and Photoshop, check out how Ben works his magic.
Check out this jaw-dropping (I know we throw that word around a lot here, but seriously...I mean it this time, if you disagree, you can have your money back) video project by Keith Loutit. Filmed in Singapore, this timelapse explores depth of field in a way that I've never seen before. It's simply incredible!
Many 7D users never thought they would be able to run Magic Lantern on their cameras like their friends did with their other Canon cameras. It was thought that the firmware of the camera was just impossible to crack. Then yesterday the magic lantern team said they had made the first successful patch of the 7D.
Arizona State University's mascot, 'Sparky', and its football team, the Arizona Sun Devils, have lit up several stadiums over the years with it's blazing and rock-driven intro video, but after seven seasons it looks like poor Sparky is in need of an update. The people over at True Story Films have taken over the task of sprucing the Sun Devil up for its new remake of its traditional stadium intro video.
John Dooley from the Leica Akademie Mayfair demonstrates all of the cool features you knew about, as well as those that you didn't, in this six minute hands-on review with the new M. I have to say that it looks like an incredible piece of craftsmanship and technology, and the amount of power that this small rangefinder packs is really quite something.
I'll no doubt take some heat for this video but you know what?... It's worth it. Filmed and edited by Rob Volkel (Hula Fantastica), this video captures the POV (point of view) from a hula hoop as it makes it's way around some of the women at Burning Man. The result is a gorgeous, upbeat and fun video. Is it sexy? Hell ya. Is it sexy enough for a NSFW? Maybe. But one thing for sure is
The future looks healthy within the modeling and fashion industry. More and more people want less retouching in general, people want to see change on the covers and on runways. We're seeing more being done to make health a priority in the modeling world. Recently, Israel took a step in banning underweight models. The definition of 'underweight' is having a BMI of under 18.5. Although this is just one country, we'll see trends like this progress more regularly as time goes on.
Now available on Netflix, "Shooting Robert King" goes behind the scenes of what it was like to be a documentary war photographer. You always hear and see images from the war but NEVER about what it's like to be thrown into it as a documentary photographer. At just 24, American photojournalist Robert King began his 15 year journey to follow his passion. Originally he set out to win a Pulitzer prize, but in the end found himself with a life changing experience.
In this clip of an alternate take of the swordfight where Indi shoots the villian, we see the scene being choreographed in a compeltely different way than what went on to make the final film. Ironically enough, this scene is easily one of the most iconic segments from that series. This brings to mind all sorts of speculative questions; What was the original scene written to be? Why was it changed? Why was this version cut? Did Han Indi really shoot first?
I have never been a huge preset guy. I love having total control over my images, so presets were never really a big thing to me. I also love shooting film, and no matter what kind of tinkering I do in Photoshop I never really nail that film look with my digital files. Then I discovered VSCO Film.
I've really been enjoying these episodes of Mark Seliger's discussion-based show called Capture. In this latest installment, you'll get to sit in with one of the most talented photographers around - Martin Schoeller. He tells the stories behind his photographs of Jack Nicholson, Lyle Lovett, Steve Carell, and the breastfeeding mother (that I'm sure you all remember).
Independent video producer Bard Canning spent 4 weeks trying to improve the footage of Curiosity's landing released by NASA last month, and the result is insanely amazing. He used thousands of tracking points in a technique called motion-flow interpolation, and added sound effects to make it look and sound even more realistic. The original video was made out of 297 frames, and Canning's version looks like a real video with thousands of frames. Check out his result, and also a side by side comparison. NASA - watch and learn.
I don't know what GoPro cameras are made out of that makes seagulls like them so much, but once again a seagull stole a GoPro - this time in San Francisco. The camera was on and aimed at the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset when the bird decided to take the viewers for a short tour over the Bay Area. Check it out, and keep your equipment safe!
A while ago we posted the video Dream Music Part 2, which has since blown up and become a huge hit online. Marc Donahue, one of the co-creators along with Sean Michael Williams, shot me a link to their behind the scenes reel, which shows timelapses of timelapses, using various setups with their Dynamic Perception Dolly kit.
The Cleverkids have come out with a timelapse of NYC's cityscape with the September 11th, memorial lights. The timelapse was recorded in Brooklyn looking over towards Manhattan. A somber reminder of the horrific events of that day. I know this question gets asked quite a bit, but where were you the day the attacks happened, and what are some of you doing to reflect back on this horrible yet historical event?
Have you ever thought about making the exciting move to photojournalism? Then we have someone you have to listen to. Sarajevo born photographer Damir Sagolj has been on the Reuters' staff since 1997 and is currently their chief photographer in Thailand. He spent five years in the Bosnian army and worked for the Paris-based Sipa press agency as their Bosnian photographer. To sum it up: he knows his shit. So if you answered "yes" to the question above here are 7 tips from Damir that you better take to heart.
Canon just recently released their newest model of the one man Cinema Camcorder EOS C100. The camera boasts a some new features not found in it's predecessor, the Canon C 300 such as One Shot AF, Push Auto Iris, a built-in microphone and non-compression HDMI out with superimposed timecode and 2:3 pull down marker.
