Lady Gaga for Rolling Stone Magazine

Love her or hate her, you have to admit Lada Gaga is a breath of fresh air when it comes to being creative with her music videos and photoshoots. When it comes to going all out in both production and creative thinking, Lada Gaga is always an inspiration. In this video you can see just how many looks she goes through to find a compelling image for the cover. And I'm sure the "throw away" images made some pretty good article photos as well.
Fstoppers Flickr Contest: Take 2!

Hey everyone, Corey Melton here. Last Monday we kicked off our new Flickr group with a killer contest to win a Lowepro Photo Sport 200 AW! We had over 225 submissions within the first 30 hours, which was by far the most successful contest Fstoppers has ever seen. Then on Thursday afternoon, without warning, the contest was deleted with all of our other posts and threads in the group. We don't know what happened and neither does Flickr (at least they haven't been able to tell us yet) so we have decided to give the contest another go. We have read Flickr's terms and conditions and we are within ALL guidelines, there is no foreseen reason why this should happen again. So find your favorite shot in your photostream and post it NOW!!
[Video] 2 Great Video Production Tips For Products

The guys over at SLR Lounge created a killer new bag called the "ONE" bag that can be used to hold just about anything you need. A couple weeks back they created a kickstarter project to help raise money to produce the bag and they also created a BTSV that explained how they shot the kickstarter video. If you are at all interested in video then you should check out their 2 latest videos that focus on 2 different shots in their promo. Check out the full post for the second video.
Nikon's D4 & D800 1.01 Firmware Update Fixes Lockup Issue

Back in April we posted news from Nikon Rumors regarding lockup issues that affected the D800, D800E and D4. Good news. Nikon has released firmware update 1.01 which is said to have fixed that pesky little bug. Thanks again to Nikon Rumors for always keeping us in the know.

Skateboards + Fire = LAKAIROMANIA

I just stumbled upon this amazing skateboard video moments ago. As I was watching it I thought, "man I wish I could put this on FS but I'm sure there isn't any BTS". I was pleasantly surprised to find that the second half of the video is all BTS footage. Enjoy!

"LAKAIROMANIA" from Marc Ritzema on Vimeo.

A Call To Fstoppers Readers From Chicago

Do we have any readers from Chicago? Would you be interested in helping Lee and I out on the next Fstoppers Original video? We will be shooting all day on Thursday June 2nd all over the streets of Chicago for a really exciting BTS video I can't talk about publicly yet and we could use some help. If you feel comfortable shooting video and have a Canon 7D or 60D we would love to have you help us as we run around the city. We only need one assistant so send us an email and let us know how you can help. Not able to help out? No worries; we'd love to grab a beer with any readers wanting to hang out for a bit over the weekend. If you are a Chicago native and know a good watering hole, leave your suggestion in the comments and we can set something up for Friday or Saturday night. The New York meet ups have been a blast so we are excited to see what the Windy City has to offer!
Cinevate Does Some Drifting

I'm starting to realize how many of our readers enjoy the mix of sports cars, photography, and behind the scenes so this one is for you. I'm really not sure what is going on here but what happens at the very end is pretty remarkable! I wish the audio was a little cleaner but I'm sure if you are into drifting fast cars you probably can't hear anyways! And when you get done watching this, check out the awesome DSLR video gear over at www.cinevate.com

Canon 5D MK 2 Drift Car Commercial with BTS from Cinevate on Vimeo.

Contest Entry:  Sans Talbot's Spitfire

As Lee has posted earlier, this week we are going to continue to feature some of our favorite BTS videos from the FS Contest. Austin, TX based photographer Sans Talbot really raised the bar on the contest when he filmed the shooting of his visual concept "Spitfire". This video is great on many levels but what I really love is the effort Sans puts into educating other photographers on how they too can get other creative professionals involved in their photoshoots. Sans also goes into great detail about how he combined multiple images to create one large file for his final rendering. Enjoy. <
OWC Announces New CFExpress A Cards and External SSDs

OWC has announced a number of new storage products in advance of the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Their new products include industry-leading CFExpress Type A cards with support for the 4.0 standard, the new Envoy SSD for a compact external SSD with a USB-C interface, and new capacities for their Envoy Pro Elektron and Envoy Pro Mini SSDs.

Key Branding and Marketing Strategies for Photographers: Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we discussed the competitive landscape that photographers face in today's digital age, where the easily accessible smartphones can challenge even the most skilled professionals to distinguish their work. Now, it's time to take those principles and build up an even stronger branding and marketing strategy.

Chicago Meetup Sat June 4th: Sweetwater Tavern and Grille

As many of you know, Lee and I are currently hanging out in Chicago working on a future Fstoppers video. Whenever we travel, we like to meet as many photographers as possible and share some stories over a few beers (or wings if you are underage). We've gotten a lot of suggestions and called a ton of places. It looks like the meetup is going to be Saturday, June 4th at the SweetWater Tavern and Grille downtown at 225 N. Michigan Avenue. We are going to show up at 9PM and they serve food all night so feel free to grab some grub as well. We'd love to hang out so we hope we can meet a lot of our Chicago readers. See you guys on Saturday...and we will let you know what we were shooting :)
Vote Fstoppers as the Best Online Media/News Resource

Everyone, thanks to your support Fstoppers was nominated as one of the top ten Online Media/News Resources for the 2013 [Framed] Awards! The nomination itself is a huge honor, and we would be hugely appreciative if you would help us win by voting for us.

Let's Grab Lunch (With Lee Morris) In NYC Update: Booked

Update: Every day has been booked. I am back up in NYC for the next 10 days and next week my schedule is totally open every day (April 18-22) from 1pm-5pm. I'd love to have lunch with anyone who is interested for absolutely any reason. You by no means have to be an established photographer or even want to talk about photography. If you are interested, simply send me a Facebook message and let me know the location (Brooklyn and Manhattan only please) and the time and I'll be there. In some cases I may be able to meet 2 people per day. Last time I did this I met 7 incredible people including Frank Zurita who now produces original music for us and Noam Galai who you all now know. I can't wait to see who I will meet this time.
Embracing the End of the Seasons

Here in NJ we are lucky enough to have four seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Maybe I shouldn't say "lucky" because it would be nice to have warmer weather year-round but the seasons do make for taking great photos. Though it's the first week of spring, we were just slammed with another big snow-storm and hopefully the last.

John Lund Shoots Imaginative Stock Photography

We have all seen standard stock photography before and most of the time its not so good. John Lund shoot stock, but it is unlike anything else you have seen before. Check out his quick interview below. ><
CreativeLIVE Hosts Tim Ferriss and The 4-Hour™ Life: Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

Starting today, creativeLIVE will be hosting Tim Ferriss to talk about The 4-Hour™ Life: Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. During this exciting 2-day workshop, Tim will present his best lessons, principles, and hacks for becoming (and remaining) "healthy, wealthy, and wise." As always, the course is free while it's live and cheaper if pre-purchased before the course ends. Enroll here!

edelkrone Announces the JibONE v2: 'The World's Smartest & Most Portable Jib'

edelkrone had announced its new portable jib the JibONE v2. The original edelkrone JibONE proved to be an excellent tool for creating interesting and creative shots. With the motorized features that edelkrone has become famous for, the JibONE offered an incredibly capable yet portable motorized jib. The new JibONE v2 takes this further with some important updates.

It's Not Just About the Images You Make

If you’re thinking about going into photography full time and make a profession out of it, it might be worthwhile considering the skills other than getting a good photograph. Let’s discuss the somewhat soft skills required.

The Wednesday Rundown 4.07.10

Hello this is Jerrit again. Another Wednesday Rundown coming right up. The summer is around the corner and videos about the water are coming in. Hopefully they will inspire you to drag that camera out with you to the beach or pool. Also check out the behind the scenes shoot by Blue Tide Productions, they popped some photos out for an apparel company. Click the post to check out all the videos submitted this week!

Women, Brands and Closing the Gender Gap - Getty Images' Lean In Collection

"For the last four years this has been true: the top three search terms that clients are using on Getty Images are woman, family and business in that order." - Pamela Grossman, Director of Visual Trends at Getty Images. This is very powerful information for strategic business marketing, but it means even more on a societal level. Pamela and Jessica Bennett, Contributing Editor for Lean In, recently discussed how visual media has often portrayed women at this year's Cannes Lions Festival.

NYC Fstoppers Meetup Tonight! Update: The Party Is Over

Patrick and I are currently in Peter's studio putting the finishing touches on his DVD and all three of us will be coming out tonight to the meetup. This Fstoppers get-together will be "Las Chicas Locas" at 160 West 25th Street where we have met before. The owner is reserving the bar/restaurant just for us, so let's try to pack it out. Everyone is welcome no matter what level photographer you consider yourself, and the party begins at 9pm. Hope to see you guys there.
Radiant Photo Editor Adds Color Grading

I took a look at Radiant Photo when it first came out in September. I found it a capable editor, aimed mostly using AI to improve your color and the overall look of shadows, highlights, and other image parameters. It uses a pixel-by-pixel approach, which the developers claim gives you more creative control of the final result.