FICTION: In the Blink of An Eye Part III

Continuing on our serialization of a photography themed short story, here is Part 3 of "In the Blink of an Eye." If you didn't manage to read Part 1 and Part 2, then catch up to find out what Charlie Sydcup videoed during a trip to the City of London and what his image processing revealed.

But I Thought Newscasters Were Super Human!

If you have ever been in front of the camera you know how difficult it can be to remember your thoughts and speak them as naturally as you do in normal conversation. But what you may not know is most news personalities you see on television are actually cheating! Check out this behind the scenes video on how newscasters use autocues to present the news both clearly and accurately. I may have to invest in one of these for my own camera appearances! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUMjD5_5eHE<
Holiday Deals: Get 30% Off Animoto Pro Until Friday!

From today until Friday, Animoto is offering a whopping 30% off Animoto Pro! That's the biggest sale on this product that we've ever had so don't miss this while it's here! Animoto is an awesome tool for photographers and videographers looking to make impressive looking slideshows and presentation so if you've ever thought about using something like this, there's no better time to do it than right now! This deal will run until the end of day Friday November 30.

Artlist Walks Us Through Their Advert

When you see an advert on YouTube, it either has to be gripping and interesting for you to continue watching, or it's clicked through. Artlist has a strong campaign, and they made a video explaining the process of shooting one of these ads.

Sold for More Than $500,000: Franklin Expedition Daguerreotypes!

Photographed in 1845, first printed in 1851, and then sitting in storage for 178 years, Richard Beard's daguerreotypes of the Franklin Expedition have been sold at public auction (Sothebys) for £444,500 ($545,677 USD,) more than double the top of the expected range.

Win Stuff in our Flickr Group!

Happy July everyone, just in case you didn't know, Fstoppers has a FLICKR GROUP! So join it ... now, go do it! And in this Flickr group of ours we run a monthly contest with some really great guest judges. Last month Noam Galai did us the honors, and this month it will be Drew Gurian. For those of you who don't know Drew, he is the dreamer that birthed the Flash Bus Tour, and is Joe McNally's right hand man. Check out his work at www.DrewGurian.com. This month's contest theme is HEAT, and Lowepro is hooking the lucky winner up with a Lowepro Classified 250 AW which is an awesome bag for the photojournalist or street shooter inside us all. Go submit and have a blast creating! -Corey Melton
Harrison Hurwitz Talks Film With Adorama

In an age where digital has all but put film in the grave, commercial and wedding photographer Harrison Hurwitz has continued to build his business around the organic medium. As a young photographer knowing only digital imaging, I always find it interesting and enlightening to hear from the older pros who may have started with film or actually prefer still shooting film. The argument Harrison makes about film already being color corrected resonates well with me since I'm a jpeg shooter and prefer the color/tones my camera burns into the files vs digitally manipulating it. I can only imagine how much more expensive it is to shoot film and pay for the processing/scanning compared to the digital alternative; that aspect I do not miss. Are any of our readers also film shooters who have a perspective on this and if so we'd love to hear from you below.
Fstoppers Workshops:  Don't Let Your Class Sell Out

As you can see from our site take over, we are hosting our first ever Fstoppers Workshops down in the Bahamas from May 28th - June 1st. During these 5 days, we have 10 of the top photographers teaching small, intimate classes on all genres of photography. Today Peter Hurley was the first instructor to sell out spots for his flagship course The Headshot Intensive. Every other class from the other instructors still has availability, so if you are planning on attending we don't want you to miss out. For the full

Contest Entry: Rydell Belles (Who Needs Video Gear?)

Nathan Smith and Chris David had a shoot lined up with the Rydell Belles, a local roller Derby team. Nathan didn't have a video camera or professional editing software but he managed to create a BTS video anyway. The final images may not blow your mind but the video should be a huge inspiration because Nathan created this with his iPhone 3gs and iMovie. Half way through this thing I realized that I was captivated by a totally informative video with no audio and terrible video quality. This is a great example of how good editing can make up for a lack of gear. Great job guys. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPnurfSOJ08<
Ramón Gellida's shoot was so long his model passed out 3 times

I was just given 2 video submissions from the fantastic fashion photographer Ramón Gellida. Check one out below and view the full post to see the second video and read a message from Ramón himself that includes techinical details and info about his 14 hour work day and fainting model.

Making of Wonderies - Lingerie from ramón gellida on Vimeo.

Mark Lebryk Turns To Tanning Beds For His Contest Entry

Mark Lebryk decided to try something a bit different for his BTS contest entry and we are glad he did! Mark worked together with his client Ultrasun USA to show what goes into shooting product photos for a website. In a nutshell, Mark takes over 100 photographs of each tanning bed, retouches each one, and then renders them into an interactive 360 degree web presentation. Check out Mark's video and be sure to head over to Ultrasun USA to view the final products online.
Last Week For Fstoppers December Photo Contest!

We are almost done with 2010 which means you are running out of time to participate in our monthly forum photo contest. What better way to test out those new Christmas cameras than to submit an entry and take a chance at winning a new photo toy we actually use here at Fstoppers. As we do every month, the winner of the contest gets to pick the next theme, and November contest winner Janis Amolins has chosen "Illusion". This month's winner will also win a custom image and website link on the Fstoppers rotating banner above as well as a Photoflex LightReach Kit which is perfect for lighting your location photos (no assistant needed either). As always, our contests are judged by the winner of the previous month's contest so you have to impress Janis and not anyone on the Fstoppers Staff. Have fun submitting to the December Fstoppers Forum Contest and good luck to everyone!
Voting For The Contest Winner

I know everyone who entered the contest is patiently waiting for the voting to begin and I wanted to give you all a quick update. We are going to take this week to continue to post our favorite contest entries on the front page. Then we plan to create a post that has every video submission in one post so that our readers can easily find and watch all of them. We were then going to pick our favorite 5 videos and allow the community to vote on them. We got a lot of great submissions though so we may choose more than 5 favorites. To combat cheaters, the voting will be taking place on the forums and each member will get 1 vote only. We don't want this contest to be a popularity contest where whoever has the most friends wins. By having the poll on the forum we will be able to track votes and make sure that everything is fair.
Have Photo Conferences Fully Recovered From COVID?

It’s no secret that COVID put a bit of a damper on anything in person, especially large group gatherings, like conferences and trade shows. But as time has moved on, has the photo conference world fully recovered?

Samsung Patents 'Wraparound Display' for New Phone, Screens on Both Sides

While hype around its folding phone continues, Samsung has also acquired patent approval for another, different type of characteristic: a “multi-face display,” wrapping around both sides of the phone. The feature would allow both the phone user and their subject(s) to see what the image looks like while taking pictures.

Which Should You Buy? Steadicam Merlin or Flycam 5000

In this video I discuss some of the pros and cons to both the Steadicam Merlin and the Flycam 5000. Obviously the Steadicam system is much more expensive than the Flycam system but the Merlin really does have some features that will make your life a lot easier especially when traveling. That being said, the Flycam does a really good job for the price, and I have no doubt that a good operator can get amazing results out of either system.
Aaron Nace's latest concept shoot is top notch

I just recieved a tip from one of our readers to check out Aaron's blog. I am so glad I did because not only is his photography fantastic; his behind the scenes videos are also interesting and informative. Check out his last shoot in the woods and then head on over to his website here. Behind the Scenes - Baxter from Aaron Nace on Vimeo.
Why You Must Give Your Clients Proof Prints

I know it, picking the right print for your album can be a difficult task. There is only so much research you can do and information you can give to your clients without presenting them with real physical prints to look at.

Eric Bradshaw Goes All Out With His Island Fashion Shoot

Our good friend Eric Bradshaw told us about a shoot he had in the works and we knew that we had to document it. An island, a team of 15, and 5 beautiful models... What more could you ask for. More info and a youtube version after the jump. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR0NPSATuS4<
Contest Submission: Benjamin "Von Wong" Shoots Zombies

Benjamin "Von Wong" just submitted his BTS contest entry that was shot by Eric Bindman. This is our first large production entry and is defiantly an inspiring watch. The pictures can be seen here and I must say, they are quite stunning. I think Benjamin may have easily won this contest if he had given more technical detail about the shoot itself but hey, I am not going to be the judge. Please remember to give Ben some feedback by commenting below, he made this video to help all of us. <
Behind the scenes of how a Canon 500mm lens is made

A reader emailed me this video a while back and I finally got around to watching it. If you enjoy watching how things are made you will really appreciate the amount of effort that goes into making pro level lenses. I have never thought of my lenses coming ultimately from a bunch of powder! Click the post to watch all three videos and see the final product <
FICTION: In the Blink of An Eye Part IV

Concluding our serialization of a photography themed short story, here is the thrilling finale of "In the Blink of an Eye." Be sure to catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 before finding out what happens to Charlie Sydcup's second attempt at capturing the soul of a dying hospital patient.

Michelle Moore's Salt&Prep Spring shoot

At the young age of 25, professional photographer Michelle Moore is producing some really amazing images. Check out her latest project and click the link to read about how she photographed these editorial fashion images for Salt&Prep
Fstoppers Original: Eric Bradshaw Revisited

Back when Lee and I started the idea of Fstoppers, we contacted a few friend photographers of ours to see if they would allow us to film some of their shoots for our Behind the Scenes website idea. We first featured Eric Bradshaw's beach shoot at launch but I figured I'd post the second video as well. This video was the 2nd BTS video I ever edited and I hope you can draw some inspiration for your own behind the scenes videos. Watching Eric work is also pretty inspiring too! Enjoy this video from the FS vaults. ><
How Do You Animate A Legend?

This video might be on the fringe of what most photographers and videographers are faced with in their own field but I found it really interesting. The whole idea of modeling a modern Mickey Mouse with the classic animations we have grown up watching reminded me of how important it is to really study the details of your predecessors in order to copy or move past what they have already created. Sometimes I feel like a lot of photographers simply follow the lighting they see on a particular blog and expect to have the same results of well known photographers in their own projects. More often than not, what you wind up finding is your final image is no where near as good as the one you've tried to emulate. You really have to take the time to study your craft to make compelling art, and that's exactly what the animators for the new Mickey video game did. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KecvgXzSWOI<
I Interviewed AI About AI, and It Wants You to Know It Comes in Peace

Generative artificial intelligence like Chat GPT, Dall-e, Midjourney, etc., what we are all now collectively referring to as "AI," has all but dominated almost every aspect of popular public discourse over the last year. And for good reason: it's kind of a big deal, though I would argue a lot of the conversation around AI is overblown at best and outright unwarranted panic at worst. But that's not to say we shouldn't be paying close attention to the advancements in this new technology. Quite the opposite, we should be paying very close attention, and making every attempt to understand this tech to the extent we possibly can.

IMGembed Launches Kickstarter Campaign to Fund Growth Spurt

IMGembed has been around for a while now, giving creatives a way to allow their images to be shared while governing what content users pay to use those images. One of my personal favorite companies as it applies the "Fair Trade" ethic to image use online, IMGembed is looking to grow as it asks for $100,000 over the next 28 days through a Kickstarter campaign.

Canon Announces the RF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens

Canon has announced three new lenses tonight, the first of which is the RF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM, a small ultra-wide angle zoom for APS-C mirrorless cameras, sure to please landscape photographers, filmmakers, and more.
Art and Advocacy: A Chat With Lindsay Adler on Her Psoriasis Awareness Campaign and Life Behind the Lens

What do you get when you pair an industry titan in creative beauty images with a campaign promoting psoriasis awareness? You get images you're anxiously curious to see, and an interview you want to watch. For the lucky New Yorkers, you also get the perfect outing for this weekend. I sat down with Adler to talk about the “Clearly Me” campaign she shot, which will be on display this weekend at Nine Line Galleries, NYC. If you follow my writing, you know we took rabbit trails into all kinds of tangents that will keep you learning, laughing, and hopefully leave you inspired with takeaways that will apply to your own photographic journey.