Articles written by Lee Morris

Are you ever on location shooting and the background is a bit boring? Why not add smoke? In this video Jay P. Morgan shows us how he uses a smoke machine in the woods to liven up his shots. Using some materials from your local hardware store you can make the smoke go exactly where you need it to be.

What is going on with cameras these days? First we learned that the $6000 Nikon D4 is not a significant improvement over the D3S in terms of resolution or ISO performance. Now we are hearing that the Canon 5D Mark III is not a significant jump in video quality compared to the 5D Mark II that was released 4 years ago. I was shocked to see this video of a $900 Panasonic GH2 outperforming the $3500 5DM3 in terms of sharpness. Check out the full write up and 100% screen caps at EOSHD.

These days RC helicopters with video cameras are becoming more and more common because you can control and land them in almost any terrain. Have you ever wondered how you have to land an RC airplane when there are no available runways? Apparently you have to fly them directly at yourself and then snatch them out of the air with your bare hand. Check out this fantastic video which shows the pilot in some pretty incredible locations catching the plane again and again.

As a wedding photographer I was really never interested in the D800. 36mp in ideal light for commercial jobs sounds fantastic but shooting thousands of images in a dark reception hall and having to deal with massive files horrified me. Because of this I purchased a D4 hoping for high ISO performance in a more manageable 16mp file. After I tested the performance of the D4 in low light and finding it was no better than the D3S, I am giving the D800 a second look.

Yesterday I shot a full wedding with the new Nikon D4 that LensProToGo was kind enough to send me since mine isn't here yet. I was extremely pleased with the way that the camera performed and although I haven't gone through the images yet, I picked out 6 random shots that were taken at high ISO so that you guys can see the noise in real world situations.

It's already been an exciting month for gear enthusiasts. Obviously, the major camera body announcements from Canon and Nikon have taken most of the spotlight. We have also seen new Pocket Wizards, as well as a shinny new version of Adobe Lightroom 4 come out. But what about the glass? Sure, Canon revised a few lenses, but I'm talking about a whole new lens. Carl Zeiss is apparently looking to step up and fill this void.

If you are a beginner in terms of lighting, or looking for some quick and simple light setups, then Don Giannatti has you covered. Don (a.k.a. Wizwow), recently posted some videos on his website showing 8 different light setups, as well as the differences between certain light modifiers.

Who doesn’t love watching the X Games? Those athletes are crazy. Just as captivating, though, is this behind-the-scenes two-part video on The Northface and X Games Baldface commercial. Director Todd Jones pulls out all the stops in this two part BTS documentary, breaking out a Phantom HD Gold, a helicopter, and building one really enormous jump.

I thought I had seen pretty much every type of water drop photo over the years, then I stumbled upon these. Markus Reugels is a floor installer in Marktsteinach, Germany as well as a part-time photographer. Markus has created a way to reflect images into water drops while capturing said drops in midair.