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Lee Morris
Charleston, SC

Articles written by Lee Morris

Apparently Phase One Backs Can Take The Weight Of An Elephant, Hasselblad Can't

Don't you hate it when your camera can't stand up to the weight of your pet elephant stepping on it? Ya me too, that's why I only buy Phase One (I mean I will after I win the lottery). Although this stupid test is fairly impressive, I would much rather see a drop test, as that will be the real issue for photographers and the durability of their gear.
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.
How To Film A Rock Climber From Every Angle

Videographer Jeff Newton is most well known for his work shooting war zones. When he wasn't being shot at Jeff decided to take up climbing as a hobby and through that heard of free climber Alex Honnold. After meeting Alex, Jeff was hired to film one of his giant free climbs. In the quick video below Jeff takes us through his setup for his segment for 60 Minutes in which he filmed Honnold climbing without any sort of safety gear on a massive rock face. The setup alone took 2 days and a huge crew of people to pull off.
Nat Geo Photographer Dewitt Talks About The "Right" Shot

In the video below National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones talks about looking for the "right answers" during every photoshoot. As professionals we are always put in the position to take the best possible image even if that image may not be easy to capture. Dewitt explains what it takes for him to not just get a decent shot, but continue to get the "right" shot over and over in every situation. How confident are you that you can deliver amazing photography in any situation?
Contest Entry: The 360 Project, Dancing Matrix Style

Ryan Enn Hughes just submited his entry for our BTSV contest and it is quite impressive. Ryan teamed up with The Big Freeze and set up 48 D700 cameras in a circle and then fired them all at once as dancers did their thing. The photographs are pretty cool on their own but the real magic happened in post during the editing phase when Ryan teamed up with sound designers at Zelig Sound to create two incredible 30 seconds videos. Obviously this is an extremely high budget project but our contest will not be judge on that so don't be discouraged if you don't have 48 $3000 cameras to play with. As always, you can check out all of the submissions to our contest as they come in here on our forum.
How To Tether Your Camera To An Ipad Without Jailbreaking

Last year I released a video explaining how to wirelessly tether your camera to an iPad by jailbreaking the iPad. Since then Eye-Fi has released a firmware update that makes wireless tethering possible without the need for jailbreaking. Now, not only is the whole process much easier to set up, it is also much cheaper because you no longer have to pay for the more expensive Pro Eye-Fi card, you can make this work with the cheaper Connect X2 card.
How To Use A Crane To Give Your Video A Cinema Quality Look

In Jay P. Morgan's newest video he shows us how he uses a crane to bump up production value by using a crane. Now I know you might be thinking there's no way you can afford a crane but you would be wrong. Last month we posted this video review of a $125 crane that anyone can afford. I purchased one and I am really excited to try it out in the near future.
Amazing 5 Minute Gatorade Commercial Shot In 1 Take

A couple months back Patrick and I flew up to Chicago to film a BTS of a Gatorade commercial featuring Chaz Ortiz. We have still not completed our BTSV but someone just sent me ANOTHER Gatorade commercial shot at the very same school featuring Chaz Ortiz that has a killer BTSV. The video below was shot in one single take and it will blow your mind. Our video should be released soon but it will be hard (impossible) to top this one. Check out the full post to see the BTS.
How To Film A Moving Car Interior Video With A Green Screen

Now this video may be over many of your heads (it is definitely over mine) because most of us are still photographers who may only dabble in video but this is still worth posting. In the video below Video Copilot shows us how they filmed a car chase scene in the studio with a green screen. I've never shot anything on a green screen before but after seeing how easy this is, I may have to give it a try.
Celebrity Weddings: Photographer Joe Buissink on Taking Risks, Making It Big, and Technique

Joe Buissink is one of the most sought-after wedding photographers in the world. The LA-based photographer has shot for Christina Aguilera, Hilary Swank, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Spielberg, and this week he catches up with Fstoppers to tell us about breaking into the industry at the age of 45, shooting Annie Leibovitz’s sister’s wedding - no pressure, right? - what separates the pros from the amateurs, and why wedding photography is an art. Jump To The Full Post to read my exclusive interview.
A Slo-Mo, Artistic Look At Base Jumping

A few months back I posted another video by "Betty Wants In" that involved skydiving in ultra slow motion. The video was created with the GoPro video camera and software called Twixtor that can create frames for a very realistic slowmotion look. This time they have created a very different video using the same technique. Enjoy this amazing look at the sport from the safety of your office.
A Cell Phone Camera Optical Illusion

This is by no means a BTSV but it fooled me so I thought I'd post it. The censor on cellphone cameras are so small that everything appears in focus. Many cell phone cameras don't even have to focus because of this and optical illusions like the one below are possible. Obviously this could also be possible with an SLR but you would have to shoot around F22.
Fake Nikon Gear Alert! D7000 MB-D11 Knockoff

A few months ago I purchased a Nikon D7000 and MB-D11 battery grip from Amazon.com. The order was fulfilled by ANATOLIAN BOOKSTORE, INC and two days ago I figured out that this grip is actually a fake. Check out the full post to see high res images from every angle of this grip.
Every Person Has Two Faces. What Is Your Best Side?

Nobody's face is perfectly symmetrical but it's very difficult for our brains to notice the differences in each side. Jesper Petersson recently worked on a unique project that involved shooting a group of people and then using each side of their face to create two new, perfectly symmetrical faces. It's really shocking to see how different each side of a face can be.
Motorola Zoom Commercial BTS With Amazing Moving Sets

Telstra, an Australian wireless carrier, recently produced an ad for the Motorola Zoom tablet. Instead of creating everything with computers in post, the team created most of the moving sets by hand. The question then becomes; was their effort worth it? Can consumers even tell that much of this is real or does the average person consider everything to be fake these days? Although this was an amazing accomplishment, I'm not sure it was worth the extra effort.
Racquetball Filmed From The Racquets Perspective

I just stumbled upon another interesting video filmed with the GoPro HD video camera. It's not really an informative video but hopefully it will give you guys some inspiration. You can easily film things with these ultra small/light cameras that simply were not possible a few years ago. What could you film in a different way? Update: Sorry about the title. I've not heard of "squash" before.
How To Light And Photograph A Glass Bottle

In this weeks episode of The Slanted Lens, Jay P. Morgan shows us how to light and photograph a glass bottle. This video is also about superimposing products into real scenes so that the product looks it's best. Tutorials like this are priceless for anyone who is interested in product photography. Glass can be extremely tricky but Jay makes things super simple for us.
Shoot, Print, And Frame A Massive Peter Lik Style Photograph On A Budget

If you have seen Peter Lik's work in person then you understand that it's impossible to put into words the look and quality of his prints. Peter's photography (and his post production) is fantastic, but what really makes his work stand out is his printing and presentation. If his images were printed on standard photo paper at a standard size, his work would not have the same "wow" factor.

A Unique Behind The Scenes Look At A Stop Motion Production

In the video below Barry JC Purves gives us a really unique look at the creation of a stop motion video. Normally an image is taken, the subject is moved, and then the next image is snapped. In this video Barry took extra images as he was moving the puppet and the results are really incredible.
How To Wirelessly Control The Profoto D1 Air Studio Strobe

I've been saving my money for months so that I can make the switch over to Profoto and take advantage of their new D1 Air Monolights. Not only are these things small and light but they are also completely wireless! You can now control your studio lights (on/off, flash power, modeling light) all from the Profoto Air Remote. You want to know what the best part is? WE ARE GIVING A SET OF THESE LIGHTS AWAY to the winner of our behind the scenes contest. Check out the full post to see 3 videos of these incredible lights in action.