Mike Kelley

Michael Kelley (mpkelley.com) is a Los Angeles-based architectural and fine art photographer with a background in digital art and sculpture. Using his backgrounds in the arts, he creates images that are surreal and otherworldly, yet lifelike and believable. A frequent traveler, Michael's personal work focuses on the built environment of unique

Articles written by Mike Kelley

The Making Of 'Paris In Motion:' How To Make a Hyperlapse

We were all stunned by Mayeul Akpovi's 'Paris In Motion' timelapse a few months ago. A spectacle of incredible timelapse techniques, the video was awesome and had many of us trying to figure out how he did it. Well, Mayeul has come clean, and let us in on the little secret. Check out the surprisingly simple technique in this short video, which was just recently released.

Very Little Stars: Yet Another Amazing Timelapse That You Need To Watch

Alright, seriously. I keep telling myself that I'm sick of timelapses, that I don't need to watch five minutes of clouds, or that I don't need to watch a million cars stream past at lightspeed. We get it, we've seen a million sunsets, we've seen the stars pan overhead as the camera moves on a dolly. And then I watched 'Very Little Stars' by Ben Wiggins, and I took it all back. Oh my goodness. This movie is

Fstoppers Reviews the Lowepro Rover Pro AW Series Bags

This past week we have seen a lot of gear come out, including a brand new outdoorsman-style bag in the Lowepro Rover Pro series. We got our hands on both versions of the bag, the 35L and the larger 45L and sent Mike Kelley and Mike Wilkinson off on separate excursions to put the bag to the test. Mike Kelley reviewed the 45L, while Mike Wilkinson reviewed the 35L.

The Lion City: Tilt-Shift And Timelapse Like You've Never Seen Before

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!

The Tutu Project: An Inspiring and Refreshing Project That Aims To Fight Breast Cancer

Photographer Bob Carey has taken the fight against cancer into his own hands with the most unusual of tools: a man-sized pink tutu. By creating a combination of whimsical and emotionally charged self-portraits, Bob's project tugs at the heartstrings and spreads awareness in a humorous, yet touching, way. Check out the amazing photos and story in this video, which was produced by PocketWizard. You can get more information about the project and see more photos at thetutuproject.com.

How To Use Both Continuous And Strobe Lighting Simultaneously to Create Compelling Images

Jay P Morgan has been getting a lot of press recently for both his creative imagery and his informative behind-the-scenes videos, and for good reason: they're chock-full of great information and Jay shows everything from his lighting setups to post-processing tricks. In this BTS, Jay gives us a look at how he balances constant lights with strobe lights, something that

Check Out This Collection Of Amazing Panoramic Mars Images From The Curiosity Rover

As the Curiosity rover slowly sets up shop on the red planet, we earthlings are getting our first look at never-before seen images of the unexplored landscape around the landing site. A number of panoramic images have been created and are beginning to pop up on the web. While NASA has yet to photograph the beautiful Mt. Sharp, a 3-mile high mountain not far from the landing site and

Trey Ratcliff's New Zealand Timelapse Is A Breathtaking Six Minute Trip to Mordor

Trey Ratcliff, the world's foremost HDR guru, recently relocated to Queenstown, New Zealand, which is quite possibly the most beautiful little town in the world. He just released a timelapse video of his first thirty days and thirty nights spent in the town, and it is definitely worth a watch - especially in the native 4k format. Wow! Whether or not you like Trey's work (we all know how polarizing it is) this little video

NYC Videographer Leaves $13k Worth Of Gear In a Taxi, And Miraculously Gets It All Back

There are just some days where you feel like there is little hope for humanity. I live in Los Angeles, and I imagine that it is the same in most other large cities around the world: There's no real sense of community, and you're just another face in the crowd, and to many people, it is just incredibly simple to be a dishonest person in a setting where everyone is anonymous. However, I had a little bit of my faith in humanity restored when

Finally! D.C. Police Announce a Sensible And Reasonable Cell Phone and Camera Policy

I've written a number of articles about how the police and other law enforcement agencies, both in the US and abroad, have been interfering with and hassling photographers and videographers who are only trying to document a scene that's in front of them. There have been multiple instances of people in power (such as Obama himself) saying that this is unconstitutional. And finally, it would seem, one police department has begun to realize that.

Internet Calls For Flickr To 'Be Awesome Again,' Flickr Responds In Kind

A few short years ago, Flickr was unquestionably the largest and most popular image sharing site on the internet. It was clean, fast, easy, and social. In fact, it was one of the first websites to embrace the concept of social media. Flickr was on the cutting edge of the internet, and it was growing fast. But over the past couple of years, as websites like Tumblr, Facebook, 500px, smugmug, Instagram and Imgur have risen to fame and evolved

Behind The Scenes With Zak Noyle: What It Takes To Create Amazing Surf Images

Zak Noyle is one of the world's most respected surf photographers, and in this two-part documentary by RedBull, we get a fascinating glimpse into his world. From his photographic mission and technique to the training that he undergoes to be able to stay afloat in some of the world's largest surf, this mini-doc has it all. Filmed around the world in exotic locations

Pentax Vs. Afghanistan: One US Soldier Puts His Camera's Weather Sealing To The Test

Alex Jansen, who is currently on a deployment in Afghanistan, recently created this video showing off the weather and dust sealing capabilities of his Pentax K-5 and K-7 cameras. I know that even though my Canon 1D claims to be 'weather and dust resistant' it would be a cold day in hell before I ever voluntarily did something like this to my camera (and lenses!). Alex is clearly confident

Ken Block Turns San Francisco Into His Urban Rally Course And Captures It All In Stunning Fashion

Ken Block, owner of DC Shoes and action sports mogul is well known for his incredible skill in a rally car. He's also been known to make some incredible videos, such as his original Gymkhana piece. For this installment, Gymkhana 5, Ken decided that he wanted to take over San Francisco: and that is just what he did. He also made sure that it was captured to perfection: I can't imagine that any less than one hundred cameras were used in the making of this piece.

Eleven Beautiful Architectural Photographs And How They Were Made

As I continue my articles on interior, architectural, and real estate photography, I thought it would be interesting to see different approaches to shooting these types of subjects. So, for this month's article, I've invited a number of professional interior, architectural, and real estate photographers to share their images and techniques with everyone who reads Fstoppers.

Shooting Architecture on Location With Mike Butler in Bogota, Colombia

We've featured architectural photographer Mike Butler before, when he shot the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, FL. This time, Mike heads to Bogota, Colombia, to shoot  the Virgilio Barco Library using a slew of hot lights and assistants. If you've ever wondered why it takes 8 hours to create a single architectural image, this BTS will show you exactly why. 

FilmRiot Shows You How to Light Moving Subjects in Multiple Spaces While Filming

FilmRiot has been quietly working on a series of educational behind the scenes videos over the last few months, and I think this one is definitely worth a mention (avoid the random skydiving tangent at 6:00). Aimed at beginner and intermediate videographers, this short video will walk us through some techniques for lighting people as they move through multiple rooms.

Incredible New Technique of 'Video Light Painting' Raises The Light Painting Bar...Again

Well, the light painting bar has been raised again. Sweatshoppe, a European creative collaboration, recently created this video showing off their new technique of video light painting. While that may sound a little strange at first, it's actually a really, really neat technique that they pioneered on their own. Using custom-made software and a little ingenuity,

Nevada Journalist Tackled By Police While Covering Wildfires Near Reno

Today's edition of "The Law vs. The Photographer" brings us to Reno, Nevada, where 60 year-old Reno Gazette-Journal journalist Tim Dunn was tackled and then cited by police for documenting wildfires on public land near Reno, NV. The offense? Wearing protective clothing, which was apparently seen as an attempt to impersonate firefighters.

Incredible Behind The Scenes Footage From The Set of 'Return of the Jedi'

Filmed on a Super 8 camera without audio or narration, this is a clip for the true Star Wars aficionado. Created by Jeff Broz, this series of clips affords us a rare glimpse into the making of an incredible blockbuster film that is adored the world over. There are a number of recognizable iconic scenes visible in their rough and unedited form.

Go Behind The Scenes With Peter Lik As He Creates Stunning Images of NYC

Love him or hate him, you can't deny that Peter Lik's got quite the penchant for getting the shot. In this video, Peter takes us deep into some abandoned subway tunnels and high over the skyscrapers of NYC as he shows us some of the locations and setups that he uses to create his photographs. We get a nice look at the finished results, which, to me at least,

The Most Impressive Display Of Light Painting You'll Ever See

Architectural photographer Mike Butler did not hold back at all when he was commissioned to create an image for the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, FL. In this video, we get a behind-the-scenes look at everything that goes into a high-end commercial architecture shot. To make this one shot happen, multiple days of planning were

Taking Your Interior and Architectural Photography to the Next Level

As I promised when I wrote my Anatomy of An Interior Shoot post a few weeks ago, if the interest was there, I'd continue the series. I'm happy to report that I've got much more in stock for you. If you're interested in kicking your architectural and interiors photography into high gear and adding some special sauce to your photos, this post is for you.

Justin de Reuck Hangs Out Of An Aerobatic Plane With No Seatbelt To Get The Shot

What have you done to get the shot today? Parked your car, walked into a studio? Plunked down a tripod on a sandy, tropical beach? Fiddled with some macro rails? South African aviation photographer Justin de Reuck unstrapped a good deal of his harness, slid open the canopy, and took photos at what I'm guessing is 100 knots, mere feet from the ground. I'm not sure how that plane actually took off with Justin's balls of steel on board, because man, they must be huge.

Camera Vs. Wild: The Damage Waiver Bearly Covered This One

We recently interviewed LensRentals and asked them about humorous (or rather, sad) situations in which gear came back totally destroyed or rendered otherwise unusable. Turns out nothing could have prepared anyone at LensRentals for what happened this week in Yellowstone when a bear commandeered a Nikon 600 and D4.

[Video] Ten Awesome Tips For Any Traveling Photographer

If you read Fstoppers, you might be a seasoned professional, or you might have just purchased your first camera and are eager to learn. Whatever your skill level, I'm sure that you've all been bitten by the travel bug at least once before, and as a camera owner, you've been inspired to bring home the best you can when shooting in a foreign location. A friend of mine recently sent me a video made by DSLR Traveler which is packed full of tips for anyone interested in improving their travel photography.

[Video] An Almost-Vintage Walk Down Memory Lane For The 80s Kids

Antonio Vicentini recently created this 8-bit gallery of cameras spanning pretty much everything from antique large format cameras through modern DSLRs. It's a cute, semi-retro, nostalgia-inducing piece for anyone who grew up in the 80s or early 90s.

[Video] Wingsuit Flying: The Reason That GoPros Were Created

Halvor Angvik and Jeff Nebelkopf created this video with the help of Red Bull and JokkeSommer. The fact that Red Bull sponsored it should tell you all that you need to know: It's absolutely incredible. I've seen some crazy wingsuit stunts before, but

[BTS/Interview] Behind The Scenes With Photography's Most Interesting Company: LensRentals.com

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of years, you’re probably familiar with LensRentals.com, which is one of the most popular camera gear rental shops in the world, if not the most popular. We recently had the chance to sit down with the LensRentals team and learn everything about what just might be photography’s most fascinating company.

[Video] Yosemite Like You've Never Seen It Before

Videographer/Photographer/Artist Shawn Reeder spent two years in Yosemite creating the footage that would be cut to make this video. Shot mostly under moonlight and with a variety of dollies and cranes, the end result is a masterclass in the art of the outdoor timelapse. It's not often that we get to see such an intimate portrait of a location shot over such a long time period.

[Video] The Amazing Camera Work From 'The Matrix' Just Got Even Cooler

Ready to drop your jaw? Richard Kendall doesn't really care if you're ready or not, and he's decided that it's going to drop. This is seriously cool. He took the bullet-camera idea from The Matrix/X-Games (think the whole "40 cameras in a ring shooting simultaneously" thing that we've all seen a hundred times),