Articles written by Mike Wilkinson
Love or hate them, there's no denying the impact of RED digital cinema cameras and technology, and how they have changed the world of image acquisition. Recently though, RED have filed a suit against Sony and have made claims that specifically call out the Sony F65, F55, and F5 cameras for patent infringement, which indicates that all "infringing cameras" should be destroyed.
Nikon Pro Photographer Craig Kolesky went to Capetown and packed in his bag not only the Nikon D4, but their Coolpix P7700. His subject for the shoot was Redbull Athlete Sifiso Nhlapo, a BMX racer from the South African Olympic team. In this video, you can see Craig working in various environments, from dirty racing tracks to a small studio setting with ring lights.
In a fun and unique approach that combines many different facets of art and multimedia, production group CanCanClub out of Buenos Aires worked with Antonio Balseiro from Gazz and 1st Ave Machine, Art Director Hernán Aragunde, and the crew from Nintendo to create a 30-second commercial for "Paper Mario Sticker Star." In this first of two behind the scenes videos, you catch a peek at the live action video shot,
Marc Donahue from Permagrin Films has been busy since his production of Dream Music, which got over 2 million views on YouTube. Most recently, Marc has been experimenting with GoPro camera arrays for a unique effect, most similar to bullet-time like in the Matrix. Click on to see the final video and read an interview with the man behind the lens.
As creatives, sometimes we struggle to find that spark that ignites the fire of our motivation. Whether it's a feeling we've hit a plateau in our skills and abilities, or maybe when personal matters overwhelm us and life just gets to be too much and we lose focus of our goals... Every once in a while I find that a piece of art can be the primer for that fuel to focus my mind and energy. One such video that did that recently is Revelation, by Sebastien Montaz-Rosset.
In this fun behind the scenes video, we get to see San Diego-based production company SaintWest staging video shots for the "Find Your Moment" campaign with Torrey Pines golf course. Get an inside look on how the crew captures the golf experience in a cinematic way, but also improvises to make a simulated golf hole for a unique POV shot. Inside are the final videos.
Sherpas Cinema, who have been featured before on Fstoppers, produced a ski film called All.I.Can, and in that film was a segment directed by JP Auclair that shows a skier doing runs through a town in British Columbia. They threw it online and after getting millions of views, decided to post the making of video, which is posted here. It shows how they planned shots (and got lucky on some others) while running around Canada for two weeks with a RED camera.
Timelapses aren't just for moving clouds and the northern lights (but they sure are pretty) but in fact their use for studying earth sciences is becoming a key part in learning more about our landscape and using the images to educate and inform the masses. I interviewed Forrest Pound of San Francisco based Kontent Films, who was tasked with building custom timelapse rigs to document parts of the Colorado River. He has shared this DIY project step by step, so read on to learn more.
Back in September I spent a few days in New River Gorge, West Virginia, rock climbing with a group of friends. For this trip I developed a plan to put together a short documentary that would involve shooting an interview in the climbing area and doing a multicamera shoot of a climber. Watch the final video, and then read on for a breakdown of how it was all done.
Kickstarter product "Lil-Mule" is small, motor-powered camera platform that has been developed to capture timelapse or real-time video for lengths much longer than most rail or slider based systems can provide. It's aim was also to give the user a simpler feature set, doing away with the complicated math and setup that other systems offer. This video gives you a glimpse of what the system is capable of, with more informative videos inside.
Adventurer Dean Potter is the subject of a Nat Geo project called "The Man Who Can Fly". For part of this project, filmmaker Bryan Smith with shooter Michael Schaefer worked on this stunning clip of Dean doing a highline walk in Yosemite with the moon filling the sky. Read on to find out how he got such an amazing perspective.
Last time I was writing about polar bears, some poor photographers at a public zoo had dropped some Canon gear into a tank. Word must have gotten around that lenses and camera bodies are a tasty treat, as this video shows wildlife shooter Gordon Buchanan from the BBC getting tossed about inside of his plexiglass enclosure by a large female polar bear!
Den Lennie from F-Stop Academy shot this behind the scenes video that documents James Tonkin as he creates visuals for his short film "A Night at Nine Elms" with the EF-Mount version of the BlackMagic Cinema Camera. James talks about his experiences with the BMCC and discusses using Canon EF lenses. See the final short film in the full post.
Australian Fashion and Commercial Photographer Peter Coulson with Arterium Creations put together this video from one of his fashion shoots in Melbourne. Not your typical studio setup, Peter is out with his crew shooting in the open streets, complete with the public watching and potentially ruining some of his shots. See as he works with his model and they have a great time creating some stunning street-fashion images.
"In A New Light" is non-profit that uses nature photography to empower, teach, guide, and ultimately change the lives of it's students- students whose background often includes struggling in school, abusive homes, and general hopelessness. Both the photos captured and stories told are simply inspiring. Read on for an interview with Ben Thwaits, pro photographer turned teacher for IANL, and to see some of the students' impressive work. A Kickstarter to publish a photobook along with stories of the students is in the making as well.
Several years ago Richard Schneider of PictureCorrect.com decided his new years resolution would be to begin training to be able to fly a wingsuit. This dream along with his passion for photography eventually led him to Dubai, where he captured the footage you'll see in this video. Learn more about Richard and the work it took to get to this point in the full post.
Gavin Hoey with AdoramaTV put together this simple yet informative video that includes beginner tips on techniques for bracketing your aperture, finding different materials for textures, and finally bringing it all together in Photoshop.
In a recent 60 Minutes special, CBS Reporter Lara Logan spent time with Dereck and Beverly Joubert in Southern Africa. The Jouberts have been shooting images and video of the wildlife there, for over 30 years. They have produced countless amazing images and have even created documentary films from the content they captured. Embedded video inside.
Created by David Breashears this past spring, this gigapixel image shows some incredible detail of the Everest and Khumbu areas. If you look in the lower center, you can see the sprawl of Everest base camp, with the Khumbu Glacier icefall curving from just above the basecamp up towards the mountains.
This past November while on a trip to Colorado, I had the chance to meet up with Celin Serbo, an outdoor lifestyle photographer whose client list includes the likes of Nikon, Backpacker Magazine, Nat Geo Adventure, and First Ascent, among many others. We spoke about the challenges of capturing images in the field, the importance of being business-savvy, and the obstacles of incorporating filmmaking into the services he offers.
How many times have you seen an amazing timelapse project, and wondered where exactly the photographer was when they recorded their exposures? Or maybe you wondered what they had to do to get to such an amazing vantage point? Sean Goebel created his timelapse film "Epochs" and documented the location and equipment details for most scenes. Sean told me some about his background, and links to his work and shot setups are also inside.
ReutersTV put together this video of interviews with their photographers as they describe what happened to them during and after the destruction left by Hurricane Sandy, and how they worked to capture compelling images. The interviews are balanced by the powerful imagery that these shooters captured of the hardships people faced, many of them left with destroyed homes.
The Slanted Lens recently posted a new behind the scenes video, explaining the process for a project that involves shooting photos of a warrior princess out by Vasquez Rocks. This video really dives in to considerations you have to make as a photographer when shooting on a remote location like this. From location scouting, to running power for lights, and even considering bathrooms for the crew, this insightful BTS video shows us how Jay P. Morgan approached this challenge.
CBS's Jeff Glor recently interviewed Pete Mortimer, known mostly for his work on this Citibank Commercial and the 60 Minutes special on free solo climber Alex Honnold. In this interview, Pete discusses the mental attitude needed for his line of work, and emphasizes how crucial safety is while dangling off of a rock. During the interview, a rock actually breaks loose in a brief moment of danger, which illustrates just how dangerous things can become. Embedded video in the full post.
Known best for her dazzling performances that have mixed a dubstep beat with violin playing, Lindsey Stirling has gathered quite a following with her fantastic music videos. In her latest video, "Elements", Lindsey shot footage behind the scenes that shows her picking up supplies, working with Director Devin Graham, and then talking about how she event does the editing herself as a self-proclaimed video nerd.
In this trailer for the upcoming documentary "The Quest For Inspiration", there are a slew of amazing images from places filmmaker Mathieu Le Lay followed landscape Photographer Alexandre Deschaumes. The documentary shows Alexandre as he prepares for a new journey, this time into Patagonia, and we hear his words as thoughts through voiceover, speaking about the complexities and work he does to attain his inspiration.
Fashion Photographer Lindsay Adler has put together a new behind the scenes video that shows you how she is able to capture images of a model that look like silhouettes, but still have glare and depth as if they were wearing latex. This video shows us the lighting setup in her studio for capturing these unique images.
Every photograph that is taken with a traditional camera is more than likely going to require you to depress it's shutter button. If you're an action or wildlife shooter, you may have one of those super-fast trigger fingers where you lie in wait for the moment of the perfect shot. This little Kickstarter item might just give your fingers that extra edge for a faster push and better grip on it. Video inside!
Vimeo recently rolled out a Tip Jar feature for it’s content creators, where you can tip a donation to the artist. Coming up next for Vimeo is a Pay-To-View service, where audiences will actually have to pay to watch the video. It’s controlled solely by the creators, but will Vimeo take a cut of the money, like they do with the tip jar?
One of the most anticipated movies this year has got to be the new James Bond flick, "Skyfall", directed by Sam Mendes. A series of behind the scenes videos have been posted online, and they really do offer a great look at just a few of the many things that go into such a vast production. Well worth a watch. 12 more videos are inside!
The Kickstarter Project called Run Free 2013 is a fake marathon that Ridiculo.us is putting on to see if they can use user-submitted photos of an event that isn't actually happening, to make it seem like it did. While certainly a fun idea, a bigger question begs to be asked– if all it takes are photos and tweets to make something seem like it actually happened, how in the future can we account for the difference between the real and a hoax? Embedded video inside.
Figurative artist Cayce Zavaglia started as a painter, but has since discovered new techniques to sate her creative appetite. As she calls it, her "renegade embroidery" comes from a portrait that she shoots of a person, and then she recreates that portrait using threaded wool in a way that creates the allusion of depth, volume, and form.
Canon recently announced that their 5DMIII will be getting a firmware update, which will give it clean HDMI out without having to use Magic Lantern. Unfortunately it won't be made available until April of 2013, but it will give these cameras the ability to send a clean 4:2:2 8-bit image out the HDMI port for external recording systems like the Atomos Ninja.
Multimedia Artist Josiah Moore had always wanted to do a fun wedding picture when he and his wife got married. Well that opportunity came, and his wife agreed to go along with it! Armed with only a couple of props, he told the photographer his idea, and after the wedding Josiah got to work in photoshop to turn his wedding day into something out of a horror movie. This video shows a sped up look at his process.
The Second Version of Magic Lantern for the Canon 5D Mark III has been released! Most of the hype with Magic Lantern lately has been about the crack of the Canon 7D's firmware, but attention has shifted with this announcement. This video shows the power of HDR Video on the 5DM3. New features include smooth exposure transitions (ISO, shutter or aperture), HDR Video, focus assistants, and
Pirelli, known on this site mostly for their (NSFW) Calendar Photoshoots, also creates their TV spots with a high-level approach. Literally, this behind the scenes video shows the setup and production needed to capture skiers BASE jumping off of a huge cliff. How do Pirelli tires fit in? Check out the final cut of the completed video and you'll see how it all comes together. Spoiler Alert: They throw a car off of the cliff too!
Wildlife Photographer Tim Laman has been working on the Birds of Paradise project for over 10 years, hiking countless miles through undisturbed rainforests to seek out and capture some of the most unique birds that are native to only New Guinea. In this trailer for both the photo exhibit and National Geographic documentary, get a sneak peek at the almost alien like avian species that inhabit the rainforest.
It just might be, although not used in the traditional way. An image of adventure photographer Corey Rich and free-climber Alex Honnold shows Corey shooting photos from an extended ladder, on the side of a rock face that is several hundred feet in the air. Shooting rock climbing photos can often be a challenge, and I for one have done it a few times but never considered a ladder before. As you can see in the full image,
UPDATE: 24fps firmware update has been released too!
Ever since the Wifi BacPac was released, I've been waiting for this iPhone App to drop. This FREE App allows users of the HERO2 (the original HERO is not compatible, sadface) to preview their shot and control the camera's settings, all over WiFi. Eventually it will be able to upload and even stream clips to YouTube. This video was posted before, but it demos the features of this previously unreleased app. Read on for the list of compatible devices!
Using a unique blend of black lights, LEDs, and course sharks with frickin lasers, the crew from Burn put together a fantastic short video that shows snowboarders sliding on some rails and even doing flips in the dark. The rails light up as they slide across them! Check out the video and tell us what you think of this style.