Welp we have done it again; we've made it another year! According to CDC.org, we should be on our way to making sentences with 2-4 words, playing simple make-believe games, pointing out cats, dogs, and birds, and of course climbing up and down furniture without anyone's help. In all seriousness, Lee and I (along with everyone else on the Fstoppers staff) are incredibly grateful to still be sharing to this community we created back in March of 2010.
Mick Gleissner has been featured in Elle, Maxim, Seaster, and Photo Magazine with his surreal underwater fashion images. This is one of the coolest videos I've personally watched and hope you guys enjoy it as well. Maybe our own Fstoppers writer Lee Morris can take a note or two out of MG's book of tricks.
Mick Gleissner's Underwater Photography from Mick Gleissner on Vimeo.
Trey Ratcliff is a very successful photographer who also runs a very popular blog Stuck in Customs. In a recent lecture for Google, Trey explains what makes the internet so exciting for creative professionals, and how you too can put your own internet stimulus out there for others to enjoy. It's interesting watching this watching this... [full post]
Well it's Christmas Eve here in the US and many of you are about to have a blast opening up some cool photography gadgets (or I hope so at least). But in the meantime, Eve Hazelton created a really thorough video on how to light an interview or one person scene easily and effectively. Eve is the director of photography for the film Underwater Realm which we've feature a ton on Fstoppers (check out their great BTS videos here). Her work is so helpful that Philip Bloom featured an interesting article on this video over on his blog. Check it out if you prefer an image breakdown of lighting instead of the video format. Hopefully you guys can start using some of these techniques in your own videos especially if you ever submit to our Behind The Scenes Contests down the road.
We've featured a lot of timelapse videos here on Fstoppers. And while they are really cool, very few videos have been made on how you can actually make one yourself. The guys over at Dynamic Perception, makers of the Stage Zero Dolly and MX2 Dolly Engine, have created a pretty thorough explanation of how to program dolly movements with long DSLR exposures. Many of the concepts in this video are useful no matter what electronic dolly you are using, and it really does a great job teaching some of the pitfalls you might have when calculating the timings required for both great photos and slick camera movements. Click the full post to watch an intro video to timelapse and head over to Dynamic Perception's site if you are interested in getting into this type of photography.
Now this is clever. Victorinox makes a few fragrances and wanted to create an interactive video that shows just how fresh their perfume makes you feel. So they sent a crew up to Cauma Lake in Flims/Laax, Switzerland to film a 360 degree video UNDERWATER! To capture 360 video footage they used the new Yellowbird camera which works a lot like the Google streetview car. After watching the behind the scenes video, click the full post to see the final interactive campaign and you yourself can smell like a clean lake from Switzerland.
Last week we featured part 1 of ReDefine's interview with Chase Jarvis. The second half of the interview was just released and Chase talks a little about pushing yourself and being your own biggest critic while at the same time taking all the negativity that comes with being in the spotlight with a grain of salt. Lee and I have seen so many ridiculous comments about photographers and their work here on Fstoppers and other popular websites (heaven knows I've taken a few punches myself). In today's uber web social world, sometimes it seems if you haven't caused a stir of criticism of some sort then perhaps you haven't made something profound. It seems as photographers, most of us are driven by creativity and competition but the best competition you should have is with yourself. I hope you guys find Chase's words encouraging as he reminds everyone that even at the top of your career you are going to face people who question your vision. Stay strong and keep truckin' because the light at the end of the tunnel, may be you! Goodnight!
This video was featured on the Fstoppers Forum and it had me laughing from the beginning. Luckily there is also a behind the scenes video that explains how in the world they created all of this "HD Porn". I would have never thought in a million years you could mix Iron Maiden, the most ridiculous looking poodle, the largest bubble machine I've ever seen, and flashing neon lights to produce an entertaining commercial for Sony high definition products. Then again I'm not paid the big bucks to think this outside the box either. Enjoy the final commercial below and then head over to full post to see how everything was put together.
It's pretty hard for someone to come into the film and video industry and make a huge splash but that's exactly what the Dutch company Yellowbird has done. They are using a camera very similar to what Google uses on its Streetview cars to produce not only 360 degree photographs but for the first time 360 degree interactive video! Youtube has already jumped on board with this new technology so be prepared to see videos in the future with several storylines, multiple characters, and previously unseen coverage of live events and documentaries. These sort of things really get me excited...and Hollywood thought 3D cinema was going to be all the rage :) Click the full post to see what it is like to view a large music festival in 360 degrees!
If you are a fan of iphone photo apps, huge CGI production movies, and sexy girls fighting with mystical powers then you will probably love this behind the scenes video. The Demon Cam is an iphone app that allows you to turn your face into a demon zombie. In order to promote the release of the Demon Cam, the guys over at Video Copilot created an unbelievably complex promo video that showcases how the application works. The behind the scenes video has a lot of CGI and chromakey trickery but it also has a bunch of clever ideas any photographer could use in their own productions. After reading the reviews of this app and seeing the amount of work that went into the opening video, I'm kind of curious to see what a Patrick Hall demon would look like. Click the full post to see how everything came together in the final video and head over to the app store to pick up the $.99 iphone cam.
This video has been making its rounds today through the blogosphere and for good reason. Photographer Josh Maready thought it might be interesting to view New York City from the eyes of his skateboard's back wheels by mounting a GoPro video camera dangerously close to the ground. The result is pretty interesting and extremely creative. However we cannot say no camera was harmed in the making of this video; Josh destroyed the first camera and practically vibrated the second one to death. Read more about Josh's simple video project over on his blog. It should be interesting to see what sort of GoPro projects we see in the near future as they make great tools for exciting behind the scenes contest entries!
This time last year Lee and I were profiling concert photographer David Bergman as he was shooting a series of Bon Jovi concerts in their New Jersey hometown. A lot has happened since then with David, and he is now currently traveling the world and seeing some pretty amazing venues. Mark Wallace recently caught up with the rockstar photographer and asked him some specific questions about both his photography and his concert website TourPhotographer.com. If you follow David on facebook, be prepared to be blown away and extremely jealous of his news feed - he's always up to something interesting.
Today all the buzz in the photo world is coming from an unusual tech company called Lytro. A new camera called the Lytro Light Field Camera uses a groundbreaking new sensor design that allows more light to be recorded than normal sensor technologies. This in turns actually allows you to choose your focus point after you have taken the photo (click on the photo to the left). As of right now no major camera companies have picked up this technology for their own cameras, but worry not as Lytro is working on creating a small point and shoot camera that will feature this "focus later" sensor soon. Check out the full post for more examples of the images as well as some commentary from the Wall Street Journal. Do you guys think this is a good idea or a practical application of selective focusing?
Many photographers first pick up a camera and head out to the streets to capture people in their own city. Well before there are studio lights to consider, models to coach, wardrobes and makeup to style, or locations to scout, there is only a photographer and the streets. Henri Cartier-Bresson is perhaps the earliest and most well known street photographer. Born in France in 1908, Henri created "surreal" images that would later become known as a photojournalistic approach to photography. His most well known publication, The Decisive Moment, features historic images from both the East and the West during his coverage of Gandhi's funeral, the end of the Chinese Civil War, and the liberation of Indonesia from the Dutch. In this short documentary, Henri describes his ideas on portraits and photojournalism and how he thinks subjects are best approached. I love the psychology of photography presented in this video; what do you guys think?
R. J. Kern and Amanda Tipton are both photographers from Denver Colorado. Together they setup a vintage "Mad Men" style photoshoot at the Cruise Room within the Oxford Hotel. They give a lot of useful information about how to achieve a true throw back look by using Fresnel Hot Lights, vintage clothing, and a classic 1950's style location. By shooting with hot lights, RJ and Amanda are both able to shoot at the same time without having to worry about recycle rates or light contamination as they work on sets in close proximity to each other. You can check out Amanda's images HERE and RJ's image HERE. I think both sessions turned out great but if you have a preference for one style over another, let us know in the comments.
Inspired by Light: Behind the Scenes of a Vintage Shoot from R. J. Kern on Vimeo.
