Maybe I'm behind the times but when I came across this video sponsored by Red Bull Illume, I had no idea what I was about to watch. Photographer Dan Vojtěch teaches you how you too can make a moving lenticular image while he photographs professional wakeboarder Sasha Christian. The software he uses is the 3D Masterkit by Triaxes if you want to try to create one of these yourself. It's definitely a cool effect especially when you can get different shots of your subject in the exact same pose.
As many of you know, Lee and I are currently hanging out in Chicago working on a future Fstoppers video. Whenever we travel, we like to meet as many photographers as possible and share some stories over a few beers (or wings if you are underage). We've gotten a lot of suggestions and called a ton of places. It looks like the meetup is going to be Saturday, June 4th at the SweetWater Tavern and Grille downtown at 225 N. Michigan Avenue. We are going to show up at 9PM and they serve food all night so feel free to grab some grub as well. We'd love to hang out so we hope we can meet a lot of our Chicago readers. See you guys on Saturday...and we will let you know what we were shooting :)
We have featured the work of Jonathan Mannion previously on Fstoppers but he has so many great videos that I figured we'd share his work again. Mannion has shot everyone in the rap scene including Eminem, Lil Wayne, Jay Z, DMX, and Ice Cube. Often borrowing from his mentor Richard Avedon, Jonathan's work can be edgy and provocative but also clean and iconic. In this video Jonathan showcases a lot of his work featured in the Milk Gallery exhibition he did last year. It's pretty interesting to hear Jonathan talk about trying to remain creative with his work while at the same time knowing the specific image the record labels want for their musicians' brand.
We've been kicking a lot of "behind the business" videos lately so I hope you don't mind another one. Kareem Black is a celebrity and commercial photographer based out of New York City. His work is constantly featured in GQ and Vibe magazines as well as marketing campaigns for Verizon and Burger King. Being a photographer in the largest city in America, Kareem realized he always has to do something different to capture people's attention and ultimately get them to view his work. Simply handing people business cards and putting up ads on a bulletin board isn't going to cut it in a market full of 'marketers'. Instead you need to make people proactive in finding you by sparking their interests in your brand and the work you do. Here are a few ideas that should spark some abstract thinking of your own. Feel free to share interesting ideas you have used for your own business in the comments below.
There always seems to be two camps when it comes to photography: those who go by feel and those who go by technique. Neither one is necessarily a wrong approach but knowing the technical stuff definitely helps when you are faced with problems or unexpected results. In this video Mark Wallace explains the inverse square law and how it affects light falloff. I'll admit, not having gone to school for photography, it did take me a while to completely grasp this idea when I first started shooting. Once you understand this concept, you should be able to not only light your scenes better but also become more versatile when giving a single light double duty lighting both your subject and the background.
Getty photographer John Moore enjoys living life on the dangerous side of the lens. The Pulitzer Prize winner has traveled the world covering wars in Somalia, Afghanistan, South Africa, and Central America. Back in February he was sent out on assignment to cover the uprising in Egypt and wound up staying to report on the military actions of Gaddafi in Libya and revolts in Bahrain. Halfway through his travels, John's cameras were confiscated and he was left to shoot with one of these. The images in this video are intense but are probably the most remarkable photographs I've seen during these political uprisings in the Middle East.
Are you a photographer who felt like you were unable to participate in our BTS summer contest because you didn't own a DSLR that shot video? Well our good friend Michael over at www.Michaelthemaven.com is hosting a few contests and one of the prizes is a Canon T2i digital camera. What do you have to do to win you ask? Just submit your best cell phone photo! Lee and I are "Celebrity" judges for the contest and right now only 20 submissions have been made. You can read more about the contest here and you have until Friday to submit. Too bad we are judges or I might have tried to enter myself :)
So many times we photographers think we need to use every single strobe light we own just because they are there in our bag. I've been a victim of it and I'm sure you have too. Instructional photographer Tony Corbell has an old video he made for the folks at Profoto which really showcases the variety of light you can get from just one single light source. There is an old saying that goes the best light is the light you have with you but maybe it should go the best light is sometimes the simplest light. <
Our good friend Peter Hurley has been tearing up Twitter the last few days which can only mean one thing: He's done something pretty exciting! Peter loves to film his own videos on his Flip HD camera while in the middle of his shoots so the footage is always a bit spontaneous. Check out this short clip of Peter as he shoots Twilight megastar Chaske Spencer in his studio and on top of his roof. If you watch closely you may even see the Empire State Building a half a dozen times :) Check out the final images over at Peter's blog http://www.comeontakeyourbestshot.com/ and if you haven't watched our Fstoppers Original on Peter check it out here.
So we did a little experiment and tried our first ever photoshop contest....and the results were interesting to say the least. I think the holiday parties might have come early for some of our readers! If you have not checked out the images submitted you can check them out here on the forum. I really wanted to pick one of the crazy ones that made me and Lee laugh as the winner but I have to give credit where credit is due. So hit the Full post to see who won the Think Tank Photo Urban Disguise 35 camera bag and let us know in the comments if you guys enjoyed this contest. Also check out our monthly photo contest running on the forum here (December theme is "Illusion").
Love it or find it overly offensive, rapper M.I.A.'s music video Born Free created a big stir on the internet last year when it was released. I personally thought it was a pretty good video considering what most artists release these days. Regardless of your view of the video, the cinematography is really awesome. In order to shoot the driving scenes, director Romain Gavras used the Ultimate Arm to create amazing jib style shots on the move. Check out this BTS on how the team filmed much of the film's final segment and click the full post to watch Born Free in it's entirety.
Tom Guilmette is a professional camera operator for broadcast sports and definitely one of our favorite guys to feature here on Fstoppers (search his name for some other posts on him). So with all the excitement that Major League Baseball brings this time of year I thought it would be appropriate to give you a backstage peek at how guys like Tom work to bring the game into your home. For whatever reason, Tom has yet to allow embedding of my favorite video he has ever created so after you get done watching this sort video, head over to his blog to watch a much longer video with this sort of content.
Fenway HD Camera - Sony HDC-910 - Canon 75x from Tom Guilmette on Vimeo.
With a bunch of hurricanes heading our way, I figured it might be fun to show everyone that rainy days do not mean you cannot still pick up your camera. Jim Reed has made a career out of extreme weather photography and has some pretty wild videos to document his craft. Some may call it a craft and others may just call it being out of your mind but either way it puts a smile on my face. Click the full post to watch Jim run straight up into a tornado. <
Mark Lebryk decided to try something a bit different for his BTS contest entry and we are glad he did! Mark worked together with his client Ultrasun USA to show what goes into shooting product photos for a website. In a nutshell, Mark takes over 100 photographs of each tanning bed, retouches each one, and then renders them into an interactive 360 degree web presentation. Check out Mark's video and be sure to head over to Ultrasun USA to view the final products online.
Hope everyone in America is having a happy 4th of July. Thought you guys might get a kick out of the latest Dodge Challenger Behind the Scenes commercial. Thanks to Thomas on the forum for sharing this with us! Click the full post to watch the final commercial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLa6NGduJ_c<
