Articles from Patrick Hall

How many times have you seen that popular meme that inaccurately says today is the "Back to the Future" day? Well today, October 21, 2015, is in fact the true date Marty McFly set as his future destination in his time traveling DeLorean from "Back to the Future II." To help celebrate this iconic date as well as the 30th anniversary of the original film, the production company Full Frame did this awesome photoshoot where they explore the capabilities of time travel. Check out the full behind the scenes video in the post below.

Many photographers rely on their 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4 lenses to give that dreamy, narrow depth of field look to their portraits. These two lenses have become a staple for portrait, headshot, wedding, and boudoir photographers who enjoy the soft look that comes with a narrow depth of field and natural lighting. But what happens when you want to create a similar effect in the studio, where your strobes are often too powerful for shooting wide open? Today, I'm going to share with you a fairly unconventional lighting technique that will allow you to shoot your lenses wide open in the studio.  

UPDATE:  Results from our reader's poll can be found here! Last week we released our head to head competition review between the Sony A7RII, the Nikon D810, and the Canon 5DsR ultra high megapixel cameras. Our test put all three cameras up against each other and compared their performance in terms of ergonomics, HD video, auto focus, ISO performance, Dynamic range, and overall image quality when used in the studio. Unfortunately a bunch of Sony users complained that our final studio test wasn't up to snuff, so we did what any respectable review site would do and brought back baby turtle. The new results might shock you.

Lately it seems that DJI has been releasing innovative video tools every single month. Known primarily for their ultra popular Phantom and Inspire 1 drone systems, DJI just announced today that they are releasing their own handheld 4K camera and gimbal called the Osmo. Together with the Ronin DSLR stabilizing system and the Micro Four Thirds Inspire 1 Pro, the Osmo is yet another product that will change the way photographers and videographers can capture stabilized footage on a budget.

This is some rather sad news I have to bring everyone. At the moment there are only 500 FlashDisc units left in our Amazon UK store and we will not be replenishing them once they are sold out. We are currently sold out of the FlashDisc in the US (more coming in the next 2 weeks), but because of logistics and the amount of administrative work it takes selling a product in another country, we will not be replenishing our Amazon UK store once inventory is sold out. 

Last month Fstoppers teamed up with SLR Lounge and BH Photo for an exciting camera giveaway. If you missed the entry post, basically we were giving one lucky winner their choice between the Nikon D810, Sony A7RII, and the Canon 5DsR high megapixel cameras. Yesterday we released our own review of all three of these cameras and today we are excited to announce the winner of a brand new camera!

The images from the September 11th tragedy are no doubt stuck in all of our minds. For most of us, the phrase "9/11" instantly reminds us of a plane hitting the World Trade Center, smoke billowing out of the two buildings, or the heroic images of rescue workers attempting to save lives after the buildings had collapsed. Among the 1000's of images taken on that day, Richard Drew's "The Falling Man" has been both the most controversial as well as the most forgotten. This powerful documentary explorers the stigma surrounding one of the most censored images in US history.  

Aerial photography has always been something that I have found interesting. Seeing so many of our writers like David Geffin, Mike Kelley, and Noam Galai capture exciting photos and video from the sky has inspired me to finally attempt my first doors-off helicopter excursion. In just one short one-hour ride, I've learned a lot of do's and don'ts as well as a bunch of things to experiment with again. I even attempted shooting with a $7,000 lens that everyone told me would be a disaster — and it nearly was!

It could be argued that the 80's pushed the experimental envelope further than any other decade before it.  For the first time in history, consumers were able to watch movies in the privacy of their own homes, the camcorder brought home video recording to the masses, and digital technology opened the doors for tons of horrible musical and visual effects.  When you combine home education with the ridiculous fashion of the 80s, you get this: pure comedy gold. 

Oh the world of high end retouching.  This week cosmetic company Dior released a new video and ad campaign featuring their hot spokeswoman, Jennifer Lawrence.  With a not so subtle nod to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, this new lipstick commercial isn't so bad upon first watch.  Social media has gone ablaze however once screen grabs from the video have been making their way across the internet.  Where are Jennifer's eyelids!  We have the behind the scenes video to see where things went wrong.  

If you ask any well-known and successful photographer what the most important thing you can do to grow your business is, they will almost all point towards shooting personal projects. Before the end of every day, I try to visualize at least one creative and interesting idea that might be worth photographing. Nine times out of ten, those ideas are complete garbage. Every now and then, I come up with a really great idea, but unfortunately, 90% of the time, I completely forget these great ideas and they never become a reality. Here is how I have solved this problem.  

The Profoto B1s are the battery operated smaller brother of the Profoto D1 monoblocks.  One major advantage they have over their AC counterpart is that you can freeze super fast motion much easier than you can with the D1s.  Suspending motion with strobes has everything to do with flash duration, and as I learned today, the Profoto B1 heads have a special mode called Freeze Mode that can make your flash duration even faster.

Here I am on a Saturday night tucked away in my photography office finally listening to Dr. Dre's new album.  With just two real full length albums, Dre is one of my all time favorite artists, and I always enjoy researching the samples and references he uses in his music.  Tonight by way of Compton, I found record producer Jimmy Iovine's commencement speech he gave to the USC graduating class of 2013.  Jimmy might be talking about producing music but I think his words ring true for photographers as well.  

Erik Almas is one of my all time favorite photographers. His work mixes equal parts clever advertising and personal vision in a way that makes each image intriguing to study. But behind all of his brilliant images is a businessman who works diligently to get his brand in front of art buyers and advertising agencies. Today PRO EDU has released a free section about marketing from Almas' Composite Photography tutorial, and this advice is something every photographer should hear.

I personally have never used a Wacom tablet or stylus in my life. They always seemed like the most useful post-processing tool ever, but I never bit the bullet and tested the waters. However, after filming Elia Locardi edit over 40 images for his "Photographing the World" landscape series, I am confident enough to finally give it a try myself. Luckily my good friends over at Phlearn have laid out five of the most useful tips for making your Wacom tablet easy to use.

Almost every photographer has found one of their images reproduced online without their permission. The first question you might ask yourself is "how much money can I get for this infringement?" However, copyright law can be extremely difficult to understand and there are many common or case law rulings that factor in on how an image can be used fairly or commercially. In this fascinating video, the guys at PRO EDU sit down with Joe Naylor with Image Rights and fine art photographer Peter Coulson to discuss how photographers can protect their art.

Anyone who has been booked as a wedding photographer knows that this genre of photography can be extremely challenging.  Perhaps no other field of photography throws as many variables at you more than those found on a typical wedding day.  Whether it is crazy weather, horrible lighting situations, demanding wedding planners, strict church rules, or overall disorganization, there are a many many things that can cause the day to go less than expected.  Here is what every bride should know about the challenges of photographing a wedding ceremony.

Have you ever wanted to create a dramatically lit portrait but you have felt limited by your lack of camera gear?  Pye Jirsa over at SLR Lounge has just released a very technical video showing how you can accomplish complex lighting with just a single on-camera flash.  The results are pretty incredible, and I would have never thought these images were created with such a simple lighting solution.  

A few months ago I featured a hot deal on the Nikon D750 DSLR camera being sold by a reputable ebay seller.  Today Canon users can get in on a similar deal.  Right now you can save $700 on a brand new flagship Canon 5Ds on Ebay.  The seller is the same one offering the D750, and we have received a ton of thank you emails from readers who took advantage of that deal (we bought 5 ourselves).  You can read more about this deal 

The website WallPart (intentionally not linked to) claims to be "the world's largest online shop of posters...with over 10 billion images."  What they do not tell you is that their database is filled with stolen and copyrighted images from photographers around the world.  If this wasn't bad enough, the Poster Shop might actually be using these images to spam photographers who use their copyright take down form in what might be the most diabolical phishing scam of all time.  

Have you ever wondered what Donald Trump would look like if you combined 50 random photos of him and averaged them together? That's exactly what Reddit user Dwainosaur did with his latest photo/data mashup. Using commonly found images on Google, these composites of celebrities like Barack Obama, Kayne West, Bill Murray, and Brad Pitt almost look like pencil drawings. The results are pretty eerie and give a pretty good idea what each of these well known people would look like as a ghost.  

Beth Moon is a photographer who specializes in classic black and white imagery. Over the last 14 years she has been traveling the world documenting the oldest and largest trees on the planet. To promote her new book "Ancient Trees: Portraits in Time," Moon has shared this behind-the-scenes video of her platinum printing darkroom process which is pretty interesting to watch. Platinum printing is viewed by many to be the absolute best form of archival printing, and Moon's results are absolutely gorgeous.

The future of sharing live video through social media is definitely heating up through apps like Periscope and Meerkat.  Basically these apps turn your phone into a live streaming webcam that you can use to share whatever you want to the world.  Although Ustream and Youtube have already allowed users to stream live video from other devices like a GoPro, Meerkat is about to make things a lot more interesting by being the first native app to broadcast from the sports camera.  This could make social media way more interesting to watch.

This is a really clever marketing tool using photography.  The prototype agency Breakfast has created a super complex billboard made entirely of spools of thread (6,400 to be exact).  These bobbins are wrapped with fabric containing 36 colors and can mechanically recreate any image sent to its processor.  Right now using the hashtag #f21threadscreen , clothing company Forever 21 will build and display any image on your instagram account in full 60 x 60 pixels live for the whole world to see.  

When it comes to all things headshots and manipulating human expression, the best guy to seek council from is Peter Hurley.  Peter's career has spanned about 15 years now, and over those years he has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge.  Last year with the help from our friends at Profoto, Lee and I were able to film a supplemental free chapter to Peter's Illuminating the Face Tutorial.  In this video Peter takes us outside to show some of the techniques he uses out on location.  

Winner picked tomorrow! The creators of Gulf Photo Plus, one of the best photography workshops in the world, are coming to Seattle this Sept for their annual PopUP GPP event Sept 19-20.  Together we have partnered to give one lucky winner the chance to not only attend the event but also $250 towards travel.  Learn from Greg Heisler, Joe McNally, Zack Arias, and David Hobby and experience a taste of Gulf Photo Plus right here in the USA.  Details on how you can enter to win this contest are 

Since Lee and I first started Fstoppers 5 years ago, we have always wanted it to be a place for inspiration, news, reviews, and of course educational behind the scenes material. One thing has always been missing though, and that is the voice of you our readers.  Today we are expanding the Fstoppers Community by opening Groups to the public. Anyone with an Fstoppers account can now create and moderate their own photography community directly on Fstoppers.com

Only 3 Days Left! From now until June 1st we are running 5 photography contests and choosing 5 separate winners. Simply submit your best portrait, wedding, glamour, fashion, or landscape photograph to win your choice of any Fstoppers tutorial in the Fstoppers store or 3 Fstoppers FlashDiscs. For more details, read all the contest

The other night I was asked "what is the most frustrating thing about shoot weddings?" I thought about this question for a second and shockingly my answer had nothing to do with bridezillas, wedding planners, hot and humid weather, or even post production. Easily the most frustrating thing about shooting weddings is dealing with unreliable radio triggers during the reception. Perhaps this simple yet unreleased hotshoe adapter could make this problem obsolete if only someone would create it.

There are few things that can boost your video production more than adding a smooth camera movement. One tool that every filmmaker needs to utilize from time to time is a camera crane. Recently we had the chance to test and use the Kessler Crane Pocket Jib Traveler, and I am convinced that it is one of the most portable and easy to use camera cranes on the market today.

UPDATE INSIDE: Nikon's newest camera, the D750, is our all time favorite DSLR camera ever.  We own the D750 and D810 cameras and actually favor the D750 for video and wedding work because of its small size, articulating screen, fast focusing, and manageable 24mp full frame sensor (the D810 is a badass camera too).  Today there is a crazy sale where you can a Nikon D750 Body on Ebay for only $1499!  This deal is so good we just bought 4 new D750s for the Fstoppers studio.  

If you are a videographer or a photographer dabbling in video you know how much of a pain in the ass it can be cutting interview footage with just one camera angle. The feared "jump cut" in an interview can completely ruin the overall production and professionalism of your entire video project. Luckily, Adobe has recently debuted their new Morph Cut tool in Premiere Pro CC to help filmmakers fix this sometimes unavoidable problem.

Let's face it; the industry is changing. Art directors and potential clients are not looking to simply hire a photographer anymore. They do not care about your lighting, your gear, or even your previous clients. So what do they care about then? Photographer John Keatley sits down with artist rep Maren Levinson at Redeye to discuss the future of photography, and there is a very good chance you are not going to like what she has to say. 

For the last 5 years, Fstoppers has been an outlet for education, news, inspiration, and behind the scenes photography content.  Even with the amazing writers we have on Fstoppers, we have always wanted you,our readers, to have a voice.  Well today I am happy to announce a new part of the Fstoppers Community:  the Fstoppers Groups.