Articles from Kenn Tam

My new friend and inspirational photographer, Joao Carlos, recently did a post on "The Four Steps of Creativity". I'm always pushing creativity as the #1 factor in any good photographer's work, so, I had to copy his post for all of you.

A free two hour video on the basics of studio lighting, with photographer Joey Quintero. I haven't personally sat down and watched this yet so I can't really tell you how comprehensive this is but I'm sure seasoned shooters will enjoy comparing notes and beginners will pick up a lot. Give this video some attention and let us know what you think in the comments.

The video quality isn't that great but this footage will still give you pause to think. See what happened when UK photographer Tom Bird stopped into a bar to have drinks with his mates.

Using images discovered on Tumblr, New York based artist Matt Wisniewski, created digital collages combining both portrait and landscape.

Check out these compelling shots and leave your comments.

I know I'm always pushing for photographers to be creative but maybe this is going too far. Still these photos of men wearing their own mustaches in place of their hair has the same effect as a freak show carni at the grocery store, or a car crash...

They help you make better pictures, solve multiple problems, and put more fun in your photography. They are Photography’s Outstanding Products for 2011, and every one has been lab and/or field tested by our thoroughly picky editors (our reject list is long). And we have a strong feeling you will love them as we do. text by: Dan Richards

Ron Edatz: "Claes Axstål regularly does something most photographers haven’t thought of, let alone tried. Axstål and his team can typically be found in the air, manning a ton of gear, and—quite literally—lighting and photographing another plane or helicopter as it flies near the one they’re working in.

Every time I think light painting is a fad that will soon reach, "seen it all before" status, some one comes along and changes my mind. Enter Dennis Calvert. If you want to see some spectacular examples of this exploding art form, check out some of Dennis's work below.

Researcher Kevin Karsch and his team at the University of Illinois are developing software that lets users easily insert objects into photographs. It seems to have great potential for adding in animated objects with realistic lighting. Could be a powerful tool for all you creative minded shooters out there.

We've all seen and been inspired by the works of Jan von Holleben, with his trade mark "laying down" poses. In this latest series created for German newspaper ZEIT he is at it again but what strikes me is the clever use of everyday house hold objects to depict one's dreams.

Remember that post I did on Nightmare Fear Factory's haunted house photo booth? Of course you do, cause I just posted it yesterday and you check Fstoppers.com everyday, right? Well the awesomeness of those photos has spurred the lads on the Something Awful forums to fire up Photoshop to make them even more awesome. Take another look.

If you haven't been there or heard of it, Nightmare Fear Factory in Niagara Falls is a haunted house that's actually scary shit. I know cause I've been there and still have the scars in my ribs from where my date's claws dug in. Over 100,000 people have chickened out and made the "Chicken List" and what's even scarier is they now have a photo booth inside, so you can't even pretend it didn't phase you. Picture walking in complete darkness through a maze, while clinging to the person infront of you and taking tiny unsure steps, when suddenly a car darts out of no where with its lights blasting and horn blaring. Now picture what someone's face would look like when this happens or better yet, see for yourself.

Are you curious as to what your shutter count is?  Then head on over to MyShutterCount.com, where they presumably are able to tell the shutter count of "most cameras" simply by uploading a picture. And if you want to know how many of those clicks you can expect before your camera goes kaputs then check out the Camera Life Expectancy Database.

September 27th will see the release of "Shutterbugs", a comedy web series about a group of obsessive photographers. (Do you know anyone obsessed about photography? :P)

It would be nice to have a weekly series to make us laugh. The question is: Will we be laughing with it or at it?

Resting 120 feet below the water and towering 55 feet above the sea floor, lays the sunken ship Vandenberg and an exhibition of 12 photos by Andreas Franke titled, "Life Below The Surface". I passed this article over last week but Reese made me take a second look and I'm glad she did.