I've seen a lot of DIY setups over the years, but every now and then one comes along that's so unstable it's scary and yet way too cool not to try. You can tell by the title that this isn't going to be some amazing setup with a hundred cameras arrayed. This is what it sounds like...A GoPro on a ceiling fan whipping around your subject while it films at high speed.
Hopefully you already know this but, concert lasers will kill your camera. They are bad for your eyes and equally so for your lovely camera sensor. This isn't a random unlikely occurrence. It will happen every time, to any camera with a digital sensor. It doesn't even matter how high-quality your gear is as evidenced by the above video from a once lovely RED Epic.
For many professional photographers the path to this life started off as a creative outlet. It was birthed out of a need to escape the day to day grind that came from an unsatisfying career, stress, or creative boredom and experimentation . You started slow and with every hundredth of a second the passion grew.
Shutterstock founder Jonathan Oringer became a billionaire yesterday when Shutterstock Inc (SSTK). shares rose to a record high. Shutterstock is the world's largest photo and video marketplace and has about 28 million licensed photos, illustrations and videos available for sale on its website.
John Hess From FilmMakerIQ.com traces the evolution of the screen shape from the silent film days through the widescreen explosion of the 50s, to the aspect ratio of modern digital cameras. If you've ever wondered why and how the formats we use today came to be, this is something you'll want to watch.
It's been over a year since Profoto interviewed Martin Wonnacott about his amazing beverage photography. Now the man dubbed "the master of liquids" has released a behind the scenes video of his work for us all to drool over and try to dissect. There isn't anything to guide you through it either, just press pause a lot.
Joe McNally does it again with a great video on making sure you're lighting for your overall scene. He breaks down the editorial by first discussing the message he wants to communicate, and then goes on to explain the whys and hows for lighting to achieve that vision.
There is always talk about what apps you need to get in order to take cool photos, but the fact is you already have a camera. Quite honestly there is no camera or editing app that will greatly affect your business in my opinion, and that is what's truly important. So what apps does it take to really help streamline your business?
When Profoto contacted Portland-based fashion photographer Rob Werlinger about doing a blog post for them, he pulled out all the stops. "The concept revolved around metallics and you can see them used prominently in the wardrobe, makeup, and also reflected in the mood and emotion of the model,” writes Rob.
It never ceases to amaze me when I see how complicated lighting setups for products can be. Thankfully photographer Phillip McCordall can walk us through his process with relative ease. This tutorial video definitely doesn't come close to the most complex setup, but of course it's still very interesting to see especially considering how cheap most of the modifiers are.
For this shoot, Michael David Adams developed his concept from the story of Hypnos, the god of sleep. It's moody, it's dark, and I love it. But check this out... lately I've gotten a lot of questions from people looking to make the move from naturally lit location shooting, into the studio. The problem many of these photographers are running into isn't just confined to learning strobes.
Most Pro-level DSLRs already give us the option for automatic backup of images using dual card slots. However, Japanese company Amulet aims to resolve the backup issue for prosumer DSLRs as well. Amulet is set to release a CompactFlash card that allows images and video files to be backed up instantly using RAID-style 'mirroring'.
Sony's electronics division isn't doing so hot. In fact it is apparently losing money on nearly every gadget it sells. If you're surprised at this, don't worry, you aren't alone. You may even be asking yourself what else they do. They have motion pictures and music but those endeavors have only contributed $7 billion to the company’s bottom line over the last decade.
Olaf Heine is one of the world's most acclaimed music photographers and has photographed music icons such as Iggy Pop, Sting and Jon Bon Jovi. In this interview from H&M Life, Olaf talks about what it's like to work with these musicians and how best to convey your portrait ideas so they are well received.
Anyone who has tried can tell you that lighting cars well is a difficult thing to do. The size of them, the lack of flat surfaces, how reflective they are, and the variety of different materials all make for one of the most trying photographic challenges out there.
Before we even get started on this video be sure to hit the closed captioning option on the Youtube video because the interpreter doesn't get it all. For those of you that don't know, Liu Bolin is also called "The Invisible Man" due to his series of images where he is painted to match his surroundings. In this video he talks not only about his process but also about his motivation.
Pro commercial and celebrity photographer Michael Grecco takes us on the set of his 2-day shoot for Men's Health and Procter & Gamble in this high end behind the scenes video. The parts of the video you want to watch move pretty quickly so there will be a lot of pausing if you want to see the lighting setups in any sort of detail. The consistent theme with light here is balance.
Originally captured back in 2011 the National Geographic show "Naked Science: Lightning Chasers" gave us a never before seen look at the anatomy of a lightning strike in ultra-slow motion. Although the footage is older the video is still amazing, and quite possibly the most detailed of it's kind (if there are any others).
WDP 2012: Photographer of the Year Lauri Laukkanen guides us step by step through two images from his World War II inspired photo shoot explaining in detail what he used and why. The entire video is done using a stand-in model so we don't get to see much of the actual production but Lauri's explanation of his thought process is really what matters here.
I feel the need to preface this post by saying "don't try this at home." Sure, crazier things have been done to get a shot and this is relatively tame by comparison but that doesn't change the fact that a pothole could seriously ruin your day. That said, I love this video from Korean photographer Manchul Kim.
Originally inspired by Indiana Jones for this image, photographer Matthew Drozd almost immediately ran into budgetary constraints. In this video he sits down with us to talk about how he came up with his concept, how he found his team, how he avoided potential equine issues and how he balanced his lighting to make the final composite.
By far one of the most influential and yet devastating things I ever realized in my career was that Photography alone is not a viable path to become wealthy or even truly financially independent. In fact a few days ago CareerCast.com released a list of 200 jobs, ranked from best to worst, and photographer came in at #172, beaten soundly by garbage collectors.
Counted among legends like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, Christopher Wahl is certainly a photographer that will define a time in image making. Global News 16x9 correspondent Carolyn Jarvis takes us behind the scenes with this portrait master as he shares his insights with us. He has photographed everyone from the Pope to the President and still remains grounded.
Luka, a boy who suffers from muscular dystrophy, dreams of playing basketball, skateboarding and diving. He dreams of doing all of the things his body won't allow him to. In a series called "The Little Prince" photographer Matej Peljhan strives to help Luka live out these dreams as best he can through imagery.
When KFC needed new, iconic images for their redesigned website they turned to Photographer Teri Campbell (author of Food Photography and Lighting: A Commercial Photographer's Guide to Creating Irresistible Images). After fine tuning the details of the production Teri, his 1Ds Mark III and the crew got to work.
Author Dan Ariely gave an interesting talk on motivation and how to feel good about our work at TEDx Rio de la Plata. Ariely suggests that it isn't money that truly motivates us, but meaning. Ariely believes this is the difference between those that love what they do and those that don’t. Through a series of experiments Ariely shows how much we actually value meaning in our work.
How would you react if someone grabbed your camera and started taking photos without asking you? What if that person was a professional athlete? Would that change your opinon? The question comes up due to an event during today's Bulls game.
Balancing environmental light with flash is and will probably always be one of my favorite aspects of the lighting process. In this video San Antonio photographer Kurtis Kronk takes us behind the scenes of his recent shoot at Enchanted Rock for Profoto. While the video focuses quite a bit on the AcuteB two-head split cable there are plenty of shots of the setup and resulting images.
An interesting system is in development via Kickstarter for video professionals to get excited about. The LineCam can most easily be compared to a zipline style "track" that can either be operated through gravity (with the Glide) or via remote control (with the Flow).
Commercial photographer Alex Koloskov takes us through his setup for this relatively simple (although it uses five lights) product shot. While not an incredibly in depth video, there are definitely some often overlooked things it shows that should be committed to memory.
It occurred to me today that the vast majority of modern photographers are completely dependent on the perks of technology to make their images. Of course even in the darkroom there is a certain level of "tweakability" but never before have we been able to do the things we can now.
Brian Bowen Smith speaks at Chicago Ideas Week about utilizing the creative process and relying on your subject to allow your work to reach it's potential. This amazingly successful photographer takes us through the successes and challenges of three different shoots all the while touting the importance of trusting your gut.
For the launch campaign of the new H5D, Hasselblad asked Henrik Sorensen to put their new camera through its paces while shooting the new campaign. What he came up with is nothing short of spectacular. Denmark is known as the land of fairytales and castles so Sorensen opted to do a twisted take on that with a floating fairy in an 18th century palace...underwater.
Most cameras are not designed to be any more modular than switching a lens out. They are next to impossible to user-service or upgrade, and if you want to use a different lens system and there isn't an adapter...too bad. That's where Korean designers Dae jin Ahn and Chun hyun Park come in.
Annie Leibovitz is, in my opinion, one of the only photographers that has managed to become a household name. She is so iconic that even people that don't care about photography seem to know who she is. That's why this video is so cool. In it we get to hear a young version of the 63 year old icon talk about her hopes for the future.
