Articles from Chelsey Rogers

Last week, Patrick challenged me to colorize an image he shot during the historic snowfall in Charleston. We decided it would be great to see our readers' take on the colorization process as well. These three photographers have won their choice of an Fstoppers Tutorial! How do you think they did? 

As you all know, we are currently pushing ourselves here at Fstoppers HQ to produce 30 videos for the month of January. Patrick Hall didn't want me to miss out on the fun, so he challenged me to recolor an image. Not an old black and white one, but an image he took with our new Nikon D850. Want to give it a try too? You could win a free tutorial if you've got what it takes to colorize an image.

Fstoppers is happy to announce we're bringing back Critique the Community in 2018. We invite everyone to submit your best commercial image to be critiqued by the Fstoppers team. We are keeping this first critique of 2018 pretty vague and broad, so if you think your image is "commercial" then submit in the comments below! Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Thursday night, January 4, and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

Editing is crucial. Whether it be editing the maternity shoot you just shot in a field, or the classic “Star Wars” films (no, I haven't seen “The Last Jedi,” no spoilers please), it can make or break your project. RocketJump breaks down the differences between the first and final screenings of "Star Wars: A New Hope."

Are you a photographer or videographer who loves to write? It's that time again! Fstoppers is looking to hire several creative professionals to write for us. If you enjoy reading Fstoppers and think you may have something to offer, we want to hear from you! 

So, it's kind of a running joke in the office whenever we see an email about a bag that someone wants us to review: "Wow! Do you think it will hold all the things!?" Because let's be real, a camera bag is just that: a bag to hold your camera and other gear. I've used the same cheap camera backpack for about five years now, and it was starting to look a little raggedy. So, much to my surprise (and chagrin), I found a camera bag that I, dare I say it, loved, the Medium Long Bag from Porteen Gear. 

Ah, Casey Neistat. If you're on the internet, you've heard of him and are most likely in one of two camps: "Neistat fan camp," or "vehemently angry how did this guy get famous camp." A couple of months ago he told everyone that news giant CNN bought Beme, his failed app, but it seems that there is more to the story. 

Did you ever play those "hot or not" games, where you were given images of two people and you clicked on the one you were more attracted too? Well, GuruShots is not really like that, but it is a photography community that's based around a similar concept of voting for images you like. Currently, you even have a chance to have your work exhibited at the Usagi Gallery in New York City. 

Kendrick Lamar's newest music video, "ELEMENT," was released this week. The video is directed by Jonas Lindstroem and The Little Homies (aka Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free) and takes Photographer Gordon Parks' iconic imagery and breathes new life via video. I'm not sure how many of our readers listen to Kendrick Lamar, but you should. He's brilliant, in both lyric and music video direction.

When I first watched "Past" part one in a three part art film series, I got goosebumps. Actor and movement-specialist Anthony Nikolchev and co-choreographer Gema Galiana directed and performed in these beautiful and moving short films. The films are very evocative, and made me see a clear connection and bridge between conceptual photography and video. 

So many photographers have recently been dipping their toes in the world of video. You can edit photos like a pro, but maybe you just can't seem to figure out video editing; it's very complex – like an onion, so many layers – and now you have to deal with sound design! If you've used presets for your photo editing, then you should definitely consider plugins for your video editing. Red Giant sent us a copy of their recently updated Universe 2.1. Jump on in and see what it's all about. 

I'm going to open with a somewhat obvious statement: Women make up roughly 50 percent of the world population. But when it comes to Hollywood, and frankly many other industries, we don't see those numbers reflected. Women In Film, an organization promoting increased roles for women within the entertainment industry, is trying to shed light on this issue through comedy. 

I stumbled across this video today. I was trying to figure out if this was magic, but it does seem like the Swellpro Drone is actually waterproof. This is exciting news for me; I think I can finally convince Lee Morris to let me fly a drone.

Last year I told you all about a new commercial music site that was just starting up in beta version. As with all beta sites, there were a few things that customers wanted changed. Artlist.io listened, and has completely rebuilt the site from our requests to release the full version. Check out all of the great new features this subscription based music website has to offer!

So you're interested in filming video with your DSLR. I don't blame you, I 100 percent prefer to shoot video over stills. I came across this super creative YouTuber, and in nine minutes, not only will you learn about the basics of shooting video, but you'll also save money by not spending it at an art school like I did. You're welcome.

So you've got a DSLR that records video. You think, "Hey, I can shoot video and make buku bucks." Well guess what? There are fun video toys for you and your DSLR, and I am here to tell you about one of them today: the Elvid FieldVision 7-Inch On-Camera Monitor Version 2.

Are you a photographer or videographer who loves to write? It's that time again! Fstoppers is looking to hire several creative professionals to write for us. If you enjoy reading Fstoppers and think you may have something to offer, we want to hear from you! 

Filmmaker Walter Stoehr just released his newest project, "Horrible Prospects." It's a timely short with all that is going on in our world; with a new president in the U.S., there is much that is unknown for the future. But what goes bump in the night is actually more scary than you might think. 

Fstoppers is starting a new bi-weekly contest in our Community! Every two weeks, we will announce a new contest within a specific group. The newest contest can be found in the Wedding Photography Group. 

There is always something going wrong on set. Always. It could be something minor, like the gaffer forgot to tape a section of a stinger or something major, like the talent shows up hours late and then refuses to get out of the car. That's what happened to Co-Director Ryan Staake in his latest Vimeo "Staff Pick" video of rap artist Young Thug's "Wyclef Jean." 

Fstoppers is starting a new bi-weekly contest in our Community! Every two weeks we will announce a new contest within a specific group. We are kicking things off in the Compositing and Photo Manipulation Group.

Recently, I've gotten into surfing. I'm quite possibly the worst surfer in the world, but through surfing, I met some great, artistic friends. I acted as the DP on a super fun all-women's surf film this summer. I had no idea how to shoot surfers, so it was a huge learning experience. Now that I know a little bit more about it (and I stress the "little bit more"), I thought I would try and shoot a personal project just for fun to test out an artsy-fartsy idea. 

I'm a sucker for short-form documentaries and analog photography, so when I came across Filmmaker David Drill's "Master of Camera," I had to watch. It's a very well-done story of camera repairman, Gian Luigi Carminati, who's been repairing cameras for almost sixty years. 

You fall into one of two camps when it comes to Wes Anderson films. You either absolutely love his stylistic, quirky work, or you don't. And while those of you who fall into the latter of the two are entitled to your wrong (very wrong) opinion, we should all be excited about his latest film announced today, "Isle of Dogs."

For the past month, the Fstoppers team has been working with Clay Cook filming a new original tutorial on Editorial Photography. While we were filming, we used some of our time with Clay to offer feedback to a variety of images submitted by the Fstoppers community. We chose 20 images to critique. Check out our selections below and add your thoughts and ratings to the comments below. If you want to learn more about the new tutorial with Clay Cook, be sure to signup below to receive more information and an early bird discount. 

Fstoppers is happy to announce the next round of Critique the Community. We invite everyone to submit your best editorial and fashion images to be critiqued by Clay Cook. Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Friday night, November 18 and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

Are you a photographer or videographer who loves to write? Fstoppers is looking to hire several creative professionals to write for us. If you enjoy reading Fstoppers and think you may have something to offer, we want to hear from you! 

Lately, I've found myself watching lots of stop motion films. It's something I've always wanted to try (I've tried very simple things thanks to Vine), but never really dove into. Now, after watching "Infinitude," my head is spinning at the possibilities of what you can create with stop motion. 

As I was perusing Reddit today, I came across this amazing photograph, said to be taken in 1899. The one thing that is both frustrating and beautiful about Reddit is many times, there is no additional information, which means I had to do a little research about the photograph and find out who the photographer was. 

In 1948, far before Photoshop was introduced to mankind, there was a painter and photographer dynamic duo that created outlandish portraits. Of course I'm talking about Salvador Dali and Philippe Halsman. Time Magazine recently released this awesome video explaining just how the team was able to get these great shots.  

Last week, the team over at RocketJump Film School released this awesome video about sound production in film. Sound production is probably the most overlooked aspect of filmmaking, mainly because you don't notice great sound design; it seamlessly helps you submit to the willing suspension of disbelief. Check out RJFS's experiment to see how much sound actually does affect the audience.

Sometimes being a "creative" really sucks. But it's also the best thing to be in the entire world. But did I mention it can suck? Well if you feel like you're in a rut, then watch this preview, and prepare to be inspired. Today, Musicbed released their feature-length documentary, "Make," which explores why creatives continue, well, creating.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. This statement is proven true in the recent New York Times video. Reporter Deborah Acosta was walking around New York City when she found an odd trail of old Kodak slides. The trail lead to a big bag full of slides, notes, and letters addressed to a woman named Mariana Gosnell. Who threw away these photos? Who was Mariana? 

Ok, the last time I truly attempted skateboarding, I was 14 years old, and I dislocated my right shoulder (still have a beautiful, giant scar). Regardless of my lack of knowledge of the sport, or anyone's for that matter, I think we can all agree that this video of Skater Rodney Mullen shot by photographer extraordinaire Steven Sebring is just cool as hell. 

Even though technology has come a long way, you have to have some kind of lighting in order to film. Generally, cinematographers bring in giant ARRI lights to help make a scene look realistic, but for the BBC TV series "Wolf Hall," they opted for a more natural approach. Cooke Optics TV sat down with cinematographer Gavin Finney to talk about how he used candlelight as the only source of light during nighttime scenes.