Posts by Author: John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
You can win over $500,000 in gear if you make a really good short
Mar 2, 2017
John Aldred
RØDE Microphones film competition, My RØDE Reel, is now in its fourth year. Established in 2014, it’s rapidly grown to become the world’s largest short…
How to make ultra lightweight giant scrims for diffusion or gels
Mar 2, 2017
John Aldred
There’s a lot of DIY solutions out there for big diffusers, and such. Most of them with either wooden or PVC pipe frame. While PVC…
How to make a motorised camera slider with an Arduino and a stepper motor for $75
Mar 2, 2017
John Aldred
Despite the proliferation of sliders, motorised ones are still quite expensive. Without motors, they’ve dropped to ridiculously low prices. But it’s really not that difficult…
How to effectively use Warp Stabilizer to make your shaky footage rock steady
Mar 1, 2017
John Aldred
Even if you’re trying to be as rock steady as possible with your footage, the camera almost inevitably moves in a way you hadn’t counted…
Photographer turns to light bulbs for this fantastic “Yin Yang” themed image
Mar 1, 2017
John Aldred
Photographing light bulbs is a long established photographic technical exercise. They present pretty much every lighting problem a photographer can face. You have to deal…
How to shoot wet portraits in a home studio using high speed flash
Mar 1, 2017
John Aldred
Water is one of the most versatile subjects one can photograph. The very nature of water, though, means that it’s wet, so it can be…
Elinchrom literally launches the new ELB 1200 with amazing mid-air photo shoot
Feb 28, 2017
John Aldred
It’s become pretty clear by now that Elinchrom really like testing the limits of their gear. They’ve put them on drones, battled oceans, and lit…
How pro cinema lens techs test their camera lenses with a projector
Feb 27, 2017
John Aldred
When most of us are testing out new lenses, it’s often a very subjective thing. And our testing exercises are rarely very scientific. In fact,…
How to avoid glare when shooting portraits of people wearing glasses
Feb 27, 2017
John Aldred
Whenever I see people posting questions about how to photograph people wearing glasses, they usually receive the same response. “Don’t, have them take their glasses…
Fujifilm UK brings out topless model at GFX 50S event sparking tirade of Twitter outrage
Feb 25, 2017
John Aldred
Having models at camera demo events isn’t all that strange. It doesn’t happen at most of them, but it’s not unusual. Especially with cameras marketed towards…