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How They Shot The Iconic Exploding Head Scene in Scanners

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In today’s movies have exploding heads, torsos and all around exploding bodies is quite common, thanks for the aid of special digital effects, but back in the 80’s getting someone’s head to explode was not as easy as starting after affects.

Scanners, David Cronenberg’s 1981 classic happens in a world where certain people have the ability to read other people’s minds and control their bodies. They are called Scanners. The story revolves around an organization, ConSec, who tries to weaponize this ability. But not everyone is happy with this plan. One of renegade scanners who is definitely not happy with this plan literally explodes one of ConSec’s Scanners heads during a demo they are performing. All done with real shot footage and without a single line of code. How did they do it?

Special Effects Supervisor Gary Zeller and Special Makeup Artist Stephan Dupuis share how brute force and leftover burgers are sometimes the only way to create a reliable special effect.

Smartphones Won’t Kill GoPro – But Licensing Ripoffs, Boring Video and Bad Videographers Will

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You may have heard the controversy around the recent Barrons article GoPro’s Thrill-Filled IPO Adventure May End Badly, by Alexander Eule that caused GoPro’s stock to take big hit in response.

It even sparked a rebuttal by Gizmodo: No, Smartphones Aren’t Going To Kill GoPro by Michael Hession.

Well, you’ve heard it here first – smartphones aren’t going to kill GoPro – but licensing ripoffs and boring, stylized GoPro content created and shared by bad videograpers will.

Keep reading and I’ll explain.

New York Judge: The 4th Amendment Doesn’t Pertain to Online Storage

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US Magistrate James Francis, a New York judge, recently made a controversial ruling two months ago that you may want to know about. The decision, made in a case against Microsoft, declared that US search warrants apply to digital information even if its stored overseas.

The ruling was given after Microsoft was ordered to hand over the email account of a user under investigation for drug trafficking – the company’s information was stored overseas in Dublin, Ireland. Microsoft then challenged the authority of the government to seize it from outside United States borders. The US Government responded, stating that (according to the Stored Communications Act) online storage isn’t protected by the fourth amendment.

A Beginner’s Guide to Using Double Exposure in Photoshop

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Last month, we shared some work by Alon Avissar, where he implemented double exposure photography by putting together different models with different seasons. The results were both colorful and incredibly eye-catching.

So how did it all get put together? Photographer Andrew Klokow sat down and made a quick, easy to follow tutorial for us, and it’ll show you exactly that. Though it doesn’t involve the seasonal aspect of the project, this video basically guides us along with a picture of a a woman and a bouquet of flowers. If you’re a wedding photographer, the tutorial might actually hold some extra interest for you.

Quick Tip: How To Create Artistic Soft Photos With Any Camera

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Here is a fun creative trick for adding a ‘look’ to a photo. Photographer Simon Bolz shares a quick and dirty way to create a soft photo in camera by holding a small piece of glass or plastic in front of the lens while you shoot.

The trick is quite simple, hold a translucent object in front of the lens and move it around. As you move it you will get different softening patterns, depending on location and angle, you may also be able to catch some sun rays to either create a reflection or a light leak / burn / flare effect.

Head over to InMyBag for the full read.

P.S. If you don’t have any glass available, a nylon bag would do the trick.

Wonderful Movie Shows Video Capabilities of Nikon’s New D810

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If you’ve been wondering what Nikon’s new camera, the D810,  provides the in the video realm, you are gonna drool over this film from Preston Kanak. The movie called Every Moment Counts was shot entirely on the D810. The film is (wonderfully) graded so it does not really show the movie ‘out of camera’ but it definitely shows what the camera is capable of, in some challenging conditions.  (Look for low light, contrasty scenes and fine details)

The movie, aside from displaying impressive Nikon stance is certainly a gem:

Breaking Down A Cake Photography Session

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Last month I did a tutorial on how to build a wooden table for product photography, and I had a client recently which needed photos of their cakes and cupcakes which was the perfect opportunity to use my own DIY wooden table and share the results.


But first I had to make 2 new wood planks. I only had one white wood plank done, but for this shoot I needed two more colors, so I made a sky blue top and a black one. To see how to build the tops, click here.

Peter Hurley Shares A Few Killer Tips On How to Take Better Headshots

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Taking pictures of someone can be a challenge sometimes, and especially when it comes to face portraits. Who hasn’t felt awkward while having their school picture taken before? And how can the photographer help in making the situation a little better?

Peter Hurley is a well known headshot photographer based in New York and Los Angeles. Just recently, he sat down to give a few tips on how to make better headshots.

Photos Of A Soviet Union That Once Was

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Fine art photographer Rebecca Litchfield was commissioned earlier this year to photograph the abandoned buildings of the former Soviet Union and its Satellite states. In a long trip spanning over 10 countries and a year of many individual trips, Rebecca shot buildings in Eastern Europe, The Baltic’s, Ukraine and Russia.

This was not a random roaming around, Rebecca shares her goals which were pretty specific, while leaving space for creative freedom.

Woman Who Assaulted Boy With a Quadcopter Gets Probation

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Last month, a video was uploaded online by 17 year-old Austin Haughwout, showing the assault carried out on him by 23 year-old Andrea Mears after she saw him using a quadcopter at a beach. After assaulting him, she lies to the police that arrive on the scene by claiming that he attacked her. Police chose not to arrest Austin only when he showed them that he has video evidence.

Andrea faced up to one year in jail with the charges brought against her. Last Wednesday, she was instead granted Accelerated Rehabilitation, and put two years of probation.

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