Your one stop shop for everything photo-video
Flickr user Hannu Ilkka was one of the few who were not excited by the new GoPro Hero4 announcement. In fact Hannu is more of a retro camera kind of photographer.
I guess this could be the only reason why Hannu retrofitted a GoPro Hero 3+ inside a 35mm Mamiya Ruby. Using a set of levers and studs, Hannu jas the Mamia buttons control the start/stop, wifi and selection buttons of the GoPro, and a small window int the Mamia body allows peeking into the gopro LCD.
Have some cool b-roll laying around that you’ve been wanting to something with? In this sweet, but short video tutorial by Howard Pinsky, we learn how to turn video footage into a cinemagraph or “moving photo” fairly easily using Adobe Photoshop.
In Pinsky’s example, he has footage of traffic moving down a busy road that’s full of bright, flashing signs and advertisements. To make the signage less distracting, Pinsky uses a mask to “freeze” the blinking lights, resulting in an image in which only the movement of the cars is visible. Take a look at the video, then read on for a breakdown of the steps.
Most of us would consider it a bad day at the office if we accidentally destroyed one of our cameras. That is, unless the camera went out in a blaze of glory similar to what happened to Eric Cheng and Ragnar Th Sigurdsson’s GoPro when they flew it over an erupting volcano in Iceland, as documented in the wicked video clip from DJI Phantom, below.
At first, the team had proximity concerns after learning of park regulations that restrict vehicles access to certain areas of the lava field. The photographers wouldn’t be able to drive close enough to the volcano to fly the drone over the eruption without the drone going out of range. The team then asked park rangers if there were any other possible way to get closer. Though the rangers didn’t exactly recommend the team physically walk to the site, they did offer up exercise as a potential solution.
Naturally, they suited up in gas masks and heavy duty boots, tossed their DJI Phantom II / LightBridge / GoPro 3 combo in a backpack and started walking in to have a closer look. Listen to Cheng’s account of the experience, here: (Spolier Alert: The GoPro doesn’t survive.)
Innovation plays a large part in creativity and vice versa. When photographers are able to find the perfect balance of those two things, awesome ideas using unusual methods are created. Such is the case when Sedley Place was tasked with creating an innovative ad campaign for Diageo, the parent company of Smirnoff and Guinness. They decided on a “Liquid Landscape” theme, which would feature slow motion close up shots of frosty glasses of beer and swirling mixed drinks.
To be able to maintain a large depth of field while shooting moving liquids at macro ratios, the creators came up with an unorthodox equipment setup to capture extreme close-ups of frosty glasses of beer and mixed drinks. Using for a borescope camera, a type of camera used almost exclusively in the biological and science photography realms, the photographers were able to capture the mouth watering footage with very little loss of detail.
Batteries are a drag. They are loaded or unloaded, dead or alive and generally just always find their way out of their boxes and into to your bags floor, where they sit quietly and rot and destroy the bag…
Our usual recommendation is to use rechargeable batteries as default, but I always carry an extra set of Alkaline batteries as spare as well.
Engineer Lee Hite tested the theory that a dead Alkaline battery will bounces while a good battery will stay. Hite tested a few alternative explanations, including a test to see if the bounce is coming from released gas.
In fact, the cameras that hold the title of not only the most used, but also the second, third, and fourth most used cameras on the popular photo sharing website might grab your attention. Chris Gampat from The Phoblographer, did some researching on the matter recently and discovered that the usual suspects from Canon or Nikon don’t even make the list until the 5th place slot. Do you know which camera model holds all the glory? If you guessed Apple, pat yourself on the back. The iPhone 5, the iPhone 5s, iPhone 4s, and iPhone 4 round out the top four, respectively, while Canon finally makes it on to the board with their Rebel T3i claiming fifth.
We’re all getting a little anxious to get our hands on a the new GoPro 4, so, while you’re waiting, here is another installment of adorable animal footage captured with a GoPro to serve as a little inspiration. This time the team over at AS Goprod helps us get acqauntaied with a curious owl and her nest of fledglings that are impossibly adorable. The clever photographer must have noticed the owls nest and secured a GoPro onto the branch directly in front of the nest. (Note to self: put GoPro in front of owls nest.)
The footage the photographer was able capture of the highly inquisitive birds is perfect beyond words, take a look:
Sooner or later, most of us photographers find ourselves in need of an extra set of hands or feet for a particular project, whether it’s a second shooter (no JFK jokes, please) at a wedding, managing gear and lighting on a commercial shoot, or stabilizing the flower balanced on top of a rocking horse sitting inside an adorable bathtub for that oh-so-cute newborn shoot. Most new photographers and sole proprietors, myself included on numerous occasions in the past, think nothing of pulling in a friend or relative to help out in their time of need. And while that may be fine for personal projects, having that modus operandi in your business can get you into some hot water. I’m not talking about how nice it is to have someone to share the work or how cool it is to refer to someone as “my assistant” (which, admittedly, is pretty awesome…until they break something); I’m talking about, when you DO pull someone else in to help out, making sure that all legal ramifications are met and you do not sign your business’ death warrant.
One of the first things we learn as photographers are F stops and how we can use them to properly expose a photograph, but there is also such a thing as T stops and we don’t always give them the attention they deserve. Of course, a T-stop may not be essential knowledge on every photo you take, but understanding what a T stop is will give you a better understanding of light, which is never a bad thing for a photographer to have. (It’s also helpful information to have in your bag if you’re going to be lens shopping soon!). And Matt Granger does an amazing job of explaining the difference.
It is a very wise decision to create something amazing as your first music video. Ukrainian band “Brunettes Shoot Blondes” did just this for their first single “Knock Knock”.
It’s 2:27 minutes of awesome animation using 14(!) Smartphone and iPad displays. This clip was created by Kirill Svetashov (DOP), SYT-X (animation) and the Band themselves.
So lean back and have some fun this morning with these 2.5 minutes of pure creativity. (Besides, the band really has an awesome name)
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 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.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!