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Photographer Thomas David shares a short and sweet behind the scenes video for his latest project Dust And Dance.
Along with this previously shared BTS, it shows how powder and dancers can work really well together. If you are interested in the lighting setup for the shot, you can find it here.
[Behind the Scene video from the “Dust and Dance” shooting via reddit]
Here’s another weekend project that really helps keep camera steady when using large Tele Lenses Handheld. This specific project is for Canon 350d & 400d, but a simple change of the end plug will make it work with any camera that can be operated via a trigger jack.
How many people will have seen/owned a shoulder pod over the years? They first appeared in the seventies and looking through old photography books they crop up quite often (especially the wildlife, Bird, Sport sections) they are very well made. They work by pushing a spring trigger connected to a standard cable release and usually come with a fully adjustable shoulder stock and a tripod screw thread (I use my Monopod for extra stability with Bigma on as it takes some of the weight away)
When I bought my Canon 350d I decided to convert my old Kaiser so I could use it when either my Sigma 50-500mm or Canon 75/300mm lens is attached. The first conversions I made were for the Kaiser model shoulder pods, but I have also done some conversions for some random shoulder stocks.
The conversion involves removing the cable release and installing an electronic trigger inside the grip, the finished item looks like its factory fitted and takes approx. a weekend to do. As I said before feel free to use this mod as inspiration to modify any old shoulder pod to fit any camera.
Awake in the Woods is a short film by Chad Bredahl. The first thing that I noticed is the extensive use of jib shots. I love jib shots (and jibs), as they are an interesting way to add movement when you tell a story.
Chad made his jib, dubbed the KrotoCrane, at minimal cost – about $20 including the fuel to get to Home Depot. And the results are pretty impressive.
Here is the best part: Chad, being the nice guy that he is, made a couple of videos showing both how to build the KrotoCrane and how to use it we share them right after the jump.
I remember the days that all we cared about was getting bigger fans in our PC chassis so we can cool the CPU and have it run at higher speeds. Those were fun days.
Seems like the Sony NEX 5N has a similar issue with its sensor getting to the overheat lockdown after 16-20 minutes depending on the ambient conditions.
This may be a don’t care if you are only shooting short clips, but for an interview or a sequence of car shots it can really slow you down.
Aron Anderson of trinityfxmg came up with a mod that reminds me of the old days- adding a fan to the NEX 5N.
New York based photographer Ian Spanier had Muscular Development ask him to shoot pro bodybuilder and four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler.
For budgetary reasons, Ian was sent solo with no assistant. Not wanting to shoot available light on one hand and not wanting to have setup time interfere with the flow of the day, Ian came up with an original solution.
Ian rigged a Photoflex OctoDome nxt to a Lowepro Scope Porter 200 AW Backpack to get a nice diffused light coming from over head (or slightly sided if he bent his neck the right way).
It turned out that the scope porter, originally intended for bird watchers was also a perfect rig for a light-in-a-bag. Ian mentions a Velcro pad that he could move to change the height of the octadome as well as use it to place a large capacity battery.
While kina funny looking, Ian tells that is was a great lighting setup and definitely worth the staring eyes.
For the full story and loose instructions, head over to Ian’s blog.
[Gotta work solo but want a nice light? This may help via Ian Spanier]
The following video is not about photography, gear or a new technique. Still I think it is super relevant to anyone who picks up a camera and shoot.
All American Blogger Duane Lester has one of his posts reprinted by a local paper. (And when I say reprinted, I mean copy-pasted, including typos and everything).
The short video after the jump shows Duane’s discussion with the editor of that particular newspaper.
A simple flash bouncer is the next best thing to shooting off camera flash. It either makes the flash bigger by diffusing some of its light, or have it bounce to the wall / ceiling creating a big spot of light that bounces back to the subject.
I guess this is why there are so many products that provide this function, along with a ton of DIY solutions to the same problem.
This is why it is refreshing to see a new take on that problem. Designer Benny Johansson (who made the genius cap holder and was finalist on our sofbox contest) came up with a slightly different flash bouncer thingy built from two pieces of recycled plastic – the PilleVippo. The amazing thing about the PilleVippo is that it is super versatile and 100% DIY. It fits both point and shots and DSLRs. All you need is an old plastic container and a template you can get on Ben’s site.
If you wanna shoot first person footage, one of the easiest ways to do so is using a helmet cam. Well, you can always go with a GoPro, but if you want the quality that is coming from a Canon 7D, you may wanna build your own rig.
The good folks at DakaKin came up with a sweet tutorial on how to mount a DSLR on a helmet. The simple rig is made with a pink helmet, a metal bar, a cheap tripod head and some weights. The nice thing is that once the camera is mounted, it is roughly at eye level so it will see whatever the shooter is seeing.
If you’re not sure what this is good for, wait for the awesome Max Payne samples at the end of the clip. (not sure Ol’ Max will wear pink though)
I know that usually this site is about more gear, but this post is about less gear. Michael Sasser of Sasser Stills uses nothing but good directing an assistant and one 5-in-1 reflector to produce gorgeous results in a senior portrait session.
I know that I am totally stealing his cat walk move from 0:30
[via SLR Lounge | Fstoppers]
Well, lets just say I’ve gotten better at this over the last couple of years. The left image was one of the first I’ve “scanned” with my DSLR, and the one on the right I’ve just rescanned using the techniques described below (higher resolution available here). Right now I can get higher resolution and better image quality that what street labs give you on CD.
I’ve seen many articles on the web explaining the basics of digitising film negative or transparencies with a digital camera. The basics are quite simple: you take a photo of a negative into a light source and invert. That’s it. But that alone led me to scan negatives that looked like the one on the left, above. Because I’ve never seen one tutorial that told me “the whole story” of how to do it properly, I’ve decided to put together what I’ve learnt during the last two or three of years of scanning film with my DSLR.
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.
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