Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
In their new short film series Masters, Frame.io asked the world’s master filmmakers: “Why do you do, what you do?” In the first episode of this inspiring series, award-winning director Mark Toia shares his experience that will motivate you if you ever feel you’re creating art in vain.
Toia came a long way from a steelworker to an appreciated and paid artist. A teacher once told him that art doesn’t pay… But he couldn’t have been more wrong.
The usual advice is to keep the camera as steady as possible when we attempt to make a photograph. But sometimes adding movement can create great and interesting effects. One such technique for that is to pan with your subject. Whether you shoot action photography or not, learning to pan with your subject is a valuable skill to learn. It can make your shots feel very dynamic and exciting.
This video from YouTuber Josh Katz offers an introduction to panning photography in plain English. It’s aimed at those just starting to try panning photography for the first time. He even includes some suggestions for shooting them with your iPhone. But the video also includes some great tips to help troubleshoot your shots if you’ve already given it a try.
When it comes to chimping, it seems that photographers are divided into two groups: those who cry against it, and those who can’t get rid of this bad habit. It’s especially bad if you photograph sports, events, concert and other fast-changing environments and events. If you look at your screen after every few photos, David Bergman gives you three main reasons why you should quit it as soon as possible.
We posted a review on this just earlier today, but here’s the full specs and info on the new Profoto D2 Monolight. Here’s the short version, though. Up to 20 flashes per second, action freezing flash durations as fast as 1/63,000ofh of a second and high speed sync with all shutter speeds all the way up to 1/8000th of a second. Oh, and it also does TTL, if you’re into that kind of thing.
With competition from companies like Godox hitting some flash manufacturers pretty hard lately, Profoto isn’t running scared. The new D2 flash basically stomps all over them. Of course, with great power come great big price tags, and these certainly aren’t cheap.
Usually we see Parkour artists being shot with gimbals, I think this is the first time where we are featuring a parkour artist which IS the gimbal. Steadycam operator gimbal ninja posted a behind the scenes showing him taking a complex shot while following a cyclist getting ran over.
The Twist? The camera operator jumps through two car windows to get the shot.
That moment when your favorite lens meets an untimely death as your subject matter smashes into the front of it is a painful moment to have to experience. As camera lovers, most of us will probably find this video clip at least slightly painful to watch, but let it serve as a PSA for those of you who like to shoot up close to the action–you should be willing to accept things like this unfortunately occur from time to time.
Perhaps a UV filter would have added a barrier of protection between the handlebars and the glass, perhaps it wouldn’t have been enough. But, looking at the bright side of things, I suppose one may find solace in the fact the photographer didn’t get a black eye or broken nose from the camera hitting them in the face upon contact with the bike, which has also been know to happen from time to time–ouch! Plus, it appears the cyclist came out of the wreck okay, too. (So long as you’re not counting the guilt of having accidentally just broken a lens…)[Read More…]
I’ll admit, I love a good Jackie Chan movie. I think he is one of the only artists who can make Kung-Fu funny and painful at the same time.
One of Chan’s fighting trademarks is his ability to use everything and anything around him as combat tools and studio gear is no exception.
In this epic fight sequence from Armour of God: Chinese Zodiac Chan is running away into a studio while fending of a full gang of ‘bad guys’. The scene ends with the mandatory selfie. (Weirdly that studio uses light stands as tripods, but we will this one go…).
Sometimes it takes a huge corporation to invest the resources in making something amazing. In their push to advertise their ambilight TV technology Philips has created one of the most beautiful Sky movies I have ever seen.
Forget skiers with little GoPro cameras strapped to their helmets. How about lighting full slopes with massive amount of lights have having some of the world’s best skiers wear an LED suit and have a go at it.
To match the production value it was shot with a Red Epic Mysterium x3 Larius
Planning a fast paced, action sports photoshoot in which there is only one cameraman trying to capture multiple angles, is true test of any photographers ability to pre-visualize and plan a shoot. A skill which is priceless when you’re commissioned to photograph high energy sports and once in a lifetime moments similar to the exciting challenge Brett Wilhelm took on when he decided to photograph a champion freestyle mountain biker pull of a world record breaking flip.
Take a look at some of the behind the scenes action as Wilhelm shows you how he played the part of three photographers at one time.
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There are few things in life more inventive than a child’s imagination. From an artistic standpoint, we could probably all benefit from the ability to tap into our inner child every once in a while. That’s exactly what French photographer, Laure Fauvel, has done for a recent collection of portraits titled “Terrors” that show children battling off monsters of nightmarish proportion.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
