If you like action sports photography, here is a real treat for you. The Red Bull Illume Image Quest has announced its 2021 contest winners, and there are truly striking. In this article, we bring you the overall winner, as well as the category winners that will take your breath away.
Ice climber faces climate change in a set of striking images
Photography projects and contests that raise awareness of environmental issues can leave quite an impression on us. And a recent project from Red Bull is definitely among them. Red Bull teamed up with professional climber Will Gadd and photographer Christian Pondella to capture Will’s last ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro’s ice towers. The last one, because they are soon to disappear.
Want to Break the Glass Ceiling as a Female photographer? First, believe you’re capable
Often times, when I walk on set to begin a photoshoot, I’m mistaken for a makeup artist. Other times, I’ll have a male assistant with me on set, and our client will assume I’m his assistant. This is no surprise to me—across the photography industry there is a massive underrepresentation of women. It’s simply less common for our clients to see females as lead photographers. And for the women who do rise to the top, we’re much less likely to be employed by large media companies (7% compared to 22% of men). Plus, according to the State of News Photography Study, not only do women hold less photography jobs, but we’re paid less than men for the same work.
This photographer lit a biker doing stunts with an Elinchrom strobe mounted to a drone
When Nikon put a couple of SB-5000 speedlights on a drone for their launch of the D500, I was pretty impressed. I was also a little jealous. It was something I’d wanted to try myself, but didn’t have access to the kind of drones I’d need to lift them. Now, photographer David Robinson has upped the stakes by strapping an Elinchrom ELB 400 strobe to an octocopter.
Such a rig has the inherent advantage of being far higher than light stands could ever go. It’s probably the most reliable method of trying to simulate bright daylight with hard edged parallel shadows. Being a drone, it also has the advantage of being able to follow a moving subject. In this case, that moving subject is pro mountain biker Matt Jones.
Has the 5D Mark IV been spotted out in the wild?
If windsurfer, Levi Siver’s Instagram feed is to be believed, we appear to have the first shot of the impending Canon 5D Mark IV.
During what EOSHD describe as a “Red Bull sponsored surf shoot”, Levi appears to have posted a photograph of the crew to his Instagram feed, with a caption that mentions “the new unreleased Canon camera”.
Using two planes as light stands while shooting them with a third plane with a Nikon D5
I know that many are using VALs (Voice Activated Light stands) for moving strobes around, but this is the first time I am seeing a Plane Carried Light stand. Prague-based photographer Dan Vojtech (previously) did just that. Dan collaborated with the Flying Bulls aerobatic group. But he did better than going on a plane along side the pilot and shoot, he also convinced two of the pilots to carry strobes in their back sits, and act as light stands.
Actually, kind of a trivial request. The strobes were pointing upwards and Dan had one of the planes fly upside down, so they will light each other.
Dan shot some “trivial images” as well as some “multiple exposure” sequences, all with the new Nikon D5.
This Is How Dan Vojtěch Shoots an Airplane with 30 Strobes
Red Bull always seems to be up to something (perhaps it’s the “wings”), trying to impress us with various antics to get us to buy their overrated energy drinks. But, on the plus side, it affords those of us in the creative world with some great inspiration.
In one of their most recently-released videos, stunt pilot Martin Šonka dips his wings while flying dangerously close to the ground betwixt two 15-light banks of strobes for some incredible high-speed action shots.
Red Bull’s 360° ‘Tiny World’ Surf Video Tries to Redefine ‘The Future Of Extreme Footage’
These “Tiny World” GoPro videos seem to pop out of nowhere from time to time, and we love them because up till a few years a go you needed to be a big agency with a ton of budget to make one, but now, it is just a few gopros. Red Bull however took this whole trend to the next level by capturing one of their athletes surfing in 360°.
As it is explained on Red Bull’s website, the camera crew strapped a meter long pole to the athlete’s body (because putting the 4 GoPro cameras on his helmet would both fail to capture his face and the entire bottom would be his body). The final result is one of the best-executed “Tiny World” videos I’ve ever seen.
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