Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
In the summer of past few years, I have been leading a photography workshop in Disco Bay, in collaboration with Iceland Photo Tours. Disko Bay is a bay in the Western coast of Greenland, with Ilulissat Icefjord located adjacent to it.
Ilulissat Icefjord, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere, with the glacier flows rate of 20 to 35 m per day, resulting in around 20 billion tons of icebergs calved off and many of them drifting around Disko Bay.
New York City was hit yesterday with the first snow squall this season and social networks were quickly flooded with photos and videos. And while the phenomenon looks pretty dramatic in real-time, timelapse videos make it look like an apocalypse!
Brace yourselves, winter is coming! It’s dark, cold and wet, and a real pain in the neck if you live in a big city. But winter can look magical in photos. Sometimes you can capture its magic even in big cities if you know where to look. If you don’t believe me, check out this video from Toma Bonciu. He will give you some tips and plenty of ideas for taking magical photos in the snow. Check them out and get yourself and your camera ready for the upcoming winter.
Well, ’tis the season. Although some of us might be living in a winter wonderland, that’s not all of us. So, perhaps our videos need a little artificial assistance to give them some of that “Christmas spirit”. Well, this short video from Adobe shows us how we can add foreground and background snow to our scenes in just over a minute using Adobe After Effects.
It’s that time of year when the snowy portraits come back in a big way. It can often be difficult to predict exactly when the snow will happen in many parts of the world, though. And even if you do know that snow is coming, it can sometimes be impossible to shoot in comfortably.
The default backup is to shoot in the studio and create fake snow in Photoshop, but it doesn’t always look realistic. And that’s how photographer Brandon Adam feels. So in this video, he shows us how to photograph real snow for use in compositing to make studio shots look like they were made outdoors.
It’s that time of the year, and maybe you became impatient while waiting for the first snow to fall. Or perhaps you’re like me and hate taking photos while it’s snowing. Either way, Photoshop comes to the rescue. In his latest tutorial, Jesús Ramirez will show you how to add realistic snow to your photos. He demonstrates two methods, so you can pick the one you like better and enjoy the warmth of your home while playing in Photoshop. It’s a great way to spend a gray, cold afternoon.
Speed riding is a terrifying combination of freestyle skiing and paragliding. Described by those who participate as “staggeringly difficult and dangerous as hell“, it’s very impressive to watch. When Swiss speedriding pioneer and Olympic snowboarding medalist, Ueli Kestenholz discovered a massive natural ice tunnel, he knew he had to go through it. So, he contacted photographer Marc Weiler.
An insane location, 3,000m (around 10,000ft) above sea level in the snow and ice. The shoot presented a rather unique set of challenges for Marc. He needed to pack as light as possible, but have plenty of power and speed to be able to capture both inside the tunnel with the outside sky. With a pack that weighed 20kg, it can’t have been easy, but well worth it from looking at the results.
I know that for a lot of people, the cold keeps them inside, but it can be really rewarding to go out in the bitter cold. Tonight I got the bug to go out and shoot, but the air temp was -15, with a windchill of -30. Here are a few reflections:
I had a few minutes today to run through this cool idea to turn previous season shots into a snowy place of glory! It came to me after a friend asked to buy some background plates from me for a snowy shoot that I did recently.
To save money I now have a suggestion that you guys can try!
On those short winter days when the roads are covered in snow, I take photos of my kids and their cousins to preserve the magic of this wonderful season. Both indoors and outdoors, during short days and long winter evenings, I capture the feeling of anticipation and nostalgia. With those photos I try to recall the feelings I used to have in my heart when I was a child and try to make others remember the magic of Christmas too.
My models are my two sons and my two nieces. My inspiration for those photos are animated movies, story books for children and life – watching kids as they play and memories from my own childhood. Although I take photos all year winter time has a special place in my heart with its special kind of magic.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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