You may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything new on this website or blog for a while. Well, there’s a good reason for that. I’ve been busy building or new website for our new joint photography brand – Image Workshop, which is operated by myself and Sharon Blance.
The website is now live at www.imageworkshop.com – please head on over and take a look!
Friday Five is a roundup of inspirational tutorials, articles and videos that I stumble across in my everyday browsing.
This week, a look at the work of Chris Crisman and see what grandma can do in the Mamika series. A look also at some great sports silhouette’s by Cole Barash, a TED talk by Chris Orwig on The Poetics of Pictures and some black and white technique via Chase Jarvis.
Enjoy!
Friday Five is a roundup of inspirational tutorials, articles and videos that I stumble across in my everyday browsing.
This short really drives home the point that you don’t have to have all the latest and greatest gear to produce something great. What really matters is your creative vision and how you use it.
The HD video below was shot and edited entirely on the new iPhone 4. The video also includes some behind the scenes footage so that you can see how they did it.
I was impressed with the professional result that they achieved. Why is it so good – is it because it is shot with high definition video? Not really. It works because it has a good story, good acting and an emotive score. But the thing that makes it looks professional – and sets it apart from the video that you shot on your iPhone – is that they handled the equipment professionally – using dollies, panning and interesting camera perspectives that give the video that polished professional edge.
Fstoppers has produced a fantastic interview and behind the scenes (BTS) video with New York head shot photographer Peter Hurley. Peter has built a name for himself over the last 8 years by specialising in headshot photography and currently works out of two studios; one in LA and the other in midtown NYC.
I find it particularly interesting to see how Peter interacts with his subjects. He oozes with confidence and maintains a running banter with his subjects that enables him to put them at ease and capture a relaxed and engaging expression in his images.
I first came across Kevin Winzeler’s work on a Strobist post featuring a behind the scenes video from one of his photoshoots. I am always interested to see how other photographers are working their craft and get a sneak peak into how they operate.
In this article I have linked to 3 of Kevin’s behind the scenes videos and Kevin was also kind enough to answer a few question about his photography.
Kevin Winzeler is a Utah based commercial and advertising photographer. He has an impressive portfolio to his name and some high profile clients under his belt such as Real Salt Lake, Salomon Sports and Mountain Hardware.
His work focuses predominantly on creating images that promote an active lifestyle and he takes pride in finding new and interesting ways to create visually exciting and immersive images. This is what I really like about his photography – I really enjoy imagery that offers a fresh and interesting perspective.
If you are a photographer, then chances are that – like me – you spend a lot of time reworking images in Photoshop. I really enjoy Photoshop work, but I enjoy getting to the finished product and I never want a task to take any longer than it needs to. For this reason, I am a huge fan of using keyboard shortcuts.
Photoshop is an incredibly powerful piece of software; however, it is only powerful if you know how to use it. Now, keyboard shortcuts won’t improve your Photoshop skills – but it will save you lots of time by making your work more efficient.
Keyboard shortcuts save a LOT of time by substantially decreasing the amount of mouse movement that is required to get something done. It only take a second to slide the mouse across to the side and select the tool that you want to work on; however, this time really adds up when you consider how often you swap between tools and change settings – especially when you are working on a large number of images.
We live in a modern age where computer graphics/CGI are so creative and believable that there is little left to the imagination. The line between what is real and what is not is becoming more blurred and seamless as technology is progressing; just take a look at what James Cameron has done with the movie Avatar.
In contrast to all this amazing new technology and CGI, I am that much more impressed when something is done really well using the old school, analog methods.
What am I talking about? Well, it only happens occasionally – but every now and again something is created using analog and old school methods, yet it is done so well that it rivals even the fanciest CGI. There is a certain aesthetic that comes along with something that was actually created for real. Knowing that somebody not only dreamed up the idea – but also managed to execute it so well – makes it even more amazing.
The Third and the Seventh is an amazing high def short film that explores art and vision within photography. This is an visually engaging and intensely immersive experience that attempts – quite successfully – to visually convey the art and beauty of photography/cinematography.
It takes an ‘in the eye of the beholder‘ approach illustrated from a point of view where the main photographic subjects are already existing physical spaces and architecture. It focuses on low depth of field and surreal and abstract imagery, displaying some amazing scenes.
This short film gives a fascinating insight into the creative thought process of seeing and creating art through photography. Both photographers and cinematographers will get something out of watching this. Watching this just makes me want to go out and take photos.
The production value of this short is amazing; but the thing that really gets me is that this whole sequence was not high def video shot on a Canon 7D, 5D mkII or even one of the Nikon HD capable cameras. It wasn’t even shot on a professional video rig of any sort for that matter. It’s a CG animated movie. Huh? That’s right – animated. That just blows my mind – it looks so real. Makes me wonder if the Matrix really is real…