behindthescenes

Furs and Fake Blood: How I Planned and Shot an Epic Viking Shoot

One of the most luring aspects of photography, for me, is storytelling. Whether it's weddings, photojournalism, or creative portraiture, the opportunity to engage the viewer and pull them into another world is an incredible thing.

It Took 17 Square Meters of Mirror to Get This Shot

Photographer, digital artist, and Photoshop master Erik Johansson just released the behind the scenes video for his latest creation, and you may be surprised when you find out just how much work (not retouching, on-location work) goes into setting up a dreamscape like this.

Before & After: How One Popular Photographer Edits His Photos

Photographer Peter Stewart is an internationally published photographer who's also popular on photo sharing sites, boasting tens of thousands of followers and millions of views on 500px, Flickr, and Instagram. Here's an eye-opening series of his before-and-after post-processing comparisons.

These Photos Take Us Inside B&H Warehouses in NYC

The camera gear retail giant B&H is working to defend itself this month after the US government filed a discrimination lawsuit against the company -- allegations B&H calls "inaccurate" and "bizarre." In an effort to clear its name, B&H is offering the public a glimpse inside its NYC warehouses.

Watch a Formula 1 Photographer Do His Thing

Here's a short video clip showing a Formula 1 photographer doing a brief photo shoot with a car and driver during recent pre-season testing. We see how a backdrop is quickly wheeled into and out of the scene for just a few moments of shooting (and before the photographer gets a little scare from the driver).

BTS: Creating a 5-Minute Airline Brand Film Using the New Canon C300 Mark II

Swiss International Air Lines, the flag carrier airline of Switzerland, just released this 5-minute short film titled "The people behind SWISS." It's a look at the work done by over 100 of the company's 8,000+ employees spread across 30 different divisions, and how their efforts all come together for the service provided to passengers.

The video was created by director Kevin Blanc, the founder of the Zürich-based LAUSCHSICHT. Over 20 hours of footage was captured in 4K with the new $16,000 Canon C300 Mark II camcorder and edited down for the 5-minute final product.

These Surreal Portraits with Sharks are 100% Real

Upon first glance, photographer Benjamin Von Wong's latest work looks like a Photoshop composite that shows a model swimming with sharks below the sea. But what you see is the real deal: Von Wong did actually tie down a model underwater with sharks swimming around, all for a series of surreal (but very real) portraits.

Why Photos of Arizona’s Famous Antelope Canyon All Look the Same

So what is it really like to shoot The Antelope?

The slot canyons of Page, Arizona are on Navajo lands. By law, only native Navajo can conduct business on the property. This has resulted in a number of resident outfitters running operations to visit the twisty, narrow, photogenic canyons. It is strictly controlled by the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department, which serves to protect the area from overuse and preserve its history.

How I Shot a Star Wars-Themed ‘Last Supper’ Photo

Sometimes, photography is about being brilliant at lighting, or capturing a decisive moment, but often it's as much about collaborating with other talented people to realize a vision as it is about your own skills.

The idea of recreating Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper using characters from Star Wars had been in my head for over a year before I was finally able to make it real.

Shaping Hard Light from a Small Off-Camera Flash for Dramatic Portraits

I love hard light. I love the shadows it creates and the colors it brings out. I also love the convenience it affords. I work exclusively with small flash, and by using predominantly hard light in my images, I am able to travel extremely light, as I need few to zero modifiers.

This Guy is What You Get When You Combine a Ninja with a Cameraman

Want to see what you get when you combine a ninja with a cameraman? Just look at Florian Hatwagner, a Vienna, Austria-based camera operator who goes by the name "gimbalninja" online.

"I'm an Austria based cameraman that specializes in operating a camera whilst running, jumping and leaping over obstacles," he says.

How I Shot Snowy Christmas Portraits in My Studio

I recently shot a series of snowy portraits... inside my studio. This shoot was originally just intended to be for my own Christmas card, The idea was to do something fun, dreamy, and Christmas-related (with a Santa hat and fun poses) that I could send to friends, family and clients. As the year was coming to an end, a fun photo shoot was very welcomed. And, ironically, we didn't have snow at this point in Brussels, which is very unusual.

Apple Has 800 People Working on the iPhone Camera

60 Minutes just aired a fascinating segment on Apple this past weekend, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the secretive and dominant company. Here's one of the crazy facts that was mentioned: Apple has 800 employees whose work is dedicated solely to the iPhone's camera.

A Look at Serena Williams’ Photo Shoot for the Cover of Sports Illustrated

Here's a short behind-the-scenes video showing how fashion photographer Yu Tsai recently photographed tennis superstar Serena Williams for Sports Illustrated magazine. Williams was featured in the cover story after being selected as the publication's Sportsperson of the Year, the first time an individual woman has taken the award in over 3 decades.

How I Shot Portraits at the Canadian Football League Awards Ceremony

I have found it difficult to specialize in one genre of photography as a full-time photographer in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Winnipeg is considered the smallest big city in Canada, and I find myself doing a whole lot of everything, including but not limited to: portraits, food, architecture, events, and a lot of other random gigs.

Behind the Scenes of a Star Wars Portrait Shoot for TIME Magazine

Update on 12/16/21: This video embed has been removed by its owner. You can still watch it here.

Photographer Marco Grob was recently asked by TIME magazine to do a portrait shoot with the cast of the new (and highly anticipated) Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. The 3.5-minute video above is a behind-the-scenes look at how the shoot went down.

Photographer Shoots Skydivers with a Helmet DSLR and Mouth Release

Skydivers often photograph and film their jumps with a GoPro camera, but what happens if you want to shoot higher-quality photos with a DSLR? The solution is to mount it to your helmet and find a way to trigger the shutter.

Photographer Wolfgang Lienbacher demonstrated this recently by jumping out of a plane with the Red Bull Skydive team with a DSLR on his head and a shutter release cable in his mouth.

Stormchasing to Shoot Portraits with Crazy Weather in the Background

There are stormchasing photographers and there are portrait photographers. Usually people don't combine the two genres, but that's exactly what photographer Benjamin Von Wong recently did. He spent two weeks chasing storms in an ambulance to shoot a series of unique portraits that have real storms in the background.

You Are My Twin: A Personal Fine Art Photo Project

I recently did a personal art photography project titled, "You Are My Twin." It's a little psychological study of twins' relationship shown with the help of metaphors. I’ve always been curious how it feels to have a twin. Often the way people view twins is as if they are the same, whereas there are twins who choose completely different paths in life. Yet, they always feel strongly connected to each other.

Way Beyond the Deadline: Shooting ASU Football’s Ad Campaign

There are deadlines and then there are deadlines… this is the latter.

Arizona State University’s advertising campaign is one that I have now shot for 10 years. It is one that I always use to push the logistical boundaries that I had previously been inflexible towards, for the sake of art and knowledge. Photographing it is a practice in embracing the unknown and evaluating previously conceived notions of what is possible and what is not. This year’s photoshoot existed well within the impossible…

Shooting an HIV Prevention Campaign to Save Others

I can’t remember when it happened, but there was a point in my career that I started to ask the question: "Who could my photography help?"

It wasn’t that I had made so much money that I didn’t need it. It was because the idea that someone else’s life was better because of what I did meant so much to me. Perhaps it is the progression that is a photographic career, but my portfolio seemed less important than my legacy.

Creating a Composite Car Photo Using a Parking Lot Snapshot

A couple of days ago, photographer and retoucher Clint Davis shared a guest post about how he created composite photos for a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4x4 brochure. Turkish photographer and retoucher Burak Erzincanli was also recently commissioned to create a composite with a Mercedes Sprinter.