This week, I had the chance to do my first-ever real photoshoot with an iPhone. Granted, I’ve shot tens of thousands of photos with my iPhone over the years and did a whole project in Haiti with my iPhone 4S… but I’ve never done a commercial portrait photoshoot, using an iPhone only.
Canon Australia has released a new commercial, titled To the Ends of the Earth, and it's just plain awesome. In it, Canon Master Krystle Wright is shown doing what she does best: pursuing adventure one step at a time, almost always with a camera in hand.
What if sports cameramen were allowed to get onto the pitch with athletes during games? What if super-telephoto lenses and remote camera weren't around to help deliver up-close views of the action? The video above offers an look at what being a cameraman in that alternate universe might look like.
Basically, it'd look something like covering a war zone.
Once you've been shooting for a while (and becoming good at it) someone will inevitably ask you if you are interested in shooting something for a fee, either for a commercial or editorial job (but for the sake of discussion I am labeling any paid shoot as a commercial shoot).
Your first paid assignment will certainly be very exciting, but there are a few things you should know before saying yes.
What’s the most boring advertisement you’ve ever seen? Well, whatever it is, Leica is here to challenge it. In a move that is part humor part marketing brilliance, Leica has put together a 45-minute long advertisement that shows off every. single. second that each of their just-announced Leica T cameras spend being polished down, ever-so-meticulously, by hand.
If you're commissioned to make an ad for a major camera company, might we make a small suggestion? Don't show any cameras. It might seem like a stupid idea on the surface, but when you consider the effectiveness of the Canon ad we shared a couple of weeks ago and this Pentax ad we're sharing today, you might just agree with us.
When your day involves eight million flower petals, you either have a VERY upset significant other, are St. Valentine himself, or you're doing a photo shoot for a set of Sony 4K Television ads. Fortunately for photographer Nick Meek, it was the last of those that led to these spectacular shots.
Using only stock video footage from their library, Dissolve Footage took a humor article titled "This Is a Generic Brand Video” by Kendra Eash and turned it into a cliché-filled reality that will either have you laughing or crying... or both.
If you go by first impressions and reader comments, the Nikon 1 V3 has about one-third of people excited, one-third skeptical, and one-third annoyed and wondering why anyone is excited at all. If you happen to fall into the first two of these categories, the video above from Nikon Europe might interest you.
What happens when you combine an RC car, some "stick bombs" and more camera gear than you can shake...er...blow up a stick at? You get this insane creation by Subaru.
One of the judges of the National Transportation Safety Board (the NTSB) ruled yesterday that the FAA has no authority to regulate drones, striking down a six-year-old ban on commercial drones and saving a Swiss drone operator $10,000 that the FAA was trying to fine him.
Simeon Quarrie of Vivida is back at it again, giving us a behind the scenes look at yet another of his equal parts intricate and subtle pre-wedding (read: engagement) shoots, Released by Love.
Editor's Note: This video is a tiny bit NSFW. All nudity has been censored, but the models are at times very scantily clad so you may want to wait until you're at home to watch it.
While The Body Issue of ESPN Magazine usually keeps the focus on bodies in a sporty sense, Fiat wanted to make an impression in its advertising pages as well.
And so, taking the Fiat 500C's motto "Made of Pure Muscle" to its most literal sense, Fiat used 15 circus performers, acrobats and artists to turn human bodies into a car without the help of Photoshop.
This TV Spot is the height of creativity, and we absolutely love it. In 50 seconds and one uninterrupted flowing video shot, UK directing duo US and advertising agency Grey (the guys behind the amazing exploding spices commercial) pay tribute to six completely unique, culturally iconic images by expertly recreating one after the other.
For some of us photo types, the enduring relationship we'll be celebrating this February 14th will be the one we share with our beloved gear. Fortunately, the wonderfully quirky people at LensRentals understand, and have created a hilarious ad that takes "loving" your gear to the literal extreme.
On January 24th, 2014, the Macintosh turned 30 years old. Admittedly, 30 is a rough birthday for most humans, but even though the Mac seemed to take it pretty well, Apple still made sure to celebrate in style by creating a tribute video shot entirely on iPhones in just one day.
What's the best way to entice the professional photography market to buy into your device? Insult them of course! At least that seems to be Nokia's strategy in its latest Lumia 1020 Ad, "Goodbye DSLR, Hello Lumia 1020."
Say what you will about Apple -- and there are many people who have a lot of not-so-nice things to say -- but the company knows how to put together an ad. From the funny Mac vs. PC commercials of old to this year's Christmas advertisement that brought many to tears, Steve Jobs vision of standing at the intersection of liberal arts and technology is often brought to life by these ads.
Apple's newest commercial gives the iPad the same treatment -- showing the gadget being used for everything from photography to filmmaking while a monologue about poetry from the movie Dead Poets Society inspires you into a creative frenzy.
It's only January 11th, and we've already found a piece of slow-motion cinematography that might just remain our favorite of 2014. Created as a commercial for Schwartz Flavour Shots, this slow-motion video dubbed "The Sound of Taste" is a beautiful combination of cinematography and pyrotechnics that creates what filmmaker Chris Cairns calls "an audiovisual feast."
There's no doubt the ubiquity of fake and mis-reported content on the Internet has turned many of us into big-time skeptics. Whenever we see something that seems incredible or outlandish, our knee-jerk reaction is to call it fake and begin searching for evidence of that fact, using our confirmation bias as a guide.
One video that elicited such a response from many of the people that saw it was this recent Sony ad that showed an a7R lens change happening in mid-air during a skydive.
Each year, UK retailer John Lewis releases a touching, moving and otherwise awesome Christmas advertisement that manages to moisten our eyes and get us in the Holiday spirit like none other.
Doing this requires that they constantly re-evaluate their approach and come up with new and creative ways to inspire and endear viewers to their message, and this year, that meant taking a step back and using animation techniques that'll hit you right in the nostalgia bone: hand drawing and stop-motion.
Here's something really cool and creative for you to watch as you're getting ready for TGIF. The video above, a commercial for Japanese paper company Nepia, is one of the more inventive and probably difficult to create stop motion animations we've run across.
Anamorphosis is a technique you've probably seen used many times, even if you never knew what it was called. It's the projection technique that sidewalk artists use to make it seem like their drawings are three-dimensional when viewed from a specific angle.
Sure, the 1980s isn't quite so far in the past as, say, the first photo, but the commercial above is classic nonetheless. It shows off the Nimslo 35mm 3D camera, the first consumer level 3D lenticular camera of the 80s and, if you believe the commercial, "the most important new camera of your lifetime."
Optical image stabilization is all about keeping the camera still even as the housing shakes or otherwise moves around. And when it comes to stabilization in nature, few creatures are as good at keeping their camera (read: head) perfectly still as the chicken.
So why not strap a camera onto a chicken's head and turn the guy (or gal) into a fowl-stabilized action cam!? Why, no reason at all!
As the battle for cameraphone supremacy rages on, companies want to win over amateur and professional shooters alike. That's not to say that Nokia or Apple expects you to replace your SLR with a Lumia 1020 or iPhone 5S, but they would probably love to claim that "most professional photographers use our phone."
To that effect, Nokia has put together this video showing how its own camera expert Ari Partinen managed to pull off a real studio portrait shoot using only the Lumia 1020 and some synced external flashes.
It seems we're entering into the final chapter of the Kodak Bankruptcy epic. After filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in January of 2012, the ex-camera company's final plan to exit bankruptcy received court approval on Monday. What emerges from the ashes, however, will be a company that does zero business with consumers directly.
Chances are you may, at some point or another, have seen New York-based photographer Zhang Jingna's work in your daily lives. Her work has appeared in Photo Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar print media, and her commercial clients include popular that include: Wacom, TRESemmé, Mercedes-Benz, and even Canon.
Jingna was born in the People's Republic of China in 1988, and before she found herself shooting cameras professionally, she was shooting air rifles for the Singapore national team. Years later, she's going strong and making remarkable imagery.
A few months ago, an Apple commercial touted the iPhone as "the world's most popular camera." Nokia's new ad for the Lumia 1020 takes a less statistical approach: the company is admitting that the 41-megapixel behemoth is first a camera, and then a phone.
It was inevitable, I suppose. My paladin’s +2 plate armor had cracked. That is, my buddy Alex’s barbarian character had hit my character with a stroke of such raw power that even my eternally sunny disposition was clouded with rage. I mean, how dare he?! What a creep! I couldn’t wait to get back at him with my Backstabbing Ring of…umm… Backstabbery.
In fact, I was right in the middle of throwing a twenty-sided die across the table at Alex, and maybe even stomping my foot in disgust, when I realized a horrible truth: oh, man, I was actually having fun!
Yahoo's recent Flickr redesign has been met with mixed reviews. After the release, a large number of users took to the Flickr Help forum and tore into everything from the look and feel to the team responsible.
General opinion at Yahoo, however, is that this is a just a small subset (albeit a very vocal one) of users, and the company is displaying its commitment to the new Flickr with the first ever (to our knowledge) Flickr TV commercial.
Portugal’s Krypton Films, in collaboration with production company Moonlighting and marine support company Frog Squad, recently succeeded in filming what they claim to be South Africa's first ever underwater time slice for an Aqua Das Pedras mineral water commercial.
In order to shoot the best Rolls Royce Wraith launch film possible, Angus Elliott and company pulled out all of the stops. In addition to using some very nice video cameras and all-around great filmmaking, they also wanted to shoot a bullet time sequence, for which they set up a 100 DSLR array. By their reckoning, that's the largest DSLR array shot in Europe.
Fortunately, filmmaker Jack Flynn was there to capture the process in action, and in the video above he gives us a behind the scenes peek at the making of the Rolls Royce Wraith launch video.
Last Friday, Nokia launched its new Lumia 928 smartphone that has a strong emphasis on photography. The device features PureView technology, optical image stabilization, a Carl Zeiss lens, and a xenon flash.
It was exciting news for photo-lovin' Nokia fans, but sit tight: there's more to come. Nokia will reportedly have a major launch event tomorrow to unveil a phone that has some serious photography chops.
Here's a new iPhone commercial Apple just released today on its website and on YouTube. It's a 1-minute-long spot that focuses on how the iPhone has shaken up the world of casual photography by becoming the world's most popular camera.
The video above is a commercial Canon is running over in Japan to promote its new Kiss X7/Rebel SL1, the world's smallest and lightest DSLR. It shows how the camera is perfect for soccer moms who would like to capture action shots of their "super soccer kids."
Back in 2010, we humorously reported that chickens have image stabilized heads. Some people took the idea further, turning chickens into organic Steadicams and doing further research into the subject.
Chrysler hit a home run this past Super Bowl with its photographic "God Made a Farmer" commercial... so let the spoofs begin. Photo backup service Mosaic create the parody above titled "God Made a Photographer."
Drive across the west end of the Burnside Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and you're bound to see the iconic Portland, Oregon sign, commonly known as the "White Stag sign." It's an oft-photographed sign that was named a historic landmark back in 1977.
If you were planning on featuring it in a photo shoot, however, you'll now want to bring your checkbook in addition to your camera -- the city of Portland is now charging fees for anyone who would like to use images of the sign commercially.
As we wrote this past Monday, Chrysler scored a major advertising win during the Super Bowl with the commercial above, titled "Farmer." It's a simple photo slideshow with Paul Harvey's "So God Made a Farmer" speech playing in the background.
Despite its simplicity, it has become one of the most talked about ads over the past week, and now new details are emerging regarding its creation.