Here’s a great short film written and directed by Mumbai-based photographer Martin Prihoda that pays a touching tribute to photography. As he explains it, this short amounts to a “love letter to Bombay and to the good old ‘film’ days.” Read more…
Pursuing a career doing something you love can be a terrifying thing, and so we often look to the people who have “made it” in our field as sources of inspiration. We see the work of a Heisler, Hobby or Arias, and it helps us to push through when times get tough, as they inevitably do in any pursuit.
And if, once in a while, we get the chance to hear these successful people to talk about how exactly they made it, and what it takes to be a successful photographer (or anything really), then we’ve gotten really lucky. In the video above we get exactly that, from eight of the world’s best known and most successful photographers.
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Typically, the folks over at DigitalRev are the ones doling out the challenges. Be it a Buzz Lightyear camera or a sub-par tilt-shift replacement, they like to put the pros through their paces.
But in this video, they’ve turned the tables on themselves by trying to recreate Strobist David Hobby’s famous profile picture without knowing anything about the lighting set up. What’s more impressive, they attempt it all using only a banged up Canon T3i and a couple of Family Jewels FUQ 690 flashes. Read more…
David Hobby over at Strobist shares a fantastic idea for photographers who would like to always have some gaffers tape handy at all times:
So we are gonna make a gaffer’s tape keychain fob [...] That right there is 40″ of gaff, effortlessly carried by default, at all times [...]
No, no, no. While duct tape may in fact be more manly, gaff is what duct tape wishes it could be. And it is what photographers use because of its holding power and ease of clean removal. Don’t ever mistake the two.
All you’ll need is a paperclip, a wooden pencil, and a larger roll of gaffer’s tape. Head on over to Strobist to read Hobby’s step-by-step tutorial.
Genius: Make a Gaffer’s Tape Key Fob [Strobist]
Image credits: Photographs by David Hobby/Strobist
Our pal and fellow photo blogger David Hobby of Strobist is currently over in Dubai for Gulf Photo Plus 2013, and yesterday he had the privilege of purchasing the first Fujifilm X100S to be sold on planet Earth. Hobby tells us he’s in love.
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Give James Bond, Jack Bauer or Chuck Norris a spork, and they’ll figure out a way to overpower bad guys wielding guns. What happens when you give a seasoned photographer a cheap digital camera designed for toddlers?
That’s what Kai Wong and DigitalRev did recently. They flew in David Hobby of Strobist and gave him a 2-megapixel Buzz Lightyear camera and three cheapo flash units. Hobby was then tasked with shooting 5 challenges in 5 locations of 5 subjects, using his resourcefulness to make the best images he could with the uber-low-end gear.
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Announced this morning, Nikon’s new D600 is a powerful little full frame DSLR at an unprecedented price point, and should be quite popular among photographers looking to upgrade from a crop sensor camera. At $2,100, it’s more than a grand cheaper than Canon’s lowest-level full frame: the Canon 5D Mark III. However, the camera isn’t geared towards every kind of photographer. David Hobby of Strobist states that Nikon has completely overlooked one segment: photographers who are serious about off-camera lighting:
The first thing, and given recent history something not unexpected, is the lack of a sync jack. I was pissed off surprised when the D7000 didn’t include it. But a full-frame body without a sync jack? That’s just a little weird.
It has a 1/200th sync. Game over. [...] True, it is only a third of a stop as compared to 1/250th. But with speedlights and daylight, that is a critical third of a stop. To be clear, this camera makes every single flash you own less effective.
Also, the difference between 1/250th and 1/200th sync is deadly when it comes to stopping action when balancing flash and ambient. 1/250th is dicey enough. 1/200th just doesn’t work.
There are currently rumors floating around that Canon may be gearing up to launch a cheaper full frame DSLR as well, possibly to be called the Canon 6D. If it does materialize in the next month or two, it’ll be interesting to see how the price point and feature set stack up against the D600.
Nikon D600: Think Twice Before You Jump [Strobist]
What would you do if you were given the task of creating a self-portrait within 20 minutes in front of an auditorium packed with people? That was the challenge given to photographers David Hobby, Martin Prihoda, and Gregory Heisler earlier this month at Gulf Photo Plus 2012 in Dubai. The video above shows what unfolded. It’s like watching the photography equivalent of a freestyle rap battle.
David Hobby has written up a great post over at Strobist on how he avoids shoot-ruining confrontations with police officers when shooting in public locations (we shared an example of a confrontation yesterday). His tricks include calling the police ahead of time and leaving notes on the doors of houses nearby:
Before I shoot (a couple hours, usually) I call into the duty officer of the local precinct. I tell them my name, that I am a photographer, and where/when I will be shooting. I explain that, just in case some overenthusiastic passerby calls me in as a suspicious person, I just want to save them a call. I offer them my cell number, and ask if they want my sosh or driver’s license number. I have never been taken up on this, but I would happily give it.
[...] I print up a sheet and stick it in everyone’s door who is within eyeshot of the shoot at night. Because believe-you-me, it you are popping flashes in the woods at 2am, some idiot will absolutely call your butt in. To them, it’s gotta look pretty much like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Some of you might not like these tips because they appear to be the equivalent of putting up a white flag in the fight for photographers’ rights, but they may come in handy if one day you have a critical photo shoot that you can’t afford to have interrupted.
How to Avoid Dealing With the Police When Shooting in Public [Strobist]
Image credit: police officers by torbakhopper
