movie

Tracking Down and Testing the Camera from ‘Rear Window’ (1954)

My hobby is film photography, which involves collecting interesting cameras, taking photos, printing pictures, and so on. Within this fairly common hobby though I have a particular niche interest, which is tracking down and trying out cameras that feature in film and media.

A woman sits on a bench in front of a river while holding a cigarette.

‘Tish’ Documentary Honors the Late British Photographer Tish Murtha

Social documentary photographer Tish Murtha may not have garnered much acclaim for her photographic work while alive, but it is, nevertheless, powerful in what it portrays and remains relevant to this day. A new documentary titled Tish explores Murtha’s career and images with guidance from her daughter, Ella.

Dune: Part One, the Photography, by Chiabella James

How Photographer Chiabella James Captures the Magic of Making Movies

When thinking of major motion pictures and Hollywood blockbusters, it is easy to think about just the movie itself -- the final product that makes its way to silver screens worldwide. However, behind every hit movie are hundreds of people and the person capturing all of the hustle and bustle is a unit photographer.

Sphere Camera Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky Says it Takes 12 People to Use the 18K Sphere Camera

The music and entertainment arena Sphere opened in September in Las Vegas and the striking venue is the largest spherical building in the world. It features the world's biggest and highest-resolution screens and its content is captured using a state-of-the-art 18K cinema camera, which was conceived, developed and built by the Sphere Studios team specifically for Sphere.

Mirrors in Movies Video

Mirrors in Movies: How Filmmakers Make Cameras Disappear

When watching movies, some viewers like to look for errors, such as finding evidence of cameras and crew in the final cut of a film. One situation that should be ripe for spotting mistakes is when a scene includes mirrors and reflections. However, as YouTuber Paul E.T. shows in a pair of videos, filmmakers have incredible tricks to make cameras disappear.

Developing ECN-2 Motion Picture Film at Home

If you’re a film geek like me, these numbers should look familiar, 5203, 5207, 5217, and 5219. These are the film stocks Kodak Motion Picture offers to film directors and cinematographers. Since 2014, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorcese, and J.J. Abrams partnered with former Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke, to spearhead an effort in protecting the use of celluloid in the motion picture industry.

This Documentary Film Exposes How People Cheat at Instagram

#followme is a new documentary film about Instagram released on Instagram. The 49-minute film aims to expose the "lawless economics of Instagram," diving into the "shocking" world beneath the surface of a photo-sharing social network that's home to 1 billion active users.

Here’s the Trailer for ‘Kodachrome’

Netflix purchased the rights for the upcoming movie Kodachrome in September 2017, and today it just released the film's 2.5-minute trailer. The movie is a story that's centered around the final days of Kodachrome film.

The Dutch Angle: Tilting the Camera for Dramatic Effect

The Dutch Angle (or Dutch Tilt) is a technique that involves tilting your camera to one side, resulting in a frame that isn't level. Jacob T. Swinney of Fandor created this 3-minute compilation video showing the technique being used in a large number of movies.

This Dramatic Shot Was Done with a 2000mm Lens

Here's a neat example of an ultra-telephoto lens being used to add a dramatic effect to a scene. For this scene from the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema used a 2000mm lens to compress the foreground and background so that they look much closer than they really are.

‘The Revenant’ Was Shot Almost Entirely with Natural Light

The Revenant is an upcoming western thriller film that's inspired by the crazy life of explorer and fur trapper Hugh Glass. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, the rugged and violent movie has one quality that may be of interest to photographers: it was shot nearly 100% with natural light.