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David Harry Stewart Shares his Lighting Secrets

Rachel Hulin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:37:34 +0000

You know I love it when photographers share their secrets, so I was delighted to come across David Harry Stewart’s blog, with some really fun info about how he uses Speedlights and Profoto packs to capture action outdoors.

The divers were shot with Profoto packs.

Here’s how he did it:

Below are photos that I did for Interview Magazine on Olympic divers. They were done on an RZ with four 2400w/s Profoto packs, which is what you need if you want to nuke out the Florida sun. These are beautiful photos, some of my all time favorites, but with the shutter synch at 1/400th, there is a tiny bit of edge blur in them.

We are constantly doing these sort of light experiments. 9 out of 10 will never get used in work that I show, but if I don’t do the 10, I won’t discover the 1. But the point isn’t even the discovering, it is searching. If one is not always searching, one is not creating, and that, my friends, is why I got into this in the first place.

The skaters were shot with Speedlights.

Here’s how he did it:

I was recently introduced to a new way of doing high speed flash synch. By using a Canon 580EXII with an ST-E2 infrared transmitter, I as able to synch at 1/1000th of a second. The fastest I have ever previously used had been 1/750, and that was on a medium format leaf shutter camera, like an H series Hasselblad. If one is working in studio, then all the light is coming from the flash unit, so by using a pack like one of the new Pro8 packs with very short flash duration, any motion can be perfectly frozen. However, working out doors when using flash mixed with daylight, there is the added component of the ambient light. Even if I am using a high speed pack, there is a limit at what the camera will synch at, and there will sometimes be a bit of ghosting around the figure.

The light tests below were done with a Canon 580EXII, and on the top 2 shots, an infrared transmitter. The camera was a Canon 1DSIII, set at ASA 400. On the top 2 shots, the speedlight is on a monopod being held by my assistant about 6 ft from the skater, with me about 100 ft back tracking on autofocus. The third shot is flash on camera with the lens prefocused. My skate buddy Byron is totally crispy frozen, which I find fascinating. The other thing I love is how totally low tech this was to do. Super simple plug and play.

There is something unique about the character of light from a speedlight, something about how the super short flash duration gets recorded that doesn’t look like anything else. Of course you are not going to be overpower sunlight with a 580EXII, no way.

Read more of David Harry Stewart’s blog.

Art Streiber and Bieber Fever

Rachel Hulin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:52:09 +0000

I’m a little tardy to the party, but I think I finally have Bieber fever. I need to see Never Say Never. I’m not sure why.

Luckily, there are grownups taking Justin’s picture in interesting ways, so we can talk about that and have our Bieber fever maturely.

For example, Art Streiber shot our friend for the February issue of Vanity Fair. And lucky for us, there’s a youtube of the shoot:

Aaaand some more shots:

See more at Vanity Fair, of Art Streiber, and some additional info at Stockland Martel.

Urban Outfitters Knows all the Cool Kids.

Rachel Hulin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 23:18:06 +0000

I have an observation to make, and it is this: Urban Outfitters pays better attention to what’s up in photography than a lot of gallerists. Just who is running the show over there? They seem pretty psyched to hire really, solidly clever artsy folks and let them do their thing, just with some UO clothes thrown in there.

Three examples? Thomas Prior, Marcelo Gomes and Estelle Hanania. I know there are many others, but these are a good representation. Here are some of their results…. what do you think?

Marcelo Gomes:

Thomas Prior:

Estelle Hanania:

pps can I have a job, UO?

PPS, as Dalton mentioned, UO also used Stephen Shore this year. Amazing.

Some Days in the Life of Garen Barsegian

Rachel Hulin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:47:51 +0000

As we do every month, we’re going to check in with one of the winners of Profoto‘s Assistant Contest. As you may notice, Profoto helps support this outfit, and we like to check in on what they’re doing. I’m uber-excited this time, because I’m switching up the old format and sharing some of the great images from July winner Garen Barsegian‘s blog. A commercial and editorial shooter, Garen is often on the road.

Here are some behind-the-scenes fashion shots interspersed with loose travelogue work. I think you’ll like it.

Ports 1961 Pre-Spring 2011 Lookbook photo shoot

I love love love the mayo.

See more from Garen Barsegian and his blog.

Read more about Profoto‘s Assistant Contest.

See more about Profoto’s Pro-8.

See more about Profoto!

Behind the Scenes with Tim Barber and Nike’s Bridge Runners

Rachel Hulin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:29:49 +0000

Kudos to Nike, for letting Tim Barber do his Tim Barber thing for a major ad campaign, complete with black-and-white film. Also thank you, Nike, for making a swell film about the process.

We have enjoyed watching it.

Nike Sportswear: Bridgerunners

more more more.

Do Not Adjust Your Set, The Car is In 3D.

Rachel Hulin — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:19:58 +0000

So how do we make our brains see in 3D without the glasses?

“Reality has never been so wonderful.”

This 3-D CGI ad was released on the occasion of the 67th Venice Film Festival.

Advertising Agency: Armando Testa, Turin, Italy
Creative Directors: Raffaele Balducci
Art Directors: Dario D’Angelo, Vito Scandolo
Copywriter: Costanza Masi
Illustrator: OneMore
Published: October 2010

Finn O’Hara Chops Some Wood with Best Made Company.

Rachel Hulin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:11:36 +0000

Naturally I was fantasizing about axes the other day with the rest of Manhattan on Best Made Company‘s site, and I recognized my old buddy Finn O’Hara‘s name on one of their sharp videos.

So I harassed him a little to get the lowdown on these sharp agents of death, and also on his work in motion. Here’s what he had to say.

Peter from Best Made Company and I went to the same canoe tripping summer camp when we were younger, and we got in touch recently through a mutual friend.

Working with the Phantom HD Gold has been a real thrill. It’s like shooting another dimension. The studio I’ve joined recently owns one, as well as a great collection of ARRI Master Primes. So with all the motion toys at my disposal, and the Best Made Axe, Peter & I came up with a visual study called CHOP.

I started working in motion last summer with the 5D, working on a big motion project for the Canadian Tourism Commission. I compiled the work into a motion piece that can be seen here.

I’ve also attached some production stills

Thanks for sharing, Finn and Best Made Company!

Behind the Scenes, Herding Cats and Horses.

Rachel Hulin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:14:07 +0000

I think animals in slow-mo are the new black, and I count myself among the fans of this hairy trend. There’s a beautiful piece right now on Nowness shot by Matthew Donaldson of polo player Nacho Figueras. Look, look:

And here are some fun behind the scenes pics.

And now, for the finale: Ikea herds cats! It’s a fabulous day indeed.

In the Studio: Fashion Maven Craig McDean

Rachel Hulin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:30:18 +0000

Newest claim to fame: the lady who cuts my hair also cuts fashion photographer Craig McDean‘s hair. Isn’t that just fantastic? I found this out last week and knew I would have to do some sort of related post. But I couldn’t find any pictures of Mr. McDean’s head, so I thought instead I’d sneak up on him in the studio.

Here are two fun videos of Mr. McDean at work.

And here are some snazzy shots of Marion Cotillard pouring milk into a bottle and crawling around on the ground. You can see yet another behind-the-scenes vid of this over at Another Magazine.

Oh, and I KNOW this is what you were waiting for! Here is McDean’s infamous shoot of Megan Fox for Interview Magazine playing around with a plastic version of herself. Here are more.

Have a great weekend!

JFB, Procrastination, and Motherhood.

Rachel Hulin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:56:38 +0000

Today is shaping up to be a good day for tips on the interwebs. First, Michael Edwards told me about this rather applicable-to-everyone-I-know-and-love video, and then, Jon Feinstein told me and Facebook about these ads, which are upsetting and strange.

But also interesting, as they are shot by Julia Fullerton-Batten. Her other work about mothers and children is a bit more…. nurturing. See below.

Advertising Agency: DDB, Poland
Creative Director: Filip Berendt
Art Director: Maciej Waligora
Photographer: Jullia Fullerton-Batten
Published: 2009

Julia Fullerton-Batten, Motherhood III

Julia Fullerton-Batten, Motherhood I