Bass player Andreas Bennetzen (AKA Andy Benz) and Malte Pedersson during the shoot of the music video for 'Wamps Dance' from the album 'Flowing in Circles' - click to view video
In support of a lazy photographer
July 31, 2009 at 1:46 am (Editors note, Photography)
Tags: home, images, photographer, Photography, slideshow
Hi. I know not much is happening around here. Did you check out the techniques already?
I can be one lazy photographer.
But you know what? Some of my favourite shots I took right here, at home. In my apartment. Or I took two steps out onto my balcony and let my camera capture the scene I saw, right there and then. When nature gives you gifts like these amazing dramas in the sky, and litterally drops them in your lap, its just a matter of being mentally prepared to capture them – both with your mind and with your camera. I call it calculated luck – but you may call it lazy photography.
Britney Spears and proposterous demands on photographers
July 10, 2009 at 7:17 pm (Photography)
Tags: britney spears, circus, concert, photographers, Photography, press
This should give me some blog hits 
This is not Britney. Its a wax doll on Madam Tussauds in London. Photo: JOEL RYAN/AP.
The Britney Spears Circus is coming to Scandinavia soon, and with it comes a propostorous contract for all photographers to sign before shooting it.
According to this article in danish newspaper Politiken, Britney Spears management demands from all press photographers a signature on a deal that ensures
1) The popstar assumes copyright on the photos, and the right to decide where and when they are published.
2) The photographers may not use the photos after 30 days from the concert. No archive.
3) No photos must be sold on to third party.
4) Pictures that Britney Spears or the event management finds inappropriate can not be published.
The chief of photography on the newspaper Politiken finds it really unreasonable that, while they are not allowed to even archive the photos, Britney can use any of the best shots for ads and merchandise, like t-shirts and coffee mugs…
The answer from pretty much the collective danish and swedish press and news agencies has been that they will not show up to the event unless this contract is scrapped. Nor will they use archive photos to cover the event.
More Canon 5D Mark II News: Magic Lantern firmware hack for videographers
June 23, 2009 at 6:07 pm (Photography, Software)
Tags: a/v, canon, Canon 5D Mark II, magic lantern, Photography, sound, videography
Magic Lantern is an unofficial firmware update to the Canon 5D Mark II that enables a variety of wanted features for videography.
The firmware enables features such as: Manual audio gain (as opposed to the default auto gain), on-screen level audio meters and lower audio noise. On the picture side, you gain zebra stripes (live clipping warning), and crop screen for various motion picture formats.
This sounds promising. More hacks please!
Canon 5D Mark II update: Manual Video Exposure
May 27, 2009 at 5:59 pm (Photography)
Tags: 5D mark II, canon, manual, video
And speaking of the Canon 5D Mark II, canon just announced a firmware update for it, enabling manual video exposure. One of the top customer feedback points. With the new firmware, you’ll be able to select the following in video mode:
Full aperture control
ISO Speed: Auto, 100 – 6400 and H1
Shutter speed from 1/30 to 1/4000
The update will be available here on june 2nd.
Thanks for listening Canon. Now enable a choice between 24 and 30 FPS shooting, and you’ve got a winner.
Subway shorts are the new resolution charts
May 15, 2009 at 4:10 am (Photography)
Tags: canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Photography, stu maschwitz, video
… Says Stu Maschwitz, visual effect wizard on films such as The Spirit, DV rebel and, as I know him, Photoshop beta tester, following a debate on Rebel Café.
Did you ever wonder what happened to Vincent Laforet’s Canon 5D Mark II? No? Well, here it is being tested again!* In a true DV rebel style subway short (the subway is at the end) made by Stu. This is probably a more realistic and down to earth test of the 5D II’s video capabilities than the far fetching eye candy of Vincent Laforets Reverie, provided you know some stuntmen, and that you ignore the fact that it really is a true master of visual effects actually filming it.
* Actually, its way unlikely to be the same-same camera, but its a loaner from Laforet in any event.
Worlds fastest camera
April 29, 2009 at 11:09 pm (Photography)
Tags: cameras, canon, casio, laser, Photography, pixel, slow motion, steam camera
My Canon 40D has an impressive 6.5 second frame rate. Fast enough for the occasional animation shoot. About a year ago, I got acquainted with Casios Exilim Pro EX-F1. It can do 60 FPS in full resolution, and up to 1200 FPS in a small format (336 x 96). Today, we use this camera for rocket engine tests.
Even this speed is effectively dwarfed though, by the Steam Camera. Capturing 6 million FPS(!) @ shutter speed of 440 trillionths of a second, and, for now, comprising of only a single ‘pixel’, this detector is potentially useful for analyzing flowing blood samples in the medical field.
A quick quote from the BBC article explains a bit of the underlying science:
It works by using a fast laser pulse dispersed in space and then stretched in time and detected electronically.
So thats clear, then.
A new take on ‘available light’.
February 1, 2009 at 8:37 pm (Photography, Techniques)
Tags: exposure, flash, light, painting with light, Photography, studio, technique, tripod
A friend, professional photographer Jann Lipka, has created this fine and concise video tutorial showing an example of how to use time and ‘available light’ to your advantage when creating product / studio shots.
“My Name is Jann Lipka, I’m a professional photographer from Stockholm, and I wanted to show you how to make use of your cell phone in a little bit different way…’
http://vimeo.com/2536591?pg=embed&sec=2536591
This video tutorial is also a part of this blog post on strobist which is about using lcd lightpanels of various kinds for illumination.
Here’s my first try, using my cellphone’s light, Canon40D, 30 second exposure, ISO 125:
Digital Camera Magazine – Photographer of the year contest
January 17, 2009 at 8:11 pm (Photography)
Tags: contest, digital camera, photo, Photography
UK-based Digital Camera Magazine features this huge international photography contest, 120.000 submissions, and the winners of up to a top prize of £15.000 will be announced Feb. 15.
The top runners are an interesting browse. Obviously, there’s quite a lot of good work out there.
Nikon D400 rumor
January 14, 2009 at 5:47 pm (Photography)
Tags: camera, DSLR, Nikon, Nikon D400, Photography
So, even though this is unofficial in my part of the world, a Russian magazine had an article on an upcoming Nikon D400, a successor to the popular and coveted Nikon D300.
I’ve read a Danish translation of the article that listed these specs:
14.3MP CMOS
ISO 100-6400
Up to 7 frames pr second (probably in crop mode?).
And video in 1080p, 24FPS.
The video part is interesting, because not only is it 1080p, like in the Canon 5D II, but Nikon also seems to have listened to the critics of the Canon 5D IIs 30FPS video, and implemented the more ‘movie like’ 24FPS video mode.
The camera will take UDMA CF cards, and has an LCD with 922.000 pixels, which automatically dims and brightens depending on ambient light.
Price is anyones guess, but in Russia, it will list for around US$2000 (supposedly, cameras are more expensive in Russia compared to the US).
