Author: John Aldred

Bowens Lighting and Calumet Photographic acquired by AURELIUS, bad news for Bowens?

John Aldred

After Calumet’s closure of US based retail stores and filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2014, it was pretty clear they were in trouble.  With Bowens, this news comes as something of a surprise, however pulling out of The Photography Show at the last minute was a big clue that something was up. Now, both companies are reported to […]

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How to shoot video with a white seamless background on the cheap

John Aldred

There are countless ways of setting up and lighting a white background for stills or video, but sometimes you just need to get it done quick and maybe you’re working with limited space. This short video from Rob & Jonas’ Filmmaking Tips shows us how to get set up easily and relatively painlessly for filming on a white […]

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How to make “before and after” animated sequences

John Aldred

In a slight departure from the reviews of old and weird lenses typically seen on Mathieu Stern’s YouTube channel, this tutorial shows how to create animated before and after sequences as animated gif or video files from within Photoshop. I typically hop into After Effects to make short animated gifs, purely because it’s what I’m most […]

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DJI’s new follow focus lets you remotely focus your drone’s camera lens from 3 miles away

John Aldred

Designed for both the land and air, the new DJI Focus remote follow focus system wants to change the way we record our aerial footage. No longer are we limited to hyperfocal distance and infinity focus lenses that have everything sharp. Now, we’re able to nail focus on our subject and use cinematic focus pulling techniques while shooting from […]

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Getty shows off how many images they have with this amazing facial composite ad

John Aldred

If you ever needed proof that police photo composites could be pretty accurate, this is it. In an advert recently put out by Getty, they use facial compositing techniques to make up the faces of religious leaders, politicians and royalty using parts of random people from the millions of images in their archive. I would imagine Getty used […]

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This guy tries to emulate a beer commercial and drops a $70,000 camera at CineGear Expo

John Aldred

The last thing you want to do when testing out some equipment, especially when surrounded by your peers at the CineGear expo, is to drop a $70,000 Arri Alexa XT, but that’s exactly what one person did while checking out the NBStabilizer rig recently. A number of social media commentators are putting this down to user error, letting the […]

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This photographer climbed the spire of One World Trade Center to shoot photographs and 360° video

John Aldred

For most sane and rational people, being invited to climb the spire at the top of One World Trade Center to photograph the view would probably result in a flat out “no”.  For others, it’s definitely a “yes“, “sure“, or “absolutely!“, even when not entirely legal. But when professional mountaineer and photographer Jimmy Chin is asked to […]

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This portable LED puts out as much light as a 1.5K tungsten with a Bowens mount strobe sized form factor

John Aldred

LED lighting has come a very long way in just a few short years, and Aputure wants to take on the sun with their new COB 120t LED light. The 120t certainly isn’t the first LED powered light to offer the benefit of a Bowens S-Type mount, but it does have a couple of neat features. […]

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NPR Photographer David Gilkey killed in Afghanistan in Taliban ambush

John Aldred

American photojournalist David Gilkey, on assignment for NPR, alongside interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna, were killed in Afghanistan on Sunday in a Taliban ambush, according to reports from the New York Times.  NPR has also confirmed the deaths. Considered one of the best photojournalists in the world, Gilkey received an array of awards including a George Polk Award in […]

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MMA Photographer stripped of credentials and “banned for life” from UFC

John Aldred

Taking out his frustration on twitter after being ejected from the UFC 199 pay-per-view event on Saturday, journalist Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting/SB Nation was seemingly escorted from the building by security prior to the main event. Along with him went photographer Esther Lin and video director E. Casey Leydon, also part of the SB Nation crew, all three […]

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