Dwell View
Dwell called at end of the day on Wednesday to photograph Thursday afternoon. They needed the view from their office photographed for an upcoming story. When we first arrived we did several quick test photos of the view with different lens options...
Dwell called at end of the day on Wednesday to photograph Thursday afternoon. They needed the view from their office photographed for an upcoming story. When we first arrived we did several quick test photos of the view with different lens options. Then I sat down with the clients, Amy and Alexis, and we picked the best view and lens combination. Once we narrowed the choices down to just two views, we waited for the light to be just right. Below is the 2nd view that didn't get used.
Macworld iPad 2
The new cover of Macworld magazine is outfeaturing a photo that I took. Luckily it was Macworld's iPad, I wouldn't want to tape my iPad up like this. I've included some behind the scenes photos of the cover and one of the photos from the iPad 2 ar...
The new cover of Macworld magazine is outfeaturing a photo that I took. Luckily it was Macworld's iPad, I wouldn't want to tape my iPad up like this. I've included some behind the scenes photos of the cover and one of the photos from the iPad 2 article.
You can find the magazine on newsstands now or read the digital version on
Dwell Cheap Seats
The Dwell spread about cheap seats is now out and on newsstands. This was the photo session that had been filmed for a future episode of American Masters on PBS about Ray and Charles Eames. You can see some behind the scene photos on my previous p...
The Dwell spread about cheap seats is now out and on newsstands. This was the photo session that had been filmed for a future episode of American Masters on PBS about Ray and Charles Eames. You can see some behind the scene photos on my previous post.
You can find the artile on newsstands and on
iPhone book
I was recently interviewed for a book about iPhone photography by Allan Hoffman. When I received a copy of the printed version I was initially excited to flip to my page see how my interview and photos turned out, but I quickly became completely i...
I was recently interviewed for a book about iPhone photography by Allan Hoffman. When I received a copy of the printed version I was initially excited to flip to my page see how my interview and photos turned out, but I quickly became completely immersed with all the useful and interesting content in the book.
It's a great resource for anyone interested in using their iPhone as a camera. What I appreciated is how the book covers everything from the creation to the sharing of your photos. One section reminded me about using Flickr, so I decided to try it out to share my iPhone photos: http://www.flickr.com/peterbelanger
You can buy the book on Amazon here: http://amzn.com/1593272855 (FYI, I have no financial ties to this book.)
iPad at work - Macworld
The new Macworld magazine is full of photos I've taken to help illustrate using an iPad at work instead of your laptop. It is refreshing that the art director, Rob, is always interested in trying new things with the images. The hanging notepads im...
The new Macworld magazine is full of photos I've taken to help illustrate using an iPad at work instead of your laptop. It is refreshing that the art director, Rob, is always interested in trying new things with the images. The hanging notepads image was one such photo. I've included a behind-the-scenes photo of it's set belowwe really did hang the ipad by a clip!
You can find the magazine on newsstands now or read the digital version on zinio.com
The Drinker
San Francisco Magazine approached me to create a photograph for their Drinker section of the magazine. It was great to work with them again. The assignment was about technology and wine, what a great combination! On news stands now.
San Francisco Magazine approached me to create a photograph for their Drinker section of the magazine. It was great to work with them again. The assignment was about technology and wine, what a great combination!
On news stands now.
A Cutlery Above
Here's a spread I photographed for the February issue of Dwell magazine. You can find it on newsstands or read the article on Dwell's website. http://www.dwell.com/articles/a-cutlery-above.html
Here's a spread I photographed for the February issue of Dwell magazine.
You can find it on newsstands or read the article on Dwell's website.
iPhone Photo Apps Revisited
If you're like me, you can never have too many camera apps. I'm always asked what my favorite photo apps are. Here's a run down on some of my favorite and some that I'm just trying out. PictureShow Picture show is my favorite photo app. If I could...
If you're like me, you can never have too many camera apps. I'm always asked what my favorite photo apps are. Here's a run down on some of my favorite and some that I'm just trying out. PictureShow
Picture show is my favorite photo app. If I could only have one photo app this would be it. It has so many great customizable effects from very basic to crazy. With PictureShow, you have total control of your the outcome of your image.
This is my seconded favorite app. It has really nice effect and borders. What I don't like is you can't import a photo into the app. I put up with this because the app is fast and processes in the background so you can keep taking photos. It also has some nice photo taking tools like a level.
SwanKoLab
This app excels at changing the color of your photo. It makes the photos look amazing. Another plus for this app is that you can import a photo from your iPhone library. I wish this app had an option for a basic white border and an option to bypass the "lab" developing gimmick. It's cool the first few times seeing the mixture of chemicals in the darkroom but sometimes you just want the results instantly.
When I need a quick, good looking photo with out having to think about settings I use this app. It's made by the makers of Shake It Photo.
This app lets you make small posters. Who doesn't like to make posters. It comes with lots of templates that have customizable text.
Normally I use this app in-conjunction with another app. It has a lot of flare options to choose from.
Not only is this app free, it has great effects and borders. It also has a built in social network just for sharing the photos you take. The one negative, and this is a big one for me, is the files are small. If they add support for full size output, I would use this app much more.
When I first got this app I used it all the time. I still like the results but I don't like how long the whole process takes. I would use this app much more if I could import photos from the iPhone library. That being said, the results from this app are like no other.
This app was recently redone and much improved. The big feature of this app is that you can take a photo with the focus point and the exposure points separated. It also has nice borders and effects.
Snow in San Francisco, crazy. This app is all about the effects, some unique like this snow effect. It's not a "Go-to" app. It's more of a secondary app that you mess with if you want to explore options for your image.
Has a nice collection of camera tools for taking photo and video like a level, split focus and exposure. You can use a photo taken by the app or from the iPhone library to apply effects.
I downloaded it hoping for lots of cool effects but most of them are like a rusted piece of metal superimposed onto the image. I wasn't very happy with this app and do not plan on using it any further. The 100 cameras can be narrowed down to 10 cameras.
IncrediBooth is made by the same folks as Hipstamatic. The effects are done really well. It only uses the front-facing camera but that's all I need it for. My kids and I love it. If you prefer to use the back camera, then try Pocketbooth but I don't think the output is as nice.
Which Mac? Macworld Feature
The cover of the new Macworld magazine features a photo I took of the new MacBook Air.Inside the magazine there is also an article featuring photos that I took at various location around Potrero Hill. It was fun to be able to do something a little...
The cover of the new Macworld magazine features a photo I took of the new MacBook Air.Inside the magazine there is also an article featuring photos that I took at various location around Potrero Hill. It was fun to be able to do something a little different.You can find the magazine on newstands now or read the feature article online.
Music for Video
For me, the soundtrack is one of the most important things to consider when making short films. There are tons of great songs that I'd love to use. Unfortunately, the licensing fees required to use them legally are out of my price range. Like phot...
For me, the soundtrack is one of the most important things to consider when making short films. There are tons of great songs that I'd love to use. Unfortunately, the licensing fees required to use them legally are out of my price range. Like photography, music makes money via licensing. I respect this since my business operates a similar way. For my videos, I tend to look for music more in my budget and then acquire the usage rights.
One option is to use lower-priced music stock sites. I've spent hours listening to music from numerous sites and so far I haven't found anything that inspires me. Another option that I've found works really well is to look for smaller, local artists via myspace.com. When I find a song that I like I contact the artist and ask for the rights to use their song with one of my movies. This use is typically limited to the life of that video, regardless of the media used to show it (such as DVD, web or presentation). This arrangement is appealing because my videos are for promotional usenot for resale. In exchange for the rights to use the song I offer to photograph the band as payment. So far it has been an appealing strategy for everyone involved.
About a year ago, I used The Brokenmusicbox's song with my Macworld cover creation video. They recently decided how they wanted to be photographed: in their living room surrounded by all their musical instruments. For the final photo I gave them two options. The first was the version that I photographed using my Canon. The second version was the same photo but enhanced with the Picture Show app on the iPhone. I did that because when they came by my studio to talk about the photo shoot, they saw some of my photos that I had taken with my iPhone. Of course the final file size isn't as big, but it'll work well for onscreen use.
It never ceases to amaze me how the tone and feel of a movie can change with different soundtracks. Going through this process is actually really fun for me. I enjoy finding new bands and musicians that I hadn't heard before.
Film Crew
Had a great photoshoot with Dwell and the Eames documentary crew. It will be for a future episode of American Masters on PBS about Ray and Charles Eames. Here are some photos from the photoshoot.
Had a great photoshoot with Dwell and the Eames documentary crew. It will be for a future episode of American Masters on PBS about Ray and Charles Eames. Here are some photos from the photoshoot.
APA Talk
We had an awesome turnout at the Apple Store for my APA talk last night. Thanks to everyone who attended and for all your insightful questions. It was great to finally meet some of you that I only know from cyberspace. I was very nervous about the...
We had an awesome turnout at the Apple Store for my APA talk last night. Thanks to everyone who attended and for all your insightful questions. It was great to finally meet some of you that I only know from cyberspace. I was very nervous about the evening but now that it's over, I see there was no reason to be nervous. It was an amazing experience.
APA talk approaching
The countdown has begun. I'm learning Keynote and preparing my talk for the APA/Apple Creative Professionals Series. Come join me upstairs at the San Francisco store (Stockton Street) this Thursday, Oct. 14th at 7pm.
The countdown has begun. I'm learning Keynote and preparing my talk for the APA/Apple Creative Professionals Series. Come join me upstairs at the San Francisco store (Stockton Street) this Thursday, Oct. 14th at 7pm.
Plow
I had fun taking some photos for a new restaurant that just opened here on Potrero Hill. The couple who are starting the restaurant have created a beautiful space full of reclaimed materials. In fact, the office space was an architect's studio pre...
I had fun taking some photos for a new restaurant that just opened here on Potrero Hill. The couple who are starting the restaurant have created a beautiful space full of reclaimed materials. In fact, the office space was an architect's studio previously. They did a complete build-out to make it a commercial restaurant. The food is great, too (I'm especially loving the crispy potatoes). http://www.eatatplow.com.
APA Talk
Come see me speak at the Apple Store, One Stockton St. (upstairs), San Francisco as part of the Creative Professionals Series presented by Apple APA, Oct. 14th, 7pm-8pm. Any suggestions on what to discuss? I want this talk to be about what people ...
Come see me speak at the Apple Store, One Stockton St. (upstairs), San Francisco as part of the Creative Professionals Series presented by Apple APA, Oct. 14th, 7pm-8pm. Any suggestions on what to discuss? I want this talk to be about what people want to hear. Your input will help me a great deal. Let me know or just come by to see me make a fool of myself! I'm super excited and nervous!!!
Check out APA's announcement.
Dwell Vacuums
We had an amazing two days with Dwell Magazine. This time, we got creative with vacuums. They all sucked! The process started off by using a rough overlay of the spread from Brendan, the art director. This allowed us to map out where the crumbs an...
We had an amazing two days with Dwell Magazine. This time, we got creative with vacuums. They all sucked!
The process started off by using a rough overlay of the spread from Brendan, the art director. This allowed us to map out where the crumbs and vacuums went without interfering with his final design. The crumbs are strategically placed and the paths of the vacuums were cleared using different size brushes. The next step was to photograph all the vacuums separately at the correct angle, matching the area that was cleared out for them in the crumbs.
Sift through the mess at your local newsstand and sweep up a copy of the October 2010 issue of Dwell Magazine. You can also get a copy at Zinio.com
Dwell - Make It Yours
Here are some behind-the-scenes photos for the current cover of Dwell's "Make It Yours" magazine. It was like a puzzle figuring out how to fit all the pieces together. Good thing we had donuts to keep us focused.
Here are some behind-the-scenes photos for the current cover of Dwell's "Make It Yours" magazine. It was like a puzzle figuring out how to fit all the pieces together. Good thing we had donuts to keep us focused.
More Macworld behind-the-scenes
As you may have noticed, I was really pleased with the September issue of Macworld. Here is one last batch of behind-the-scenes images. I've also included a set of images which I used to compose into one of the shots. To see the final composited p...
As you may have noticed, I was really pleased with the September issue of Macworld. Here is one last batch of behind-the-scenes images. I've also included a set of images which I used to compose into one of the shots. To see the final composited photo check out Macworld magazine on the newsstand or get a digital copy at Zinio.com.
Veins
I'm sharing even more behind-the-scenes images from the September issue of Macworld since people seem to really like seeing what goes into the shots. These images were taken during the shoot for the overhead image of two people playing Scrabble at...
I'm sharing even more behind-the-scenes images from the September issue of Macworld since people seem to really like seeing what goes into the shots. These images were taken during the shoot for the overhead image of two people playing Scrabble at the table.
You'll notice 3 interesting things about this shot: First, is that both people were photographed separately. This was done because the models were only available at different times. Second, you might be wondering why the models are holding their hands up in the air. That is one of the tricks to keep their veins on their hands and arms from showing. The blood flow is greatly reduced when raised above the heart, thereby keeping the hands much smoother. The models need to lift their arms up every couple of photos. The third interesting thing about the shot is that the camera was so high up I had to rely on auto focus! Unfortunately, auto focus doesn't work well with glossy surfaces (like the table or product). I added a paper with lines and numbers drawn on it to help the camera focus. The paper was then easily removed in post production.
For the final composited photo check out Macworld magazine on the newsstand or get a digital copy at Zinio.com.
iPhone 4 photo closeup
Some folks have been asking for a higher res example of the iPhone 4 cover photo. The sample that I posted here was a screen grab from the Zinio version of the magazine. Zinio adds compression to photos to save on spacenot the best way to judge qu...
Some folks have been asking for a higher res example of the iPhone 4 cover photo. The sample that I posted here was a screen grab from the Zinio version of the magazine. Zinio adds compression to photos to save on spacenot the best way to judge quality of an image, which is certainly of interest in this case.
So here is the full image, followed by closeups of certain details.