How to use the iPad as a second monitor to preview images wirelessly as they are shot.

Connecting an iPad to your computer and setting it up as a wireless preview monitor is fairly simple and a great thing to be able to offer clients present on tethered photoshoots so they can see the images as they come in. Firstly, ensure that the iPad and MacBook are connected to the same wireless network (if no network is available you can create your own using “Create Network” in the MacBook wireless menu). The MacBook and iPad should be running AirDisplay (a paid app for the iPad, free for the MacBook) so that the iPad can be enabled as a second monitor. Most tethered shooting programs (Capture One, Lightroom etc) have a preview window that you can open and move onto the second (iPad) monitor. Then attach the camera and start shooting. The shoot below of Amazon trekker Ed Stafford and Wheeler Dealers presenter Mike Brewer was undertaken using this method to preview the images.

A white background shoot with presenter Ria Cunningham.

Some shots from last Saturday’s photoshoot at Plan B in Brixton with DJ and promoter Gareth Wyn. Gareth recently put together an essential mix for Radio 1 (listen here) and as well as regular DJing gigs in Ibiza and various other locations for Cream, he also runs House Rules in Brixton and produces his own music.

Vintage clothing store Frocking Fabulous wanted some straight on, natural light look book style photographs of their product for ASOS’ online shop. Despite driving snow hampering things a little, it let up enough to be able to shoot for a few hours with model Izzy Lawrence. I had a little time to shoot the above portraits as well, first time I have shot natural light for a while.

This shoot was with Brian Richards, a man with similar symptoms to the “Elephant Man” Joseph Merrick. A production company were filming Brian as he visited the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel to see the Merrick’s skeleton. More images after the link.

Directed by Matt Brown and Danae Bravi, with me as DOP, this was our entry into the 48 Hour Film competition…

The premise of the competition is that you get randomly assigned a genre of film (we got musical!) plus some things which have to be included (in our case a bone, a runner, the name Sam Harris and the line “I was expecting something bigger”). You then have 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a short film. Both days were pretty involved with most of the filming taking place on the Saturday running from 8am to 4am the next morning, but we managed to get everything we needed thanks to an amazing team of people who I am looking forward to working with again on more projects…Awards are this Wednesday!

A cut down edit of a documentary I filmed and directed for Discovery Channel. It looks at the work the BFI did to restore Herbert Ponting’s film The Great White Silence which will be screened (along with this documentary) at the BFI London Film Festival. Click more to read more about the Film Festival and Discovery Channel programme.

Filmed entirely on a Canon 5D mk2, this documentary looks at the various techniques that were used to restore a film made by Herbert Ponting in 1910 when he accompanied Captain Scott on his voyage to the North Pole. The full version is going to be aired (TBC sometime in 2011) on Discovery Channel alongside the original film which features a narration from Olympic athlete and North Pole explorer James Cracknell. Both the programme and Ponting’s film will also be screened as part of the BFI’s upcoming London Film Festival.

Herbert Ponting’s film was arguably one of the first documentaries ever made and as a film-maker he was way ahead of his time. Bryony Dixon from the BFI National Archive writes:

“Joining Scott on board the Terra Nova was official photographer and cinematographer Herbert Ponting, and the images that he captured have fired imaginations ever since. Ponting filmed almost every aspect of the expedition: the scientific work, life in camp and the local wildlife – including the characterful Adélie penguins. Those things he was unable to film he boldly recreated back home. Most importantly, Ponting recorded the preparations for the assault on the Pole – from the trials of the caterpillar-track sledges to clothing and cooking equipment – giving us a real sense of the challenges faced by the expedition. Ponting used his footage in various forms over the years and in 1924 he re-edited it into this remarkable feature, complete with vivid tinting and toning.”

For those interested in the technical details, the documentary I made was filmed on a Canon 5D mk2. Sound was recorded separately with a feed from the soundman’s mic going into the 5D via transmitter (to assist synchronisation in the edit). Dolly shots used a Kessler Cranes Pocket Dolly.

Links

BFI London Film Festival

BFI Screening of The Great White Silence

Discovery Channel GWS page

Below are some images from the documentary:

Some photos from a fun shoot for vintage clothing store Frocking Fabulous. More pics after the jump.

This shoot was to showcase Frocking Fabulous’ summer stock of vintage clothing. We found an amazing location in South London, no-one there, loads of parking and all the spots we shot at were in about 100 metres of each other plus a nice pub for after. Right to left in the bottom photo is me, Sofia who modelled the outfits, Helen, stylist and owner of Frocking Fabulous, Karen who assisted on the shoot, Charlotte our make up artist and the other model Emma.

For best results view the original Vimeo video here: http://vimeo.com/12158461. Shot using a Canon 5D mk2 and Kessler Crane’s Pocket Dolly Traveller on a recent trip to Epping Forest, I made this video as a test for an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary I’m shooting about the BFI’s restoration of a film made by Herbert Ponting when he accompanied Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition in 1911.

Commissioned to shoot at a speech from Stephen Hawking at the Royal Society, I had a very short amount of time for some portraits.Using a large screen CGI video clip of the sun as a background, I set up a Canon Speedlight on a light stand with improvised snoot to keep the light off the projected background screen, focussing it on Stephen.