In celebration of a new city ordinance allowing greater food truck access to downtown, Grand Rapids welcomed a food truck festival for a great day of community and culinary creativity. We thought it would be a great opportunity to get some test footage and provide you with a review of how the Zhiyun Crane Plus worked with our mirrorless setup (Panasonic GH5S w/Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 II).
Read MoreWe've had a few questions from readers about what we mean when we say "our process digs deeper into understand your business and your consumers" and our answer is surprisingly simple; Design Thinking. Simply put, we use the tenants of design thinking to help design our strategy, video production, and photography work.
In this first episode we quickly cover our foray into vlogging as well as your setup which includes the Panasonic GX85 and the Atomos Shogun Flame. Also, we cover a number of tips on producing engaging vlogging content, and what to look forward to in terms of video production and strategy content moving forward.
Read MoreOnce color became the standard, a number of film stock varieties emerged in a short amount of time. These options presented filmmakers with a starting point for the way they wanted to utilize color to communicate mood in their films. While we see this intentionality in terms of creating mood, there is also the aspect of seeing how specific film stocks became associated with specific looks in cinema.
Read MoreTo sum up these terms; we can think of HUE as the specific color, VALUE as how bright the color is, and SATURATION as how intense the color presents itself. When thinking of how color is used in film, we'll rely heavily on these concepts of HUE, VALUE, and SATURATION as we explore how colors relate to each other and how these relationships can serve to create a visual style.
Read MoreAs with film's origin, many color relationships were ENCOUNTERED rather than INVENTED. Certainly, a good amount of work has been done to reinforce these concepts with an incredibly scientific approach, but our point here is that one doesn't have to have an advanced understanding of color to UNDERSTAND color. Color permeates our lives. We're green with envy, we seethe with a red-hot anger, we even sing the blues. A golden-warm sunset can elicit feelings of resolution, closure and legacy while the cold bleakness of a brisk blue dawn reminds us of the work ahead and the unforgiving beauty of isolation. We don't have to be told to remember these associations, they're formed before we even embrace language.
Read MoreHope had a vision, and understood how necessary updating their product photography was to the success of her new company's overhauled online shopping experience and branding. Having recently relocated to the Grand Rapids area, Hope was in need of a team to help deliver more than standard product photography.
Read MoreThe standard definition of pacing is the rate at which a story is being told. However, I begin with the quote by Henry David Thoreau because in my studies I have found that pacing is a very subjective aspect of storytelling and specifically in this case, film viewing. A film that may seem to drag on to one person may feel like a "slow burn" to another and neither person would be wrong or right.
Read MoreWe have client horror stories. You have client horror stories. Every small business owner, service provider, and entrepreneur has client horror stories. But, for some reason, those of us in the creative mediums like video production, photography, and design have A LOT. However, no fear, there is a better way.
Read MoreOften, while shooting food photography you encounter a situation where the client wants to add rising steam to the image. Sometimes this can be achieved practically and if the timing and location are favorable it can look great in camera. However, you may encounter a situation where you will need to add steam to the image in post. Rather than simply finding a vectored image to overlay, digital steam effects can be achieved in a controllable, predictable way utilizing the following steps:
Read MoreCreating art, great marketing content, and connecting with your audience is much more than an object and a shutter. There are an infinite number of variables to consider before a photo shoot, or video production. The following tips will help you better connect with your client, their needs, and create more valuable content.
Read MoreSome of our most popular fashion work is easily replicated. The lighting style is very consistent and forgiving. As such, it remains a favorite year after year. While we often alternate with backlit and single light setups, the key elements remain the same. Our preferred approach is to use a strobe with a large parabolic umbrella and a diffusion modifier for the key source, a large v-flat as fill and (if needed) a hard back light (if desired).
Read MoreHeadshot photography is often discussed in terms of specific methods, but rarely explored in terms of approach. We've compiled some of our basic methods and tools in this guide with the hope it will be useful in creating headshots with personality.
Read MoreEarly in February I had the opportunity to spend time with Allied Productions team and was blown away at the professionalism and skill of the team during the setup for a headshot session and video production shoot.
Read MoreTed has sat in at the studio the last couple weeks, and even joined us on location for a artist interview and head-shot session at the Kendall School of Art and Design (blog coming soon). His wisdom of digital media and content production is only matched by his strategic mind and ability to demystify the art of client-to-agency relationships. Below are a few things we've picked up from Ted in our time together.
Read MoreLast weekend we hosted award-winning photographer and renown educator Nino Batista for a two-day workshop. Photographers, of all ability levels, traveled from as far away as Pittsburgh to experience two days of intense photography instruction and skills development.
Read MoreLocation photography work always presents unique challenges, and for us, it creates many opportunities to practice the principle of adaptation. Last Sunday, we shot some location headshots and a video interview.
Read MoreA headshot session can be an anxiety provoking endeavor. At Allied, our goal is to work with our clients to make the best possible images that are reflective of their character.
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