Kenn Tam
fstoppers.com
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Kenn:
Seven Things Photographers Need to Know About Filmmaking
If you're like me, a long-time photographer with a new found desire for getting into filmmaking, then you undoubtedly have a lot of questions. There are so many new things to consider when a photographer makes the jump to filmmaking. Things that as a stills shooter we seldom, if ever, think about. Fortunately, Toronto-based, Finnish filmmaker, and creator of Travel Feels, Matti Haapoja, has seen… → Read More
Using a DJI Mavic Pro to Light Paint a Tesla
San Diego, California, content creator Aldryn Estacio of Flytpath, and photographer Spencer Pablo wanted to collaborate together on a fun project. And what would be more fun than using a light equipped drone to light paint a pair of great looking, matte black Teslas at night? → Read More
Stop Ignoring Sound and Learn How to Create Amazing Audio for Your Video
UK-based filmmaker, and DSLRguide creator, Simon Cade, walks us through the importance of good audio in our videos. Cade also shows us the gear he uses, how he gets his samples, and how he puts it all together in post. But the biggest take away for me was seeing the amount of creativity, and exploration that actually goes into sound creation. → Read More
How to Make Stop Motion Videos With Ease
With today's photo and video tools at hand, and science in mind, filmmakers, and biologists Rob Nelson, and Jonas Stenstrom set out to teach us how to use our gear to their fullest potential. Every week, 52 Things (get it?), releases a video that aims to tell an engaging story that will not only entertain, but educate us on how to be better storytellers ourselves. I love this concept. It reminds… → Read More
What is a Selfie and Who Invented It?
Producer, director, writer, editor, actor, and researcher, Sarah Burton has to wear many hats while working for BuzzFeed Video, but can she answer the question, "Who Invented the Selfie?" Spoiler alert, she can't but as the adage goes, it's the journey not the destination. Watch as Burton humorously struggles to discover who took the first selfie, and struggles even further when the very… → Read More
Watch as a Photographer Unnervingly Cracks Open a $6,000 Camera
Toronto-based photographer and filmmaker, Peter McKinnon, is a big jerk. You won't see me saying that very often as I truly do respect McKinnon as a content creator, but at the three minute, twenty-second mark of this video my butt clenched up and stayed that way for an entire six minutes and fifty-five seconds. If you're into that kind of thing then watch as McKinnon takes apart his very… → Read More
How to Make a Pro Sci-Fi Short With a Small Budget
Writer and director Ryan Connolly, over at Film Riot, wanted to challenge himself to see if he and his crew could turn out a realistic, action-packed, science fiction short film with no script, three hundred dollars, and a whole lot of help from his friends. → Read More
Peter McKinnon's First Video of 2018 Sets the Tone for Success in the New Year
It's 2018. A brand new page. For us creatives, renewed energy, and enthusiastic drive is what it will take to kick the new year off right. And who better to personify said energy than coffee fueled, Toronto-based photographer / cinematographer Peter Mckinnon? In his first "vlogtorial" style video of 2018 Mckinnon takes to the streets of Toronto with friend and sage-like video creator Chris Hau. → Read More
How to Film Yourself Peter McKinnon Style
Under mounting pressure from my peers and the industry at large, I finally tried getting into video creation. While filming myself in my first video ever (an unboxing), I ran into a whole slew of issues. How should I mount my camera? Where do I place it? Why does this look so gosh diddly darn boring? To say I struggled would be an understatement. To say I gave up would be spot on. But maybe it… → Read More
The Secret to Blending Photos in Photoshop
In my early days with Photoshop, there were many timex when I tediously removed background from text by "magic-wanding" itout. If you've ever been inexperienced enough to do this, then you know that you then have to isolate the background that remained within the closed off section of each letter, like the inside of an "o." I've come a long way since then, but apparently, not long enough.… → Read More
Eight Fun Ideas for Shooting Hilarious Portraits With Your Friends
The Cooperative of Photography (COOPH) wants us to kick 2018 off with a bit of fun and inspiration. To help get our creative juices flowing, they've compiled eight ideas for taking some wonderfully weird portraits using common household items. → Read More
1890s Candid Street Photography Taken With a Spy Cam
Using a thin, round, six frame, glass plate, "spy camera", a nineteen year old Carl Størmer (1874 – 1957) captured candid images on the main streets of Oslo, Norway. These atypical images are a rare glimpse into everyday life at a time when most photos taken were of well prepared, composed and stoic subjects. If you're interested in the three part documentary video, be sure to turn on "subtitles… → Read More
Seven of the Most Common Studio Portrait Light Mistakes
Finland-based commercial photographer Antti Karppinen shares what he thinks are the "7 Most Common Studio Portrait Light Mistakes" and how to fix them. Barring any creative differences, these are pretty good rules of thumb. → Read More
Taking Professional Portraits with a Mobile Phone
Propelling Fstoppers into the successful community it is today and inspiring a slew of shooters to create without limitations, the iPhone Fashions Shoot was meant to prove that a talented photographer needed little more than their own knowledge and creativity. In these one minute spots for the Huawei P10 mobile phone, Chinese Malaysian photographer CY Wong continues to demonstrate the point:… → Read More
Five Tips for Shooting Night Portraits With Available Light
For most photographers, magic hour is just as the sun is setting, but for Photographer Jordan Matter, it occurs after dark. In this video Matter gives us five tips for shooting nighttime portraits using only street and window light. Using this simple technique he is able to achieve three differently lit portraits in just a couple minutes. → Read More
What is Aperture and Other Camera Basics?
Everyone looking to be a photographer, or at least a good one, should understand their camera's functions and lens mechanics. This means understanding things like f-stops, depth-of-field, effects of shutter speed, ISO, fast lenses verses slow lenses, and of course, aperture. Fortunately, independent filmmaker Vincent Ledvina has created an ongoing, animated series about, "Camera Basics." As part… → Read More
This Video Series Has Photographers Answering Questions with Their Photos Instead of Words
The Cooperative of Photography, a photography apparel manufacturer and community-focused online mag, produced a cool new photography series where they asked creative photographers questions and the answer come only in the form of images instead of words. → Read More
The Men and Methods Behind 'Nerf John Wick'
Two days after its release on YouTube, "Nerf John Wick" has racked up over two million views and counting. So, I reached out to Corridor Digital to learn more about the people and techniques behind its making. → Read More
Five Tips for Posing Couples
Their title may mislead you into think this is just another step one, two, three, posing tutorial but lifestyle and wedding photographers Rachel Gulotta and Daniel Inskeep along with Carlton Banks (a.k.a. Mango Street Lab) are quick to point out that it's directing, as opposed to posing, that gets results. If you follow the wisdom provided in these five simple insights you'll find your subjects… → Read More
Three Photographers Challenge Themselves by Shooting the Same Model
Inspired by a video of six photographers shooting the same model, Photographers Jessica Kobeissi, Irene Rudnyk, and Ruby James came together to collaborated on their own version of the challenge. Each photographer got the opportunity to choose a location and an outfit for the model before taking five minutes to get their shot. → Read More