The Stalman Podcast

Sara and I have so many common interests that we just had to sit down and talk about all the creative stuff we are into. Special Guest: Sara Dietschy.Links: The Creative Exchange podcast Sara Dietschy - YouTube Premiere VS Final Cut with MKBHD

Jordan Drake and Chris Niccols, formerly of The Camera Store TV and now stars of the DPReview YouTube channel, join me to talk about shooting photos and videos at the same time, on the same camera.Special Guests: Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake.Links: DPReview on YouTube TheCameraStoreTV on YouTube Sony a7R III Mirrorless Body Dave Dugdale’s Sony A7RIII course

If you work in a creative industry you know that it has it's own special challenges, like defining your worth, communicating your ideas and staying on target to make your ideas into reality. Shea Kerwood runs Brandsmith and has been my go to confidant for decades, so he's the perfect guy to talk to about the challenges. Special Guest: Shea Kerwood.

In part 2 we got some of Nolan's biggest films, with The Dark Night, Interstellar and more.Special Guest: Chris Dowsett.

Huge budgets, rich characters and intricate story telling, Christopher Nolan is in a league all his own in modern filmmaking. Let's spend some time walking through his filmography.Special Guest: Chris Dowsett.Links: The Directors Series - Christopher Nolan [5.1] on Vimeo Steven Soderbergh: State of Cinema at SFIFF56 on Vimeo (2) Memento — Telling a Story In Reverse - YouTube SCORE: A FILM MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

Irene has created a distinct photography style of her own and shares her techniques with the world on her YouTube channel. We talk about how she developed her dreamy portrait look, what it's like YouTubing from a mid sized city, and how to work with extremely simple gear and lighting.Special Guest: Irene Rudnyk.Links: Irene Rudnyk - YouTube - YouTube LED Video light | Aputure LS C120d/t TLCI/CRI 97

The problem with learning about photography is never a lack of information. There are infinite videos and articles telling you how to shoot and edit, so I talked to Nicolsey about how to sort through the junk to learn the valuable lessons.Special Guest: Nicole S. Young.Links: Philip Bloom - DP, Director, Filmmaker Stu Maschwitz, Prolost.com CreativeLive: Free Live Online Classes Lynda: Learn a New Skill Online Stocksy United - Relentlessly Creative Stock

It's really easy to shoot great looking video these days, I bet the image quality on your phone looks better than most TV shows in the 90s. But image quality means nothing if your video is boring and no one wants to watch it. Good thing I have Jordan Drake here from The Camera Store TV to help give the tips you've been waiting for to start crushing your video game. Then stick around to the end because Jordan got his sticky little fingers on the new Sony A7III, which is poised to really disrupt the camera industry this year. Special Guest: Jordan Drake.Links: Cinemetrics - Sorted by longest Average Shot Length Video tips for Casey Liss Aputure A lav mic Rode VideoMic Pro+

Rene Ritchie is the perfect podcast guest to talk about the computers we use as creative professionals, and if you're a photographer, filmmaker or designer there is a decent chance you are using a Mac or an iPhone. We talk about history of how Apple came to dominate the creative industry, starting with their exceptional font support and exclusive apps like Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark Express. In 2018 they seem to be in a transition phase, where some users are voicing frustration with the MacBook Pro, but they have also released the impressive iMac Pro and announced an upcoming compartmental Mac Pro. Special Guest: Rene Ritchie.Links: Vector | Rene Ritchie Tyler's first Mac (maybe), PowerMac 6300 How to set up your Mac with an external GPU | iMore Rogue Amoeba | Quality Audio Software Affinity Photo Editing for iPad FCP X: Optimize Preference Settings iMac Pro - Apple HEIF Explained The Mac Pro Lives

It’s easier than ever to make podcast, but telling a great story will always take hard work and skill. Mark Bramhill’s show Welcome to Macintosh brings the power of narrative storytelling to a topic he and I are both passionate about: Apple. We talk about his creative process, story telling techniques and a little about computers. Special Guest: Mark Bramhil.Links: Welcome to Macintosh Shure Beta 87A Handheld Condenser Microphone | Sweetwater Podcasting Microphones Mega-Review – Marco.org Beyerdynamic T90 Headphones The Menu Bar: Ep2 - The Experts Have Taken Over, With Bob Burrough 13: Let it Beep | Welcome to Macintosh Tyler's iPhone X Review - YouTube

We have guest Cameron Whitman, professional photographer and photo editor at Stocksy United, and we packed as many pro tips as possible into one hour. These are the lessons we wish we had learned earlier in our photography careers, and some mistakes we want to help you avoid.Special Guest: Cameron Whitman.Links: Our Salty Kitchen - Daniel & Cameron's food blog Stocksy United Understanding Histograms in Photography Underexposing vs. Overexposing Shutter Speed vs. Focal Length Rule Back to Basics - Aperture Why Leveling the Horizon in Photos Isn't Easy

I brought my oldest friend (and older cousin) who runs the agency Brandsmith to talk about running a small creative business and our favorite iPhone apps. Then I talk to a developer behind Spark Camera, one of my new favourite apps for quick video edits. Special Guests: Dominique Yahyavi and Shea Kerwood.Links: Spark Camera - Easy video editor Brandsmith - Elevating Brands, Calgary Alberta

We start off with some basic tips that can make any video feel way more cinematic, without spending a dime on gear. Then get some ProTips from YouTuber Brandon Havard who is known for his gorgeous tech reviews, and has shot video for top YouTubers like MKBHD and Jonathan Morrison. Lighting, lens choice, camera movement, shot planning, we cover a lot a of ground here.Special Guest: Brandon Havard.Links: Dracast - LED Video Lights Brandon's iPhone X review Brandon's Pixel 2 Review Tyler's iPhone X review (4K) 101 Things I Learned in Film School: Neil Landau, Matthew Frederick: 8601406529557: Amazon.com: Books

I had the very exciting surprise of being invited by Apple to a private workshop in New York. We were about a dozen creative professionals that got to spend some quality time app developers and professional photographers to learn how to get the most out of the iPhone when we shoot Fashion Week. I’m going to share what I learned with you guys. Then we talk to The Brotographer, Ross Thomas, who has been doing extensive testing of the most hyped camera of 2018, the Sony A7R III. Specifically he’s been testing a lot of the autofocus features and how it performs Canon, Sigma and Tamron lenses. Special Guest: Ross Thomas.Links: Spark Camera @jessedriftwood on Instagram Lightroom CC Filmic Pro The Brotographer | Photography Reviews, Tutorials, Style Sony A7RIII eye autofocus with Canon L series lenses - YouTube Sigma China Confirmed Sony FE Lenses Soon

Choosing a camera is not only hard because there are a ton of options out there, there’s also a ton of GREAT options. All the big camera manufacturers are making great products but they still have specific strengths and weaknesses depending on what your photographic needs are. 

To dive into this in extreme detail I sat down with Chris Niccolls from The Camera Store in Calgary, or as you probably know him, host of The Camera Store TV. I’m pretty familiar with the cameras I own, but TCSTV put every camera through serious real world tests, so I always look to their opinion before I buy a new camera. Entry Budget If you’re moving up from a phone to camera for the first time you probably don’t want to spend too much until you figure out if this hobby is going to last or not. A few years back it was easy to spot the lower image quality from a cheaper camera, but thats no longer the case. A few hundred bucks can buy most of the image quality you would find in the gear pros use. As you spend more the difference of image quality starts to be smaller, and lot of what you’re paying for is improved usability, for example autofocus and ergonomics. 

But if you buy the Nikon D3400, Canon T6i or Sony A6000 you can take photos that no one will know aren’t coming out of a $10,000 system. 
Compact Cameras Smart phones have sucked all the air out of the room for smaller format cameras, but they still have their place. If a big camera feels like too much of burden, you can still get a slight quality boost over your phone with little pocket size cameras like the Panasonic ZS100, Canon G5X or Sony RX100 IV. Because of their small sensor size, they can more easily offer a bigger zoom range that’s harder to achieve with larger sensor cameras, great video quality, image stabilization and raw support. Micro Four Thirds This in-between sensor size has really come in to it’s own lately, with minimal trade offs in quality and huge advantages in cost and camera size. The only things you’re really giving up are extreme low light performance (although that’s changing with the Panasonic GH5S) and you’ll have a harder time getting bokelicious blurry backgrounds. Check out the Panasonic GH5, Olympus or Fuji XT20 to name only a few of this versatile format. APS-C A lot of people look down on any sensor that is smaller than full frame, but don’t forget that many hollywood films are shot on almost example this size of sensor/film, but the cinema version is Super35, which is obviously a way cooler name. In this category image quality is getting close to the plateau, with tons of dynamic range, impressive low light performance and a more affordable selection of lenses than it’s bigger brother, full frame. Some cameras to look at are the Canon 80D, Nikon D500 and Sony A6500, which have different strengths but will all make your photography look professional. Full Frame 35mm is most commonly used format for professionals of all time. This is the size of the film you used growing up, it what most of the top of the line lenses are optimized for, and I promise you will love shooting on it. You’ll notice a bump in quality from APS-C when you compare dynamic range and low light noise, but let’s be honest. You probably want it to get a sexy blur in the background. Every brand has an affordable way to get started, just a buy a 50mm from Canon, Nikon, Sony, or whatever brand you go with and open that aperture wide. If sharp critical focus is important to you try a long lens, like the venerable 70-200mm. 

I have a lot to say about camera in this range, since that’s typically what I buy, but for now I will just direct you to the Canon 5D IV, Nikon D850, Sony A7RIII and Leica M10. You can get lost all day researching these beautiful machines. That’s it You’ve got your work ahead of you! I just pointed you in a few directions, but now the fun part is scoring the internet for reviews, samples, and tests to find exactly the right match for you. I strongly recommend DPReview for their incredibly in depth camera reviews, and for lenses go to ImagingResource where they do really helpful comparisons. Special Guest: Chris Niccolls.