Category Archives: Canon EOS 5D

Find Your Place: Spec Running Shoe Ad Shot on Canon 5D

By Kirk Mastin | Published April 11, 2011

My fellow friend and fellow photographer Michael Hanson and I went out  for a few hours and shot a quick, simple, and hopefully inspiring running shoe ad.

It was a culmination of ideas we are throwing around on how to make emotional ads for outdoor companies in a short time frame and with very little gear. I think it turned out well and we are stoked to make a few more of these this Summer for clients.

Equipment:

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 50mm 1.4

Canon 70-200 2.8 IS

Canon 45mm 2.8 Tilt Shift

Edited in Final Cut Pro

Graded with Magic Bullet Looks

Logistics:

Planning time: 3 hours

Shoot time: 3 hours

Edit time: 4 hours

Total time spent on this video: 10 hours

Also posted in DSLR Cinema, lo-fi, video | 2 Comments

Hyper-local journalism in the Czech Republic

By Kirk Mastin | Published December 5, 2009

The nitty gritty:

FUTUROOM is an experiment in hyper-local and Social Media news reporting on a national level in the Czech Republic.

This is a story of how a national news organization was built from the ground up, based on hyper-local journalism and social media.

The finished film will be posted as soon as it is done.

Technical details:

This film was story-boarded and shot in four days.

I used a Canon HF100 camcorder, a Sennheiser Evolution G2 wireless lavaliere kit, a Manfrotto Modo tripod, and for some sequences, a Sony T500 point and shoot camera.

Total value of my equipment: $1350

Is this truly lo-fi? In this case I would say yes. This is the cheapest I could make this type of film: HD, great sound and steady shots with a tripod.

This entire setup fit inside of my small laptop bag. I had a portable shooting/editing setup wherever I went, and it was incredibly discreet and convenient.

I hope to shoot many more projects with this same setup.

-Kirk

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Merry Christmas from Oatman, AZ

By Kirk Mastin | Published December 28, 2008

Oatman, AZ

Oatman Cowboy. Oatman, AZ. 2008.

Oatman, AZ

Rebel Flag. Oatman, AZ. 2008.

Oatman, AZ

Earth Ship. Oatman, AZ. 2008.

Oatman, AZ

Open Desert. Oatman, AZ. 2008.

I’ve been down in Arizona visiting my family for Christmas for the last few days, and for the most part have not been actively creating.

Just resting.

And it feels good.

Today we visited the mining town of Oatman, Arizona to see the staged gunfights, roaming feral donkeys, hoards of tourists and fantastic shops full of the most ridiculous kitsch.

I brought my Canon 5D with 50mm lens again, since it was so easy to cart around. The whole time while in Oatman I only took a shot here or there if I felt like it.

Though I am on vacation I was able to produce several cool shots without too much mental effort. Obviously the best photo of the day was the photo of the cowboy.

While waiting for the rest of my family to exit the restaurant we were in (a famous one at that, the Oatman Hotel) this photo opportunity just fell into my lap. I saw this cowboy turn for second to light a cigarette, and I snapped a picture. He took a drag and I snapped a second picture, then the cowboy walked away.

As it turns out, the second picture was better where he’s just turned out of the wind after his first drag.

A woman whispered something to me after taking the frame:
“That’s a really nice shot, you got a good shot there, good job.”

She then went outside, stood next to the cowboy and lit up a cigar.

-Kirk

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Taking better portraits: Sonia. Capitol Hill, Seattle WA

By Kirk Mastin | Published December 14, 2008

A few days ago, I met up with a girl I photographed during the first annual all-girl alley cat race.
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At 3pm, Sonia walked down the stairs behind me and we met again. I recognized her instantly as the girl I nicknamed ‘Duran Duran’ at the race. She was dressed in a vintage prom dress that she bought to bike in as well as a brown pea-coat. Sonia had fantastic eye makeup and was exactly the kind of person I needed to photograph that day.

Continue reading »

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More 5D action: Double Rainbows + Christmas Trees

By Kirk Mastin | Published December 8, 2008

margotvisit-5

Double Rainbow. I-5. Washington, 2008.

margotvisit-3

Totem Pole. Somewhere in Oregon, 2008.

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Blue House Smoke. I-5. Washington, 2008.

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Christmas Trees. Beaverton, OR. 2008.

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We Have Secured a Tree. Beaverton, OR. 2008.

I’ve just come back from a lovely visit to my girlfriend’s sister’s house in Beaverton, Oregon.
We managed to get a great tree for real cheap (thank you economic recession.)
As usual, most of what I shot during the weekend was with the Canon 5D and either a 50mm or 90mm lens.

All I can say is that I’m forgetting what it’s like to use anything else…and I don’t care.

Nothing looks like a 50mm lens.

It’s something about the flatness of the image, the lack of distortion.

It just feels…right.

The lens I used to hate so much is now my only lens. The 90mm came along as a food lens, for some close up pics of what we baked that weekend (cupcakes.)

As time passes I have become more firm in my belief that if a picture isn’t good it isn’t good. No matter if it’s shot with the artifice of an extremely wide or extremely telephoto lens.

If it doesn’t look good as it truly is, (and the 50mm is as close to the truth as you can get…it mimics the field of view of a human, have you heard?) then you can’t make it look good.

Not in the long run. Not with fancy filters, not with any actions, no way, no how, nada.

Most of the classic photos from the past were shot with a 50mm. The original lens. The first optical formula. The easiest, simplest formula.

I love ‘normal.’

I love the 50.

-Kirk

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