VIDEO DREAMS STREAM INTO PHOTOGRAPHY/2


Marc Ludwig with Elliot Erwitt. © FotoTV 2010

None of the programs that I have watched so far has been a super-sophisticated Hollywood or Bollywood-challenging production, Each as been simple, direct, informative with good quality video ... usually a single camera set-up, but unlike a lot of videos on the web, careful attention had been paid to the clarity and quality of the sound. I can live without whizz-bang production techniques, but I really want to hear what is going on. Top marks FotoTV.

The first video seems to have been posted on March 14, 2008 and since then another 188 have been made — that's better than one a week. Most seem to abe around 10 minutes long so there's a staggering 33 hours or so of viewing in the back catalogue. With more being added every week. Makes the €49.95 subscription fee look even better value.

Best of all is the sheer variety of the material on offer. Subjects range from interviews with photographers as well known as Elliot Erwitt and Joel Meyerwitz to how to videos on lighting, film speed to biographical pieces on photographers such as O E Hoppé to overviews of collecting photographs and books.

There are also new segments that look at recent developments in products, highlight web sites and show portfolios of images. The latest version — Number 4 — looks at Photoshop CS5, a web site and a small porfolio of the work of Leonard Nimoy that suggests he should have taken up photography as a career rather than acting.


One of the programs I watched was a tutorial on the use of a RINGLIGHT, which I think is a great idea as it is a constant light source enabling photographers to easily control shadows in portraiture.  Click Next to watch the video.

Next
Home Contact