How to Create Dynamic Aerial Photos with the Camera Toss|Matt Shumate
Welcome to Time Out with Tanya, where I’ve put my fast paced graphic design career on hold in favor of adventures in motherhood. I’m capturing every moment on camera and you can come along, if you’d like. Sign up for my weekly email here so you’ll never miss a Time Out.
The first time I saw one of Matt Shumate’s aerial wedding photos, I was intrigued. Whenever he posts one on his Facebook page (you should totally follow him, trust me), they get a lot of attention. Everyone is always asking how he creates these images? Drone? Very tall ladder? When I found out he actually tosses his Nikon D3S camera with Sigma 12-24 mkII lens in the air I was like, “No. Way!” I had to see it for myself.
Luckily, Matt is a friend and a really good sport, because he agreed to be a guinea pig in my very first attempt at creating a video interview. In this behind-the-scenes look at his camera toss technique, he walks us through the whole process of creating these seemingly impossible shots.
We hiked to the top of a nature preserve area here in Spokane where there are some rocky cliffs and huge boulders among marshy little ponds. With his Nikon, including battery grip and a radio trigger, he simply tosses the camera in the air, giving it a little spin, and takes several shots from different angles. We included a section about gear in the video. Make sure you watch through the end after the credits for an extra special bonus.
Isn’t that cool???? If you’re curious to see how Matt edits himself out of the images for the final composition, you’re in luck because he made a tutorial. Voila! Watch it here:
I could not have made this video without the help of some very special friends. Thanks to Jessica Mumm for doing a fantastic job at editing all my footage, Clara Wilson for being a second shooter and taking some behind the scenes shots and Robin Villines in her modeling debut! We had a fun time and I think we made a pretty decent video with very minimal gear. Would you like to know how I did it?
CREDITS: Photographs by Matt Shumate are copyrighted and have been used with permission for SLR Lounge. Do not copy, modify or re-post this article or images without express permission from SLR Lounge and the artist.
Hey Matt, glad I was able to help you out! Keep up the good work man!
I think I will stick to trying to capture real moments. Lots of these overheads look pretty fakey.
Thank goodness you shared thatI was wondering what you were going to do!
I think that if I was an insurer I would consider this reckless and would be disinclined to pay out..
Guess I’d better not drop it then.
Sorry i love my gear
I am not gonna do this :)
Thats rad ! seriously awesome photos ! Dangerous for sure but i guess if your not too worried about it dropping then why not ! I think ill try it with one of my old crop sensor bodies!
Looks awesome and this works for this particular photographer, but we definitely shouldn’t all be doing it :) Especially people like me who are 99% sure they’d drop it, I was never great at catching!
Way too dangerous for my taste. Too much of a chance you’ll drop the camera… even worse, hit your subject with the flying object. Not happening here.
I hope that I have the balls to do this one do. At this time I can’t afford a replacement camera if my hand-eye coordination decides to fail me.
Matt, what’s the reason for spinning the camera when tossing it up?
The cenfrifugal force keeps it pointed down.
Love all the experts chiming in! Isn’t there a Canon/Nikon debate somewhere you’re missing?
“Love all the experts chiming in! Isn’t there a Canon/Nikon debate somewhere you’re missing?” Matt – was I claiming to be an expert? And what’s with the “Canon/Nikon debate” comment? Perhaps you’re projecting or reading into my question too much?
I agree with Nick, it did come across as a little snarky and mean. Nick said nothing bad about Matt’s technique and asked a valid question about spinning the camera.
I apologize Nick. I didn’t mean this as a response to you at all. It was meant for the bottom of the post where there are numerous comments that are basically irrelevant to the article. I’m not sure why it was reposted as a reply to you.
You’re absolutely right John. It wasn’t meant as a response to Nick at all. You can see I sincerely answered his question. The snark was meant to match the snark in comments posted by others at the bottom. It was a mistake that it was labeled as a response.
Just because something is different and interesting, doesn’t mean you should do it, like train track photography. There are much safer ways to get these kinds of shots, I used to do the camera toss way back in 2008, but quickly realized how risky it was to myself, others and the gear. Invest $50 into a Maven Adapter, put your camera on an extended pole, and it eliminates all these risks: http://youtu.be/TUWlkZByG5o
Great video and amazing to see how it’s done! Love the final images :)
Thanks!
Just tried it with a D90 and a kit lens. Only tossed it about 8 feet above my head. Didn’t drop the thing but the rotation is difficult to get correct. Not sure I’ll toss anything more expensive up in the air but I’m definitely going to give this a try. Anyone willing to lay on the ground and be my model?
The balance of rotating it is much easier with a big body or a battery pack.
I’ll give that a try.
Nope :-)
That was really cool. I would try if I had more than one camera and could afford a second. Might buy a cheap camera to try first.
Matt even states that this has been a great way to engage the wedding party, to make the photography part of the experience, and he gets some great shots doing. It’s his kit, his choice, and he’s making it work.
I never played baseball, but I tempted to give this a try ;)
Thanks for pointing that out. I feel like it’s being missed. The experience part of of the process for the other people involved is the biggest reason why I do it. People LOVE it. Fortunately the end product is pretty rad too.
I think it was a setup when the camera fell..similar to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ineSsjwIAqI
btw it was a setup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UHMsdhPbY0
this throwing thing is just ridiculous. I use a monopod or even light stand with boom arm on it at times. just seems like in every way that its just not a smart idea. breaking your gear, hurting people, having to do the shot multiple times to get it right. maybe just a ploy for exposure..
Yup. The dropped one was a joke. The camera died while snorkeling in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I was holding on to it to use for something fun. For most people throwing the camera in the air is a bad idea. When you’ve spent your whole life throwing and catching things, it’s a piece of cake.
My camera is most safe when it’s in the air. It’s the only part of the day when I’m 100% paying attention to it. It’s far more likely to be dropped when I’m just walking around.
For a hobbyist photographer like me, throwing my life savings up in the air and hoping to catch it would be a nightmare. Love the last part of the video, I jumped from my couch yelling “oh c***” when he dropped the camera.
I’m a total klutz, so…NO…I will not be trying this.
I’m thinking this wouldn’t be covered by equipment insurance if the insurance company knows or finds out the camera is being thrown. — I’ll stick to a mono pod or a modified painters pole.
Soo…i got this really tall ass ladder on hand here with me..y’know just saying is all. ( ._.)
Great article/video and especially liked the video showing the editing process. I freaked when he dropped the camera!!! Monopod for me thank you!!!
Every time the camera went up I cringed <_<
Not sure the risk outweighs the benefit. Loosing $3,000 on a nice set up by throwing it in the air isn’t my thing :)
Greg, I couldn’t do it either. This totally fit’s Matt’s style and philosophy of basically doing anything to get the shot he wants. He’s a little unconventional, which is what his clients like about him. I think that’s why it works for him.
If there was a risk, I wouldn’t do it either. Some people can run fast, some can jump high, some of us just have good hand/eye coordination. Lots of 3rd base playing in my background.
Really enjoyable video. Before I watched it and just looked at the photos I thought to myself – “no way”, because I HATE heights. I was not expecting what he demonstrated. Very cool.
Watching this on YouTube, one of the next videos is from DigitalRev on “How To Be A Camera Tosser”. Here’s a whole new genre I didn’t know anything about!
Mike Larson was doing this years ago.
http://youtu.be/F35Sn5gAhDg
Yeah, I was gonna say, I think this is definitely “Mike Larsoning” hahaha. He definitely owned this technique many years ago.
Based on that YouTube video of Mike Larson, it looks like Matt’s technique is a bit different. Larson throws the camera up and is rotates end over end, which I think would give you less opportunity for a shot of people on the ground. With Matt’s toss, the lens stays pointing to the ground. While his camera spins, the lens is always down.
I think that one video I posted is misleading- the other videos I’ve seen of Mike has him rotating the camera with the lens pointing down. Also he uses the intravolometer feature so it fires off several shots while in the air. Looks like Mike throws his up a lot higher too. I’d still use a light stand or something though. Less PS work in the end.
What the heck! Ballsy for sure. For both the photographer and the client haha. Was that a fake camera he dropped at the end?
Yes, it was already broken. We totally planned it. Is that totally ruining it for everyone?????
haha! That is so awesome! I would have totally done the same with mine :)
Throw your camera in the air like you just don’t care!
Make sure you have good hand-eye coordination or else you’ll be out a camera. Curious how the camera fared after that drop…
Lots & lots of baseball in my background. Throwing and catching is pretty much second nature.
The dropped camera had already met its demise under the ocean in Hawaii. Shhhhh…
Crazy!
Thanks!
That’s really cool and ballsy, but question, how high would you say he throws the camera in the air?
Well, I’m not the best judge of distance but I would say 4 to 6 feet?
It’s between 15-20 feet off the ground.
Ok. Because in the video it only looked like 10ft or so which had me wondering why a 6ft (?) guy needed to toss his camera in the air just to get a extra 4ft. Now that i think about it people toss babies in the air all the time (not as high but hey) so it’s not that hard to believe people would do this with cameras. Checked out your site and its really amazin what you have up there :)
Yup. I’m the guy who was tossing his daughters in the air to make them laugh all the time (until they got too big). Never dropped one of them either.
Make sure you have your liability insurance before you attempt.. or perhaps just a monopod??
A monopod might be just as effective and a bit safer.
If you’re a working photographer, liability insurance is a must, regardless of what techniques are used. :)
Also, that would have to be 2 monopods duct taped together to get it high enough.