September 2011

What if Steve Jobs was the CEO of a Camera Company?

Suppose Apple hadn't abandoned its digital camera business. What effect would Steve Jobs and his team have had on the cameras we use today? Photo enthusiast Karim Ghantous thought about this recently, and came up with the following list of things he thinks Jobs might have pushed for.

Instagram Filters That Missed the Cut

Instagram's popular filters have spent the last year permeating into every corner of the photographic world, but for every one that was included in the app, thousands are left on the cutting room floor. Blake Williams over at Keepsy was given a behind-the-scenes peek into some of the filters that didn't make the cut. The one above was named "Dirty Bird".

Dad Photoshops Family Trip Photos to Convince His Kids that Ewoks Exist

It's a big no-no when newspapers or photographers manipulate photos to alter reality, but when a father playfully does it to mess with his kids there's a big potential for awesome. Graphic designer Anthony Herrera recently did just that, and his story is now making the rounds on the Internet:

A year ago we took a trip to Sequoia National Park. I wanted to excite my daughter while being in such amazing surroundings. Being the Star Wars geek that I am (so is she), I told her that this is where the Ewoks live. She spent a good chunk of our time hiking keeping a lookout for any Ewoks. Coming home I can't say that she wasn't disappointed that we didn't find any. I had to explain that they are extremely shy and hardly ever let anyone see them. After we got home, and after I had a little time alone with the photos, I told her I thought I saw something strange in a few pictures. We viewed them on the TV to get a larger image. You can imagine how surprised and excited she was when we discovered that we didn't see any Ewoks, but they saw us, and had certainly taken an interest in her and her little brother. Maybe I'm a little wrong for lying to her and falsifying the pictures, but I don't care. She'll never forget the time she spent in the big woods with Ewoks.

Spray Can Light Makes Light Painting Fun for Graffiti Artists

Light painting is sometimes called light graffiti, but who does graffiti with flashlights? Halo is a neat light-painting tool designed by Aïssa Logerot that makes painting with light feel much more natural for people accustomed to creating... less-legal forms of art. Shaped like an aerosol can of spray paint, the tool includes interchangeable LED lights for painting in different colors and a battery inside that recharges when the can is shaken.

Use the Self Timer on Your Camera for Spinning Child Shots

Here's a fun photo project you can do with any small kid (preferably not a stranger's): spinning shots. All you have to do is set the self timer on your camera to automatically take a shot while it's hanging around your neck. While it's counting down, grab the child by the arms and spin them around. If luck is on your side, the photograph will show a clear subject, happy face, and motion-blurred background.

Photo Sharing App Color to Relaunch with Deep Facebook Integration

Color -- the much-hyped but largely ignored photo sharing app -- is back, and this time it's built entirely around Facebook. One of the main reasons for the app's failure the first time around was the fact that the photo sharing relied on proximity, a huge problem for new users when no one around is using it. Now, founder Bill Nguyen is trying to avoid the "ghost town" problem by harnessing the power of Facebook's social graph.

Interview with Allen Murabayashi, CEO of PhotoShelter

Allen Murabayashi is the co-founder and CEO of PhotoShelter.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Allen Murabayashi: I was born and raised in Honolulu, and had a pretty early love affair with photography. One of my childhood friends, Jon Emura, had a neighbor who had us over one weekend afternoon to show us how to use an SLR and light meter. After that, my dad let me borrow his Olympus OM-10 to take pictures.

When I was in 7th grade, my parents took a trip to Hong Kong and got me an Olympus OM-4, and I was in Heaven. I wasn't a great photographer, but I was always taking pictures from junior high onwards.

Madness: Magnum Photogs Promoting the Nintendo 3DS as a Camera

What has the world come to? Apparently the prestigious Magnum Photos has partnered with Nintendo to promote the Nintendo 3DS as a camera. Photographers Martin Parr, Thomas Dworzak and Gueorgui Pinkhassov used the handheld gaming device to shoot a series of 3D photos that were then put on display in an exhibition held at the Magnum Gallery in Paris.