November 2011

Photographs Launched into Space on the Voyager Space Probes

If you had the task of choosing some photos that represented Earth and mankind to extraterrestrial life forms, which photos would you select? NASA had to do this back in 1977 when it launched the Voyager space probes, which are now the farthest human-made objects from Earth. A committee led by Carl Sagan eventually settled on 116 images:

[...] a collection of 116 pictures (one of which is for calibration) detailing but not limited to human life on earth and the planet itself. Many pictures are annotated with one or many indications of scales of time, size or mass. Some images also contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are first defined in the first few images using physical references.

Among the photos chosen was Ansel Adam's famous Snake River and Grand Tetons photograph.

How to Make a Photo of a Bouncing Baby

An earlier post here on PetaPixel showcased a wonderful image of a flock of cell phones and the method used to create it. In a rather snarky comment, I said to get back to me when they started tossing babies, and linked to my daughter merrily jumping in her crib with her toys. Mike was kind enough to approach me about writing up a small walk-through on how I created my image, and who can honestly turn down a chance to show off their baby daughter looking so cute?

Air Camera Concept Shoots When You Pretend to Take a Picture

What if framing a scene with your fingers actually caused photos to be created? Air Camera is a clever camera concept by designer Yeon Su Kim that would make that idea a reality. It consists of two components: a ring-like camera worn on the thumb, and a tension-sensing device worn on the forefinger. If the tension unit senses that you're making a camera gesture, it triggers the camera to snap a photo. Make a video camera gesture, and it begins recording video! The resulting photos would also be synced automatically with your smartphone.

Fine Art Photographs Shot by Google’s Street View Cars

We've seen that Google Street View imagery is capable of winning photojournalism awards, but how would the camera-equipped cars do as fine art photographers? Photographer Aaron Hobson has a fascinating gallery of fine art-style photographs found in Street View -- cinematic photos that would look great blown up and exhibited on museum walls.

First Photos of the Nikon D800 Leaked

The Nikon D800 has been rumored for quite some time, but was reportedly delayed last month after production was halted by the massive floods in Thailand. If you've been frustrated with the lack of Nikon news on the DSLR front, here's something that should tide you over temporarily: photos of the upcoming Nikon D800 were leaked this past weekend.

The World’s Smallest Wet Plate Camera

Kevin Klein has a hobby of miniaturizing Victorian technology, and recently he made the world's smallest wet plate camera using 1/32-inch plywood and other wood materials. The camera is only a little bigger than a quarter, and shoots miniature 1/2-inch square plate images.

Cheap Ring Light Made for $20 Using Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Caleb Barrett wanted a simple ring light to play around with, so he built himself one for just $20 using built himself a makeshift ring light using eight cheap compact fluorescent light bulbs. The lights are pretty dim and have a horrible color rendering index, but are fun to play around with if you're just looking for something to experiment with.

A Homemade Potato Chip Tube Lens

John Sypal of Tokyo Camera Style spotted a photographer on the streets of Tokyo using this homemade lens created out of a potato chip tube. It captures photos that show the world in a glass-like sphere, with everything else blurred.

How to Photograph a Flock of Phones

Award winning Korean photo studio Indylab shot this award winning advertisement without the aid of computer generated imagery. Instead, they manually tossed and photographed phones one at a time, and then composited all the images afterward.

12,225 Mile Road Trip Around America in a 5-Minute Time-Lapse

Brian DeFrees spent two months between August and October of this year driving a giant loop around the United States on a 12,225-mile-long road trip. He captured a photo every 5 seconds using an intervalometer with his Canon 60D while in his car, and by creating individual time-lapse videos when parked or exploring an area. The result is this epic 5-minute long time-lapse.

How to Make Your Gloves Compatible with Touchscreen Cameras

We've featured special gloves and mittens designed for photographers before, but what if your camera uses a touchscreen instead of physical controls? Here's a video by Make's Becky Stern showing how you can sew some conductive thread into your glove to make it compatible with capacitive touchscreens.

Epic Photos of Lasers Slicing Through the Night Sky

European Southern Observatory photo ambassador Yuri Beletsky shot a series of epic photos showing astronomers shooting powerful laser beams into the night sky. The photo above showing a laser beam pointed at the center of our galaxy was voted as last year's Picture of the Year over at Wikipedia.

The Most Eye-Catching DSLR Ever

We never thought we'd say it, but someone finally found a DSLR that makes Pentax's limited edition models look bland. Erle Kaasik was walking on a sidewalk in Seattle when she walked past a woman using this eye-popping Canon DSLR and 28-135mm lens that a local artist had decorated. It looks like someone mistook the camera for a cupcake or something.

Giving Away a Large Stretched Canvas and a $300 Gift Card

Update: This giveaway is now over. The winner was randomly selected and announced below.

Hello peoples. We're back this week with another awesome giveaway. This week one lucky winner will receive a couple great prizes graciously donated by UPrinting: a 2x3 foot canvas print made using your photo (worth $122) and a $300 gift certificate to a camera store of your choice!

Mountain Biking Photos Captured with a Chest-Mounted DSLR

Many extreme athletes these days use helmet-mounted HD cameras for photos and videos captured from a first person point of view, but photographer Justin Olsen does things a little differently: he uses a chest-mounted DSLR. Using a custom rig created for him by a local sewing shop, Olsen snaps his unique photos using a 15mm on a Canon 1D Mark III or a 5D Mark II, and a PocketWizard to trigger the shutter wirelessly.

Star Wars-Themed Engagement Photos

Now here's something we haven't seen before: a Star Wars-themed engagement shoot. All you need are two working lightsabers and a couple crazy enough about the franchise to do it. These photos were shot by San Jose-based photographer Michael James.

Fuji’s Upcoming Mirrorless Camera May Pack a Revolutionary Organic Sensor

If you're a fan of Fujifilm's X100 and X10, then you might want to brace yourself: the company's next camera might be the one mirrorless camera to rule them all. Fujifilm's upcoming mirrorless camera will likely have the same sleek styling as the X100, but with one colossal difference: a revolutionary new "organic sensor". Fuji has been developing the technology for years now, and the new camera -- supposedly named the Fujifilm LX -- is rumored to be the first to pack the sensor.

Apesnake: A Photobooth Triggered by Facial Expressions

The Apesnake Photobooth is a novel photobooth triggered by facial expressions. Created by Che-Wei Wang & David Penuela, it detects the eyes and mouth of the subject and triggers the shutter on a Canon 1000D when they're found to match a desired expression (they chose the Manwolf face). The booth also automatically uploads photographs to a dedicated Facebook page.

How Quickly a Camera Bag Can Be Stolen

If you're ever sitting down in a public place with your camera bag, having it close by isn't enough to protect it from theft -- you need to make sure it can't be easily snatched. Tom Bird of the UK learned this the hard way: he was at a pub recently when his camera bag suddenly disappeared. It's contents? Just thousands of dollars worth of gear including a Canon 5D Mark II, a 24-70mm f/2.8, a 50mm f/1.2, a 16-35mm f/2.8 and a laptop.

Portraits That Recreate Paintings by the Old Masters

Photographer Josef Fischnaller shoots portraits that recreate famous paintings by the Old Masters, often including some humorous modern day elements in the scene. The photos remind us of the "Remake" contest photos that we shared a couple months ago.