Light painting master Dennis Calvert (whose work we featured back in October) created this interesting time-lapse making of video showing how he created one of his epic photographs, titled “Thermodynamic Engineering“.
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Hyperspectral cameras are capable of collecting and processing information across the electromagnetic spectrum and beyond what the human eye can see. The technology ordinarily costs a fortune to get a hold of, but scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have figured out how to create a hyperspectral camera using an ordinary DSLR (the Canon 5D) and an adapter made of off-the-shelf parts (PVC pipes, a gel filter, and three camera lenses). The camera still has a ways to go in many areas — it requires several seconds to exposes images rather than milliseconds — but it’s a big step towards showing what’s possible with consumer camera technology.
(via Vienna University of Technology via The Verge)
You probably already know that it’s not a good idea to include your expensive camera gear with check in luggage, but what if you have no choice? If you must, then putting your gear inside a hard-sided “spinner” suitcase with four wheels is your best bet. The Huffington Post has published an interesting interview with an anonymous baggage handler, who gives the following advice:
Hard-sided suitcases will get less damage, but also look for well-designed handles that are attached with rivets and some sort of protection around the wheels. Speaking of wheels, the best bags to get are the “spinners” with four wheels on the bottom. We like these because we don’t have to throw them when loading. We just roll them down the belly of the plane so your bag and its contents will suffer much less damage.
The handler reveals that bags are commonly subjected to all kinds of abuse due to the strict schedules the handlers must abide by.
Confessions of An Airline Baggage ‘Thrower’ (via Lifehacker)
The US is following the UK’s lead in banning advertisements for having too much digital manipulation. The National Advertising Division, a US watchdog that imposes self-regulation on the ad industry, has banned a CoverGirl mascara ad by Procter & Gamble because Photoshop was used to make the girl’s eyelashes thicker than they were in real life. Even though the enhancement was disclosed in the ad itself, NAD wasn’t satisfied, saying,
You can’t use a photograph to demonstrate how a cosmetic will look after it is applied to a woman’s face and then – in the mice type – have a disclosure that says ‘okay, not really.’
The NAD says that it’s following the lead of its sister body in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority. Back in June, ASA banned a makeup ad featuring Julia Roberts for being too manipulated.
(via Business Insider)
Want to turn your room into giant camera obscura? Photographer Justin Quinnell (whose work we featured back in June) has created a Camera Obscura Kit that makes the conversion easy. Each kit contains a projection lens, a mount template, velcro tape, a projection sheet, and a handheld screen. They cost £25 apiece over on Quinnell’s website.
Camera Obscura Kit (via phototuts+)
If you’re curious as to which prime lenses Canon has marked for refreshing, recently filed patents may hold the answer. The lineup consists of a 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2.0, 135mm f/2.0, and 200mm f/2.0. There are also rumors that a 35mm f/1.4 Mark II is already floating around in the wild, which suggests that it will be officially announced in the near future.
(via Egami via Photo Rumors via Canon Rumors)
Image credit: Canon L series Primes – 35mm F/1.4 by Benjamin Ellis
For her project titled Marked, photographer Claire Felicie shot close-up portraits of the marines in the 13th infantry company of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps before, during, and after their deployment from 2009-2010. She then arranged the portraits into haunting triptychs that show the toll war has on a person’s eyes and face.
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Ashley Ambirge of the middle finger project on pricing your services the right way on your website:
[...] there’s wiggle room. Most of the time, there’s wiggle room. And most of the time when people tell you they don’t have the money, they’re lying–they just don’t think it’s worth the money.
Your job is to show them that it is.
She also warns against being secretive about your fees. Research has found that if no price is listed on the website, most people click away assuming that the fees are too expensive for them.
List Your Prices (THE RIGHT WAY) (via APhotoEditor)
Image credit: Price tags by jamesks
Singapore-based design agency One Paradox came up with this nifty idea for a promotional handbag for the Canon 500D DSLR. The camera strap handles make it the perfect bag for any photographers’ trip to the grocery store.
In August 2005, a UK student named Alex Tew launched a creative project called The Million Dollar Homepage. It was a simple webpage containing 1 million pixels that he sold to advertisers for $1 each. The idea quickly went viral, and Tew became a millionaire less than six months after launching it. The Most Expensive Picture is a new photo website that may make its owners rich in a similar way. Anyone can upload a photograph to the website, but for a price: you’ll need to pay $1 more than the person before you. Each photo is featured for at least an hour before new submissions are accepted, and the first 300 submissions will be turned into a book (which all the submitters will receive).
