May 2012

Key Patent in Kodak’s Lawsuit Against Apple Tossed by Judge

Kodak has been selling off its assets left and right as it tries to dig itself out of its financial hole. Most recently, it "successfully" sold its Gallery business to Shutterfly. But Kodak's most prized possession, and the sale it was hoping to make up the most ground with, is its massive collection of patents split into two portfolios.

19 Poses in 30 Seconds for a Fashion Cover Photograph

Canadian fashion model Coco Rocha is quite talented at "freestyling" poses, or doing a bunch of useable poses off the top of her head in rapid succession. Last year a video showing Rocha doing 50 poses in 30 seconds went viral on the web. The video above shows her doing 19 "action poses" in just 30 seconds for a fashion cover shoot. Who knew modeling required so much cardio?

Chinese Government Goofs Again With a ‘Floating Inspectors’ Photoshop Fail

Chinese government officials never seem to learn. If you've been following us for a while, you may remember the Chinese government's Photoshop fail from last year, where three officials were supposedly inspecting a road, but instead looked more like they were floating above it. And on May 9th five more government inspectors were immortalized floating around, this time inspecting a park.

Diptychs of People and Their Dream Living Locations

Dreamland is a series of diptychs by Italian photographer Francesca Guadagnini that's based around the simple question "where would you like to live?". Guadagnini shot portraits of the subjects and then photos of their answers as well, creating images that offer a small peek into the brain and personality of each person.

Pulp Fiction Photos Using Book Covers

Artist Thomas Allen creates vintage scenes by cutting up pulp fiction book covers and turning them into dioramas. He also uses depth of field and lighting to add an extra dimension to the scenes.

Flashed Face Distortion Effect Makes Ordinary Portraits Look Hideous

If you ever create a slideshow of portraits, you might want to avoid showing them aligned side-by-side with a gap in between. The video above shows a crazy optical illusion that researchers have dubbed the "Flashed Face Distortion Effect". By flashing ordinary portraits aligned at the eyes, the human brain begins to compare and exaggerate the differences, causing the faces to seem hideous and ogre-like. Researcher Matthew Thompson writes,

Like many interesting scientific discoveries, this one was an accident. Sean Murphy, an undergraduate student, was working alone in the lab on a set of faces for one of his experiments. He aligned a set of faces at the eyes and started to skim through them. After a few seconds, he noticed that some of the faces began to appear highly deformed and grotesque. He looked at the especially ugly faces individually, but each of them appeared normal or even attractive.

Self-Portrait Machine Turns Your Hand Into a Photo Printer

"Blind Self-Portrait" is a project by artists Kyle McDonald and Matt Mets that's based around a machine that can help you turn photographs into sketches. The machine constantly track's the subject's face using a camera and translates the image into a line-drawing and x- and y-coordinates. The user then rests their hand on the machine's "hand" and presses a pen into a piece of paper. The robot hand does the rest of the work, guiding the hand into drawing the photograph as the person sits back and watches the magic happen.

Pentax Announces the K-30: A Weather-Sealed Mid-Level DSLR

Pentax has officially announced its new K-30 DSLR, a mid-level weather-sealed camera that's geared towards active outdoor photographers. In addition to its durable build, the camera features a 16MP APS-C sensor, 6fps burst mode, speed autofocus with 9/11 cross-type points, in-camera stabilization (4 stops), 60fps Live View, an optical viewfinder with 100% coverage, a 3-inch LCD screen, dual electronic diables, 1080p HD video recording, ISO 100-12800 (expandable to 25600), and three body colors (white, blue, and black).

Forced Perspective Photographs with Souvenirs

Germany-based freelance photographer Michael Hughes is an avid traveler and has visited over 200 countries. Throughout his travels, he has been working on a running photo series in which he places souvenirs found at various locations into shots of the tourist locations themselves. The famous landmarks in his photographs are replaced with miniature models, pen holders, and even paper cups.

DIY Backpack OctoDome for Lighting Solo Shoots

When photographer Ian Spanier was assigned to shoot 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler at his home in Vegas, the budget wouldn't allow him to hire an assistant. Still, this was an important shoot, the editor of Muscular Development had stuck his neck out to get him this gig, and he wanted to do as good a job as possible. So instead of depending on natural light, or shooting with a standard top mount flash, he decided to hack together something better.

Photographer’s Images Prove that Bear Was At Fault for Breaking Rented Gear

Depending on your subject matter, it can be a very good idea to take out a damage waiver when renting camera equipment. Wildlife photographer Andrew Kane learned this recently after renting gear from LensRentals for a shoot in Yellowstone. Here's his account of how the borrowed equipment ended up broken:

I recently rented a D4, Wimberly head, and 600VR from you, and the day before yesterday, I had a little bit of an accident. I was photographing a coyote here in Yellowstone and I followed it into the woods about 300yds away from the road. As I am taking pictures of the coyote, I heard twigs breaking behind me, and as I turned around I saw it was a grizzly bear. I picked up the tripod with the D4 and 600 on it and slowly started to back away. The bear got closer and closer as I tried to back up. When the bear got to within 20 yds. of me, I bumped into a brush pile that I could not lift the tripod over, so I had no choice but to leave the gear and continue away from the bear.

Tree Leaves as “Pinhole Cameras” During a Solar Eclipse

If you went outdoors to observe the solar eclipse yesterday, you might have noticed that the shadows cast by trees had suddenly become quite strange. The tiny gaps between leaves act as pinhole lenses, projecting crescent shaped images of the eclipsed sun onto the world below.

Ricoh Patents Shock-Absorbing Lens Caps

As the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but why not make it better? That's probably the attitude Ricoh is approaching their newest patent with, because they're making modifications to one of the few pieces of camera equipment that hasn't changed since the early days -- the lens cap.

30 Minute Video Limit in Digital Cameras May Be On Its Way Out

News recently broke that the 30 minute (or rather 29 minute and 59 second) time limit on DSLR video may soon be a thing of the past. Interestingly however, the reason for the potential change has nothing to do with updated hardware or software. The only reason DSLRs don't already shoot longer video is because camera manufacturers want to bypass the 5.6% duty applied to video cameras, and the time limit allows them to avoid being classified as such.

This Extremely Detailed Olympus Trip 35 Pendant Actually “Works”

Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter recently got his hands on this amazing handmade camera pendant by jeweller Luke Satoru. The attention to detail is amazing: it's a tiny Olympus Trip 35 camera crafted from multiple pieces of brass, and the various components actually work! You can open up the back to look at the film plane, turn the rewind knob, move the advance winder, and the whole shebang.

Lomography Bringing 110 Format Film Back from the Grave

Bad news in the world of film is pretty common these days; we're constantly hearing about film being discontinued or prices being jacked up. But, once in a while, there's a glimmer of hope for those who still prefer the world of analogue to digital. And one such glimmer came recently in the form of toy camera company Lomography, which has decided to bring back 110 format film.

Giza 3D: A Historically Accurate Online Recreation of the Giza Plateau

Several weeks ago we mentioned a new Google Maps feature that allows you to take virtual tours of famous locations all over the world. And now -- coming out of a partnership between design firm Dassault Systèmes, Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts -- you can take a historically accurate, 3-dimensional, online look at Egypt's entire Giza plateau online.

USA Today Sending US Presswire Photographers to the London Olympics

Over the last couple of weeks, USA Today has been under fire for deciding not to send their seasoned veteran photographers to cover the London Olympics. Having just bought US Presswire last September, parent company Gannett have decided instead to use the photographers and contractors at their disposal through them.

How To Make a 150-foot Wireless Remote by Hacking a Garage Door Opener

While working on some light painting shots, Sawo from Enlightpaintment was frustrated that he had to keep running back and forth from his camera. Even using an IR remote he was adding seconds of unnecessary exposure during which he wasn't actually doing anything but running. So, in a fit of creativity, he decided to put together his own DIY wireless remote using about $20 worth of equipment from Radio Shack and eBay.

“Underwater” Stop Motion Video With Hand Made Sea Creatures

This fascinating video by Hayley Morris for Hilary Hahn and Hauschka's "Bounce Bounce" is both a very creative use of stop motion, and a testament to her skill as a craftsman. She actually created the entire underwater world, sketching and creating the characters herself.

Hasselblad Cuts Prices, Makes Owning Medium Format Cheap(er)

Many a photographer would love to have a medium format camera gracing their camera bag, but not everyone can afford to drop anywhere between twenty and forty thousand dollars on a Hasselblad. Fortunately, the price of owning one just dropped by 22.9-percent. In an attempt to make medium formats more affordable and commonplace, Hasselblad is launching a global marketing initiative that will significantly drop the price of many of their cameras, including the entry-level H4D-31 (down by ~$5,000), and the 60MP H4D-60 (down by ~$8,000).

Are Olympus’ Marketing Stunts Becoming a Habit?

You might remember the Olympus marketing stunt from a few weeks ago when they sent a box complete with two walnuts and a note that simply read "coming soon" to a few different tech blogs. Since then we've seen the release of the new TG-1, but apparently Olympus isn't done with either their new releases or the marketing stunts that go along with them.