June 2012

Canon Mirrorless Announcement Date Possibly Set for July 24th

Late last month several rumors pointed to the fact that Canon would be announcing two new cameras in June. The first, Canon's new EOS T4i, was already announced, but as June approaches its final days many were wondering if Canon had pushed back the announcement date for their much anticipated first mirrorless camera. Unfortunately, according to Canon Rumors, that does seem to be the case.

Instaglasses: Concept Glasses That Apply Your Filter Of Choice to Everyday Life

You know society has gone a little filter-crazy when a concept for Instagram glasses shows up on the scene, but we have to admit that Instaglasses make for an interesting idea. The basic premise is that Instagram fanatics aficionados would be able to use these to always see the world in filters. When they then glimpsed a scene that looked especially artsy with the Amaro or Inkwell filters applied, they could use a button on the side of the glasses to capture and upload that image to Instagram.

Michael Wolf On His Fascination With “Peeping”

When photographer Michael Wolf had to move to Paris in 2008 because of a job opportunity for his wife, he wasn't too thrilled with the situation. He thought that living in one of the most photographed cities of all time, surrounded by the inevitable cliches of such a place, wasn't conducive to creative, unique photography. So he sat down at his computer and began browsing through the then only 6-month old Google Street View, which ultimately led to a unique photographical project that fit right in with his long-time fascination with "peeping" into people's lives through photography.

Digitally Altered Images That Turn Ornate Picture Frames Into Art

On a trip to the famous Louvre in Paris, photographer and artist Taylor Holland found himself more drawn in by the highly ornate frames around the art than with the art itself. This got him thinking about a project that would challenge "the viewer’s notion not only of what art is, but the viewer’s own perceptions about where to find and appreciate art in various settings such as the Louvre." Thus was born Fra[mes].

The Camera Cooler: A Camera Bag That Can Also Keep Your Drinks Cold

Yesterday was the first day of summer, so it's only right that we would run across a product that is equal parts camera bag and cooler. The Camera Cooler, by camping equipment company Poler, combines the usefulness of a cooler and the looks/functionality of a camera bag into one multi-purpose product.

A Heartbeat and Body Temp Controlled Concept Camera for Your Pet

Ever since the move to digital, and especially with the advent of the camera phone, we've seen a huge spike in photography -- everybody is taking pictures. But even so, our four legged friends haven't really gotten in on the action. That may soon change, however, if a concept camera by designer Jaehwa Lee ever becomes a reality.

Nikon D800E Steals the DxOMark Crown From Its Fraternal Twin, the Nikon D800

It's been almost three months to the day since the well-respected camera equipment rating service DxOMark crowned the Nikon D800 as its new king, giving the camera's 36.3MP sensor an incredible overall score of 95 -- but now its reign is over. The Nikon D800 has been officially beaten out, and appropriately enough it has happened at the hands of its nearly identical twin brother, the Nikon D800E.

Dancing Around the World with a Camera in Hand

Seattle-based techie Matt Harding became an Internet celebrity back in 2005 after a video of him dancing in various locations around the world went viral online. Now he's back again with a new 2012 edition that's sure to go just as viral. Harding spent months traveling to tens of countries around the world, capturing short clips of himself dancing with thousands of people. The project is titled, "Where the Hell is Matt?".

Overcoming Your Fear of Street Photography in 31 Days

If you've ever gone out to try your hand at street photography you probably experienced your fair share of anxiety once you were out there. Taking photos of strangers, even on crowded city streets, takes practice and time, time that's mostly spent getting over the natural fear of taking people's photos without their permission. But the fact that it requires practice and time doesn't mean that a few good tips won't speed the process along significantly.

Japanese Researchers Reconstruct 3D Spaces from Regular Photos Instantly

There's nothing new about creating 3D spacial diagrams using 2D photos, but what a group of Japanese researchers is currently working on may speed up and streamline the process so much so that anybody can use it. Their system uses no special camera equipment, all you need is a point-and-shoot and a wireless SD card so that you can upload form anywhere.

If you have those two things, the software that the researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology are developing can take the pics you send its way and quickly create a spacial 3D reconstruction based on those photos. This way you could access and see the results, even from a distance, right away.

50-Gigapixel Camera Created Using 98 Microcameras

Scientists at Duke University have created a digital camera that boasts a whopping 50 gigapixels. The camera, dubbed AWARE-2, uses 98 separate 14-megapixel microcameras and a special spherical lens. Each microcamera captures a tiny portion of the scene and a specially designed processor stitches the images together. Processing the data is so hardware intensive that 97% of the camera is made up of electronics and computer components (the other 3% is the optical elements).

First Full Photo of Earth As Seen From Above the North Pole

We've seen 'Blue Marble' photos of Earth before, but this latest NASA photo is different: it's the first photo of its kind shot from above our planet's North Pole. The photo is a composite of images captured by a satellite as it passed over the North Pole 15 times at an altitude of 512 miles.

Camera Obscura Images Can be Collected From Any Windowed Room

The camera obscura has been around for a long time (Middle Ages long) and typically consisted of a box or room with a hole in one side through which an image of its surroundings could be formed. As you can see from the example above, any room -- in this case a bathroom -- can be turned into a camera obscura given a small enough "aperture." Unfortunately, most rooms have big, blaring windows that let in too much light, and the only image formed on the opposite wall is a shadowy blob.

In the name of forensics, however, Antonio Torralba and William Freeman from MIT have discovered a technique by which they can turn any windowed room into a camera obscura, using a couple of stills of the room to magically gather an image of the outside world.

Creative Photos of Models Lying on Chalk Drawings

Here's a creative series of photographs by photographer Nithin Rao Kumblekar. He shot models from above as they sprawled out on the ground over intricate chalk drawings, using perspective to blend them into the scenes. The work reminds us of Jan von Holleben's 'Dreams of Flying' project, except chalk is used instead of props.

Facebook Focusing on Improved Facial Tagging, Acquires Face.com For $50M+

It seems like every month another company is acquired by Facebook; be it Instagram, Lightbox or now Face.com, it's clear that Facebook is looking to make some serious improvements on the photo side of things, and we certainly won't complain about that. Face.com's facial recognition IP has been very well-received so it's no surprise the people over at Zuckerberg Corp Facebook have decided to snatch up the Israeli-based startup before anybody else does.

DiskDigger Can Recover Recently Deleted Photos On Your Android Device

If you've ever deleted a photo by accident you probably already know about applications like DiskDigger that can go in and recover the image from the electronic beyond. This can come in really handy when an overzealous clicking finger accidentally erases several worthwhile pictures from your hard drive. Up until now, however, there was no way to perform the same search and rescue on your mobile device. Fortunately, DiskDigger for Android changes that.

A FujiFilm Real 3D W3 Finds Its Way Onto The International Space Station

A couple of years ago, FujiFilm sent a Real 3D W1 up to the International Space Station for the astronauts to play with in what we can only assume is their abundant free time. That camera yielded the pictures you see above and below -- which you can experience in their full glory with a pair of 3D glasses -- and now FujiFilm has sent up the updated W3 to hopefully continue this tradition of documenting life on the ISS in 3D.

Time-Lapse of a Plane Crash Composite Photo Being Created in Photoshop

Think you're good with Photoshop? Graphic designer Alexander Koshelkov created this amazing time-lapse video showing how he created an epic plane crash image in Photoshop using elements found in other photographs (e.g. freeways, an airplane, destroyed engines and cars). The project took Koshelkov nearly 4.5 hours and required 244 separate layers.

Photographs of Empty Television Studios

Paris-based photographer Marina Gadonneix documents the artificial spaces that are television studios while they are off the air and completely devoid of humans. The project is titled "Remote Control".

Nokia Officially Bringing the 808 PureView to the United States

Over the last few days the NokiaUS Facebook page has been dropping hints left and right of an 808 PureView announcement coming on 6.18.12. For most people it wasn't immediately obvious, but as the astute folks over at AllThingsD pointed out, every one of the pictures released with the aforementioned date on it had something to do with the number 808.

Movie Posters Show Our Changing Color Bias Over the Years

Software engineer Vijay Pandurangan had a theory, that turned into an experiment, that ultimately turned into some pretty interesting results. His theory was that over the years our color bias, specifically where movie posters are concerned, has gone more dark and blue. To test this he analyzed 35,000 posters from 1914 to present day and came up with the visual representation pictured above.

Photo Talk Is Cheap: Setting Goals and Putting Plans Into Action

There are so many things to do and never enough time to do them. You talk about starting that new personal photography project, about updating your website, or wanting to call those prospective new clients. You know that these things need to be done if you are to succeed and you really want to do them. Yet, more often than not, you decide they can wait until tomorrow.

Panasonic May Be Working on a Sensor with a “Built-In Graduated Filter”

A new Panasonic patent uncovered earlier by Egami shows some exciting new sensor technology that may be heading our way soon. The new tech allows for the exposure values to be adjusted for each individual row of pixels. Essentially, the sensor could automatically apply a graduated ND filter to your images without the need for an actual filter.

Creepy Portraits of Women Showing the Thatcher Effect

Dutch photographers Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm shot a series of photographs for a Dove ad campaign that uses the Thatcher effect for some stealthy creepiness. The effect is created by flipping a portrait upside down while keeping the eyes and/or mouth right side up. The human brain has a difficult time detecting these subtle "local" changes, and the portraits may look normal until you see them flipped. Try turning your monitor or head to look at these images upside down.

Pentax To Announce the K-3 Full Frame DSLR At Photokina

There's been a lot of talk about new full frames making their debut in the next year, Nikon and Canon monopolizing most of the news with their rumored entry-level offerings, but one company that might slip in under the radar is Pentax. Rumors of Pentax's K-3 full frame have been circulating for some time, but Photo Rumors recently reported on a few updates including possible announcement and release dates.