July 2012

Video effects team Corridor Digital created this clever short film titled “Photoreal” featuring …

Here’s a fun little 30-second stop motion video showing a roll of 35mm film loading itself into a camera.

At first glance, the images in Fabian Oefner's Nebulae might look like images of distant galaxies captured with a space telescope. They were actually shot in a studio using a number of fiber glass lamps. Oefner used exposures of different lengths to capture the ends of the lit fiber glass as points and streaks of light. He then combined multiple images into single photos to achieve the "star density" seen in the final images.

Here’s a beautiful short film by Arden Oksanen titled “Pictures of a Cowboy”. It’s about the life and work …

As more and more consumers are opting to use their smartphones as their primary camera, manufacturers are moving away from cheapo point-and-shoots and towards beefier compact cameras that offer quality that phones can't match (yet). Samsung's new EX2F definitely falls into that category. It's a high-end compact camera that packs a 12.4MP 1/1.7-inch sensor (the size used by many high-end P&S cameras, but smaller than Sony's new RX100), a 24-79mm (3.3x) f/1.4 lens, a 3-inch swiveling LCD, ISO of up to 12,800, dual stabilization, a hotshoe mount, RAW and full manual shooting, 1080/30p HD video, and WiFi features.

In No Great Hurry – 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter is …

Watermarks are a popular way of “signing” photographs and deterring theft, but having a giant logo overlaid on your …

Lytro has been pushing to make their living pictures -- interactive, clickable photos that have a variable focus point -- easier to share. Lytro is a camera that has a very specific, proprietary way of saving and viewing photographs, so sharing these photos can be tricky. Nevertheless, Lytro has been able to quickly expand living photos across the web through social media, most recently to Google+ and Pinterest through Google Chrome extensions.

@NeedADebitCard is a new Twitter account that finds and retweets photographs of credit/debit cards that are publicly shared through the service. Apparently many people don't know that it's not a good idea to publish photos that allow anyone to see your credit card information. The account's byline is: "Please quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people."

Canon recently announced that some owners of the Canon PowerShot S100 compact camera could be eligible for a free …

YouTuber Jeremiah Warren recently decided to try and capture video of fireworks exploding …

New York-based artist and storyteller Ourit Ben-Haim's Underground New York Public Library project first began as sketches of rough photographs of people reading on trains. The photos are unrefined and voyeuristic, like reading over a stranger's shoulder.

Last year I received an email from a photographer acquaintance about some images I had recently shot. I had met this photographer a couple times at a few photography functions and was Facebook friends with him, but I didn’t really know this person well... who really knows all their Facebook friends these days?

Polaroid pictures might have an iconic look, but finding an elegant frame for them requires more than a trip to your nearest department store. Swiss design group Refurnished has a beautiful "Polaroid SX70 frame" that protects your white-bordered pictures inside a handmade wooden case.

Beginners: Ever wonder why your photos don’t look ‘professional?’ Amateurs: ever wonder why you lack consistency? Pros: Ever wonder why you lose your edge or drive? Wonder no longer. This article deals with some of the most common oversights by photographers of all kinds, and how to avoid them.

The Onion’s Tech Trends has a hilarious satirical video warning of the “insidious” …

Landscape photographer Apo Japo captures beautiful landscape photographs of mountains and hills in Scotland, Norway, the Alps, and the Dolomites.

The UK government issued an updated copyright policy statement today that's intended to modernize copyright law in a digital era. But here's where those traditionally protected under copyright -- authors, poets, artists, photographers and so forth -- begin to cringe: sweeping definitions of "orphan works" and Extended Collective Licensing could allow companies to buy chunks of content without compensating original authors.

Tired of your boring Nikon point and shoot? Does the sleek modern silver clash with your vintage threads? Breathe easy: German company PimpmyDigicam offers these sticker "leather kits" for Nikon J1 cameras for a retro look that will pair impeccably with your vintage Oxfords.

Dustin Henderlong of Snapjoy shot this time-lapse …

For Windows users who frequently need access to Creative Commons photography, Abelssoft’s free desktop app …

Today's dose of inspiration comes in the form of two videos for the price of one. Both videos feature well-known and well-respected photographer and photojournalist Steve McCurry -- the man behind the unforgettable Afghan Girl photo that graced the cover of NatGeo -- but each offer a different sort of insight into his world.

Photographer Gloria Baker Feinstein recently moved due to some health issues her husband was dealing with. As part of the transition, the couple was forced to sell off some of their possessions in an estate sale. To cope with the emotional difficulty of parting with precious memories, Feinstein decided to shoot iPhone portraits of buyers as they left with her things -- creating new memories as old ones left the door.

Indiana university historian Patrick Feaster recently discovered a record featuring the voice of Emile Berliner -- inventor of the phonograph. Created in 1889, the record is likely the oldest in the world. What's interesting, however, is how Feaster managed to obtain it: through a photograph. That's right, Feaster discovered an image of the disc preserved in an old 1890 German magazine from the same year and then was able to recreate it by scanning and analyzing the photo.

Here's a cool DIY project, courtesy of creator Derte84 and the folks over at Instructables, for those of you who have a bunch of slides sitting around but no slide projector in sight. Putting the whole thing together will require a little bit of hardware (e.g. you'll either need the tools to cut the wood yourself or an account with a laser cutting service) but the final product is pretty cool.

Boat racing photographer Rob Thorn had a close call at …

Back in April of this year, Canon officially announced its EOS 1D C: a 4K cinema DSLR. And even though consumers (with significant amounts of spare cash) won't be getting their hands on it until sometime late this year, the first 4K video sample from the camera surfaced a few days ago.

Here’s a short and sweet video in which photographer/entrepreneur Gary Fong shares his …

Nikon D4 owners looking to speed up their transfer rates may take well to the news that Sony has just announced its new S-Series XQD cards -- although their wallets probably won't react in kind. The new cards, which will be available in Japan on July 11th, can hit transfer speeds of up to 168MB/s, and will come in both 32 and 64 gigabyte sizes.

We’ve shared photos of photobooth marriage proposals before, but how about a video? After …

You may think that shooting 4K video is reserved for people with deep pockets and cinematographic aspirations, but a new camera from Point Grey begs to differ. The company's new Flea3 webcam seeks to offer that same super-high resolution in a tiny package and for a significantly smaller (though still not small) price tag than, say, a RED Epic.

The point-and-shoot may be on its way out, but it certainly isn't going out without a fight. A few weeks ago we saw Sony release the RX100, which has been called "the best pocket camera of all time," and now Sigma is following that up with its own high-end compact to hit shelves on July 12th: the DP2 Merrill.

If you're at all familiar with Lytro cameras and their light field technology, you'll have heard of founder and CEO Ren Ng. However, he won't be holding the title of CEO much longer. Two days ago Ng announced via blog post that he would be stepping aside as the CEO of Lytro and moving into the Executive Chairman position previously occupied by Charles Chi (who, incidentally, is now the interim CEO).

Ever wondered how one of those exploded view photos comes together? Well, the above video by photographer …

Photographer Joe Klamar has been receiving some criticism over his portraits of the US Olympic Team that many believe could have been done better. Most of the criticism, as you would imagine, comes from photographers who believe they could have done a better job representing the athletes. And with access to these athletes for photographic purposes being so restricted, it's understandable that photogs would get upset over sub-par portraits.