November 2012

500px Follows Flickr’s Lead, Introduces Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons licensing is becoming a common option on major photo and video sharing services -- Flickr and YouTube, for example -- but it's not something that 500px offered -- until now. The fast-growing Flickr rival is now onboard with flexible copyright agreements, rolling out Creative Commons licensing options for all of its users yesterday.

Wedding Photographer’s Hair Goes Up in Flames As the Bride Walks the Aisle

Wedding photographers are supposed to stealthily document unique moments, not become part of them. Unfortunately, the latter is what photographer Jacki Bruniquel did last month while photographing a wedding in South Africa. As the bride walked down the aisle with her father, a wedding photographer's worst nightmare unfolded for Bruniquel: her head got too close to a burning candle, kindling a small blaze in her hair. In a few short seconds, the entire room was staring and gasping at Bruniquel rather than the bride.

A Look at the Sleek, Modern Workspace of Photographer Tom Brinckman

Tom Brinckman is a Belgian-based freelance photojournalist and wedding photographer. Since he works one deadline every week for his local newspaper, he's able to do most of his image editing work from his home office. Recently he decided to upgrade his workspace, and not just with new equipment or a new arrangement: he decided to put a good deal of effort into building a completely customized home office with an emphasis on functionality.

BTS: Photographing a Boxing Poster for the Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV Fight

Ever wonder where those gritty posters promoting hyped boxing matches come from? Check out this behind-the-scenes video in which New York-based photographer Monte Isom offers a brief glimpse into how he recently photographed boxers Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez for their upcoming fight (Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV).

A Photo Showing the Energy Contained in a Single Orange

Photographer Caleb Charland is well known for his projects that mix science and photography. Recently he has been working on photos showing "alternative batteries," or using things like fruits and coins to power lights. His latest image in that series is the above photo that captures the energy contained in a single orange.

Shooting the Highest-Resolution Photo Ever Made of Machu Picchu

Photographer Jeff Cremer recently captured the highest-resolution photo ever shot of Machu Picchu, the most popular tourist destination in Peru and one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Unlike other gigapixel projects that we've shared here in the past, this one is very well documented, offering an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how these gargantuan images are made.

Lytro Gives a Sneak Peek of Perspective Shift and Living Filters

We've known since last month that Lytro is planning to roll out at least one fancy new feature for its light field cameras (parallax-based 3D), but now the company has taken the wraps off the feature to give us a sneak peek at what they'll offer. The two new features that will soon appear in Lytro's Desktop software are called Perspective Shift and Living Filters.

Photographer Snaps Portraits of Sharks While Swimming With Them Cage-Free

If the movie Jaws gave you nightmares, then you're probably not well-suited to do the kind of photography that photographer Michael Muller spends his free time doing. Muller dives into the ocean and snaps close-up portraits of deadly sharks, often without a cage for protection. The video above is a short feature on Muller's pastime by the TV show "Last Call With Carson Daly."

Mirror Self-Portrait Captured Using a Wet Plate Camera

Yesterday we shared an old school mirror self-portrait from 1917, captured by a young Australian fight pilot named Thomas Baker on a Kodak camera. After seeing that image, photographer Sam Cornwell decided to shoot his own old-school mirror selfie... using a 12x15-inch wet plate camera!

The First Hoax Photograph Ever Shot

The mid-1800s was a busy time for photographic firsts. In 1838, daguerreotype inventor Louis Daguerre captured the first ever photo of a human being. One year later, in 1839, photograph pioneer Robert Cornelius stepped in front of his camera and created the first self-portrait. 1840 held yet another interesting development: the first hoax photograph.

Photographs of Viewfinders Found in Old Analog Cameras

Photographs are usually captured through viewfinders, not of viewfinders, but photographer Meggan Gould has a photo project featuring the latter. Aptly named "Viewfinders," Gould's series turns old analog camera viewfinders into the subject of photos, documenting both the variety of viewfinder designs and the inevitable wear and tear that results from decades of use.

Canon 1D X-style AF Illumination May Not Be Possible on the 5D Mark III

This past October, Canon addressed a big complaint photographers had about the 1D X by releasing a firmware update that introduced AF illumination (kinda) for shooting in dark environments. However, it wasn't only 1D X users that were complaining about the AF point visibility... 5D Mark III users were -- and are -- as well. If you own a 5DMk3 and have been waiting patiently for your own AF update, there's some good and bad news for you: Canon is reportedly working hard on the issue, but it might not be possible to implement the same feature given the way your camera is designed.

Face/Off: A Demonstration of Futuristic Face Replacement in Video

If you have two similar photos of two different people, Photoshopping one face onto the other isn't very difficult. Change that to two video clips of two people talking, and you have a much more challenging task on your hands. That's the problem Harvard University computational photography graduate student Kevin Dale decided to tackle. His research project, titled "Video Face Replacement," introduces a way of doing this "digital face transplant" in a relatively automated way. The demonstration video above shows how effective his technique is at doing the 'shop seamlessly.

Portraits of Pound Dogs Most in Danger of Being Put Down

LaNola Kathleen Stone is a New York City-based professional photographer and dog lover who uses her talents and free time for a very heartwarming cause: Stone visits the dog pound near her home and specifically asks to shoot portraits of the dogs that are the "least likely to be adopted", some of which have been there for over half a year and are likely in danger of being put down.

Photog Claims Major Designer Used Her Photo on Clothing Without Permission

Photographer Jessica Nichols' most popular photograph on her Flickr account (above left) is titled "Loads of Ranunculus" and has more than 10,000 views. Nichols got a nasty shock a year ago when she discovered that American fashion designer Chris Benz had apparently turned the photo into numerous clothing designs for his Spring 2012 line, without Nichols' knowing and/or permission. Since July of this year, Nichols has been fighting against the infringement in an attempt to get the designer to pay up.

Olympus 17mm f/1.8 Prime to Cost $500 and Hit Stores in December

Attention Micro Four Thirds shooters: there's a new speedy "35mm prime lens" headed your way. Okay, it's actually a 34mm equivalent lens in 35mm terms, but it still boasts a f/1.8 aperture. It's the new Olympus M.ZUIKO 17mm f/1.8, a lens that designed for street photography, landscapes, and shooting in low-light environments.

A Mirror Self-Portrait Captured in 1917

Snapping mirror self-portraits may have gotten a huge boost from the introduction of digital photography and smartphoneography, but it is by no means a new activity limited to our era. The photograph above was created back in 1917 -- nearly 100 years ago! It was snapped by an Australian flying ace named Thomas Baker when he was 20 years old.

Bird Found Wearing Lost Digital Camera Around Its Neck with Photos Intact

A Canadian woman named Karen Gwillim was driving through the village of Craven, Saskatchewan back in September when she came across a cormorant (perhaps like the one above) standing in the middle of the road. Seeing that it was struggling, Gwillim got out of her car to take a closer look, and found that there was a silver digital camera hanging from the bird's neck. After taking the camera off -- or stealing the camera from the bird, depending on how you look at it -- Gwillim took the gear home to investigate.

How the Wrong Woman’s Facebook Pic Became the Face of Iranian Protests

During the Iranian election protests back in 2009, a 26-year-old woman named Nedā Āghā-Soltān (above right) was shot and killed while standing around and observing protestors. After footage of her death went viral online -- Time says it's likely the "most widely witnessed death in human history" -- Neda's portrait became the face of the movement, as countless protestors around the world held large prints overlaid with statements like, "Neda did not die in vain." The problem is, one of the main photos used wasn't actually of Neda.

A Brief History of the Chemical Processes Used in Photography Over the Years

Photography isn't even 200-years-old yet, but there have already been over 150 different chemical processes developed over its relatively short lifetime. In this interesting 5-minute video titled "A Brief History of Photography: Innovations in Chemistry," photo conservation scientist Art Kaplan of the Getty Conservation Institute quickly introduces some of the groundbreaking processes that have made a significant impact on the history of photography -- processes such as the daguerreotype, ambrotype and tintype.

Projecteo: A Thumb-Sized Carousel Slide Projector That Uses 35mm Film Wheels

Projecteo is what you would get if you crossed a View-Master with a carousel slide projector and then miniaturized the love child using a shrink ray. It's a tiny LED-illuminated, battery-powered projector that takes in wheels created from 35mm slide film. Each wheel holds 9 photographs, and focusing the resulting image is done by twisting the lens barrel on the tiny gadget.

‘Shopped Petraeus Book Cover Airs After Reporter Pulls Photo from the Internet

ABC Denver is very apologetic today after learning a hard (and embarrassing) lesson on why you need to be extra careful when sourcing photos from the web. On Monday, the 7NEWS station aired a segment on ex-CIA director David Petraeus and his affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell. When mentioning Bradwells new book, titled "All In," the station put up a book cover with a lewd title that read, "All Up In My S**tch."

Citizen Journalism Photo Agency Demotix Snatched Up by Corbis

Corbis, one of the largest photo agencies in the world, has agreed to acquire Demotix, a crowd-sourced citizen journalism photo agency that was founded in 2008. Corbis had already picked up a piece of the young agency through an investment last year, but now it has decided to purchase the whole company outright. The acquisition price was not disclosed.

Surreal Portraits by 19-Year-Old Fine Art Photographer David Talley

David Talley is a 19-year-old fine art photographer who has attracted a sizable following on Flickr through his dreamlike portraits and self-portraits. He often spends a good deal of time and energy setting up his shots. For the photograph above, Talley and his buddy hauled a huge door nearly a mile to the beach.

Samsung Releases Galaxy Camera Code, Hackers Talk of Voice Calling

Samsung released the open source kernel files for its new Galaxy Camera late last week, something commonly done in the smartphone world -- at least with certain platforms -- but a foreign concept in the world of digital photography. This opens the door to all kinds of possibilities as hackers begin to peer into the cameras brain and dream up new possibilities for how it should work.

Developers are already talking about the possibility of introducing voice calling to the camera -- a feature Samsung left out of the camera, presumably to avoid cannibalizing its smartphones.

Lighting a Wakeboarder Using a Battery-Powered, Helicopter-Mounted Strobe

Photographer Bryan Soderlind recently did a photo shoot with his buddy, professional wakeboarder Rusty Malinoski (the first person to ever land a 1080 in competition). Instead of the usual setup photographers use for wakeboarding photography, the two decided to try something crazier: lighting the action from the air using a battery-powered strobe placed in a helicopter.

Gellin’ Like Magellan: ProDot is Like a Dr. Scholl’s Insert for Your Shutter Finger

People who spend a lot of time on their feet have products like Dr. Scholl's gel inserts to help cushion their feet and absorb the shock of walking. Likewise, photographers who press the shutter button so much that they fatigue their index finger now have a similar product as well: the Custom SLR ProDot. It's a patent-pending dot add-on for your camera's shutter button that supposedly helps reduce camera shake and finger fatigue.

Intimate Portraits That Capture Emotion on the Faces and Figures of Animals

After receiving worldwide attention for his photographs of dogs and horses in projects titled Dogs Gods and Equus, London-based photographer Tim Flach turned his attention to more exotic creatures. His latest project, titled More Than Human, consists of intimate studio portraits of various wild animals, from various monkeys and apes to specially-bred featherless chickens.

Vuzix to Compete with Google in Glasses-Style Camera Market

A new challenger has emerged to face Google Glass in the head-mounted glasses-style camera market. Interactive eyewear company Vuzix unveiled a new product today called the Smart Glasses M100, a camera-equipped Android computer that looks like a cross between a Bluetooth headset that's too long and a microphone that's worn too high.

‘GIF’ Named Word of the Year by Oxford American Dictionary

GIF images may not be as suitable as formats such as JPG and PNG for displaying photographs online, but the format can now boast of one thing its rivals can't: Word of the Year honors. The Oxford American Dictionary announced today that 'GIF' has been selected as its Word of the Year 2012.

Nation’s Largest Student Art Sale Sells 7 Pieces Per Minute, Many of Them Photos

In 1997, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design held an art sale to give student and alumni artists an opportunity to offer their creations to art collectors. They offered around 1,000 pieces by 86 different artists, including prints by photographers. Since then, the MCAD Art Sale has exploded in popularity.

This year the organizers are hoping to sell thousands of artworks by hundreds of artists at a rate of 7 pieces per minute. The sales will add to the $1,875,000 that has been paid out to artists through the sales over the years.

Canon Launches Its Own Forum to Give Canonites a Safe Place to Chill Online

Are you a Canonite who's sick of hanging out in the same forums as photographers who pledge allegiance to other brands? If so, that's kinda sad -- why can't we all just get along? -- but Canon has something new that's perfect for you. The company has just launched its own official online forum, giving photography enthusiasts a new place to "ask questions, get answers and share experiences with peers."