February 2013

Match Made on Flickr: The Story of Patrick Eggert and Sophie Ellis

Online dating websites are a multi-billion dollar business nowadays, and more and more single-and-looking people turn to the Interwebs to find their soul mates. Photographers Patrick Eggert and Sophie Ellis met through the Web as well, but not through a matchmaking site: their relationship started through a Flickr comment.

HTC DSLR Lens Teaser Has Some Hoping for Canon Lens Add-Ons

HTC has been teasing the release of the rumored HTC One smartphone for the past few weeks by tweeting out cryptic photos that supposedly hint at features that will be officially announced at their press event on February 19th.

Most of these photos get just enough media attention to keep HTC in the news coming up on the Tuesday press event, but the latest photo (top) has the photography world in a bit of a stir. That's because it depicts a Canon lens, leading some sources to speculate that the HTC One will feature Canon DSLR lens add-ons.

Vienna Time-Lapse Worthy of the Dubstep Background Music

Here's a cool time-lapse (or rather, "hyperlapse) that involved quite a bit in way of post-production to get it to work with the background music as well as it does. It was shot over 14-days within a 3-month period, and offers an awesome time-lapse look at the amazing city of Vienna.

Best Buy Takes on Showrooming, Makes Online Price Match Permanent

Over the holiday season, many of the brick and mortar retailers (Best Buy among them) promised to match online prices in a bid to stop their clientele from trying in store and ordering from the likes of Amazon online -- a process that has been nicknamed "showrooming."

A couple of months later, Target made its online price match policy year-round. And now, according to Bloomberg, your friendly neighborhood Best Buy (assuming they haven't closed down the one in your neighborhood, that is) is following suit, making it an attractive place to purchase basic camera gear.

A Basic Lens Intro for Beginners

For beginners in the world of photography, getting a good grasp on the types of lenses available and when you might want to use them is an important step. So, given that there's a lot of glass out there, we thought we'd share this basic lens intro from Pentax.

Photographer Shoots Portraits of Himself as His Book’s Kickstarter Backers

Late last year, photographer Cheyne Gallarde turned to Kickstarter to raise funds for an ambitious series of self-portraits titled Universe of One. Inspired by the work of Cindy Sherman, the project features Gallarde posing as a wide range of people, both male and female, of different ethnicities, and from different walks of life. The transformations are done using only makeup, wardrobe, and lighting tricks.

To drum up interest for the series, Gallarde came up with an interesting incentive: contribute to the book, and have a portrait of yours recreated humorously with Gallarde posing as you.

Don’t Zoom, Move: Treating Your Zoom Lens as a Series of Primes

We've shared some funny pictures in the past that illustrate how distance, not focal length, changes perspective -- but nothing beats a video walk through. So, in this short video, photographer Mike Browne explains why you should treat your zoom lens as a series of prime lenses, and not the equivalent of getting physically closer to your subject.

Vimeo Picks Up Echograph, Video Loop War Heating Up

In what many are seeing as a bid to take over some of Twitter app Vine's newly created video loop market, video company Vimeo has bought up the popular iOS app Echograph. Echograph, in case you're not familiar with it, is an application that allows you to create animated GIFs, loops and cinemagraphs.

BTS: Photographing Yasser Arafat for the Cover of Time Magazine

In 2002, photographer Greg Heisler was asked to photograph former PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. Now, eleven years later, we get to hear the story behind that photo.

At the time, Heisler was already in Gaza city photographing former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. And even though the photo of Arafat was a very simple shot taken using a wooden four-by-five camera, a black velvet backdrop and a simple soft box, it's still fascinating to hear exactly what went into getting it.

Iranian Stealth Fighter Image Called Out as Photoshop Fake by Bloggers

Iran recently made headlines when they unveiled their new state-of-the-art fighter jet, the Qaher-313. Touted as a cross between an F-35 and an F-22, it immediately fell under scrutiny when aviation experts pointed out that the plane that was unveiled could, at best, be only a miniature working prototype.

In response, the Khouz News website published the photo above, showing the 313 patrolling the skies over majestic Mount Damavand. Clearly this was the real deal, right? Not exactly. As it turns out, the photo is a Photoshop creation combining a wallpaper image courtesy of Picky Wallpapers, and one of the original photos of the jet from the unveiling.

The BBC’s ‘PenguinCam’ Gets Up Close and Personal with Antarctic Penguins

If you're going to infiltrate the world of penguins for an up close and personal documentary, you have to get creative. So, wildlife producer John Downer and camera operator Geoff Bell did just that.

By creating undercover cameras shaped as everything from rocks and pieces of ice, to several robotic penguin creations, they were able to get an incredibly intimate look at the lives of the world's best dressed birds.

Black Internet Users Use Instagram More Than White People, Study Finds

The Pew Internet & American Life Project released the results of a survey this week that sheds light on social media use among Americans. One of the networks they asked participants about was Instagram.

After surveying 1,802 Internet users in late 2012, the study found that 13% of Internet users use the mobile photo sharing service. It also found that the service is "especially appealing" to "Adults ages 18-29, African-Americans, Latinos, women, [and] urban residents."

Major Meteorite Strike in Russia Captured by Many Cameras, Mostly Dashcams

One of the major international news stories today is the fact that a meteorite streak across the sky in central Russian today, causing an explosion and shock wave that injured over 1,000 people. It was the largest meteor reported since 1908. The event was well documented, as many Russian drivers had dashcams rolling as the event unfolded.

There Are Giant Camera Resolution Test Charts Scattered Across the US

When people test cameras and lenses for resolution, they commonly use special resolution test charts that are filled with black bars of varying lengths and thicknesses. They're kind of like eye charts, except for cameras instead of eyeballs, and with lines instead of letters.

Well, did you know that in dozens of locations around the United States, there are gigantic resolution test charts on the ground?

Photos of an Australian Town Filled with 8 Feet of Sea Foam

When Eastern Australia was hit by ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald late January and early February, it caused certain places to turn into foamy wonderlands, as up to 8 feet of sea foam was blown onto land from the sea. Photographer Brandon Rooney took advantage of the occurrence by pulling out his Canon 7D and documenting the strange scene.

Tutorial: Creating a Photo of Syrup Being Poured on a Pancake Lens

The vast majority of my photographic work is environmental portraiture, corporate and editorial photography, and interiors, some of my commercial photography does include product photos. Quite honestly, some of this stuff is pretty straightforward, take a nice representative image of the product on a clean white backdrop so it integrates onto a website (also white) seamlessly. Sometimes a client gives me a bit more artistic license, and sometimes I get to do a shoot that's just for me.

Stop-Motion Animation Created with 800+ Dry Plate Tintypes

The idea behind stop-motion videos is pretty simple: snap a lot of photographs in rapid succession and then string together all the images afterward to animate them. There was a time when the dominant photographic processes weren't fast enough to create any meaningful kind of animation. Does that mean we'll never see a stop-motion animation created using tintypes? Nope. The video above is one example of a stop-motion video created with a super old photographic process: the dry plate tintype.

Gaza City Funeral Procession Photo Wins World Press Photo 2012

The photograph above by Swedish Dagens Nyheter photographer Paul Hansen has been selected as the World Press Photo of the Year 2012. It's a powerful image that shows a funeral procession in Gaza City, with men carrying the bodies of two children while the body of their father trails behind on a stretcher.

Lessons Learned From Working Years as a Storm-Chasing Photographer

Over the past 12 years, I have spent countless hours finding myself in places that many would deem “the middle of nowhere.” I’m not there in awe of the bland landscape, yet instead I am staring up into the blue sky in hopes that the tiny little air molecules above me will develop into beastly, photogenic thunderstorms.

Massive 1,000+ Piece Camera Collection Being Auctioned on eBay

Want to own a giant collection of vintage cameras, but don't want to spend a lifetime acquiring them one by one? If you have deep pockets and money to burn, here's your shot: collector Brain Cue of Alameda, California (kka20101 on eBay) is selling his massive camera collection that he has spent over 50 years building up.

The Legality and Ethics of Pointing a Lens Into a Private Residence for Art

Award-winning photographer Michael Wolf is raising some eyebrows with a new photo project titled "Window Watching." The series features photographs of high-rise apartment windows in Hong Kong, offering glimpses into the lives of people living inside the private residences. Basically, Wolf pointed a telephoto lens at open windows to photograph people going about their day-to-day-lives, without their knowledge and consent.

Instagram Trying to Have Policy Change Class Action Lawsuit Thrown Out

In December 2012, Instagram took steps toward profitability by adding some controversial monetization-related sections to its Terms of Service. The resulting outcry led to key sections being restored to original 2010 versions, but that didn't stop a certain user named Lucy Funes from launching a class action lawsuit against the photo sharing service.

The latest news in the saga is that Instagram is now asking that the lawsuit be thrown out.

Civil War Reenactments Photographed with a Large Format Pinhole Camera

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, photographer Michael Falco is shooting a project titled "Civil War 150 Pinhole Project." His goal is to highlight the haunting beauty of civil war battlefields and to chronicle the various battle reenactments that are happening all across the country. To do so, he's using large format pinhole cameras that gives the poetic images an old fashioned look.

Artist Puts Photos of Himself in Grammy Museum, They Remain for a Month

Los Angeles-based musician Paz Dylan recently pulled a pretty funny prank on the Grammy Museum in LA. He made a series of informational wall display pieces featuring strange descriptions and photographs of himself eating tacos, and then hung them up on the walls of the museum next to the real pieces. That's pretty clever, but get this: no one noticed, and the pieces stayed up for a month.

The photograph above is a piece he made for the "Wall of Fame."

Beware the Internet When It Comes to Your Personal Photos

In December of 2008, as I was getting ready for a vacation trip to Brussels, I posted the above self-portrait of myself sporting my new winter coat to my Flickr account. I didn’t think much of it after posting it and I’d pretty much forgotten about it over the years.

Today, as I was reading some discussions about people having their photos used to create fake online identities I decided to use Google Image Search to see if any of my self portraits could be found anywhere on the vast Internet.

Photog Captures Time in Stunning Color Pictures Using a Pinhole Camera

When Matthew Allred isn't teaching photography to his students at the University of Utah, he's out creating incredible works of photographic art with the simplest of tools; the pinhole camera.

Allred calls his process 'Heliography', a term first coined by pioneering French photographer Joseph-Niépce in 1822 to describe his photographic invention. Allred's process is not too dissimilar from Niépce in the fact that he constructs his own cameras and even goes as far as formulating his own chemistry for the task.

Actress Evan Rachel Wood Furious After Ultrasound Snap Snapped by Paparazzi

Heads up, celebrities: nothing is too personal for the lenses of money- and star-hungry paparazzi photographers. Actress Evan Rachel Wood found out the hard way today after The Daily Mail published paparazzi photographs of her leaving a hospital with an ultrasound scan image clutched in her hands. The article was titled, "Baby's first picture! Pregnant Evan Rachel Wood can't stop smiling as she emerges with ultrasound scan." Understandably, Wood was furious.

Photographer Captures Detailed Photos of the Sun From His Backyard

Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York is an amateur astrophotography enthusiast who captures amazing photographs of the Sun through a telescope in his backyard. His highly detailed photographs show the sun in ways you never see with your naked eye. Using special filters that allow the photos to be captured without destroying his camera or his eyes, Friedman creates images of our life-giving star that look more like something you might see under a microscope.

Stocksy is a New Stock Photo Co-Op by the Founder of iStockphoto

Bruce Livingstone knows his way around the stock photography industry, and he's doing his best to shake things up. After founding iStockphoto in 2000, he turned it into a microstock juggernaut, finally selling it to Getty Images in 2006 for a whopping $50 million. Now, as both Getty Images and iStockphoto are mired in a licensing controversy, Livingstone has a new stock photo business that may rock the boat even more.

The Moon and Venus Captured in a Single Photograph

Behold, a photograph of the moon. Can you see it? No, it's not that tiny bright crescent you see... The moon is that faint giant crescent. That tiny one to its left is Venus. Hungarian astrophotographer Iván Éder captured this beautiful photograph back in 2004 from Budapest, Hungary.

Win a Gura Gear Backpack, Case, Pouch, and Wallet Collection Worth $600+

Update: This giveaway is now over. The winner was randomly selected and announced below.

Alrighty folks! Let's do a giveaway! If you're in need of a way to haul around your large collection of camera gear, this one's for you. We're giving away a massive collection of Gura Gear products: a backpack, three cases, three pouches, and three memory card wallets. The entire collection has a combined retail value of $612.40!

Building a 20×16-Inch Ultra-Large-Format Camera by Hand

South East England-based photography student Mark Hilton came up with an ambitious New Year's resolution this year: he's in the process of building his own 20x16 "ultra-large-format" camera by hand. It's a camera that's designed to expose Ilford Harman Direct Positive paper.

Your DSLR is a “Rainforest of Bacteria,” But It’s Probably Okay

Did you know that 90% of the cells in (or on) the human body are bacteria and other microorganisms? Have you ever thought about how many bacteria live on your DSLR camera? Chicago Tribute staff photographer Alex Garcia recently dove into this second question while visiting the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago.

Photographs of Commonly Paired Foods Bound Together With String

Nashville, Tennessee-based food photographer Kyle Dreier has a curious project titled Pairings. The main theme of the photographs can be summarized with the questions: "What food really go well together?" and "What are the stereotypical food pairings?" Dreier finds a good and a drink that are commonly consumed together, binds them together with some string, and shoots a photo of the pairing.

PixelTone: A Futuristic Image Editor That Lets You ‘Shop Photos Using Your Voice

Talking to computers is one of the exciting new trends that's emerging in the tech world, and in the future we may find ourselves casually talking to our gadgets as we go about our lives. One application of this that you may never have considered is photo editing: what if you could post-process your photographs simply by telling an image editor what you would like done to the images?

That's exactly what scientists are currently working on, and the research is further along than you might think. They're already playing around with a prototype version of an app -- one called PixelTone.

Promo Idea: Use Tiny DSLR USB Drives to Make Sure Your Photos Are Seen

To promote this year's edition of its sports photography competition, Red Bull Illume is sending out a pretty slick promo. It's simply a USB drive loaded with a press media kit, but the presentation is so clever that we thought we'd share it with you (perhaps you can do something similar to promote your own photography business).