October 2013

Leading international camera maker Canon cut its annual profit forecast Thursday, revealing that sales of interchangeable-lens cameras are slowing for the first time ever.

The squeaks and grunts whales make are still mysterious, but at least now we know what whale-speak is for "Get that thing out of my face!" That would be thanks to diver/photographer Chris Coates, who had a close encounter of the paparazzi kind while observing humpback whales off the eastern coast of Africa recently.

Two days ago, the late great Robert Capa would have turned 100 years old. There was quite a bit of revelry surrounding what would have been the iconic photographer's centennial, but even though gallery openings and the like all paid homage to the great conflict photographer, one particular release is perhaps most special of all.

Thanks to an incredibly fortuitous set of circumstances, the International Center of Photography has managed to get its hands on and release a copy of an incredibly rare interview Mr. Capa gave back in October of 1947 -- affording anyone who didn't know him the first ever opportunity to hear his voice.

From antique pistols to high-powered assault rifles, Instagram has emerged as the leading online marketplace for guns. And, even more troubling, it seems few of the sales violate the law or even Instagram policy.

Shortly after Sony announced the mirrorless a7 and a7R full-frames, rumors broke that Nikon had a new full-frame of its own coming in short order. As release dates and spec lists have begun to fly, anticipation has understandably grown; and now, Nikon is adding fuel to that fire by releasing a short teaser video for a "pure photography" camera.

Looks like Kanye West and his ilk aren't the only ones with paparazzi issues. Newly released images from the Wildlife Conservation Society captured endangered Andean bears repeatedly trying (and sometimes succeeding) to destroy camera traps set up to monitor their behavior.

Corinne Vionnet is a visual artist based in Switzerland. Her work has been exhibited at Jenisch Museum, Vevey, Switzerland; Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona; Les Rencontres d'Arles; Fotomuseum, Antwerp; La Maison Européenne de la photographie, Paris; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Art Museum, Sion, Switzerland; Chelsea Art Museum, New York and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne.

Corinne Vionnet's series Photo Opportunities explores our fascination with famous landmarks throughout the world. Through the process of combining hundreds of snapshots of popular tourist destinations, she is able to create a collective impression of how these places are represented, and how we imagine them in our own minds.

These images are made by not one single point of view, but many, and they have the ability to open conversation about how images connect us; and about the ways in which we share thoughts and experiences about common subjects.

Good news, camera weenies -- not only does photography make you attractive and rich, it helps your brain stay sharp as you age. That's the conclusion of a new University of Texas study that evaluated a number of different types of activities to see how they affected cognitive skills -- particularly memory -- in the elderly.

Seven sports photographers are suing the National Football League, Getty Images and the Associated Press in a complex case that argues the agencies went too far in allowing their images to be freely used for promotions by the league.

One of the joys of photography is the interesting cast of characters you meet along the way. I'm not talking about the subject's you're shooting here, I'm talking about the other photographers you'll run in to.

No matter how many different personalities you come across though, you'll eventually start to notice recurring themes. A cast of familiar characters if you will. Today, in order to lighten things up a little, we'll explore a few of those different characters. Here are 8 different types of photographers you'll run into in your life:

One of the great things about photography is that inspirational stories aren't hard to come by -- whether it's tragic circumstances that are being brought to light by a daring photojournalist or a success story about a young photographer who is just discovering his passion for this industry.

Street photographer Flo Fox's story is yet another kind of inspirational. It's a story of overcoming unimaginable adversity, and a rock hard determination not to let any of life's curveballs get in the way of doing what you love.

Today I received an Experimental Lens Kit from Lomography and immediately took it on a test ride while having my lunch break.

It's hump day, and what better way to start the second half of the week than with a little bit of good old fashioned GoPro insanity... well, GoPro and Red Bull, which is a match made in action camera heaven.

Camille Lepage, 25, is an independent French photographer living in South Sudan. She works on long term projects about topics that do not make to the mainstream media and looks at the consequences of the politics on the populations.

For over a year now, documentary photographer Camille Lepage has been photographing the struggles of South Sudan. As a new country, sovereign since 2011, South Sudan can be considered a hotbed for social, political, and religious conflicts. These conflicts are laid bare by Lepage through a strong, intuitive eye and a determination to get her shot.

Her two on-going bodies of work, You Will Forget Me and Vanishing Youth (which are on display below) contain stirring imagery that speak of the violence, and the religious and cultural dissonance that permeates this young country and its people.

Photographer Jordan Matter's Dancers Among Us photo series and book has earned him the kind of viral fame that many a photographer dreams of, but more inspiring than his success is his attitude and the joy he seems to take in his work.

We've found reason to share Czech astrophotographer Miloslav Druckmüller's breathtaking work once before when we showed you his composite of a total solar eclipse. Now he's back with another composite image that shows a nightscape the likes of which you've probably never seen before.

In addition to announcing the Nokia Camera app and RAW support for the Lumia 1020 and 1520 (read about that here), Nokia made one other camera-centric announcement that had us perking our ears up: the company also introduced a Lytro-like refocusing camera app called Nokia Refocus Lens.

We first shared photographer Carli Davidson's ridiculously cute SHAKE series back in 2011 before it had gone quite so viral. This week, her high-speed photographs of dogs making hilarious faces while shaking off water have been released in book form, accompanied by the above super slow motion video of the puppies in action.

Earlier today, Nokia let fly a slew of announcements at their Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi. And, as you might expect from the people that brought you the 41-megapixel PureView smartphone camera, a few of them have to do with pushing mobile photography to the next level.

Update on 12/16/21: This video embed has been removed by its owner. You can still watch it here.

It might be hard to believe in retrospect, but it turns out that Steve McCurry's most famous photograph, the iconic 'Afghan Girl,' was almost passed over for the cover of National Geographic in 1985.

In an attempt to show off just how powerful its Snapdragon 600 processors are, Qualcomm decided to go all Matrix on the people of Venice, CA and New York City. They did this by putting together an impressive 130-smartphone 540° bullet time photo booth using only HTC One smartphones.

Narcissism and obsessive personal documentation are all fine and good, but sometimes you just want to buy and sell stuff. A new site promises to make that considerably easier to do just that through Instagram by restricting searches to postings with a #forsale hashtag and providing a simplified transaction system.

Let's not kid ourselves, when it comes to health insurance, freelance photographers are in an unfortunate situation. Despite working long hours like everyone else and managing their own business, freelance photographers don't get the same group rates that regular employees do. There is no question that buying insurance as an individual is more expensive.

Next time a spouse or friend razzes you for spending too much on camera gear, try pointing out all the cool, expensive stuff you didn't buy. Like the antique, no-name, large-format lens currently up for sale on eBay for close to half a million bucks.

There are a total of six piece types in the game of Chess, and Italian photographer Francesco Ridolfi has managed to bring each of them -- in both black and white versions -- to life in his creative fine art portrait project "Chess Portraits."

There's a belief that being successful as a photographer these days runs the possibility gamut from difficult to almost impossible, but examples like Wyn Wiley seem to run contrary to that belief. Wiley is a very successful 21-year-old photographer, and in the Lincoln Nebraska TEDxYouth talk above, he blows minds by sharing his incredibly optimistic and inspirational world view.

There's no denying that the Sony a7 and a7R made quite the splash in the photographic industry both before and after their official arrival. With full-frame sensors, a mirrorless design and price tags that make at least the a7 cheaper than even the most affordable full-frame alternatives, Sony hit the trifecta.

But a new rumor seems to indicate that Nikon, at least, wants to get in on some of the action by releasing a new retro-styled full-frame that will compete directly with Sony's offerings.

Every two years, the lighting of the Olympic Flame amidst the ruins of the Temple of Hera is a pretty interesting performance. The torch is lit from the light of the Sun, using a parabolic mirror to focus the Sun's rays on the fuel in the torch and set it ablaze... but what exactly is that fuel? By the looks of it, at least a small part is a piece of

Photographer Richard Renaldi's 6-year-long project Touching Strangers has been an incredible success. From viral Internet fame to a full-fledged photo book that exceeded its Kickstarter goal eight times over, there's something profoundly moving about complete strangers posed together, sometimes quite intimately, on the streets of NYC.

In the video above we get a behind the scenes look at how Renaldi does what he does, and how his subjects, sometimes reticent at first, often wind up feeling at ease and connected to this perfect stranger they didn't know existed 10 minutes ago.

In the digital age, having your photos stolen usually indicates copyright infringement by someone who decided to use your work without permission online. But for Ukranian-born photographer Aleksandr "Sasha" Onyshchenko, the term recently took on the old definition: two of his prints were literally stolen right out of the gallery they were being displayed at in broad daylight!

Have you ever heard of the "4 Seconds" myth in concert photography? Well, probably not, because I made this phenomenon up as a play on words with the 4 Leaf Clover "Myth." The 4 Seconds Myth talks about the fact that there’s a maximum period of time at just a few concerts when you can in fact shoot at crisp, noiseless ISO 100.

If you've followed PetaPixel for a little while, you'll already know that a laser pointer's focus lens can be put to good DIY use helping you take macro photos with your smartphone.

And even though you can simply find a way to secure the lens against your phone, a new Instructable shows you how to build a microscope stand/macro photography rig that will eliminate that particular problem altogether... and for only $10!

Late in 2012, photojournalist Daniella Zalcman moved from New York City to her new home in London. Zalcman adores both cities for, among other things, their photogenic nature. And so she decided to mix the two together into a creative series of double exposures dubbed New York + London, using her smartphone.

It's always nice when a company with plenty of exciting, brand new technology continues to support their older models in a big way, and that's what Fuji did yesterday when it released version 2.0 of the X100 firmware.

You can worry all you want about photos being stolen via Flickr, but maybe someone will like your photo enough to buy it... and put it on the cover of a platinum-selling rock album... and boost you overnight from the fuzzy border of hobbyist/professional to a high-profile career as a portrait and fashion photographer.

Here's a little bit of funny to get you through the rest of your Friday and send you off into the weekend in a good mood, because nothing helps alleviate stress like watching other people get the crap scared out of them... photo prank style.

DIY camera geeks have a new low-light option with the debut of the Raspberry Pi NoIR, a version of the popular camera module add-on for the single-board-computer that ditches the infrared filter on the image sensor.

Each year, London's Natural History Museum hands out awards for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the winner of this year's competition brought home top prize with an ethereal, beautiful and accidental photo of elephants at a watering hold in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana.

New York Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota may be running as a law and order guy, but apparently the "law" part doesn't cover intellectual property.

Turns out nine of the images used in a recent Lhota campaign ad -- an ad meant to illustrate what a mess the Big Apple used to be -- were taken without permission from Flickr users, several of whom are not too happy about it.

The NASA spacecraft Cassini has sent back some incredible imagery of the planet Saturn over the years, much of which is being put to use to create an IMAX movie. But thanks to the work of a Croatian software developer, we now have a full, breath-taking, high-resolution photo mosaic of Saturn in all its glory as it looked on October 10th.