June 2014

Nikon Officially Unveils the D810: Touts the ‘Best Image Quality in Nikon History’

There are two ways to look at an incrementally improved DSLR: either the company missed an opportunity to improve something that has fallen behind the industry standard, or they are leaving well enough alone and not 'fixing it if it ain't broke,' so to speak.

Nikon's replacement for both the D800 and D800E, the D810, falls into that latter category: an incrementally improved DSLR that probably won't receive too much flack for it.

EyeEm and Uber Team Up: Get a Free Ride, Take Photos, Win More Free Rides

Crowd-sourced taxi service Uber and photo-sharing service EyeEm announced an interesting partnership today: EyeEm will give you $20 in Uber credits no strings attached via a promo code, but if you're willing to document your Uber travels using the app, you can win even more credit and keep on traveling around town for free.

Should You Take that Lower-Paying Job for ‘Photo Credits’ from a Big Publication?

One question -- or should we say debate -- that often arises among photographers is whether or not you should take a lower-paying job if it means getting an assignment from a reputable publication or brand. The hope, of course, is that the impressive photo credits will entice other clients to hire you for a fair rate, making up for the initially low pay.

While there is no “right” answer to this question, the team over at PhotoShelter asked John Harrington, author of a number of top-selling photography books, to weigh in on the debate over Skype.

Behind the Scenes of OK Go’s Viral Optical Illusion-Packed Single Take Music Video

Indie rock band OK Go's recent music video for the song "The Writing's On the Wall" was a smash hit, receiving some 6.6K likes on PetaPixel alone and currently boasting over 7.6M views on YouTube.

But just in case the claim that it was all shot in a single take without any cuts has you skeptical, the band yesterday released a spellbinding behind-the-scenes video to show you how the optical illusion magic was made.

Sports Photographer Receives Well-Wishes from Athletes World-Wide After Accident

@chadders_dm special thanks to @FAMediaOps #gwsMarc they win the prize no question pic.twitter.com/ueDxKB2HgQ
— Dickie Pelham (@DickiePelham) June 13, 2014

On the tenth of April, The Times chief sports photographer Marc Aspland was in a terrible car accident. The crash, which occurred in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, left him with brain hemorrhaging, nerve damage and two broken collarbones.

It was these injuries that led to Aspland missing out on two of the world’s largest sporting events, Wimbledon and the World Cup. But after news of the photographer unable to make it to these events spread about, a number of athletes started to team up to send support his way. Using the hashtag #gwsmarc (get well soon, Marc), a number of well-known tennis, cricket and football athletes have teamed up to show their support.

Surprisingly Colorful Photos Reveal a Side of Antarctica You’ve Probably Never Seen

When you hear Antarctica, a number of images probably come to mind: penguins waddling along, barren white expanses and massive glaciers all probably make an appearance. But no matter what images the continent conjures up, you probably wouldn't describe any of them as 'colorful.'

When Canadian photographer Gaston Lacombe headed south to spend a couple of months on the frigid continent, he too expected to find a whole lot of white, with maybe some blue and the occasional tuxedo black of a penguin. What he didn't expect were the occasional explosions of color he actually found there.

Latest iPhone 6 Rumors: Larger Version to Feature OIS, Smaller Will Not

We've already seen that Apple plans to take some serious photographic steps forward when it comes to the its newest mobile operating system, iOS 8, but we have yet to find out what the Cupertino giant has up its sleeve hardware wise.

Of course, even if we haven't heard from Apple, that doesn't mean we don't have some idea what's on the way. As the iPhone 6's inevitable announcement draws ever nearer, vague hardware rumors are beginning to solidify.

Tutorial: A Simple Way to Add a Watermark to Your Images Without Ruining Them

Watermarks are a controversial topic. Many believe they ruin your images, and are so easily removed that there's no point in adding one. Others see it as a necessary hurdle they would like to place in a potential photo stealer's way.

If you happen to fall in the latter camp, Phlearn's Aaron Nace would like to show you a simple way to create a custom brush that will take care of your watermarking needs for good, and offer a few tips on how to apply that watermark so that it doesn't outright ruin your images.

Back to Basics: The Difference Between SD SDHC & SDXC, and Which is Best for You

I will start off by saying I am partial to SanDisk memory cards, but I recently found a great write up on their website that is pretty much universal, explaining the difference between SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. I wanted to share this information with everyone because sometimes it can be confusing trying to figure out which SD Card is best for you.

‘Sandscapes’ Series Reveals the Abstract World of Patterns Left by the Tides

We’ve featured the work of German photographer Jakob Wagner a number of times before. If you remember the previous features, you’ll know he enjoys capturing ‘scapes’ of all kinds: winterscapes, aerialscapes, nightscapes and more.

But today, his subject is none of these. Today we explore the strangely patterned world of sand and water revealed in his series Sandscapes.

How a Single Photograph Thwarted One of the Most Heinous Cheats in Soccer History

Photography and sports are easy bedfellows. As wonderful as it is to watch a goal unfold before your eyes on television, it's just as powerful to see a tack-sharp photograph of the look of dismay on the goalie's face as the ball soars past his or her outstretched arm.

But sports photography isn't just for capturing dramatic moments; sometimes it can affect the course of sports history, as was the case in 1989, after one of the most controversial games in the history of football.

A Look Back at 2 of the Most Iconic Photos in Soccer History

With the World Cup in full swing, CNN Digital's director of photographer, Simon Barnett, has his hands full. Each day of the cup, his job is to look through somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 images and decide which make the cut.

In this short video above, he explains what separates the amazing images from the great-but-not-good-enough crowd, and takes us through what it is that made two iconic soccer photographs so iconic.

Doug Gordon Accused of Plagiarizing Yet Again, Then Lying About It

Photographer, photography teacher and Nikon Ambassador Doug Gordon -- the same Doug Gordon who only just began truly recovering from the plagiarism scandal he was caught up in last year -- is being accused of plagiarism yet again by photography wall-of-shame site PhotoStealers.

Texas Deputy Struggles to Find Legitimate Reason Why Recording Him is Illegal

Shot back in April, the above video shows “Ex-Cop Law Student" Andrew Wake attempting to record a seemingly routine traffic stop when a Gray County Sherriff’s Deputy eventually shows up by his side.

After handing out his name and date of birth, the Deputy asks a few more questions to which Wake kindly refuses to answer per his rights. Confrontation over, good to go right? Not so much. Things get interesting after the traffic stop is over and Wake starts heading away from the scene.

Tutorial: A Basic Explanation of What a Tilt-Shift Lens Is and How it Works

Tilt-shift lenses are nothing short of optical magic... or so it seems. But as their namesake implies, they actually achieve this 'magic' through the use of two clever movements in the lens.

In the short tutorial above, Vincent Laforet, a Canon Explorer of Light and well-known photography educator, explains just how those two components work and how they dramatically impact the look of an image.

Photographing the Matterhorn

70-200mm f/2.8 II at f/11, 170mm 1/15 seconds, ISO 100 It’s approaching 8pm and I’m sitting at the Chez Vrony, …

New Chemical Iris Technology May Change the Way Smartphone Apertures Work

As smartphones have gotten smaller and smaller, the need for the cameras inside of them to shrink has become more pressing. One area where there's a lot of room for improvement is in the traditional mechanical aperture.

As we begin to hit the physical limit of the overlapping blades, researchers at the University of Kaiserslautern have designed an exciting new ‘micro iris’ that uses small chemical rings rather than a physical blades, dramatically shrinking the size of the aperture components in the camera.

6 Things You Don’t Know About Apertures, But Probably Should

One of the first things that we learn when we start taking photographs seriously is that ‘aperture’, the size of the hole in the lens through which light passes, controls depth of field.

A large aperture creates shallow depth of field while a narrow one creates wide depth of field. But there’s a little more to aperture than that, let’s take a closer look at this most fundamental photographic control.

Rumor: Canon Has a 1D X Mark II and 5D Mark IV in the Works for Early 2015

If you've been following the most recent rumors regarding the long-awaited Canon APS-C flagship 7D Mark II, you know that the latest news is that Canon has some fancy new sensor technology in the works, and that it's supposed to re-establish Canon as an imaging leader.

None of the rumor sites have been able to pin down what this sensor tech actually is, but its existence seems a near certainty; and now, it looks like the 7D won't be the only release to benefit from it. Canon may be refreshing the 5D and 1D lines as well.

Tutorial: How to Quickly Fix Skin Redness Using the HSL Sliders in Photoshop

One problem almost all portrait photographers are going to run into at one point or another is skin redness. We're human, there's blood flowing through our faces, it's inevitable and even natural.

At times, however, it shows up just a bit too much around the nose, eyes, and cheeks. That's when you hop on Photoshop and pull up the tutorial above.

Instagram in Hot Water for Disabling Mom Blogger’s Account Over Innocent Photo

The big social networks seem to have a hard time determining what is and is not inappropriate, and to their PR detriment, they seem to make the wrong judgement time and again. The latest case in point comes out of the Instagram camp, that this week decided to disable a mommy blogger's account for posting 'inappropriate' photos of her kids that seem completely innocent.

Convict Becomes Famous Meme After His ‘Beautiful’ Mugshot Goes Viral

Mugshots aren't exactly known as the height of beautiful portrait photography, but 30-year-old felon Jeremy Meeks' mugshot is something else entirely. Within 24 hours of the photo being posted on the Stockton Police Department's Facebook, Meeks' glamour shot had received over 23,000 likes and nearly 6,000 comments... as of this writing those numbers are up to over 87,000 likes and over 11,300 comments.

It's safe to say this image has gone well and truly viral, turning Meeks into a meme and sparking everything from Photoshop spoofs to a 'Free Jeremy' Twitter campaign.