November 2014

Bridal Photos On a Burning Couch Make a Statement About Divorce Culture

It just started as a cool idea. New Zealand photographer Tom Hollow had a broken couch he needed to get rid of, and so he decided to burn it and take pictures. Then he decided to put a bride on it because, in his words, it "would look cooler with a bride."

It wasn't until after the shoot that he realized the images fit a particular storyline quite well: divorce.

Game of Thrones Season 1 Poster Recreated with Huge Camera Lenses Instead of Swords

One afternoon, while hanging out with his coworkers at Bozeman Camera, photographer Tanner Johnson and his friend Beau Larson had an idea: they decided to recreate the Game of Thrones Season 1 poster with camera gear instead of swords.

From the Iron Throne to the Stark family's sword 'Ice,' all of the sharp pointing things used to kill people were replaced with huge lenses to create an awesome photographic version.

Star Wars Episode VII Trailer Recreated in Awesome LEGO Stop Motion Animation

This is going to be a VERY long year, and we have J.J. Abrams to blame. Since its release on Friday, the trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens has swept across the Internet like a wildfire.

But as with almost anything viral, it hasn’t completely taken its course until it’s been parodied and recreated a handful of times. This viral sensation is no exception, and we have our first viral attempt thanks to LEGO fanatic Snooperking, who recreated the entire trailer from start to finish using stop motion animation.

Video: How to Capture Astrophotography Images Without a Star Tracker

In astrophotography, a star tracker is a piece of gear that compensates for the Earth’s rotation so you can take sharp long exposure photographs of the night sky.

Unfortunately, not everyone can get their hands on one of these, and so we've dug up this awesome tutorial by astrophotographer Forrest Tanaka on how to capture impressive astrophotography images without a star tracker.

The Story Behind this Powerful Photo of a Black Boy Hugging a White Cop at a Ferguson Demonstration

Amidst the many photos of hate, anger, sadness and sometimes outright destruction that have flooded the media since a grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, sparking riots and protests across the US, there are glimmers of hope and humanity.

One such glimmer was captured by Oregon-based freelance photographer Jonny Nguyen at a Ferguson demonstration in Portland earlier this week.

Drone Footage of Chernobyl is Every Bit as Haunting as You Would Expect

While working with CBS News to capture footage for a 60 Minutes segment about the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, filmmaker Danny Cooke got to explore the haunted landscape there in a way most people haven't yet: by drone.

The resulting video, released just 4 days ago, is called Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl, and it's every bit as eerie as you would imagine.

13 Photo Books for Your Stocking Stuffers

In the age of the iPad, there still is something glorious about a photo book. Here are a few of our favorites from 2014, so send Santa (or Hanukah Harry) a quick tweet, and get a big dose of inspiration this Holiday season.

Zano Micro-Drone is Tiny, Autonomous, and Equipped with Optical Image Stabilization

Micro-drones are typically thought of as more of a toy rather than a tool. If you want to capture real recreational aerial footage, you buy a bigger, heftier drone, right? Well, not necessarily. ZANO wants to change all that by packing both power and ease of use into a tiny package that measures just 2.5 x 2.5-inches and weighs just over 1.2lbs.

Portraits of Hipsters Sporting Beards Made of Fuzzy Animals

As Movember, or No Shave November, or whatever you're calling this month of bearded and mustached madness and charity, comes to a close, we're sharing perhaps the most appropriate photo series we could find.

A set of three images captured for the razor brand Schick by photographer Troy Goodall in collaboration with animal photographer Stephen Stewart, Free Your Skin features quintessential hipsters showing off beards made of... fuzzy animals.

Video: Cameraman Accused of ‘Repeatedly Hitting’ Police with His Camera Did No Such Thing

While covering the "re-occupation” protest in Mong Kok on Thursday night, an Apple Daily cameraman was arrested by police after he allegedly assaulted a police officer with his camera and then resisted arrest.

There's just one problem with this story, told to the press by police: it's not true. The video above captured by a South China Morning Post reporter paints a very different picture.

Craziest Black Friday Deal: Hasselblad Offering $2,300 off the Special Edition Stellar

There are some great Black Friday deals out there today, but we're not sure anybody is going to be able to touch the discount Hasselblad is offering on the Stellar Special Edition. So if you're interested in buying a luxury version of the Sony RX100 Mark I that doubles as a collector's item, listen up.

All of the Stellar Special Edition cameras, which usually retail for a whopping $3,300, are selling for $1,000 on B&H photo right now -- that's $2,300 off, very nearly a 70% discount.

How to Capture a Beautiful Watch Product Shot Using Only an iPad for Lighting

Product photography -- even when done with cheap gear like this awesome tutorial using an iPhone, an IKEA lamp and some flashlights -- usually involves multiple light sources. But there is a way around that, as Laya Gerlock over on DIY Photography demonstrates in this awesome tutorial titled "How to Shoot a Perfect Watch with Nothing but an iPad."

Young Self-Taught Photographer Captures Wanderers Against Magnificent Landscapes

Self-taught Canadian photographer Elizabeth Gadd described her photography niche better, perhaps, than anybody else when she said, "I, uh… shoot landscapey stuff… with people in them."

That, however, is something of an understatement. The 21-year-old photographer's body of work does, indeed contain "landscapey stuff with people in them," but that hardly does the spectacular vistas she photographs justice.

What Makes a Great Photograph? A Bit of Thanksgiving Encouragement

Despite the video's title, the short, encouraging snippet above from photographer Joel Grimes isn't about finding a specific set of characteristics that define "a great photograph." Instead, it's about finding out what a great photograph is to you.

It's a matter of taste, discovering your personal vision, and then coming to terms with the fact that not everybody is going to love what you do.

Tutorial: How to Batch Process Your RAW Time-Lapse Photography

Time-lapse photography seems pretty straightforward, right? You just capture a stream of images over a designated time frame and put them together in post-production to create your video. But as simple as that may sound, there are a few basic elements to the post-processing of your images that can greatly alter what the final product will look like.

Here to go over just a few of those basics, including batch-editing for color correction, de-flickering images and more, is J.P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens.

We’re Giving Away a Free Trip to Dubai to Attend Gulf Photo Plus 2015

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

Want to attend Gulf Photo Plus 2015 in Dubai next year? We're giving away a free trip to attend the photography festival from March 6, 2015 through March 13, 2015.

One lucky winner will receive: free airfare to and from Dubai from your nearest major international airport (~$1,200 if flying from the US), 5 nights at the event's official hotel (~$700), ~$1,000 worth of workshops during the event, and a $32 free pass to PhotoFriday at the event. The total package is worth roughly $3,000.

Report: GoPro Plans to Start Making Its Own Camera Drones Next Year

DJI better watch out, because the camera that is commonly attached to its most popular line of Drones might soon have a drone of its very own. That's right, we're talking about GoPro, and the Wall Street Journal claims the company is planning to release its own line of drones next year.

Sony Officially Announces the a7II in the US! Will Ship in Time for Christmas

The Sony a7II and its impressive 5-axis in-body stabilization has generated a ton of well-deserved buzz since it was officially announced. There's only one problem: it wasn't officially announced in the US yet.

The main announcement was made in Japan and no US release date and pricing has been available... until today! The news just dropped, and American Sony fans can enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow knowing they can have the a7II in time for Christmas.

This Sports Photographer Missed an Incredible Catch and Got Fired… Except He Didn’t… and He Didn’t

"I got fired on Twitter last night." That's how NJ.com photographer Andrew Mills starts his side of a story that went viral on social media two days ago. Thanks to a photo that seems to show Mills missing what might have been one of the greatest photos of his career, social media tagged him with the tongue in cheek caption "this guy used to be a sports photographer."

Except that he did get the shot, or at least a shot... and the shot he got is a testament to how good of a sports photographer he really is.

Canon Patents a Body Cap that Cleans the Contacts on Your Lens Mount

Here's a cool patent that gives new purpose to a camera accessory you don't hear talked about much: the body cap. Chances are you don't give your camera's body cap much thought, but the body cap Canon just patented would serve a dual purpose by not just keeping your sensor protected, but also cleaning the contacts on your lens mount in the process.

Power Hungry: Poignant Photos Compare the Meals of the Rich and Poor Throughout History

Approximately 40% of food is thrown out in America each year. This amounts to roughly $165 billion (with a ‘b’) worth of food, which could feed half of the 50 million Americans who struggle to put food on the table.

It’s tough statistics like these that inspired photographer Henry Hargreaves and his friend and food stylist Caitlin Levin to create the series Power Hungry: a poignant set of photos that illustrates the inequality between the rich and the poor by comparing what each class's meals have looked like throughout history.

The Vela One is 100x Faster than Conventional Strobes, Can Stop a Bullet In Its Tracks

High speed photography is all about fast-flash; the faster your flash, the faster the instant you can adequately freeze on a digital sensor. Modern strobes are pretty good at this, with flash durations as fast as 1/20,000 of a second, but a Bristol-based company Vela Labs is about to take high-speed photography to unheard-of heights.

Introducing the Vela One, ‘the world’s first high speed LED flash' that boasts a flash speed starting at 1/2,000,000 second, or 500 nanoseconds.

Beautiful Photographs of Microscopic Plankton that Look Like Photos of Outer Space

When you look at the photographs in her series Into the Umbra, photographer Julia Bennett wants you to think you're looking at outer space. And then, just as your mind is struggling to expand to encompass the far reaches of the solar system where the image was captured, that's when she wants you to realize that you're looking at something you could find in any old liter of Sea Water.

Her images weren't captured with a telescope peering into the heavens, but a microscope that peers into the micro worlds inside droplets of seawater.

Reuters Layoffs Continue as the Company Continues to Rework Its Photography Department

In August of 2013, we shared the news that Thomson Reuters had dropped all of its freelance sports photographers in North America in favor of a deal they struck with USA Today Sports Images. But it appears that sad move was only the beginning.

Earlier this week, more members of the photography staff at Thomson Reuters were let go in the multi-national media company’s ongoing effort to downsize and focus its workforce, especially in the imaging department.

Hasselblad Unveils the Stellar II: A Luxury Item ‘Not Intended to Be Judged Against Other Cameras’

Minutes ago, Hasselblad officially unveiled the Stellar II, another Sony rebrand that will likely draw some ridicule from the photo community -- except that Hassy has changed their approach a bit with this camera.

Right in the first line of the press release, they're making one thing clear: this camera is "not intended to be judged against other cameras," but is, "rather, conceived and crafted exclusively for Aficionados, Collectors and Connoisseurs."

Using Printed Video Game Screenshots to Creatively Juxtapose 1790s and Modern Day Paris

Then & Now style photo series are anything but uncommon, but what if the "then" you want to compare to "now" happened before the invention of photography? You would think that would be a deal-breaker, but one computer graphics manager and gaming enthusiast found a way around this issue.

For his 'Then & Now' series, Damien Hypolite printed out screenshots from the game Assassin's Creed Unity -- which is based during the French Revolution -- and then went around holding them up against modern-day Paris.

Flickr Taking Heat from CC Photographers for Selling Their Work as Wall Art Without Compensation

Flickr -- a site that sometimes seems like the punching bag of the photo community -- is again taking heat from photographers, this time over their recent announcement that people can select from millions of Creative Commons-licensed photographs to buy as wall art.

The photos are being sold for profit, but none of that profit will go to the photographers who took the shots, and some of these photographers are speaking up about what they see as an injustice.

Impressive Product Photograph Captured with a Smartphone, a Lamp, and a Few Flashlights

Inspired by Alex Koloskov's popular iPhone vs. Hasselblad whisky glass video, photographer Tilo Gockel decided to give cheap gear professional product photography a try of his own -- and he knocked it out of the park.

Using just an old iPhone 4s, an IKEA lamp, two LED flashlights, and a few Translumfoil cards (you can use parchment), he captured the photograph you see above.