January 2015

Will the Real Landscape Photography Please Stand Up?

This post is a curmudgeonly look at the current state of landscape photography.

I was in Munich yesterday, munching on some bratwurst and drinking a beer in a place where a huge TV monitor on the wall was playing a slideshow of landscape photos. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from it, as the photos were really beautiful.

You know the type of photo: amazing locations, wonderful light, colorful sunsets, starry skies, waterfalls, ocean waves, tropical beaches, brilliant colors.

Abstract Photographs of Hong Kong’s Neon Signs

At first glance, photographer Rainer Torrado's "Eye Carry the Night" may look to you like a strange grid of lines and colors. They're actually photos of neon signs.

Instead of photographing the design on the face of the signs, Torrado took his camera directly beneath each one, capturing what the displays look like from an angle that most people ignore.

Photographer Brandon Stanton Raises $1 Million+ for Brooklyn School Through Portraits

Photographer Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York has become one of the most influential photo projects in the world since it launched back in November 2010. Tens of millions of people follow Stanton as he shoots portraits of people on the street and shares the images online with their stories.

Here's a great example of how powerful his photos have become: a single photo posted earlier this month has raised more than $1 million for a school in Brooklyn to help send students to college.

The Super Bowl is a “No Drone Zone,” Says the FAA

If you're anywhere near the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona this Sunday while the Super Bowl is going on, you should keep your camera drone stored away. The FAA is warning the public that the Super Bowl is a "No Drone Zone": fly your drone anywhere within 30 miles of the stadium during the game and you're breaking the law.

Surviving the Avalanche

2014 has been a year of some dramatic disasters around the world - Ebola, Gaza and aviation to mention a few - and by no means do I place what happened to me among them. Saying that however, when something happens to you in first person - you will always be more effected by it.

How I Made Myself a DIY Spider Light for $40

I recently made myself a DIY Spider Light as a thrifty alternative to the Spiderlite that costs hundreds of dollars. The entire project ended up costing $40 per light and can be built entirely with parts from a local home improvement store.

It turned out pretty well I think, with the added benefit of being bulletproof -- you can stand on the body without breaking it.

Crowdsourced Instagram Photos of Snowstorm Land on the Front Page of the New York Times

Yesterday's front page of the New York Times featured a story about the snow that has been falling on the Northeastern United States. Accompanying the article and dominating a large portion of the page were 9 Instagram photos of the snow as snapped by Times readers.

Poytner points out that this appears to have been the first time the New York Times published audience-submitted photographs on the front page of its printed newspaper.

Watch How DSLR Shutters Work in 10,000FPS Super Slow Motion

If you want to see the mechanics of how a modern DSLR shutter works, one way to do so is through slow-motion captured with a high-speed camera. That's what Gavin Free of The Slow Mo Guys recently did by pointing a Phantom Flex at his Canon 7D and capturing what goes on inside the mirror box during exposures of various shutter speeds.

By slowing down the movements after shooting at up to 10,000 frames per second, we get to see exactly what goes on in the camera in the blink of an eye.

How a Chance Encounter Helped Launch My Concert Photography Career

I was a month and a half into the photography program at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver when I decided to skip school for a day for a concert. I had a ticket to see Mumford & Sons playing in Laramie, Wyoming, before they hit Red Rocks in Colorado.

At the time, I was already contemplating dropping out of school, due to feeling that I would never be good enough to make it in the photography world, and would just be wasting time and money.

Wedding Photos Shot with a Lytro Light Field Camera

Earlier this month, we shared some sample photos showing how Lytro's Illum light field camera performed in capturing the NFC Championship game. Here's another look at the camera with a very different subject matter: wedding photographs.

Promo Piece: A Simple 36-Page Photo Magazine

Self promotion has been one of the most difficult things for me to overcome as a photographer. I constantly ask myself "Who cares?", "Is this relevant?", and "Do I sound like a douche bag?". I’ve decided to get over myself this year and just put the work out there and let the chips fall as they may.

To that end, I started this year with a new promotional piece that focuses exclusively on my sports and fitness work. Here is a look at my simple new promotional material.

First Sample Footage of the GoPro HERO4’s Upcoming 240FPS High-Def Slow Motion

GoPro is planning to release some firmware updates in February 2015 that will add new features to its HERO4 Black and Silver cameras. One of them in particular is 240FPS recording at 720p in the HERO4 Black, allowing the camera to shoot high definition and slow motion at the same time.

Brent Rose over at Gizmodo got his hands on the firmware update for an advanced look, and shot the sample video above at the 2015 Winter X Games. The footage was captured at 240fps and then played back at 24fps.

First Person View: Covering a Nebraska Cornhuskers Basketball Game

Photographer Nate Olsen is the Assistant Athletic Photographer for the University of Nebraska's athletics department, so he covers all of the school's sporting events. He recently decided to strap a GoPro HERO4 to his head to show what it's like to cover a Cornhuskers basketball game through his eyes and lens. The video above is what resulted.

Monkey Latch: One-Click Changeovers Between Your Camera and Its Accessories

Wilson Tse and Craig Hansen of British Columbia want to make it easier for photographers to switch their cameras between accessories such as straps and tripods. The duo has created a new universal camera mount system called the Monkey Latch that aims to tackle this issue.

It's a quick release system that lets you move your camera from one accessory to another in just seconds with one click.

DJI Mandatory Firmware Update Will Disable Camera Drones in Washington DC’s No Fly Zone

Yesterday we reported that a DJI Phantom quadcopter operator had accidentally crashed his camera drone onto the lawn of the White House at 3 in the morning, causing a security panic among those tasked with ensuring the President's safety (later reports suggest the man was drunk).

DJI wants to make sure this type of incident never happens again: the company is issuing a mandatory firmware update that will disable its camera drones in Washington DC's no fly zone.

How I Built a Custom Desk and Wire-Free Workspace for My Photo Editing

For years I’ve struggled with my workspace, I’ve had loads of different ones, from small ones in the corner of the living room in my old apartment to ones that take up my entire 3 metre wide office in my current house, they have all had their merits but most frustratingly I have never truly liked working at any of them. They’ve all had massive issues that have made working at them difficult and as a result they are hardly the most inspiring way to work in the office.

Sony World Photography Awards Adds a Smartphone Category for 2015

Another sign of the times: the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards has announced that they will be launching an entirely new award today dedicated to mobile photography. Organizers say that the new award recognizes "how mobile photography has helped redefine the way in which photographers approach their art."

Write Your Signature with a Long Exposure Photo of the Moon

Ever since light painting exploded onto the scene some years ago, writing your signature by waving a light source in a long exposure has become a very common photo idea. But have you ever tried writing your signature by waving your camera at the moon?

That's what photographer John Kraus attempted recently, and the photo above shows the results of his effort.

Illusion of Lights: A Time-Lapse of the Night Sky Above the Western United States

In 2013, photographer Brad Goldpaint and his wife Marci quit their day jobs, sold all of their possessions, and began living out of a motorhome while traveling through the Western United States. Their new career was teaching photography workshops while educating the public about the damaging effects of light pollution.

As the duo moved from place to place through some of the nation's most pristine wilderness areas, Goldpaint spent countless nights out in the dark, capturing long exposure photos over many hours with his camera gear. The images have since been put together into an independent stop-motion film titled “Illusion of Lights: A Journey into the Unseen.” Above is the film's trailer.

Keepers of the Streak: A Film About the 4 Guys Who Have Photographed Every Super Bowl

Countless photographs have been captured by numerous photographers over the course of Super Bowl history, but only four photographers have covered all 48 Big Games since Super Bowl I in 1967: John Biever, Walter Iooss, Mickey Palmer and Tony Tomsic.

"Keepers of the Streak" is a new documentary film by sports photographer Neil Leifer that chronicles the journey of those four men. Above is the official trailer for the movie.