The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 to 2003) is often lauded as the greatest trilogy of all time. And some of the practical photography effects done in those films -- especially in the first film -- are still revered even to this day.
A new book investigates a single 19th-century photograph of an unnamed Native American girl surrounded by federal officials and explores what identifying her reveals about the historical context of the American West.
It may be commonplace to you, but your audience members may be unfamiliar with the things in your life. Consequently, to them, your ordinary subjects may seem exotic and unusual. However, there are other good reasons to photograph the commonplace repeatedly.
2025 was an excellent year for Panasonic's full-frame Lumix S system and an eerily quiet one for Micro Four Thirds. The year was headlined by the Lumix S1 II, a dynamite full-frame hybrid camera, and the S1R II, the long-awaited high-res update.
Chinese smartphone makers are all-in on photography. Xiaomi's latest Leica-infused phone, the 17 Ultra by Leica, features incredible camera specs, the famous Leica Red Dot logo, and, most interestingly, a manual lens zoom ring.
Accessories may not get the same attention as cameras and lenses, but they are often the tools that keep photographers shooting smoothly. From memory card protection to power solutions and lens accessories, small upgrades can make a meaningful difference in daily workflow. Right now, holiday and last-minute savings are bringing substantial discounts to many of these essentials.
Viltrox has released promised firmware updates for lenses to improve performance and ensure compatibility with the brand-new Sony a7 V.
When Sigma announced its new cinema lens series earlier this year, that may have been the first time that some heard the word "Aizu." Aizu, the shortened form of Aizuwakamatsu, refers to a region in Fukushima, in northern Honshu, Japan, where Sigma is based. This region and its people are so important to the core of what makes Sigma special that it only makes sense to name a lens series after it.
Originating in the early part of the last century, Gestalt Theory revolutionized the understanding of perception. It emphasizes how humans perceive what they see. So, how can we use it to improve our photography?
A YouTuber has captured one of the clearest views ever of a Bobbit worm, one of the ocean’s most fearsome sand-dwelling predators, striking its prey -- using ultra slow-motion footage to reveal the creature’s lightning-fast attack on a squid from beneath the seafloor.
Fujifilm is going to be very difficult to grade this year, not because the company didn't do anything, but because it delivered such an eclectic mix of products, ranging from fun but bad to good but boring. Fujifilm always does things a bit differently, but this year was especially odd.
Leica counted down the days to Christmas in style, delivering daily videos that showcase "the most special things" in the company's archives. As is tradition, the photographic advent calendar of sorts concluded yesterday, Christmas Eve, and we thought a nice little Christmas present to our passionate readers was a recap of Leica's Christmas countdown.
A new exhibition explores the history of photography in children's books from their rise in the 1930s to the present day.
Learning photography is a never-ending quest. Most of us are hoping to make our photos appealing to our audience. So what follows are five approaches we can employ to help achieve that.
Sony has long been the top dog in the full-frame mirrorless camera space, but the gap has closed dramatically in recent years. Did Sony do enough to stave off the competition in 2025?
Since veteran astronaut and fantastic photographer Don Pettit returned from his record-setting fifth expedition to space in April, he has been regularly sharing photos he captured aboard the ISS. His most recent one is a remarkable portrait of his fellow astronaut, Sunita "Suni" Williams, floating in space during her ninth spacewalk. The International Space Station's (ISS) solar array is in the background, delivering an incredible sense of scale.
When Nikon announced the RED-fueled ZR cinema camera in September, it also unveiled a companion shotgun microphone, the ME-D10. This new mic is now finally available in stores.
Surprise! The PetaPixel Podcast team got together one more time for the true Season 4 finale! Grab a glass of eggnog, don your Santa hats, and pull the pole out from the crawlspace, because it's time for the annual airing of grievances!
In mid-December, as the winter sun drifts across Cairo’s skyline, a new kind of exhibition opens its doors, built not from the work of gallery veterans but from the pockets of everyday people. Each image is a reminder that the world is full of stories happening in the margins of daily life. And increasingly, these stories are being captured through a device nearly everyone carries.
As photographers, we often concentrate on technical perfection and the compositional layout. However, arguably more important than either of those is adding meaning to your photos. It can be challenging, but adding meaning can genuinely elevate your photos to the next tier.
Just ahead of Christmas, here's an inspiring story about David Hurn, a 91-year-old photographer who has captured some of the most iconic images of the past century, including the instantly recognizable portrait of Sean Connery as James Bond.
Master winter wildlife photography with expert tips on camera settings, gear, composition, and field strategies to capture stunning images of animals in snowy landscapes.
A grizzly bear was filmed having a peculiar and unexplained reaction to a motion-sensor trail camera in Yukon, Canada.
Photographer Ari Rabin-Havt has always wanted to get a picture from inside a shark's mouth, looking out.
OM SYSTEM's Holiday Savings Event runs through January 11, 2025, and the deals are compelling. The Micro Four Thirds system has always offered a distinct advantage: professional-grade performance in a package that weighs half as much as full-frame equivalents. With savings up to $500 on flagship cameras and lenses, this is an ideal time to build or expand a travel-ready kit without compromising image quality.
Nikon's 2024 acquisition of RED bore its first major fruit this year, but the RED-infused Nikon ZR is far from the only great product the legendary Japanese company released in 2025. Nikon launched three cameras and five lenses, nearly all of which proved impressive.
DJI has released a significant firmware update for the Osmo Action 6 action camera, bringing 8K video recording and a suite of workflow and creative enhancements.
7Artisans has announced the Floral Bloom 57mm T2.9, a full frame cinema lens designed for PL mount cameras and built around a deliberately unconventional optical signature. Rather than aiming for neutral rendering, the lens embraces a strong stylistic identity, producing a pronounced radial bokeh effect intended for highly expressive, story-driven filmmaking.
The first public trailer for Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan's upcoming epic, "The Odyssey," has arrived. The movie, shot on Kodak 65mm film and IMAX film cameras, is slated to make cinematography history and required the use of over two million feet of Kodak film.
Every professional photographer understands the frustration of a complex mask. When you’re dealing with fine hair against a busy background, the sheer fabric of a wedding dress, or even highly detailed product shots, traditional selection tools quickly become a time-sinking ordeal. Hours spent painstakingly refining edges in post-production translate directly into lost studio time and increased labor costs. It’s a tedious, manual bottleneck that hinders the creative flow.
The National Park Service is seeking information on a pair of visitors, including a photographer, who were recently caught on camera throwing rocks at resting seals at Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California.
Mt. Olivet, Kentucky -- named after the biblical Mount of Olives -- is a hamlet in the smallest county in Kentucky. Population estimates vary, from 155 in 2023 to a bit higher number in the 2020 census. Photojournalist Michael Swensen, based in tiny Mt. Olivet, gets big-time assignments. His work has been seen worldwide via The Associated Press, Getty Images, The Washington Post, and more.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced late Monday that it would add DJI to its "Covered List," effectively banning all future DJI drones from the United States. A disappointed DJI says it remains committed to the U.S. market despite the ban.
A little-known tax law in Mexico has the potential to trip up photographers visiting the country if they are carrying more than two cameras or even lenses.
A study has found that when left to their own devices, AI image generators converge on a limited set of photo styles no matter what the original prompt is.
Researchers from California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have released a year-end video showcasing some of the most remarkable deep-sea wildlife encounters captured in 2025 using the institute’s advanced underwater camera systems.
This was a busy year for Canon, highlighted by a very good video camera in the Canon EOS C50 and an even better hybrid camera in the EOS R6 Mark III, PetaPixel's Camera of the Year. But Canon's 2025 included much more than just these two cameras, so let's take a deeper dive into Canon's year, how it transformed the EOS R landscape, and how it sets the stage for more excellence from Canon in 2026 and beyond.
A wedding photographer’s images gained widespread attention after a passer-by -- who turned out to be a popular influencer -- lent his Aston Martin for a couple's photo shoot in the Scottish Highlands.
As part of Germany's rearmament, the army is recruiting an unusual creature for warfare: a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach.
A camera was stolen in broad daylight from a media and film training center for people with disabilities in California.
A photographer has taken to social media to allege that a rock band used her concert photo on merchandise without her consent.
A harrowing documentary explores the life of photographer Anja Neidringhaus, who died in a targeted assault in Afghanistan while covering the 2014 presidential elections.
A photographer has captured an incredible interaction between a skunk and a mountain lion on one of his trail cameras.
After an uncharacteristically prolific 2024, Hasselblad slowed down in 2025 in terms of quantity but reached new heights when it comes to quality.
There have been significant improvements in photographic technology over the last 50 years. Although it helps us get ever-better photographs, there is an essential reason for going back to basics.
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced the winning photographs and finalists of its 2025 Teen Portrait Competition, highlighting 19 works by young photographers that will be presented as part of a gallery exhibition.
We're kicking off our annual recap series with a look back at the best and most interesting Chinese lenses of 2025. From 7Artisans to Viltrox, let's remember some great Chinese glass that hit the scene in 2025.
It’s the holiday season, and Reto has come up with the perfect Christmas present for photographers. The new Kodak Charmera is a tiny keychain-sized camera that uses licensed Kodak designs and logos to incredibly popular effect. The Charmera is true to its name and is a marketing masterpiece that is almost impossible to get now. I wanted to find out if this toy camera is worth all the hype, and whether it is worth purchasing after the holiday season.
To mark the release of Steph Curry's new book Shot Ready, the publisher Random House teamed up with a creative agency to create a unique billboard that harnesses an astronomical event.
Award-winning South African photographer Shem Compion's latest photography book, "The Rift: Scar of Africa," features nearly 300 photos from Compion's more than 20 years of exploring and photographing the Great Rift Valley in Africa.
