Forget model airplanes… This Plamodel snap model kit is the one to buy if you’re a photo-enthusiast (or want to make your kid one). Created by Japanese design house superheadz, it uses simple snap-together parts that allow even the “not-so-mechanically inclined” to assemble their own 35mm camera. There’s 44 individual parts, and an instruction manual for building the camera is available online. You can check out some sample photos in this Flickr group pool, and buy one for $17 over on Amazon.
Last year we featured the work of Matthew and William Burrard-Lucas, two brothers who mounted their Canon DSLR to a remote-controlled car to shoot close-up photographs of dangerous African animals. The behind-the-scenes video above was just published yesterday, and shows the RC DSLR being driven up to different animals, all of which are clearly thinking, “what the heck is this thing”? They should offer these “BeetleCams” for sale. I want one.
You’ve probably photographed your own reflection in sunglasses before, but have you ever captured a reflection of yourself shooting the photograph in the same shot? Reddit user Jon Little shot this trippy Inception-esque photo at the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago.
Norwegian design studio Skrekkøgle — the one that printed a photo with a cremated dog — has a creative project called “Big Money” in which they made a giant 20:1 replica of a 50 cent Euro coin. They then placed the coin next to large objects and photographed them together, making the objects look like tiny toy replicas. Read more…
Here’s a mind-bending video in which someone created the famous checker shadow illusion in real life. The optical illusion takes advantage of the way our brains process lighting and shadows.
As with many so-called illusions, this effect really demonstrates the success rather than the failure of the visual system. The visual system is not very good at being a physical light meter, but that is not its purpose. The important task is to break the image information down into meaningful components, and thereby perceive the nature of the objects in view. [#]
Interesting huh? Our eyes aren’t very good as a light meters, since they’re easily deceived by context. Read more…
When Matthew Harrison (aka The Leica Guy) got married recently, he was given the awesome gift of a f/.95 Noctilux ring:
As is tradition, the bride and groom exchanged gifts prior to the wedding. While Matthew purchased Emily the watch that she had always wanted. Emily commissioned a custom ring for Matthew’s shooting hand (as opposed to for his wedding band). This one of a kind band has the depth of field scale from his favorite lens, the .95 Noctilux. On the sides, the ring features both Matthew’s name and The Leica Guy moniker on one side, and the Lens information including name, filter size, and serial number on the other. [#]
You can find the website of the jeweler who made the ring here. Read more…
Last week we published a post asking whether anyone had made a “print” on their skin by placing a negative on their skin under the sun. After seeing the post, videographer Jeremiah Warren decided to conduct the experiment for the benefit of all mankind. Taping four slides onto his forearm (he didn’t have any suitable negative film), Warren exposed his skin for four hours in 100-degree heat (consuming a gallon of water in the process).
Check out the video above for his results — the “prints” didn’t turn out as awesome as he had hoped. Using negative film might produce better results since slide film prints a negative image onto skin, but it doesn’t seem like sunlight is focused enough to print a sharp image onto skin.
When his friend Tom Offer-Westort decided to shave off his hair and massive beard, Peter Simon suggested that they take advantage of the opportunity and do it in style. This stop-motion video is what resulted.
It took Steven Silton two hours and 150 tries to capture this amazing photograph of a water drop showing an MC Escher painting.
The hardest part was focusing, in the set up picture I posted in the first comment you can see a piece of string above the eye dropper. I would let that hang down off the eye dropper and focus on that, then move it and squeeze the dropper and the shutter at almost the same time. [#]
He used a Canon 7D and 60mm macro lens, shooting at ISO 640, f/2.8, and 1/250. Read more…
