trends

Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So D*mn Selfish and Disrespectful

What does it take to push a farmer to this point? The point where, fed up of thousands of disrespectful photographers, wannabe “influencers” and narcissistic tourists, they feel the only way to get them to stop damaging their business and property, is to damage those people’s photographs?

Ricoh Thinks Mirrorless Shooters Will Switch Back to DSLRs in 1-2 Years

Camera brands have been shifting their attention from DSLRs to mirrorless cameras, with Canon even reportedly deciding to focus entirely on launching RF mirrorless lenses in 2019 with zero EF announcements. But Ricoh isn't convinced the trend will last -- it believes some mirrorless shooters will soon return to the DSLR.

The Cameras That Shot the Winning Photos of World Press Photo 2019

World Press Photo just announced the winning photos for the 2019 edition of it's world's most prestigious photojournalism contest. Camera metadata shared alongside the top photos is again providing us with an inside look at what gear the world's top photojournalists are using at the moment.

Three Seconds of Pleasant Geometry

Back in the day, a compelling photograph could be taken in a fraction of a second and considered for years, even decades. The small world of street photography was dominated by photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, who said, “Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.”

Costco Closing (Some) In-Store Photo Depts., Cites Plummeting Printing

Costco's wholesale warehouse stores used to be an ultra-affordable place to get film developed, as it charged less than $2 a roll while competitors often charged several times as much. But film processing started disappearing from Costco locations a few years ago (to the dismay of many). Now the entire in-store photo departments may be the next to go.

The High Cost of Perfection

Walking past booth after booth at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York, I often heard camera company presenters explaining to their uncomfortably-seated, yet nonetheless-enraptured, audiences how they shot the “perfect” photo.

Photography: AI Everywhere

There are two major trends in photography today. The first is the ever-increasing numbers of photos being made. I can't even be bothered to look up how many billions of photos are being uploaded to Instickrbook every minute or every day or every year. It's a lot. This is usually talked about in terms of how many photos there are, and how we are drowning in them.

Social Media is Ruining Photography

In the U.S. and most industrialized nations, we have a collective infatuation with technology but a poor understanding of its effects – both intended and unintended. We love asking Siri to play our favorite song, but don’t fully consider the privacy implications of allowing the device to persistently listen to us.

The DSLR Will Likely Die: Are Mirrorless the Future of Big Standalone Cameras?

People often ask me, given the improvement and ubiquity of cell phones, whether DSLRs survive. This actually entails two slightly different questions: will standalone large-ish cameras survive, and will the particular reflex design (the R in DSLR) survive? I am cautiously optimistic about the former and very pessimistic about the latter. In this piece, I will discuss DSLR vs. mirrorless.

Magazine Covers Shot with Phones Ain’t No Thang

Scoring a national magazine cover shoot to prove the greatness of a phone’s camera has become part of the standard PR playbook for manufacturers. TIME featured photos taken by Luisa Dörr using an iPhone for a September 2017 cover story entitled “Firsts” about women changing the world.

‘Great Photos! You Must Have a Great Camera!’

"Great photos! You must have a great camera!" If you take your craft seriously, the odds of having heard these words are quite high. Audiences associate good images with great cameras, and for the longest time this (almost) accusation has bothered photographers who felt their skills were downplayed. But the interesting bit is that we’re walking towards making the “great cameras = great photos” equation true! And they fit in your pocket.

The Death of DSLRs is Near

Two decades ago, DSLRs were introduced to replace film cameras. With only a few megapixels, very short battery life, and an overall low quality, it was only natural that most photographers were very skeptical at first. It took a few generations until digital cameras were fully accepted and analog photography was left to the enthusiasts rather than the professionals.

Photography Never Died

Lately, the photography sphere has been inundated, not with the gazillions of photos everyone is talking about, but with article after article proclaiming that photography is dead/over/irrelevant/trash.

Fine Art Prices Are Falling, but Photo Prices Are Rising

If you've been thinking about starting a fine art photography collection, now may not be a bad time to start that investment. While most types of fine art are seeing prices plunge, photography is actually growing in clout among art collectors and investors.

10 Predictions About the Future of Photography

How might photography evolve in the coming years and decades? The folks over at COOPH took a look at current trends and research projects to come up with 10 productions about the future of photography. They're discussed in the 4.5-minute video above.

The Photographer vs. The Internet

ME: I don’t want to be a dick but could you please stop using my image on your website?

THE INTERNET: Why?

The Problem of Fake Photos in Fake News

The New York Times just reported an incredible story of how a 23-year old recent college graduate created a fake news story about fraudulent Clinton votes in Ohio and netted $22,000 on a fake news website from ads.

I Earned More From Photo Gigs in 2016 With My iPhone Than My DSLRs

2016 ended in a most fitting fashion for the new way I am trying to earn a living as a freelance photographer. On December 27, I was on Montara Beach photographing a college volleyball player on assignment for Volleyball USA magazine. The big story here? I was shooting the entire assignment with my iPhone 7 Plus.

All Hail the Video Portrait

In an April 2016 interview, Mark Zuckerberg told Buzzfeed News, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you fast-forward five years and most of the content that people see on Facebook and are sharing on a day-to-day basis is video.”

The Inevitable Monetization of the Selfie

The selfie. Generally maligned by anyone older than 30 as a narcissistic (and sometimes dangerous) pursuit, the selfie has become enmeshed with all forms of Millenial self-expression. The younger generation isn’t content to just photograph their surroundings, they need to be present in the image or video to enhance the authenticity.

Is Instagram Dying a Slow Death?

All the numbers have been pointing upwards for Instagram. In fact, a recent analysis shows that Instagram will be used by 1 in 3 person, in the US, by 2020. With 400 million active users today, it is the only platform where people exclusively take and share visual content and nothing else.

Here’s How Camera Brands Have Fared on Flickr Over the Past 5 Years

Flickr recently gathered up photo and camera data to review the past year, and now the company is doing some number crunching to reveal major trends in the cameras used by the photographer community.

The graph above shows how the popularity of major camera brands have changed over the past half decade.

There Are Now 8x More People Taking Pictures than 10 Years Ago

Camera sales haven't been doing too well in recent years, but that hasn't kept picture taking from exploding. While the dedicated camera industry has seen year-on-year declines, smartphone photography has turned everyone into a casual photographer: there are now 8 times as many picture takers worldwide than there were 10 years ago.

Why Did Photographers Stop Selling Paper Prints?

I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. I have no idea how to wear a scarf without looking like it’s 1974 and I am constantly changing my online passwords because I can’t remember them. I am not skilled at statistics and conducting a simple cost analysis makes me break out in hives. But… I think about things. A lot.

And one of the things I’ve been thinking about recently is why photographers stopped selling paper prints. And I have a theory.

This is How Smiles in Yearbook Photos Have Changed Over the Past 100+ Years

Smiling is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of photography. If you take a look at photos from many decades ago, people commonly wore stoic expressions on their faces and portraits were a much more serious affair.

Researchers at UC Berkeley recently crunched through an enormous trove of high school yearbook photos to show how smiling and portraits have evolved over the past 100+ years.

A Wedding Photographer on a Self-Balancing Scooter

Self-balancing scooters have become all the rage over the past couple of years, and you can now buy a small handle-less Segway-esque device for yourself for around $300 to $400. In addition to gliding around and attracting curious looks on the street, you can also use the "hoverboards" to shoot stable photos and videos.