NASA mechanical engineer Mark Rober made an uber-creative halloween costume that features a gaping see-through hole in his torso. What he did was strap two iPads to his body -- one in front and one in back -- with a FaceTime video chat running between them. Each iPad's camera footage is displayed on the other iPad's screen, providing a view right through Rober's body.
Contrast detection is one of the two main techniques used in camera autofocus systems. Although focusing speeds continue to improve, the method uses an inefficient "guess and check" method of figuring out a subject's distance -- it doesn't initially know whether to move focus backward or forward. UT Austin vision researcher Johannes Burge wondered why the human eye is able to instantly focus without the tedious "focus hunting" done by AF systems. He and his advisor then developed a computer …
Art studio Bughouse sells a series called "Future Fossils", featuring handmade cement sculptures of things like Atari joysticks and various film cameras. One of them is the Olympus 35mm camera seen here. You can buy one for $85 from the Henry Road online store.
Japanese company Nippon Electric Glass has developed a new type of 'invisible glass' that drastically reduces reflections, rendering the glass almost invisible to human eyes. The secret is a special anti-reflection film that is formed on each side of the glass, which allows more light to pass through rather than bounce off. In ordinary glass, about 8% of the incoming light is reflected, but with this new glass, only 0.5% is. In the photo above, we "see" normal glass on the left and the new …
Dan Bailey over at The Photoletariat captured this brief video of Lowepro showing off its new Lens Exchange 200AW case at PhotoPlus Expo in NYC. The case is designed to help you swap lenses with one hand -- instead of setting one lens down before taking out the new one, it expands to reveal a second compartment. Stick the old lens in, pull the new lens out, and then collapse the case back into its compact form.
German photographer Heinz Maier only started doing photography last year, but his stunning photographs of water drop splashes are already taking the Internet by storm. By using a macro lens and colored filters, Maier makes tiny splashes of liquid look like intricate glass sculptures.
Early beta versions of Photoshop CS6 (codenamed "Superstition") have already made it into the hands of testers, and information about changes and new features is slowly starting to emerge. AppleInsider has published some screenshots of the new program, which apparently comes with a darker, Aperture-esque user interface. There's a number of new features geared towards working with 3D, a mysterious new "Remix Tool" inside the healing brush pallet, and a "Perspective Crop" tool. There's also new …
Here's a fun entry to add to your brain's collection of "totally random facts about the world": Nikon's 52mm lens caps will fit neatly on most beverage cans. 52mm isn't just a common diameter for camera lenses... it's also an international standard diameter for can tops! …
Photographs of Panasonic's upcoming Lumix GX1 Micro Four Thirds camera leaked onto Chinese camera forum Mobile01 over the weekend. The camera will reportedly be similar to the GF1, except with a grip, and offer 12MP resolution, a max ISO of 12800, speedy 0.09 autofocus, a large pop-up flash, a touchscreen interface, and two color options (black and silver).
This beautiful (and disorienting) photograph was made by Evan Sharboneau of Photo Extremist. If you can't make sense of it, try tilting your head 90-degrees to the left. The technique isn't too difficult -- it's taken the same way as photos of things dropped into water.
Austrian photographer Bela Borsodi's creative alphabet photographs are similar to the word photos by Stephen Doyle installations that we shared back in September, except Borsodi doesn't use tape to create his letters. Instead, he arranges the things found in each scene so that the objects and the negative space work together to form characters.
Photographer Blair Bunting made this photograph for a Discovery Channel ad promoting the show Deadliest Catch. Can you figure out how Bunting shot it without putting the model's body at risk? The trick is to use a few high powered leaf blowers and some liquid that looks like blood.
Photographer Chris Keeny came up with a nifty design for a pinhole camera made using an Altoids mint tin. It's pretty fancy too, utilizing a re-loadable film take-up spool that uses a metallic turn key to advance the film.
Photographer Jay P. Morgan made this informative walkthrough showing how he shot a photograph that combines artificial light with the evening sky: …
This video offers a glimpse into how Schneider-Kreuznach LS lenses are manufactured for the Phase One 645DF camera body. In the past we've also featured videos showing Canon, Leica, and Voigtlander lenses being made.
Update: Looks like the video was removed …
Want to create a photography-related costume this halloween? Here are some fun costume ideas to give you some ideas. The above is a standard Canon point-and-shoot that has a tiny camera in the lens.
At the Photo Plus Expo happening in NYC right now, Polaroid is showing off its new Dua Flash, a flash unit that also packs a strong LED light source for video recording. They're already available for both Canon and Nikon DSLRs on Amazon, and cost between $160 and $200.
12-year-old Sam Kaye of Radlett, Hertfordshire, UK has become the youngest person ever to earn a distinguished membership to the Royal Photographic Society, the world's oldest photographic society. Kaye became a Licentiate of the RPS by submitting ten of his photographs anonymously to a panel of judges, who were shocked to learn of his age after awarding him with the distinction.
Here's a "2 minute love story" Canon commercial that aired in Thailand. In other parts of the world, this would probably be categorized as a "thriller" rather than a "romance". The comments for the video on YouTube are dominated with the words "creepy" and "stalker".
Tumwater, Washington resident Nick Lippert captured this amazing photograph of Mt. Rainier casting a long shadow across low hanging clouds. It was shot at 7:40 in the morning using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3. Talk about being in the right place at the right time...
Google scientist Sam Hasinoff has come up with a technique called "light-efficient photography" that uses focus-stacking to reduce the amount of time exposures require. In traditional photography, increasing the depth of field in a scene requires reducing the size of the aperture, which reduces the amount of light hitting the sensor and increases the amount of time required to properly expose the photo. This can cause a problem in some situations, such as when a longer exposure would lead to …
Want to know how long it'll take you to save up for that camera or lens you've been dreaming of buying? grndctrl, an uber-simple personal finance web app, can tell you. It doesn't take any personal details, but simply asks for your income, expenses, and savings amounts. You can then provide it with a list of "rewards" that you'd like to save up for, and it will give you estimates of how long you'll need to wait.
German photographer Berthold Steinhilber has an awesome technique for lighting expansive locations at night: he tediously paints in the light manually with a powerful 1.8-pound headlamp powered by a 12-volt car battery. Depending on the scale of the location, his large format film exposures last anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, with the aperture set between f/8 and f/16. The above photo took 1.5 hours at f/16.
The ACLU of Southern California has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and several of its deputies, claiming that they unlawfully harassed, detained, and searched photographers simply because they were taking pictures. The suit asks the court to instruct the Sheriff's Department to stop detaining citizens on the basis of photography, and also seeks damages. ACLU attorney Peter Bibring tells the LA Times, …
On a rainy day recently, light painting photographer Jeremy Jackson was playing around with a green laser pointer when he discovered something interesting: all the out of focus raindrops in the photograph had a lined pattern in them -- and each one was unique! These "water drop snowflakes" were found in all of the photos he took that day.
Behind the Gare St. Lazare is one of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson's best known photographs, and is frequently cited as an example of his "decisive moment" approach to photography. The photograph was made in 1932, but the oldest known print is dated 1946. That print will be sold at a Christie's auction on November 11th along with 100 other signed prints, and is expected to fetch up to ~$250,000.
The success of Instagram has shown that photo filters are very much in demand with the general population. Facebook is rumored to be working on its own retro filters, but Google has beaten it to the punch: today the company introduced a wide range of creative filters to Google+'s Creative Kit. The filters (called "Effects") include looks that mimic daguerreotypes, Reala 400 film, Polaroid pictures, Lomo, Holga, and even cross processed film.
Zoom creep is what happens when gravity causes your lens to zoom in or out due to it being pointed up or down. While it's not really an issue when you're shooting hand-held, it can cause problems if you're trying to keep the zoom fixed while the camera's on a tripod. A trick to combat this is to use rubber bands to keep the zoom ring still, but now there's a fancier solution to this problem: the Lens Band. It's a gel bracelet-style band that's wrapped around the zoom ring when not needed. When …
Photographer Kim Keever creates large scale landscape photographs using miniature dioramas. He first creates the topographies inside a 200-gallon tank, and then fills it with water. He then uses various lights, pigments, and backdrops to bring the scenes to life for his large-format camera to capture.
Phaidon Press has released another one minute tip by photojournalist Steve McCurry, who suggests picking "an unusual vantage point". If you stay at street level it's sometimes difficult to capture a shot that hasn't been captured countless times before (especially in a popular tourist destination). Getting to a location that's not easy to gain access to can help you capture a more unique perspective.
This amazing image might look like a computer generated graphic, but it's actually a composite photograph by NASA showing India's population growth over the years. The white areas show the illumination visible in the country prior to 1992, while the blue, green, and red lights indicate new lights that became visible in 1992, 1998, and 2003, respectively. The four photos were tinted and then combined into an image that reveals where new populations are appearing. NASA definitely needs to do one …
Nikon says the megapixel race ended years ago, but its upcoming camera is rumored to be a 36MP beast. Canon, on the other hand, actually took a step backward in terms of megapixels, dropping from 21 in the 1Ds Mark III to 18 in the new 1D X. However, the company states that camera's resolution is by no means worse than the 1Ds Mark III, despite what marketers want you to believe. A representative recently spoke to Amateur Photographer, saying: …
Cinematographer Chris Bryan used a Phantom HD Gold camera in a custom underwater housing to capture super slow-motion footage of waves in Sydney, Australia. Water looks amazing at thousands of frames per second. Be sure to watch it full screen and in high-def.
Fox News is reporting that HP is in talks with potential buyers of its webOS mobile operating system, which it obtained back in April 2010 after acquiring Palm for $1.2 billion. One of the potential buyers is surprising though: …
Want a pair of mittens that don't interfere with your love for photography? If you know how to knit, you can make your own! Norwegian knitter Bea created a nifty pair of mittens that have a hole your index finger can poke through when your camera shutter summons it. You can find the free pattern on her site if you'd like to make your own.
The RoundFlash is a new ring flash adapter that's lightweight and collapsible. Setting it up from its collapsed state is similar to setting up a tent: simply take the rods and stick them into the holes to expand the adapter.
Jake Adelstein at the Japanese Subculture Research Center has written up an interesting article regarding the ongoing Olympus scandal, focusing on the organized crime allegations that have been brought against the company: …
Japan's Ministry of Defense has unveiled an amazing "Spherical Flying Machine": a 42-inch remote controlled ball that can zip around in any direction at ~37mph. Built using off-the-shelf parts for about $1,400, in Internet is abuzz over the potential applications, which include military reconnaissance and search-and-rescue operations. What we're most interested in, however, is the device's potential as an aerial camera for things like sports photography and combat photojournalism.
Update: Apparently this isn't something ordinary photographers need to worry about. See below.
Renowned photojournalist Steve McCurry, the man behind "Afghan Girl", offers this piece of advice regarding photographing people in public: "don't forget to say hello". It's part of one-minute masterclass series by Phaidon Press.
Everybody Street is an upcoming documentary film about New York City street photographers (e.g. Bruce Gilden and Joel Meyerowitz) who have taken some of the most iconic images of the past century. Created by photographer Cheryl Dunn, the film was originally a 36-minute short film, but is being expanded into a feature length movie.
A major craze in camera-related novelty items started early last year when Canon lens mugs took the Internet by storm. Last December we showed you a speaker designed to look like a Canon DSLR and lens. Now Nikonian music-lovers can join in on the fun: there's a new Nikon 55-200mm lens speaker for sale on eBay that costs between $20 and $40.
Artist Alexandre Farto has an interesting method of 'printing' large scale portrait photographs onto walls. Instead of using paint, he scratches paint away. Starting with a guide painted onto the wall using a stencil, Farto carefully scratches and chips paint and plaster away from walls using a jackhammer, pick, hammer, and his hands. His giant photos can be seen on abandoned buildings in cities around the world, including Moscow, London, and NYC.
Olympus Chairman and President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa resigned today under pressure from the company's ongoing financial scandal. The 70-year-old was a 45-year veteran of the company and was the president in the late 2000s when the dubious payments took place. Former president Michael Woodford -- the man whose accusations put Olympus in the spotlight -- has stated in interviews that the entire board of directors at the company is "toxic", "contaminated", and needs to resign. However, a member of …
Earlier this month we shared a hugely popular post on transferring a photo onto a block of wood. Well, the same technique can also be used to create a canvas print. All you need, besides the stretched canvas, is some gel medium and a photo printed with toner (e.g. made with a laser printer or photocopier). The gel medium is used to "steal" the toner from the paper, and once the paper is rubbed away, the print remains. Check out the full tutorial over on A Beautiful Mess.
Brazilian gadget site ZTOP recently attended a press event during which Fujifilm showed another roadmap for its X Series lineup. We've already reported that the company is planning to announce an interchangeable lens camera (hopefully with the X100's retro style) in early 2012, but this new roadmap narrows down the launch date to February 2012. We'll likely see the camera announced before then and showed off at CES 2012 in January.
'Moneyface' is a photo fad involving folded money and hybrid faces. Simply fold a banknote containing a portrait in half and combine it with a human subject.
Photographer Samuel Cockedey spent a year photographing the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, Japan using his Canon 5D Mark II, and then created a time-lapse video set to music from the sci-fi film Blade Runner. Titled "Android Dreams", the time-lapse is both a fitting tribute to Blade Runner and a beautiful portrait of Tokyo at night.
Here's a photograph by the The Bangkok Post showing Sony's sensor manufacturing plant in Thailand submerged under flood waters roughly 3 meters (~10ft) high. The shutdown of the 502,000 square foot, 3,300 employee plant doesn't just affect Sony, as other companies -- including Nikon and Apple (in the iPhone 4S) -- rely on Sony image sensors as well.
