Faking toy camera effects with apps or software is a big fad these days, but Joel Pirela of Blue Ant Studio went a step further: he built his own homemade digital Lomography camera using some walnut wood, hand-polished aluminum frame, parts from a 5-megapixel Vivitar Vivicam, and an Olympus OM series lens.
HDR guru Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs has just released a new iPad app called Stuck On Earth that lets you travel the world through photographs. In addition to being a gorgeous way to view travel photos, the app serves as a high-tech travel guide, allowing users build and plan "trips" (collecting photos into groups).
Miniature Moments is a new service that uses 3D printing to turn photographs into 3D resin "miniatures". The small passport photo-sized creations measure 46mm x 37mm, and don't look very impressive until they're held up to light. Once it's illuminated from behind, then it turns into a highly detailed photograph that resembles developed film.
Guess what camera was used to shoot the photograph above? A tablet computer. It was shot using the new ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet, which features a camera with a 8-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, an f/2.4 autofocus lens, an LED flash, and 1080p HD video recording. Looks like we'll soon be seeing a lot more people whip out tablets for everyday snapshots.
Photographer Jason Hull has a hobby of taking old cameras from the 1950s and 1960s and turning them into beautiful nightlights for his house. He writes, …
Ross Technology Corp. has developed an amazing silicon-based spray-on coating called NeverWet that can make almost anything completely waterproof. An iPhone sprayed with NeverWet still functions perfectly after being submerged underwater for half an hour. Spraying the coating on clothes causes liquids (e.g. water, oil, chocolate syrup) to slide right off.
Dissatisfied with the disconnect between his giant photo collection on the Internet and his bare walls at home, architect and photo-enthusiast Steven Johnson set out to create a picture frame that would let him show off his photostream in real life. The result was Thumbtiles -- frameless frames designed for easy photo swapping rather than permanence. The 7-inch square frames are dead simple: each one is simply four removable wall dots and a transparent sheet that attaches to the dots using …
If you're a vegan film photographer, you might want to think about switching to digital. Why? Because virtually all photographic films and papers are made with animal parts. Most of the thickness in film comes from gelatin, which is used to hold the silver halide crystals in an emulsion. Gelatin is made from animal hides and bones -- mainly cows and pigs. People have tried to come up with substitutes, but they haven't been able to find anything suitable that's as stable or cheap as gelatin.
Fujifilm is set to release an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera -- likely styled like the X100 and X10 -- in February 2012, and details about the camera are already starting to leak onto the Internet. Six photos that appear to show the upcoming camera were leaked on Chinese forum Xitek, but were quickly taken down. PhotoRumors writes that the new camera will be called the Fuji LX and will pack an APS-C sensor.
After her "Back to the Future" project went viral last year, photographer Irina Werning is back with a second set of time-bending photographs. Like in the first set, Werning finds decades-old photographs and recreates them as accurately as she can with the original subjects.
It's not just big tech companies engaged in patent wars: Luma Labs has discontinued their Luma Loop and Luma LoopIt camera straps after Black Rapid was awarded a patent for camera slings with sliding connections on November 1st.
Nikon is developing an X100-esque hybrid viewfinder for DSLR cameras. A recently published patent filing by the company describes and shows a DSLR with a viewfinder that can switch between optical and electronic modes. The purpose appears to be for providing the photographer with an optimal view of the scene -- if the scene is too bright for the photographer (e.g. the camera is pointed towards the sun), then the camera switches to an electronic view that provides the user with a view that's …
On 11/11/11, Gerald Donovan aimed his Canon 5D Mark II and 14mm f/2.8 at Downtown Dubai and set it to shoot one photograph every 30 seconds. He left it there for 24 hours, and then took the 2880 photographs and turned them into this beautiful time-lapse showing the passing of a day. What's neat is that the reflection of the sun and moon can be seen going up and down the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
For his wedding, designer Matt Frank built this photo booth that looks like a giant Lomo camera. It comprises a Mac running Photo Booth, a monitor for reviewing photos, halogen lighting, and a hacked Easy Button that acts as a shutter release. Frank writes, …
The Fader has published an interview with Instagram founder Kevin Systrom that reveals how Systrom first got into photography, and how the service's now-ubiquitous filters came about: …
Using a filter is a great way to protect your lens from damage, but if you accidentally drop your camera and smash the filter, there's a good chance you won't be able to remove the filter from your lens' threads. Here's a quick video that shows how you can remove a stuck filter -- all you need is a strong pair of pliers.
"Airframe", designed by Korean designer James Kim, is a picture frame shaped like an airplane window.
Here's another cool example of what's possible when you combine creativity with an insane amount of dedication: animator Jonathan Chong spent hundreds of hours creating this stop motion video for the song "Against The Grain" by the Australian band Hudson. He animated everything by hand, and captured 5125 individual photographs of 920 pencils for the three-minute long finished product.
The art world was abuzz last week after Andreas Gursky's photograph Rhein II sold at auction for a ground-breaking $4.3 million. The print may be Plexiglas-mounted, signed, and gigantic (it's nearly 12 feet wide), but the price had many people scratching their heads. Thankfully, there has been no shortage of articles written since to explain things to uncultured folk who don't understand the astronomical prices paid for fine art.
Photographer Nick Veasey created this amazing X-ray image of a Nikon photographer for the Focus on Imaging 2010 catalog cover. It's a composite, with the image of the camera itself requiring 12 separate X-rays.
Kaufmann’s Posographe is an intricate pocket-sized mechanical calculator invented back in the 1920s. Measuring 13x8cm and filled with tiny scribblings, the device allowed photographers to approximate the exposure values they needed by simply sliding around six small pointers.
Haven't found a small camera case that's stylish enough for your taste? Matt over at Wood&Faulk has written up a tutorial on how you can make your own protective camera wrap using some heavy wool fabric and a leather or canvas strap: …
Between August and October of this year, the crew onboard the International Space Station used a Nikon D3S (at high ISOs) to capture photographs of Earth as they zipped around it at 17,000mph. Michael Konig then took the footage and compiled it into this eye-popping time-lapse video showing what our planet looks like from up there.
If you've never done studio portraits before, check out this uber-helpful video that quickly runs through five basic lighting techniques commonly used by photographers everywhere.
If you're looking for a creative way to display your photos (and decorate your home), papernstitch has a tutorial on how you can make circular picture frames using embroidery hoops. The photographs are printed onto PhotoFabric and then held taut between the hoop rings.
Here's a video in which interior photographer Roger Brooks walks through how he goes about lighting, photographing, and stitching residential interior photographs.
This behind-the-scenes video shows how fake rain inside a studio was used to shoot a series of action shots for Men's Health magazine.
We're starting to have quite a collection of photographs showing cameras -- both film and digital -- in different states of disassembly. This one shows a Fujifilm FinePix S2 Pro DSLR.
This behind-the-scenes video shows Montreal-based photographer Von Wong doing a photo shoot with a tango dancing duo. The shoot was spontaneous, with none of the locations preplanned, which gave Wong the opportunity to explore the environment.
Photographer Jesse Rosten wanted a more efficient and mobile way to do off-camera lighting, so he invented this backpack-style apparatus that he calls "The Strobist Jet Pack". Although it's pretty ridiculous looking (it reminds us of Ghostbusters), it works well for placing lighting equipment in exactly the place needed while still being able to move about.
Flickr user Twin-Reverb made this nifty DIY flash diffuser using a cardboard paper towel tube, a paper towel, and some aluminum foil.
To show how the Internet is causing us to "drown in pictures", artist Erik Kessels created an installation featuring prints of every single photograph uploaded to Flickr within a 24-hour period. The 1 million+ photos are piled up nearly to the ceiling, and spill into multiple rooms. The exhibit is part of an exhibition titled "What's Next?" at Foam in Amsterdam.
Back in June we shared a cool (and nauseating) video of some guys throwing around a GoPro camera attached to a stick. YouTube user Lorduss1 recently did something similar... except with his dog. He mounted a GoPro camera to a stick, gave it to his dog, and then chased the dog around the yard.
You don't need to shell out money for a nicer camera or a special lens to play around with macro photography. In addition to freelensing and using your lens backward, you can also place an ordinary magnifying glass in front of your lens to enlarge the world. Graphic designer Clif Dickens shot these close-up photos using a magnifying glass and an iPhone 3GS.
Modern DSLR lenses don't usually have aperture rings, and opening and closing the aperture is the camera's responsibility. If for some reason you need to keep the aperture blades locked in a certain position, the "lens twist trick" can help you do so. Simply untwist the lens from the camera while holding the depth of field preview button.
"I'll just Photoshop her into the picture when I get home," he said.
This week Polaroid launched its new Z340 instant digital camera, perhaps to pave the way for its upcoming uber-futuristic GL30 shooter. The Z340 isn't as flashy but offers the same fusion of digital and instant: it's basically a 14-megapixel digital acmera combined with a ZINK printer. It can capture 75 shots and print 25 photos on a single charge, has a 2.7-inch LCD screen, and allows the photographer to decide whether to make a 3x4-inch instant print or to simply store the image on the …
New York-based artist Matt Wisniewski creates digital collages by blending fashion and nature photographs together into surreal images. The images remind us of photographer Dan Mountford's double exposure photographs, except Wisniewski uses digital manipulation rather than in-camera trickery.
In interviews published on Sony's website, the company's designers talk about how its latest DSLRs are based on a styling technique called "Tensile Skin", in which sharp lines and curved surfaces giving a "natural sense of tension". What's interesting is the tool they used to explore this idea: an ordinary sock.
German photographer Andreas Gursky is one of the most successful artists of our time, and yesterday a print of his titled "Rhein II" became the world's most expensive photograph, selling for $4.3 million. Back in the early 2000s, director Ben Lewis made this interesting 23-minute feature that gives an inside look into "Gursky World."
"Idea Mine" is an upcoming iOS app by Canon that helps photographers save and generate ideas. The idea is that photo ideas can always be broken down into four components: location, subject, feeling, and technique. Provide the app with these four things, and it will store your idea for you to come back to later on. If you need some inspiration, hitting the "randomize" button will fill in the fields for you -- kinda like a photographic mad libs.
In the first 100 days after Google+ was launched, 3.4 billion photographs were uploaded to the service. In light of this, Google is launching an international photo competition to "find the photography stars of the future." …
Glow Graffiti is an aerosol can-style light painting tool similar to the one by artist Aïssa Logerot that we featured back in September. It's powered by a UV light rather than the interchangeable LED lights used by Logerot, but the Glow Graffiti comes with a special UV-sensitive backdrop on which paintings are visible for around 30 seconds (the kit contains letter stencils too). You can pick up a set for $39 from Photojojo or Amazon (it's prime eligible).
The financial scandal rocking Olympus is one that the company may not survive. The company's stock price plunged another 17% today, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange has informed the company that it will be delisted if it doesn't meet a December 14th deadline for reporting earnings. The New York Times has a great piece on how Olympus got itself into this mess.
Lytro's consumer light field camera is currently paying a visit to the FCC on its way to store shelves near you. Along with documents related to their testing of the device, the agency has also published the User Guide that comes along with the camera.
Photographer Daniel Fox captured this beautiful (and spooky) photograph of dozens of pairs of caiman eyes staring back at him in the darkness.
A couple days ago it was discovered that iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 5 have a secret panorama mode that's hidden in the operating system. The feature can be enabled, but featured either a jailbroken device or knowledge in how to edit a particular iOS 5 preference file. Luckily for non-hackers, Redmond Pie has discovered an easy way to do this by taking advantage of iTune's backup feature. This tutorial will teach you how to get the panorama feature unlocked in 5-10 minutes.
Here's a comic strip titled "Photography Job Interview" by Endless Origami.
We first heard about the startup company Satarii back in January when they began raising money for a novel camera dock that offers motion tracking. They went on to raise nearly $25,000 through crowdfunding, and now the dock is official and available for pre-order. Named "Swivl", it helps cameras follow a remote tracking marker by doing its best to keep the marker in the frame.
You've seen photos of star trails, and time-lapse videos of stars, but how about a combination of the two? Olivier Martel created this beautiful 18-second video using a technique we've never seen before: stacking star trail photos into a time-lapse video showing the trails forming.
