March 2012

The Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) is a multi-year project by National Geographic photographer James Balog that aims to make show climate change in action through time-lapse imagery of glaciers. Balog has 27 Nikon D200 DSLRs pointed at 18 glaciers around the world snapping 8,000 photographs each year while powered by solar panels. His custom-designed rigs -- created through months of trial and error -- also include heavy duty tripods, waterproof cases, and wind-proof anchors. He has also created a …

Back in January, Polaroid unveiled its SC1630 Smart Camera that's powered with Google's Android operating system. Now, more manufacturers may be gearing up to have the popular smartphone OS built into their cameras: Samsung and Panasonic are both reportedly exploring this idea. Regarding what this means for consumers, Engadget writes, …

DEVELOP Tube is a video channel on YouTube and Vimeo that's geared towards photographers and curated by NYC-based photographer Erica McDonald. Each channel features interviews, profiles, lectures, and films about photography that are carefully selected from each website.

Unless you're constantly staring at photos of yourself, the image that comes to mind when you think of your own appearance is most likely not what other people (and cameras) see, since mirrors show us a flipped image of ourselves. With this in mind, Los Angeles-based photographer Juan Luis Garcia is working on a project titled Face Value: …

Albert Kahn was a wealthy French banker who launched a project in the early 1909 that aimed to create a photographic record of the world. The first commercially successful color photography process, Autochrome Lumière, had just arrived two years earlier, and Kahn decided to use the medium to both document human life and to promote peace. He sent out an army of photographers to 50 different countries, amassing 72,000 photos and 100 hours (183,000 meters) of film that became one of the most …

If you've always wanted to be an astronaut photographer shooting images of Earth from a window of the International Space Station, Stratocam is an app for you. Created by Paul Rademacher, it allows you to snap your own photographs inside Google Maps' satellite view of our planet. You can also view and rate other people's photos, and browse the highest rated images from around the world.

36 of American photographer William Eggleston's digital pigment prints were auctioned off at Christie's on Monday, fetching a whopping $5.9 million -- far more than the $2.7M they were expected to sell for. Eggleston is credited with helping making color photography a legitimate artistic medium for galleries, which had previously favored B&W prints. A print of Eggleston's "Memphis (Tricycle)" (shown above) was the top seller after being snatched up for $578,500.

The Pink & Blue Project by South Korean photographer JeongMee Yoon started seven years ago after she photographed a portrait of her 5-year-old daughter sitting next to her beloved pink possessions. She then began creating portraits of other girls who loved pink things, and then other boys who loved blue.

In the old days, affordable consumer cinema cameras used the same film as high-end ones, allowing everyday folk to capture high-quality videos. All that changed when digital video rolled around. However, there's a new camera in development called the Digital Bolex that aims to bring us back to that: …

One of the most important things I’ve learned during my ongoing adventure as a small-town, self-employed photographer is that nothing is more important than the relationships I’m building. So when I decided sometime last year that I was going to do a 2012 promo I wanted to create something that looked elegant, something that the recipients could be a part of and most importantly, something that could start building long-lasting relationships.

YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat's DSLR recently took a tumble, breaking a piece off of the built-in lens hood of his Sigma lens. Instead of sending the lens in for repairs, Neistat decided to do a thrifty repair himself. After finding a similar-sized jar lid on some peanut butter at a local grocery store, he created a replacement hood himself by drilling a large hole and a couple small screw holes into the lid. He calls the project "The Peanut Butter Solution".

The KillShot is a rifle-shaped digital camera that's designed to let hunters shoot photographs instead of bullets without losing the feel of working with a rifle. Designed to look just like a standard hunting rifle, the camera features a scope with crosshairs on top that serves as the viewfinder. The resulting photographs serve as trophies for your kill that offer proof of your skill at stalking and outsmarting your prey. While it's only a design at the moment, there's currently a Kickstarter …

Sony has announced the Alpha A57 pellicle mirror camera, the successor to its A55 released a year and a half ago. While the sensor resolution is still 16-megapixels -- no megapixel war here -- the new camera has an increased ISO limit of 16,000 (up from 12,800), a faster continuous shooting rate of 12fps (up from 10), and an improved 15-point AF system with enhanced object-tracking and snappy AF during HD video recording. It can also capture full HD video at 60p, 60i, and 24p. It'll be priced …

Here's a helpful video that shows how you can optimize your Canon DSLR for video recording based on Vincent LaForet's recommendations. It's geared towards the 5D Mark II, but is applicable for other video-capable DSLRs as well (e.g. 5D Mark III and 7D). There's also an article over on LaForet's blog that explains the reasoning behind the various settings.

Sigma made a bold move with its SD1 DSLR camera last month, slashing $6,400 off the camera's list price to drop it from $9,700 to $3,300. The "street" price -- how much the camera is actually priced in stores -- fell from $6,900 to $2,300.

Physics guru David Prutchi recently came across a line of professional grade gyroscopic camera stabilizers by Kenyon Laboratories. They cost thousands of dollars each, but Prutchi noticed that the designs hadn't changed much since they were first patented in the 1950s. He then set out to create his own DIY version using low-cost gyroscopes from Gyroscope.com. His finished device (shown above) actually helps stabilize his DSLR when shooting video or when photographing with non-image-stabilized …

Daylight saving time started this past Sunday. Unless you've been operating an hour off from those around you, you probably remembered to change the clocks around your home and in your car... but did you remember to change the clock in your camera? …

Bart Zoni of Leica Boss made this short video explaining the main differences between DSLR and mirrorless cameras. He discusses flange focal distance and sensor size, and how the cameras' differences in those two things affect image quality.

Adobe is getting serious about making Photoshop a serious tool for editing video. The sample video above was made entirely using an upcoming version of the program. Regarding why this is being added into Photoshop rather than left to Premiere Pro, product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes states, …

Here's a super cool trick: instead of buying a special macro lens for your smart phone, simply use a drop of water! Carefully place a drop of water over your lens, carefully invert the phone, and voila -- instant macro shots with the cheapest lens you'll ever own. Alex Wild over at Scientific American has more details on the technique and some great sample shots taken with it.

I have to say I have one of the better jobs on the planet, at least for a photography gear-head. The part I like best — well, really there’s a lot of parts I like best — but one fun part is that my job description includes: Take things apart. See how they work. Learn how to fix them.

Haristobald recently captured a series of Superman photographs without the use of Photoshop or body painting.

Want to get closer to animals when doing wildlife photography? If there's access, your car can do the trick by serving as a photography blind. Scott Bourne of Photofocus writes, …

Last week we shared an interesting video that shows how Civil War-era tintype photographs were created.

If you're an Android user patiently waiting for Instagram to arrive on your phone, your wait may soon be over. Instagram founder Kevin Systrom showed off the company's upcoming Android version at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, Texas this past weekend. The app is currently in private beta, and is set to be released soon. TechCrunch's Kim-Mai Cutler writes, …

Have you ever wondered why newer Canon DSLR battery covers have a small rectangular hole punched into them? It's more than just for style: …

Here's a short one minute time-lapse video that took nine months to create. It creatively documents a pregnancy and announces a new baby girl. We shared a very similar one last year.

Kodak's film business just can't seem to catch a break. One week the company announced the death of its entire slide film lineup, Kodak announced today that it is increasing the price of all the surviving films by 15%, stating, …

Want to protect your gear from dings and scratches while customizing its look? Try using some carbon fiber vinyl film -- the kind designed for cars. When you're done with the application, you can also use some acrylic spray to make the "carbon fiber" look nice and shiny.

Instagram is reportedly in the process of securing new round of funding that values the 16-month-old company at a staggering $500 million -- 20 times what the company was valued at a year ago. Although the $40 million round has drawn a lot of interest from investors, many of the top VC firms have decided to stay away due to the high valuation and the fact that Instagram still needs to prove that it can turn popularity into profit. The 9-man company currently has over 15 million users and is …

PBS art series Off Book created this short video that presents a brief history of the animated GIF.

We've all seen photographers make mad dashes into group portraits, hoping to get into position before the camera's self timer automatically snaps a photograph. Apple wants to make those a thing of the past. A new patent filed by the company (#20120057039) describes a new and smarter self-timer system that uses facial recognition in addition to the standard timer. Using a picture of the photographer's face, the camera will wait until the shooter is in the scene before starting the countdown, …

Here's a quote by photographer Richard Benson on Lee Friedlander’s approach to photography (from his afterword in In the Picture: Self-Portraits, 1958-2011): …

If you want an extra personal touch at birthday parties, you can turn portraits of the birthday boy or girl into picture perfect party hats! Simply print out a portrait using a special template, turn it into a cone, add some fringe, and you're done. Eden over at Sugar and Charm has the low down.

Photo-sharing site Pinterest, the new darling of social media, has a copyright infringement cloud hanging over its head. The fact that anyone can upload and share copyrighted photographs through the site has prompted many sites -- most notably Flickr -- to ban "pinning" for copyrighted works. Up to this point, Pinterest has tried to avoid legal trouble by having a Terms of Service that places all the blame for copyright infringement on its users, but a new solution may be on the horizon: …

The Giottos Rocket is a popular tool used by photographers to remove dust from cameras and glass, but if you're in love with yours, you might want to think twice about flying with it. Reddit user gynoceros found out the hard way that some TSA airport screeners aren't too enthusiastic about the Rocket's shape. He writes, …

Photoshop guru Scott Kelby has released a free iPad app that teaches the lighting techniques he used for various photographs in his portfolio.

Researchers have created the first comprehensive image of the entire 3x5-mile debris field around the sinking of the Titanic: …

Ever wonder how photographs were made back in the days of the Civil War? This video by the George Eastman House provides an interesting step-by-step look at how tintype photographs are created. It'll make you feel spoiled as a modern day photographer.

The first issue of Portland-based designer Ian Coyle's new online photography magazine, Edits Quarterly, is out. It features short narratives in film and photography, and the first issue is titled "Voyager". The web design is beautifully minimalistic and is an amazing way to consume images and the stories behind them.

Photographer Bjoern Ewers directed this creative advertising campaign for the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra that shows beautiful views of the insides of various instruments. Shot using a macro lens, each one looks more like a giant music hall than a musical instrument.

Rusidah Badawi lost her forearms in a tragic accident 32 years ago at the age of 12. After the amputation, the 44-year-old Indonesian woman was introduced to photography through a vocational rehabilitation centre for the handicapped. She immediately fell in love with it, and began a career working as a wedding and party photographer. Working primarily with film photography up until 2010, she switched over to digital when Canon sponsored her endeavors by gifting her with a digital Canon 550D …

Shaofeng Xu’s photo of a protestor climbing a high-voltage electricity tower won Honorable Mention in the Contemporary Issues category of the World Press Photo 2012 contest.

New York-based animator Adam Pesapane (who goes by the working name PES) creates some of the smoothest and most creative stop-motion videos we've seen. In the short video above, titled "Fresh Guacamole", he shows how you can create a guacamole dip out of random objects such as baseballs, golf balls, and dice.

Here's an interesting 20-minute-long documentary film titled Chimping in which Dan Perez de la Garza speaks to various photojournalists about their work and the state of their profession. Subjects include two Pulitzer Prize winners and an Emmy Award winner.

This past Sunday, a group of amateur astronomers in San Antonio, Texas successfully "flashed" the International Space Station with a blue laser and spotlight as it whizzed by overhead. While this might sound like an easy thing to do, it's much more complicated than you think. Astronaut Don Pettit shot the photo of the experiment seen above, and writes, …

Apple officially announced the new iPad today (called "the new iPad" rather than the "iPad 3"). It's a tablet computer, but its new features make the device much more camera-like than the iPad 2. There's a new 5-megapixel iSight camera on the back that features a backside illuminated sensor and a five-element f/2.4 lens. It's also able to record HD video in full 1080p. On the frontside is a 9.7-inch 2048x1536 retina display that packs 4 times more pixels than the iPad 2 and 1 million more …

KEH has published a helpful primer on memory cards that describes the different types, common error codes you might come across when using them, and how to take care of them: …

On December 31st, 2011, Oaida Raul decided pay a tribute to the recently-retired Space Shuttle program by creating a GoPro video of a Lego Space Shuttle model traveling up to the edges of Earth's atmosphere on a weather balloon. You can read an in-depth description of the mission and the components used -- the entire project was launched and completed in a span of about a week -- over on Raul's blog.

Nokia caused quite a ripple in the mobile phone market last week by announcing its new 41-megapixel 808 PureView smartphone. However, if you live in North America and have been drooling over the phone, here's some bad news: Nokia isn't planning to sell the phone on our continent. On the 808's official product page, Nokia has included a footnote that says "Excluding North America" for the phone's global availability. The reason may be that US carriers aren't willing to subsidize the $600 phone …