May 2012

Say you’re shooting a wedding, and say for some reason you’re taking a food break, and say for some …

If you went outdoors to observe the solar eclipse yesterday, you might have noticed that the shadows cast by trees had suddenly become quite strange. The tiny gaps between leaves act as pinhole lenses, projecting crescent shaped images of the eclipsed sun onto the world below.

It’s certainly not as strange or unexpected as their possible move into the world of cosmetics, but …

Photographer Cory Poole created this time-lapse video of …

Have you ever wondered how Leica chooses its pricing for its high-end cameras? J Shin has written up …

As the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but why not make it better? That's probably the attitude Ricoh is approaching their newest patent with, because they're making modifications to one of the few pieces of camera equipment that hasn't changed since the early days -- the lens cap.

Reuters photographer Murad Sezer was shooting at an uber-important soccer final in Turkey …

News recently broke that the 30 minute (or rather 29 minute and 59 second) time limit on DSLR video may soon be a thing of the past. Interestingly however, the reason for the potential change has nothing to do with updated hardware or software. The only reason DSLRs don't already shoot longer video is because camera manufacturers want to bypass the 5.6% duty applied to video cameras, and the time limit allows them to avoid being classified as such.

Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter recently got his hands on this amazing handmade camera pendant by jeweller Luke Satoru. The attention to detail is amazing: it's a tiny Olympus Trip 35 camera crafted from multiple pieces of brass, and the various components actually work! You can open up the back to look at the film plane, turn the rewind knob, move the advance winder, and the whole shebang.

Bad news in the world of film is pretty common these days; we're constantly hearing about film being discontinued or prices being jacked up. But, once in a while, there's a glimmer of hope for those who still prefer the world of analogue to digital. And one such glimmer came recently in the form of toy camera company Lomography, which has decided to bring back 110 format film.

Photographer Philip Karlberg, whose "33 RPM" project we featured before, shot these images of celebrities wearing sunglasses for Plaza Magazine using carefully arranged wooden pins. Shooting 6 faces required 6 days and ~1200 pins. Can you recognize all of the celebrities?

Several weeks ago we mentioned a new Google Maps feature that allows you to take virtual tours of famous locations all over the world. And now -- coming out of a partnership between design firm Dassault Systèmes, Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts -- you can take a historically accurate, 3-dimensional, online look at Egypt's entire Giza plateau online.

If you’ve ever had the urge to clothe yourself in photography — or just wanted an easy DIY guide …

Over the last couple of weeks, USA Today has been under fire for deciding not to send their seasoned veteran photographers to cover the London Olympics. Having just bought US Presswire last September, parent company Gannett have decided instead to use the photographers and contractors at their disposal through them.

While working on some light painting shots, Sawo from Enlightpaintment was frustrated that he had to keep running back and forth from his camera. Even using an IR remote he was adding seconds of unnecessary exposure during which he wasn't actually doing anything but running. So, in a fit of creativity, he decided to put together his own DIY wireless remote using about $20 worth of equipment from Radio Shack and eBay.

Trey Ratcliff is the well-known and well-loved HDR photographer behind the travel photography blog …

This fascinating video by Hayley Morris for Hilary Hahn and Hauschka's "Bounce Bounce" is both a very creative use of stop motion, and a testament to her skill as a craftsman. She actually created the entire underwater world, sketching and creating the characters herself.

Many a photographer would love to have a medium format camera gracing their camera bag, but not everyone can afford to drop anywhere between twenty and forty thousand dollars on a Hasselblad. Fortunately, the price of owning one just dropped by 22.9-percent. In an attempt to make medium formats more affordable and commonplace, Hasselblad is launching a global marketing initiative that will significantly drop the price of many of their cameras, including the entry-level H4D-31 (down by ~$5,000), and the 60MP H4D-60 (down by ~$8,000).

If you’ve ever wondered how a professional moving still is put together, this behind-the-scenes video of …

You might remember the Olympus marketing stunt from a few weeks ago when they sent a box complete with two walnuts and a note that simply read "coming soon" to a few different tech blogs. Since then we've seen the release of the new TG-1, but apparently Olympus isn't done with either their new releases or the marketing stunts that go along with them.

If you haven't seen Kirsty Mitchell's Wonderland series yet, then you're bound to start running into it everywhere. Inspired by the fairytales her late mother used to tell her before she passed, the series wasn't actually shot in exotic locations. In fact, some of the photos took months of planning to get right.

Earlier today Amateur Photographer reported that the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) in Glasgow, Scotland is set to impose a series of bylaws for the cities transport, including a ban in section 12.1 which would prohibit riders from "take[ing] photographs, or make[ing] video, audio or visual recordings on any part of the subway." In fact, the only way around the ban would be to get express written permission from the SPT and show it to any officer that may request to see it.

Some strange news from Nikon today: the company published a press release detailing some decisions made at a meeting of the Board of Directors that was held today. The directors were discussing some proposed amendments to the company's Articles of Incorporation that will be discussed at the general shareholders meeting on June 28th. Under the section that spells out Nikon's business activities, they're proposing the following amendment:

Manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals, quasi-pharmaceutical products and cosmetics;

Unless we're reading this press release incorrectly, it seems to indicate that Nikon is planning to manufacture and sell pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

The Friends of Anton is an organization that has come together over the past year to ensure the future of slain South African photojournalist Anton Hammerl’s three children; and 3 days ago the organization in partnership with Christie's held the latter's first ever auction of contemporary photojournalism prints, raising over $100,000 towards their touching cause.

A new patent application by Apple is showing off some of the technology …

Here’s a 10 minute photography lesson by Karl Taylor on the four main …

Thus-far rumors about the Canon Rebel T4i/650D have been relegated to the “it’s definitely coming” category, but yesterday …

You've probably seen photographs similar to the image above before, but this one is special in that it wasn't created digitally. Photographer Matthew Spiegelman shot it with a 4x5 camera and 180mm lens using a two-way mirror. The photo is titled Portal {Matthew Spiegelman in his studio with mirror, two way mirror, c-stands, clamp with suction cup, two geared tripod heads, three strobes, 4x5 camera, 180mm lens} [Variation 6]" 2010.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what the Fuji X100 looked like on the inside, without breaking your own …

Well, lets just say I've gotten better at this over the last couple of years. The left image was one of the first I've "scanned" with my DSLR, and the one on the right I've just rescanned using the techniques described below (higher resolution available here). Right now I can get higher resolution and better image quality that what street labs give you on CD.

There are many different levels of camera, ranging from point-and-shoot compacts to medium format behemoths, but what if there was something much more powerful than even the highest end Haselblads? What if someone other than space stations could get their hands on a camera that could shoot, say, 112MP photos with enough dynamic range to capture the sun and the stars... in the same exposure... in broad daylight? Well, if we play our cards right, we may just get to see that.

Fashion photographs are generally shot to make the clothing and the models look attractive, but British photographer Neil Bedford chose not to go that route when shooting a series for clothing label Neighborhood's lookbook. He had his models press their faces against invisible panes of glass, resulting in quirky and humorous fashion photos featuring smeared faces.

Here’s an interesting TED talk by photographer Rachel Sussman, who undertook an interesting …

Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey's living grass portraits are a testament to creativity. Created by exposing patches of seedling grass to the sun through custom-made negatives, these portraits are grown rather than taken. And just like the regular pictures and the subjects inside them, over time, the images on the grass will fade and disappear.

Earlier we reported on two separate cases where video evidence of police shot by random citizens wound up being crucial in the exoneration of photographers arrested while doing their job. Well, appropriately enough, the US Department of Justice just recently came out in defense of the right to record police while they are on duty.

Here’s a skateboarding video by Joe Pease that shows a creative point of view, riding along with the shadow …

Two photographers from opposite ends of the country found themselves in similar situations over the past few weeks. Although the charges leveled against each were different, both photogs were ultimately exonerated after video evidence was presented on their behalf. Amateur photographer Joshua Garland from Seattle and photojournalist Alexander Arbuckle from New York were charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct, respectively. After YouTube and Ustream videos by others in the area were presented as evidence, however, charges against Mr. Garland were dropped and Mr. Arbuckle was acquitted.

The 120° panoramic image (and its crop) you see above is titled "Daguerreotype View of Cincinnati" and was captured in 1848 by Porter and Fontayne from Newport, Kentucky. It was created with eight full-plate daguerreotypes and shows a two mile stretch of the Cincinnati waterfront.

Here’s a leaked photo of an upcoming DSLR by Pentax, the K-30. It’s the replacement of the K-r, and …

Photographer Tadao Cern has an awesome project titled, ahem, Blow Job that consists of portraits of people having their faces blown by extremely strong blasts of air.

This past Monday, stock photography behemoth Shutterstock filed documents with the SEC to have an IPO and list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The process requires Shutterstock to reveal its financial details, so the document provides an interesting look at how the company ticks and the state of the stock photography industry.

How do you go about demanding payment from a local newspaper if you discover that they’ve infringed upon your …

After the massive leak of pictures showing these exact cameras on April 30th, their official release isn't as exciting as it probably should be. But nevertheless, the new NEX-F3 and A37 are now an official part of the Sony lineup, complete with a new 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

Foam Sculptures is a project by Dutch photographer Suzanne Jongmans, who recreates the look of old 16th and 17th century Flemish and Dutch paintings using clothing and accessories created from foam packing and insulating materials. It reminds us of Nina Katchadourian's airplane lavatory portraits, except with higher production values.

If you’ve ever felt like there’s a camera shaped gap in the clothing market that needed filling, then the …

While we’re on the subject of world records in photography, did you know that …

A rare Beatles photograph taken in the same shoot as the iconic Abbey …

A couple of weeks ago two concepts for a "real-life" Instagram camera rolled across our computer screens -- one fake and funny, one real and kind of cool -- but we were pretty certain that neither of them would become a reality any time soon. It seems, however, that we're being proven wrong by ADR Studio's Antonio De Rosa and the crowdsourcing site Indiegogo.

Are we close to the point at which HD video cameras are so good that professional photographs can simply be extracted from footage rather than shot with a still photography camera? That's a question photographer Kevin Arnold had, and when he finally got his hands on a $65,000 RED camera he decided to seek an answer.

In celebration of the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games — or maybe just because she felt like it — …