2012

The Fuzzy Face Photo Frame is reminiscent of the classic children's toy, Wooly Willy, only applied to your most treasured family photos. Vendor Fred & Friends suggests: …

After a tour of the blogosphere last month, photographer Billy Hunt's scream activated photo booth the Screamotron3000 caught the attention of the folks over at NBC Today. This past Sunday Hunt went on national television to share the joy of scream photography.

Photokina is only a couple of months away, and it looks like Canon and Nikon won't be the only ones making major announcements and shaking up the camera market. According to Fuji Rumors, Fujifilm -- initially reported to have a cheaper X-Model camera in the works -- will actually be announcing two new models, one low-end and one high-end.

Idan Shechter, the guy behind Camera Size, has launched a new website for photographers who understand sizes better through visual comparisons than through specs and figures. Sensor Size is a website that offers quick visual comparisons of sensors found in popular digital cameras. Select the cameras you want to check out from a couple of drop-down menus, and the sensors are displayed in relative sizes next to each other. You can also stack the images or display them in a 3D overlay for a better …

Montreal-based photographer Benoit Paillé's Alternative Landscapes project features photos of various outdoor locations lit with a glowing square. The images aren't Photoshopped: Paillé actually suspends a 1x1 meter cube for the beautiful illumination seen in his images.

Researchers Ori Katz, Eran Small, and Yaron Silberberg of the Weizmann Institute in Israel have made a giant leap forward where camera technology is concerned: they have developed a camera system that can both see through things and around corners without using x-rays or complex lasers. Using natural light, a CCD camera and what's referred to as an SLM or spatial light modulator, they're able to take scattered light and pull out a relatively clear image.

New York City is unlike any other city in the United States. Most young professionals who move here do so to be the very best at whatever it is they want to do for a living. If I were an accountant, I would want to work for the very best accounting firms. If I were an art director, I would want to work for the global office of the best creative agencies. As a photographer I want to work for the top magazines and shoot the biggest national advertising campaigns for the biggest brands. It is a …

Here's a short news segment on artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey that contains a brief section on the duo's amazing giant grass photo prints (skip to 2:43). We get a glimpse of how they use a projector to print images onto sheets of grass with the help of photosynthesis.

When firefighter Joseba Etxaburu isn't putting out flames, he works as a photo stringer for Reuters, and for the past 12-years he's been attending the San Fermin festival in Spain, more commonly known as the "running of the bulls". This year, however, while covering the release of wild cows into the bullring, he got a little bit more personal with one of his subjects than even he was comfortable with.

Photographing lighting from the ground is cool enough, but if you happen to be taking pictures of a thunderstorm from, say, space (we know, unlikely, but never say never) on rare occasions you may capture something like what you see above. This is a picture of a "red sprite," a phenomenon that takes place when lightning doesn't shoot down but instead explodes 50-miles high in the clouds and fires red tendrils even higher.

"Super-Resolution From a Single Image" is an interesting research page by computer scientists over at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. It details the group's efforts to create sharp enlargements of small photographs, and offers comparisons between their algorithm and other popular ones being used and researched (e.g. nearest neighbor, bi-cubic). The large image of the baby seen above was created from the tiny image on the left. See if you can create something more useable using …

It's been pretty well established for some time now that both Canon and Nikon have been working on entry-level full-frame offerings that they will most likely debut at Photokina in September. Unfortunately for Canon fans, while we've gotten plenty of info on the Nikon D600 (including a photo leak), Canon has been significantly more tight lipped. But as with any highly-anticipated camera, as the announcement date draws nearer and more prototypes make their way into people's hands, a spec list …

Ever since people started getting their hands on the 5D Mark III and the 1D X's 61-point AF system, they have been complaining about the black AF points for one reason or another (mostly regarding visibility). Whatever the complaints, however, the resounding request has been the same: bring back the red-when-active AF-points from the last 1D. And even though we're not sure if that's how Canon intends to fix the problem, Canon Rumors is reporting that the the Japanese camera giant has heard the …

A couple of months ago we featured a 30,000 photo time-lapse by David Navarrete that was captured over an entire year at Disneyland. Today we have another 30,000 photos by another David, only this time they're shrinking a three month vacation in Europe down to five minutes of beautiful imagery. So if you've never had the chance to take that bohemian backpacking trip through Europe, and you don't see yourself doing it in the foreseeable future, click the play button and enjoy some vicarious …

Back in January of this year Sigma announced that it was working on the world's first 1:1 180mm f/2.8 macro lens, which was to play the role of successor to the company's popular 180mm f/3.5 EX DG lens. Sadly, at the time Sigma gave us no indication of when we might be seeing the lens IRL, or how much we might have to pony up to get our hands on it. But a couple of days ago on Friday the 13th (let's hope that's not a bad omen) Sigma answered both of those questions.

Here's a great behind the scenes video with architectural photographer Mike Butler that'll help start your Sunday off right. It's not often you get a behind the scenes, on location look at the mammoth task of shooting and lighting a beautiful building, and this video offers just that. And when we say mammoth, we mean mammoth -- each image took anywhere between 3 and 8 hours and a huge crew sometimes communicating by two-way radio to get right.

Last October Ricoh sealed the deal with Pentax, buying out the company for a sizeable $124-million. Since then we haven't seen any major changes as Pentax has gone about its business as usual. That, however, isn't going to be the case for much longer. According to the President of Pentax Imaging Ricoh, Noboru Akabane, there is a major change on the way: Pentax will be dropping compact, fixed lens camera development all-together, leaving all of that to Ricoh.

There are many things a photographer has to take into consideration when composing a phenomenal picture, but one that you don't often think about is perspective. In an educational article over on National Geographic, photographers Cary Wolinsky and Bob Caputo -- who have a combined 64 years of experience shooting for NatGeo -- talk about how important it can be to "Get Some Perspective," sharing some helpful tips and tricks they've come up with along the way.

Photographically speaking, the London Olympics have caused quite a bit of confusion for ticket holders. Initially, the ticket holder agreement seemed to imply that you wouldn't be allowed to upload any of the photos taken at the games to social networks; then once the rules were clarified, a size limit was set in place, but only in certain venues, outdoor venues were promised to be "more lenient;" and now it seems that Wembley Stadium (pictured above), where all of the Olympic soccer matches …

Firmware updates come pretty often, so they don't typically make news unless they bring with them a particularly impressive set of improvements, like v2.0 for Canon's 7D a few weeks back. And although Olympus' firmware version 1.2 for the OM-D E-M5 does help improve the functionality of your camera, it's also being talked about for another reason entirely.

German photographer Jan Leonardo Wöllert doesn't just do "light painting," for him light painting probably denotes nothing more than a photographical hobby that many people enjoy trying out on occasion. No, Wöllert specializes in "light art performance photography," and this feature on Deutsche Welle TV illustrates the difference quite well.

"Bodybuilders' World" is a curious project by Belgian photographer Kurt Stallaert featuring digitally altered photos that combine the muscular bodies of bodybuilders with the youthful faces of children. At first glance they might look like ordinary portraits, but look a little closer and you'll see that things look very wrong.

If you're in need of some quick image stabilization but don't want to shell out the $16+ dollars it takes to buy a real one, an old broom handle can do the trick. All you need besides the handle -- or a 1-inch wooden dowel, or a big stick -- are a hex nut and hanger bolt for the tripod mount and a spiral nail for the base. MAKE has the lowdown on how you put the ingredients together to form "the world's cheapest monopod".

There's an abandoned McDonalds in California that's stuffed with 48,000 pounds of 70mm tape. These tapes contain never-before-seen ultra-high-res photographs of the moon shot by the Lunar Orbiter project 40 years ago. Rather than ship the film back to Earth, scientists decided to scan them on the spaceship, beam them back losslessly, and then record the data onto magnetic tape. Not wanting to reveal the precision of its spy satellites, the US government decided to mark the images as classified.

Leica Rumors has published two small images showing what may be Leica's followup to its M9 rangefinder: the Leica M10. The camera in the photos appears to have a larger screen than the M8/M9, and is being held in a manner that suggests that it has autofocusing and live view.

Sebastian Guerrero, an independent researcher in Barcelona says he's discovered a way to force friendship with any Instagram user -- private or public -- by exploiting an Instagram server-side vulnerability. In one case, Guerrerro forced Mark Zuckerberg to follow his test account. Then Guerrerro sent him a message through a photo post, which would show up in Zuckerberg's photo feed of people he follows. Guerrero also used a test account to follow a private user without the required approval …

Artist Kyle McDonald caused quite a hoopla last year after using a custom-written program to photograph unsuspecting people using Apple Store computers. Apple quickly issued a takedown request and the Secret Service was sent to confiscate McDonald's gear. Yesterday Wired published an interesting article in which McDonald gives his long and detailed account of the whole fiasco: …

Diptic, a top 5 paid photography app in the iTunes App Store, has been selected by Apple as this week's free app. The app normally costs $1 and lets you quickly combine multiple photographs into diptychs. There are 52 preset layouts that support between 1-5 photos each, and 14 filters for giving your images different looks. You can see sample diptychs created with the app in this Flickr group.

Check out this blast from the past: it's a 1986 commercial for the Minolta Maxxum 7000.

Photographer Camille Seaman is well-known for her images of icebergs, but recently she turned her attention to another state of water: supercell storm clouds. She has been partnering with storm chasers and shooting amazing images of violent weather passing through the American Midwest. The series is titled The Big Cloud.

There are a few situations where taking pictures or video can be a nightmare, and one of them is definitely a rock concert. Getting a good snapshot -- or capturing good video and audio for that matter -- in a situation with that much movement, that many light changes, and such drastic sways in volume doesn't bode well for the phonetographer. So when All About Symbian wanted to show off how well the 808 PureView's camera worked, where do you think they pulled footage from?

RRRRRRRROLL_gif is a project by a group of friends in Japan that comes together to create two cinemagraphs each week. The images feature people and objects rotating around a single axis.

Capturing photos of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes is an important job that no photographer takes lightly -- after all, we've all seen the kind of firestorm that can result from not doing it well. So when Benjamin Von Wong had the opportunity to photograph Olympic Para Dressage Rider Natasha Baker, he made sure to do it right.

A computer error at the San Diego fireworks show last week led to an 18-minute show being condensed into 15 seconds... and also some pretty crazy firework photos. YouTube user danwroy was sitting across the water from the launch area, and used a Canon 60D to capture this crazy video showing what the spectacle looked like to those with front row seats (you might want to turn your volume down). So this is what firework shows look like to cameras with their shutters left open...

An interesting headline spotted over at Yahoo News: "More Americans Becoming Serious Photographers". In the article, analyst Chris Chute of research firm IDC says that more people in the US are identifying themselves as "enthusiasts": …

Young artist Scott Blake's article about his altercation with photographer and painter Chuck Close starts with a simple question: "When one of the world’s richest living artists orders you to stop making art, you do it. Or do you?" It's been two years since Close, who is referred to in the article as "the wealthy bully," put a stop to Blake's Chuck Close Photoshop plug-in by threatening a lawsuit, and Blake still hasn't managed to put what he sees as the injustice of the whole situation …

For his project titled Back Yard, Japanese photographer Daisuke Yokota applied the musical ideas of echo, delay, and reverb to photography by shooting, developing, printing, and re-photographing the same image over and over. In an interview with American Photo, he states, …

One of the most difficult things I found at the beginning of my professional career was discussing money. I’d happily accept anything that came my way and was pretty short-sighted at the implications it had, not only for myself but the local working community and the economics around that.

The photograph you see above isn't the result of Photoshop or infrared photography. Captured by Spanish photographer Palíndromo Mészáros, it shows what the landscape of Ajka, Hungary looked like half a year after the Ajka alumina plant accident -- an industrial disaster in which 35 million cubic feet of toxic waste flooded the land to a height of around 6.5 feet. Mészáros lined up the thick red line caused by the sludge with the horizon line to obtain this surreal image.

Up until now, all rumors regarding Canon's upcoming mirrorless offering (which is expected to be announced officially at a special July 23rd event) have pointed towards it housing the same sensor found in the company's capable G1 X compact. This was said to be the case because another, more capable mirrorless offering has been in the works for Photokina. New rumors, however, seem to indicate that, while there is a prototype out there of a Canon mirrorless with a G1 X sensor, the official …

A week ago we showed you a patent and reported on a well-established rumor that Nikon was on the verge of announcing an 800mm focal length lens, which would rank as the longest in its lineup since their last 800mm was discontinued in 2005. Today, that rumor became a reality when Nikon officially put up a press release announcing that development of the new FX, VR lens is indeed in the works, and that lucky attendees will get to see a display model at both The Open Championships golf tournament …

German photographer Falk Lumo has an interesting post on his blog regarding full frame and crop sensors. His theory is that camera manufacturers have created an artificial barrier between the two sensor sizes for business reasons, and that we'll soon be seeing big changes in the camera world as this barrier disappears: …

LZRTAG is a free Android app that lets you generate QR codes associated with uploaded images -- mostly animated .gif images. The codes can be printed out and placed on walls and other surfaces. When scanned with the Android app, the codes call up the associated image and display it in an augmented reality on your phone.

As you already know, we're pretty obsessed with Polaroids, and all the creative photography we can get our hands on. This tutorial will teach you how to make a pop-up Polaroid camera card that "prints" out a miniature Polaroid picture.

Up until now XQD cards have had a bit of a tough time getting off the ground. With only one compatible camera option in the Nikon D4, one manufacturer in Sony, and prices as large as the speeds they offer are impressive, people may have been starting to wonder if the format is here to stay. The answer, it seems, is yes -- due in large part to Lexar's newly announced interest in producing the cards by later this year.

Photographer David Nemcsik of Budapest, Hungary has a beautiful project titled the "Levitation Project" that features surreal images of people floating in midair in a lying up down position. The subjects are Nemcsik's friends, and the locations were picked by asking them this simple question: "where were you in your last dream?".

Photographers and designers alike salivate over a Wacom tablet on occasion, but more often than not the cons (in way of cost) outweigh the pros. The new addition to the Wacom family, however, comes with a few more bells and whistles to tempt those with some disposable income and an itchy wallet finger -- and they call it the 24HD Touch.

My mind is a strange and dangerous place. I shouldn’t go in there alone after dark. But the other night I was thinking, just me and myself, about all the new camera releases this year. Which had made the biggest impact? Was it the Canon 5D III with that world-class autofocus system? The Olympus OM-D bringing mirrorless cameras up a notch in image quality and usability? Should I mention the excellent Samsung NX20, just because no one knows it’s really good? Give the Fuji X-Pro an award for …

Randall Munroe over at XKCD posted this fascinating comic today that demonstrates some of the peculiarities of human vision. Roll up a piece of paper to set your eyes the correct distance from the screen, and then observe how they perceive things like detail, color, polarization, and more. Click the image above for the large version.

It's nearly impossible to find a photograph in China taken before 1970 -- most images were destroyed or removed to other countries during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.