2013

OpenReflex: A Fully Operational DIY 3D Printable SLR

The magic of 3D printing has led to the creation of a few pretty cool DIY projects we've featured in the past. In the world of cameras, we've seen everything from lens adapters to flash diffusers make their way into the real world via the 3D printer and some plastic.

What we had never seen before now, however, was a fully operational 3D printed SLR camera, but freshly graduated design student Léo Marius has created just that!

Fourth of July Fireworks and Lightning Captured in One Lucky Shot

Some people have all the luck right? The above photo was taken by photographer Jason Smith, and it's a great example of the right place meeting the right time. While taking 4th of July photos at a friend's house, he was able to capture a lightning strike that synched perfectly with some fireworks.

Music Video Uses Animations Projected Onto Warm Breath in Freezing Temps

Here's a really creative idea that makes for a really cool and unique music video. For the second single off of his upcoming album Where You Stand, musician Travis teamed up with a creative directing duo to put together a music video shot entirely using an animation projected onto the band's breath in freezing temperatures.

Why You Should Follow the US Interior Department on Instagram

You've heard us mention the US Department of the Interior once before, in reference to Travis Roe's awesome Grand Canyon lightning strike photo that went viral a couple of months ago. One of the department's goals is to get people interested in visiting different areas of the United States, and they do this by sharing some of the most beautiful photos they come across.

Roe's photo went viral after the Interior Department shared it on their Facebook page, but if you really want a great overview of beautiful US imagery, the department's Instagram account is the way to go.

Nikon Patent Solves Camera Overheating by Integrating Removable Heat Storage

As DSLRs become more and more capable video capture machines, the problem of overheating becomes a more pressing one. With RAW video in particular, where the amount of data being captured is staggering, the sensor needs to be protected if you expect to keep using the camera for any extended amount of time.

Cinema cameras, like Canon's 1D C, have attacked this issue in the past by arranging the internals in such a way as to provide better cooling. But a couple of new Nikon patents take a different approach.

Time-Lapse Captures Airplanes Leaving Gorgeous Light Trails in the Night Sky

In the majority of time-lapses, airplanes wind up being an unintended byproduct. Sometimes they get downright distracting, like in this time-lapse where an airplane in a holding pattern was thought to maybe be a UFO.

But photographer Milton Tan doesn't find them distracting, he finds them fascinating. So much so that he's created an entire time-lapse that focuses on the identified flying objects exclusively.

In Saturn’s Rings: A 4K Film Made Entirely from Real NASA Photographs

The tagline for the 2014 IMAX movie In Saturn's Rings simply states: "This is Real." And it's a tagline that bears repeating to yourself over and over again as you watch the preview footage above.

A fly-through put together from over one million real photographs -- many taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft -- the movie promises to contain zero CGI. And above, we have the first teaser for the film, available in 4K as long as your monitor can handle it.

Instagram iOS Update Enables Landscape Support and Front Camera Stabilization

Today's minor update from Instagram -- you can tell it's minor because it's version 4.0.2 -- was actually a bit more feature-packed than the number suggests. Coming on the heels of the major Instagram Video update in 4.0, the newest iOS update adds much sought-after landscape support as well as video stabilization when using the front-facing camera.

Macro Time-Lapse Follows Flowers from Seed to Bloom

Capturing the growth or bloom of a flower is a staple of time-lapse photography, and therefore, it can be a bit banal. But photographer Daniel Csobot has managed to put a macro flower time-lapse together that is both beautiful and captivating.

Nokia ‘EOS’ Product Photos Leak, Might Make Landfall Later This Month

About a month ago, we got our first look at what is rumored to be the next big thing from Nokia camera-wise. Codenamed the 'EOS,' a few sources leaked IRL photos of the upcoming smartphone, showing off the bulging PureView camera module on the back and encouraging many consumers who believed that this would be Nokia's stateside version of the company's 808 PureView.

Now, we have a couple of leaked low-res product shots to corroborate those IRL images, and a potential release date that has the phone making an official appearance before month's end.

Video: Using a High-Speed Camera and a Ruler to Test Reaction Times

There's nothing like high-speed footage to put your reaction time in perspective. Knowing this, David Prager and Mauricio Balvanera of Distort put a high-speed camera to use capturing people doing the 'ruler test,' where a ruler suspended just above your fingers drops at a random moment, and you have to try and catch it as soon as possible.

Researchers Take Aim at Automatically Detecting Photo Fakes on Twitter

You might remember the photo above from last year. For a while, it circulated the web like mad, claiming to show Hurricane Sandy bearing down menacingly on the Statue of Liberty. But if you've read our previous coverage on the photo, you'll know that it is, in fact, a fake -- a composite of a Statue of Liberty picture and a well-known photo by weather photographer Mike Hollingshead.

Photo fakes like this wind up going viral online all the time, often helped along by Twitter where retweet upon retweet puts it in front of thousands of unsuspecting people. Having had enough, a group of researchers from the University of Maryland, IBM Research Labs and the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology are trying to do something about it.

Create Selfie GIFs in Seconds With The Face to GIF Web App

There are many ways to create GIFs of all sorts of things. Some tutorials on making more complex GIFs (like this one) we've even shared with you. But what if you just want to create a quick selfie GIF? Something you could record on your computer's webcam? Well, the new webapp "Face to GIF" has you covered.

Nikon Updates Vibration Reduction Stats to Comply With New Standard

This month, the Consumer & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) released a new standard to help make better sense of the world of image stabilization. Theoretically, the standard will make sure that all manufacturers test and report image stabilization statistics the same way, so you can better compare between lens brands.

And although we haven't heard anything from any other company, Nikon has already hopped aboard and released a list of CIPA-compliant numbers.

This Massive Last Batch of Fuji Velvia 50 8×10 Film Cost a Photographer $100K+

As camera film companies continue to shutter flagging film lines in order to focus on their most profitable wares, it's not uncommon for analog photographers to build up personal stockpiles of film and store them in a freezer (or two) to use in the future.

It is unusual, however, for one photographer to pay the price of a small house for a stockpile that requires a walk-in freezer to store -- and that's exactly what one recently did.

How Commercial Photography is Like Dungeons & Dragons

It was inevitable, I suppose. My paladin’s +2 plate armor had cracked. That is, my buddy Alex’s barbarian character had hit my character with a stroke of such raw power that even my eternally sunny disposition was clouded with rage. I mean, how dare he?! What a creep! I couldn’t wait to get back at him with my Backstabbing Ring of…umm… Backstabbery.

In fact, I was right in the middle of throwing a twenty-sided die across the table at Alex, and maybe even stomping my foot in disgust, when I realized a horrible truth: oh, man, I was actually having fun!

Behind the Scenes with Nikon’s Industrial Design Team

Designing a camera from start to finish takes a lot of work by a lot of talented people. What begins as brainstorming and sticky notes must be turned into sketches, 3D renderings, and physical products. Even the UI has to be meticulously planned so that it is intuitive, speedy and responsive.

At Nikon, there is one overall department that handles all of these tasks: The Industrial Design Department. And the company just recently released a great behind the scenes video that walks you through the Nikon design process from sketch to finish.

I Was a Staff Photographer at Newsday for 22 1/2 Days

Avoid all the signs that it’s a hard time for photojournalists. Four years later your determination may pay off in a reduced job market.

My last two semesters of journalism school were riddled with accounts of massive editorial layoffs in the country’s most distinguished newsrooms.

External Flash: An iOS App that Lets You Fire Up to 16 iPhone Flashes Together

The flash built into your iOS device isn't anything to write home about. If you want something more capable, the general approach is to attach something more powerful, like a Kick Light or Manfrotto's KLYP flash. But there is another way to do it.

What if you could slave other phone's flashes? Something like it turned up in an Apple patent a while back, but a developer beat Apple to the punch by designing a camera app that does just that.

This is a DIY Camera Obscura You Wear on Your Head

Photographer Justin Quinnell is a pinhole photography master. Over the years we've featured his work taking six-month long pinhole exposures that show sun trails, as well as his DIY camera obscura kit that allowed you to display an upside-down version of the outside world in the room of your choice.

His latest project, however, is different from any we've seen before. Meant to be used as a game on the festival circuit, the I-Scura (as he calls it) is a massive DIY camera obscura you wear on your head like a helmet.

Check Out the Canon 70D’s Dual Pixel AF Technology In Action

At the beginning of the week, Canon introduced the latest and greatest addition to its APS-C lineup of DSLRs when it debuted the Canon EOS 70D. In addition to the standard specs you would expect to find in any of Canon's APS-C cameras (the company has gotten some grief lately regarding its lack of innovation) the 70D packed one very impressive improvement.

The 20.2-megapixel Canon-designed sensor inside features something called "Dual Pixel CMOS AF": a new autofocus system that promises to vastly improve the speed of Canon's live view and video AF capabilities. And now, we get to see it in action.

The Capture Camera Clip v2: A Sleek New Design Meets Tons More Functionality

When the first Capture Camera Clip went to Kickstarter in 2011, it absolutely blew away its funding goal. Creator Peter Dering needed $10,000; he wound up raising almost $365,000! The last two years have been very kind to the versatile camera clip that allows you to securely hook your DSLR just about anywhere on your person, but along with the success have come many suggestions for possible improvement.

So, like any good designer, Dering is taking another stab at it: attempting the same idea, only this time with "brilliant execution." The v2 is a redesigned, sleeker, better version of the first Capture system, with a bunch of new functionality built in.

Funny Portraits of Men Dressed in Their Girlfriends’ Clothes

When Spanish photographer Jon Uriarte first started exploring relationship dynamics and gender roles in his work, he did so by photographing couples together in their shared homes. But at some point, he realized that this method wasn't getting his message across -- that's when he switched to a stranger, more humorous approach.

Postagram Now Lets You Send Postcard Photos for Free… with Ads

We told you about the Postagram app/service by Sincerely all the way back in 2011 when it first made landfall. Using the free app, users could select photos, pay $1, and have them slapped onto a postcard and sent to whomever they chose.

Now, with help from a few companies that are eager to get their brand in front of your eyes, Postagram is adding the ability to send free, advertiser sponsored post cards that won't cost you a thing.

A Safe Harbor: Being Viewed as a Creep When Out as a Photographer

Most years around this time we take a road trip to visit my family in New Jersey. There are always a couple of camera bags in the back seat, as there will be tomorrow night when we saddle up and head south once again. And most years around this time I think back to something that happened on another hot summer night less than two months before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

For photographers, a lot has changed since then, but we have to remember that most of it started changing well before 9/11. When my students complain about the hassles of trying to make photographs in public places, I tell them that it’s something they’re just going to have to get used to. And then sometimes I tell them this story.

Fake Craigslist ‘Photographer’ Jailed on Rape Charges

A Miami man has been arrested after allegedly posing as a photographer on Craigslist to lure two women to a remote spot and then assault them.

Anthony Molina-Iglesias, 30, faces charges of sexual battery, armed sexual battery, kidnapping and carjacking.

Microsoft Kills Flickr and Facebook Photo Integration in Windows 8.1

When Windows Phone and Windows 8 came out, Microsoft was eager to point out that the photos app on both systems was built to pull in photos from social networks and sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr automatically. The Windows 8.1 update, however, is scrapping integration from both of those sources, in addition to dropping support for network storage.

7 Mistakes Every Photographer Makes

We've all been there, when you make that one mistake. The mistake your obnoxious friend warned you about a hundred times. The mistake they'll never let you live down. Or worse the mistake you bragged to everybody about, saying, "Oh, I'll never do that. I know better." But now here you are, in a big puddle of embarrassment.

Like any trade, photography has a few of these classic mistakes that are almost guaranteed to happen to you at some point.

Photojournalist Gives First-Hand Account of Photographing the ’92 LA Riots

Back in 1992, photojournalist Hyungwon Kang was the only Korean-speaking photographer employed with the LA Times. So when the riots broke out after the infamous Rodney King verdict, he was sent to cover things in Koreatown.

In this short Reuters TV interview, he tells us what it was like to go in with only a camera, photographing looters and firefights and trying to stay safe in the meantime.

Company Upcycles Wasted Canvas From Photo Printing to Raise Money for Charity

When the company CanvasPop puts a customer's photo onto, well, canvas, they often wind up with a bunch of scraps that they have to throw away. Not only are there excess pieces that have been cut off during the wrapping process, but sometimes entire prints don't make it through quality assurance and have to be tossed.

In a fit of philanthropic brilliance, the company realized that this is a waste and decided to put the excess canvas to some positive use. That's how they came up with the Remade Wallet: cool looking canvas wallets that CanvasPop now makes and sells, donating the profits to charity.

Still Life Photos that Combine Stark White Scenes with Just a Touch of Color

For the most part, Dutch photographer Arjan Benning specializes in still life photography. Crafting strange scenes for advertising agencies, museums, magazines and cultural institutions worldwide, he tries to walk "the fine line between authenticity and amazement."

His series Ice Age does this by juxtaposing white, domestic, cluttered scenes -- which in and of themselves are sometimes quite strange -- with a touch of color.

A Shutter Sound Symphony Created with $30,000 in Nikon DSLR Gear

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong was taking a tour of Nikon Professional Services facilities recently when he had an idea: with so much Nikon gear around, why not try making music with the cameras? After all, it's not often that you have tens of thousands of dollars in gear at your disposal to create something fun. The video above is what resulted.

Olympus Executives Manage to Avoid Jail Time After Committing $1.7 Billion Fraud

The Olympus financial scandal -- you know, the one that was discovered all the way back in October of 2011 -- has been trying to reach a conclusion for some time now. But now that the Japanese justice system has reached a decision, many won't be happy with the end result. Namely: all of the major players in the $1.7 billion scandal have managed to avoid jail time entirely, at least for now.

Photos of Diet Wiegman’s Mind-Blowing Shadow Sculptures

Voted "The Most Brilliant Artist of the Netherlands" in 2009, Dutch artist Diet Wiegman is a master of his craft. But of all the amazing creations he has to his name, his work with light and shadow is most breathtaking. Using garbage, pieces of glass and other rubble, he creates a sculpture that, with the help of a light source, projects a beautiful image onto a wall.

The TSA Sets Up an Instagram Account to Show Off the Things They Confiscate

What do a loaded gun, a stun gun disguised as a pack of cigarettes and an inert grenade all have in common? Pictures of all of them are to be found on the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) new Instagram account, where the government agency is doing its best to show the public the kinds of dangerous things its employees are confiscating on a daily basis.

Sony ‘Honami’ Camera App Leaks, Shows Filters, Augmented Reality and More

We've gotten a pretty good picture (no pun intended) of Sony's upcoming photography-focused smartphone code-named "Honami" as of late. Now that we've seen leaked photos of the front of the phone and a decent list of rumored specs, many expect it to add another higher-end camera to the smartphone market.

The only thing we haven't heard about yet is the software that will be running that camera, but that's all about to change.

Retired PE Teacher Wore the Same Outfit for 40 Years’ Worth of Yearbook Photos

It started out as a mistake. Back in 1973, PE teacher Dale Irby wore an era-appropriate polyester shirt and brown sweater-vest to picture day. The next year, entirely by accident, he wore the exact same thing. At first he was horrified, but the next year, his wife Cathy dared him to do it again.

What started as a mistake, turned into a dare, and then ultimately into a 40-year tradition that ended this year when Irby chose to retire.

Girl Rushes the Field at a Baseball Game, Captures a $1,500 Selfie

The fine for rushing the field at the College World Series final is $1,500, but who can put a price on becoming an overnight viral Vine sensation? Well, whatever price Kayleigh, Emily, and Torrie Hill assigned to viral fame, it was more than $1,500, because they rushed the field and captured some expensive selfie footage in the process.

These Hundred-Photo Composites Take Street Photography to the Next Level

At first glance, photographer Pelle Cass' series Selected People makes it seem like Boston is horribly overcrowded. The streets and squares are flooded with people, some of whom look like they're about to bump into each other without a second thought. And it's not just people, one tree seems to be the favorite spot of every single squirrel in the city.

Of course, once you realize what it is you're looking at, it starts to make a little more sense, because the photos in the series aren't made up of only one exposure, but hundreds of them.

Bing Now Allows You to Filter Your Image Searches by Licence

As the saying goes: "better late than never." In a move that puts Bing on par with the likes of Google's and Yahoo's image search engines, Microsoft's search giant has just added licensing refinements to its image searching capabilities as well.