2013

Backlighting can be all moody and subtle, but you can seldom go wrong with full-on, straight-behind illumination. Especially if your subject is the planet on which your family, friends and all of humanity happens to reside.

That's what the trio of Apollo 17 astronauts -- and soon, the whole world -- discovered 41 years and two days ago today. Navigating towards the moon on Dec. 7, 1972,  the spacecraft had the sun behind it, providing a rare, fully illuminated view of the Earth.

If you haven't heard of celebrity photographer Matt Hoyle's photo book Comic Genius: Portraits of Funny People, then you're in for a treat. We're talking about a book full of hilarious portraits of hilarious people that is being sold for a good cause... what more could you want?

A lot of film people have deep connections to Super 8 cameras, once the medium of choice for everyone from film school students to porn directors. But it's getting harder and harder to actually use the things, as stocks of film cartridges dwindle.

To the rescue comes Nolab, a project to build a digital adapter that will allow any Super 8 camera to shoot 720p HD video.

Nikon recently released a firmware update for its D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200, and P7700 cameras that maximized battery performance and allowed the camera to more accurately tell you how much charge you have left. But it seems there was an unintended (or maybe not so unintended) side-effect: third party batteries no longer work.

If we start a post off by telling you that "the stop motion video above consists of 8,000 frames taken on an iPhone," you'd probably assume it was some small-time filmmaker or hobbyist that put it together, and most of the time you'd be right.

In this case, however, you'd be dead wrong. Because that's exactly how musicians LeAnn Rimes, Rob Thomas, and Jeff Beck decided to film the music video for their most recent collaboration, a song called "Gasoline and Matches."

Okay, this video doesn't necessarily have much to do with photography, but we could think of no better way to wake you up on a Monday morning than by sharing this gorgeous footage of creamer being poured into a cup of coffee at 2,000 frames per second.

We introduced you to F-Stop Gear's 'Life in Focus' miniseries when it first debuted back in April. Since then, eight more inspirational episodes of the series have aired, and since we neglected to share them one by one over the last eight months, we thought we'd share them all here as a sort of motivational kick in the pants to end the year on.

The key to creating a good photo-based service is to fill a need that isn't being filled by any other app or website -- a task increasingly difficult as more and more players enter the market. Still, once in a while someone stumbles on an idea that is just the right mix of concepts to create a service really worth your while, and Exposure seems to be just that.

A portrait is a powerful thing. Programs like Help Portrait -- which is dedicated to spreading joy, inspiration and hope by taking portraits of people who have never had one taken before -- are easy proof of this. But just in case you find yourself in need of more proof, the If Only for a Second portrait project is here to provide it.

This is, as they say, an oldie but goodie. Put together all the way back in 2009, this self-portrait time-lapse chronicles one man's journey walking almost all the way across China on his way to Germany. A journey as much about the physical challenge as it was about self-discovery.

There are a lot of photo book makers out there -- even Flicker joined the fray not too long ago -- but one company that we've been really impressed with ever since it debuted is Mosaic, and now, Android users can take advantage of the service as well!

Yaakov Israel was born in 1974 in Jerusalem, Israel where he lives and works. He graduated in 2002 (B.F.A) with honors from the Department of Photography at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. Since 2004 he is has been teaching photography at some of the most prominent art and photography schools and colleges in Israel.

In his work he constantly investigates the Israeli identity as perceived through architecture, landscape and the people living in his country.

His first Monograph, “The Quest for the Man on the White Donkey,” was recently published by Schilt Publishing from Amsterdam.

It seems LEGOs are quite the muse for many a photo enthusiast, whether they're shooting creative dioramas or cool 'action' scenes. But one type of photography where LEGOs come in particularly handy is stop-motion, and if you don't believe us, check out the video above by Bricktease founder Duncan McConchie.

It's getting harder and harder for photographers who shoot time-lapse to get our attention. You see, they're getting too darn good, and so gorgeous time-lapse after gorgeous time-lapse makes its way across our computer screens forcing us to be very picky.

That said, veteran time-lapse photographer Andrew Walker's recently released "Journey Part 1" time-lapse had no issue getting our approval, because it's absolutely, unequivocally breathtaking.

Although it can't compare to a quality camera, it's hard to deny that the iPhone is capable -- after all, we've seen NY Times cover photos, fashion shoots and even a professional portrait taken using an iPhone as the camera of choice.

We've seen some pretty terrifying stuff captured on action camera before, but this one ties with the skydivers who got hurled into empty space when their planes collided. It was uploaded by a BASE jumper who, on November 24th, took a leap that was almost his last.

Some of the most extraordinary photography we've run across was created by folks who use little to no Photoshop while capturing incredible photos that seem impossible without some manipulation. A great example of this kind of work is Kirsty Mitchell's series Wonderland, where all of the costumes and props are painstakingly put together by hand.

Korean artist Lee JeeYoung, however, takes it to the next level. Not only does she eschew digital manipulation entirely, but all of the fantasy worlds she creates have to fit inside her 360 x 410 x 240 cm studio (approximately 12 x 13.5 x 8 feet).

A couple of weeks ago, we told you that Adobe was extending its special $10/month Photoshop Photography Program (better known around these parts as the 'Photography Bundle') to everybody, even if they didn't own a previous copy of Photoshop.

That deal was supposed to end on December 2nd but, thanks to widespread positive response from photographers, they've decided to extend the deadline to December 8th!

The Polaroid iM1836 has had a rough go of it since it first burst onto the scene at last year's CES. Nobody seemed to think the camera was anything to write home about, and its similarity to Nikon's 1-Series cameras was undeniable.

So undeniable, in fact, that earlier this year, Nikon filed a lawsuit to try to get the iM1836 pulled from the shelves. Yesterday, they succeeded.

In case you haven't noticed, we're fans of quirky camera-themed products that put gear to creative use. Be it a lamp made out of un-fixable retro cameras or a humidifier disguised as a lens, we just like that sort of thing. Phlite, therefore, is right up our alley.

Called crazy or awesome (and sometimes crazy AND awesome... or crazy awesome) depending on who you ask, Phlite transforms your gear into a camera-themed desk, table or floor lamp in seconds, so you can enjoy your gear even when you're not out shooting with it.

Photojournalist Christopher Morris has documented some of the world's hottest war zones, reclusive North Korea and the 2012 Republican National Convention. But it took modern Detroit to totally punk him, with thieves there stealing $15,000 in camera equipment and another crook cheating him out of $200 in reward money later that same day.

Rest easy, future astronauts. If occasional filmmaker and full-time tinkerer Mark Rober and his pals are any indication, NASA engineers can MacGyver their way into or out of any situation.

Selfie, schmelfie! How self-absorbed do you really have to be to spend all of 20 seconds pointing a phone at yourself and tapping a few buttons? But a process that requires up to 15 minutes of statue-still posing, exposure to hazardous chemicals and construction of custom camera? Now that's something worth bragging about.

So all hail pioneering American photographer Robert Cornelius, whose rough but certainly recognizable image, taken mere months after Louis Daugerre revealed his daguerrotype process in 1839, is undoubtedly the world's first photographic self-portrait and may even be the first photographic portrait of any kind.

Sometimes inspiration strikes when you're out in the wild, climbing mountains and taking in breathtaking vistas. Other times, it happens when you're looking after your 7-year-old daughter and playing LEGOs. You can probably guess how photographer Jeff Friesen's 50 States of LEGO series came about.

Once in a while, you wake up in the morning with problems on your mind (or in your Inbox) and immediately start your day in a funk, focused on those problems. It's these mornings that benefit most from some perspective-giving imagery, and perhaps nothing puts our tiny Earth-bound problems in perspective quite as decisively as photographs taken from the International Space Station.

The time-lapses you see above and below will do just that, and do it in spectacular fashion as you fly over the Earth feeling a bit like Superman trying to turn back time (oh, I'm sorry, is my Nerd showing?)

Adventure Sports Photography often doesn't get a lot of attention in the photography world. While street, portrait, and wedding photography seem to reign supreme, this small genre is usually only appreciated in the respective sports it covers.

Which is really quite sad since it showcases some of the most amazing photographers working today. Not only are they able to compose and capture stunning shots, but they often do so in the worst conditions imaginable.

So emergency workers are all over the Brooklyn Bridge, trying to talk down a suicidal man poised to jump. Media people are everywhere, doing their usual sensitive storytelling. A big chunk of the city is holding its breath, waiting to see how the life-and-death drama plays out.

Perfect time for a selfie, right?

What do you do when you're not busy destroying rebel planets, choking out generals and dealing with traumatizing father issues? Why, you grab a quality selfie and upload it to Instagram of course.

PRO Photographer magazine just released an app that it's calling "a new media hub for the connected photographer." More specifically: it's an iPad, iPhone and Android phone app that, for the first time, brings together premium magazine content and live, curated news feeds under one digital roof.

The ability to pull photos out of your camera and onto your computer wirelessly is an incredibly useful tool that many photographers use, but what if you could pull those photos instantly into Lightroom right there on-location? Well, it turns out you can, and it's not all that complicated either.