2013

Fashion Photography Rig Turns Out to Be the Best Way to Photograph Monkey Brains

Mmmm -- monkey brains haven't looked this good since the banquet scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

That would be thanks to the StyleShoots fashion photography rig that researchers at the Netherlands-based Primate Brain Bank used to capture detailed, perfectly posed images of the grey matter of everything from gorillas to tiny lemurs.

French Paper Publishes Photo-less Issue to Stress the Importance of Photojournalism

French newspaper Libération is about to score huge brownie points with photographers the world over. At a time when newspaper photography jobs are disappearing and some newspapers are replacing professional photojournalists with iPhone toting writers, Libération is removed all photos from one of its issue as a show of support for photographers.

Inspecting an ‘In Spec’ Lens

I’m going to open a can of worms today. I’ve been getting more and more emails from people telling me the same story that goes like this:

I’ve got this lens. It’s awful. I’ve sent it in for adjustment and the service center tells me it’s ‘in spec’ and nothing is wrong with it. Am I crazy?

How Do You Photograph a Jet Flying 300-400mph? Throw 30,000W of Flash at It!

Yuri Arcurs, the world's top-selling microstock photographer, will go to great lengths to prove he's right, and the video above is a great case in point for that. He wanted to prove that he could flash freeze a fighter jet at full speed, and he got that shot. All he needed was approximately 30,000W of fill flash... no big deal.

Photog Drills Through His iPhone’s Camera to Make Lanyard in Cringeworthy Fake DIY

I'm a self-described Apple fanboy, and even I found this funny, but if you're adverse to seeing beautifully engineered tech destroyed before your very eyes you might want to skip this one. On the other hand, if you're an Android fanboy (or girl) who harbors a deep hate for Apple, this could be therapeutic.

In the fake DIY video above, Newtography's Andrew Newlun sets out to show you how to turn a brand new iPhone into a handy-dandy keychain lanyard by drilling a hole right through the iPhone's camera.

Exercise with a View: Check Out What ISS Astronauts See When They Bench Press

NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio just arrived on the ISS last week (with the Olympic torch in tow, no less), and even though he wasn't one of the astronauts who got to take the Olympic torch for a spacewalk/photo shoot, he wasted no time starting to upload photos from orbit.

All of the photos he's uploaded (gallery below) are awesome for one reason or another, but one in particular has gotten a bunch of attention. Uploaded yesterday, the photo above shows the view Mastracchio and his fellow astronauts have while exercising on the ISS.

The Other Action Camera

It’s 2004, and a group of young entrepreneurs is working on a wearable camera geared towards action sports.  Their experimentation results in a multi-million dollar company that launches a series of versatile waterproof cameras that can be attached to a person or vehicle in any number of ways. Their products have been used to film everything from spear fishing to paintball battles. Oh, by the way, I’m not talking about GoPro.

Alexa Meade on Why and How She Began Turning People Into Real Life Paintings

Alexa Meade turned her first person into a real life, three-dimensional painting in April of 2009. Now, four years later, she is known the world over as the artist who uses the human body as her canvas, creating photographs you would be hard-pressed to differentiate from two-dimensional paintings.(Note: the video above contains some body-paint nudity)

Snapchat Supposedly Turned Down a $3 Billion Acquisition Offer from Facebook

When Facebook spent the staggering amount of $1 billion on the Instagram acquisition, people the world over thought they were crazy for throwing that kind of money on an app that, at the time, hadn't generated any revenue.

Well, that acquisition turned out pretty well for CEO Zuckerberg, who has since allegedly turned his sights on Snapchat, only to have an even more ludicrous offer spurned. How much more ludicrous, you ask? Apparently, Snapchat recently turned down a $3 billion offer from the social media giant.

Photographer Gets in a Tussle with an Elk, Fortunately Escapes Unharmed

We've seen photographs of wildlife that run the gamut from cute to 'Far Side,' but it's important never to forget that wild animals are, after all, wild... and therefore dangerous. One photographer was reminded when he found himself in a tense standoff with a young bull elk on the side of the road.

Photo Series Pokes Fun at Ridiculous Laws You Probably Didn’t Even Know Existed

Living in Alabama, one of the more frequent pieces of trivia I hear mentioned at social gatherings has to do with ridiculous state and city laws that are so ludicrous as to be unbelievable. The thing is, these laws exist, and not just in the great state of Alabama.

In her creative and humorous photo series I Fought the Law, photographer Olivia Locher exposes some of the most ridiculous ones you'll find across the US.

Ultra-Rare 2000mm f/11 Nikkor Lens Up On eBay for $25K… Broken

The last time we wrote about the Nikkor 2000mm f/11 C Reflex lens was in 2010 when a working version of the behemoth was up on eBay for the not-so-affordable price of $19,950. Given that information, how much would you pay for a broken, beat-up version of the same lens 3 years later? Well, someone on eBay thinks it's worth $25K.

Musician’s Scathing Letter Offers One Way to Respond to Requests for Free Work

A strongly worded letter has gotten a surprising amount of attention in photograpy circles recently.

It was written by UK musician Whitey (aka. NJ White) in response to a TV producer who requested to use his work for free, and it's gotten popular because, even though it was written by a musician, photographers really seem to love Whitey's no BS response to a request many of them are familiar with.

Mark Newson and Jony Ive Talk About the One-of-a-Kind Leica M (RED) Camera

We've heard a lot about the Leica M (RED) edition created by design gurus Mark Newson and Jony Ive, but up until now it's all been press release information. Now, we have a video in which both Newson and Ive talk a little bit about the creations they've put together for the upcoming Sotheby's (RED) auction on November 23rd, including a section about the aforementioned camera.

Give It 100: Create a 100-Day Video Time-Lapse of the Journey Towards Your Goals

Back in July, we shared a viral "Dance-Lapse" video put together by former Microsoft exec Karen Cheng that showed the amazing progress she made learning to dance in one year.

Since that video came out, she's received countless requests to help others create similar video time-lapses of their own journey towards personal goals. And so she decided to start a website dedicated to that very thing.

Stop Motion: Artist Depicts Aging, Death and Reincarnation Using Face Paint

When you hear that a stop motion video depicts the process of aging, death and reincarnation, your mind probably goes straight to digital manipulation. After all, how else do you make someone look older? Or dead for that matter?

But London-based makeup artist Emma Allen didn't use Photoshop to create her video "Ruby," she used face paint instead.

IOC Dispels Rumor that Journalists Would be Banned from Instagramming in Sochi

If you've been following news about the Sochi Olympics today, you probably stumbled across one of the many reports that journalists would be banned from using non-professional gear and, in fact, stripped of accreditation on the spot if they broke the rules and pulled out their smartphones to take pictures. Thankfully, however, those reports seem to be false.

Humor: Check Out the Traffic Cam Overkill at this Chinese Street Light

One of the more controversial forms of government photography involves traffic cameras, which wind up in privacy-related news so often we've actually never written an article about them. This Chinese intersection, however, warrants some attention if for no other reason than to give you a good chuckle.

Canon Japan Releases DSLR Teaser Video, Talks of a ‘White Kiss Debut’

At the end of last week, Canon Korea teased a new camera in an ad that showed what seemed to be a DSLR hidden behind a semi-see through sheet. Now, adding fuel to the fire (albeit a small fire) that the Korean branch of the company started, Canon Japan has released a teaser video (embedded below) about the same camera.

Epic A Cappella Daft Punk Video Decisively Proves that Creativity Trumps Budget

Most of you have seen this video, of that we have no doubt. In the 5 days since it debuted it has acquired over 9 million views, and so we're not sharing it because we're worried that you're missing out on something, or even because we want to give you an excuse to dance a bit today (although that did factor in).

We're sharing it because, as it turns out, this video has a pretty awesome story that involves very little money and oodles of creativity coming together when initial plans fell through.

Photographer Chases the Perfect Eclipse Shot at 44,000ft and 500mph

Forget storm chasing, that's a cinch when you compare it to what former NASA photographer Ben Cooper and some colleagues of his did last weekend: eclipse chasing. Cooper captured the shot above from a chartered jet going 500mph at 44,000ft in the air, but it was a near miss.

UPstagram: A Camera-Equipped Version of the House from ‘Up’ Takes Flight Over Paris

The weekend is coming up, and while many of us will spend it watching football, napping and otherwise lazing about, some people seem to make much more productive use of their free time. Take the hacker group Hackerloop, for example.

They recently equipped a miniature version of the house from the Pixar movie "Up" with a camera, hacked Instagram so it could automatically upload shots, and then sent it flying over Paris attached to 90 helium balloons... now that is a weekend well spent.

Beautifully Constructed Time-Lapse Takes You on 100K-Photo Trip Around the World

Filmmaker Matthew Vandeputte has spent the last year traveling the globe and shooting more photographs than ever. From Belgium to Australia, he's shot well over 100,000 photos of countless sunrises, sunsets, cityscapes and star-filled skies. And now, we get to be the beneficiaries of that work for a glorious minute and a half.

Return of the Teasers: Canon Korea Teases ‘White World’ Camera in New Ad

Just when we thought we were done with all the teasers, it looks like Canon is picking up where Nikon left off. To be fair, the teaser released by Canon Korea today is an ad, not a video. And chances are there won't be another ad every other day until the camera comes out... but who knows.

Either way, we have another camera to anticipate, and Canon is teasing this one with the words, "Canon will start from the white world."

Stunning Photos of Starling Murmurations that Aren’t

There are a few good reasons why you should go about getting in touch with a photographer before using his or her work. Even if they're okay with blogs and news outlets pick up the work without their permission (not saying they should be, but some are) you might be missing some critically important information about the series.

Such is the case with artist Alain Delorme's series "Murmurations," because these photographs that circulated the web initially as beautiful captures of starling flocks (better known as murmurations) in amazing shapes aren't actually photos of birds at all... the images are manipulations comprising of thousands of plastic bags made to look like starling murmurations.

Nikon’s D610 Gets a Dust-Free Green Light

Way back when, I wrote about the dust problems we were seeing in Nikon D600 cameras. There was enough of a furor about it that when the Nikon D610 was released I assumed that the dust problem would be fixed. But I’m rather the paranoid type, and I never like assumptions, so as soon as the first D610s were delivered I thought it worthwhile to just double-check that assumption.