2013

Jump to articles by year, month, or day.

Year
Month
Day

Year alone opens that year’s archive. Add a month or day to narrow it.

Photographer John Clang and Skype Join Forces to Make You Cry… In a Good Way

Back in July, we told you about a heartwarming Skype campaign called "Stay Together." Inspired by photographer John Clang's viral photo series Being Together, the company got in touch with Clang to see if he would help them create a campaign/contest, the winner of which would be reunited with their distant friend or relative.

Skydivers Capture a Terrifying Midair Plane Crash on Helmet Cam, Escape Unscathed

The kinds of stunts the rise of action cameras has allowed us to capture in POV are often scary, but more often than not they're also planned. However, for nine skydivers, the footage their helmet mounted GoPros captured recently wasn't planned in the least, and it will likely be the most terrifying thing you see all week... or month... or year.

Montage of Students Posing Awkwardly for What Turns Out to be a Video Camera

If you need a laugh this Thursday, look no further: the Student Union of Nottingham Trent University in England has you covered with a viral video they released a couple of days ago. It's a classic that never seems to get old: a montage of people smiling or posing awkwardly for what they think is a photo, when in fact it's video the Student Union was shooting.

How to Jump Start Your Motivation

No matter how much energy you have going into a project, it's likely that at some point you'll run out of steam. When you're hours in to editing your photos and are beginning to have an existential crisis about the real meaning of the words "tone curve," you'll suddenly stop and wonder why you're doing this in the first place.

Number of Adobe Accounts Hacked Now Up to 150M, Check Yours

News about the Adobe account hack just keeps getting worse and worse. First, 2.9 million users had supposedly been hacked. Then, the number skyrocketed to a much more staggering 38 million. The number is now climbing yet again, and it seems that many of the people who have been hacked have not been notified by Adobe.

Photographer Wins Big in Copyright Case, $1.6M Big

It's always nice when we stumble across a copyright case that doesn't lead to wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, rare as that might be. So when we ran across the news that a photographer pulled in $1.6 million in a copyright lawsuit, we just had to share it.

Houston, We Have a Problem: Astronaut’s Camera Floats Away Into Space

If you've gone to see the blockbuster hit Gravity in theaters, you'll recall several moments when Sandra Bullock's character nearly lost something into the abyss of space -- be it a drill or a screw, everything needs to be strapped down because the slightest movement will send it careening into the unknown.

Adorable Studio Portraits of Dogs Mid-Lick

Cats might be the belles of the Internet photography ball, but I'm a dog person and I'll be damned if cats get all the recognition. Photographer Carli Davidson's series Shake was a giant leap in the right direction, and now another canine advocate and photographer has stepped forward with his own series of portraits.

Interview: Susan Dobson, The Artist Behind the Haunting Series ‘Sense of an Ending’

Susan Dobson is best known for her work on suburban culture, architecture, and landscape. Her photographs have been exhibited across Canada, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, China, Germany, Spain, and Mexico. Her work was included in the Canadian Biennial titled Builders at the National Gallery of Canada in 2012, and she was a contributing artist to the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Dobson is Associate Professor at the University of Guelph.

The Camera of the Future Isn’t From the Past

In an insightful essay about the "graying" of photography, Kirk Tuck opines about seeing 50-year old men proudly displaying their huge DSLRs while hanging out at the counters at the Photo Plus Expo in New York last month. The generation that obsessed over pristine primes, low noise and 16×20 prints has been supplanted by a gaggle of Snapchatting millennials for whom photography is no different than a text conversation.

Rumor Has It: On the Rumor Mill and the Photo Industry

Rumors, leaks, and sneak peaks dominate headlines in photo gear news. More often than not, the appearance, specs and even price of a new piece of gear (this applies particularly to cameras) is known well before its manufacturer announces it themselves -- a fact that should come as no surprise to frequent PetaPixel readers.

Joe McNally, Lynn Goldsmith and Bob Krist on Shooting with the Nikon Df

First comes hype, then comes the announcement, and last comes the post-release marketing. In regards to the Nikon Df, we've officially moved into the last of those three steps, and right on cue, Nikon has released three videos of big time photographers endorsing the Df by talking about their experiences shooting with it.

Amazon Accidentally Publishes Nikon Df Page, Reveals a $2,750 Price Tag

It looks like Amazon made a major goof and accidentally (or maybe not) published the Nikon Df sales page momentarily before taking it back down again. In addition to confirming the specs we already expected were coming, the page also let the cat out of the bag in regards to how much the Df will cost... as it turns out, it's an expensive cat.

Nokia Publishes DNG RAW Image Samples Taken with Lumia Phones to Silence Critics

When Nokia announced that the new Lumia 1520 and the current Lumia 1020 would both soon have DNG Raw capabilities, the response was polarized -- half of the smartphone photo community was excited, the other half skeptical. Would these files really give you the latitude that RAW is known for? Or would they just be a massive waste of hard drive space.

FAA Changes Regulations, Will Let People Use Cameras During Takeoff and Landing

For as long as most of us can remember, the pre-takeoff safety briefing given in airplanes worldwide always included something to the effect of "all electronics must be turned off and stowed during takeoff and landing." For photographers, that meant lost photo opportunities unless you were willing to break the rules to get a great shot.

And Then a Cheetah Licked My GoPro…

The title of this post is what we imagine safari guide Matthew Copham says whenever he tells people about his most recent adventure.... well, that or, "and then a cheetah tried to eat my GoPro." As far as the response he gets, we expect it involves copious amount of Awwwww.

First Leaked Photos of the Nikon DF Show Up Online

If the Nikon "Pure Photography" teaser videos left you wanting a lot more in terms of info or pictures of the upcoming Nikon DF retro full-frame, you're in luck. Less than 24 hours before we expect the camera to finally make its official debut, several press pics of the shooter have leaked.

Instagram Launches First Ad, Users Not Happy, Trolls Have a Field Day

Let's be honest, we all saw this one coming. Ever since Instagram first announced that ads would soon be appearing in US users' feeds, we've known that the official launch would be met with a less than enthusiastic response. Now that the first ad has gone live, it seems we struck this nail on its head.

An Open Letter to the Person Who Stole My Camera…

Dear clever person who stole my camera from the Barcelona train station -- yes, you are oh so clever. I must say, I read about your ilk in all the guidebooks and could not even imagine how you might be able to get my beloved camera from my ever-watchful grasp, but you and your band of accomplices managed to play me and my group of friends like a fine tuned instrument. I am still only guessing at what you did to me.

Out on the Road: Sony DSC-RX10 Sample Photos

Alright, last but not least of the posts meant to convince you that I went to Nashville for photographic reasons and not because Sony paid for me to go hang gliding, I present to you: the sample images taken with the new Sony RX10.

Out on the Road: First Impressions of the Sony RX10

The Sony RX10 was in shorter supply than the other two cameras during my time with Sony in Nashville, so getting my hands on it was a little bit more challenging. But get my hands on it I did, and even though I spent less time shooting with it than I would have liked, what I found was a camera that really blew away whatever expectations I had.

Out on the Road: Sony a7 and a7R Sample Photos

Over the course of my week in Nashville, I got to try out both of Sony's new full-frame mirrorless cameras. And so, here is the promised sample image gallery, broken up into categories of photos taken with the a7, the a7R and the a7R with the E-Mount 24mm f/1.8 APS-C lens.

Funny Spoof Pokes Fun at Nikon’s ‘Pure Photography’ Teasers

Nikon has spared no amount of hype getting ready for the release of the rumored Nikon DF full-frame retro-styled camera. But all of this throwing around of high-brow terms like "pure photography" and five full teasers worth of mechanical whirrs and clicks and peeks at the camera's design has also opened the company up to a little bit of mockery.

Out on the Road: Getting to Know the Sony a7 and a7R

This last week, I had the great pleasure of joining many of my fellow writers from other major photo and tech news outlets for a week of fun and photography with Sony in Nashville, TN. Basically, the event gave us all a chance to test out the new mirrorless full-frame a7 and a7R cameras (as well as the RX10, which I'll hit on in another post) in a variety of situations, with Sony artisans and engineers on hand to answer all of our questions.

Review: Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 is One Sexy Beast

When Sigma announced a new version of the much loved 120-300 f/2.8 I immediately kicked myself for buying a much pricier 300mm Nikon about 6 months earlier. The reasons why may not be readily apparent, but we'll get to that. First let's discuss the aesthetics and specs.

Portraits of Costume Owners at Home

For the past couple of years, photographer Klaus Pichler has been interested in the subject of costumes. The subject has traditions in many of the world's cultures, and some people spend great deals of time and money in order to obtain extremely elaborate outfits.

MagMod: A Solid and Simple Flash Modifier System That Uses Magnets, Not Velcro

A professional photographer since 2005, Spencer Boerup quickly learned that modularity and ease of use aren't very easily found in the world of flash modifiers. Sick of using "bulky, awkward, and cheap" modifiers that use velcro, straps, brackets and bands, Boerup decided to develop a new system that uses the power of magnetism. It's called MagMod, and has already generated quite a bit of buzz in the industry.

Neurocam is Like a Google Glass Camera That You Control with Brain Waves

Google is planning on rolling wearable camera glasses out to the general public in the near future, so we may soon be hearing utterances of "okay glass" all around us as owners snap photos with voice control. If using your voice as a shutter isn't your thing, you might want to start waiting for the Neurocam. It's a crazy iPhone-based camera system that uses your brain waves to snap photos!