May 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.

Long Exposure Photos of Gunfire at Night (A Memorial Day Memory)

In April of 1970 I was near Phu Tai, Vietnam in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Admin Compound. We were pissed off at taking Viet Cong sniper fire from the mountain above us several nights in a row. The guy would stand up from behind a rock and blow off a clip from his AK47 on full-auto. The sniper was shooting at such a high angle that most of his rounds came through the sheet metal roofs of our hooches. We decided to use a "heavy" response the next time(s) the sniper hit us.

Birth Photographer Captures Parking Lot Delivery on Camera, Photos Go Viral

Professional birth photography is a growing niche, as more and more expectant mothers are hiring photographers to document the first first few moments of their new child's life. Miami, Florida-based photographer Emily Robinson offers birth photography services, and is accustomed to photographing deliveries as they happen in hospitals and homes.

Accidental Double Exposures on a “New” Roll of Already Exposed Film

Yesterday was really no different from any other day, except for the fact that I was developing a roll of 35mm film -- that usually doesn’t happen. My husband Evan was sitting outside the door of our “darkroom” (read: spare bathroom) as I was hanging my film to dry, when I exclaimed, “These aren’t my photos!” …

How The Internet Helped One Photog Find a Mystery Couple Using Only Old Slides

Harry and Edna Grossmann's stories ended in 1986 and 1983, respectively. A long-time married couple, they never had kids, and instead chose a life of travel and photography. But none of this was known to most of the world until 30 old boxes containing 1,100 slides of their travels made their way into Chicago-based photographer Jeff Phillips' hands.

Video: Photographers Attacked During Riots in Paris

A huge anti-gay-marriage protest in Paris turned violent yesterday, leading to hundreds of arrests and tens of injuries. Among those attacked by rioters were photojournalists documenting the scene. An attack on two photographers was captured in the video above. It's interesting to see that although nearby photographers come to the aid of their colleague, they first stop to snap some photos of the scuffle prior to doing so.

Video Breaks Down the Sheer Number of Photos Uploaded Every Minute

In a recent video, the people over at BuzzFeed decided to put numbers to all of the things that happen online every single minute. And in-between facts regarding how many Google Searches and Tweets go out every 60 seconds, they also included a few really interesting photo facts.

A Cinema Camera for $500: Magic Lantern Unlocks RAW Video in the Old Canon 50D

The Magic Lantern team deserve some sort of award ... or a ribbon ... or at the very least a hug. That's because, lately, they've been making ground-breaking RAW video announcements almost weekly. From the very beginning of the story -- when they discovered a RAW DNG output in live view -- to the breakthrough when they began pulling in that stream at 24fps and full 1080p HD, it's been nothing but good news out of the Magic Lantern camp.

Users Take to the Flickr Feedback Forum to Voice Displeasure with the Redesign

After Yahoo! announced and implemented its major Flickr redesign, the company invited users to give their feedback on Flickr's help forum. Of course, the company was probably hoping for constructive feedback -- as in questions and polite suggestions. What it got instead was a tidal wave of negative comments bashing the new layout and, in some cases, the staff themselves.

The Life and Work of Wayne Miller

Last Wednesday, at the age of 94, former Magnum president and photographer Wayne Miller passed away at his home in California. For decades, Miller had photographed the human condition at its best and worst, with a stated goal to "photograph mankind and explain man to man." …

New South Wales Government Criticized for Censoring Photojournalism Exhibition

The Reportage Festival in Sydney, Australia is a well-known Vivid exhibition that displays the powerful work of some of the world's best photojournalists and documentary photographers. But this year, the New South Wales government has gotten involved by telling the curators what they can and cannot display, stirring up many photographers and anti-censorship advocates in the process.

Undoctored Abstract Aerial Photos of the World’s Largest Beta Carotene Farm

Australian engineer turned photographer Steve Back has been working for several years to put together the completely un-edited images you see here. Although they may seem like abstract art you might find on a museum wall, they're actually aerial photos of Kalbarri, Western Australia's Hutt Lagoon, the world's largest Beta Carotene farm.

The Beauty of Space Photography: Why and How We Photograph the Void

Astrophotography, especially the type taken by $10 billion telescopes floating around in outer space, is both fascinating and beautiful. The photos offer so much, both from an artistic and scientific standpoint. Awe-inspiring glimpses into the great void are now widely available, making these unbelievably distant galaxies seem almost touchable.

Handmade Diorama Maps Created Using Thousands of Printed Photos

What you see above is a "map" of Paris created by collaging thousands of photographs shot in the city. It's just one of the amazing pieces in Japanese photographer Sohei Nishino's Diorama Map project. The series contains maps of many of the world's most famous cities, and all of them are photographed and collaged by hand.

Photoshop Chimeras: Fantasy Creatures Created by Splicing Photos

Want to have some fun as you're learning how to use Photoshop for image editing? Try creating a "Photoshop Chimera." In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous creature composed of three different animals: the lion, snake, and goat. The term "chimera" has since come to describe any imaginary creature that's the mashup of two or more real animals.

Photographer Captures Abstract Photos Showing Lava Up Close

Want to see what lava from a volcano looks like up close? Photographer Daniel Fox has spent a number of weeks this year photographing lava near Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii. Rather than photograph the lava in the context of its surroundings, he decided to get in close and create abstract images showing its intensity.

Thoughts on ‘Amateur’ and ‘Professional’ Photography

We all know by now how Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer unleashed the collective fury of photographers and the creative community during her presentation of the new Flickr with a few poorly chosen words. She has since clarified her statement, but the real issue is that the distinction between photographer and professional photographer is fuzzy at best in the minds of most people, particularly those that know little about the world of photography.

My One-Shot, Zero-Setup, Sure-Fire Guide to Photographing Wedding Cakes

This guide is what I do during wedding days, and I typically photograph the cake right when I enter the reception location. Overall, I take 4 shots of the cake: 1 vertical, 1 horizontal, 1 detail of topper, and 1 detail of the base or whatever is the most interesting on the cake.

Check Out Flickr’s New “Neo-Futuristic” Default Avatars

When Flickr launched its site-wide redesign this past week, one of the things that saw a quiet revamp was the default user avatar. The company hired Greek designer Charis Tsevis to upgrade the original default icon -- an expressionless gray and black square face -- to something more colorful.

Stocksy United: A Photographer’s Review

I recently began contributing to Stocksy United (AKA Stocksy), the new(ish) stock photography agency that is headed up by Bruce Livingstone of iStockPhoto notoriety fame.

How I Photographed My Own Proposal

Hey everyone! I’m really excited to share a personal story with you all. This past weekend I asked my partner to marry me. After weeks of planning, the time had come to decide how I was going to capture the moment.

Samsung Working on Overlay Feature to Help Strangers Snap Better Shots of You

Asking a stranger to snap a photograph of you is a risky proposition. If the person has no concept of basic photography concepts and techniques, the resulting photographs may be completely different than what you had hoped for -- and you're too embarrassed to ask for another photo (so you wait for that person to leave and for a new one to walk by).

Cool Music Video Made Up of 5,000 Stills is Equal Parts Creative and Creepy

It's always a good idea to get to know your neighbors. Case in point: photographer David Vincent Wolf recently found himself directing a mind-bending music video for the band Portugal. The Man, and all because his neighbor Rich Holtzman happens to be both the manager of the band and the father of his daughter's preschool classmate.

300-Megapixel Photographs Shot With Single Presses of the Shutter

Remember that 50-gigapixel camera being developed by Duke University scientists? Since we reported on the project last year, researchers have created a spin-off company called Aqueti for bringing the technology "into the world for everyone to experience." The camera they've developed will soon be making public tours, and we're starting to get a peek at what it's capable of.

Photo Collages That Show the 4 Seasons with 1 Million Photos Each

There's no shortage of interesting work coming from Shin Seung Back and Kim Yong Hun of Seoul, South Korea. Yesterday we posted an interesting body of work that employed the use of computer algorithms to detect facial structures in the clouds above. The duo has another project that caught our eye: one that shares a representation of the four seasons -- with a twist.

How to Photograph Kids… By a Former Poorly Photographed Kid

I am a former kid. I have lived through the trauma of bad photos taken of me by my father. I was not photogenic, and admittedly he had a cheap camera. He had a knack for catching the incredibly awkward moments of childhood in a way that now makes me cringe. If I could go back in time and give my 1970′s dad a few tips on how to take better pictures of me I would.

Time-Lapse of One of the World’s Largest Fireworks Competitions

Photographer Rob Whitworth has created a number of beautiful time-lapse videos that have received huge numbers of views online. This past April, Whitworth had the opportunity to take his skills to the city of Da Nang, Vietnam to document the Danang International Fireworks Competition 2013, one of the world's "biggest and best" firework contests.