June 2013

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Leica X Vario Type 107: Leica M Mini Final Name and Specs Leaked?

Perhaps Leica isn't spreading false rumors through a strange marketing campaign after all. Earlier this week, we wrote that Leica may have been leaking fake photos and specs of its upcoming Leica "M Mini" camera in order to make the real thing seem more attractive once it appears. That no longer appears to be the case.

Graveyard Girls: A Photo Shoot with a DIY Dam, Water, Milk, and Flour-Covered Girls

I've been living out of my car and driving all over the country to create new work. This past Sunday, I stopped near Nashville, Tennessee to see my friend and fellow photographer Marissa Bolen. While there, we collaborated to put together a photo shoot -- a shoot that involved a homemade dam, water, milk, and girls covered with flour.

How to Shoot Starry Photos of Fireflies

Firefly photographs are commonly shot using long exposures from a tripod. The proper exposure depends on the ratio of the fireflies' luminosity to that of the background. That ratio is constant if we assume (as is usually the case) that the background lighting doesn't change much over the course of a session. We usually would like a rather long exposure because we want to see lots of fireflies in the final image.

Yellow Duck Version of ‘Tank Man’ Photo Goes Viral Despite Chinese Censorship

Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square -- an event that has been immortalized in history by AP photographer Jeff Widener’s famous “Tank Man” photo we shared earlier today. What you may not know is that, in China, the government still does everything it can to keep the event shrouded in mystery, pretending it never happened.

Camera Noir: An Ultra-Simple, Minimalist B&W Camera App

Some might say that simplicity is a lost art these days. Where the digital realm is concerned, many of us judge a product based on how much it can do -- and camera apps are no exception. We want myriad filters, editing options, the ability to comment and like other people's photos in a social environment, and we want it all to be free.

The Story Behind the Iconic “Tank Man” Tiananmen Square Photo

When the Chinese military moved into Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989 to forcibly remove pro-democracy protestors, an anonymous man famously decided to place himself in front of the long column of Chinese tanks that were rumbling into the area. Photos and videos of the incident were immediately published and broadcast around the world. AP photographer Jeff Widener's "Tank Man" photo, shown above, is widely considered to be one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century.

Review: The Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 Feels Un-Zeiss-Like. Don’t Touit

If you're here to read about the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 for the Fujifilm X-mount, you've probably heard words like "great", "amazing", "superb", "lovely" and "well damped" used to describe this lens. It's wider then the Fuji 14mm and maybe, just maybe, as sharp as the Fuji 35mm. These too are all things others will say about this lens. The jury, however, is still out for this guy.

Paula Dean Salad Pinterest

Is This Salad Photograph the “Perfect” Pinterest Picture?

Is the photograph above the "perfect" Pinterest picture? It's a simple salad photo that originates from TV cooking show host Paula Deen's recipe website. Since being published, it has been repinned 300,000 times and liked 8,000 times on Pinterest. A Philidelphia-based analytics firm believes that it's the prototypical popular Pinterest photo.

Studio Sets Up a Slow-Mo Photo Booth at a Mixer, Gets Hilarious Results

Here's a little bit of entertainment and humor for your Tuesday afternoon. At a recent mixer they hosted for creative professionals in the ad industry, St. Louis, Missouri-based Bruton Stroube Studios set up a slow motion photo booth and let the party-goers go at it. The above video is a compilation of some of the coolest shots.

I Don’t Use Lighting Equipment Because I Care About You

I was on little road trip recently, when the need for BBQ became so overwhelming that I had to stop at the first restaurant I could find. It happens sometimes. I'm not proud of it, but when Pork speaks, I listen. Luckily, there was an adorable little BBQ place in the next town. A tiny little mom-and-pop joint, which in my opinion, are always the best.

Photographer Mark Cohen and the Birth of Invasive Street Photography

Many photographers get nervous when the talk turns to street photography. There are step-by-step plans laid out for those who want to get over their fear of street photography, and entire articles dedicated to using telephoto lenses when taking candid street shots so you're less likely to invade someone's personal space even as you're photographing it.

5 Unique Ways to Use Your GoPro

The advent of the GoPro has brought about a real surge in adventure and sports photography/videos. Suddenly amateurs have been able to capture some of their pro-level tricks and treks and share them with their friends and the Internet.

How Not to Capture a Ship Launch

If you ever get a chance to photograph or film the launching of a virgin ship hitting the water for the first time, make sure you stay at a safe distance. The short 18-second-video above shows what can happen if you bring your camera a little too close to the action.

Swift Galaxy Pictures 160 Megapixel

NASA Constructs 160-Megapixel Mosaic of Neighboring Galaxies

High-resolution photography is seemingly where it's at in today's day and age. NASA knows this, and as such, astrophysicists at both the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland and Pennsylvania State University have stitched together a remarkable 160-megapixel UV image of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds -- our two closest neighboring galaxies (less than 200,000 light years away).

BTS: Shooting James Cameron in a Water Tank for the Cover of National Geographic

The June cover of National Geographic features a photo of explorer and director James Cameron comfortably posing underwater in front of what looks to be his submarine. Obviously a composite (and a bit of a deviation from Nat Geo's typical style) photographer Marco Grob uses the above behind the scenes video to explain both the how and the why behind this awesome photo shoot.

Do Software Filters Beat Glass Filters?

I was cleaning out my gear drawer recently when I came across a couple of holders for Cokin filters. The filters had long since been sent to an eBay afterlife, but tossing the cases started me thinking, mainly about how I hadn't missed the things a bit.

Chicago Sun-Times Photographers React and Respond to Being Laid Off

When the Chicago Sun-Times unexpectedly laid off its entire team of photojournalists last week, Al Podgorski was one of the photographers hearing the bad news at the meeting. Having worked for the paper since 1984, Podgorski's image-making instincts kicked in, and he shot the photograph above showing his colleagues learning that they were being laid off.

Review: Canon’s 200-400mm f/4L IS 1.4x Stretches Focal Length and Wallets

If camera manufacturers were high school boys, building super telephoto zooms would be their equivalent of a pissing contest to see who can shoot the farthest or most accurately. Sports photographers would arrive at the stadium packing the biggest lens to win bragging rights, acting like Arnold Schwarzenegger slinging his Gatling gun in Terminator. But Canon’s super telephoto zoom, the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, is getting long in the tooth, and it’s time to say, “hasta la vista, …

Eye-Fi Mobi Beams Photos from Camera to Phone or Tablet Instantly

Eye-Fi has offered the ability to wirelessly transmits photos from a camera to another device for quite a while now, but there was a downside: you were required to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot to do so (with the exception of the Eye-Fi X2). This presented a challenge to photographers shooting on location where a Wi-Fi hotspot may not have been readily available.

The Past and the Process: Filtered Photos in the Timeline of Photography

I was a kid in the early 90s and my brother would often drive me around. One day, on the radio, a song came on by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. My brother turned to me and asked, “Can you believe how popular this song is?” I didn’t understand what he was asking. “I like this song,” I said. “Yeah fine, but it sounds like it’s from the 40’s.” This was one of the first times in my life that I had become aware of time.