July 2013

Minimalist Photos of Overcast Sunrises Over the Sea in Barcelona

Silence is Grey, that's the message behind architect and advertising creative Rodríguez Moranta's photo series of the same name. Consisting of the same photo, taken from the same place almost every day for two years at sunrise, the series is a study in solitude.

The Policy of Banning Only DSLRs from Concerts is Ridiculous

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are due on stage in 15 minutes and I walk up to the doorstaff ticket in hand. They tear the ticket and ask to look in the camera bag for deodorants and liquids. I'm not too sure why. This is the Trinity Centre in Bristol with a capacity of 650 and normally holds community events.

The doorman tuts and says “Interchangeable lens.” I'm a bit confused. “Tour manager has said no interchangeable lens cameras, sorry.” I returned to my car, out the equipment in the boot and went back to the gig.

Video: Photo Restoration and Colorization Demonstrated Through a Time-Lapse

Digital image editing technology -- culturally controversial uses aside -- has enabled us to do some pretty amazing things. In the past, we shared a video that showed how the Internet came together to restore a WWII veteran's Navy photo to its former glory.

This time, we get to see the process in action, as Redditor thehatersalad shows us the impressive restoration and colorization work he did on an old photo of user f2ISO100's grandmother -- time-lapse style.

Fujifilm Discontinues Neopan 400 B&W and Provia 400X Slide Film

Unfortunately, the news that a particular type of film is being discontinued is anything but surprising these days. And even though we haven't had reason to report any such news for a little while, we can once again cue "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen, this time in honor of Fujifilm's Neopan 400 B&W film and Provia 400X slide film.

Memories, Photographs, and the Human Brain

There has been a good deal written about the similarities of the camera to the eye as well as the computer to human memory. What I would like to do is clarify the uniqueness of the human brain from camera technology and at the same time show the similarities between brain function, photography and cognition.

Documentary: The Life and Work of Iconic Photographer William Klein

It's the weekend, which means we get a chance to share something inspirational with you that you might not otherwise have the time to sit down and enjoy in the middle of the week. This week's contender is an hour-long documentary, put together by the BBC One show Imagine..., about legendary photographer and filmmaker William Klein.

Shloosl Will Make a Copy of Your House Key Using Only a Couple of Photos

Photography has made inroads into all sorts of industries. For instance, the Snap Fashion app we shared a couple of weeks ago lets you take photos of clothes and then shows you where to buy them. But the most recent interesting application we've run across comes to us via a company named Shloosl, who will copy your house key for you using nothing more than a couple of smartphone photos.

How to Get Magazine Quality Skateboard Photos with a ‘Light Camera Setup’

Taking high-quality, magazine-worthy skateboarding photos doesn't have to involve you carting around tons of gear. Sure, it might be nice to have the lighting power, but as photographer Matt Price shows you in the How To video above, you can still get great results with only what'll fit in an average camera bag.

AirCam: A $50,000 Homebuilt Airplane Kit for Serious Aerial Photographers

When it comes to aerial photography, things are getting more and more complicated. Setting up a drone business in the US is getting to be a major headache in some states, and other options (e.g. paragliding) might just get you arrested if you fly over the wrong thing or take off from the wrong place.

AirCam is a solution, albeit an expensive one, that frees serious aerial photographers to do their thing -- and do it in style.

Video: Fashion Photography Veterans on Photographing from ‘the Pit’

Scott Schuman (aka. The Sartorialist) hit it big in fashion street photography. But not all fashion photographers work in a studio or on the street. Many have made many-year-long careers photographing from what is referred to as "the pit" at fashion shows.

The video above lets these photographers tell their story, as the Sartorialist asks them questions about the nuances of fashion photography from the pit, and the unwritten rules that newbies should take note of.

Photo Series Illustrates Crayon Colors by Using the Objects They’re Named After

Crayola Crayons -- the tools with which many a toddler has decorated many a refrigerator door -- all have interesting real-world names. Some strange colors like 'Flesh' have been understandably renamed. But many equally interesting colors have remained staples in the coloring world, and it's these colors that photographer Daniel Seung Lee and art director Dawn Kim set out to capture in their collaborative series Crayola Theory.

Images of the Hasselblad Stellar Compact Leaked, Official Announcement in 6 Days

At the end of last month, a couple of job listings on Hasselblad's website revealed that the company was working on two new compacts and a DSLR. Part of their partnership with Sony, the hope was that these upcoming models would do better than the Hasselblad Lunar, which fell flat once people discovered it was basically a rebranded Sony NEX-7 with a much larger price tag.

Well, images of the first of those three cameras have leaked, but it doesn't look like Hasselblad is breaking the mold. Dubbed the Hasselblad Stellar (in keeping with the space theme), the first of the two rumored compacts looks to be a Sony RX100 made with more exotic camera housing materials.

Who’s Your Dada?

Let me say this right at the outset. This is not another high and mighty rant against cell phone cameras, Instagram, "art" filters, Lightroom presets, etc. You’re not about to read another gripe about everything that photography has become in the twenty-first century, even though I was afraid that’s what it would sound like when I started writing this.

Behind the Scenes with Pro Skateboarder Turned Photographer Arto Saari

Arto Saari is one of professional skateboarding's legends, but Saari has another passion as well: photography. In the video above, Oakley takes us behind the scenes on Saari's first skateboarding trip where he was hired specifically to take photos of people doing gnarly tricks, instead of performing them himself.

Sony Patent Reveals Plan to Start Tagging Photos with Vital Signs

Have you ever looked back at a photo and wondered "what was my heart rate and blood pressure when I took this photo?" Yeah, neither have we. But on the off-chance that you have, a new Sony patent application might pique your interests.

The technology specified in the application intends to enable the company's cameras and mobile devices to tag your photos with vital sign information -- allowing you to not only ask those questions, but have them answered as well.

Officer Releases Jarring Tsarnaev Arrest Photos to Protest Rolling Stone Cover

In response to the highly controversial Rolling Stone cover of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev revealed earlier this week, tactical photographer Sgt. Sean Murphy of the Mass. Police Department released a set of haunting images showing what Boston Magazine is calling "the real face of terror."

The jarring images were taken during Tsarnaev's manhunt and arrest, and have resulted in Sgt. Murphy's being relieved of duty as he awaits a status hearing to determine his professional fate.

Viewfinder iOS App 1

Viewfinder App Helps You Organize, Find, and Share Photos on Your iPhone

Chances are that over time you've accumulated a good amount of photos on that iPhone of yours, and that makes it rather difficult to find that image from that one time your auntie fell in the swimming pool after one too many cocktails.

Using the metadata attached to each of those images, though, a relatively new app called Viewfinder aims to making organizing, finding and sharing your images, well, easier.

These Vintage Photos of Coastlines Were Created Using a Fishtank

Flip through photographer Michael Jackson's "A Child's Landscape" series, and you'll find what appear to be vintage photographs of rocky coastlines that were captured with some old photographic process over a century ago. The images are actually modern photographs captured quite recently in Jackson's studio using rocks in a fish tank.

DSLR Add-On Brings Features Like Lytro-Style Refocusing to Any Camera

Lytro may have made a splash when the company first burst onto the scene with its 'snap now, focus later' technology, but the competition has been growing steadily ever since. In addition to companies like Pelican gunning at the light-field market, a new SLR add-on created by researchers from Saarland University in Germany promises to bring Lytro-style refusing and much more to almost any camera.

212 Instagrammers Join Forces to Create Stop-Motion Car Video

Never underestimate the power of 212 Instagrammers. Now that might seem like a strange thing to say, but vehicle manufacturer Lexus quite literally put over 200 mobile-phone-toting-picture-takers on a lot with a 1,400-foot track and let them go to town on the 2014 Lexus IS F SPORT -- a vehicle we all would probably like to see sitting outside our front doors.

Amazing Close-Up Photo of a Waterspout Rising Into the Clouds

Check out this incredible photograph of a waterspout, a type of tornado that forms over a body of water. That's a huge column of condensation rising up from Tampa Bay into the clouds above. The photo was captured last Tuesday (July 9th, 2013) by 22-year-old Joey Mole in Tampa, Florida (here's a larger version).

Thou Shalt Not Steal: There’s a Plagiarism Epidemic in the Photography Industry

Thou shalt not steal.

It's one of the first things we learn as kids: don't take something that doesn't belong to you. And it's a hard lesson to learn, for as children, we feel the entire world belongs to us. I learned this lesson the hard way. No, I didn't shoplift...I stole little metal ashtrays from a Burger King in Panama City, Florida. I did it. I admit it.

Pitch drop camera

Slow-Speed Photography: Pitch Tar Drop Caught on Camera After 69-Year Wait

There doesn't seem to be any shortage of high-speed cameras out there, doing work to slow down footage of fast moving objects enough for us to study what's happening in that short, short time frame. But what about using a camera to capture what could potentially be the slowest moving substance of all time? Yep -- someone's doing it.

Engagement Photos in the Style of Parody Movie Posters

When planning their engagement photographs, photographer Joshua Watson and his then-fiancee Rachel wanted to announce their engagement and invite family and friends to their wedding in a creative way. Living in La Mirada, California, just 30 minutes away from Hollywood, the couple settled on the concept of movie posters.

Cross Section Photos of Golf Balls Reveal the Diverse Beauty Within

Photographer James Friedman doesn't play golf, but he had a collection of golf balls lying around. One day, he began to wonder what the guts of the golf balls look like, so he cut a ball open to take a peek at a core. Then he sliced open another, and another; after cutting open over twenty different types of golf balls, Friedman found a strange sort of beauty that he began to document through photographs. The resulting project is titled "Interior Design".

Cardiff Camera

Camera Used For Stargazing Helps Detect Common Form of Sight Loss

Here's yet another example of how technology used in space can help us earthlings in other ways. A partnership between scientists at Cardiff University and the UK Astronomy Technology Center has yielded a prototype device that can help detect Age-Related Macular Degeneration (otherwise known as AMD) -- a common form of sight loss -- using camera technology designed originally for use on space telescopes.