August 2013

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Breathtaking Photo of Venus Crossing the Sun During Last Year’s Transit

Last June, something happened that won't be happening again until the year 2117: Venus eclipsed the Sun. Of course, seeing as Venus is both small and far away from us, the event wasn't an actual eclipse, but rather a "transit." The small dot that is Venus made its way across the Sun for the second time in 8 years and the last time for more than a century.

Texas’ Improper Photography Law Ruled Unconstitutional by Appeals Court

There's a legal battle currently raging in the state of Texas that concerns photography. More specifically, it concerns improper photography -- defined as photographing another person without their consent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of another person -- which was illegal until the state's Fourth Court of Appeals declared the statute prohibiting it unconstitutional.

Fear and Self-Loathing in Photography

About twelve months ago, PetaPixel very kindly published my article "The Vital Link Between Emotions and Creativity in Photography." Well, it's one year later and I’m back to tell you how I over came my "Photographers block" and share a few key lessons that I have learned along the way.

The Living Tin: Making Movies Using Only Collodion Tintype Photography

If you don't really think about it, it's easy to take video for granted. After all, you can pull out your cell phone and be recording video in a few seconds flat (even fewer if you have Pressy). But what if you were limited to older photographic techniques? No, we don't mean film, we mean wet plate photography.

Pressy: A Universal Android Button That Lets You Shoot & Share Pics in a Snap

There probably aren't a lot of people out there who would complain that taking pictures on their smartphone is inconvenient. Often, accessing the camera is a quick click or swipe away, and taking a picture another. Pressy takes it to the next level, however, by letting Android users do all of that and more with just a series of pre-programmed taps.

Google Business Photographer Explains How He Shoots Street View Indoors

It's obvious that Google is interested in mapping just about everything that is mappable via Street View, but even our future overlords they need some help on occasion. Although the company is willing to send employees with trekker backpacks to many an exotic location, when it comes to taking a virtual tour of local businesses, the search giant hires on "trusted photographers." …

Fuji is Using 3D Printing and Scanning to Create Near-Flawless Van Gogh Replicas

For those art enthusiasts who just don't have the millions of dollars required to purchase their own original Van Gogh painting, Fujifilm has a solution for you. After seven years of development, the company's "Reliefography" 3D scanning and printing technique is ready to create near-flawless replicas of great works of art, which will be available to the public for tens of thousands instead of tens of millions.

New Nikon Patent Shows On/Off Switch for Anti-Aliasing Filter

When Nikon released its D800E and D7100, people were surprised to learn that these models did without the optical low-pass filter (AKA the anti-aliasing filter). The resulting images from these cameras were sharper, but more easily fell pray to moire patterns in certain situations -- in other words, it was a tradeoff.

The Joys of Instant Photography

A few months ago, I was in Los Angeles and grabbed coffee with my friend Eric Steelberg. Eric's a talented cinematographer and mentioned a piece of gear he wanted me to check out. Expecting the latest digital gadget to appear out of his bag, I was surprised to see him pull out a large brick of a camera that I'd never seen before. It was a Polaroid 180 Land Camera from the 1970s.

Reflections: Portraits of the Elderly Seeing Their Younger Selves

When my grandmother was suddenly stricken by a massive stroke, my family had to make the heartbreaking decision to let her go. The doctor told us that even if she were to survive it, she wouldn’t be the person we knew. I remember thinking at that moment, 'if you could only know what kind of woman she is!' We all knew that it wouldn’t be fair to her to bring her back in a way that wouldn’t allow her to live her life her way.

Using Long-Exposure Photos for a Real-Time Video of the Milky Way

When we see video of the Milky Way, it's usually not video per se -- more often than not it's a time-lapse. That's because the exposure time needed to capture the Milky Way in most situations makes shooting a standard video a challenge. One production company decided that technology had advanced far enough to give it a try though, and what they came up with was quite cool.

The Kúla Deeper is an Add-On that Makes Any DSLR 3D-Capable

The 3D camera movement never really took off like some people hoped that it would, but that doesn't mean 3D doesn't have its merits. Many people still love the idea of capturing photos or videos in 3D, but they're not necessarily willing to buy/carry around a camera dedicated solely to that purpose.

10 Amazing Light Painting Photographers You Should Start Following Right Now

Light Painting goes as far back as Pablo Picasso, and since the true formation of the medium with pioneers such as Dean Chamberlain, Eric Staller and Vicki DaSilva, there has been a mass of people trying their hand at the world of light painting photography. The advent of the digital camera and the popularity of DSLRs has only made this number grow exponentially.

My Experience Photographing the Yakuza

After watching the movie "The Last Samurai" at a theater back home in Southern California (where I'm originally from), my curiosity for Japan inspired me to go and discover what it's like. I took a couple of vacation trips out there and met a lot of good people before I found a job that sponsored my working visa to officially let me move out to Japan in 2005.

NYPD Officer Faces Up To 7 Years in Jail for Lying About Photographer’s Arrest

One year ago, in August of 2012, New York Times photographer Robert Stolarik was arrested for allegedly using his camera flash to interfere with police during an arrest. However, after taking a look at the evidence, it's the police officer who is in hot water and may face up to 7 years in prison after being indicted on three felony counts and five misdemeanors.

Sony Officially Unveils the A3000 DSLR-Style E-Mount Camera

In addition to a few rumored specs that have been thrown around, we've actually seen pictures of the new Sony Alpha 3000 camera taken both in the studio and out in the real world. But tonight the rumored camera became an official announcement when Sony unveiled the DSLR-style E-Mount camera to the world.

Facebook Unveils Shared Photo Albums

Facebook today announced a new shared photo albums feature that allows multiple users to contribute photographs to a single album. This makes it easy to aggregate memories from events that were captured by different photographers. It also likely dampens the prospects of the countless collaborative album startups that are vying for a piece of the photo sharing pie.