September 2013

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Newspaper Editor Says Posting a Photo to Facebook Makes it Public Domain

Normally, we wouldn't give much attention to the thoughts of an editor/publisher for a small community newspaper. But the response to photographer Kristen Pierson's notice of copyright infringement and invoice for payment is such a classic compendium of bad thinking on intellectual property that it would be a disservice not to share it ... just so you know what you're up against.

Faces of Facebook Image Shows All 1.2B+ FB Profile Pics Arranged Chronologically

Here's an interesting project that captures, in one fell swoop, just how many of us are connected through the social life suck network known as Facebook. Called Faces of Facebook, it's a website/webapp that compiles all 1.2 Billion+ Facebook users' profile pics into a single static-like image, in which each picture is a different colored pixel.

Magnum Photos Trying Paid Fan Club to Court Copyright Infringers

Prestigious agency Magnum Photos says it is about to roll out a paid membership system in hopes of turning illegal downloaders into paying customers. The move comes a little more than a year after the agency did away with watermarks on its main site, reasoning that they did little to discourage determined downloaders.

Nikon Files Patent for an Interchangeable Sensor Camera

The big camera companies get criticized fairly often for failing to innovate, but Nikon at least has been giving us a lot to write about recently in the patent department. Case in point: the Japanese company has just filed a patent for a camera that will allow you to swap out, not lenses, but sensors.

Twitter Revamps Embedded Tweets, Puts Pictures Front and Center

With Google+ constantly working on making things better for photographers -- most recently by incorporating better RAW-to-JPEG conversion -- the other social networks are trying to do their part to entice the photo community as well. For Twitter, that means revamping embedded tweets so that photos are more prominent.

Rumble and Sway: An Epic New York City Time-Lapse ‘Mixtape’

It wouldn't be the weekend without a little bit of time-lapse inspiration. So as you're getting ready to enjoy another Sunday packed with football and fun, check out this epic NYC time-lapse and hyperlapse compilation put together by the guys over at The Seventh Movement.

Olympus Still Dealing with a Plethora of Lawsuits in Wake of Accounting Scandal

Some would say that the Olympus accounting scandal is officially over, insofar as jail sentences (or, rather, the lack thereof) have been doled out by the Japanese justice system. Even the company's stock has rebounded and is currently sitting about 25% higher than it was before the dive it took when the company's seedy business dealings came to light.

New Camera Tech Combines Ultra-Wide View with Fine Detail Capture

Researchers at the University of California-San Diego are fine-tuning some new tiny camera technology that could dramatically boost the detail and field of view of smartphone cameras. Joseph Ford, a professor in the university's Jacob School of Engineering, describes the system in a paper to be presented next week at the Optical Society of America's annual meeting.

Rumor: Panasonic to Release the World’s Smallest ILC in October with the GM1

So far, the title of world's smallest interchangeable lens camera fell (for the most part) to the cameras in the Pentax Q-series -- starting with the Q, then the Q10 and finally the most recent Q7. But that title won't be held by Pentax (or is it RICOH?) for much longer. If rumors are to be believed, October will see the release of the Panasonic GM1, which will claim the title for itself.

Tour CERN and the Large Hadron Collider with Google Street View

Few people without PhDs ever set foot inside CERN's (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) lab in Geneva, Switzerland, home of the Large Hadron Collider. And although we have had the opportunity to share some stunning pics of the world's largest particle accelerator before, Google is one-upping us (go figure) by letting you take a virtual stroll with Street View.

Google+ Unveils Improved RAW-to-JPEG Conversion, Supports Over 70 Cameras

It's hardly news that Google+ is doing its damnedest to secure itself as the social network of choice for the photographic community. And the network's ability to handle full-size RAW uploads, in addition to the easy-to-manage system and powerful new in-browser editing tools, in many ways already makes it a shoo-in for that title.

Iconic Photos Re-Created Using Play-Doh

When Eleanor Macnair made her first Play-Doh re-creation of a famous photo, she had no idea how big her little project would hit it. But only a little over a month after launching a Tumblr to display her work, she's gotten more publicity than she could have expected.

Getty Critics: Poking Fun at Flawed Stock Photography

Art directors Andrew MacPhee and Bart Batchelor are intimately familiar with Getty Images' massive stock photo library. Over the course of their careers, they've had to dig through tens of thousands of photos to find ones that would do for whatever campaign they were working on.

The Monopoly Properties Photographed in Real Life

Did you know that all of the properties in the Monopoly board game, from Baltic to Boardwalk, were named after real streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey? The names have been used since the 1930s, and a recent fit of curiosity mixed with nostalgia sent Nick Carr of Scouting NY out into the world to photograph these properties in real life.

When Being a Good Photographer Isn’t Enough

I've met a lot of bitter photographers over the years, especially as high-end cameras have become cheaper and more accessible. They complain that Photographer A gets more work than Photographer B even though Photographer B's work is clearly better; or that Photographer C doesn't get any work even though their work is the best of the three (Side Note: often times the photographer complaining IS Photographer C).

Stunning Skydiving Photo Complete with Rocket Launch in the Background

On June 7th, 2007, a Delta II rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California, carrying with it the Italian Thales Alenia-Space COSMO-SkyMed Satellite. And while the rocket was careening towards space, Staff Sgt. Eric Thompson (who was moving in the decidedly opposite direction) managed to snap this amazing photo.

Taking Large Format Portraits of Marines in Afghanistan

This year I was presented with the unexpected opportunity to take a short trip to Afghanistan, and was able to take my camera gear with me. I had wanted to shoot portraits of deployed Marines being, well ... themselves for quite some time now.

Why Didn’t People Smile in Old Photos?

Ever wonder why people in old paintings and photographs generally don't have smiles on their faces? We explored this subject a little back in November 2012, and found that reasons may have included technical limitations, oral hygiene, and the seriousness of formal occasions.

Photography’s Old White Guy Problem

Photographer Daniel Shea recently penned an op/ed on sexism in editorial photography that generated an important discussion about women in photography. It is a topic that I've thought about for a while now, especially as it relates to the diversity (or lack thereof) of the photographers who are most often promoted by the industry at large, whether by the photo media or the companies that produce the equipment and gear that we all use.