Elaine Mayes has been a photographic artist for more than fifty years. She also taught photography at The University of Minnesota, Hampshire College (founding faculty), Pratt Institute, Bard College, ICP and retired as Professor Emerita from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts where she was Chair of the Photography and Imaging Department from 1996 until 2001.
It's not uncommon for cameras to look similar in this day and age. Even the Sony A7 and A7r, which haven't even been released yet, are being described as "OM-D-like" by rumor sites. But at what point does "similarity" cross the line to "infringement." …
It's hard to look at the spec sheet on the upcoming Sony A7 and A7r mirrorless compacts and not be impressed. With a 36 MP full-frame sensor (on the A7r), compact body, interchangeable lens system, and a price tag that undercuts most full-frame DSLR's by a good margin, some will be tempted to call it the perfect camera on its expected announcement date of October 16th.
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner's insane Red Bull Stratos skydive from the edge of space. As the whole world watched, Baumgartner plummeted towards Earth from a mind-blowing 128,100 feet, ultimately landing safely.
Model maker/collector and photographer Michael Paul Smith is a master at recreating incredibly accurate outdoor scenes using his extensive die-cast model car collection and forced perspective.
It's getting harder to impress these days when it comes to music videos, because there seems to be an abundance of uber-creative people putting together really interesting takes. A great example is this simple yet moving music video filmed entirely in the reflection of an eyeball.
The rules might say to keep your electronics stowed during takeoff and landing, but sometimes, you just can't help yourself. And even though we certainly don't condone breaking FAA regulations, the above photograph is a prime example of one of those times when not being able to help yourself pays off.
Another leak sprung over the weekend -- if, that is, you believe it's a leak and not a strategic move by the company. This one, however, doesn't have to do with an upcoming camera, but rather some new glass. It's the first official-looking photo of the rumored Sigma 24-105mm f/4 lens.
In another "sign-of-the-times" type of story out of Australia, the company Tennis Australia has been in hot water with photographers for over a month now over a classified ad posted on News.com.au. The ad called for photogs with "previous experience," "a strong knowledge of tennis," and their own equipment. The pay? There is none.
What does it take to get your time-lapse picked up as a Vimeo Staff Pick? Well, in photographer Alexandr Kravtsov's case: "a broken camera, lost flash drive, nearly 100 subway rides, 24,000 photos, endless hours of post-production and rendering and 480GB of material." But the time-lapse that came out on the other end probably made the whole experience worth it, and gives us a great foot on which to start the week.
In the past, we've reported on potential loopholes and issues with Snapchat's disappearing picture system that allowed adamant users to take screenshots without sending notifications or review snaps that had expired, but SnapHack is on a whole other level.
Over the weekend, we got our first official glimpse at what the Sony A7 full-frame E-Mount mirrorless camera looked like. But that uber-blurry image has been replaced by a few official-looking full-sized photos that truly show what we have to look forward to.
Without a makeup artist at your disposal, even a great portrait can be ruined by shiny skin. So if you're looking through the results of your most recent portrait shoot and there's a lot of shine there, here's a fantastic tutorial that shows you how to get rid of it without making the photo look like it's been doctored.
The image above, which was published by Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA, seems to show Kim Jung-un and some of his underlings touring the site of a children's hospital. However, like so many of the photos released by KCNA in the past, its authenticity is being called into question.
The world of time-lapse photography is dominated mostly by landscape and city photography, with the occasionally astronomical time-lapse thrown in. And even though we've seen some spectacular examples of all three of those (just click on the links), we appreciate that the video at the top is a bit of a departure from the norm.
Well, thanks to the US Government shutdown, space photography lovers who frequented site's like NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day are left looking for other outlets. Thankfully, there are plenty out there, not the least of which is the space imagery archive of the European Space Agency, or ESA.
We've shown off some interesting videos/photo series in the past that highlight different fictional skylines. For instance, you can see what it would look like if each of our solar system's planets replaced the Moon, or if the Earth had rings like Saturn.
New York-based photographer Leland Bobbé has put together a fascinating series of portraits that examine the idea of gender fluidity by showing New York City drag queens in half-drag. The series is called "Half-Drag ... A Different Kind of Beauty" and has earned Bobbé several awards and exhibitions, along with some well-deserved press attention.
Anamorphosis is a technique you've probably seen used many times, even if you never knew what it was called. It's the projection technique that sidewalk artists use to make it seem like their drawings are three-dimensional when viewed from a specific angle.
There are few photo conferences where the enthusiasm is palpable – where everyone from the doe-eyed to the veteran clamors for pearls of wisdom from an accomplished speaker roster. That’s the reality at WPPI where 13,000 wedding and portrait photographers descend upon Las Vegas in the early Spring. Unlike the run-of-the-mill photo conference, this one is filled with people looking to be inspired, and ready to carve a path in the business of photography. It is the conference of optimists and …
If you're a scientist looking to snap photographs of jaguars in the wild, how do you go about luring them to your camera? You might be thinking that you'll need to bring along some kind of meat, but there's a tool that'll fit much more neatly in your camera bag: cologne.
Gizmodo writer Attila Nagy was browsing through the Boston Public Library's Flickr stream recently when the above photograph by Leslie Jones caught his eye. He noticed that the scene in the background looked strangely similar to another, much more iconic, photo: "Night View, New York" by Berenice Abbott.
Photoshop's Content Aware Fill can do some pretty strange things to photographs when it doesn't generate the desired result, but have you ever seen the bizarre things it can do when applied to video? The video above is one example.
Patrick over at Fujirumors has published what appear to be the first leaked photos of an upcoming Fujifilm X-E2. Sent to him by an anonymous source, the photos suggest that the camera will have a frontside that's nearly identical to the X-E1.
Flickr's recent attempt at a major website redesign didn't go over very well with many of its users, so now the Yahoo-owned company is taking the feedback it received to try again. A help page on the Flickr website reveals that a new photo page is currently being rolled out across the service.
In my last article, I wrote about the fact that every copy of a given lens has some bit of sample variation. This affects lens reviews, whether lab-based or photography-based, because the copy they tested will be just a bit different from the copy you buy. I suggested, that if you want to get a feel for what the lens you purchase is likely to be like, you had best compare several different reviews. That should give you an idea of the variation that exists.
The Taj Mahal is a World Heritage Site, and as such, according to India’s Heritage Act, all commercial activity is banned on the premises. That didn't faze Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, however, who now faces charges that could lead to fines and jail time for shooting what seemed like an ad for footwear.
Students at a British university may have hit upon the basis for the next generation of image sensors -- a living module based on bio-engineered, light-sensitive bacteria.
Update: The footage has been taken down at the request of Jimmy Fallon's publicist.
"You should've seen it! I was that close to the dude's teeth!" No doubt there was some pretty excited talk going around a South African seal colony recently, after a young pup narrowly escaped a shark attack by balancing on the great white's nose.
"The Internet is riddled with watchful eyes," begins the description on the homepage of Cryptstagram, and the creators of the site intend to do something about it. Put together by folks at The Barbarian Group, Cryptstagram is an online tool that lets you use uploaded images to send secret, encrypted messages.
The world of camera lenses can be a bit daunting when you first start out, and so a videographer and photographer have joined forces to put together a fun (and funny) introduction to all the basic lens options, what they do, and what situations you might use them in.
Purposely distressing and destroying negatives was never a part of photographer Rohn Meijer's plans, but when he discovered a box of old negatives in his basement that had been exposed to 15 years worth of moisture damage, an idea took shape.
Red Bull has an appreciation for the potential of mixing photography with death-defying stunts. If you need an example, look no further than some of the Red Bull Illume projects we've covered in the past.
Since its spec sheet leaked on Monday, there's been plenty of buzz surrounding Pentax's newly-released K-3 APS-C DSLR. Many are particularly atwitter about the K-3's unique anti-aliasing system, which relies on a vibrating sensor to remove moire-effects. Because it's not filter-based, the effect can be turned off.
The standard Instagram clichés are so... well... cliché that they're an accepted part of our lives now. Photos of food and selfies are so much a part of our day-to-day existence that I'm only a little ashamed to say I did the former last night (birthday cake pic...) and the latter is now in the dictionary.
Aging isn't a topic our youth-obsessed culture takes to very well. Using everything from makeup to digital manipulation in Photoshop, many try to hold the signs of aging at bay for as long as possible.
Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky classifies the predominant theme of his work as "nature transformed through industry." And his fantastic series of aquatic aerial photographs, dubbed Water, perfectly exemplifies that.
Being a photographer can sometimes be a lonely prospect. Even photographers that often work with people as subjects or on crowded streets will have to put in countless hours alone, editing their work. This fact only makes it even more important for photographers to actively reach out and form communities, if not for the sake of their work then at least for the sake of their social lives and sanity.
If you've been wishing and hoping for Lytro-like 'take now, focus later" technology to appear in smartphones, it looks like a couple of different companies are planning on making that wish come true. Not only did Toshiba announce its own refocusing module just a couple of weeks ago, it seems OPPO will be putting similar tech into their future camera phones too.
Canon's 50mm lens lineup is getting crowded... at least that's what Canon seems to think. According to a fresh rumor, the company has plans to replace the current 50mm f/1.4 USM. But it won't be replaced by another f/1.4. Instead, Canon might do away with the lens altogether and release a high-end 50mm f/1.8 IS USM instead.
At times, wildlife photographers have to show an incredible amount of patience to get the perfect shot. Wild animals (much like humans, actually) rarely do exactly what you want them to, and when they do, you and your camera have to be prepared.
Getting shots of people in midair can be a source of fun and fascination, but making them requires either a fair investment in remote triggers or a surplus of time and luck.
There are all kids of systems for clamping a lens onto a phone, but few are as versatile as the Beastgrip, a Kickstarter project about halfway to delivery stage. Not only will the gadget work with just about any smartphone, it'll also adapt lenses and other accessories you may already have for your SLR.
I grew up in a sleepy New England colonial town turned commuter-suburb. The town's rich history as one of the first settled towns of the “new world” and later, a major stop on the Underground Railroad, makes it a verdant setting for historic homes and appreciators of historic rarities. George Washington once referred to my birthplace as "the village of pretty houses."
Believing the world cares what you had for lunch may still be a symptom of narcissism, but a recent study seems to indicate that it could at least be a useful form of narcissism.
Media outlets may need to start considering the possible psychological effects of difficult assignments on their photojournalists in the wake of an Australian photographer's claim of crippling post-traumatic stress.
We've heard a lot about the one-of-a-kind Jonathan Ive-designed Leica M as rumors turned to official word that the camera would be auctioned off at a (RED) auction in November, but until now, we had no clue what the thing actually looked like.
Those who loved the D600 (and why wouldn't you, it's a great camera) will have no reason to dislike the D610, but Nikon might not have given you enough reason to upgrade either. The new shooter, which was unveiled at midnight last night, is a marginal improvement on the D600 that adds just a few new or improved features.
The K-3 webpage leaked yesterday (and along with it much of the information we now have) but now we're done with leaks and rumors: Ricoh Imaging's Pentax K-3 is official. A beastly APS-C shooter with a stacked spec sheet, the camera is sure to please serious photographers.
