May 2014

Surprisingly Emotive Photographs Capture 100-Year-Old Human Bodies Up Close

Photographer Anastasia Pottinger's recent viral project began when she was offered up an interesting proposition for a photoshoot; one that was very different from what she normally photographs.

Usually, she shoots portraits of babies, young children and families. But this time, the Missouri native was offered the opportunity to photograph a 101-year old woman... nude.

Rumor: Canon 7D Mark II Announcement at Photokina, Prototypes at FIFA World Cup

Almost five years in the making, the followup to Canon's 7D still hasn't become more than a rumor, making many wonder if a Mark II (or any new APS-C flagship) will ever arrive. Well, according to Canon Watch, the answer to that question is yes. And the answer to the following question 'when?' is Photokina, with some potential appearances at this year's FIFA World Cup.

Tutorial Shows Off Effective and Efficient Method of Smoothing Out Skin in Portraits

When retouching skin on a subject, there’s a fine balance to strike between smoothing out a rough skin texture and keeping the skin looking natural. There are no shortage of ways to find this balance, but in the above tutorial Michael Woloszynowicz of Vibrant Shot shows us his method for achieving the desired results in an efficient and effective manner (something of a gift he has).

Free Chrome Extension Allows You to View RAW Images In-Browser

Update: The extension's creators have emailed us with some corrections, which have been applied throughout the post. See bottom for details.

RAW image files are wonderful in almost every regard. The problem is, viewing them requires software capable of reading the various formats RAW images take, none of which are easily accessible to the masses and all of which are tied to an application. But a new Google Chrome extension by FilePreviews.io is changing all that.

Rumor: Nikon’s D800/D800E Replacement is Coming in June

It looks like we have at least one major camera announcement to look forward to in June, courtesy of Nikon. According to Nikon Rumors, the followup to the popular D800/D800E DSLRs is set to arrive that month (NR is calling it the D800s), and there's even a spec list to throw at you in the meantime.

Photo Editor Photoshops Classic Paintings as If They Were in Today’s Magazines

As a the Senior Photo Editor at TakePart, Lauren Wade sees a lot of over-Photoshopped images of impossibly-proportioned models. And being as familiar as she is with the practice, she's surprised at the amount of retouching that people are ignorant of.

So she thought she'd shed some light on the matter by taking classic paintings and applying the same sort of Photoshopping we see done to fashion models today.

Video: Croatian High School Grads Push Photog Into Fountain, Destroy $18K in Gear

Reason number 14,526 why you should insure your gear: because a rowdy bunch of over-excited Croatian high school grads might just push you into a freezing fountain and destroy it all.

This might seem like an unlikely scenario (which is why it's so far down the list) but it actually happened earlier this month to one poor Croatian photojournalist, and the incident was caught on camera.

Google Hops on the Instagram Bandwagon

Instagram already boasts some high-profile names, but the community got a whole lot more impressive yesterday when none other than Google itself decided to finally joined up.

Video: How ‘Through the Glass’ Backboard Cameras are Set Up at the NCAA Final Four

Many spectacular sports photos are captured by cameras that are being triggered from a ways away, as this allows for angles that would otherwise be dangerous -- for both the photographer and the athletes -- or outright impossible to capture. But have you ever wondered how these remote cameras are set up?

Well, if you have (or even if you haven't and are now intrigued) then professional sports photographer Brett Wilhelm has some answers for you in the form of a BTS/tutorial video that was shot on-location at the 2014 NCAA Final Four.

Surfing Camera Turned Action Cam Empire GoPro Files for $100 Million IPO

The story of GoPro's humble beginnings is an interesting one, and if you've not heard it we definitely suggest you click on this link and watch the video there before going on. But today's news isn't about those humble beginnings. It's about the meteoric heights to which the company has climbed.

Announced at market close yesterday, the former one-man surf camera operation and current action cam king has officially filed for a $100 million IPO.

Sigma Tests Show the Foveon Sensor Can Out-Resolve Conventional 36MP Shooters

Sigma took a unique approach when it worked together with its sensor subsidiary, Foveon Inc., to build the newest version of Foveon sensor found in the DP Quattro camera.

Using technology that captures light simultaneously across three separate layers of sensors -- one each for blue, red, and green -- Sigma claims that, while smaller, the sensor is actually capable of out-resolving a 36-megapixel full frame sensor similar to those found in the Nikon D800E and Sony A7r.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Makes Public 400K High-Res Images of Its Collection

NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has officially made available 400,000 high-resolution digital images of the collections it currently has in its possession.

Hoping to keep up with other museums, the Metropolitan has created an initiative, called Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC), that will “provide access to images of art in its collection that the Museum believes to be in the public domain.”

500px Prime Changes the Licensing Game, Lets Clients Search by Gender Preference

500px already 'changed the game,' or at the very least raised the bar, when the photo sharing site launched the 500px Prime licensing marketplace. Initially said to offer a 30% cut to photographers, they actually listened to feedback and flipped that number on its head before the final release. Now, those 500px users who want to license their work through 500px Prime make a 70% cut off the top.

But 500px is determined to keep shaking things up, which is why, today, they've decided to put some of the piles of social network data they have at their disposal to use and let clients search the service by gender preference. And this, they promise, is just the beginning.

North Korea Revealed in Photos Captured on Google Glass

While Google Glass user Kenny Zhu was in North Korea this past April, he took advantage of the small and comparatively inconspicuous size of the device on his head to snap what appear to be the first images taken in North Korea using the wearable tech.

Anti-Theft Service Lenstag Can Now Help You Stop Gear AND Image Theft

We're big fans of anybody who helps to stop gear theft, and so naturally, we've always been big fans of the free service Lenstag. Initially unproven, the service made its first recovery a couple of months ago, and as its database of registered gear expands, it can only get better.

But Lenstag isn't just resting on its laurels and waiting for that moment to come, content with what it has achieved. No, the service is branching out with an awesome new feature that will help you keep track of unauthorized use of your images as well!