2015

You Can Use a CD to View the Color Spectrum of Your Light Sources

If you want to view the color spectrum of a light source in your studio, there's actually a super cheap and easy way to do so: an ordinary CD or DVD can do the trick. Simply allow the light to reflect from the surface of the disc into your eye -- it acts as a diffraction grating, allowing you to see the different color bands in the light.

Hands On with the New LumoPro LP180R Flash

LumoPro surprised the photographic community in 2013 with the release of the LP180 speedlight. This successor to the LP160 offers amazing performance for a relatively low price compared to competitors. With a guide number of 110, the LP180 is powerful enough to use outdoors for portraiture, and even automotive photography.

If the LP180 was a game changer for many people due to its accessibility and performance, LumoPro has outdone itself with the new LP180R.

Photographer Recreates Couple’s Wedding After the Hired Shooter Flaked

Matt and Heather Koehler got married in Michigan back on September 12th. Shortly before walking down the aisle, the couple was devastated to find that their wedding photographer was a no-show. The "professional" they had hired to document their special day was nowhere to be found, so the couple was forced to go through with the wedding without the official photos they had planned and paid for.

Humans of New York to Top NYTimes Bestseller List a Second Time

If you want to see an example of a photographer "killing it" in the Internet era, just look at Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York. In the short span of 5 years, Stanton's portraits and interviews of strangers have grown into a global phenomenon with tens of millions of faithful fans.

In addition to having 15+ million followers on Facebook and 4+ million on Instagram, Stanton will be the man behind two New York Times bestsellers after this weekend.

This $5,900 Workstation Lets You Post-Process Your Photos Lying Down

Sitting for long periods of time has been shown to be bad for your health, leading more and more people to adopt other positions for working at a computer. If you've always dreamed of being able to stand, sit, and lie down at the same workstation while post-processing mountains of photos, the new $5,900 Altwork Station is for you.

Cats in Hats: Costume Portraits for an Animal Rescue

Photographer Shaina Fishman and stylist Ryen Blaschke recently collaborated on a project to help rescue cats get adopted. The lighthearted series "Cats in Hats" features shelter cats and kittens wearing Halloween hats and accessories fashioned by Blaschke.

Shooting Flash Photos of Surfers Inside Barrel Waves

16-year-old photographer Leroy Bellet recently turned an idea he had into a series of epic surf photos that landed on the covers of international magazines. He followed behind surfers in giant barrel waves and photographed them in action with a Nikon DSLR and an external flash.

This is the First GoPro Camera Drone Video

Earlier this year, GoPro announced that it will be launching its own camera drone in the first half of 2016. While details of the quadcopter's specs, features, and design have been sparse, GoPro just published the teaser video above to show what the drone is capable of.

Surveillance Video Shows Dangerous Photo Incidents on Train Tracks

Network Rail published a warning this week about the dangers of taking photos on railroad tracks. The company, which operates most of the rail network in England, Scotland, and Wales, also released a surveillance video that shows multiple dangerous photo incidents at a rail crossing that happened on in one day.

8 Tips For Starting a Photography Business

I am often asked for advice by those starting out in the photography industry. And if there’s one thing I have no shortage of, it’s advice. So with that in mind, I present you with my 8 Tips for Starting a Photography Business.

Lightroom Slow? Try Setting a Huge Cache Size

Here's a quick tip: if your Lightroom's Develop module is a pain to work with because it's so slow, try increasing the Camera Raw cache size in the settings to a huge limit. As long as you have disk space to spare, you could see a major increase in speed.

Canon Reportedly Working on a Full-Frame Mirrorless EOS M Camera

Canon's sales and profits have been taking a bit hit from the emergence of smartphone and mirrorless cameras, and the company's EOS M line of mirrorless cameras hasn't done much to help.

The company will reportedly focus more on its mirrorless cameras in 2016, and now a new report says that there's a full-frame mirrorless camera on the way.

Hull Property Group Stole My Photo

The following is my account of the most infuriating, frustrating and insulting photo usage theft I’ve dealt with. After attempting to resolve it with letters, phone calls and lawyers, I’ve decided the most beneficial thing I can do is lay out my experience in a cautionary tale and let people know how this company feels about photography.

Canon Profits Down 21% as Mirrorless Cameras Cut Into DSLR Sales

Canon announced its quarterly earnings today, revealing that its operating profit for the quarter (~$665 million) has fallen 21% compared to last year and that total revenue fell by 4.5%. At the same time, Canon increased its full-year earnings estimate due to a drop in the value of the Japanese yen.

How I Shot Award-Winning Wildlife Photos in My Back Garden Safari

A little over a year ago, a friend stayed for the weekend and, one morning, spotted a fox in my garden. I didn't see it myself, so was a little skeptical initially, thinking it was probably a neighbor's cat. A couple of weeks later however, I finally spotted the fox too and grabbed a photo of it with my iPhone. That brief moment was the catalyst for a year-long project, and one that would ultimately see me winning awards in the two biggest wildlife photography competitions in the industry.

This Bob Dylan Album Photo Was Blurry Because the Photographer was Cold

In 1966, Bob Dylan released his 7th studio album, titled "Blonde on Blonde," which went double-platinum and contained some of Dylan's best-known songs. It's also known for it's unusual cover photo. It's a blurry portrait of Dylan, created by photographer Jerry Schatzberg in New York City's meat-packing district.

The blur was the result of camera shake and, despite what many people think, was unintentional -- the photo is blurry simply because Schatzberg was cold and shivering.

This is a 3D-Printed Pistol Grip for the Olympus Air

The Olympus Air camera is the commercial version of the Olympus Open Platform Camera (OPC), which people are making all kinds of hardware and software projects for.

A strange new one is the Open Platform Grip, a 3D printed gun-style grip that lets you point and shoot a "camera pistol" to take pictures.

Shooting an HIV Prevention Campaign to Save Others

I can’t remember when it happened, but there was a point in my career that I started to ask the question: "Who could my photography help?"

It wasn’t that I had made so much money that I didn’t need it. It was because the idea that someone else’s life was better because of what I did meant so much to me. Perhaps it is the progression that is a photographic career, but my portfolio seemed less important than my legacy.

PSA: Canon Selphy Printer Cartridges Contain Copies of Your Photos After Use

Canon's Selphy line of compact photo printers use cartridges that contain both paper and ink, allowing you to use your digital camera or smartphone like an instant camera while you're out and about. There's one thing you might not know about the cartridges, though: empty cartridges contain faint copies of the photos that were printed.

Opinion: Is Photoshop a Villain?

The photo above shows me without makeup. Look how purple and shiny I am SOOL (Straight Out of Laptop).

I am at my cabin sitting at my laptop. I just showered, dried my hair, threw on a sweater and sat down to write this article. You will notice that I worked to get those light flares over my head and behind it. If you didn’t notice that, I invite you to notice it now. Take that, JJ Abrams.

‘Prix’ is the First Short Film That Shows the Power of a QuantumFilm Sensor

Back in 2010, we reported that a California-based startup called InVisage was working on a new image sensor technology called QuantumFilm, which uses "quantum dots" to make sensors that are several times more sensitive to light than traditional sensors.

Now, 5 years later, the first short film shot with the technology has been released. You can see what the sensor can do in the 7.5-minute short above, titled "Prix."

Portraits of Cats Shaking Themselves Clean

Want to know how to capture a wacky portrait of your cat? Shoot a photo while they're shaking themselves clean (or dry). That's what photographer Carli Davidson did for her new project titled Shake Cats.

XCraft Raises $1.5M from Shark Tank for Its Next Gen Camera Drones

The drone company XCraft has successfully raised $1.5 million at a $6 million valuation after appearing on the ABC reality TV show Shark Tank. The two founders convinced all 5 "sharks" to invest in the company, which builds next generation camera drones that go beyond your standard quadcopter.

Photographers Get Swarmed by Football Team After Crazy Finish

Georgia Tech pulled off a crazy 22-16 win over the #9 ranked Florida State football team this past Saturday after a field goal attempt for the win was blocked and returned 78 yards for a touchdown with no time remaining.

A number of photographers found themselves in the end zone as the memorable play unfolded -- some got shots, while others got swarmed.

Sony Shows Off a New Ultra-Sensitive CMOS Sensor Called ‘STARVIS’

Sony just launched a new image sensor called the STARVIS that excels in capturing images in low-light environments. Designed for industrial applications -- surveillance cameras, for example -- the new backside-illuminated CMOS sensor boasts extremely high sensitivity that can capture usable images at night.

Sony Filed a Copyright Claim Against the Stock Video I Licensed to Them

For the past few years, people have been contending with more and more false copyright claims and ID matches on services such as YouTube. While these copyright claims often involve an audio match of copyrighted music, sometimes it is the visual content that is in question.

Whether it’s still photography or motion imagery, your visual content can be flagged, blocked, or removed due to a copyright dispute. If you have original content on YouTube, this could happen to you.

These Before and After Photos Show How Glaciers in the US Are Melting

Over the past several years, the U.S. Geological Survey has been shooting a "Repeat Photography" project in various locations to show how glacier ice has been retreating over the past century. Using photos from the late 1800s and early 1900s as references, photographers are rephotographing those same scenes to show how things have changed (and are changing).