Episode 172 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Canon Explorer of Light, David Bergman (not subject of title story)
Photographing abandoned spaces has exploded in popularity in recent years. For photographer Karen Jerzyk, however, finding those spaces is only the first step. She transforms each one into what she describes as a "dark fairy tale" scene.
We just had a beautiful Aurora Australis hit New Zealand recently. I was fortunate enough to catch a quiet spot to myself where I could take in the atmosphere and shoot a few images.
Two years ago there were rumors floating around that the Meyer-Optik-Görlitz Nocturnus 50mm f/0.95 was just a very expensive rebadge of the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 that was supposedly assembled in Germany and therefore priced higher around $2,000+.
Street photography is a huge passion for us as well as essential development training for our wedding work. Each year we make multiple short excursions to cities across the world to see what we can find on the streets and one big, extended trip to give us a chance to really try and find the essence and soul of a particular city, country or culture.
What if Disney's famous princesses lived in our modern day world instead of in theirs? That's what photographer Qingjian Meng explores in his latest photo project, titled "Modern Princess."
Acer has announced a new display geared toward photographer and other creatives. The ProDesigner PE320QK is a 31.5-inch, 4K LED display that helps you see high-resolution photos in detail.
Here's a beautiful use of a camera drone: freelance cameraman Jack Johnston created this video showing landscapes in Japan. As the drone flies over each one, cherry blossoms suddenly fade into view.
Well-known photographer and photo industry figure Sal Cincotta is finding himself at the center of a heated online debate after a number of his photos were selected as winners of the ShutterFest photo conference's Image Competition. Cincotta is the owner of ShutterFest.
Want an unusual digital camera that you can put together yourself? Check out CROZ, a do-it-yourself camera that features a transparent case that allows you to see all the internal components.
Venus Optics has just officially announced its new Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT, a lens that we first got a glimpse at leading up to Photokina 2016. It's the world's widest rectilinear f/2 lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras.
On the second day of an amazing photography expo and convention, I was sharing lunch with a new friend and chatting about our upcoming photo shoot. Suddenly, we were interrupted with an onslaught of “oh baby”, “that’s it”, “you got it, baby girl”, “give me that pout”, and the most awesome of them all: “I know you're only 18 and moody, but I need you to pop! I need you to shine! Shine for me, baby!”
Celebrity Khloé Kardashian has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over a photo of herself she posted to Instagram. She's being accused of removing copyright info found on the image and sharing it to her millions of followers without permission.
The visual nature of the Internet makes it the ideal format for getting a photography portfolio in front of a wide audience. The problem that many photographers face, though, is finding a template that is eye-catching and easy to work with.
Here's a pair of shoes you might find interesting if you're a photographer, and particularly a Nikon shooter. The online store Zen Photo is selling "Nikon Patent Sheet Shoes." The design on the sneakers is an illustration from a vintage Nikon camera patent.
Aurora photographers have been buzzing in recent days about a newly spotted phenomenon in the sky. It's a purple ribbon of light that differs in appearance from standard aurora. After being confirmed as a new phenomenon, it was given a new name: "Steve."
Nestled within the Seto Inland Sea in Japan sits the island of Naoshima, population 3,583. The island would be otherwise unknown to outsiders except that in the mid 80s, publisher Testuhiko Fukutake and Naoshima mayor Chikatsugu Miyake dreamed up an idea of making the island a cultural center.
Plenty of photographers these days try their hands at making their own cameras, but Swedish photographer, inventor, and camera maker Mats Wernersson recently did something a little more unusual: he made his own 90mm f/2.8 lens from scratch.
Roger Ballen is well-known fine art photographer who has been creating exciting imagery for over 50 years. He has been widely exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world.
Want to see one of the rarest Canon lenses in existence? Check out the Canon 300mm f/1.8. It's an extremely huge and heavy lens, and so few exist that you'll probably never come across one in real life.
When I arrived in Hong Kong in 2009, I was not much of a photographer; my creative impulses were channelled largely toward drawing and graphic design. However, after living in the middle of this city, soaking in its dense web of streets and an atmosphere that is somehow thick with vibrancy, my view of photography started to evolve.
Image protection is a fiery issue among us photographers and there’s a good chance you sit in one of four camps...
Amazon has announced a new camera. Called the Echo Look, it's a hands-free camera that you can use to shoot self-portraits that are triggered by your voice.
Episode 171 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
Download MP3 - Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, email or RSS!
Featured: Photographer Kyle Wolfe
This simple step-by-step tutorial comes to us from Dustin Dolby of Workphlo, who's got a knack for shooting high-end product photography with minimal gear. This time, he's showing us how to quickly and easily capture a professional wine photograph using just two speedlights and a kit lens.
Belin-based Julian Schulze is clearly a master of minimalism, a feat made all the more eye-catching and impressive when you consider the cultural clutter of our times. If you've been looking for minimalist inspiration, look no further.
When Google software engineer Florian Kainz showed his friends on the Gcam team a nightscape he captured using his fancy Canon 1DX, they threw down the gauntlet. Take that same photo, they challenged him, but with a smartphone camera instead. He accepted, and succeeded.
What do the OnePlus 3T, iPhone 7+, Google Pixel XL, Samsung Galaxy S8, and LG G6 have in common? They're 5 of the best smartphones for photography. And in this blind camera comparison, you get to pick your favorite without any unconscious (or conscious) bias clouding your judgement.
Instagram isn't just growing, it's growing faster than ever. Earlier today, the photo sharing giant announced that it has added 100 million new users in the last four months alone, bringing the total Instagram user count to a whopping 700M.
Imagine you turn up to a portrait shoot and meet your model. You've scoped out the location, organized outfits and the weather is perfect. Only thing is, you pick up your camera and it isn't working... something's wrong with the lens.
When you watch nature documentaries like the BBC's famous Planet Earth series, do you take for granted that everything you're seeing is 100% real? We wouldn't blame you if you did, but as Simon Cade of DSLRguide explains in this video, you'd be wrong.
At a large publication like The New York Times, there are a number of photo editors—including those in charge of curating great photography on Instagram. To find out what these photo editors are looking for, PhotoShelter caught up with their Social Photo Editor Kerri MacDonald, who oversees the @nytimes and @nytarchives Instagram accounts.
DJI and Hasselblad just put a 100MP megapixel monster in the sky. By combining DJI's M600 Pro drone and Ronin-MX Gimbal with a Hasselblad H6D-100c medium format camera, they've created what they're calling, "the world’s first 100-Megapixel integrated aerial photography platform."
The best time to shoot portraits (or almost anything) is golden hour, but it's not the only time. Grab an ND filter, a strobe, and this tutorial by Portland-based photographer Levy Moroshan, and you can capture dramatic portraits in the mid-day sun.
Inspired by a list that I saw some time ago made by “gadget experts” (whatever those are) who chose the Leica M3 as the top gadget of all time and the original Game Boy as one of the top five, I decided to compare them.
If you've got some money to burn and you're looking for a versatile new tripod head, put Novoflex's ClassicBall heads on your list. The creatively designed ball heads are actually 'reversible,' giving you a ball head and a leveling panorama panning base all-in-one.
If you want a more immersive experience from your Mavic Pro or Phantom 4, DJI's got you covered. Almost a year after they first teased them, DJI has officially released the DJI Goggles: a pair of VR-like FPV goggles that let you control your drone camera with your head.
Got a minute? That's all you'll need. Take a break from infinite scrolling through Instagram and listen up, because South African photographer Sheldon Evans can teach you 5 fun homebrew camera hacks in the same amount of time it takes you to read this post.
Of all the cameras that sit in my camera bag, the Hasselblad X1D is the one camera that I never expected to purchase.
The groundbreaking new Sony a9 is one heck of a sports camera, and it's cheaper than both the Canon 1DX Mark II and the Nikon D5. That must mean it's financially smart to switch, right? Not so fast...
I recently had the amazing opportunity to work with some very interesting historical media. A retired NASA engineer friend contacted me having found a box of photographic films in his desk drawer. Turns out the box contained two partial rolls and several cut slides of 70mm film from the 1971 Apollo 15 mission! What a find!
Moscow-based photographer Olga Barantseva has built quite an oeuvre of mesmerizing imagery consisting of models posing with animals such as bears, wolves, raccoons, ostriches, owls, crocodiles, and snakes.
Here's a gorgeous nighttime timelapse shot from a different perspective: this "FlightLapse" was captured from the cockpit of a Swiss airliner during a flight from Zurich, Switzerland, to Sao Paulo, Brazil. It shows the world, glowing cities, and other airplanes passing below the Milky Way above.
Many (if not most) of us will spend at least some time photographing non-models—whether we're talking about a bride, a high school senior, or just a good friend or sibling. Here are 3 simple tips that will help you help them look their best.
As affordable drone cameras get better, one of the main issues confounding drone videographers is storage. When you're shooting at 4K that little microSD card fills up fast, which is why DJI teamed up with Seagate to create the Fly Drive: a portable 2TB hard drive complete with a microSD slot.
Have you ever wondered what World War II was like? Last month I got a little closer.
Print your photos. This little piece of advice goes far beyond the simple joy of holding a photograph in your hand. In fact, printing your photos will make you a better photographer and help you hold on to the fulfillment that comes from taking pictures. Here's why.
The aesthetic of minimalism is very hard to achieve in a world that is full of content and never ending clutter. As photographers, how do we capture a scene in a minimalistic style without blatantly copying artists like Michael Kenna or Hiroshi Sugimoto?
Due to costs and scarcity, the vast majority of photos captured during World War II were shot on black-and-white film. Some images were captured in color, however, and those rare shots reveal what scenes from the Second World War looked like to people in them.
Is there such a thing as the 'perfect' portrait and headshot angle? When you're dealing with something as subjective as photography, probably not. But that didn't stop Ed Gregory from YouTube channel Photos in Color from applying some 'science' to try and find that perfect shot.
