On May 14th, 2009 a little blog called PetaPixel made its debut. More than 10 years and nearly 27,000 published posts later (26,886 to be exact), as we wrap up our first full decade in existence, it seemed appropriate to look back at the ten most popular articles of the decade.
Filmmaker and YouTuber Dave Maze is ending the year on a humorous note. His music video "Gear Guy" is a spot on parody of Billie Eilish' song "Bad Guy," but for photographers and videographers who are all about owning (if not actually using) the best gear.
It’s called Bertha, and it will be the protagonist of the largest slide ever made. A gigantic camera born out of a desire to find out what photography can reveal when it's pushed beyond certain limits.
Using Lightroom to remove spots caused by sensor dust is a pretty straight forward process: just click "Visualize Spots" and use the Spot Removal tool, right? Well, photographer Anthony Morganti thinks that he's discovered a better way, and in the video above he shows you a "hidden" Lightroom trick that makes it easy to systematically search your images for sensor spots... or anything else for that matter.
Self-described "maker" and YouTuber Sean Hodgins of Idle Hands Development recently took on a DIY project that's way beyond most of us mere mortals: he built his very own, working, 1-Kilopixel image sensor. Take that Sony!
Nikon's got a big splash planned for CES. In a tweet that confirms the report we shared late last week, Nokishita is reporting that two new Nikon cameras and lenses have been added to the company's product list, with an official announcement expected on January 7th at CES.
Every camera made today is great. This is a statement I have stood behind for several years now because it's true. It's hard to go wrong with any camera made today because the technology gap has narrowed considerably. But even so, each year there are cameras that stand out from the rest and deserve praise.
My country is burning. In the summer of 2019–20, fires raged across Australia. In my home state of New South Wales, over 3,400,000 hectares have gone up in flames—an area larger than the entire country of Wales. The land, habitats, and lives lost continues to rise.
Here's an unusual sunrise that was captured a few days ago in Qatar. A solar eclipse was underway as the Sun began rising above the horizon, making the Sun look like it was split into two pieces (and like red horns rising into the sky).
National Geographic photographer Steve Winter recently visited a wildlife sanctuary for an assignment on captive tigers in the US. When he squatted down to photograph a tiliger (a mix of a lion and tiger), the 275-pound cat charged and jumped onto the photographer.
Forbidden Food is a new ongoing project by Slovenian photographer Ana Straze, who sticks pearl pins into fruits and vegetables for unusual still life photos.
If you're ever shooting a photography gig with strangers around, it's always important to make sure your pricey equipment is safe from harm and theft. Here's a 3-minute video that shows why: a thief was caught on camera stealing a camera and lens while the owner was busy shooting the wedding.
Episode 331 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Photographer, Adam Lerner
Photographer Joel Sartore, founder of the National Geographic project The Photo Ark, has suffered a devastating loss and is asking the public for help. He had a luggage stolen at the airport in Bali, and among the items lost were three hard drives containing three weeks of photos and videos Sartore shot of some of the world's rarest animals in Indonesia.
A news photographer on the scene covering a foggy highway crash yesterday had a crazy near-death experience when an 18-wheeler suddenly appeared, lost control, and overturned into the wrecked cars and law enforcement in its path. The photographer's camera managed to capture the entire incident.
Photographers Ian Norman and Diana Southern of Lonely Speck made this helpful video that will teach you the things you need to know to shoot the Milky Way in less than 5 minutes.
Here's one of the strangest looking rear lens caps we ever did see. The Japanese camera accessory company UN has created a cap that has a temperature and humidity meter built in to help you take perfect care of your glass.
It’s been ten years since Instagram launched and not long after, the selfie. It has taken the same amount of time for visual recognition to understand how to read our faces. If anything, 2019 has been the year where faces have taken center stage of visual tech, for good and bad…
Crate Stacks 2019 is the latest project by award-winning Munich-based aerial photographer Bernhard Lang who captured beautiful birds-eye views of thousands and thousands of beverage crates.
Less than a week after reports indicated that "Made for iPhone" certified strobes were on the way, we have our first official product. Made by Anker—better known for their battery packs—the cube-shaped LED flash is compatible with the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro models, and will be available to purchase next month for a reported $50.
If you know me, then you know I love a good one-liner. In fact, I put together what may be the best collection of portrait photography quotes in history. But even I can get sick of hearing the same old pearls of wisdom from the same old boomers. So I’ve upgraded 10 famous photography quotes so they make more sense in our modern photography world.
Well-known (and controversial) photographer and gear reviewer Ken Rockwell recently put together a fascinating video that is probably best described as a crash course in Nikon lens history. The video covers 100 years worth of Nikon's optical heritage, from the company's original rangefinder glass all the way to the latest lenses for the brand new Z-mount.
German camera bag company COSYSPEED has created a new product that's functional, stylish, and altruistic at the same time. The company has partnered with development organization Burundikids to create a new set of lens pouches that are helping to support young mothers in Burundi, the poorest country on Earth.
Trevor Jones of AstroBackyard recently got his hands on a niche camera that will be extremely interesting to astrophotographers... and just about nobody else: the Canon EOS Ra. In the video above, he takes it out for a test shoot to show off the two features that set this camera apart when it comes to serious night sky shooting.
I think the question of whether something is or is not "art" is a bit disingenuous, often used more as a tool for gatekeeping than true analysis or critique. There is no objective standard for what makes something enjoyable as a piece of art, whether that's a photograph, music, sculpture, or a blade of grass in a field.
Photographer and YouTuber Irene Rudnik was recently scrolling through Instagram when she stumbled across some beautiful blue-hour snow portraits by photographer @kateblc. Like any good artist, she decided to run with that inspiration, and in the video above, she takes us along behind the scenes to see how she captured a beautiful holiday-themed nighttime portrait using only a single flash.
Denmark-based landscape photographer Mads Peter Iversen recently put together a tips video for landscape photographers that has nothing to do with technique and everything to do perspective. It's called: 5 Important Reasons to do Local Landscape Photography.
We're smack in the middle of that end-of-the-year lull, but that won't be the case for very long. According to the latest reports, Nikon is planning to start 2020 with a bang by officially announcing a new camera and two new lenses at CES in January.
Most people can't afford to buy Apple's powerful Mac Pro or iMac Pro, but what if you could turn the company's much more affordable Mac Mini into a high-end workstation that can compete on that level? That's exactly what the ANIMAIONIC docking station promises to do, adding two GPUs, four SSDs, and an SD card reader to Apple's diminutive desktop computer.
There's a new mobile game taking off that's causing quite a stir, especially for parents concerned about their children's privacy. It's called Photo Roulette, and it's a group party game that selects random photos from players' camera rolls for everyone to see and guess about.
Composition doesn't make a candid, but a good composition can enhance it. It can amplify what you feel about the subject matter or invoke a reaction all on its own. Today I’m going to share with you 5 tips on composition to enhance your candids.
Can an introvert "make it" as a professional photographer? According to self-proclaimed introverts and successful shooters Manny Ortiz and Taylor Jackson, the answer is a resounding "yes," and in this video they explain how they each overcame the challenges of being an introvert in a highly interactive industry.
Sony semiconductor simply can't keep up with the soaring demand for its mobile image sensors. In a recent interview, head of Sony's semiconductor unit Terushi Shimizu revealed that the company is struggling to keep up, despite running its factories 24 hours per day over the holidays for the second year running.
Photographer and Lego enthusiast Ethan Brossard has created an incredibly accurate Lego version of the classic Nikon F3 SLR that just downright awesome. Made up of 549 pieces, the Lego F3 is exceptionally detailed, and you can help turn it into an official Lego product by supporting the project on the Lego Ideas website.
If you've ever noticed a little spray can icon while using Lightroom but have no idea what it's for, this 8.5-minute video by photographer Anthony Morganti was made for you.
My name is Ethan Moses, I make cameras at CAMERADACTYL. I 3D print film cameras and ship them all over the world. I want to share the newest camera I’ve made: the CAMERADACTYL Brancopan, a 35mm wide format camera that makes 20x 24x58mm frames in a 1:2.4 aspect ratio on standard 36 exposure 35mm film.
Annie Leibovitz became one of the world's preeminent portrait photographers by shooting bold portraits of famous people. But during one shoot with Queen Elizabeth a decade ago, Leibovitz took her creative direction a step too far and got a mild scolding from the Queen.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the capability of individuals to recognize their own, and other people's, emotions, to discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and to manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt environments or achieve one's goal(s).
There is a plethora of very talented landscape photographers out in the field these days, both hobbyists and professionals alike. The following is a collection of some of them, and may you enjoy their talent, craftsmanship, and dedication to the genre.
Chinese drone company (and Hasselblad owner) DJI may be bring their ambitions back down to Earth, literally. A newly discovered patent granted to the company shows a land-based vehicle with a camera and gimbal mounted on top—sort of like a pared down version of one of the Mars rovers.
Did you know that you can make your own ground glass focusing screen? In his latest video, wet plate photographer Markus Hofstätter shows you exactly how by making a ground glass screen for one of his large format cameras.
Apple's Made-for-iPhone (MFi) licensing program may soon allow third parties to create dedicated strobes for current and future iPhones. According to sources who spoke with 9to5Mac, MFi partners were briefed on "new specs" that will allow them to manufacture strobes that connect and sync over the Lightning port instead of Bluetooth.
In an entertaining holiday-themed video that's part educational and part "bah humbug," YouTuber Azriel Knight explains how Kodak managed to ruin Christmas for two decades of photographers. It's a fascinating story of schmaltzy ads, dead film formats, and a huge patent lawsuit that cost them almost $1 billion.
Photographers, beware: if you're ever contacted by a big brand on Instagram or any other social network with a request to "share your photo," make sure you read the fine print of any terms you're shown. If you don't, you could easily be agreeing to give away unlimited usage of your work.
Last month, we reached out to Razer to see if they would lend us a Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition for testing. With the 16-inch MacBook Pro just announced and on its way in as well, it seemed like the perfect time to see which top-of-the-line laptop would take the photo editing crown.
Canon has announced that a fix for the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens' focusing issues will be released "in the beginning of January 2020." The announcement comes one week after Canon confirmed to PetaPixel that the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM focusing issue reported here is, indeed, a widespread problem.
Flickr users received an email a few days ago asking for help to save Flickr by subscribing to the Flickr Pro service. Don MacAskill, the CEO of both SmugMug and Flickr, explained that the platform is still losing money and needs our help to keep it alive.
I’d like to share some thoughts here on being a musician before I get to the difference between seeing and looking as a photographer. Please bear with me. This will all make good sense.
Daniel Riley of the popular YouTube channel rctestflight has been building tiny autonomous boats, and recently he realized that the platform would be perfect for shooting photos for hyperlapse videos. In this 14-minute video, he explains how he made and tuned a boat for automated hyperlapses.
For those not from a certain area of Pennsylvania, you likely have never heard of Martin Tower or knew that it was imploded in a spectacular way earlier this year. But for those in the Lehigh Valley, the third-largest metropolitan area in PA, Martin Tower served as a symbol of many meanings, from the fall of one of the greatest steel companies in the world to a landmark whose relief stood out in stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.