Archives

Steve McCurry Retrospective Looks Back Over 40 Years of Iconic Work in 150 Portraits

There are few photographers out there as well-known as the iconic Steve McCurry. His Afghan Girl portrait earned him world-wide fame and recognition, but all of his work -- from the most iconic to the largely unseen -- speaks to his uncanny eye for capturing emotion and composing portraits that are second to none.

And now, four decades of the great man's work is being summed up in a 150-portrait retrospective called Oltre lo Sguardo, on display at the beautiful Villa Reale di Monza in Italy until April 6, 2015.

How to Fake a Before and After Photo: The Power of Lighting and Posture

As photographers, we're already intimately familiar with the importance of lighting and posture, but just how much of a difference can the proper pose and lighting make? This video by BuzzFeedBlue, titled "How to Fake a Before and After Photo," answers that question by showing the shift in real-time.

Mental Health . . . A Photographer’s Perspective (this isn’t going to be easy)

As photographers, writers, illustrators, actors, musicians... As creatives, we create the world that we exist in, we create the world that the rest of the world sees.

This is a gift, it is our gift and it is the soul of the saying that we “are gifted.” While many are brought up to view doctors and lawyers as having greater intellectual prowess, the truth of the matter is that it takes a VERY strong mind to visualize and then create our art.

But what happens when that mind turns against us?

Lytro Branches Out from Photography, Offers Unprecedented Access to Their Tech for $20K

The folks at Lytro have always believed that light field technology is the future, and not just for photography and storytelling. They believe that anything with a lens and a sensor can benefit from the technology, and with today's announcement of the Lytro Platform, they're opening up their proprietary tech to anybody who wants to partner up with them and expand light field into new markets.

Video: Astronauts Trap GoPro in a Floating Water Bubble… for Science of Course

If this doesn't put a big fat smile on your face, we're not sure what will. As part of an experiment on 'the phenomenon of water surface tension in microgravity,' the astronauts of Expedition 40 managed to trap a GoPro inside a floating sphere of water.

The video above is a behind the scenes look at that experience, which is about 10% science and 90% astronauts/science nerds having the time of their lives... as it should be.

Portrait Tutorial: How to Dial in the White of the Eyes in Photoshop

They say the devil's in the details, and one of the most crucial details of any portrait is the eyes. You want to make sure that the eyes in your portraits are always looking the absolute best without somehow coming off as fake or enhanced.

Here to help us do just that with a new tutorial that focuses, for once, on the white of the eyes, is retouching expert Michael Woloszynowicz.

DxOMark Disappointed with the 7D Mark II; Sensor Lags Behind Some MFT Cameras at Base ISO

If you're a Canon user and a hater of all things DxOMark, you might want to skip over this one and read this article on how well the 7D Mark II is weather sealed instead. If you're a Canon hater, read on! You'll love this!

Earlier today, the lab released their official review of the Canon 7D Mark II, and while there were a few bright spots, the tone of the review in general might be summed up by the word 'meh.'

Florida Rapper Falls Into Harbor During Photo Shoot

While out on a waterfront photo shoot, Florida-based hip-hop artist ‘Presto Flo’ had the blooper of a lifetime. As he was standing on the edge of a seawall, posting and having his photo taken, a strong gust of wind caught him off guard and sent him tumbling into the water below.

The Storyteller’s Kit: The Gear You Need to Tell Stories with Your Photography

Gear does not make the photographer, allow me to state that for the record before we dive in here. A talented artist can make an image with whatever falls into their palm, but for those of us who have the luxury of choice, be it the pocket sized Ricoh dangling from Moriyama’s wrist, or Crewdson’s cherrywood 8×10, a powerful image is about the framing of a moment, the machine it is seen through when chosen properly, serves to simplify and streamline the process.

MagMod Adds MagSphere and MagBounce Diffusers to Its Line of Magnetic Flash Modifiers

The ultra-popular line of magnetic flash modifiers MagMod burst onto the scene around this time last year with a product so simple and well received they raised six times their Kickstarter goal.

Now, a year later and a year wiser, they're expanding the brand with the MagSphere and MagBounce: in their words, "the easiest, softest, simplest, most versatile & efficient flash diffusers ever."

The Story Behind this Incredible Mountaintop Northern Lights Photograph

Conveying the grandeur of the Aurora Borealis is a serious challenge for a photographer. How are you supposed to capture the splendor of the event, give it a sense of scale, and somehow imbue that photograph with the emotion involved in actually witnessing the polar spirits for yourself?

There probably isn't a magical mixture of ingredients that will yield the ideal northern lights photograph, but the image above by photographer Max Rive is one of the closest we've seen, and he was kind enough to share the details behind it with us.

Immersive Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Time-Lapse Puts You in the Middle of the Action

The 9-day Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest hot air balloon event in the world, and as such it's also one of the most photographed events in the world. Because of this, Albuquerque native and photographer Knate Myers knew he had to capture something special if his time-lapse of the event was to stand out.

"A whole lot of work (and very little sleep)," later he had achieved his goal in spades, creating this Technicolor dream of a time-lapse that gives you every angle you might hope to have on the event.

Recreating the Incredibly Accurate CGI Black Hole in Interstellar with In-Camera Elements

The black hole in the highly-anticipated Christopher Nolan blockbuster Interstellar has already made headlines. Put together with some serious mathematical help from astrophysicist Kip Thorne, it was so accurate he's actually going to get a few academic papers out of it.

It is, however, 100% CGI and as such outside of our purview as photographers... until now. Just a few days away from the movie's debut, Shanks FX and PBS decided to recreate the effect using all in-camera elements they've shown you how to create before.

Candid Photographs of Circus Performers Captured Over the Course of a Decade

For nearly a decade of her life, photographer Norma I. Quintana devoted every summer to a group of people few ever get to capture through a candid lens: circus performers. Every year from 1999 to 2007, every chance she got, she would go spend a couple of days with the one-ring Circus Chimera capturing black-and-white photographs with her medium format camera.

The images she returned with show a side of the circus that most people never get to see, and make up the photo series and now photo book Circus: A Traveling Life.

Slightly Disturbing Photos of Teddy Bears Turned Inside-Out

Brooklyn-based photographer Kent Rogowski recently turned the nightmares of many a child into a reality when he decided to create a somewhat disturbing photo series titled Bears.

For it, he took teddy bears, turned them inside out, and re-stuffed them to shine a different light on the comfort objects many of us spent so much time cuddling with at a young age.

Scientists Dress Camera Rover as Baby Penguin to Get Up Close and Personal with Emperor Colony

Trying to record and gather data on very shy animals like emperor penguins is a big challenge for scientists. Getting close to them, even with remote-controlled rover cameras, often scares them or makes them act differently.

So, how do you solve this? If you're Yvon Le Maho and his team from the University of Strasbourg in France, you dress the rover up as a fuzzy penguin chick before sending it on its way.