Sony is making a lot of their new 100mm f/2.8 GM lens with its Smooth Trans Focus technology. But what exactly is this so-called STF, how does it work, and why does it produce smoother bokeh? This short video explains all.
Film is not dead. In fact, it's a growth industry. No, we're not talking Tech or Medical type growth, but there is a clear and obvious resurgence of interest in film photography, and companies like ADOX are reacting to it by expanding and building new factories.
If you want sharp black and white images with fine grain, then you've come to the right place!
You can literally see the rise of the photograph in this fascinating short video that compiles every single front page the New York Times has published from 1852 until the present day.
Developing your own 35mm or 120 film at home almost always requires a darkroom, but LAB-BOX wants to change all that. The new 'multi-format daylight-loading film tank' lets you develop your own film anywhere, even in bright sunlight if you'd like. No darkroom required.
When Sigma calls their new Contemporary 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM a "light bazooka," we're not sure which definition of "light" they're using. But given the lens' f/5 max aperture and ultra-light construction, we're going to guess they mean light as in lightweight.
They're official! Arriving right on time, given this weekend's massive photo leak, Sigma has revealed their newest trio of full-frame Art lenses for Canon, Nikon, and Sigma bodies: the long-awaited 24-70mm f/2.8, the 14mm f/1.8, and the 135mm f/1.8.
'Ultra-wide angle' and 'minimal distortion' are not terms you typically see together. But that's what lens manufacturer Irix is claiming with their new ultra-wide 11mm f/4 rectilinear lens for full-frame Canon, Nikon, and Pentax DSLRs.
Most still shooters use a ball head mount on their tripod, but photographer Hudson Henry wants you to reconsider. As he explains in the video above, using a fluid head built primarily for videographers will give you a lot more versatility.
Light painting photographer Bernhard Rauscher, better known by his pseudonym lumenman, does all kinds of interesting things with light. But one of his simplest experiments is also one of his most captivating. He calls them 'Light Planets.'
When you look at the work of a professional, award-winning beauty photographer like Zoë Noble, it just has that something extra. If you're wondering what that "something" is, this tutorial Noble created reveals one of the most important ingredients: color grading.
It's probably nowhere near the top of your photo gear wish list, but one of the "coolest" and most "in-demand" cameras in the world is finally available to purchase online: Snapchat's wearable Spectacles.
If you appreciate visual art and aesthetics—and, if you're reading PetaPixel, chances are good that you do—then you absolutely must watch the new Netflix original docu-series "Abstract: The Art of Design."
Yongnuo has officially launched their much-anticipated budget portrait lens: the 85mm f/1.8 Canon clone that you could already find floating around eBay last week.
Sigma's Art line is about to get even better. Photos of four new Sigma lenses have leaked ahead of the CP+ trade show on Thursday: one Contemporary series lens, and three Art lenses that we have a feeling photographers will be tripping over themselves to buy.
Episode 152 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Photographer and digital artist, Nemanja Sekulic
Fine art photographer Nicky Hamilton just completed an impressive photo series titled "The Lonely Man." Each photo in the project took him an average of 3 months to sketch, build, light, and shoot.
Fashion model Kendall Jenner was a guest on The Tonight Show this week, and one of the subjects she discussed with host Jimmy Fallon was her love of photography and recent cover photos she shot for Love Magazine. You can watch the 3.5-minute segment above.
I am one of the lucky few to have grown up with Leica. It is weird to critically think about the irrational purchase of such an expensive camera as new digital models are released, but if you grew up with a Leica in your life it is very hard to let go of the brand.
UK-based photographer Joe Giacomet has published a new set of portraits based on one of the world's most popular paintings. The photos parody the iconic "Chinese Girl" painting (also referred to as "The Green Lady"), created back in 1952 by Vladimir Tretchikoff.
Want to learn how to blend 3 bracketed exposures of the same scene to create a single photo with greater dynamic range? Here's a great 17-minute video tutorial by travel photographer and educator Jimmy McIntyre on how to do so in Photoshop CC.
As I write this post, I have just finished slogging through a tedious and time consuming photo edit that could have been 100% avoided. Here's the story of what happened.
After Bill Gates sold Corbis Images to Visual China Group (VCG) back in January 2016, the citizen journalism photo agency Demotix (which Corbis bought in 2012) suddenly went dark. Now, after over a year has passed since the Corbis sale, some Demotix contributors have finally received an email from VCG... with few happy answers.
The Leica M Monochrom is special in the Leica lineup due to the fact that it lacks a color filter, which improves image quality and restricts the camera to shooting black and white. If you'd like a monochrome-only camera but don't want to shell out $7,450 for the latest Leica M Monochrom, there are now converted Fujifilm cameras for a cheaper alternative.
For his latest project, titled "Reflection of Me," photographer Isaac Alvarez shot portraits of dogs and their owners, and then combined the dog heads with the owner bodies.
Need to add some fake blood to your photo shoot? Instead of going the digital route, you can easily whip up some realistic fake blood using recipes developed for Hollywood movies. The 2-minute video above is a quick look at some of the fake blood recipes that were used over the past decades.
We now know which cameras top photojournalists around the world are using these days, but what are they saying about the state of their industry? A newly published study uses responses from nearly 2,000 photographers to reveal the current condition of the photojournalism landscape.
If you're new to film photography, chances are that you'll get into shooting black and white sooner or later because you have been inspired by the masterpieces of old masters. But before you become the next Henri Cartier-Bresson or Sebastião Salgado, there are a few introductory things you should know.
Comedian John Crist made this humorous 3-minute video poking fun of the "The Millennial Marriage Proposal," in which a girlfriend being proposed to (played by Megan Batoon) is too focused on the resulting photos and videos to enjoy the moment.
I came across dichroic film years ago while researching materials for an art lighting business, Lightlink Lighting. The color changing properties of this material was so inspiring I ended up creating new lighting designs based on it.
Russian model Viktoria Odintsova is being harshly criticized online for a photo shoot she did that involved handling by one arm from the edge of a 1,000-foot-tall skyscraper in Dubai... with apparently no permission and no safety equipment.
These days there's a lot of talk about "fake news" on the Internet, and Facebook recently announced the introduction of fact checkers. Is that a good thing? I feel ambivalent about it, and I'll explain why.
It was late, dark and eerie as I drove through the Swiss alps in my tiny rental car. I could barely see the road and was stuck in between two semi trucks. I should have been fearing for my life, but all I could think about was how excited my 3-year-old daughter, Nellee, would be after seeing what I was creating for her.
The prestigious photojournalism contest World Press Photo announced its 2017 winners this week. A look at the data quietly published alongside the winning shots offers a glimpse into what cameras top photojournalists around the world are using these days.
On May 2nd, 2016, Melbourne, Australia-based independent photo lab Hillvale developed its 50,000th roll of film since opening its doors in 2013. To commemorate the milestone, the lab decided to crush its massive stockpile of empty canisters into cube pieces of art.
In September 2016, Vogue España featured Kendall Jenner in a ballet-themed photo shoot. The ballet community was up in arms over the “ballet appropriation” and disregard for the years of training that goes into being a ballet dancer. Jenner responded by explaining that “ I didn’t even know I was going to be a ballerina until I went into hair and makeup.”
Episode 151 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Advertising and fashion photographer, Tim Engle
In the annals of photography, few people have made the kind of impact that Oskar Barnack can claim. While working for Leitz, then a microscope manufacturer, the master entineer and photography enthusiast invented the original Ur-Leica: a camera that would change the world.
A quick trip to Morocco turned into another example of why panoramic travel photography is special. Using his Hasselblad Xpan for most of the shots, and cropping a few Canon shots for the rest, photographer Tom Kluyver created a mesmerizing short tour through Morocco and the Sahara desert.
You don't need a ton of space to create an impromptu "home studio" and capture some high quality portraits. As photographer Mark Wallace shows you in this informative tutorial, the corner of a tiny hotel room in Paris is plenty if you know what you're doing.
Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, and other of America's most famous historical icons are back, thanks to French photographer Etienne Clotis and his team. For his ongoing series ICONIC, Clotis transforms models into these famous personages for one epic portrait.
Visual effects artist Roy Perker is tired of people saying that VFX and digital compositing "looks fake." So he created this fun little video to show off his own compositing skill, and educate people on what it takes to seamlessly blend real footage and computer generated imagery on screen.
My collection of lenses grows each month; so much so that I recently had to accept the fact that I didn’t buy a big enough cabinet to store them all. In an attempt to free up some room I decided to conduct a culling.
The international Underwater Photographer of the Year photo contest has announced its winners for the 2017 edition. The winning photo (shown above) was by French photographer Gabriel Barathieu, who captured a "Dancing Octopus" in a lagoon on the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
Behind every perfect inspirational travel photo and candid "girls night out" shot is an amateur boyfriend Instagram photographer. He's always there, sometimes contorted into strange and awkward positions to get the shot, but rarely acknowledged... until now.
My name is Benoit Florençon, and I'm a photographer based in Paris. I was recently approached by Kodakit, an entity of Kodak, which promises photographers regular jobs with big companies in exchange for extremely low pay.
Using a modified DSLR, ultraviolet light bulbs, and a custom-built massive UV ring flash, Mathieu Stern teamed up with UV photographer Pierre-Louis Ferrer to capture some fascinating portraits and side-by-side video.
Canon has announced the latest camera in its EOS M mirrorless lineup: the EOS M6.
Canon just announced two new DSLRs for entry-level photographers: the 77D and the Rebel T7i. Both cameras are touted as having "stunning autofocus capabilities." There's also a new EF-S 18-55mm kit lens and Bluetooth remote.
Many a person can point to a particular moment that was pivotal in shifting the direction of their life. You might call it a “watershed moment.” For my father, photographer David Edmonson, his most recent watershed moment began in the spring of 2012.
