If you're an active participant in the stock photography industry, you've likely heard of the big rumblings as of late. Earlier this month, bestselling microstock photographer Yuri Arcurs announced both a $1.2 million investment in Scoopshot (a crowdsourced photo app) and a new exclusivity agreement with Getty Images/iStockphoto.
Disappointed in the power of your smartphone's built-in flash when shooting at night? The iblazr wants to help you. It's the world's first "fully synchronized" external flash unit for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
Want to see some beautiful street photographs that make use of light and shadows? Look no further than the project "Man on Earth" by London-based photographer Rupert Vandervell. Each image in the series shows a single person's figure framed by the shadows and features of a big city.
About a week ago, the first images of Hasselblad's upcoming compact camera, the Stellar, leaked onto the Internet amongst rumors that it would essentially be a Sony RX100 with some very exotic housing materials and a much steeper price tag. Basically, people were thinking the RX100 would be to the Stellar what the NEX-7 was to the Lunar.
Even though a common problem these days is taking pictures we never end up printing or looking at ever again, a lot of photographers (and non-photographers for that matter) still have boxes of old prints sitting around the house or attic collecting dust.
Certainly there's ample artistic precedent for including a dead animal or two in a still-life. Old Master paintings are rife with images of freshly killed ducks, bunnies and fish awaiting a trip to the dinner table.
Earlier this month, we told you that Panasonic was planning to jump onto the retro-style bandwagon sometime in August with the release of its GX7 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera.
Pony Lott and Brett Seamans are a fashion and editorial photography duo currently stationed in New York City. Their edgy style captures the imagination with a vulgar elegance and hard sexual attitude. Often inspired by historical figures, classic art, and vintage cinema, they play on classical forms while adding their own lavish vision.
In the world of firefighting, a "hotshot" is a firefighter who specializes in containing forest fires before they reach inhabited areas. Gregg Boydston is one such "hotshot." Part of a 20-person crew that is available to travel all over the nation, he does one thing that most firefighters don't: he brings his iPhone along and uploads photos to Instagram.
You can spot-meter and bounce strobes all you want, but on-location portrait photography can still be a pain the butt. Unless you take your studio lighting rig with you.
Update: This giveaway is now over. The winner has been randomly selected and is announced below.
Having to ask someone to take your or your group's picture can be an awkward experience for everyone involved (including the photographer). And although there are apps that will re-insert the photographer digitally, an ingenious little addition to the tourist island of Enoshima takes a significantly more "analog" approach at fixing the problem.
If you follow the world of light-painting, you might recall photographer Patrick Rochon from the work he did with Red Bull Illume or his 24x360 collaboration with Eric Paré. His latest project is another solo act, this one a mix between light painting, dancing and martial arts.
In 2003, my first "Mastering Digital Printing" book came out. My goal was to create an in-depth reference to the new world of digital printing for photography and fine art. I had a sense that there was a need, especially by photographers, for good information about "this new way to print" images (digitally). I guess I was right because the book was an instant success; it was actually in the Top 5 on Amazon Books jockeying with John Grisham and Michael Crichton in sales ranks for a short while.
Firmware updates only become news in one of two situations: either they bring a feature so anticipated to the table that it garners headlines, or there's a problem. Unfortunately for Fuji's latest X-Pro1 firmware update, this time it's the latter.
Warning: This post contains somewhat inappropriate viral images of a well-known American talk show host. Reader discretion is advised. Also, please, please look the other way if you're only interested in reading serious articles.
Want to shoot with the oldest looking lens on the block? Lomography today announced that it has brought an old school lens back from the dead. It's the Petzval lens, originally introduced by optic inventor Joseph Petzval back in 1840. Lomo has reinvented and reengineered the lens for modern day Canon and Nikon SLR cameras.
How do you take the next step after rising from humble newspaper shooter to chief official photographer for the White House? You start sharing pictures of your lunch, of course.
Chinese photographer Liu Bolin has made a name for himself by creating photos showing his body blended into various environments with the help of carefully applied paint. Italian artist Johannes Stötter has been creating similar works, except he's more focused on the painting than the photos.
Hey aspiring storm chasers -- want to dramatically improve your lightning shots? Try getting an elevated view. Like about 400 miles up. That's the approximate orbital height above Earth of the International Space Station, which is producing an impressive library of images showing what lightning looks like from way above.
3D modeling for movies and video games is often done using lasers. The modeler scans whatever it is they are trying to reconstruct using a laser and then ends up spending a good bit of time cleaning up the results in post. In contrast, a new method developed by the folks at Disney Zurich promises to generate much more accurate results by replacing the lasers with photos.
Back in February, the AP's David Guttenfelder and Jean Lee were some of the first to begin uploading Instagram photos from inside the closed off country of North Korea. A rare look inside a normally very mysterious country, both of their Instagram accounts became the subject of many a headline.
Lenstag generated quite a bit of buzz last week by introducing a service that aims to crack down on gear theft by making it easier to track and report stolen gear. The service is now getting a new feature that will further add trust to the used gear buying process: disposable verification links for individual items.
LensRentals is at the height of its popularity and still growing. About a week ago, we shared some stats that more than proved this, showing how a company started by one man and $5,500 dollars in 2006 is now a 42 person operation on track to bring in $13 million this year.
Camera-toting birders are flocking to a remote area of New Mexico to capitalize on what's being described as "the best photobomb in history." At least for people who are really into birds.
Although drone photography might lead you onto some sticky legal ground in some states, it is nonetheless often quite beautiful. It makes sense that those who have spent good money on drones are eager to put that money to use, and now they have an Instagram-like social network on which to share their results.
Film has seen better days. With legends like Kodak's Kodachrome gone, and staples like Fujifilm's Neopan 400 very recently following suit, most news about film is met with dismay and long drawn out "No's" (if you doubt it, check out the comment section on the Neopan 400 and Provia 400X discontinuation announcement linked above).
Do you always laugh and squirm when you look back at official school pictures from "awkward years"? You're not alone -- take a peek at the Awkward Years Project and you'll see what we mean. The project was started by a Utah-based graphic designer and photography enthusiast named Merilee, who's collecting then-and-now portraits to show people who have blossomed since their awkward teen days.
The mandate for Documerica was intriguingly broad -- "photographically document subjects of environmental concern" -- and photographers responded with striking images covering everything from pot-smoking form to toxic smog.
Every day it feels like there are another hundred or so timelapses posted online. While some of this is just the illusion of more exposure and access caused by the Internet, some of it is definitely real. The abundance of rapidly evolving technology and constantly dropping DSLR prices have created the perfect atmosphere for even the least experienced photographers to churn out a decent timelapse. And while some people will complain about this fact, it's really just the natural order of things.
Photographer Brad Hammonds is fascinated by a concept that he calls "emotional delay." It's the idea that no moment is truly experienced until it has already passed. In the time the moment is happening, the brain is processing it. By the time the experience comes, the moment is actually gone.
In the past, we've shared a few creative ways to take your fireworks shots to the next level. Be it shooting hand-held long exposures for an abstract result or refocusing during a long-exposure, the results can be quite stunning.
So you want to create stirring nature documentaries. You could go the National Geographic way and risk trench-foot, snakebite and more in pursuit of the scenic wild. Or you could take the Boris Godfroid route: Schlep a few hundred pounds of bricks into a spare room, cover it with moss and other forgiving plant life, and let nature run wild in miniature.
Are you the type of person who enjoys using things built using your own two hands? 20-year-old Croatian tinkerer CroBuilder is like that too. He recently spent 10 hours in his workshop building a camera tripod from scratch.
They look as if they're a complete fabrication of one's imagination, but they aren't. German photographer Stefan Diller has managed to create worlds using microscopic images of plant and insect life, giving us a view of what our eyes can't quite see. The technology, called nanoflight, is described as "a revolutionary new way to visualize structures of the microworld," and has "the ability to move a virtual camera in eight degrees of freedom around the specimen."
Finnish lawmakers could soon rewrite the nation's copyright laws, as a citizen-originated initiative aimed at easing piracy penalties and protecting consumer rights makes it way to Parliament.
Some unlucky fellow was minding his own business in Disney World recently when he happened to accidentally walk in front of a couple as the man was proposing to his girlfriend. The moment wasn't just captured on camera (shown above) -- it has spawned a quirky new Internet photo meme.
Photographer Dave Hill has launched the world's first Instagram TV show, a science fiction series called Desert Friends. Created as "a side project with some friends," the show comes in short 15 second episodes and is about three friends who "are warped to a distant galaxy and need to get home."
Yesterday we shared an amazing time-lapse music video spanning 24-hours on a Parisian rooftop. While the video did, in fact, make my jaw "drop" (there's a pun coming), it got me thinking about one of the most amazing music videos I've ever seen: "Drop" by The Pharcyde.
The photography world is abuzz with news that Canon may be planning to launch a high-end DSLR with a beastly 75-megapixel sensor. If you're drooling over the idea of shooting photos that can span billboards, you might want to hold your horses: the sensor may not be what you think it is.
Recently, I was looking through a photo gallery of a potential new hire and was a bit dismayed by her use of a particular photo enhancement editing choice. All of her photos were very overly processed with multiple styles, much like the photo below. She did have a wonderful eye, and her composition and posing were really lovely. But her processing choices really distracted from the beauty of her work. The people in her photos didn’t look real.
There's no doubt about that fact that street photography is wildly interesting. There's just so much to it that makes it appealing. Real people, real moments -- good and bad. Best of all, there's something new to capture every day. And while many of us don't have the courage to get out there and point our camera at a stranger, it's interesting to see it happen, especially in a metropolis.
Creative, imagination-filled wedding photographs are starting to become quite trendy -- at least online. Earlier this year, we shared viral photos of bridal parties running for their lives from a T-Rex and from Star Wars Imperial Walkers.
You're looking for an image to illustrate your ad promoting child-care services and find a portrait of an adorable tot, obviously free for the taking because it's on the Internet. What could wrong? …
Were you smiling a lot Friday afternoon? Hope so, because that's when you and your 7 billion planetary neighbors got a rare portrait session from the Cassini spacecraft. Orbiting above Saturn almost a billion miles away, the craft turned its camera towards to Earth to capture some spectacular images of our planet foregrounded by Saturn's rings.
Every once in a while someone gets really, really creative and it makes our jaws drop. Such is the case with UK pop artist Dan Black's timelapse music video for his song called "Hearts." …
Spanish visual artist Sergio Albiac is offering the world a chance to meld with the universe in an innovative project that combines portraiture with images from the Hubble space telescope.
The western world was sent into a brief paranoid frenzy when whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked government information about the surveillance of the National Security Agency (NSA). I say brief, because it seems to have been forgotten by a large number of people; it seemed like it was just more news. The revelations, and more that followed, showed how the NSA record phone calls and data and more controversially; that they use information from emails and social networking sites.
Maybe you've read an article or two here regarding Socialmatic. They're the team who brought us the Instagram-inspired instant camera that made uploading images from a tiny device easy, and even allowing users to print their pictures from the device on-the-fly (more on that here).
If you're afraid of swimming in the ocean due to a fear of the unknown below you, you might want to skip over the post. A group of divers off the coast of California got a scare recently when they had an extremely close call with large humpback whales. They almost found themselves in the mouths of the feeding whales, and multiple cameras were there to capture what happened (note: the video above contains some strong language).
