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A Creative Light Painting Photograph That Makes Sparks Look Like Rain

After seeing an online tutorial on steel wool light painting, photographer Simon Berger found a friend to model for him and went out to try his hand at the technique. After some initial success, he started brainstorming creative ideas that he hadn't seen before. The result of the brainstorming was this stunning shot that makes the sparks from a burning piece of steel wool look like rain falling on an umbrella.

Strange-Looking Digital Camera Design Spotted in a Recent Panasonic Patent

Could Panasonic be planning to jump into the action camera market and compete against the likes of GoPro? A recently published US design patent suggests that it might be the case. The patent, first spotted by 43 Rumors, was filed in December of last year but published a week ago. Simply titled, "Digital Camera," it contains a series of simple illustrations showing what appears to be a pocket-sized durable action camera.

Nickelback “Photograph” Parody Pokes Fun at Instagram Stereotypes

There are certain photographs subjects that you often find while browsing the photo sharing service Instagram. Examples might include feet, the foam art in cups of coffee, old doors, and duck-face self-portraits shot using a bathroom mirror. CollegeHumor released a parody music video yesterday that collects a whole bunch of these stereotypes into song.

Eye-Fi Unveils Circ, a Cloud Photo Service with Unlimited Free Storage

We reported in the middle of last month that Eye-Fi was planning to launch a new cloud-based photo sharing service with the name Circ. That day has arrived: the wireless SD card maker has officially launched the service into private beta. Unlike other cloud services, which cap storage space for free accounts -- 5GB is a popular limit -- Circ doesn't. Rather than limit free accounts by storage, Circ is based on the number of devices used. A free account lets you sync 2 devices, while a $50/year …

Viewfinder-Equipped Canon EOS M Will Reportedly Arrive Late Next Year

One of the big complaints people have about the Canon EOS M (besides the horrendously slow autofocus) is the lack of a viewfinder. While autofocus can be improved through firmware updates, you can't simply add an EVF or OVF to a camera by rolling out a download. Luckily, there appears to be a second EOS M camera on the way that does offer an electronic viewfinder.

Photograph of Doomed Man on Subway Tracks Sparks Outrage, Debate

If you happen to catch a glance of the New York Post's cover today, the above photo is what you'll see. It's an attention grabbing image, showing a man who is moments away from being struck and killed by an oncoming subway train in New York City. It's also a controversial image, not just because of the morbid moment it captures, but because of the fact that it even exists.

BTS: Building and Using the Largest Film Camera in the World

Here's an update on photographer Dennis Manarchy's Vanishing Cultures project, which we featured at the beginning of the year. Manarchy has just released the new video above that sheds some light on how the idea came about and how everything came together. After building the world's biggest film camera, Manarchy has been using the "largest-format camera" to document 50 different cultures all across the United States in an epic 20,000-mile road trip. The resulting portraits will be displayed in …

Photographing a Photographer: Shooting a Portrait of Joel Meyerowitz for the NYT

New York Times staff photographer Fred R. Conrad was recently tasked with shooting a portrait of acclaimed color photography pioneer Joel Meyerowitz. Freelance videographer Elaisha Stokes went along to shadow Conrad, and captured this interesting behind-the-scenes video in which Conrad shares some thoughts on the experience of pointing a lens at a master of pointing lenses.

EXIF Data May Have Revealed Location of Fugitive Software Tycoon John McAfee

If you've been following the news, you might have heard that a man John McAfee is on the run from police who want to question him about a murder. Not just any ol' John McAfee, but the John McAfee, the once-ultra-rich founder of anti-virus software company McAfee. Well, a photograph published to the web today may have revealed the exact location McAfee is was hiding.

The Simplified Guide to Getting Started in Photoshop

When photographer Devon Mikale was in high school, he created this lengthy manual for his newspaper class to help others learn how to get started in Photoshop. The high school's faculty loved it so much that they ended up purchasing it for re-distribution in future classes. Mikale has graciously allowed us to publish the guide here for free.

Spotted: A Leica-Branded Pen and Coffee Cup, and a Pentax Q10 Watch

Canon started quite a fad back in 2010 by handing out novelty lens mugs at the Vancouver Olympic games. Within two years, it seems like everyone is making and selling lens-shaped coffee mugs now. If you thought Leica had stayed out of the craze, think again. Leica Rumors spotted the pen and coffee cup above being sold on eBay last week. The luxury Caran d'Ache pen carries the familiar red dot, while the cup features Noctilux lens markings.

BTS: Photographing an Album Cover with a Band Blended Into a Zebra Lane

Taking a page out of The Beatles' book, Slovenia- and Croatia-based band Zebra Dots has an album cover for their debut record that features a zebra lane cross walk. Instead of strolling across it, however, the band members are lying on top of the thick lines, with their bodies blended into the zebra lines and their heads serving as dots. (You can also see it as musical notes on a staff).

Eyeist Brings Professional Photo Portfolio Reviews to the Masses

If you want more feedback about your photography portfolio than what your friends, peers, parents, and keyboard critics provide -- and you're willing to drop some money on a professional review -- you should check out Eyeist, a new disruptive service that's trying to bring high-quality portfolio reviews to the masses.

Shootout Game Uses Duels to Find the Fastest Camera Slinger in the West

Check out this brilliant marketing idea: to promote its professional sling-style camera backpacks, Kata designed a carnival/arcade-style game called Shootout. It's live contest that has been held in various store locations and trade shows around the world. Basically, participants engage a virtual cowboy photographer in a duel. Once the timer starts, one must swing their camera bag around, "unholster it", and snap a photo of the screen. If the time captured in your photo is less than the time …

BTS: Constructing and Using a Pegboard Backdrop for Starry Portraits

We've featured photographer Nick Fancher's pegboard backdrop experiments a couple of times now (see here and here), and each time the setup gets fleshed out a bit more. Yesterday, Fancher released the above time-lapse video that offers a behind-the-scenes look at how he constructed his "white room" inside his tiny basement (the ceiling is just 7-feet-hight).

Curious Self-Portraits of a Photographer Balancing On His Head

UK-based photographer Caulton Morris is a dude with a very strong head and neck. At least that's the conclusion we came to after seeing his photo series titled Upside, which consists of photo after quirky photo of Morris standing on his head -- literally. The "trick" behind these surreal images is that there is no trick -- Morris actually did the precarious poses you see in each one.

The Most Popular Cameras and Settings for Reuters’ 2012 Photos of the Year

Reuters has published its list of the best photographs taken in 2012, a massive collection of 95 powerful images showing different events that have occurred around the globe over the past year. In addition to large photos, descriptions by the photographers, and the official captions, each image is also accompanied by information about the equipment and settings that were used to capture it.

‘Double Exposure’: A Portrait of Identical Twin Photojournalists, the Turnley Bros

Even if you've never heard of Peter and David Turnley, you've likely seen at least one of their photographs at some point in your life. The identical twins are two of the most renowned photojournalists to have covered world events over the past few decades. The video above is a fascinating 13-minute-long feature titled "Double Exposure," which aired on 60 Minutes back in 1996 (warning: there are some strong images of violence).

Words of Wisdom Regarding Criticism by Anton Ego in Ratatouille

The Internet can be a tough place for photographers. One can pour an immeasurable amount of time, money, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into a picture (or a series of pictures), only to have his or her hard work torn to shreds by nameless and faceless commenters who hide behind the veil of anonymity.

Rumor: Canon 7D Mark II Geared Toward Nature and Sports Photographers

Murmurings of an upcoming Canon 7D Mark II, which we first wrote about back in October, are starting to heat up. It was suggested that the camera, which may mark the merger of the 60D's and 7D's lines, was to offer a high continuous shooting rate. More recent reports seem to back up that particular spec, as we as offer some more info on who Canon is targeting with the camera.

Five Hours of Airplane Landings Captured in Thirty Seconds

Check out this curious 25-second time-lapse/composite video that shows every airplane that landed at San Diego International Airport on Black Friday a week ago between 10:30am and 3pm. The giant planes whiz by overhead as if they're part of a fighter jet squadron heading off to battle -- not something you'd expect to see with commercial planes at an airport. It was created by photography and film professor Cy Kuckenbaker.

Nokia Launches Magical Slideshow App PhotoBeamer for Lumia Phones

Earlier this year, we shared an amazing iPhone app by imaging company Scalado called PhotoBeamer. The app allows you to quickly run a slideshow of your Camera Roll photos on any device that can load the PhotoBeamer website, simply by pointing your phone at that display. One month later, Nokia acquired Scalado and began folding the small company's projects into its own software. Now, Nokia has launched a repackaged version of PhotoBeamer exclusively for its Lumia phones.

First-Ever Hyperspectral Photo of Auroras

Auroras are quite popular as a photo subject these days, especially for time-lapse photography, but a team of researchers in Norway recently snapped pictures of one in a way that hasn't been done before: with a hyperspectral camera. The special device can simultaneously capture multiple spectral bands of light. The composite photograph above was created by combining three such bands of light, with each one assigned a different RGB color.

Photos of a Model Train Rumbling Across the Great Outdoors

Model train enthusiasts often photograph their miniature locomotives placed in realistic dioramas, but for his project titled "The Canadian: Ghost Train Crossing Canada," photographer Jeff Friesen decided to use the real world as a backdrop. He photographs the train in various outdoor locations across Canada to capture its scenic journey. In some of the photos, its difficult to tell that the train is a tiny model rather than the real thing. Friesen says that his goal was to document the beauty …

Hands-On Autofocus Battle Between the Olympus OM-D EM-5 and Canon EOS M

The Canon EOS M is quickly becoming the laughingstock of the mirrorless party due to its autofocus system, which leaves much to be desired in terms of speed. To show just how sluggish the system really is, Tomek Kulas over at M43.eu did this very simple yet informative "hands-on test" that pits the EOS M against one of its archrivals: the Olympus OM-D EM-5.

Razor-Blade Model: Polaroid and Kodak Never Existed to Sell Cameras

Christopher Bonanos, author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid, has authored a lengthy piece for the Washington Post on what Kodak -- and whoever buys its film lines -- can learn from the fall of Polaroid. The article offers some interesting facts about, and insights into, the film photography industry: …

Comparison: The Canon 6D Next to the 5D DSLR Lineup

If you've been wondering how the Canon 6D compares to the 5D lineup in terms of size, control layout, and ergonomics, here's a side-by-side comparison photo in which the 6D (center) is placed next to the new Canon 5D Mark III (left) and the older Canon 5D Mark II (right). The cameras are each ever-so-slightly different in their shapes, but the 6D is noticeably smaller than its higher-tier siblings. It's more than 10% smaller in its dimensions, and is ~10% lighter than the 5D Mark II and ~20% …

A Cadet Face-Down in a Forest of Legs

Reuters photographer Jose Miguel Gomez was recently covering the 121st anniversary of the National Police in Colombia when he spotted a cadet lying face down amidst her peers. He photographed the apparently unconscious policewoman with his 400mm lens for five minutes before she was finally carried away, and wondered why it took so long for help to arrive.

Cold and Dark Landscapes Illuminated by the Red Glow of Emergency Flares

For his project titled Take Refuge, Los Angeles-based photographer Kevin Cooley shot nighttime landscape photographs with an interesting choice of lighting: military-grade flares -- the kind you find in emergency kits. Each image in the series features the same red glow, whether the flare is held in a subject's hand or hidden behind a feature in the landscape.

Oops: Calumet Accidentally Sells $600 Lens on eBay for $1 — Three Times

Photographers often scour eBay listings in hopes of snagging a good deal on camera equipment, but usually they're not expecting to find gear worth hundreds of dollars sold for the same price as McDonald's Dollar Menu items. Well, that's exactly what one lucky eBayer discovered a couple of weeks ago. The person stumbled upon a strange listing: reputable camera retailer Calumet Photo was selling a brand new Sigma EX 10-20mm f/3.5 lens for Canon DSLRs -- worth about $590 -- for just $0.99! And not …

Facebook Rolls Out Photo Sync Feature for Android and iOS

Today Facebook finally launched the photo sync feature that it has been privately testing for smartphones over the past couple of months. The feature is built into the social network's official mobile app for Android and iOS, and makes it easier to automatically sync your phone photos to the Facebook cloud.

Review: Fujifilm X-E1 is Both a Beauty and a Beast

During the earlier days of 35mm film photography, many of the popular cameras had distinct design elements that defined the look of that period -- the things that come to mind when people hear the words "vintage 35mm camera": a shiny body seemingly crafted out of a single chunk of metal; a textured covering that gives the camera style and grip; all the manual controls you need, placed in well-thought-out locations at your fingertips.

Photo of NYPD Police Officer’s Random Act of Kindness Goes Viral

Candid snapshots that go viral online are often spread because they show people doing something embarrassing or stupid, so it's refreshing to see a photo of a different sort taking the web by storm. The photo in question is of a police officer's random act of kindness, snapped by an Arizona woman named Jennifer Foster when she was visting New York City back on November 14th.

A Supercut of Hollywood Movies About Photographers

Supercuts of movies are all the rage these days; here's one that'll be of interest to photography and camera enthusiasts. Simply titled "Photographers," the video was created by English artists Mishka Henner and David Oates, who spent hours upon hours watching more than 100 movies. The duo extracted short snippets from each one and spent months turning them into the giant whirlwind tour seen in the video above (warning: there's a dash of language, violence, and risqué business).

A Neat Look at How the World’s First 3D Photo Booth Works

Earlier this month, we wrote that the world's first 3D photo booth had popped up in Japan. The studio looks like it's designed for ordinary portraits, except the "photographers" capture you with fancy handheld scanners and then turn your into miniature sculptures instead of photographs. Since then, more information has emerged that provides a better look at how the whole thing works.

Stunning Slow-Motion Shots Created Using Only Still Photographs

It may be hard to believe, but all the amazing slow-motion clips you see in the video above were created using individual still photographs. Joe Fellows of London-based film production company Make Productions gathered photographs of wildlife and people from the WWF archives, and then Photoshopped and animated the images using parallax.