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Art Exhibit Lets Visitors Swim in 24 Hours Worth of Flickr Photos… Literally

To show how the Internet is causing us to "drown in pictures", artist Erik Kessels created an installation featuring prints of every single photograph uploaded to Flickr within a 24-hour period. The 1 million+ photos are piled up nearly to the ceiling, and spill into multiple rooms. The exhibit is part of an exhibition titled "What's Next?" at Foam in Amsterdam.

Dog Cam: Mount a Camera to Your Dog Using a Stick

Back in June we shared a cool (and nauseating) video of some guys throwing around a GoPro camera attached to a stick. YouTube user Lorduss1 recently did something similar... except with his dog. He mounted a GoPro camera to a stick, gave it to his dog, and then chased the dog around the yard.

Play Around with Macro Photography Using a Magnifying Glass

You don't need to shell out money for a nicer camera or a special lens to play around with macro photography. In addition to freelensing and using your lens backward, you can also place an ordinary magnifying glass in front of your lens to enlarge the world. Graphic designer Clif Dickens shot these close-up photos using a magnifying glass and an iPhone 3GS.

Lens Twist Trick: How to Lock a Lens at a Certain Aperture

Modern DSLR lenses don't usually have aperture rings, and opening and closing the aperture is the camera's responsibility. If for some reason you need to keep the aperture blades locked in a certain position, the "lens twist trick" can help you do so. Simply untwist the lens from the camera while holding the depth of field preview button.

Polaroid Z340: A Futuristic Digital Instant Camera That Spits Out ZINK Prints

This week Polaroid launched its new Z340 instant digital camera, perhaps to pave the way for its upcoming uber-futuristic GL30 shooter. The Z340 isn't as flashy but offers the same fusion of digital and instant: it's basically a 14-megapixel digital acmera combined with a ZINK printer. It can capture 75 shots and print 25 photos on a single charge, has a 2.7-inch LCD screen, and allows the photographer to decide whether to make a 3x4-inch instant print or to simply store the image on the …

Portraits Blended with Photos of Nature

New York-based artist Matt Wisniewski creates digital collages by blending fashion and nature photographs together into surreal images. The images remind us of photographer Dan Mountford's double exposure photographs, except Wisniewski uses digital manipulation rather than in-camera trickery.

Gursky World: A Portrait of Photographer Andreas Gursky

German photographer Andreas Gursky is one of the most successful artists of our time, and yesterday a print of his titled "Rhein II" became the world's most expensive photograph, selling for $4.3 million. Back in the early 2000s, director Ben Lewis made this interesting 23-minute feature that gives an inside look into "Gursky World."

Idea Mine: An App for People Suffering From Photographer’s Block

"Idea Mine" is an upcoming iOS app by Canon that helps photographers save and generate ideas. The idea is that photo ideas can always be broken down into four components: location, subject, feeling, and technique. Provide the app with these four things, and it will store your idea for you to come back to later on. If you need some inspiration, hitting the "randomize" button will fill in the fields for you -- kinda like a photographic mad libs.

Glow Graffiti Lets You Light Paint with an Aerosol Can

Glow Graffiti is an aerosol can-style light painting tool similar to the one by artist Aïssa Logerot that we featured back in September. It's powered by a UV light rather than the interchangeable LED lights used by Logerot, but the Glow Graffiti comes with a special UV-sensitive backdrop on which paintings are visible for around 30 seconds (the kit contains letter stencils too). You can pick up a set for $39 from Photojojo or Amazon (it's prime eligible).

The Backstory to the Scandal That May Bring Down Olympus

The financial scandal rocking Olympus is one that the company may not survive. The company's stock price plunged another 17% today, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange has informed the company that it will be delisted if it doesn't meet a December 14th deadline for reporting earnings. The New York Times has a great piece on how Olympus got itself into this mess.

A Peek at Lytro’s Dead Simple User Guide

Lytro's consumer light field camera is currently paying a visit to the FCC on its way to store shelves near you. Along with documents related to their testing of the device, the agency has also published the User Guide that comes along with the camera.

How to Unlock the Hidden Panorama Mode in iOS 5 Without Jailbreaking

A couple days ago it was discovered that iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 5 have a secret panorama mode that's hidden in the operating system. The feature can be enabled, but featured either a jailbroken device or knowledge in how to edit a particular iOS 5 preference file. Luckily for non-hackers, Redmond Pie has discovered an easy way to do this by taking advantage of iTune's backup feature. This tutorial will teach you how to get the panorama feature unlocked in 5-10 minutes.

Swivl: A Motion Tracking Dock that Keeps Your Camera Pointed At You

We first heard about the startup company Satarii back in January when they began raising money for a novel camera dock that offers motion tracking. They went on to raise nearly $25,000 through crowdfunding, and now the dock is official and available for pre-order. Named "Swivl", it helps cameras follow a remote tracking marker by doing its best to keep the marker in the frame.

Beautiful Time-Lapse of Star Trails in the Making

You've seen photos of star trails, and time-lapse videos of stars, but how about a combination of the two? Olivier Martel created this beautiful 18-second video using a technique we've never seen before: stacking star trail photos into a time-lapse video showing the trails forming.

An Epic Battle Between Photographers and Videographers

If you liked the Battle at F-Stop Ridge video that went viral earlier this year, then you'll probably enjoy this humorous video showing a major battle in the war between photographers and videographers. It was created by Switzerfilm at After Dark, a photography education "un-conference" in Tucson, Arizona.

World’s Largest Digital Camera Receives Green Light from US Government

Last week the U.S. Department of Energy gave a green light to a project that aims to build the largest digital camera this planet has ever seen. The camera, built by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, will cost around $170 million, be roughly the size of a small car, and be able to capture 3.2-gigapixel photographs using a giant sensor composed of 189 CCD sensors.

Photographer Lets Exhibition Attendees Build Their Own DIY Photo Books

In 1974, Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama had an exhibition in Tokyo called "Printing Show" that featured a Xerox machine in the center of the room manned by Moriyama himself. Visitors were encouraged to select photos from the show, which were then reproduced and assembled into custom photo books. This past weekend, Moriyama repeated the show in New York, once again using a photocopier to provide attendees with custom signed editions of the DIY book. The book was titled "TKY" and bound in a …

Camera Size: See How Digital Cameras Look Next to One Another

Mirrorless cameras are designed to be compact, but how big are they compared to DSLRs? How big are popular DSLRs compared to one another? Camera Size is a website that helps answer these types of questions. It's a simple web app that shows you exactly how big digital cameras are compared to one another and compared to reference objects (e.g. a battery).

Woman Gets Fired From Shelter for Her Photos of Dogs Scheduled to Be Killed

Back in September we shared the story of Teresa Berg, a photographer who volunteers her time to take professional quality adoption photos for dogs in shelters. Sadly, similar efforts to save dogs through photography aren't always encouraged. A woman named Emily Tanen was fired from Animal Care and Control of New York City back in May for her photos of dogs scheduled to be euthanized. Her crime? Violating the group's strict photo policy, which includes a rule prohibiting showing humans in …

Secret Panorama Feature Found in iOS 5

Developer Conrad Kramer was poking around in iOS 5 when he stumbled upon a hidden panorama feature built into the operating system. It allows you to create panoramic photos by simply sweeping your camera across a scene. If you're familiar with iOS, unlocking the feature involves changing a single line in a preference file (set EnableFirebreak to "YES" in com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist). People with jailbroken iPhones and iPods can also download the new Firebreak app in Cydia.

The Joy of Receiving Processed Film Back from the Lab

If you've never done film photography before, then you've never experienced the excitement that comes from seeing your images for the first time after your film has been processed. After photographing his way around the Great Lakes, photographer Ed Wargin sent his medium format film to the lab for processing: …

Walmart Requires a Written Release for Photos that Look “Too Professional”

If you need to print some photos taken by someone else using print services at places like Walmart, be careful: if the photographs look "too professional" some places will require a written copyright release before allowing you to pick up the prints -- even after you've paid for them. The Consumerist has a story of a woman named Jessica who ran into problems at Walmart after collecting photos from a couple pro photographer friends for a friend's funeral: …

Belkin to Release a Remote Shutter Release for the iPhone

Regulatory paperwork published by the FCC recently has revealed details about an upcoming Belkin-made remote shutter release for the iPhone. In addition to allowing iPhoneographers to take pictures (or video) from a distance, the Bluetooth device also houses a detachable stand for propping your phone upright. No word yet on pricing or availability.

Olympus Admits to Using Acquisitions to Hide Decades of Losses, Stock Plunges

Olympus admitted today that its top executives used dubious acquisitions to sweep 20 years of massive losses under the carpet. At a press conference in Tokyo, new President Shuichi Takayama revealed that the 2008 acquisitions at the center of the company's ongoing scandal were used to cover-up failed securities investments dating back to the early 1990s. Michael Woodford, the ex-CEO who brought the acquisitions to light, says that further inquiry is needed and that the company leadership needs …

Dexter the Cat Throws a Mouse

How's this for a unique pet photograph? Angelo DeSantis of Berkeley, CA was photographing his cat Dexter with a Canon 5D Mark II when he snapped this once-in-a-lifetime shot that appears to show Dexter throwing a mouse. It pays to have a fast shutter finger.

Kodak Sells Off Its Sensor Business to Add Some Cash to Its Wallet

After arriving late to the digital photography party, Kodak took another step away from the market yesterday by selling off its sensor business to CA-based firm Platinum Equity. The sale of Kodak Image Sensor Solutions (KISS) -- which includes the company's 263,000 square foot facility in Rochester -- will hopefully give Kodak the boost of cash it needs to avoid bankruptcy and turn into a healthy business. Kodak sensors are found in a number of popular cameras, including the Leica M9 and S2.

Old School Flash Powder Compared to a Modern Day Flash

Maurice Ribble of Tech Photo Blog recently found the ingredients list for flash powder, which was used for state-of-the-art photographic lighting 150 years ago. After making some of the powder, he began to test it to see how it compares to modern day flashes (more specifically, a Canon 580EX II).

How to Use a 4×5 Large Format Camera

If you've never shot with a large format camera before, you might find this video illuminating. In it, photographer Simon Roberts walks us through the process of making prints using a 4x5 plate camera, from setting the camera up to watching the giant prints roll out of the machine.

USBCELL: Rechargeable Batteries That Suck Juice From USB Ports

USBCELL batteries might look like ordinary AA rechargeable batteries upon first glance. That is, until you see how they're charged. Rather than use a battery charger, the batteries are charged using the standard USB ports on your computer or laptop. They could come in handy on trips where you need power for your camera or flash, but want to avoid the hassle of a separate battery charger.

A Striking Look at How Focal Length Affect Head Shots

You've probably heard before that focal lengths between 85mm and 135mm produce the best head shots because they provide a desirable perspective in head shots, but how much of a different does the focal length actually make? Photographer Stephen Eastwood decided to find out, shooting 10 portraits of the same subject with focal lengths ranging from 19mm to 350mm.

Sorry for the Slowness and “Downness”

Sorry if you've had trouble accessing this site so far today. Our hosting provider, Rackspace, is having issues. Hopefully they can get things together soon. If you haven't already, subscribing to our RSS feed and/or daily email is another way to receive our posts! …

Panasonic Unveils the Lumix GX1 for Serious Shooters and GF1 Lovers

After photos of the camera were leaked a week ago, Panasonic has officially announced the Lumix GX1. The camera should satisfy GF1 shooters who loved the camera but were unhappy about the consumer-oriented GF2 and GF3 followup cameras. The 16MP Micro Four Thirds camera features a max ISO of 12,800, a solid build, .09 second autofocus (with iPhone-esque touch to focus), a 3-inch touchscreen, RAW mode, and 1080/60i HD video. The camera ships for $700 (body-only) starting in December 2011.

CMOS Inventor Eric Fossum Lectures on Sensors, From Basics to State of the Art

Eric Fossum, the man who invented the CMOS image sensor, recently gave an hour-long lecture at Yale that provides an educational overview of the technology. He covers a wide range of topics, ranging from digital imaging history to the latest state-of-the-art technologies in the sensor field. If you're at all interested in learning how your camera works, this'll be an interesting lecture to take in.

Stunning Star Trails Photographed from the Australian Outback

Photographer Lincoln Harrison captures jaw-dropping photographs of star trails. Shooting from the Australian outback, he spends up to 15 hours creating each image of the night sky. Shooting with a Nikon D7000, Nikon D3100, and a wide assortment of lenses, Harrison captures a large number of exposures of the foreground and stars separately. He then combines the images (sometimes hundreds of them) into amazing photographs showing the sky dominated by colorful star trails.

How to Avoid Flash Reflections in Glasses

Here's a helpful tutorial on how to adjust the angle of your light sources to avoid the nasty reflections that show up in eyeglasses. It has to do with understanding and harnessing the "angle of incidence" and "angle of reflection" of your light.