We live in an analytical time, where most of the information we receive -- be it about the stock market or the presidency -- comes in way of charts, graphs, and other visual representations of hard (or sometimes soft) data. And it's this dependency on analysis that Sherwin Tibayan's diagnostic take on Robert Frank's "The Americans" -- the second "The Americans" spin off we've seen in two weeks -- focuses on.
Filmmaker Brandon Davis Cole's interesting take on the traditional follow focus does something that few, if any, products have ever thought to do -- integrate bicycle technology into DSLR cinematography. Cole essentially reinvented the follow focus. By instituting a "brake lever" system, the SnapFocus allows cinematographers to keep their camera steady and pull focus quickly and easily to wherever it's needed, all without ever moving your hands from the SnapFocus handles.
Several major rumors surfaced over the last couple of days about Japanese camera giant Canon, ranging from release dates to specs for cameras that up until now were spec-less for the general public. First up, according to Canon Rumors, the long awaited and rumored Canon Rebel T4i will be released later this week on June 8th. In addition, specs for the T4i should be exactly as the original rumors suggested: 18-megapixel sensor, 9 cross-type AF points, touchscreen LCD and continuous AF for live view and video recording.
When a group of facial hair aficionados got together late last year at the first inaugural Battle of the Beards in Atlanta, photographer Josh Meister took it as an opportunity not just to compete himself, but to take some portraits as well. The resulting photo series, simply titled "Beards," shows off some seriously impressive facial accoutrement.
We’ve featured more ambitious projects before — you may remember Cesar Kuriyama’s video which consisted of 1 …
Perhaps sadder than the moment when a company officially discontinues a film is the moment when the last of that film is used, and that's what has just happen to Kodak's famous Plus-X 5231 movie film. Plus-X was discontinued a couple of years ago, and according to the LA Daily News, independent filmmaker Paul Bunnell's "The Ghastly Love of Johnny X" will be the last feature shot using the film. A film that for many years was a favorite of black and white cinematographers everywhere.
In a couple of short days, Don Pettit intends to do something that has never been done before: photograph …
It's difficult to ignore the fact that photographers are finding it harder to get paid for their work now more than ever, but a recent altercation between concert photographer Dan DeSlover and the band Alter Bridge took on a different dynamic -- criticizing a photographer for asking to get paid.
Starting off Sunday on a slow motion note, this is just a downright cool 1000fps video of skateboarders doing …
Late last year, during the Day of Photography in Amsterdam, PhotoQ interviewed nine photographers about the challenges facing them and photography as a whole from both an economic as well as social perspective. The resulting videos offer nine different perspectives on the business of photography, how it's changed, where it's headed, and how to adapt. Some viewpoints are more negative and others more positive, but in the end you can tell that each of these photogs love what they do, and just want to make sure they keep getting to do it for a long time to come.
Beauty may be only skin deep for us humans, but crack open a classic rangefinder and there something both …
Over the last couple of weeks we've featured two very impressive cinematography shots, one from the movie "Contact" and another from "Sucker Punch." But while both of those required planning, expertise and, for one of them, some help from the digital age, the final steadicam shot from the movie "Hugo" is impressive in an entirely different way.
Here’s an interesting, if not a little specific, idea that someone over at the stock photography website …
We’ve mentioned Tom Lowe’s TimeScapes a few times before, but if you’ve somehow missed out on the …
Check your facts, check your sources, and then check your facts a few more times for good measure; that …
Here's an interesting product idea by Oregon-based designer Jason Hilbourne that combines a charging cable and a mini-tripod into an easy-to-use, pocket-sized device. His project, dubbed Twig, is specific to the iPhone and has already gotten quite a bit of attention. With 56 days to go the Twig has already secured $64,000 in funding -- putting it a whopping $14,000 past its goal. But more-so than its iPhone functionality, for us the intriguing thing is to see if anyone takes this idea and runs with it, creating similar products for compact cameras.
General consensus seems to be that a picture is worth a thousand words, in which case Ben West and Felix Heyes' unique take on the dictionary, complete with 21,000 entries, metaphorically contains closer to 21,000,000 words worth of content. That's because their dictionary doesn't hold a single word, only the first Google image search result for every word you might find in your regular Webster's.
According to Photo Rumors, in addition to working on several rugged advancements to …
Creating cinemagraphs — still photos in which one or another section is moves …
More than most government agencies, NASA is actually pretty enthusiastic about photography (by comparison, we probably won't be seeing CIA photography archives come to light any time soon). When NASA had a problem that needed solving they liked to look towards their cameras, and that's exactly what they did when they needed to test and record the abilities of their space suits.
We've heard of camera manufacturers dipping into unrelated fields before, and we've also seen some pretty interesting marketing stunts, but in the early 90's Kodak had already done both... in a colorful, cuddly sort of way. Back then, as an either desperate or creative ploy to get kids into photography, Kodak came out with the Kolorkins: a set of colorful, collectible stuffed animals.
The world is a serious place, and it seems that even comedians like Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen think that this is a side worth seeing. So, by way of a fun video project, he's asking viewers to do one simple thing: Be Serious for 30 Seconds... and record it.
Former Photoshop product manager Kevin Connor and Dartmouth professor (and digital forensic expert) Hany Farid are working together to help put a stop to image manipulation where it doesn't belong. Putting their two brains together they formed a company called Fourandsix, which is primed to release a full suite of software tools that will help law enforcement officers, photo editors and other interested parties detect secret digital photo manipulation.
For those of you who’ve ever wondered what it takes to get your work into National Geographic, here’s a …
In a recent interview with Fujifilm CEO Shigetaka Komori, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine dived into some pretty intense financial conversation. Much of what was said didn't pertain directly to photography -- discussions about Fuji's involvement in the medical field and cosmetics for instance -- but certain parts of the interview were very interesting indeed.
In early March, Nikon offered a temporary fix to a lock up issue that had been plaguing …
Apertures can get pretty big, but a new patent from Nikon seems to imply that a future Nikon 1 mirrorless lens could weigh in at f/0.7. The patent, which gives an example of a 32mm f/1.2 (pictured above), clearly states that the new technology could successfully yield smaller numbers due to optimization of the aperture diameter, flange back length and image circle.
Just yesterday news broke that Michael Woodford — the former Olympus CEO who …
Video technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and the question that seems to be on many a photographer's mind is: "will video ever render still photography obsolete?" In the future, will shooting a sunset simply involve going out and recording 30 minutes to an hour of video and then pulling your favorite frames into Photoshop or Lightroom? Well, that's the question that this video from Fstoppers is trying to answer.
Here's an interesting idea by Oregon-based engineering consultant Paul Anderson called The Daylight Viewfinder. The patent pending invention, which is in the process of raising $44,000 on Kickstarter, is a suction mountable, sun blocking viewfinder/app combo that allows you to take great pictures with your phone (currently iOS only) even in bright daylight.
Have you ever walked out to your car and seen someone abysmally parked next to you, or up on the sidewalk? Even if they aren't blocking you in specifically, didn't you wish there was a way -- other than leaving a less than professional note -- to let people know that the owner of this car is a jerk? Well, the people over at the Moscow Newspaper The Village decided to takle this problem (which is apparently much worse in Russia) head on by designing and releasing Parking Douche, an Android app that publicly shames bad parkers.
Last weekend we mentioned that the Bump app had just added browser integration, allowing you to transfer photos from your mobile device to your computer by simply "bumping" the space bar. And now another sharing app called PhotoBeamer has crossed our virtual desk that does something a little bit different, but does it just as well.
Hanging pictures straight is a bit difficult as it is, but when we’re talking about two screw or two …
There's something profoundly sad about a missing persons poster. That rectangular piece of paper often signifies a last ditch effort, a one in a million chance, and it's that desperation and sadness that Graham MacIndoe captures with his "Missing Persons" photo series. Started way back in 1989, the series takes an up close and personal look at the posters many of us pass daily but never notice.
Twice per year something really cool happens: the stars, or rather one particular star, aligns with the grid of streets running through Manhattan island, offering photographers and astronomers alike an opportunity to go out and snap a few very unique and very cool photos. On May 29th (today) and July 12th of this year (it varies a bit each year) the sun sets in perfect alignment with the Manhattan grid. It's known as "Manhattanhenge". On those specific days, when the sun sets, you will see half of the glowing orb above and half below the horizon -- although you can still get some cool, though not quite as perfect, photos on the days before and after.
We're gonna call this rumor "significantly farfetched," but stranger things have happen and we'd hate to miss out on this one just in case somehow it comes to fruition. Someone personally told the folks over at Northlight Images that Nikon and Canon are swapping some patents, the result of which will be a Nikon camera with an EF mount.
The fact that UK camera retailer Jessops has been struggling financially is pretty well established; what's now under debate is whether or not Canon is going to make a sizable invest to bail them out. Just how sizable are we talking? Ten million pounds, or roughly 16 million dollars. According to an article in The Sunday Times ( in which no source was named) Canon is set to pull the trigger on the hefty investment in order to keep Jessops, the only specialized camera retailer in the UK, in business. But when asked to comment, both Jessops and Canon maintained that they will not comment on "rumor and speculation."
Some of the biggest recent advancements in imaging technology have come in the form of video. Case in point, the new Ultra-High-Definition video camera made by NHK in Japan. This baby takes in 33-megapixel video at a mind numbing 120fps -- that translates into an input of 4 billion pixels per second (count 'em... it'll take a while).
Getting personalized recommendations for the music you listen to became common practice many years ago with the Music Genome Project and personalized radio stations by the likes of Pandora. Up until now, however, we haven't seen anything that takes that same sort of technology and applies it to photography. That's where Flexplore comes in.
Livestreaming events on YouTube is becoming commonplace, but besides the experience of being there, the one thing that livestreams don't provide is a way to take pictures and remember the event. When you're there you're taking video or snapping a shot, when you're on your couch you're watching video and, at best, grabbing a few screenshots -- not the most effective method.
Last Thursday, 13-year-old Addison Logan of Wichita, Kansas found something really cool at a garage sale: an old Polaroid camera for only $1 (score!). But when Addison got it home and started looking up how to use it on the internet, what he found in the cartridge was even cooler, or maybe creepier. Inside the Polaroid camera, bought from a family they don't even know, was a picture of his uncle Scott who died some 23 years ago in a car accident:
Ken Burns is a documentary legend, and even though he comes from a filmmaking perspective, his ideas on what makes a story worth telling (or, in our case, a moment worth capturing) are universal and universally inspiring.
As behind-the-scenes videos go, this one is pretty short, but it still offers an interesting look at how photographer …
If you've been using smartphones for any length of time you've probably heard of Bump, the app that allows you to transfer photos and contact information between two phones with a simple... well... bump. And now they've expanded their functionality to include a website/webapp that makes transferring photos from your phone to your computer a breeze.
For those of you who use your Sony NEX-5N to shoot video, you may have noticed that longer clips …
In Episode 1 of the Framed Network series Film, hosts and photographers Tanja …
The ability to connect your camera to your smartphone wirelessly is starting to really gather some steam. Unfortunately, up until now, that technology usually required a WiFi connection and an adapter that often cost some serious dinero. But if all you're looking to do is share the photos you take instantly sans WiFi network, you don't have many options. Enter CloudPic Mobile.
When Hamburg, Germany-based photographer Florian Bison first saw a video of parkour, he …
Hovering somewhere between "novel idea" and "pointlessly stupid," InstaCRT is a new iOS app that bills itself as "the world's first real camera filter." Photographs processed through the app are given a CRT monitor look that doesn't involve any digital fakery. Instead, your photo is actually sent to the creators' machine located in Stockholm, Sweden, where it's displayed on a tiny CRT monitor and then photographed by a DSLR. The new photo is then beamed back to your phone in less than a minute.
For her most recent exhibition, Brooklyn-based Dutch photographer Anouk Kruithof wanted to do something revolutionary, to change the way we experience the typical art exhibit -- thus was born her exhibit "Untitled: I've Taken Too Many Photos, I've Never Taken Any Photos."