Cube is a small new device from the Australian company Palette. Easily sample colors around you using the portable color digitizer and sample them later on your PC or Mac. While the Cube’s central abilities focus on identifying the beautiful colors that surround us every day, it can also be used for color matching and achieving picture-perfect white balance in photos.
Adobe Photoshop is ubiquitous on the desktop computers of photographers around the world, but the company has yet to win the same amount of love on mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. After calling it quits on Photoshop Touch earlier this year, Adobe will be bringing a full-featured version of Photoshop to iOS this October.
If you constantly move your camera from one device to another in the course of your work, you may have experienced the annoyance and inconvenience of different manufacturers offering different plate designs. What they generally have in common, however, is the same standard tripod screw. The folks at Edelkrone used this fact to create the QuickReleaseONE, which the company claims is the world's first universal quick release for switching between plates.
The team at Uncage the Soul Productions followed 23 high school students around as they spent a week at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s Astronomy Camp. The event was held during the 2015 Perseids Meteor shower and videographers were able to capture the reactions of students as they witnessed the beauty of space through their own eyes and, of course, a couple of DSLRs.
Finding the perfect camera strap can seem like an overwhelming endeavor due to the sheer number of available options. Today, we are going to be taking a look at two different straps that are coming soon from Peak Design and may just help you in your search. The first strap is the Slide Summit Edition: a design variation of the company’s standard Slide strap. The second is the Slide Lite strap designed for smaller mirrorless camera systems.
Elinchom have just announced the Litemotiv, a new extension to their lineup of softboxes. The two new modifiers are made up of sixteen sides and come in two distinct sizes. According to the company, theses monster softboxes help to create “close to perfect catchlights.”
Earlier this year, Facebook launched the Moments app for both iOS and Android. Similar to many other applications out there, Moments is aimed at combining your photographs and your friends’ photographers from a single event into an easy to navigate album (and then uploading them to Facebook, of course). Today, the app has received an update that can automatically create movies from your experiences.
If you happen to have a plethora of Contax lenses stored away and are now busy playing with a Sony A7 or NEX camera then we have some exciting news for you. Thanks to eBay shop Kens_Camera, it is now possible to purchase a Contax N-mount to Sony E-mount adapter. The seller explains he designed the adapter himself and that it is an entirely automatic adapter with only slight autofocus limitations.
As photographers, we capture the light around us to preserve moments in time. Sometimes, however, we not only want to contain the light, but also control it. So, when Elinchrom asked us if we wanted to test their powerful ELB 400 portable battery pack and Quadra Pro flash heads, we, of course, said yes. Now, let’s see what we can do with 424 watts of portable power.
Have you ever looked at a piece of artwork -- a photo, for example -- and had the thought “I could do that”? PBS's The Art Assignment takes a closer look at the statement to explore a few questions it raises.
Professional free runner Jason Paul recently teamed up with Red Bull to create this wild optical illusion video that you have to see to believe -- or not. The video’s description says that “Life as a free runner means the world is your playground… or is it just one big illusion?” It's a mind-bending visual experience that will have your brain questioning reality.
Photography is an art; by looking upon past examples, we can not only learn to improve our own technique, but also to study and appreciate times before ours. However, with the first photograph taken almost two-hundred years ago, it can be difficult to find a place to start. Enter, The Red List: a website with over 100,000 images that continues to cull the world of photography to find the very best images.
A magical moment of soft and warm light, the golden hour is a period slightly before sunset or slightly after sunrise when the sun is low in the sky. Many photographers aim to shoot during these time periods in order to take advantage of the unique natural lighting. Rizon is an elegant new app for iOS that will not only find you the best time but remind you to head outside when the time approaches.
The Everyday Messenger bag is Peak Design’s latest product to make a debut on Kickstarter, and it has blown past its $100,000 goal and raised over $2.2 million so far. Designed with the help of photographer Trey Ratcliff, the bag aims to fulfill the “workflows of photographers, creative, travelers, and commuters." We got our hands on the world's first pre-production sample bag, and today we'll be taking a closer look at it.
Nikon has been taking us behind the scenes in a series of new videos published on YouTube. Now, we get to see what it is like to be a zoo photographer as we follow Nikon Ambassador and naturalist Ron Magill to Zoo Miami. Armed with a Nikon D7200 and two Nikkor super telephoto zoom lenses, Magill captures a majestic herd of giraffes.
Jamey Price is an award-winning motorsport photojournalist who was recently named one of GQ Magazine's '10 Best Car / Racing Instagram Accounts to Follow.' Price has had his work published around the globe by Road and Track, RACER Magazine, F1 Racing Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Motorsport Magazine, ESPN, SPEEDTV, The Washington Post, and many more. He also currently works as a freelancer for a number of commercial clients including Ducati, Audi, Lamborghini, Aston Martin Racing, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Red Bull.
We had a chat with Jamey to see what he had to say about his career thus far, what advice he could give to those interested in this field, and his views on using social media to spread his work and obtain new assignments.
The Rugby World Cup is coming up this September and New Zealand sports television channel Sky Sports wants to make sure that their cameramen are ready for the job. In this series of hilarious videos from 2011, we witness ‘cameramen at boot camp’. Whether they are trying to keep their lenses focused or assemble their camera bodies while blindfolded, we wish them all the best.
Olympus Russia had recently posted a photograph showing the above image, which showcases a secret data screen on one of their OM-D cameras. In fact, there are three pages of data screens that provide information from how many times the camera’s shutter has been released, to how many times the flash has been fired, and much more. Olympus has since taken down the image, but the secret access code has now been outed.
Popular browser-based editor Polarr has released a new plugin for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox that enables users to instantly edit any photo they stumble across on the Internet. With the click of the mouse, an image can be imported into Polarr’s online web-based editor for a number of adjustments. No more having to download an image to your local drive -- this is complete editing in the cloud.
In addition to the prototype tripod design that we recently featured, ProductTank has also created a new design for a simple camera slider. A bit different than traditional rail style sliders that keep the camera locked to an axis, the ProductTank slider simply uses a guided rail and friction to get the job done. The result is a slider that be easily adjusted to your shooting situation, and can be seen in the 6-minute video above.
Photographer Lindsay Adler is teaching a CreativeLive course this month on the basics …
Stock photography has provided business and individuals with a method of acquiring imagery without the need to hire a photographer. However, has any bit of stock photography ever truly captured the complex nature of a New Yorker? Apparently the folks over at New York radio station WNYC didn’t feel that the need was being addressed and, as a result, have crafted 35 “quintessential photos of true New York City.”
The photo above is titled: "Woman Texting at Top of Subway Stairs While Others Try to Exit."
This week, software developer and photographer Dan King introduced the world to the DAKboard: a customizable display for showcasing your photographs, calendar events, and weather. The actual wall display isn’t currently available for purchase, but the software is in the beta stage, so anyone can test it out via their web browser or tablet device.
Camera rigs can be large and difficult to carry around when on the move; once you add on additional components, the problem intensifies. Now, Scratch Ideas from the UK has introduced ‘LOKI’ on Kickstarter with a $38,910 fundraising goal. An ultra-portable and modular piece of equipment, LOKI can transform between a shoulder rig, a camera cage, an underslung rig, and a dolly with a few twists and clicks.
Hold Fast is a camera accessory company most well known for their MoneyMaker Luxury Leather Multi-Camera Strap. While the MonkeyMaker is a beautifully crafted piece of gear that allows you to quickly access your cameras, the price tag is a bit out of the price range of what some photographers are willing to spend. Enter the Camera Swagg, a non-leather variation of the MoneyMaker with a much lower price tag.
The folks over at Seaport Digital have released the Volta battery Power Station and Ring Light case for Apple iPhone 6 devices. Powered by an internal 3800mAh battery, the Volta can charge your smartphone when needed via an attachable lighting cable... or it can act as a handy ring light to brighten your subject in dimly-lit situations. Of course, we won’t judge you if you choose to make it your personal selfie light.
Have you ever wondered if you were getting the best performance out of Adobe’s Photoshop Creative Cloud? Depending on your particular workflow and individual needs, your favorite image editing software can be tweaked and adjusted for optimal performance. Today, we are taking a look at some of the settings available in Photoshop to get you running more efficiently on your personal computer.
Have you ever wished you could remotely control your smartphone’s camera with a trigger remote disguised as a 35mm film canister or a mini twin-lens reflex camera? If so, then your wish has been granted by the Japanese company Gizmon. For a small price, you can pick up one of these cute and colorful gadgets and pair it with your iOS or Android smartphone.
B&H published this 9-minute video in which portrait photographer Peter Hurley opens up his camera bags to give us a tour of the gear he uses on a regular basis.
If you’ve been waiting for the chance to convert your 4x5 large format camera into something that can produce instant results, then you are in luck. A company called CatLabs has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to introduce their Instant Pack Film Holder for 4x5 camera systems.
Linus of LinusTechTips just published the 9-minute video above that explores whether shooting video at 4K resolution is worth it. Using both a Panasonic GH4 and a Sony FS700, Linus and his team take to discovering the links between video resolution, video bitrate, and downsampling.
Camera gear can be expensive, but one way to work around this issue is to purchase equipment used from online auction websites such as eBay. But it can be tough trying to determine the exact condition of an item without getting your hands on it. We will be going over tips to help you purchase both digital and analog film cameras without throwing your money down the drain. Here are some practical pointers to staying smart and safe on eBay when buying your next bit of kit.
If you need an accessory for mounting your camera to random places, instead of purchasing a Gorillapod (or something similar), you can go a thrifty do-it-yourself route. For just $8, Instructables member Megan Yeomans crafted her own affordable solution that uses vinyl tubing and copper wire. The result is a three-foot flexible 1/4” piece of kit that can be used as a standard tripod, a selfie stick, or an articulated mount.
They say to learn about a person you should look at their bookshelf to see what they read. Similarly, we believe that delving into a photographer’s bag sheds light on their personality and style. Today’s article is the first in a series that explores the bags of professional photographers and, of course, your friends here at PetaPixel. Step inside my bag to see what I carry on a daily basis and the significance of each item.
Many photographers unfortunately know the horror of editing a photograph and accidentally saving over the original copy all too well. While Lightroom implements a non-destructive system for saving files, Photoshop can be a bit more dangerous, and accidents do occur. Today, we will show you how to set up a safe workspace area on your Mac that will back up photographs as you edit them.
A new letter published by Kensington Palace in the United Kingdom sheds light at the extreme measures paparazzi are taking in order to capture valuable photos of Prince George, the son of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Prince George was born in 2013 and has endured the prying lenses of paparazzi photographers since day one.
The letter was addressed to “leaders of media industry bodies and standards organizations" around the world. It argues that tactics being used to photograph Prince George are becoming “increasingly dangerous” and have become distressing.
If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing the world through the eyes of a wild animal or insect, then you happen to be in luck. A team led by scientist Jolyon Troscianko at the University of Exeter in the UK has developed an application that processes RAW image data and then converts it into a result that showcases the way various animals might view their surroundings. Best of all, the software is open source and you can download it today.
Facetune is one of the most popular photo tools in both Apple’s iOS App Store and Google’s Play Store -- to such a great degree that Apple officially branded the app as an “Essential” download a short while back. Facetune is known for its ability to smoothen skin, emphasize eyes, fill bald patches, reshape facial structures, brighten teeth, and much more. Now, the Jerusalem-based company behind it, Lightricks, is ready to go a step farther after securing $10 million in new venture funding.
In September 2014, a new law in New Hampshire made it illegal to take a photograph within a voting booth in the state. If you decided to share a photo of yourself and your ballot, the state could have issued you a fine of up to $1,000. Today a judge struck down the law in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Before you head out for your next vacation, you may want to consider what your photos on Flickr reveal about your travel plans. A new study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal used machine learning algorithms to model the mobility of individuals.
By analyzing the embedded timestamp and geographic information within photographs, the researchers were able to accurately predict where a person is most likely currently located and where they may be headed in the future.