Michael Zhang

Founder, Editor

Michael is a photography enthusiast, entrepreneur, and programmer based in Northern California near San Francisco. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with two degrees in computer science.

Articles by Michael Zhang

Photoshop on iPad Has Arrived

Adobe just launched Photoshop on iPad. After murmurings and a confirmation last year that the company would be bringing "full Photoshop" to the iPad, version 1.0 of the brand new app finally launched to the public today.

Canon Designed a Lens That Sucks

Canon engineers have designed a lens that quite literally and intentionally sucks. The lens pulls in air, swirls it across the image sensor in the camera body, and then pushes it out in order to get rid of the internal dust that causes nasty dark spots in your photos.

A Contrapposto Pose Makes Women Look More Attractive, Study Finds

Contrapposto, Italian for "counterpoise", is a type of pose used since ancient times in which a person stands with most of his or her weight on one foot so the shoulders and arms twist away from the same plane as the hips and legs. It seems artists of old were onto something, as a new study has found that contrapposto posing makes people look more attractive.

NVIDIA AI Can Turn Your Pet Into Other Animals

NVIDIA researchers have been doing groundbreaking work at the intersection between photography and AI -- things like removing noise, transferring styles, photo reconstruction, turning doodles into photos, and creating realistic photos of imaginary people. The company's latest AI app, called GANimal, lets you instantly turn your pet into any other animal.

How Canon’s New Defocus Smoothing Gets You Ultra-Creamy Bokeh

Canon announced the new RF 85mm f/1.2L DS IS lens for its full-frame mirrorless cameras today, and the $3,000 lens is the very first Canon lens to feature a new technology called Defocus Smoothing (DS). If you're curious about the new lens tech, check out this 1.5-minute video by Canon that introduces it.

Lensbaby Unveils the Color Expansion Pack for the OMNI Filter System

Lensbaby took its business in a new direction earlier this year with the unveiling of the OMNI Creative Filter System, which uses shoot-through crystal wands to add creative effects to your photos. Today it announced a new Color Expansion Pack that brings new color tools to add a new dimension of creativity.

A Photographer’s Journey to Yemen to Shoot the Dragon Blood Tree

Yemen isn't exactly a popular destination among photographers these days. The US government has issued a "Do Not Travel" advisory for the country, warning that there's a risk of terrorism, civil unrest, health risks, kidnapping, and armed conflict. But photographer Marsel van Oosten recently traveled to the Yemeni island of Socotra, the "jewel of the Arabian Sea," to photograph the dragon blood tree.

This May Be the Oldest Known Photo of a Living Animal

There are plenty of well-known firsts in the history of photography, but the question of what the oldest animal photo is has thus far been an unsettled one. But a newly-surfaced photo of cows may possibly be the oldest animal photograph discovered thus far.

How to Make a DIY Wood Photography Backdrop

Want a tabletop wooden backdrop you can use for photographing everything from products to babies? Here's a 10.5-minute video by Erik Tande of DIY done wrong showing how you can make your own for basically zero cost.

Beware: New 3D Airport Scanners Will Wipe Unprocessed Camera Film

Airports around the United States are getting futuristic new CT scanners that give the TSA an instant 3D view of carry-on luggage contents, but the new scanners are a development film photographers should be wary of -- they can reportedly wipe out your unprocessed film with a single scan.

This Photographer Uses Clever Tricks for Extraordinary Photos

Jordi Koalitic is a Barcelona-based photographer who has racked up over 1.3 million followers on his Instagram by specializing in "creative photography." Koalitic shares not only his finished photos but also behind-the-scenes photos showing the tricks he used to create them.

German Camera Lenses May Be 25%+ More Expensive After Friday

If you're a fan of German camera lenses and you're thinking of buying one in the near future, you may want to pull out your credit card and pull the trigger right now. The US is set to unleash $7.5 billion in punitive tariffs on the EU starting Friday, and German lenses look set to be getting a 25%+ price hike in the process.

Huge Fireball in Sky Over China Turns Night into Day

Before the advent of ultra-sensitive digital cameras, powerful photoflash bombs were once used to illuminate the world below when shooting nighttime aerial photos. Some folks over in China recently got a similar experience when a huge fireball blazed across the sky and briefly turned night into day.

Photographer Recreates Vintage Lens Ads with His Own Glass

Remember those old lens advertisements you would see decades ago while flipping through magazines like National Geographic? Photographer Aaron Arizpe recently tried his hand at recreating the look and feel of those ads using his own lenses and editing skills.

A Wet Plate Portrait of Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg exploded into the public consciousness last month after the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist gave an impassioned and scathing speech to world leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. Earlier this month, wet plate photographer Shane Balkowitsch got 20 minutes with Thunberg at Standing Rock and used the time to make 2 wet plate portraits of her.

Adobe Rolls Out Revamped Creative Cloud Desktop App

Adobe has launched a new version of its Creative Cloud desktop application that has been redesigned from the ground up "to be a more intuitive way to access your apps, update them, and discover new apps that complement or extend your creativity."

This is How Film Cameras Added Dates to Your Photos

Before EXIF data landed on the scene through the rise of digital photography, film cameras could superimpose the current date directly onto your photos, allowing you to see when you shot each one as you flipped through an album. If you've ever wondered how that date was included, here's an interesting 14-minute teardown by Applied Science that reveals the secret.

This Photographer Shoots Impressive Conceptual ‘Selfies’

When Montreal-based photographer Véronique Duplain started out in her photography career back in 2014, she decided to take one self-portrait per day during the month of February. After the intense effort, she decided to keep the series going. Fast-forward six years, and her "Selfie Project" has grown to be an impressive body of work that captures her development as an artist.