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

Taking Photos Without Consent is Like Unwanted Touching: SF Street Fair

Folsom Street Fair, the annual BSDM fair in San Francisco, upset photographers in 2016 with its "Ask First" campaign that asked photographers to receive permission before taking photos of people on the public streets of the fair. This year, the same event organizers have released a warning that compares taking photos without consent to sexual assault.

DJI Mavic 2 Leak Reveals ‘Pro’ Drone with Hasselblad Camera

DJI was set to announce the new Mavic 2 on July 18th, but that event was unexpectedly postponed and the drone has yet to be officially unveiled. But the drone has already appeared in the latest catalog by the UK retailer Argos, and the listing reveals that it will be offered in "Zoom" and "Pro" versions.

Fujifilm Considering Bringing Back Its B&W Film: Report

Fujifilm killed off the last of its black-and-white film and photo paper back in April 2018. For many film photographers that news was like a dagger to the heart, but there is hope yet: Fujifilm is reportedly considering bringing its B&W film back.

V-Flat World Launches a Folding V-Flat

The V-flat is a common tool used by portrait photographers, but it has historically been a do-it-yourself product everyone builds for themselves. A new company called V-Flat World just changed that with the launch of its commercial foldable V-flats geared toward professional portrait photographers.

NY Daily News Cuts All Photographers

The New York Daily News slashed its editorial staff in half this week, and among the casualties of the layoffs was the entire team of photographers. The paper, which called itself "New York's Picture Newspaper" for over 70 years, now has zero staff photographers.

Jacobson Sound Blimps Closing After 52 Years

Jacobson Sound Blimps has announced that it's closing up shop, bringing an end to the 52-year-old business that produced the de facto official sound blimp used by still photographers on movie sets to suppress shutter sounds.

Photographer Outs Herself as Mystery Donor of $5.5M to Female Artists

In 1996, a mysterious program called Anonymous Was a Woman began giving $25,000 with no questions asked to 10 underrecognized female artists over the age of 40. Now, 22 years and $5.5 million later, the anonymous benefactor behind the program has finally stepped forward: she's 77-year-old photographer Susan Unterberg.

MacBook Pro CPU Throttling Was Due to Software Bug, Apple Says

Last week, reviewers reported that Apple's latest generation of MacBook Pro laptops suffer from thermal throttling, or having the CPU run much slower than advertised during intense processing because of heat issues. If that turned you off to the laptop, there's some good news today: Apple says the throttling was due to a software bug that has since been fixed.

Shoot Light-Painting Photos During the Day Using an ND Filter

Light-painting photography is generally done in the dark since you need long exposure times to capture moving light sources as streaks. But use can also shoot long-exposure photos in bright sunlight using a neutral density filter. Photographer Eric Paré recently did just that, experimenting with doing light-painting in afternoon daylight.

Sony Unveils the World’s First 48MP Smartphone Sensor

Sony has just announced a new CMOS sensor for smartphones that captures 48-megapixel photos -- the highest pixel count in the industry. The sensor is the world's first to feature an ultra-small pixel size of just 0.8μm, which is what allows it to stuff 48-megapixels onto a 1/2-inch sensor.

NY Times Selects Meaghan Looram as Its New Director of Photography

Earlier this year, the New York Times began searching for a new Director of Photography to replace Michele McNally, who announced her retirement in February after 14 years in that role. After considering both external and internal candidates, the Times has selected Meaghan Looram, who served as one of McNally's top deputies for 8 years.

Guy Proposes to His Photographer Girlfriend with a Camera Tattoo

Charlene Trickey is a professional photographer based in Florida and the owner of Trickey Photography. When her boyfriend Travis Durham proposed to Charlene yesterday, he did it with a large tattoo on his thigh with a vintage camera and the words: "Can't Picture Myself Without You. WYMM?"

Fujifilm 33mm f/1.0 Set to Be the First Mirrorless f/1.0 Autofocus Lens

In addition to its two new lenses announced yesterday, the 200mm f/2 and the 8-16mm f/2.8, Fujifilm has also revealed three upcoming lenses that are now on its roadmap: the 16mm f/2.8, 16-80mm f/4 OIS, and 33mm f/1. The 33mm lens is the first confirmed f/1.0 autofocusing lens in the world of mirrorless cameras.

The Developist is an In-Development DIY Auto Film Processor

A truly mass-market (and widely adopted) at-home automatic film processing machine has yet to appear in the world of photography. Photographer Mark Webb didn't want to wait around for one to show up, so he cobbled together one with his hardware and software knowledge. It's called the Developist.

These Are the Best iPhone Photos of 2018

The IPPAWARDS, or iPhone Photography Awards, has been celebrating the joy of iPhone photography since 2007, and it just released the winners of its 2018 photo contest celebrating the best iPhone photos of the year. The grand prize winner this year is Jashim Salam of Bangladesh, who shot the above photo with an iPhone 7.

‘Rain Bomb’ Captured by Airport Cam

Microbursts are intense small-scale downdrafts that can dump a huge amount of rain on a small area in a short period of time. From a distance, the phenomenon looks like a pillar of water crashing down on the Earth. In Arizona, an airport security camera just captured one of these "rain bombs."

Why That $699 MacBook eGPU May Be a Waste for Photographers

Last week, Apple and Blackmagic unveiled a new $699 external GPU (eGPU) that brings "desktop-class" graphics performance to MacBook Pros. But if you were hoping that it would be a godsend for speeding up your sluggish Photoshop or Lightroom for post-processing photos, you may want to check out this new 16-minute review by photoshopCAFE.