Defending ‘Needles in the Sewer’ and Photographing the Disadvantaged

One of my images has been subjected to criticism and scrutiny in a way that none of my other work ever has. The photograph in question is of a scene in London, Chinatown; a man reaches into a sewer while shouting about how someone threw his needles down there.

Lexar’s Warranty System is Being Held Up by US Govt Approval

After shuttering its Lexar memory card business in June 2017, Micron sold the brand just 3 months later to the Chinese flash storage company Longsys and now Lexar cards are back from the grave. But Lexar is still waiting for US government approval, and the brand's warranty process is at a standstill because of it.

How to Photograph Mysterious Floating Scrabble Letters

This past month, a student showed me an Instagram post with floating scrabble letters and asked me how it was done. After a few moments of reflection, I decided there was a number of ways to photograph floating letters and it would be a great idea for a student lab. To explore different techniques would be a great lab. The students evaluated the techniques to see which was best for creating floating letters.

The Bucket Shot: Peter McKinnon’s Journey to Shooting His Dream Photo

Growing up as a skateboarder and BMX biker, Peter McKinnon never thought he would one day become a creative. But after he received a camera, he was bitten by the photography bug and got hooked. This 23-minute short film, titled "The Bucket Shot," tells the story of McKinnon's life journey to shooting the photo of his dreams.

4 Good Reasons + 1 Barely Adequate Justification to Shoot With a Rangefinder

The SLR has been the dominant camera type in photography for the last 70 years. SLRs are more intuitive, easy to focus, and versatile when it comes to mounting lenses of any length. So why does the rangefinder, as a design, persist into the modern era? There is not a single reason why anyone should be using these archaic and fiddly cameras when more advanced and efficient machines exist.

7 Things Pablo Picasso Can Teach Us About Photography

As I am always looking to improve my photography by learning, part of the process is seeking inspiration from others who create. I don’t, however, confine myself to just learning from other photographers. I cast my net for ideas wide, and look to artists, writers, musicians -- whoever it is that will inspire me with new ways of seeing and fresh ideas.

Dropping Photojournalists Also Drops Photo Quality, Study Finds

A number of prominent newspapers and magazines have laid off some or all of their photojournalists in recent years, but these moves are not without their consequences. A new study has found that switching from a photojournalist staff to non-professional photos causes, to no one's surprise, a significant drop in photo quality.

The Story of How Top Photographers Posed for Baseball Cards in 1974

In the mid-1970s, 134 of the top photographers and curators in the world of photography posed for an unusual set of baseball cards that now sell for thousands of dollars as a complete set. The SF Museum of Modern Art just released this 4-minute video in which photographer Mike Mandel shares the story of how these cards came to be.

5 Tips for Shooting Fashion Behind the Scenes

One of my favorite environments for photojournalism is the world of fashion, which I fell into almost accidentally when I first started out as a photographer. It has been one of the most interesting, rewarding experiences both artistically and personally, and I would like to share some thoughts on working in that scene.

A Guide to Shooting Portraits with Kodak Ektar 100

Kodak Ektar is the reason I fell in love with film photography. My first roll completely blew all of my digital shots out of the water. I was used to the ugly JPEGS that my old Nikon D40 spat out and Ektar just gave me what I wanted -- sharp pictures, with silky grain and a look that I didn’t know how to edit for.

How to Make a Camera Lens Lamp

After Canon handed out camera lens mugs at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, novelty lens look-alike mugs and cups have flooded the market. If you've received one or more of them as gifts, one thing you can do is turn them into camera lens desk lamps.

Light Painting with a Paper Tube and a Shower Curtain Dress

After our flight to NYC got canceled last summer, we got stuck in Chicago for one night with no light painting tubes, no dress, no tripods, and no battery chargers. During the shuttle ride to the hotel, we started joking about using a bed sheet to fake a dress and to use whatever we could find in the hotel room as a light-painting tool.

How I Got Banned from Photographing the Band Arch Enemy

Back in June I covered Fortarock, a fantastic metal festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I had the opportunity to shoot bands like Dragonforce, Watain, Týr, Alestorm and Arch Enemy, all of whom are not only really fun to photograph, but also extremely talented musicians.

Sigma Releases the X3F Plug-in for Photoshop –Sigma

Sigma has released the X3F plug-in for Photoshop, which allows photographers to edit X3F files captured with DP Merrill, dp Quattro, SD1, SD1 Merrill, and sd Quattro cameras in Photoshop CC. The free download is available for both Windows and Mac.

The Basics of Equivalent Exposure in Photography

The concept of equivalent exposure can be a tricky one to wrap your mind around when you're just getting started in photography. Photography enthusiast and animator Vincent Ledvina of Apalapse made this helpful 5.5-minute video that explains it in a simple and visual way.

Tired of Lightroom? Ditch the Catalog and Try Adobe Bridge

Over this past year, an increasing trend in photography seems to be finding a viable alternative to Adobe Lightroom. Some have done it to get out from underneath the subscription service while others aren't pleased with what remains to be inconsistent speed and performance. It seems to be more of the latter than the former, with the Lightroom Catalog largely responsible for the latter.

Review: Is Sigma’s New 70-200mm f/2.8 Sport the New Top Dog?

Sigma completes its “Holy Trinity” with the release of the all-new 70-200mm f/2.8 Sport – is it the ultimate 70-200mm on the market right now? Sigma sent us a review piece of the upcoming lens for us to try out for a few days.

New Photos Show Water Ice on Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released an eye-opening pair of new photos that show a massive crater of water ice on Mars. The crater measures 51 miles (83km) across and contains a 1.1-mile-thick (1.8km) mound of water ice all year round.

5 Things More Important Than Camera Brand

Debating which camera brand is best is a sure way to create a lively discussion among photographers. It’s easy to endlessly discuss specs and online reviews and to think that the latest model will give us some missing edge. But what about when you really put images to the test with prints?

We Shot an Award-Winning Landscape Photo Using a Fog Machine

I needed a landscape photo of a foggy forest on a sunny day, in which beams of sunlight were streaming through the trees and creating beautiful sun rays. The only problem was that it was summer and there was no fog to be had... so I decided to rent a fog machine and see if we could make enough fog to simulate real fog.

Shooting Portraits with Colored Shadows

Finding new ways to create isn't always easy, so you have to keep your eyes open for inspiration. One day while making my way down the rabbit hole of YouTube, I stumbled across a video. These guys had created 3 colored shadows off this pencil while keeping a perfectly white background. What in the world was this sorcery? Turns out it wasn't sorcery, it was science.