Wildlife photography and videography is more incredible today than ever before, thanks in large part to the last decade's amazing leaps in camera technology. This behind the scenes look at the cameras used by the BBC to shoot Planet Earth II shows you how advances in camera tech have allowed us to see the creatures of the night in ways never before thought possible.
After nearly 80 years, Popular Photography announced that the magazine would publish its final issue on March 10, 2017 while simultaneously ceasing updates to both PopPhoto.com and AmericanPhotoMag.com.
Despite its uncertain future, Flickr continues to add features, doing their best to remain a relevant part of today's photo sharing landscape. Their latest update adds something called "similarity search", a feature that helps you find visually similar photos without guessing at proper search terms and tags.
"What lens should I buy?" It's one of the most common gear questions that pops up in the PetaPixel inbox, and while there is no one-size-fits-all answer, photographer Peter McKinnon does a great job of explaining what's out there and what you need to know to decide on your next lens in this informative video.
Popular Photography, the largest circulated imaging magazine that launched its first issue in May 1937 in New York City, has ceased publication after being continuously in production for 80 years. The March/April 2017 issue will be the last in print.
When I first started photography, I struggled a lot with lighting. In the beginning, we're often told to shoot our subjects in open shade, but if you don’t know how to do this properly the results can be disastrous: faces with dark shadows, eyes with no depth, overexposed backgrounds, etc.
It doesn't matter if you're a beginner, intermediate, or even a professional, you'll want to give Broncolor's free "How To" page a look. There, you'll find nearly 100 pro lighting examples—beautiful photos, each accompanied by a gear list, description, and lighting diagram. It's a tutorial gold mine.
Ever since the advent of digital cameras, some film photographers have dreamed of having a way to convert their beloved film cameras into digital ones. Photographer Robin Guymer took matters into his own hands: using his knowledge of electronics, he converted a Sony NEX-3 mirrorless camera into a digital back for his film Nikon FE SLR camera.
We're not entirely sure why, but product photography tutorials are coming hard and fast lately. So in case this DIY lightbox wasn't good enough, and 360° product photography isn't your thing, here's a great tutorial that will show you how to capture killer reflective product shots on a sea of black.
A growing number of users are turning to Google's ever-improving Photos app to backup their ever-growing camera roll. But while the main function of Google Photos is storage, the app's automatic photo editing features are getting more and more robust. Today, that means auto white balance.
The 'desaturated urban look' is incredibly popular these days, especially among rooftoppers and other city photographers who want to give their images a moody, gritty feel. Check out this video to find out how you can create this same look in Lightroom.
Another day, another lens comparison takes on Sigma's "king of portrait lenses," the 85mm f/1.4 Art. This time, our friend Usman from Sonder Creative tested the Sigma 85mm against Sony's well-liked 85mm f/1.4 GM out in the real world to see which of the two 85s he preferred.
It's all over Internet by now: the baffling picture of 'red' Strawberries, and the claim it does not contain any 'red' pixel.
Sometimes when I go to new locations, they can be so awe-inspiring that I feel photographically challenged. When this happens, I need to take a step back and think about the location's special traits that fill me with such awe.
Remember that crazy macro 'relay' lens Venus Optics showed off at Photokina? The Laowa 24mm f/14 Relay lens looks more like a rifle barrel than a camera lens, and now we finally get to see what it can do.
Need your vintage camera gear fix? This video ought to do it.
Adobe released a major update for Lightroom Mobile on both iOS and Android today. And in addition to a few simple features like "speed review" and a notification widget for iOS, and radial & linear selection tools for Android, Adobe dropped a bombshell: RAW HDR capture... on your smartphone.
Episode 156 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Photographer, author and educator, John Harrington
YouTuber Chris Chris captured the above video showing what happens when your camera's frame rate is perfectly synced to the rotation speed of a helicopter's rotor: the blades are frozen at the same angles in each frame, making it look like the helicopter is magically floating around with frozen rotor blades.
About a year ago, I was asked if I would like to do a wedding photography at night. The bride Erika had seen a photo of a moon halo I took earlier that year. In that photo, I had two friends that I ran into that night. They were out chasing the northern lights and I asked if I could take a photo of them together with the moon halo.
Taking pictures out of a helicopter is one of the greatest and most rewarding things I've done as a photographer. It grants you access to unparalleled views that you would never see otherwise.
It’s understandable that the great unwashed masses of the larger population might not appreciate contemporary art. But you’d think that photographers, who are creatives in their own right, would appreciate the art and creativity of others in all of its various forms. What I’ve seen instead is that, when it comes to much contemporary art, most (but not all!) photographers tend to dismiss the work outright.
Here's an interesting photography first that is set to happen in 2017: scientists are planning to capture the first ever photo of a black hole's event horizon (the boundary of no return that light can't event escape).
Lomography is selling a new limited edition film called Color Negative F²/400. It's a film with an unusual concept and backstory: it was aged like wine in oak casks for 7 years.
Since the introduction of the Fujifilm X-Series line of cameras, reviewers and consumers have struggled to compare them directly to the competition. Fujifilm’s is a tightly integrated system, wherein everything is a little bit different.
The US Copyright Office is currently doing a study on the "Moral Rights of Attribution and Integrity." Want to play a part in the development of US copyright law moving forward? You can weigh in and share your views on the matter.
Snapchat is known for popularizing the idea of the self-destructing photo, but did you know that long before Snapchat existed, Polaroid had already offered its own line of self-destructing Polaroid pictures? It was called the Fade to Black line.
Things aren't looking good for the standalone point-and-shoot camera. As smartphone cameras continue to improve, compact camera sales continue to nosedive. A new historical sales chart with 2016 figures shows just how quickly point-and-shoots are dying off.
David Rubinger, Israel's most famous photographer, died in Jerusalem on Wednesday, March 1st, 2017. He was 92.
Lightning is an amazing subject to try and photograph. Dazzling. Unpredictable. Fulfilling. I’ve been documenting the long arm of Zeus for more than two decades and still love it. First using transparencies and negatives, then digital. There are many ways to be creative when it comes to photographing lightning.
The photographer brand COOPH made this 3-minute video in which photographer Lorenz Holder shares the interesting story behind how he shot a photo that won the prestigious photo contest Red Bull Illume 2016.
Try and make money through a creative endeavor, be it photography, music, design, or art as a whole, and you’ll go through a transitional lesson wherein you discover that some people will present you an opportunity to spread your fledgling creative wings, but financial gain isn’t part of the reward.
Since being founded in 2012, Gameface Media has become a dominant force in amateur sports event photography. But in recent times, photographers shooting for Gameface have complained of payments being delayed by many months. Today there's a bit of good news: Gameface has raised another $2.6 million from investors and is now promising to pay photographers very soon.
The new LG G6 smartphone ships with an artsy wallpaper that looks like a stylized number 6. A neat fact about the image is that it's not a computer rendered artwork: it took two months to create and shoot the photos.
In 2015, photographer David Gaberle walked over 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) through some of the world's most metropolitan areas, photographing people in cities such as New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, London and Seoul. He's now turning this project into a book titled Metropolight.
If you're a fan of photography and LEGO, you should pay a visit to LEGO's flagship UK store in London if you're ever in the area. That location has the world's first "Mosaic Maker," a special photo booth that turns your portrait into a one-of-a-kind LEGO kit for building your face with blocks.
Thursday, September 29, 2016. It's 10:00 am and I have a meeting at Boulogne in the office of the White Dog agency. Everything starts with a good coffee and an announcement: "We are going to realize the new McPlace internal communication campaign for McDonald's."
Snap's IPO is complete and the 5-year-old tech company behind Snapchat is now officially a publicly traded corporation. Shares in Snap have exploded nearly 50% in the stock's debut today, valuing the company at around $29 billion.
40 years ago, Bob Khoury and Warren Steinberg started selling used photo equipment out of a showcase in an Atlanta, Georgia, flea market. Soon they moved to a brick and mortar store which, to incorporate their earlier experience, they called Showcase. The store grew to be the largest in Atlanta and sold photo and video equipment to amateurs and professionals alike and last year they celebrated their 40th anniversary.
I recently rediscovered an old photography technique that allows you to add surreal color to photos that show movement in the frame. The technique seems to be new in the digital domain, but the technique itself has been known since the early era of digital photography.
Episode 155 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Automotive photographer, Easton Chang
I’m a wedding photographer, and I love it. I don’t shoot anything else and I really don’t want to either.
In all my career as a freelancer I have shot everything from boxing matches to restaurant interiors. Nothing has ever been as challenging as photographing a wedding.
“Perfect photographs do not move the heart.”– David DuChemin, The Vision Driven Photographer …
Khan Academy recently teamed up with the team at Pixar to create a free online course for people who are interested in seeing how Pixar artists "do their jobs." But lest you think there's nothing there for photographers, think again. One of the classes in this course will definitely appeal to still shooters.
Well this is... interesting. It doesn't seem like the very public failure of Google Glass—due, in large part, to the built-in camera—has deterred Google from pursuing wearable camera tech. A recent patent shows that they're at least considering putting a camera and microphone onto a baseball cap.
I initially refused to believe it when this photo came across my feed. My eyes aren't broken! I can see they're strawberries, and they're definitely red. They have to be trolling us with this image, right?
Lensbaby's creative selective focus lenses like the Composer Pro will run you around $400; even the relatively affordable Spark costs $90. If all of that sounds too expensive for your taste, you should definitely check out this hacked version Mathieu Stern created for just 30 bucks!
I’m a firm believer that photography is a game of inches. So today I’ll share with you what I’ve learned about mastering autofocus shooting in a variety of difficult situations.
The tone curve is one of the most powerful tools in photo editing, allowing you to change multiple values and essentially doing the job of several different adjustment layers. But it's also complicated, and hard for beginners to understand. These two videos should help.
In late 2015, I stumbled upon a strobe called the Godox TT685: a fully-featured speedlight that has radio master and transmitter capabilities built right in. Being a Nikon user, I had never experienced that type of wireless connectivity, and I bought 3 despite being leery of the price.
