How I Made Myself a 16×20-inch Bellows Camera

Starting back in May of 2014, I finally put my first foot forward in the making of a 16x20 inch bellows camera. The idea to build a camera was nothing new to me, but I was always hesitant to begin construction since I am the type of person that prefers to work off a set of blue prints and directions. Unfortunately, since my drawing skills aren't amazing, it was pretty difficult to visualize and plan a solid blueprint of the project - which ultimately forced me to bite the bullet and simply begin construction of the camera and problem solve along the way.

Stacking Five 2x Teleconverters to Create a Ridiculous 9600mm Lens

Teleconverters are a great way to get some extra reach without having to drop some serious money for a 400mm+ lens. It can be an essential tool for many photographers who are constantly cropping in on their images, even when shooting with a crop camera and telephoto lens. In case you didn't know, a teleconverter is a small lens element that attaches to your lens and increases the effective focal range, typically by a factor of 1.4x or 2x.

Also known as an extender, tele-extender, or a doubler (2x), teleconverters are an important piece of equipment for long lens photography... but is there a limit?

How to Add Fog to Your Photo Shoot Using Dry Ice

Here's a look at how I use dry ice in my photography. My goal with this article is simply to share my journey with this technique. In the images used as examples, no fog textures were used (unless noted) -- basically, if you see fog, that's how it was captured (minus the color work).

Olympus Air: A 16MP Camera That Uses Your Phone as Its Live View Screen

Olympus has officially announced the Air, a 16-megapixel camera that looks more like a teleconverter that has a sensor stuffed into it. The device acts as a middleman between your Micro Four Thirds lens and your smartphone, effectively turning your phone into a giant LCD screen and user interface for a modular camera.

30% of Film Shooters Are Younger Than 35, Says Ilford

Last month we shared a news segment that explored the renaissance that appears to be happening in the world of analog photography. Now a new poll is backing that idea up with statistics.

Nearly a third of film photographers are younger than 35 years of age, and "support for traditional film is growing," says Ilford Photo. The company, best known for its analog photo products, reported these findings after doing an international survey of film users.

James Nachtwey on the Power Photography Has to Change Our World

Photojournalist and war photographer James Nachtwey received a Lifetime Achievement Award this past Monday from the American Society of Magazine Editors. The 3.5-minute video above is his acceptance speech in which he talks about the power of photojournalists to create positive change in the world.

A Medium Format Pinhole Camera Designed to Look Like the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye

The Kodak Brownie line of affordable cameras was first introduced in 1900 and cost $1, bringing photography to the masses and pioneering snapshot photography. Mexican photographer Raymundo Panduro of Tlaquepaque, Jalisco wanted to pay tribute to this iconic camera, so he spent two weeks (in his free time) building a homemade pinhole camera based on a Brownie Hawkeye that he had purchased at a flea market.

This is What You Get When You Fire a Camera Flash Inside Someone’s Mouth

Here's a strange portrait showing what you get when you fire an off-camera flash that's shoved into your subject's mouth. Certain parts of the human face are more translucent than others, resulting in a creepy skull-like appearance.

24-year-old Belgian visual artist Stijn Eeckhout tell us he shot the photo after he was curious about what the effect would look like.

I Made a Super Bowl Commercial with Seven Photos

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would begin 2015 by shooting a Super Bowl commercial. Even further removed from the unlikeliness of shooting said commercial is... well... shooting said commercial in seven images. Not seven scenarios or seven videos -- seven photos.

Pilot Selfies Likely Caused Deadly Plane Crash, NTSB Investigation Concludes

On May 31st, 2014, a small Cessna plane crashed in a field a few miles away from Denver, killing its pilot and passenger. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) just published a report with findings from its investigation, concluding that the crash was most likely caused by the pilot becoming disoriented while taking selfies of himself.

A Look Inside the World’s First Photo Book from 1843

Want to see what it's like to flip through the first photo book that ever appeared in the world? The online show Objectivity recently paid a visit to The Royal Society in London to see its copy of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, a 1843 book by English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins that's considered to be the first book ever to be illustrated exclusively with photographs.

Actor Keegan Allen is a Photography Buff Who Just Published a Photo Book

Keegan Allen is an American actor who's best known for playing the character Toby Cavanaugh on the ABC Family TV show Pretty Little Liars. He's also a passionate photographer. Above is a 3-minute interview USA Today recently did with Allen about his interest and background. Allen "never goes anywhere without a Leica by his side," the paper says.

The Beautiful Symmetry of Grand Theaters Captured from Center Stage

Gilles Alonso is a 43-year-old professional architectural photographer based in Lyon, France. For his recent project "Symétrie du Spectacle" ("Symmetry Show"), Alonso visited a large number of grand theaters and photographed the hall from center stage. The images capture the beautiful symmetry and grandeur of these spaces.

The Unspoken Reason Why Wedding Photography is So Expensive

Here's a common complaint: "Why is wedding photography so expensive?"

One of the most common complaints about wedding photography is that it’s too expensive. I’ve seen this sentiment uttered from all corners of the Web. I’ve also seen just as many photographers jump at the opportunity to defend their prices by writing articles that only an accountant could appreciate.

A Look at How Michael Paul Smith Creates Historical Photos with Incredibly Detailed Models

Here's a fascinating video about how photographer Michael Paul Smith creates and photographs Elgin Park, a 20th century town created through miniature 1/24th-scale models. Smith creates incredibly realistic photos by capturing the detailed dioramas with an ordinary compact camera, and his images have gone viral in recent years on the Internet (the project has over 70 million views on Flickr).

BTS: Shooting Portraits of Celebrities at Sundance in a Tiny Tent Studio

Here's a short 2-minute behind-the-scenes video showing how Getty's Chief Entertainment Photographer Larry Busacca shot celebrity portraits at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Busacca had to shoot all the portraits in the same tiny, green-walled tent studio, so he had to get creative with posing to shoot unique portraits of the actors.

kraftwerk: A Portable Power Plant That Can Charge Your Camera with Standard Gas

Want a portable generator for recharging your devices that you can literally fill up in just seconds? It'll soon be available... but you'll need to be comfortable carrying a gas-powered power plant around in your bag.

The kraftwerk is the world's first fuel cell power generator that's operated on standard gas. It takes just 3 seconds to refill.

Studio Portraits of Owls That Capture Their Nobility and Personalities

For his projects Affinity I and Affinity II, Santa Fe, New Mexico-based photographer Brad Wilson captured beautiful studio portraits of all kinds of wild animals, from birds to primates to the diverse wildlife of the African safari.

Of the 65 animal species featured, 12 of them are different types of owls. Wilson's detailed images capture the nobility and personalities of the nocturnal birds of prey.

Underwater Photographer Snaps Selfies with Sharks

Underwater photographer Aaron Gekoski was recently on an outing to photograph one of the largest migrations in the world's oceans, but the project was hampered by unfavorable conditions. Instead of writing the trip off as a failure, however, Gekoski and his buddy decided to tackle a different photo project instead: selfies with sharks.

Microsoft OneDrive Gets Photo-Centric Updates That Improve the Image Experience

There's a royal rumble going on in the world of cloud storage, and photo storage is one of the battlegrounds upon which the war is being waged. Dropbox launched a photo storage and sharing service in late 2014, and Amazon recently added unlimited photo storage to its Prime membership.

Now Microsoft is getting more serious with photography as well: this past week the company announced updates to its OneDrive service that greatly improve the photo experience.