Michael Zhang

Print Photos onto Fabric Using Sunlight With the Lumi Process

The Lumi Process is a new print process for transferring photographs onto textiles and natural materials. It's based around Inkodye, a light sensitive solution that uses sunlight to print images onto everything ranging from cotton to wood. Once fixed, the images are permanent and can go through washing machines without fading. Co-founder Jesse Gennet recently launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to bring the project to a new level, and ended up raising over $250,000 -- a good deal more than the stated goal of $50,000.

Michael Zhang

Olympic-Sized Meals on Oversized Place Settings

Photographer Michael Bodiam and set designer Sarah Parker were recently commissioned by NOWNESS to shoot a project called "A Day on My Plate: Athletes' Meals". The goal was to document Olympic athlete meals, but with a twist: instead of standard perspectives, the massive amounts of food were placed onto oversized place settings created with laser-cut MDF, cardboard and paper.

Michael Zhang

Random Things You Can Use to Make Food Photos More Appealing

There's a reason that most of the foods you buy never look like the photos used to advertise them. Food photographers and stylists have all kinds of random tricks up their sleeve for making food items look picture perfect. Here's a list of various household products that are commonly used to make dishes look more appealing. A warning, though: you might lose your appetite.

Michael Zhang

Paparazzo Light is an Old School Press Camera “Flash” for the iPhone

How's this for a strange camera accessory: the Paparazzo Light is a lighting attachment for iPhones that mimics the look of vintage press camera flashes (yes, the kind the original Lightsaber was made from). The light comes from a 300 Lumen LED that's powered by two dedicated CR 123 batteries, and three modes offer different brightness settings for photos and videos.

Michael Zhang

Win Two Stylish ONA Camera Bags Worth $388

We just gave away a Tamron lens, but now we're back again with another awesome giveaway. This week we're giving away two beautiful camera bags by ONA that'll let you carry your cameras in style. One lucky winner will win both a Brixton camera + laptop messenger bag worth $269 and a Bowery camera bag worth $119 -- a total value of $388.

Michael Zhang

Austria’s Largest Paper Runs ‘Shopped Photo of Syria

Photographs of of Syria these days are filled with grim sights of pain and suffering. One Austrian newspaper apparently decided that the photos weren't grim enough. Kronen Zeitung, Austria's largest newspaper boasting ~3 million readers, published a photo this past weekend (top) showing a couple stepping through the rubble of a destroyed building complex with their child wrapped in a blanket. A powerful image... but completely fabricated. The original photo (bottom) published by the European Pressphoto Agency two days earlier shows a completely different scene.

Michael Zhang

Camera Forgotten on Plane Causes Flight Diversion, Scrambling of Fighter Jets

The next time you fly, be sure not to forget your camera on the plane -- your camera might make the national news. A United Airlines flight carrying 169 people from New Jersey to Switzerland was diverted to Boston last night after a camera was discovered in a seasickness bag behind one of the seats. In addition to inconveniencing the passengers, two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled to follow the plane. The camera was later discovered to be... an ordinary camera.

Michael Zhang

Apple to Use Face Detection for Exposure Metering and Snappy Autofocus

Face detection has become the snapshot photographer's invaluable assistant in ensuring tack-sharp faces, but soon it'll be able to add two more job responsibilities to its resume: exposure metering and speedier autofocus. Two patents recently awarded to Apple show that future iOS cameras (perhaps the next iPhone?) will have standard camera features that rely much more on face detection technology. The first patent, titled "Dynamic exposure metering based on face detection", allows the camera to automatically select faces as the primary target for metering. In more difficult situations -- group shots or people standing in front of a crowd, for example -- the camera will use factors such as "head proximity" to select the primary subject.

Michael Zhang

Photos Documenting the Illegal Use of Olympic Branding

The 2012 London Olympics is pretty strict about how the Games' branding is used, prohibiting the unauthorized use of everything from the Olympic symbol to the word "Olympic". Enforcing the rules is another story, as businesses both near and far use Olympic branding extensively to promote their own interests. Photographer Craig Atkinson recently decided to start a project documenting illegal uses in London through a photo project titled Illegal Olympics.

Michael Zhang

Photographing Extreme Skiing in the Alps

Here's a beautiful behind-the-scenes video that takes us on an adventure with Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen as he shoots extreme skiing at the foot of Mont Blanc. Bendiksen was testing the Leica S2 medium-format DSLR -- typically thought of as a studio camera -- to see how it stands up in harsh outdoor environments.

Michael Zhang

London Olympic Photographs from Over 100 Years Ago

The Olympic games in London this year makes London the first city to have hosted the modern Olympic Games three times. The previous times were in 1908 and 1948. Here are some photographs captured at the 1908 Olympics 104 years ago, during a time when megaphones were used to announce events, top hats were all the rage, and dresses were worn by female competitors (this was the third games in which women were allowed to compete).

Michael Zhang

Canon’s Drool-Worthy Gear Room at the London Olympics

Welcome to camera gear heaven: here's a glimpse inside the Canon Professional Services office at the London 2012 Olympics. It's a room that's absolutely stuffed with cameras, lenses, and accessories from floor to ceiling. The Canon 1D X hasn't been released to the general public yet, but this room has hundreds of them!

Michael Zhang

Olympic Athletes Photographed Using a Field Camera and 100-Year-Old Lens

Los Angeles Times Jay L. Clendenin spent four weeks leading up to the Olympics traveling around Souther California, making portraits of athletes on the US Olympic Team. While he certainly wasn't the only one shooting the athletes, Clendenin chose an interesting way of capturing them: in addition to using Canon 5D Mark IIs for digital photos, he also used a 4x5-inch field camera and a 100+-year-old Petzval lens. When displayed side-by-side, the photos show an interesting contrast between "old" and "new".

Michael Zhang

The Hilariously Contorted Faces of Divers in Mid-Air

Diving is one of the most popular Olympic sports among spectators, and arguably one of the most graceful. The faces of the divers as they perform their acrobatics? Not so graceful.

ShortList Magazine took Getty photographs of divers and then cropped out their distorted faces. G-forces have quite a negative effect on beauty...

Michael Zhang

New Lunar Photos Give Proof That Our Flags Are Still There

New photographs of the moon by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera reveal that flags planted by Apollo astronauts are still "flying" after more than four decades. Each of the six manned Apollo missions planted flags at their landing sites, and it now appears that all but one -- the flag planted by Neil Armstrong was blown over upon their departure -- are still standing. The photographs were taken at different times of the day, and show small shadows rotating around the locations where the flags were planted.

Michael Zhang

Clever Photos of Tiny People Living in a World of Giant Food

Big Appetites is a project by photographer Christopher Boffoli that features miniature people living in a world of giant food. The subjects are seen mining for strawberry seeds, chopping up giant blocks of chocolate, and lobster wrangling. Each of the figures (meant for miniature train models) are hand-painted with meticulous detail.

DL Cade

Sigma Has a Change of Heart, Won’t Ever Produce Its Own Mirrorless ILC

A couple of years ago, Sigma expressed a desire to create a mirrorless ILC of its own. And even though everybody and their mother in the camera industry seems to be jumping on the mirrorless bandwagon, Sigma instead is renegeing on that 2010 statement. In an interview with Chinese website Xitek, a Sigma manager stated that the company would never launch a mirrorless system.

DL Cade

New Website Offers Unique “Pimped Out” Versions of the Nikon 1

Here's a cool idea for those of you who feel that the colors you have to choose from when buying a Nikon 1 mirrorless camera are a teensy bit lacking. A new German website called Pimp Your Cam (Note: some images on the site are NSFW) will soon start selling unique, airbrushed Nikon 1 cameras and customization options through the site and at select retailers.

The site and idea is the brain child of photographer Jens Brüggemann and Berlin airbrush artist Torsten Rachu, and each design they come up with is 100% unique. In fact, if you order a design -- which, according to their press release, you'll soon be able to do from their website -- that design will be removed from the site as soon as the order goes through. Check out some of their impressive work after the break.

DL Cade

Fuji Discontinues X100, Possibly Bringing X200 Follow Up to Photokina

Now that July is just about over with, only one month and a few weeks separate us from the start of Photokina on September 18th. And as the wait becomes progressively shorter, speculation about who may be announcing what is gradually ramping up. The most recent batch of speculation has to do with Fuji and the fact that the X100 is now showing up as discontinued on Crutchfield, as well as $200 off at both Amazon and B&H.

DL Cade

How to Shoot RAW Time Lapse, A Tutorial Series by Preston Kanak

Over the years we've featured many incredible time lapse videos shot in locations ranging from Disney Land to Paris, but seeing an awesome time lapse and making one from start to finish yourself are worlds apart. This tutorial series, put together by videographer Preston Kanak and introduced in the video above, offers amateurs and professionals alike the opportunity to learn how to shoot amazing RAW time lapse footage absolutely free.

Michael Zhang

Electrifying Photos of Flowers Being Zapped by 80,000 Volts

Photographer Robert Buelteman takes pictures of shocking things -- literally. The California-based photographer uses Kirlian photography techniques to capture amazing images of 80,000 volts of electricity coursing through flowers. The technique is so dangerous and tedious that very few people in the world even attempt this kind of photography.

DL Cade

Indestructible Hard Drive Keeps Your Pics Safe from Car Washes, Fire and Football

It's unlikely you'll ever need to protect your digital photos from extreme elements (and if you have a 7D you know your camera will make it) but as the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry -- and apparently hard drives don't get much safer than the Slilicon Power A80. In a video that's equal parts fun and demonstration, photographer Benjamin Von Wong put the hard drive through a series of unrealistically harsh tests, making sure it still worked after each one.

DL Cade

Apple and Google Each Form Alliances in Preparation for Kodak Patent Battle

The deadline to put up initial bids for Kodak's 1,100 patent sale is Monday, and The Wall Street Journal reports that the two biggest contenders, Apple and Google, are forming "coalitions" with other companies in preparation for the all out patent brawl. The last time this happened, an Apple/Microsoft alliance ended up winning the battle against Google, that time over a patent sale by Nortel Networks.

DL Cade

Photogs Chime in on Snapping Photos of Tragedy When They Could Have Helped

The Guardian featured a gripping article yesterday that asked photographers to look back at some of their most powerful photos, and how they could have helped instead of standing by and taking pictures. On the one hand we've all felt that surge of indignation as we wonder "why didn't they help!?" On the other, only a photographer that has been there could understand what it's like to be under that kind of pressure: