Famous Crossing At Abbey Road Offers Photo Ops and Traffic Jams

Everybody know the famous Beatles album cover of the four superstars crossing Abbey Road, but did you know that you can visit the intersection yourself and re-create the photo? Well you can, and what's more, there's a 24-hour webcam pointed right at the intersection that will capture you and your friends doing what tourists do at that intersection every week -- annoy local drivers.

Olympus Unveils New Ultra-Rugged TG-1 iHS Tough Camera

It's usually a bit anti-climactic when a company unveils a product that was all but completely leaked beforehand, but the new Olympus TG-1 iHS is still a very exciting addition to the rugged camera market. In the end it's about quality, and on that front Olympus are delivering in big ways, prompting some to say that the TG-1 is probably the best rugged camera on the market.

Photographs of East Germany Locations Captured Decades Apart

Photographer Stefan Koppelkamm first photographed East Germany in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the reunification. He revisited the same locations a decade later, and rephotographed them from exactly the same viewpoints to document the drastic social and economic transformations that came about during the time between the photos.

GIMP Adds New Interface and Nested Layer Groups in Version 2.8

The GNU Image Manipulation Project, more popularly known as GIMP, has just released version 2.8; the first complete GIMP overhaul since 2008. For those who don't know (and there probably aren't many) GIMP is famous for being a slightly more complicated (and a lot more free) alternative to Photoshop with fewer features. And it seems that, right on cue with the Adobe CS6 release, GIMP is trying to close the gap between the two products that's been widening these last 4 years.

Newer Smartphones Packing CMOS Sensors with Dedicated White Pixel

Some time ago Sony announced a new series of "stacked" CMOS sensors that would bring a new level of quality to smartphone cameras. And now, several months later, rumors are floating about that Sony's new LT29i smartphone -- codenamed the Hayabusa -- will be packing a 13-megapixel version of the new tech.

Portraits of Animal Shelter Cats Taken to Promote Adoption

Just like in real estate, for which good photos of homes can make a huge difference in attracting potential buyers, animal shelters often see spikes in adoptions when the animals are advertised with attractive photographs. For this reason, Arizona-based photographer Michael Kloth visits shelters on a weekly basis to offer his services to local adoption agencies.

Leica Monochrome M9-M To Feature M9-P Styling and Higher Price Tag

The big Leica announcement in Berlin is only three short days away, and as it draws closer more and more details about the highly-anticipated M9-M monochrome rangefinder are leaking. The most recent updates involve pricing and design. It seems that the new rangefinder will feature an all black body, much like the M9-P, with a Leica Monochrome engraving on the top plate. In fact, Leica Rumors is reporting that the M9-M will essentially be an M9-P with a monochrome sensor and a slightly higher price tag (between $8,500 and $9,000).

Black Bloc Occupiers Turn Violent Against Photographers

On May 2nd, news started coming in that the previous day's MayDay Occupy protests in New York had turned violent towards photographers. At first, people viewed the assaults as unplanned, isolated incidents; but since the attacks took place, a piece on Anarchist News has been released to set the record straight: photographers, apparently, are the enemy.

Photographing Pilots and Their F-16s In the Rocky Mountains

Behind the scenes videos, like the one earlier about Dave Hill's Ford Fusion shoot, typically show off a photographer's technique, or the challenges he or she faces when trying to get a certain shot. But Aspen-based photographer Tyler Stableford's Buckley AirForce Base shoot posed some unique challenges.

Cinematic Portraits of People at Work

Offering a very cinematic, editorial-style look at tradesmen doing their work, Japan-based photographer Yohei Shimada’s Workman series is an impressive display of photographic talent. The series was born out of necessity and a lack of subject matter in Shimada's small hometown of Nara. Having moved back there after completing an internship in Tokyo and coming into his own as a photographer, Shimada had to turn to the people he knew -- including his parents and friends -- to capture the series you see here.

What if You Could Photoshop Real Life?

There's been a lot of controversy around magazines using Photoshop to make real people look unrealistically pretty or fit, but what if you could actively Photoshop what you saw and experienced? That's the question the people over at Cracked decided to ask, and the answers are pretty hilarious:

Lens Diffraction and How It Affects Your Photos

Really more useful for landscape and macro photographers who are going to be shooting through very small apertures (f/22 and above), this video from FStoppers explains what diffraction is and how it can affect your shots. The trade off, as they explain in the video, is between a large depth of field and a sharp image; and the trick is to find your "sweet-spot."

1-Bit Camera App Harkens Back to the Old Nintendo Gameboy Camera

The 1-bit camera app is definitely not for people who love to mess around with filters and tweak high-quality images on their iPhone, there are plenty of other apps for that. Instead, the 1-bit camera is for those of us who remember using the old Nintendo Gameboy Camera; for those of us who don't mind paying $0.99 for a dose of good ol' fashioned nostalgia.

Animated Pirates Movie Made With One Million Stills From Fifty 1D Mark IIIs

High-end DSLRs have already made inroads into the world of professional cinematography, but the new animated movie "The Pirates" was actually shot using only Canon 1D Mark III's -- 50 of them to be exact. The movie, made by Oscar-winning British animation house Aardman (the same people that brought us Wallace and Gromit), is the first full-length feature film the studio has ever shot using only DSLRs.

Photos of Footprints Made From Different Sized Stones

Scottish photographer Iain Blake's fun and, let's face it, cute Stone Footprints series caught our attention earlier this week. Like many of the series we feature, it wasn't necessarily innovative photography technique, but rather the creative execution of a unique idea that drew us in.

Alfred Stieglitz — The Father of Modern Photography

Legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz was one of photography's pioneers. In a time when the arts, photography included, were stuck in the past and unwilling to change, he drove the art of photography into a new erra of expression. Because of this he is known by many as "the father of modern photography."

A DIY Rig for Perfect Light Painting Orbs

Unlike most DIY projects this one won't come cheap, but if you've always yearned for that ever elusive "perfect" light painting orb, then photographer Hugo Baptista has a solution for you. All you need to replicate his results is a Meade DS-2000 telescope mount, a drill, an LED strip with a wireless controller, and a piece of wood.

Futuristic Drag and Drop Concept for Transferring Photos and Media

Tired of fiddling with cables and memory cards? You might not have to in the near future as wireless data transfer becomes more and more common. This brilliant concept video by designer Ishac Bertran imagines how we might soon be using "spatially aware devices", or devices that can share data simply by holding them close together. Want to transfer some photos off your camera? Simply hold it close to your computer monitor and drag them off!

Flickr Ups Max Displayed Resolution to 2048px and Adds Size Controls

The folks at Flickr don't seem to be slowing down for anything. In the fight to stay relevant as more and more competition springs up, we've seen the Yahoo! photo sharing site go through an overhaul ranging from looks to a new uploader. And now Flickr is adding two new photo sizes and a new image control setting for its Pro members.

A Review of the IKEA Cardboard Camera

Yesterday I attended a VIP sneak preview of the new IKEA PS designer furniture line in Malmö, Sweden. I was not the slightest bit interested in the designer furniture. I was there for one reason, to play with and acquire the new KNÄPPA, IKEA's cardboard camera.

Teen Collects 50,000 Signatures to Protest the Use of Photoshop by Magazines

It's common knowledge that models in magazines are Photoshopped to look the way that they do -- often to the detriment of the young girls that aspire to have these computer generated figures -- but for the most part protests have come in the form of ad campaigns like Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. But in the past couple of weeks, 14-year-old Julia Bluhm decided to take a different approach.

The Frozen Face Effect: Why You Look Worse in Photos than in Video

If you've always felt that you look more attractive in videos than you do in photographs, you're not alone. A recent study done by researchers at UC Davis and Harvard has found that subjects generally find video footage of people more attractive than stills showing the same face. It turns out that looking attractive in photos is no easy feat due to what the researchers are calling the "frozen face effect."

Shoot Your Own Google Earth-style Aerial Photos with the E382 Drone Kit

If you happen to have $600+ just lying around (who doesn't?) and are looking to take photos from a whole new vantage point, then Event38's E382 Aerial Mapping Drone may be worth looking into. The $600 starter kit includes the plane, motor, speed controller, and the ArduPilot Mega 2.0 autopilot system to handle all of the pressure, GPS and flight data.

Creative Portraits of Classical Musicians

Denmark-based photographer Nikolaj Lund specializes in shooting the world of classical music, and captures some pretty unique portraits of musicians with their instruments. He takes the subjects out of their natural environment -- the orchestra pit -- and has them do epic poses in random places (e.g. streets, oceans, deserts).

Nikon Offers Temporary Fix for D4/D800 “Lock Up” Issue

After receiving several complaints from professional and private sources alike, Nikon has finally stepped forward to admit to and address the reported "lock up" issue with its new D4 and D800 DSLRs. The issue, which Nikon maintains only affects "a small number of D4/D800 users," causes both cameras to lock up unexpectedly and up until now could only be "fixed" by removing and reinserting the battery.

Image Sensor Implants Used as Makeshift Eyes for the Blind

Image sensors and the advent of digital imaging have been met with differing reactions from the photographical community. But what a team of doctors at the Oxford Eye Hospital have managed to do with the technology is 100% digital, and 100% amazing. Clinical trial leaders Robert MacLaren and Tim Jackson have helped two blind men to partially see again.

BlackRapid’s New LensBling Caps: Tag Each Lens With Its Focal Length

BlackRapid's new series of rear lens caps, dubbed "LensBling," offer an interesting way to organize and identify your lenses in a hurry. The ideal moment doesn't wait for you to find the right lens, and so the precious moments you could save when trying to distinguish your 85mm from your 105mm could mean the difference between a great picture and a missed opportunity.