Michael Zhang

Beautiful Macro Photos of the Insides of Musical Instruments

Photographer Bjoern Ewers directed this creative advertising campaign for the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra that shows beautiful views of the insides of various instruments. Shot using a macro lens, each one looks more like a giant music hall than a musical instrument.

Michael Zhang

Armless Indonesian Woman Pursues Photography Dream

Rusidah Badawi lost her forearms in a tragic accident 32 years ago at the age of 12. After the amputation, the 44-year-old Indonesian woman was introduced to photography through a vocational rehabilitation centre for the handicapped. She immediately fell in love with it, and began a career working as a wedding and party photographer. Working primarily with film photography up until 2010, she switched over to digital when Canon sponsored her endeavors by gifting her with a digital Canon 550D DSLR and a Speedlite flash.

Allen Murabayashi

Should Photo Contests Require Original Image Files?

Shaofeng Xu’s photo of a protestor climbing a high-voltage electricity tower won Honorable Mention in the Contemporary Issues category of the World Press Photo 2012 contest.

Michael Zhang

Random Objects Turned Into Food Using Stop Motion

New York-based animator Adam Pesapane (who goes by the working name PES) creates some of the smoothest and most creative stop-motion videos we've seen. In the short video above, titled "Fresh Guacamole", he shows how you can create a guacamole dip out of random objects such as baseballs, golf balls, and dice.

Pat David

How to Visualize Photography Lighting Setups in Blender

Not too long ago I finally got around to picking up a decent manual flash for exploring lighting and speedlight techniques. I picked up a Yongnuo YN-560 Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon, and my friend Sean was kind enough to send me his old radio triggers to play with. I was mostly all set to start exploring the world of off-camera lighting...

Michael Zhang

Photos Captured the Moment the Camera is Destroyed by a Bullet

Photographer Steven Pippin creates unique photographs that capture the precise moment in which the camera used to capture the photo is destroyed by a bullet from a handgun. The images show the final moment of the camera's existence (with the help of a mirror) and are themselves damaged by the bullet passing through the film.

Michael Zhang

Remote Instagram Printer Instaprint Going from Prototype to Product

One year ago we featured a novel new device called Instaprint, a location-based photo booth that lets people create instant prints of Instagram photos by simply tagging them with a specific tag. It constantly scans Instagram for its tag, and when a photo is found the image is immediately printed out as a Zink print. Now Breakfast, the company behind the prototype, is trying to turn it into an actual product. They're trying to raise half a million bucks through Kickstarter and a $400 contribution effectively preorder one.

Michael Zhang

Oops: Nikon Uses Stolen Canon 5D Mark II Footage for D800 Promo Video

Nikon caused a stir this past weekend after it was revealed that a promo video shown during the D800's launch in Bangkok actually contained footage that was both used without permission and that wasn't even captured with a Nikon D800. After a recording of the promo was uploaded to YouTube in mid-February, people began coming forward with reports that Nikon had used their videos without permission.

Michael Zhang

Viral Photographs Bring Instant Success

Photographers used to spend lifetimes building up their portfolios and networks before their work became widely known to a global audience, but with the advent of the Internet, the fact that anything can "go viral" is completely changing the equation for success.

Michael Zhang

Close-Up Photos of Wild Lions Captured with an Armored “BeetleCam”

UK-based wildlife photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas got the Internet's attention a couple years ago with the BeetleCam, a special remote controlled DSLR that allowed them to capture close-up photos of animals in the wild that photographers would have difficultly strolling up to. After the success of that experiment, they decided to return to Africa last summer with upgraded (and armored) versions of the BeetleCam in order to photograph lions in Kenya.

Jessica Lum

Virtual Photo Walks Make Photography Accessible to People with Disabilities

The last time C. Corey Fisk walked was in 1992. She has multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease that affects the central nervous system and gradually took her ability to walk and leave her bed.

But early February, she went on a photo walk with photographer John Butterill in the woods behind his house in Ontario, Canada -- all from her own home in northern California.

Michael Zhang

Canon Radio-Controlled 600EX-RT Flash Replaces the 580EX II

In addition to its big 5D Mark III announcement today, Canon also made some big updates to its high-end professional accessories, the biggest of which is the new Speedlite 600EX-RT. This new top-of-the-line flash unit replaces the 580EX II and uses a new radio-based wireless triggering system. Communicating on 2.4 GHz frequencies, the new flash avoids traditional directional limitations associated with optical transmitters and offers two-way wireless transmission of up to 98.4 feet. It also features a higher guide number, an expanded zoom range, and a tougher build. You'll be able to pick one up at the end of March for a cool $630.

Michael Zhang

Camera Awesome: A Free and Powerful Camera App for iOS by SmugMug

Want to upgrade the camera on your iPhone for free? SmugMug has launched a new iOS camera app called Camera Awesome that puts a number of fancy features at your fingertips, including separate focus and exposure selection tools, a one-touch "Awesomeize" button, fancy guide lines (e.g. horizon, rule of thirds, golden rule), and effects (textures, filters, and frames).