Here's both a neat picture and a mind-blowing fact for you. What you see above is the IBM Model 350 Disk File from 1956. It weighed over a ton, contained fifty 24-inch disks, and was leased to companies for $3,200 per month. It could hold... 3.75 Megabytes.
That means that it would take 21 of these puppies to hold the largest 14-bit RAW file the Nikon D800 spits out.
This poor camera has seen some things. For three months, photographer KB's Fuji X20 languished in the Colorado wilderness while rain, hail, snow, and animals took turns saying ungentle hellos. And yet, when KB brought it home and charged it up, the X20 started right up!
Astronomers can wait decades to see or capture what Ben Lewis photographed by accident while shooting a time-lapse Ashton-Wildwood County Park, Iowa very early this morning. Called a 'bolide fireball,' what you see in the short time-lapse above is an exceptionally bright meteorite that explodes in a bright flash at its end, leaving behind this strange bright puff of red smoke.
At the Adobe MAX 2014 conference this past week, Adobe showed off some of the crazy technology current brewing in the company's labs. Two of them offer a glimpse at what may soon be available to photographers in Photoshop: changing the time of day (i.e. lighting) in photographs with a simple slider and removing haze from a scene automatically.
Oh the places you'll go... Dr. Seuss may not have written those words to humankind as a whole, but he may as well have. As the ESA and its Rosetta Spacecraft prepare to land, for the first time ever, on a comet, this image serves as an awe-inspiring reminder of the places we've already been.
Namely: An asteroid, the Moon, Mars, Venus, Titan and, of course, our own mother Earth.
Editor's Note: There is one very brief instance of nudity in this ad. Proceed with caution.
The award-winning ad agency behind the moving Leica ad "Soul" from last year have created another masterpiece. It's called "Leica 100," and it celebrates 100 years of Leica photography by paying tribute to 35 of the most iconic photographs of all time in an incredibly creative way.
Matt Granger, one of our favorite photographers/photography educators, was one of the fortunate souls who got to spend the last 4 months putting the newly announced ZEISS Otus 85mm f/1.4 through its paces, and he's created a video review to show you just why this lens is worth every penny of the $4,490 asking price.
We've seen photographers get VERY close to active volcanoes and lava flow -- be it from air, land or sea -- but explorers Sam Cossman and George Kourounis take the unbelievably hot cake with their recent expedition to the bottom of the Marum Crater, an active, incredibly dangerous volcano found in the Republic of Vanuatu.
25 years and two days ago today, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft passed right over Neptune’s largest moon Triton. It’s …
Ever wonder what it's like to fly with the Blue Angels? Well, this photograph, taken from inside one of the planes during the Blue Angles' practice last Thursday in Chicago, should give you some idea.
Robin Williams' tragic death left the entire world in shock, grieving for a man whose entire professional life was dedicated to bringing joy to others. The Internet was immediately flooded with those paying tribute to the Academy Award-winning actor and comedian, and as clips and stories from decades long gone surfaced, some incredible stories came to light.
First things first: the photo above isn't a composite. In fact, as Elizabeth van der Bij of ENV Photography jokingly explained in the comments on her Facebook page, her Photoshop skills "suck", so she couldn't have faked it even if she had wanted to.
No, the Alberta-based photographer and the couple, Kassandra & Craig, simply stuck it out and kept taking pictures as the storm approached until, as luck would have it, the Universe delivered in a big way.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are blowing minds with
Some photographs are so good it's hard to believe they're real, and that is definitely the case with Fefo Bouvier's photograph of the Milky Way hovering above a glowing strip of Noctiluca bioluminescence in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Rose of Jericho (Selaginella lepidophylla) is one of the most resilient plants …
The guys over at HouseholdHacker have come up with and shared a cheap product photography trick that's incredibly simple but yields awesome results. And all you need to take advantage of it is some sort of reflective surface (they used a glossy black trashcan...), a computer monitor, and a smartphone camera!
For photographer George Probst, Shark Week must be like looking through a family photo album. That's because this photographer's bucket list item turned passion is swimming with great white sharks and taking pictures that will help smash the 'Jaws' stereotype that clings to these majestic (if terrifying) creatures.
A couple of kayakers, believe to be a father and daughter, had an unbelievable encounter with some playful whales in the waters off the coast of Puerto Madryn, Argentina. They captured the entire thing in a GoPro video that has since gone viral, but the footage has sparked serious criticism from authorities and those who capture professional footage and photos of these gentle giants.
Now there's a family portrait you don't see every day. Photographer Kelly DeLay captured the photo above showing himself and his family standing in front of a gigantic supercell at sunset with a large lightning strike illuminating the horizon.
It's true that the Internet can be a stupid and cruel place -- read any comment section on a controversial news piece for proof of that -- but it can also be a wonderful place that occasionally brings you to tears... in a good way.
This is a story about the best of the Internet: about a grieving father, a heartfelt request, and an overwhelming response.
We're trying, we really are trying to stay away from the word-inflation, click-bait terms like 'jaw-dropping.' But dang it if this hyperlapse by photographer Rob Whitworth didn't actually have us staring at the screen wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
Typically, slow motion video translates into lower resolution -- when you're pulling hundreds upon hundreds of frames per second, the size of each of those files is a big limiting factor. Enter the Phantom Flex4K, a camera that debuted last year and can shoot RAW 4K video at a blazing-fast 1000 frames per second for 5 second bursts.
And speaking of 'blazing,' the video above was the first test footage released that showed what this amazing camera could do.
As this July 4th weekend was just winding up and much of the USA was getting ready for a fun, family- and firework-filled time, much of the East Coast had to put those plans on hold as Hurricane Arthur bore down on their homes.
While all of this was happening, 230 miles straight up the International Space Station astronauts were documenting the storm as only they could, putting the power of mother nature in both beautiful and terrifying perspective.
Update: Turns out this story was a hoax. Head on over to our update and apology to catch up on the latest.
The Battle of the Bulge is known as one of the most deadly and influential battles of WWII. Taking place over the course of five weeks, this surprise attack by the Germans caught allied forces off-guard, causing massive casualties, especially among U.S. Troops.
Among the 89,000 casualties was a soldier named Louis J. Archambeau, a Chicago native who left behind an interesting surprise in a foxhole he had been taking refuge in during the cold weather and rough artillery fire.
Montreal-based photographer Benjamin Von Wong's underwater fantasy fashion shoot in a Bali shipwreck has quickly become the most popular project he has ever released. And even though he shared some behind the scenes details when the series first debuted, he's back today with a much more detailed look at how exactly these now-viral photos came to be.
Photography and sports are easy bedfellows. As wonderful as it is to watch a goal unfold before your eyes on television, it's just as powerful to see a tack-sharp photograph of the look of dismay on the goalie's face as the ball soars past his or her outstretched arm.
But sports photography isn't just for capturing dramatic moments; sometimes it can affect the course of sports history, as was the case in 1989, after one of the most controversial games in the history of football.
Update on 12/16/21: This video has been removed by its creator.
Maybe we don't give memory cards enough credit, because for all of the stories of corrupt files and irretrievable photographs, we have some astounding stories of memory cards performing above and beyond what anybody thinks they could possibly do.
Oleg Oprisco is a photographer based in Ukraine whose magical, dreamlike photographs have been shared far and wide on the Internet. In an age where realistic photo manipulations are the secret sauce behind impossible images, Oprisco's work stands out for one simple mind-blowing fact: they aren't artificial digital manipulations.
Trina Merry is a bodypainting artist based in San Francisco. There's a good chance you've seen her work before, as a number of her projects have enjoyed widespread viral success on the Web.
Her "Human Motorcycle Project" is a series of photographs showing motorcycles created entirely out of painted human bodies.
In a video that is equal parts awesome and terrifying (with just a dash of "this is a GoPro ad") whitewater kayaker Dane Jackson gives you a first person view of what it's like to go over the edge of the 60ft tall La Tomata waterfall in Veracruz, Mexico.
Editor's Note: This goes without saying, but we neither condone nor encourage you trying this at home. Be Safe!
I'm a firm believer in a healthy respect for gravity, but Russian rooftopping daredevils Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov don't have that problem, and to be honest, they get some spectacular photos because of it. Case in point, check out the video above in which they take you on a POV journey up the second tallest building in the world, where they shot some incredible images.
This TV Spot is the height of creativity, and we absolutely love it. In 50 seconds and one uninterrupted flowing video shot, UK directing duo US and advertising agency Grey (the guys behind the amazing exploding spices commercial) pay tribute to six completely unique, culturally iconic images by expertly recreating one after the other.
In Sweden's Abisko National Park, 2014 has been something of a God-send for time-lapse photographers. In the first 32 nights of the year, the so-called 'polar spirits' have come out to dance 29 times! But even that couldn't have prepared photographer Chad Blakley for the spectacular light show he captured on February 1st.
During Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking Stratos jump from 128,100 feet above the Earth, he was packing a total of seven GoPro Hero2's on his person. Red Bull has been slow to release all the footage from the jump and a couple of days ago we found out why -- it seems they were saving it for the short film "Red Bull Stratos -- The Full Story."
Don McCullin is a household name in the photographic community, but as far as he is concerned, it's for all the wrong reasons. In this incredibly poignant and thought-provoking interview, he shares his thoughts about an illustrious career that was spent photographing atrocities, and left him somewhat haunted.
It's only January 11th, and we've already found a piece of slow-motion cinematography that might just remain our favorite of 2014. Created as a commercial for Schwartz Flavour Shots, this slow-motion video dubbed "The Sound of Taste" is a beautiful combination of cinematography and pyrotechnics that creates what filmmaker Chris Cairns calls "an audiovisual feast."
Sometimes a great photograph takes months of planning and patience to capture. Other times, you simply have to be in the right place at the right time, with your camera in tow and enough expertise to properly frame and capture an amazing moment. The photo above falls into the second category.
I don't have kids just yet, so I can't say from experience, but it seems one of the benefits of having a child is the ability to feature the adorable little guy or gal in creative photography projects. Examples abound: from Queenie Liao's wondrous naptime photos, to Nagano Toyokazu's series My Daughter Kanna.
Now, another great project has popped up on our radar. This one is called Cardboard Box Office, and it's the result of a parenting duo's creativity, an excess of packing materials and the addition of a baby boy to the family.
When it comes to iconic imagery, there are few individual photographers who can best NASA. From the pale blue dot, to the blue marble, to the amazing photo of Bruce McCandless II floating out into space on the first ever untethered space walk, NASA's got quite a repository of amazing imagery.
One of those iconic images, dubbed AS8-14-2383 but better known as Earthrise, is about to turn 45 years old on Christmas Eve. And so NASA thought it appropriate to share the story of how luck and teamwork helped the astronauts of Apollo 8 capture this photo.
A couple of weeks ago, we shared a video that showed a guy dropping his brand new $2,300 24-70mm f/2.8L lens as he demonstrates how to quickly swap your lenses out "just like the pros." Some people thought it was real, some thought it was fake, but whatever the case it definitely WAS a big fat fail.
That is 100% not the case with the epic Sony ad above, which is titled simply "A7R," but ought to be called "THIS is How You Change a Lens Like a Pro"... feel free to substitute "bada**" for "pro."