Magical Photos Shed New Light on How Fireflies Interact with the World
Photographer Pete Mauney's mesmeric long exposures of fireflies are not only works-of-art but shed light on the insects' behavior.
‘I Went for a Dive in the Gulf of Maine and I Saw One Fish’
Underwater Photography Guide's Editor-in-Chief Nirupam Nigam is a dedicated underwater photographer and fishery scientist, who recently ventured under the waves in the Gulf of Maine and only to find a hauntingly empty habitat.
This is How The Human Brain Processes Color
The American Museum of Natural History has published a helpful video that explains how the human brain processes color and shines a light on the importance of color accuracy in technology.
Scientists Develop Camera System that Captures ‘5D’ Images
An international team of scientists has developed an experimental camera system that can simultaneously capture five dimensions of information from a single snapshot. The concept works by combining two types of sensors together to gather a wealth of information all at the same time.
Your Body is Bioluminescent and Can Be Photographed in Darkness
Did you know that your body is bioluminescent? That's right -- the human body actually emits visible light and can be photographed by an ultra-sensitive camera in complete darkness.
This Photographer is Printing Photos on Algae
There are various mediums and techniques you can use to create prints of your photos, but have you considered using algae? That's what photographer Russell Marx has been experimenting with, and the result is impressive.
Why People Don’t Like Portraits of Themselves
Portrait photos are often disliked by the subject themselves. From the early formative years of grade school on into the advanced years of adulthood, the feeling of dislike of your own picture is universal. Yet it is not for vanity sake, nor is it to spare the shock of another from seeing self-assumed horrors. Assuming you are neither a narcissist nor a person with flawless perfection, you may simply be like the rest of the human race: there is real science behind the reason why you may not like your own photograph.
Watch a Single Cell Grow Into a Full Organism in This 6-Minute Timelapse
Here's a mind-blowing new short film by Dutch photographer and filmmaker Jan van IJken. Titled "Becoming," the 6-minute timelapse shows a single cell growing into a complete organism.
How is Photography Affecting Us?
In the past two decades, most people went from not carrying a camera to always having a smartphone camera with them at all times. With millions upon millions of photos shot (and shared) every single day, how is this explosion in photography affecting us? Here's a 10-minute video by WIRED that explores that question.
The Red and Green Specialists: Why Human Color Vision is So Odd
Most mammals rely on scent rather than sight. Look at a dog’s eyes, for example: they’re usually on the sides of its face, not close together and forward-facing like ours. Having eyes on the side is good for creating a broad field of vision, but bad for depth perception and accurately judging distances in front.
Do YOU Look Through the Viewfinder with Your Dominant Eye?
Just as people are right- or left-handed, everyone generally prefers the input of one particular eye, something called "ocular dominance" or "eyedness." Most people rely on their dominant eye for things like aiming, and a person's dominant eye actually has more neural connections to the brain than the other eye.
The Science Behind the Red-Eye Effect
Here's a 2-minute video by SciShow that explains why the red-eye effect often turns irises into bright red spots in flash photos.
Some People Can See 100 Times More Colors Than You
Most humans can see about 1 million colors. Some people can see around 100 million. This 4-minute video by DNews is an interesting look at this condition, which is known as tetrachromacy.
Trick Your Brain Into Seeing a B&W Photo in Full Color
Did you know that your brain can be tricked into seeing a black-and-white photo in full color? The 1-minute BBC clip above shows an example of this, and you can try it out for yourself.
How to Hold Your Camera: Tips from a Chiropractor
As a chiropractor, I’m always looking for improved biomechanics that reduce injury and fatigue. Proper camera technique increases stability, improves capture quality and protects your joints from repetitive microtrauma.
What the Naked Eye Sees in the Night Sky Compared to What the Camera Can Capture
The Internet is teeming with photographs and videos of the starry night sky that dazzle the eyes and tickle the imagination, but have you ever wondered how the imagery compares to what photographer's naked eye actually saw while the camera was taking a picture?
Photographer inefekt69 recently decided to answer that question by creating the photos above. On the left is what the human eye could see in the dark, outdoor field, and on the right is the photo he shared online.
New Contacts and Glasses Give You 2.8x Zoom with a Wink of the Eye
Tired of having eyeballs with fixed focal lengths? Scientists have developed new telescopic contact lenses and glasses that can give your eyes 2.8x zoom with a simple wink of the eye.
Why Complaining About Photos Being Photoshopped Makes No Sense (To Me)
Every day about 200 million photographs get uploaded to Facebook. That’s almost double the number of all the books that have ever been published in human history. And that’s just Facebook, I’m not even mentioning Instagram, Snapchat, or just the photos everybody takes and doesn’t even post online.
While taking all those pictures, most people don’t really think about what they’re actually doing, or how the process works. But if they did think about it, I guess their reasoning for that process would be somewhat like this...
Tell Your Subjects to Say ‘Cheeks’ Instead of ‘Cheese’ for a More Genuine Smile
The next time you're taking a group snapshot, cut the "cheese" and tell everyone to say "cheeks" instead. This two letter change can help create more genuine smiles on the faces in your shot.
Photography and the Feelings of Others: From Mirroring Emotions to the Theory of Mind
Photography is powerful because we can place ourselves into the perspective of those we see in an image. Whether it’s street photography, photojournalism or portraiture, we use photography to understand ourselves in relation to people around us.
Portrait Analysis Reveals That The Human Face Can Express At Least 21 Emotions
How many human emotions can you capture on camera? According to a study by researchers at Ohio State University, the number is at least 21.
Your DSLR is a “Rainforest of Bacteria,” But It’s Probably Okay
Did you know that 90% of the cells in (or on) the human body are bacteria and other microorganisms? Have you ever thought about how many bacteria live on your DSLR camera? Chicago Tribute staff photographer Alex Garcia recently dove into this second question while visiting the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago.
The Camera Versus the Human Eye
This article started after I followed an online discussion about whether a 35mm or a 50mm lens on a full frame camera gives the equivalent field of view to normal human vision. This particular discussion immediately delved into the optical physics of the eye as a camera and lens -- an understandable comparison since the eye consists of a front element (the cornea), an aperture ring (the iris and pupil), a lens, and a sensor (the retina).
Despite all the impressive mathematics thrown back and forth regarding the optical physics of the eyeball, the discussion didn’t quite seem to make sense logically, so I did a lot of reading of my own on the topic.
Male and Female Photographers See the World Differently
If you think male and female photographers sometimes have very different styles, the reason might go beyond their tastes and approaches to shooting. Men and women see the world differently -- literally. A new study by vision researchers have found that the two genders have different ways of collecting visual information.
According to the findings, men are more sensitive to moving objects and seeing small details, while women tend to be sharper in seeing color changes.
Scientists Shoot a 281-Gigapixel Photo of a Tiny 1.5mm Embryo
Gigapixel images are usually used to capture tiny details in expansive scenes, but scientists in the Netherlands recently created one that shows microscopic details in a tiny subject. Using a technique called virtual nanoscopy (a new relative of microscopy?), the researchers created a massive 281-gigapixel image of a 1.5-millimeter-long zebrafish embryo.
A Cat with Built-In Image Stabilization
A couple years ago we reported on the amazing fact that chickens have image stabilized heads, and shared some interesting "research" into using chickens as camera stabilizers. It turns out birds aren't the only creatures with IS systems built into their hardware: cats have it too!
The Visual Field of the Human Eye
Randall Munroe over at XKCD posted this …
What’s the F-number of the Human Eye?
Ever wonder what the f-number of your eyes are? It can easily be calculated using …
Eyes Are Amazing: A Slow Motion Look at Our Biological Lens
Here’s a slow motion video showing a closeup look at the human eye, our amazing biological lens (and sensor).
Human Camera: Scientists Reconstruct Pictures from Brain Activity
We’re now one step closer to being able to take photographs with our minds. Scientists at UC Berkeley have …