polaroid

Michael Zhang

Impossible Instant Lab Turns Your iPhone Photos Into Real Polaroid Pictures

Now that The Impossible Project has succeeded in reviving Polaroid-style instant films -- even giant ones -- the company is expanding its horizons and branching out to new products. Today, it announced a crazy new device that's dedicated to turning your digital iPhone photos into analog instant photo prints: the Impossible Instant Lab.

Michael Zhang

Shooting with the First Lot of Impossible’s New 8×10 Large Format Instant Film

San Diego-based photographer Tim Mantoani, the guy who shot giant Polaroid photos of famous photographers holding their works, recently got his hands on Lot #1 of The Impossible Project's new 8x10 instant film. To test it out, Mantoani busted out his large format camera and 8x10 processor, and then visited a local surf shop to create a multi-shot panorama.

Michael Zhang

Portraits of Lost Olympic Tourists

The subjects in portrait projects are often selected for something they all have in common. The people seen in Brooklyn-based photographer Caroll Taveras' project You Are Here have this in common: they were lost at the Olympics. Commissioned by Mother London, Taveras finds tourists at the Olympic games who are hopelessly lost, and then guides them to their desired destinations in exchange for a portrait.

Brit Morin

How to Make a DIY Polaroid Pop-Up Card

As you already know, we're pretty obsessed with Polaroids, and all the creative photography we can get our hands on. This tutorial will teach you how to make a pop-up Polaroid camera card that "prints" out a miniature Polaroid picture.

The pieces of card stock for this project are about 7-1/2 inches long by 4-1/2 inches wide. To create a mini Polaroid you can print, we recommend using the Shake It Photo iPhone app. Send the image from your phone to your email, drop it into Preview, Photoshop or Word to resize, and you're good to go.

Michael Zhang

Handmade Wooden Frames for Polaroid Pictures

Polaroid pictures might have an iconic look, but finding an elegant frame for them requires more than a trip to your nearest department store. Swiss design group Refurnished has a beautiful "Polaroid SX70 frame" that protects your white-bordered pictures inside a handmade wooden case.

DL Cade

Polaroid Z2300: Instant Photos in a Point-and-Shoot Body

Polaroid lovers will be happy to know that it doesn't look like the company is slowing down where the instant camera game is concerned. Late last year they unveiled the Z340 -- a futuristic digital instant camera in the classic Polaroid style -- and now they've officially announced their newer, sleeker Z2300. The Z2300 falls somewhere in-between Polaroid's big and bulky Z340 and the dinky (and somewhat unwieldy) PIC-300. In many ways it combines the best of both worlds in to a much more stylish point-and-shoot package.

DL Cade

Frankenlens: A Polaroid Fused with a Micro Four Thirds Camera

Here's an interesting project that photographer Gabriel Verdugo Soto put together this last weekend by slapping together an old polaroid lens/aperture mechanism and a micro four thirds camera. In order to keep the lens in focus, he measured the distance from the lens to the polaroid paper in the orignal camera and used macro tubes to ensure the same distance was maintained between the lens and the sensor. The whole thing was then attached to a 52mm ring, and held together using that white epoxy clay you see in the pictures.

DL Cade

Teen Finds Photo of His Long-Dead Uncle in a $1 Garage Sale Camera

Last Thursday, 13-year-old Addison Logan of Wichita, Kansas found something really cool at a garage sale: an old Polaroid camera for only $1 (score!). But when Addison got it home and started looking up how to use it on the internet, what he found in the cartridge was even cooler, or maybe creepier. Inside the Polaroid camera, bought from a family they don't even know, was a picture of his uncle Scott who died some 23 years ago in a car accident:

Michael Zhang

Polaroid Pictures Recreated with Thread

The Portrait Project is a series of 10 stitched portraits by London-based artist Evelin Kasikov. Each portrait is created with an actual Polaroid picture as the starting point, and is based on the same grid. The idea is similar to pointillism, but instead of dots she uses squares, crosses, and lines of different colors and weights. 10-15 feet of cotton thread does into each piece, and stitching them takes between two days and a week to complete.

DL Cade

Instagram Socialmatic: A Concept Design for a Physical Instagram Camera

A week ago we shared a funny "leaked advertisement" for a fictional camera called the Instagram Snap. The video poked fun at the possibility that Instagram would use their $1 billion buyout from Facebook to build a ridiculous "real-world" camera -- basically a Polaroid camera with "sharing" features (passing a photo to another person by hand) and "filters" (coffee filter = spill coffee on your picture). Ironically enough though, a concept of just such a camera has recently come out, and it actually seems somewhat appealing.

Michael Zhang

Polaroid Land Camera Advertisements from the 1950s and 1960s

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Polaroid sponsored shows like "The Tonight Show" during which the hosts would take time to endorse the cameras during the show itself rather than cut to commercials. The montage above takes viewers back to a time when fancy new Polaroid cameras cost $69.95 -- or $1.19 a week.

DL Cade

The Impossible Project’s COOL Instant Film Takes a Cue from Coors Beer

You wouldn't think the world of instant film could learn much from the world of beer -- and on most counts you'd be right -- but in this particular case, a little bit of Coors inspiration may have played a role in The Impossible Projects new line of COOL Polaroid films. The specialty instant film, part of The Impossible Project's Spring 2012 line, are kept in a temperature-sensitive package. In order to maintain its shelf life, the packaging will warn you when you're storing it in too warm an environment by displaying the message "Keep Me Cool."

Michael Zhang

Tape Transfer Portraits Show Subjects Behind Their Own Altered Photos

Photographer Rory White's Rorshak Tape Transfer Series might look like some kind of surreal digital art, but the images were actually created without Photoshop. White shot portraits of his subjects, printed them out, and invited the subjects to paint, tear, and alter the prints. He then covered the image with packing tape, dropped it in hot water, and peeled off the paper on the back (like a Polaroid emulsion transfer). The semi-transparent image would then be hung from a stand, and the subject rephotographed while standing behind it.

Michael Zhang

Turn a Polaroid Picture into a DIY Scratch-Off Card

Here's a sweet DIY project idea by Brittany Morin that's perfect for that special day that's right around the corner: scratch-off cards made from Polaroid pictures! Basically all you need is some acrylic paint and some dish soap. Mix the two together with a ratio of one part soap for every two parts paint and you'll have yourself some scratch-able paint!

Michael Zhang

Introducing the Instant Photo Pendant Necklace!

Say hello to the latest item in the PetaPixel Store: the Instant Photo Pendant Necklace! This beautiful pendant is designed to look exactly like a 1-inch tall Polaroid picture. Insert your favorite 0.8-inch square photos through a slot in the side, and keep it safe and snug with a clear plastic square (included). The copper and iron pendant is coated with white and comes with a silver-colored 18-inch chain. Buy one while supplies last for just $10 from our store (shipping is free for US residents).

Michael Zhang

Polaroid Z340: A Futuristic Digital Instant Camera That Spits Out ZINK Prints

This week Polaroid launched its new Z340 instant digital camera, perhaps to pave the way for its upcoming uber-futuristic GL30 shooter. The Z340 isn't as flashy but offers the same fusion of digital and instant: it's basically a 14-megapixel digital acmera combined with a ZINK printer. It can capture 75 shots and print 25 photos on a single charge, has a 2.7-inch LCD screen, and allows the photographer to decide whether to make a 3x4-inch instant print or to simply store the image on the on-board SD card.