What happens when you pit Nikon's $3,000 D800E up against a $30,000 Hasselblad H5D? Well, photographer Benjamin Von Wong -- whose work we've featured quite a bit here on PetaPixel -- got to do just that in a friendly comparison.
As with most fields that are technology driven, in photography, if you don't keep moving you'll quickly find yourself dead in the water. This is why seasoned pros and amateur hobbyists alike should always be learning and expanding their abilities. It's really the only way to stay competitive. And I don't even mean that in a financial sense, I mean that just in terms of your skill set.
Living smack in the middle of the information age, we're well acquainted with the incredible amount of data and statistics gathered and thrown around on a daily basis. And with the advent of social networking, the amount of publicly available data about society has only increased.
The National Parks Services and Gigapan recently put together a photography project that takes a comparative look at two of America's best-known pieces of land and how they've changed over the course of 80 years.
The saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words. I certainly agree with this sentiment, but there's more to it. For every thousand words the photograph is worth, there's three thousand explaining how the image came to be.
If you're in the market to purchase a new full-frame camera from Canon, but aren't sure whether to go with the 6D or 5DMIII, the folks over at DSLR Video Shooter have created the above video to help you compare and contrast the two offerings from Canon and decide if the 5D is going to be worth the extra dinero for you.
Simeon Quarrie of Vivida is back at it again, giving us a behind the scenes look at yet another of his equal parts intricate and subtle pre-wedding (read: engagement) shoots, Released by Love.
The folks over at PDN recently sat down with National Press Photographers Association attorney Mickey Osterreicher to talk about photographers' rights, police intimidation and how to handle yourself around cops who don't understand what you are and are not allowed to photograph.
It's likely one of the reasons Adobe decided to shift to a subscription model was so that they could bring in more beginners and amateurs that had never had affordable access to the software.
You could go alone to New Zealand, Mexico, Cuba, or wherever your wanderlust takes you, and bring your camera along for the trip -- hope to stumble upon the ‘photographic’ spots, and take some pictures you think might be good.
The lens is the most important factor in the image quality of a landscape astrophoto.
A few weeks ago, we shared a video by photographer Karl Taylor that gave you a behind the scenes look at what a day-long fashion shoot in his studio was like. And even though a few of our readers poked fun at the video's obvious product placement, a lot of people learned a thing or two and came back with followup questions regarding the light modifiers that Taylor was using throughout the day.
The introduction of the new Perspective Warp tool (among other things) for Photoshop CC was met with a good deal of excitement by photographers. But if you haven't had a chance to play with it yourself, or you're still unsure exactly how it works from the intro video, the demo above should give you a much better idea of how to put the tool to use.
I'm a big fan of the UK car show TopGear, but I never thought I'd see the day when the worlds of TopGear and photography would intersect. Fortunately, I have been proven wrong. So sit back and enjoy as TopGear's Captain Slow James May goes into detail about how digital cameras actually work.
There are a lot of tips and helpful articles out there about buying your first 'nice' camera, or even how to make sure everything is working well when you get one as a gift, but there's significantly less help for those who are considering buying their first flash. Enter DigitalRev and their "10 Things to Consider Before Buying a Flash."
A couple of days ago we shared Adam Magyar's incredible Stainless video series, shot from a moving subway train using a customized slow-motion video camera that captures something truly mesmerizing to watch. After sharing those videos, many of the commenters asked for and linked away to more details about the camera he used, and the slit-scan photography that Magyar had been doing for many years.
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."
Unfortunately, what with major changes at the helm and making sure that we hit 2014 running, we weren't able to make it to Vegas for CES this year. And I say unfortunately because, not only does it mean we'll have to wait a minute to get hands on with some of the new releases, but it also meant missing cool demonstrations like the ones you see above.
Earlier this week, when stumbled across this two-hour presentation by iconic portrait photographer Greg Heisler, it took all the will power we had not to share it with you right away. In our world, being the "first" to report on a story is often very important, and it's an impulse we often have to resist because we're intent on getting the story right.
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.
When it comes to the film vs. digital debate, many people are fairly entrenched on one side or the other. But can you really tell the difference between RAW digital footage and film footage? What about when the digital footage is made to look like film using filters in post? PBS Digital Studios wants to put you to the test.
Rejoice, all ye illustrators and designers, at least if your work involves antiquarian subjects. The British Library has just posted more than a million copyright-free images to its Flickr photostream, and the pickings are choice if you need to illustrate anything from phrenology to 17th century geological theories.
(Private Video -- Use password "stolen") …
Every year, I can’t think of anything I want for Christmas. So this year, I was pretty excited to come home and tell my wife, “I know exactly what I want for Christmas. A nice big piece of Iceland spar.” I even sent her a link to make it easy. (It’s certainly a comment on our times that I sent a text link across the room to my wife.) …
Selfie, schmelfie! How self-absorbed do you really have to be to spend all of 20 seconds pointing a phone at yourself and tapping a few buttons? But a process that requires up to 15 minutes of statue-still posing, exposure to hazardous chemicals and construction of custom camera? Now that's something worth bragging about.
In the past, before resumes, interviews and portfolios, there was the master/apprentice relationship. If you wanted to learn a trade, craft or skill, you sought out a master of that skill and humbly asked for their tutelage.
There's something inspirational about watching a seasoned photographer work at his craft -- whether it's a studio photog who molds light to his will or a street photographer whose demeanor and results both scream professionalism.
Here's an advanced tip for all you would-be stormchasers: Watch out for the water.
Doesn’t look like much, does it? But, depending upon your definition, this photograph, a team effort by 9 men, is the most honored picture in U. S. History. If you want to find out about it, read on. It’s an interesting tale about how people sometimes rise beyond all expectations.
Good news, camera weenies -- not only does photography make you attractive and rich, it helps your brain stay sharp as you age. That's the conclusion of a new University of Texas study that evaluated a number of different types of activities to see how they affected cognitive skills -- particularly memory -- in the elderly.
Let's not kid ourselves, when it comes to health insurance, freelance photographers are in an unfortunate situation. Despite working long hours like everyone else and managing their own business, freelance photographers don't get the same group rates that regular employees do. There is no question that buying insurance as an individual is more expensive.
If you're a scientist looking to snap photographs of jaguars in the wild, how do you go about luring them to your camera? You might be thinking that you'll need to bring along some kind of meat, but there's a tool that'll fit much more neatly in your camera bag: cologne.
In my last article, I wrote about the fact that every copy of a given lens has some bit of sample variation. This affects lens reviews, whether lab-based or photography-based, because the copy they tested will be just a bit different from the copy you buy. I suggested, that if you want to get a feel for what the lens you purchase is likely to be like, you had best compare several different reviews. That should give you an idea of the variation that exists.
The world of camera lenses can be a bit daunting when you first start out, and so a videographer and photographer have joined forces to put together a fun (and funny) introduction to all the basic lens options, what they do, and what situations you might use them in.
Believing the world cares what you had for lunch may still be a symptom of narcissism, but a recent study seems to indicate that it could at least be a useful form of narcissism.
An educational project in India is encouraging Muslim women to take up photography, in defiance of a controversial fatwa issued earlier this year that said the practice was "unIslamic." …
Over a half a billion Apple iOS and Android systems have been sold, which means that there are now an unprecedented number of cameras in the world. This monumental increase in smartphone cameras has allowed for the dramatic increase of photos uploaded to social media sites.
Let me start by stating that I’ve been a fan of Montreal’s Slaves on Dope since the mid to late 1990s. Does that make a difference in the relevance of the rest of this blog entry? Nope. Just felt like saying that.
If you paid attention in high-school physics, you know that white light contains within it the rainbow of colors of the visible light spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet (and if you're Isaac Newton you throw Indigo in there for good measure).
It has been over half a century since Swiss photo historian Helmut Gernsheim donated the world’s earliest permanent photograph* to the University of Texas for public display in 1963. This article is a look at the story behind Nicéphore Niépce's View from the Window at Le Gras, the world's oldest known photograph captured with a camera.
It could be argued that consumer photography didn't begin until 1888, when Eastman Kodak made his Kodak No. 1 (the followup to the Kodak Box) available to the public at large alongside the now famous slogan: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest." …
One month ago today, the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera -- a camera that TIME's own Harry McCracken called "the greatest gadget of all time" -- celebrated its 41st birthday. When it came out it was absolutely revolutionary, and to get the word out, Polaroid put together a few ads to show off the instant shooter.
Ever wonder why people in old paintings and photographs generally don't have smiles on their faces? We explored this subject a little back in November 2012, and found that reasons may have included technical limitations, oral hygiene, and the seriousness of formal occasions.
Engineers at Ohio State University have imitated aspects of human and insect eyes to create what may turn out to be the next big advance in camera lens technology.
For you and me, RGB color spaces may just be an obscure but important mechanism towards achieving properly color-balanced photos. For a certain group of image nerds, however, it's the whole enchilada.
You probably already know this if you have older siblings, but a new British study has confirmed it: the first child gets all the camera attention from Mom and Dad.
It's more or less a given these days that cameras are everywhere and privacy is a quaint notion from the past. But it turns out that people were already starting to feel that way in the 1880s, when advancing technology allowed the production of cameras small and fast enough to be hidden by the user and produce shots of unprecedented candidness.
Want to see what kind of work goes into turning a masterful photograph into an iconic print? Pablo Inirio, the master darkroom printer who works at Magnum Photos' New York headquarters, has personally worked on some of the cooperative's best-known images. A number of his marked-up darkroom prints have appeared online, revealing the enormous amount of attention Inirio gives photos in the darkroom.
Stop motion animation has seen a resurgence of late. In addition to filmmakers continuing to make use of the technique despite the rise of CGI, stop motion apps for smartphones and outlets like Vine and Instagram video have brought many amateurs to the table as well.
It's hard to imagine it, but in the early 1900s, child labor was still extremely common in the United States. All across the nation children would spend their days slaving away in mines and cotton mills, far away from the school rooms that the National Child Labor Committee wanted them to be in.
