Ideas

Drone Captures Wet Plate Camera, and Vice Versa

Last week, RIT photography professor Willie Osterman held the 2015 RIT Photo MFA picnic in the front yard of his home in Bristol, New York. To commemorate the gathering, he pulled out a giant camera to shoot a wet plate collodion ambrotype portrait of the group.

This Honda ‘Paper’ Stop-Motion Ad Was Done Entirely By Hand and In Camera

New York-based stop-motion artist Adam Pesapane, who goes by PES, has earned a great deal of attention over the past few years for his remarkable animations that are made with creativity, hard work, and still photographs from DSLRs. His viral shorts include "Fresh Guacamole," "Western Spagetti,", and "Submarine Sandwich" (his projects often involve ordinary things getting turned into food).

Photographer Captures the Bizarre Beauty of Soviet Bus Stops

Back in 2002, photographer Christopher Herwig embarked on a long-distance bike ride from London, England, to St. Petersburg, Russia -- a journey that spanned over 1,500 miles. The trip was also a photo ride, as Herwig challenged himself to capture one good photo per hour. As he biked through former Soviet countries, Herwig began noticing how unique many of the bus stops were.

Hobie is a 360-Degree Time-Lapse Tool Built From an Ordinary Kitchen Timer

Startup Overlab has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Hobie: a personal time lapse tool with the heart of a kitchen timer. Hobie utilizes an actual ordinary kitchen timer at its base to rotate the camera mount perched upon it. Simply dial-in the time on the base, insert your smartphone into the circular mount, and begin capturing easy time lapses. As a bonus, when the base finishes rotating, it rings loudly to let you know the process is complete -- and that your eggs are done boiling.

These Dog and Cat Portraits Capture the Personalities of Our Favorite Pets

18 months ago, 22-year-old photographer Rob Bahou started shooting a series of portraits focused on the two animals we know best: dogs and cats. His goal with the project is to show how expressive the faces of our beloved pets can be, treating the subject matter with respect and not focusing on breed, behavior, or funny moments. What resulted is a gorgeous and heart-warming project titled Animal Soul.

This Concept Camera Won’t Let You Shoot Unoriginal Photographs

Say hello to "Camera Restricta," a new concept camera by designer (and photographer) Philipp Schmitt. It's described as a "disobedient tool for taking unique photographs." In short, the camera searches the Web for other photos that have been captured from the same place and if too many photos are found, the camera will prevent you from taking another unoriginal photo.

Land Rover Uses Cameras to Make Trailers Disappear in a Rear View ‘Mirror’

British car manufacturer Land Rover has introduced an interesting new technology that uses multiple cameras to make trailers “disappear” from an LCD rearview mirror while you're driving. By combining video feeds from both the existing rear view and side view cameras with a digital wireless camera mounted on the back of the trailer, the system creates the impressive illusion of transparency.

New York City from the Perspective of a Toddler in a Stroller

New York City is one of the most photographed cities in the world, so you'll need to think outside the box to capture the city from a fresh perspective. That's what photographer Diego Acosta has done through his project titled Stroller. By placing a camera inside his son's stroller, he documented what the Big Apple looks like from a toddler's point of view.

A Pregnancy Time-Lapse Through the Seasons

When photographer Knate Myers and his wife found out they would be having a baby, they decided to document the 9-month pregnancy with a time-lapse video. While many such videos have been made over the years, Myers tried to do something different: he had his wife pose outside to capture the passing of seasons in the time-lapse.

Hipster Barbie Pokes Fun at Artsy Instagram Photos

There's a new rising star on Instagram. A clever account called Socality Barbie is attracting quite a bit of attention for posting satirical hipster Instagram photos featuring a fashion forward Barbie. If you've ever browsed through artsy, hipster Instagram photos, you'll likely recognize many of the generic shots being referenced.

This Guy Taped a Superman Action Figure to a Drone

The latest Superman movie Man of Steel had an estimated budget of $225 million. Camera drone owner and retoucher Barry Craig’s latest Superman short film cost quite a bit less. For a bit of fun, Craig attached a superman action figure to a DJI Phantom 3 drone and took it for a spin over Victoria Park in London. Turn up your speakers to hear a bit of the official Superman soundtrack and enjoy thirty seconds of pure joy. Maybe this will hold us over until DC Universe releases the next feature …

Idea: Use a Car as a DIY Smoke Machine Outdoors

While shooting a recent series titled American Made, Los Angeles-based lifestyle and advertising photographer Caleb Kuhl needed a dusty scene, so he had someone drive an SUV around to serve as a DIY smoke machine. Above is a 2-minute behind-the-scenes video of the shoot.

This Precision Drone Navigation System is Great for Light Painting Photos

PRENAV is a company aimed at developing extremely sophisticated automation systems for small aerial drones. Recently, the company announced that they had acquired $1.2 million to help make their drone technology smarter. So, what better to do with a bit of the seed money than fly drones around, create precise light patterns for light painting, and photograph them?

A Model Held Her Breath For 5 Minutes for this Single Take Music Video

Typically, tying a model up and throwing her to the bottom of a pool isn’t a recommended practice for both legal and moral reasons. However, this new music video for the song "Lydia" by Highly Suspect dares to do just that. You begin to realize something is a bit odd as the video rolls on and on -- there are no cuts, meaning Marina Kazankova actually had to hold her breath during the entire 4-minute-plus video.

Portraits of People Looking Like Their Dogs

People often say that dogs and their owners look more and more alike as the years go by. For her ongoing project "The Dog People," German photographer Ines Opifanti is shooting portraits of dog owners trying to mimic the expressions on their dogs' faces.

This Freerunning Video Uses Perspective and Optical Illusions to Mess With Your Head

Professional free runner Jason Paul recently teamed up with Red Bull to create this wild optical illusion video that you have to see to believe -- or not. The video’s description says that “Life as a free runner means the world is your playground… or is it just one big illusion?” It's a mind-bending visual experience that will have your brain questioning reality.

Puppy Portraits in the Style of Baby Photos

Photographer Elisha Minnette recently accompanied her friends Matt and Abby on a trip to pick up their new puppy from Groodle breeder. On the way home, they came up with a strange idea: why not announce their new puppy to the world with a newborn baby-style photo shoot?

Photographer Shoots Airplane Flyby with 30 Strobes

When photographing Czech aerobatics and fighter pilot Martin Šonka recently, photographer Dan Vojtěch wanted to capture the plane in a different light than other photographers have done in the past. He then decided that he would shoot the plane in motion, but light it like he would a studio photo using flashes firing around it.

These Stock Photos Capture Quintessential New York City Situations

Stock photography has provided business and individuals with a method of acquiring imagery without the need to hire a photographer. However, has any bit of stock photography ever truly captured the complex nature of a New Yorker? Apparently the folks over at New York radio station WNYC didn’t feel that the need was being addressed and, as a result, have crafted 35 “quintessential photos of true New York City.” …

LOKI is an Ultra-Portable Camera Rig That Can Take On Many Forms

Camera rigs can be large and difficult to carry around when on the move; once you add on additional components, the problem intensifies. Now, Scratch Ideas from the UK has introduced ‘LOKI’ on Kickstarter with a $38,910 fundraising goal. An ultra-portable and modular piece of equipment, LOKI can transform between a shoulder rig, a camera cage, an underslung rig, and a dolly with a few twists and clicks.

Portraits of the Same Dogs Across Several Years

If you're a dog lover, photographer Amanda Jones has a photo project that will tug at your heartstrings. After photographing 30 different dogs as puppies years ago, she revisited them and captured what they look like as older dogs. The before-and-after portraits, a series titled "Dog Years," show how dog's have a unique spark of personality that lasts a lifetime.

The Focal Camera: An Open Source Modular Camera

Over the past year, Dutch artist Mathijs van Oosterhoudt has been developing a new camera system. No, it's not a high-tech digital system that's intended to go up against the major camera companies. Instead, it's an open-modular camera system that's intended to teach people how to build complex cameras. Its name is The Focal Camera.

Why Use Studio Lights When You Can Use the Sun?

My name is Jeremy Lebled, and I'm a fashion photographer. I recently just did a shoot to demo Leica's S Camera. My specialty is using just the sun to get a high-end studio look to photographs instead of using dozens of strobes.