News

Here’s How Flickr’s Image Compression Has Changed Since Early 2014

Back in June, we reported that some Flickr users had taken to the service's forums to complain about increasing compression hurting the image quality of their photos. We did some tests of our own and found that there was indeed significant file size and image quality differences -- at least compared to photos uploaded back in 2012.

Well, Flickr heard the grumbling of photographers and made adjustments to its image compression. Backend engineer Archie Russell has also published an article on the company's code blog that explains the whole story.

After Controversy, High School Now Makes Students Sign ‘Work For Hire’ Contracts

Back in May 2015, the Lewisville Independent School District in Texas issued student Anthony Mazur a notice to take down any photographs from his personal Flickr account that had been captured with school equipment or face a threat of suspension. After much debate with the school board, Mazur won the battle thanks to US copyright law and support from his local community.

The school isn't backing down from its policy, though: it's now requiring students to sign a "work for hire" contract to use district-owned camera equipment and, as a result, surrender all of their copyright protection. Mazur recently posted the new contract on Twitter for everyone to read.

People Just Found Out How Bad Smartphones Are at Photographing the Moon

Most people use their smartphones as their go-to snapshot camera these days, and the impressive image quality of the latest models is great for recording everyday memories. The small sensor and lens do have their limitations, though, and quite a few people found that out last night when they pulled out their smartphones to photograph the supermoon lunar eclipse.

Pooch Selfie: A Tennis Ball Smartphone Attachment for Better Dog Photos

There are a number of products out there, from grid patterns to cute creatures, that are designed to make babies look at your camera while you're photographing them. Pooch Selfie is that same idea, except designed for dogs.

The product, which just hit Kickstarter, is a simple plastic accessory that lets you attach a tennis ball to the top of your smartphone, making it much easier to attract the attention of man's best friend.

Renowned Anti-War Japanese Photographer Kikujiro Fukushima Dies at 94

Acclaimed Japanese photojournalist Kikujiro Fukushima passed away on September 24th, 2015, after suffering a stroke at the age of 94. Fukushima was known for his criticism of Japan's decision to go to war in World War II, and he spent decades documenting both the war and the aftermath of it in his homeland.

Lens Battle: No B.S. Lens Comparisons Using Side-by-Side Sample Photos

Polarr is on a product launching frenzy. Back in February, the startup launched version 2.0 of its browser-based photo editor. In June, it launched its new iOS photo editing app, which saw 250,000 downloads in the first 48 hours.

Polarr's latest product, which just launched this week, is a new website called Lens Battle. It's a slick, browser-based lens comparison tool that lets you compare similar lenses using interactive sample photos.

This is the First 4K Film Shot with the New iPhone 6S

Want to see the 4K video quality on the new iPhone 6S camera? Check out the short film above that was just released today by the media company RYOT. Titled "The Painter of Jalouzi," the video is the world's first short film that was filmed in 4K with the new iPhone 6S Plus.

Facebook Introduces 360-Degree Interactive Videos

Earlier this year, YouTube opened up its service to 360-degree interactive videos that you can "look around" in while watching, whether by swiping with your finger or by swinging your phone around in space. This week, Facebook also joined in on the fun by announcing that virtual reality videos are now supported in News Feeds.

Photographer Pledges $3 for Each FB Share, Will Give $15,000 After Photo Goes Viral

On Monday, Australian wedding photographer Edwina Robertson posted a photo (seen above) on Facebook and made a crazy pledge. For every "share" the photo received over the following 24 hours, Robertson would donate $3 to Tie Up the Black Dog, a charity that helps those fighting depression and mental illness in rural Australian communities.

People took Robertson up on her offer, sharing the photo thousands of times and causing it to go viral. Robertson will now personally donate $14,922, and she has also helped raise many thousands more through crowdfunding.

This is the State of News Photography in 2015

What's the current state of photojournalism, and where is the industry headed? That's what a major survey recently attempted to answer, and the result is a massive 76-page document that was just published today. It's an interesting and in-depth look at the state of news photography.

Astronaut Snaps Photo of an Airplane from the ISS

Every day, NASA releases a photograph from their collection that allows us to admire the great blue and green planet we call Earth. Recently, the agency released a picture of a group of small island cays in the Bahamas. The most interesting aspect of the photo is not the location, but a little bit of detail that reveals itself when you closely examine the photo.

PETA Sues Photographer on Monkey’s Behalf to Give Monkey Copyright

Remember that copyright controversy last year between photographer David Slater and the money that took selfies with Slater's camera back in 2011? PETA is joining in on the fracas.

The animal rights group filed a lawsuit yesterday on behalf of the monkey, a 6-year-old macaque in Indonesia named Naruto. PETA argues that Naruto is the legal copyright owner of the photos (seen above) rather than Slater, and that all proceeds from the photos should be used for the benefit of the monkey.

Selfies Cause More Deaths Now Than Shark Attacks

Here's a crazy but true statistic: selfies are now a bigger cause of death in the world than shark attacks.

Shark attacks are extremely rare: only about 5 people die from them every year around the globe. By comparison, there have already been 12 confirmed cases of people accidentally getting killed while trying to take a selfie.

solidLUUV: The World’s First All-In-One Stabilizer For Smaller Cameras

One of the modern day cruces of video filming is smooth stabilization. While many of us carry around smartphones with exceptional video capabilities, everyday moments seems to remain plagued by shaky footage. Now, a new German-based company has hit Kickstarter with the solidLUUV: the world’s first all-in-one stabilizer for smartphones, action cams, and compact cameras.

The First Ever VR Film Shot in a War Zone with a 360° Camera

The American news media company RYOT recently sent its World Editor, Christian Stephen, to the war-ravaged streets of Aleppo, Syria. While there, he used a 360° camera to capture the world's first virtual reality film of the inside of a war zone.

It's an immersive short film that gives viewers a unique perspective into what the Syrian civil war has done to the country's largest city.

This Selfie Spoon Lets You Get Into Your Food Shots

Here's your "weird photo product o' the day": the cereal brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch has announced a new product called the Selfie Spoon. It's a selfie stick with a spoon for a handle that's designed to help you take pictures of yourself while eating food (and especially cereal).

Facebook May Soon Assign Your Camera a Unique Fingerprint For Identification

A new patent filed by Facebook suggests that the social networking giant is working on giving user cameras a unique digital fingerprint. Looking for ways to identify fraudulent accounts and evermore establish what connections you may have with others, the new technology means that your future photographs will be tracked at levels previously unimaginable. For photographers, however, it may be an excellent way to prove that you truly own an image.

Airnef: Wirelessly Transfer Photos and Videos from a Nikon to a Computer

Integrated Wi-Fi is quickly becoming a standard for many camera manufacturers who are trying to stay up to date with the latest trends. It took a while for the two giants, Nikon and Canon, to get on board, but most of their latest cameras have been rolling out with wireless connectivity.

If you shoot with a wirelessly-connected Nikon camera, Airnef is an open-source utility for transferring your photos to a Windows, OS X, or Linux computer.

Samyang Announces Rokinon 50mm f/1.2 and 21mm f/1.4 For Multiple Mounts

Samyang Optics has announced two new lenses due out this October under their Rokinon branding. The first piece of glass announced is a 50mm f/1.2 lens, while the second is a 21mm f/1.4. Both products are compatible with Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, and Sony E mounts. The lenses are entirely manual focus but feature aspherical elements, with the 21mm housing an extra-low dispersion element, for increased image clarity.

This is What a 200mm f/1.0 Lens Looks Like

"200mm" and "f/1.0" aren't two specs you generally see together in the world of camera lenses. After all, the Canon 200mm f/2.0 is already a giant 5.6 pound piece of glass, so an f/1.0 version would be ginormous.

If you want to see what a 200mm f/1.0 lens looks like, Abex UK is currently selling one on eBay. The lens seen here is designed for thermal imaging cameras, and it has a Buy It Now price of $389,000.

Trident is an Underwater HD Camera Drone That Lets You Explore The Seas

We're in the dawn of a new camera drone age in which aerial units are readily available from a number of different manufacturers. In addition to taking to the skies, companies are also looking to take drone exploration in the other direction: to the depths of the seas. OpenROV has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Trident: a submersible drone geared toward the general population.

Photographer Eugene Richards is Now on Instagram

Heads up: Eugene Richards, one of the great American documentary photographers of our time, has joined Instagram. If you're tired of staring at cats and selfies, @richardseugene may be an account you should start following today.

Iconic Photographers Posed for These Baseball Cards in 1974

Back in 1974, photographer Mike Mandel traveled across the United States and photographed 134 top photographers and curators as baseball players. Mandel then used those portraits to create Baseball-Photographer Trading Cards, an unusual set of trading cards featuring big names in the industry. As you can see from the card above, Ansel Adams was one of them.

A Photo of a Sunset Over the Mountains of Pluto

NASA has released a spectacular new photo of Pluto that was captured by its New Horizons spacecraft during the flyby on July 14th, 2015. This latest one shows a near-sunset view of the icy mountains on Pluto surface, poking up on a curved horizon.

VSCO Keys Lives On By Going Free and Open Source

In early September 2015, we reported that VSCO was discontinuing its VSCO Keys keyboard shortcut software for Lightroom. There's some good news today: instead of killing off the product, VSCO has decided to turn it into a free and open source project.

This is a Prototype of an Electronically-Controlled ND Filter Lens Adapter

At the IBC 2015 trade show in Amsterdam, which just wrapped up a couple of days ago, the camera gear company Genus was showing off a prototype of a groundbreaking new product: an electronically controlled neutral density (ND) filter adapter. It was a Canon EF to Sony E lens adapter that had a dial that lets you adjust the level of ND filtration electronically.

Dan Chung of News Shooter filmed the short video above in which Genus shows off the prototype. Chung calls it "one of the most impressive things we saw at IBC this year," and "the holy grail of DSLR filmmaking."

Photographer Joey L.’s Photos of Kurdish PKK Fighters Deleted by Instagram

Back in June, we shared a series of photos by Joey L., who made a dangerous trip to Kurdistan to point his camera at the Kurdish guerrilla groups fighting in the Syrian civil war.

It turns out that many of the photos violate Instagram's policies, not because they show violence or graphic scenes, but because they show members of PKK, a group that's listed on "terrorist" lists. Joey L. isn't pleased with the policy.