I've noticed that a commonly used compliment for street photographs is to describe them as "timeless." My interpretation of this is that it is used to mean that there are characteristics of the image which in some way transcend the boundaries of the context it was made in and can exist almost in its own context, its own space.
Fourteen years ago I took an interest in street photography. I went looking for resources and information on this amazing genre, unfortunately to no avail, until I came across a great free ebook in 2006 called “Street Photography for the purist” by Chris Weeks.
The Fujifilm X100 was the single most impactful camera of the 2010s. I’ve seen folks say the same about the Sony a7/a7R, Samsung Galaxy NX1, and various Micro Four Thirds cameras, but I will argue that the Fujifilm X100 delivered a bigger bang than all of them combined.
I used to work for Nikon cameras. From 1995 through 1999, I was Nikon UK’s Senior Photographic Advisor. My job was basically to be the guy in the building who knew what a camera was for!
My name is Adam Marsh, and I'm a Melbourne-based event photographer. I recently wrote an article titled "Adobe, This is Why Photographers Are Hating on You,” and it seems to have been incredibly divisive. There was a huge amount of feedback and engagement on this topic in the wider global photography community.
When it comes to technology, consumers have been conditioned to expect notable feature changes with version numbers increases. The iPhone 11 Pro, for example, not only included the snappier A13 Bionic chip, it also sported a three lens array and significantly better low light performance.
When they were young, my children used to get very excited about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. But they saw through those by the time they were six. So why has the myth of saving JPEG files at 72dpi lasted far more than six years?
Well-curated portfolios can be some of the most powerful tools available to a photographer looking to efficiently communicate what they’re about to potential clients and customers. The classic portfolio is a physical book of prints, maybe 10-20 total, often accompanied by a declaration of intent in writing or in person if being showcased at an actual critique session.
As a part of the launch of the Fuji X100V, Fujifilm posted a video on their YouTube channel of Japanese street photographer Tatsuo Suzuki at work. Suzuki’s aggressive style rubbed people the wrong way, and within the week, he was scrubbed from the campaign, and then erased from the Fujifilm website.
Here’s why print wins over digitals every time. Really, it’s simple. It’s all about our children.
Photographer Usman Dawood recently published an article in defense of Adobe. Reading it was a lot like reading a Microsoft fanboy at the height of the Window Vista era -- sure, the product works, but at what level of financial cost and frustration?
Last week, Emerald Expositions, the owner of Photo District News (PDN), announced that PDN would no longer publish new content online or in print. The magazine had been a staple of the professional photography industry, particularly for advertising and commercial photography.
Over the last few years, it seems like it’s become really cool to hate Adobe; kind of like how it’s cool to hate Coldplay. Except the main difference is that Coldplay really does suck.
The crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year old daughter Gianna, and seven others aboard a helicopter shocked millions around the world. Near the Staples Center in California where Bryant played for 20 years as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, make-shift memorials appeared. And online, fans posted messages of grief and condolences on social media.
Although some may feel like I'm some sort of rockstar photographer that is so busy he has to turn down work he doesn't want, the truth of the matter is right now I am just a guy sitting on a rock typing out a letter to people he has never met with the hopes that it helps just one person keep their head up.
I have a confession to make. I often shoot in aperture priority mode. I’m a reasonably competent photographer with a solid grasp of the factors that drive exposure, but I don’t want to fiddle with multiple dials when I just want to take a photo.
Sitting with a group of picture-takers last night, it dawned on me that even though all of us call ourselves “photographers,” so much of what we care about, the way we shoot, the very core of what we like about taking pictures, is distinct — almost to the point of us having little useful to share.
I’m not going to wax poetic about the Leica M6 TTL .85. I don’t need to.
The National Archives of the USA is putting on a show. "Rightfully Hers: American Women and The Vote." Out front of the show, there is a large visual display that includes an iconic photograph of the Jan 21, 2017 Women's March on DC with some blurred out elements. Specifically blurred out is some language on the protest signs, language the Archive staff judged to be political or NSFW. You can read more about it here.
Over the past few years, I've experienced a number of lenses that were optically stunning. Near-perfect examples of optical technology, lenses like the Sony 135mm f/1.8 (which I reviewed and loved) and 24mm f/1.4 (also loved) along with the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 or their RF 50mm f/1.2 all exhibited these traits of pushing towards "perfection."
I don’t want to photograph models. They are lovely and beautiful and work with you and do what you ask and most are a dream to photograph, resulting in beautiful images. All this is true, but… I don’t want to photograph them. I don’t.
As camera technology continues to progress, the way in which we operate them is changing as well. Photographers should always use the most familiar and effective technique to get the shot, and to that end I want to be clear about the purpose of this article: I’m not trying to convince anyone to blindly stop using back-button focus.
On December 19, 2019, Flickr (and SmugMug) CEO Don MacAskill posted a letter entitled “The world’s most-beloved, money-losing business needs your help.” MacAskill described how SmugMug saved Flickr from an imminent demise at the hands of Verizon, and how the company needed the photo community to step up to staunch the money-losing operation.
After the Second World War, if you were a professional photographer, then you would have used cameras from companies like Hasselblad and Leica. Photojournalists tended to shoot predominantly with Leica cameras, and they were essentially the standard.
When it comes to image quality, there are very few cameras that can compete against a good medium format system. The resolution, detail, and colors they produce are difficult to match using cameras with a smaller sensor. This is one of the reasons manufacturers can charge what they do for these types of cameras. The issue, however, is that many people tend to romanticize what medium format cameras are. And for the most part, it’s complete nonsense.
I guess we've all been there: people question our images, saying they're "fake" because we edit our raw files.
At the turn of the millennium, veteran photojournalist David Hume Kennerly embarked on a project using a single camera outfitted with a single lens – a medium format Mamiya 7II with a 43mm f/4.5 lens. As he crisscrossed the country, he committed to taking a photo each day, which culminated in his book Photo du Jour.
Yes, it's post-processed. I get this question all the time, like every other photographer on the planet, and it often sparks heated debates that challenge the notion of objective reality and the meaning of photography.
Photographer and YouTuber Matt Granger just released a video titled "The Truth About Sony," but while this might sound like some sort of exposé, it's really not. What we have here is an honest discussion about the growing pains that Sony users have been dealing with for years, and how Sony has addressed (almost) all of those issues over the past couple of years.
I think the question of whether something is or is not "art" is a bit disingenuous, often used more as a tool for gatekeeping than true analysis or critique. There is no objective standard for what makes something enjoyable as a piece of art, whether that's a photograph, music, sculpture, or a blade of grass in a field.
Flickr users received an email a few days ago asking for help to save Flickr by subscribing to the Flickr Pro service. Don MacAskill, the CEO of both SmugMug and Flickr, explained that the platform is still losing money and needs our help to keep it alive.
Quite often when I’m browsing my Facebook photographic communities I see posts from people who are depressed because they have lost interest in their hobby. They usually say that they can’t work up the enthusiasm to get out there and photograph anything and that they haven’t even picked up their cameras in weeks, months or even years. They have lost their ‘phojo’ and they wonder if they’ll ever get it back.
Photographer and occasional PetaPixel guest author Robin Wong recently published a very interesting take on a question that most people thought was settled: why is the camera market shrinking? While most people would just blame the rise of smartphones and call it a day, Wong shares a more nuanced, and possibly more accurate, list of reasons.
Telephoto lenses and landscape photography may seem an odd pairing. Telephotos are more at home in the hands of wildlife, sports, and portrait photographers. They’re used to get close to the subject, help to compress perspective (cue the comments on "lens compression is a myth") and isolate distracting elements.
In a recent interview with DPReview, Olympus VP of Sales and Marketing Aki Murata laid out the company's market position quite eloquently, explaining why (and how) Olympus intends to compete in a camera market that is increasingly focused on full-frame.
My son texted me the other day asking for my meatball recipe. It’s a rarity that he texts me for recipes, so I was thrilled to my toes. About a week later, my daughter texted me asking for my fresh pumpkin pie recipe. Again, joy spread through my body as I thought to myself, “Finally.”
Should you buy an iPhone 11 Pro? That’s a big question many people have had on their minds since Apple recently released their latest flagship smartphone that contains 3 different rear-facing cameras. However, a thorough answer to that question isn’t cut and dry.
I used my Nikon D610 to take the last photograph of my mom before she died. I’ve documented my children's lives nearly everyday. The rubber grip is wearing thin in spots. A rubber tab on the bottom is chronically flapping loose; my fingers push it back into place out of habit. This camera has become an extension of me, and I have grown to love it. But it has not always been that way.
Before I going into this one, let me first share a little recap about my background with Apple. A number of years back, I was in love with the iPhone 4S. I felt it was a phone made for photographers and supported it wholeheartedly, going so far as doing speeches at Apple stores about how their products catered to my workflow.
I want to start this off by saying two things: one, this isn't a review or hands-on impressions as I have not used the computer (PetaPixel's hands-on coverage is forthcoming) and two, I am an Apple power user and have been since I was indoctrinated in high school.
Photography can be an expensive pursuit, and the cost of things (and the pressure to buy them all, buy them new, and buy them now) can get in the way of putting that money in better places.
Yesterday, I was at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shooting for Flashes of Hope, a wonderful non-profit organization that gets photographers like myself to volunteer their time and create portraits of kids who are literally fighting for their lives. These portraits are given to the families for free. Flashes of Hope is a truly wonderful group.
Over four years ago in 2015, when we were all still optimistic about the Canon 5D Mark IV, Sony released the a7R II. This was a 42.4MP full-frame camera that also offered the ability to shoot 4k video using the full width of the sensor. This camera took many photographers by surprise because almost no one was expecting Sony to release such a camera. Sure, it had lots of flaws and it was somewhat of a beta release; but still, it put Sony on the map.
The Canon 1DX Mark III is shaping up to be one of the most exciting mirrorless cameras on the market, matching or outpacing the current industry standard in the Sony a9 and a9 II. Yes, you read that right: if the upcoming 1DX Mark III only has the features that were teased yesterday, it will be a killer mirrorless camera that just happens to have a mirror.
The release of the Fuji X-Pro3 this morning came as a bit of a surprise to me; not what was unveiled, but the general reception to it. So many comments (yes, I know you're not supposed to read the comments) of ridicule and annoyance were not what I was expecting. And as I read them (which I promise not to do again) I noticed an underlying theme that was a bit worrying.
One of the world's leading independent experts on Leica has announced that he's saying "farewell to the Leica world." He states that because of recent decisions and developments at the company, "the soul of Leica products has been eradicated."
Right now if you head over to Kickstarter and search for "camera bag," three active choices pop up. That's three more camera bag ideas vying for your attention in addition to the tons that have hit Kickstarter over the years and the hundreds more made by larger brands like Lowepro, Manfrotto and Think Tank.
A year or so ago, I wrote an article on why I switched from Nikon to Sony. A few people asked why I didn’t move to the Nikon mirrorless system. And the answer was simple: I didn’t want to risk shooting a wedding with a single memory card slot.
In 2010, the world's tallest skyscraper was completed in Dubai. Standing a staggering 2,722 feet tall, the Burj Khalifa towered over the next tallest building by over 700ft. It was a feat of engineering, and a beautiful and shining addition to one of the most impressive skylines in the world. But they didn't consider one issue: feces. In this way, the Burj Khalifa and the new Nikon Noct lens have something in common.
While reading the reaction to our coverage of the Sony a9 II announcement yesterday, one comment really stuck out to me as an excellent summation of a subject that's been buzzing around my mind for about a month now: "Sony reaching the edge of feasible. Now they don't know what to add anymore."
