Spotlight

Cameras are great, but it’s what is done in photography with that technology that really matters. To that end, PetaPixel regularly shines a Spotlight on the incredible photos and videos created by talented artists from around the world.

Behind the Scenes: Visiting the World’s Largest Digital Camera and Optical Lens

A couple of weeks ago, we shared some photos of the world's largest optical lens, which had just been shipped to the SLAC laboratory in Menlo Park, CA, where it would be joined with the world's largest digital camera. Unfortunately, we obviously weren't actually there for the reveal of this record breaking lens, but YouTube channel Physics Girl was.

Fujifilm vs Canon Color Science Blind Test: Which Do You Actually Prefer?

Photographer and YouTuber Andrew of Denae & Andrew created a comparison that plenty of photographers will be very interested in: Canon vs Fujifilm color science. A lot is made of Fuji's film simulations, and Canon users won't shut up about their amazing skin tones. But when you put them side-by-side in a blind "taste test," which do you actually prefer?

iPhone 11 Pro vs 100MP Medium Format Camera

When commercial photographer Josh Rossi first came up with the idea of comparing the iPhone 11 Pro against his new Fuji GFX 100, he wrote it off. But he decided to do it anyway, because even if the GFX 100 was going to be the obvious winner, he still wanted to see how the RAW files stacked up.

37 Camera Shutter Sounds in 3 Minutes and 30 Seconds

Photographer Scott Graham recently put together a video that you'll either find incredibly boring or oddly satisfying. In preparation for the sale of a large number of his older analog and digital cameras, he created a video showcasing 37 different shutter sounds in 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

Chasing the Ultimate Surfing Shot with Teenage Photographer Leroy Bellet

Red Bull TV's video series Chasing the Shot pairs cutting-edge photographers with world-class athletes to show what it takes to capture unparalleled action photography. And for Season One's main episode, they followed teenaged surf photography phenom Leroy Bellet as he set out to capture the surfing photo of a lifetime.

Photos of Endangered Species Where Every Pixel Represents One Animal

Back in 2008, the World Wildlife Fund teamed up with Yoshiyuki Mikami to create an incredibly powerful campaign using photos of endangered species where every pixel represented one animal left in the wild. Now, a programmer named Joshua Smith took this idea and updated it, releasing a new series of images that have quickly gone viral online.

Photographer Turns Symphony Hall into the World’s Largest Darkroom

During this year's STORY conference in Nashville, TN, photographer Blake Wylie did something really cool. He turned a massive symphony hall into what might be the world's largest darkroom so that he could capture and develop a tintype portrait on-stage, in front of an audience of 1,400 people.

Full-Frame Digital vs Large Format Film: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Photographer Usman Dawood of Sonder Creative recently teamed up with film photographer Adam French to put together an intriguing portrait comparison: high-resolution full-frame digital vs 4x5 large format film. They shot both cameras at about the same FF equivalent focal length, and then compared the resulting images side by side for your viewing pleasure.

First Look: This is the Upcoming Pentax APS-C Flagship DSLR

Last week, Ricoh revealed that it would be releasing a new flagship Pentax APS-C DLSR in 2020, but they shared very few details and only one low-resolution photo of the upcoming camera. Fortunately, photographer Niels Kemp was at the Pentax 100 Years of History event in The Netherlands, and sent us a few first-look photos.

Hasselblad from Iconic Marilyn Monroe Shoot Expected to Sell for $300,000

Auction house Christie's is preparing to auction off the camera used by photographer Douglas Kirkland to shoot some of the most recognizable images of Marilyn Monroe. In honor of this impressive lot, they've put together a retrospective that takes you behind the scenes of this iconic and intimate photo shoot.

Bear Crashes Wedding Shoot, Photo Bombs Bride and Groom

Knoxville, TN-based wedding photographer Leah McMahan Edmondson of Gypsy Soul Photography had to deal with an unexpected photobomber at a recent photo shoot in Gatlinburg. While taking portraits of the newlyweds, a large black bear strolled into the background of her shot, before taking a walk down the aisle.

Photo Experiment: Shooting Portraits at 900mm

Photographers and YouTubers Manny Ortiz, Irene Rudnyk and Gerald Undone recently teamed on on something totally ridiculous. During Sony's recent Kando trip, they got a model, slapped a 600mm f/4 lens onto a Sony a6400, and tried shooting some portraits at 900mm.

Recreating a 108-Year-Old Landscape Photograph

The Brisbane Water National Park on the Central Coast of Australia is such a beautiful place to be, and Somersby Falls is one of the most popular destinations. It’s not hard to see why. So when I stumbled across a 108-year-old picture of one of my favorite waterfalls in the park, I and decided to try and recreate it to see what had changed, and what had stayed the same.

This Photographer Colorizes His Wet Plate Photos with Striking Results

Fine art photographer Borut Peterlin was recently commissioned to shoot some ambrotypes by costume designer Alan Hranitelj, but he went a few steps beyond your standard wet plate collodion photography. In addition to shooting some beautiful multiple-exposures, he also decided to colorize the scans, creating striking photographs the likes of which we've not seen before.

Street Photographer Beaten Bloody for Taking Photo of a Couple Hugging

Photographer Math Roberts experienced every street photographer's worst nightmare during the Notting Hill Carnival. As first reported by The Phoblographer, Roberts was attacked, beaten bloody, and had his camera smashed to bits for taking a photograph of a couple hugging on the last night of the event.

I Shoot Fake Miniature Scenes with the Real Milky Way

Breaking the rules and thinking outside the box is something a photographer should always try. You start your journey with photography capturing everything interesting you see, jumping from one genre to the other until you find your favorite style.

Photographer Turns a Skyscraper Into a Giant Camera

Brendan Barry is a UK-based photographer who's known for turning all kinds of unusual things into working cameras, from food and mannequins to shipping containers and camper trailers. But his latest project was his most ambitious yet -- turned a Manhattan skyscraper into a giant camera.

20 Photos of My Hometown of Amsterdam During Different Seasons

As a landscape photographer, I always travel a lot, especially this year. But I’m always happy to be back home in Amsterdam! I can never get enough of photographing the beauty of this city. The canals and buildings are just so photogenic. I just love to walk through the city in the evening especially. When the lights turn on, everything just looks magical!

Photographer Captures Rare Yosemite Falls Rainbow Phenomenon

In 2017, Utah-based landscape photographer Greg Harlow captured a rare and beautiful phenomenon in Yosemite National Park. Standing at Glacier Point, he was able to capture Yosemite Falls "turning into" a rainbow: a phenomenon that only happens at certain times of year and under certain circumstances.

Opinion: The Problem with Many of the ‘Photographers’ on YouTube

Professional event photographer and photography teacher Mik Milman recently published a video that's bound to receive some mixed reactions. In it, Milman laments the dearth of experience of many photographers who pass themselves off as "experts" on YouTube, earning thousands of followers and possibly misleading beginners by offering bad advice and unqualified critiques.

Using 72 High-Speed Cameras to Capture Bullet-Time Slow Motion

The Hydraulic Press YouTube channel is already an entertaining (if occasionally painful) watch. Who doesn't want to see things get crushed and/or explode... in slow motion? But the channel recently took it up another notch by setting up a ring of 72 high-speed cameras to capture some awesome bullet-time slow-motion footage.

Photographer Accuses Digital Artist of Photo Theft, Calls Him ‘Thief’ & ‘Liar’

No fewer than 5 different sources sent us the same article this morning from photographer Jason Weingart, in which the extreme weather photog accuses digital artist Brent Shavnore of willfully stealing his images, calling him a "thief, poser, coward, and a liar." Shavnore tells PetaPixel that the entire issue is a misunderstanding, and accuses Weingart of being "childish."

Portraits of Honor: Photographing the Last of the WWII Veterans

This is a year for monumental anniversaries of events in American history—particularly the WWII 75th anniversaries of the D-Day invasion, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. With those in mind, I started a project in April photographing WWII veterans, knowing that the numbers still surviving are dropping rapidly each day.

Macro Video of Bioluminescent Shrimp Shot with a Sony a7 III

Sometimes the world blows you away. It was like that for us when we first started shooting sea fireflies on rock formations back in 2016. The visual power of these creature lighting up the shoreline was just stunning. It made us want to learn more about these creatures and think about innovative ways of shooting them.

Camera Drone Follows Rollercoaster to Capture Dizzying Cinematic Footage

FPV drone pilot and YouTuber Viggo Koch recently teamed up with the folks at the Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg, Sweden to film something pretty epic. Using his substantial drone racing skills, he followed the park's HELIX rollercoaster to capture some dizzying footage that holds its own against any CGI out there.

Photos of Manggarai Warrior Caci Whip Fights in Flores, Indonesia

Indonesia is an incredible archipelago containing thousands of islands, hundreds of volcanoes, tribes, dialects, and cultures. After exploring Java, Bali, and Lombok, I traveled to Flores where I witnessed something truly unexpected.

This Video Was Made from 400,000 Photos of Comet 67p Taken by Rosetta

From 2014 to 2016, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft followed the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67p) around space: collecting scientific data, sending a probe to its surface, and capturing some 400,000 photographs of the comet. This cinematic video was made from those photos.