Twitnuuz: Photography

Dpreview News

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:25:07 -0400

Sony World Photo Awards open for entries, including 3D and movie prizes
The 2013 Sony World Photography Awards are now open for entries, and include categories for 3D and filmmakers. The competition has categories for both amateur and professional photographers and prizes that include both cash and Sony photographic equipment….

via: News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

PetaPixel

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 09:07:02 -0400

What Night Sky Photographs Will Look Like Over the Next 7 Billion Years
NASA astronomers announced today that they are certain that our galaxy is on an unavoidable collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest spiral galaxy to us. Don’t worry though, it won’t be happening for another 3.5 billion years…
The Market Value of the IKEA Cardboard Digital Camera? About $100
There was a collective groan from hipster photographers around the world last month after it was revealed that IKEA had no plans to start selling its KNÄPPA cardboard camera to the general public. If you were one of the lucky few who got your hands on…
Adults Looking Back on School Portraits From Their Days of Youth
School Portrait is a project by documentary filmmaker and communications student Greg Ward, who asked a number of adults to show and share about their old school portraits. Ward writes, Most people are embarrassed or find it funny to look back on their…
BBC Mistakenly Runs Dated Iraq Photo to Illustrate the Syrian Massacre
Check your facts, check your sources, and then check your facts a few more times for good measure; that should be the mantra of journalists and journalism organizations worldwide. Sadly, the BBC dropped the ball in that arena recently when they used a…
Ever Wonder What This Symbol on Your Camera Means?
Take a look at your camera, and there’s a good chance it’ll have this symbol: Φ — a small circle bisected by a long line that looks like a hieroglyph of Saturn. If you’ve always wondered what it means, today’s your lucky…
Twig is a USB Cable that Doubles as a Tabletop Tripod
Here’s an interesting product idea by Oregon-based designer Jason Hilbourne that combines a charging cable and a mini-tripod into an easy-to-use, pocket-sized device. His project, dubbed Twig, is specific to the iPhone and has already gotten quite…
Art Students Become Human Cameras by Eating 35mm Film
Kingston University photography students Luke Evans and Josh Lake wanted to do something unusual for their final major project, so they decided to turn themselves into human cameras by eating 35mm film squares and letting their bodies do the rest. After…
Complete Visual Dictionary Created Using Photos from Google Image Search
General consensus seems to be that a picture is worth a thousand words, in which case Ben West and Felix Heyes‘ unique take on the dictionary, complete with 21,000 entries, metaphorically contains closer to 21,000,000 words worth of content. That’s…
Popular Drinks Photographed Under a Microscope
Fingerprints of Drinkable Culture is a photo series by photographer William LeGoullon that explores what popular beverages look like under a microscope. He writes, In this series, I treat the world’s top five most consumed man-made beverages like scientific…
Camera Snobbery: A Slice of Amateur Photography Culture
Here’s a funny short clip from the HBO TV show Veep in which two photography enthusiasts discuss their Canon cameras, and… one of them is a camera snob. Does the guy remind you of anyone you know? Hopefully it’s not yourself!

via: PetaPixel

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 06:25:06 -0400

Lightroom Live Seminar Contest Winners
I’ve got the winners for my upcoming seminars for you. Even if you didn’t win, I hope you’ll still consider coming out to the seminar. Here’s the details and outline of the entire seminar on the Kelby Training website. Thanks!…
Win a Free Ticket To The Lightroom 4 Live Seminar in June
In a few weeks I’ll be taking my Lightroom 4 Live seminar tour from Kelby Training out to a few more cities. First I head to Washington DC, then on to Lansing Michigan, Richmond, and San Francisco. If you’ve been wanting to finally figure…
Is a Lightroom HDR “Effect”, Really HDR?
I posted a smaller version of this to my Google+ page yesterday but the comments got me thinking more about the topic. So I figured I’d write about it here since, well, the post-processing involved in what you’re about to read was done in…

via: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

Digital Photography School

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 04:43:01 -0400

Work: Weekly Photography Challenge
This week your challenge is to take a photo and then share it on the theme of WORK. Work is something most of us do in one form or another – whether that be paid work, work raising a family, work at school, work in the garden…. or somewhere else….
Photography in the Moonlight
A Guest Post by Phil Hart – author of the Shooting Stars eBook (use the code DPSTARS for a 20% discount). Even a casual play with your camera at night will reveal its remarkable ability to see much more than your eyes can, and in full colour too….

via: Digital Photography School

Dpreview News

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:37:03 -0400

Woven app lets you browse all your images in one place
Woven, a free app for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire and Nook allows you to browse all of your photos from services such as Flickr, Facebook, Picasa and Smugmug in a single place. Once you’ve logged into each of the services, through the app, it downloads…

via: News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

PetaPixel

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:07:01 -0400

Pentax Rumored to be Working on a 360-Degree Camera
According to Photo Rumors, in addition to working on several rugged advancements to their camera line, Pentax is also planning to add a 360-degree camera to their repertoire. This is a camera that would be capable of creating 360-degree panoramas with…
Photo Editing App Snapseed is Apple’s Free App of the Week
Looking for a solid photo editing app for your iPhone or iPad? Snapseed, an acclaimed photo editing app for iOS, has been selected as Apple’s free app of the week. Apple kicked off the program last week, so this is only the second app to be featured….
New “De-Animation” Technique Makes Creating Cinemagraphs a Snap
Creating cinemagraphs — still photos in which one or another section is moves repetitively — can be a pretty tricky process, but a new technique developed by Adobe researcher Aseem Agarwala and his UC Berkley colleagues may make it quite a…
NASA Spacesuit Testing Leads To Accidentally Artsy Photos
More than most government agencies, NASA is actually pretty enthusiastic about photography (by comparison, we probably won’t be seeing CIA photography archives come to light any time soon). When NASA had a problem that needed solving they liked…
Did You Know: Kodak Used Collectible Stuffed Animals to Sell Cameras
We’ve heard of camera manufacturers dipping into unrelated fields before, and we’ve also seen some pretty interesting marketing stunts, but in the early 90′s Kodak had already done both… in a colorful, cuddly sort of way. Back…
Create a Giant Wall Clock Using Picture Frames
Want to enjoy a glimpse of photographic awesomeness every time you glimpse at the time at home? Create a giant wall clock with picture frames to mark each hour! You’ll need a clock kit (or a disassembled clock) and 12 picture frames. You can be…
Participatory Project Asks for Half-Minute Videos of Seriousness
The world is a serious place, and it seems that even comedians like Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen think that this is a side worth seeing. So, by way of a fun video project, he’s asking viewers to do one simple thing: Be Serious for 30…
50 Quick Photography Tips in Less Than 15 Minutes
Kai over at DigitalRev put together this video that offers photography advice in burst mode: 50 (or 49) short and sweet tips in less than 15 minutes. If you take yourself too seriously, be warned: the tips are presented in Kai’s trademark “infotainment”…
New Software Suite to Detect Stealthy Image Manipulation
Former Photoshop product manager Kevin Connor and Dartmouth professor (and digital forensic expert) Hany Farid are working together to help put a stop to image manipulation where it doesn’t belong. Putting their two brains together they formed a…
Magical Scenes Created by Light Painting with Stencils
Flickr user TigTab creates beautiful scenes by light painting with hand-cut stencils. For each shot, the camera’s shutter is left open while she moves about the location, firing her flash through the stencils in various locations to add the individual…

via: PetaPixel

The Photo Argus - A Photographer's Resource

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:13:01 -0400

29 Beautiful Examples of Silhouette Photography
Below are the picks from our latest showcase challenge, Silhouette. Thanks for all who participated! Urban Angel View Exif Data picturesbysteve View Exif Data ana.gr View Exif Data onkel_wart View Exif Data De Santis View Exif Data ana.gr View Exif Data…

via: The Photo Argus - A Photography Resource Blog

Dpreview Reviews

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:25:07 -0400

Pentax K-01

via: Reviews (latest): Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Digital Photography School

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 04:43:04 -0400

Travel Photography Inspiration Project: Cambodia
When I say Cambodia, what comes to mind? Angkor Wat? Monks? While we will be feature photos of that nature in this post, there is more to the country to be explored. The coast, the people the quiet moments of religion. Follow along with these DPS readers…
Fujifilm F770EXR Review
A whole niche seems to have appeared in digi compacts: Sony has one, as has Canon, Panasonic and others. I speak of compacts with a 20x zoom. These are indeed remarkably powerful beasts and word of mouth has it that they fill a long felt need out there…

via: Digital Photography School

Dpreview News

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:19:03 -0400

Just Posted: Pentax K-01 review
Just posted: our sixteen-page Pentax K-01 review. In the third of our collaborative reviews with the Digital Camera Resource Page’s Jeff Keller, we look at Pentax’s first large-sensor mirrorless camera, the 16MP APS-C K-01. The K-01 is unusual for a mirrorless…

via: News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

PetaPixel

Thu, 31 May 2012 09:07:02 -0400

Chinese Commuters Floating on Invisible Bicycles
Floating is a series of manipulated photographs by Chinese photographer Zhao Huasen showing people in China riding around on invisible bicycles. You can find more of Huasen’s work over at Feizi Gallery. (via EGoA) Image credits: Photographs by Zhao…
Nat Geo on Photo Filters: “Please Stop”
For those of you who’ve ever wondered what it takes to get your work into National Geographic, here’s a hint: not “creative” software filters. According to a set of guidelines laid out in a message from the magazine’s Director…
Fujifilm Considered Acquiring Leica and Olympus
In a recent interview with Fujifilm CEO Shigetaka Komori, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine dived into some pretty intense financial conversation. Much of what was said didn’t pertain directly to photography — discussions about Fuji’s…
The Making of an Epic Solar Eclipse Photo
Of the photographs that emerged after the recent solar eclipse on May 20th, there aren’t many that are more epic than the “Ring of Fire” photo captured by Michael Chow of The Arizona Republic. In an interview with Dallas News, Chow reveals…
200 Yards: A Photo Project Documenting SF Through a Hyperlocal Lens
200 Yards is a neat photo project based in San Francisco that centers around the idea of having photographers point cameras at a small section of a particular city. For each cycle, organizers pick a particular “alternative gallery space” and…
Nikon Releases a Firmware Update to Fix the D4 and D800 Lock Up Issue
In early March, Nikon offered a temporary fix to a lock up issue that had been plaguing the D4 and D800. At the time you had to turn off the ‘Highlights’ and ‘RGB Histogram’ display options to avoid the issue, but Nikon promised a more permanent…
New Nikon Patent Points to Possibility of a Future f/0.7 Mirrorless Lens
Apertures can get pretty big, but a new patent from Nikon seems to imply that a future Nikon 1 mirrorless lens could weigh in at f/0.7. The patent, which gives an example of a 32mm f/1.2 (pictured above), clearly states that the new technology could successfully…
Mind-Bending Mirror Scene from the Movie “Sucker Punch”
If you liked the the “impossible shot” from the film Contact that we shared earlier this week, you’ll enjoy this clip as well. It’s a shot from the film Sucker Punch that uses some clever camera work and trickery rather than CGI…
Olympus to Settle with ex-CEO, Avoid Massive Lawsuit Over Unfair Dismissal
Just yesterday news broke that Michael Woodford — the former Olympus CEO who blew the whistle on the now-infamous scandal and was subsequently fired — would be suing his former employer over unfair dismissal for a whopping $60 million dollars….
Hasselblad vs Red Epic: Will Video Kill the Still Photography Star?
Video technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and the question that seems to be on many a photographer’s mind is: “will video ever render still photography obsolete?” In the future, will shooting a sunset simply involve going out…

via: PetaPixel

PixelatedImage Blog

Thu, 31 May 2012 07:13:02 -0400

Objects of Beauty, 5.
Nikon D3s, Zeiss 50/1.4. Gitzo Ocean Traveler tripod. Heading off this morning with Emily (my Jeep) and my buddy Corwin for 3 days of adventure, working our way around some logging roads and offroad trails, basically looking to get into trouble, find…
Objects of Beauty, 4.
This is a rungu, an African war club, traditionally made of olive or acacia wood. It was given me by my village, Ongeli, in northern Kenya, but to get the full meaning of it, and therefore it’s full beauty, I need to tell the story. I was in northern…
Objects of Beauty, 3
Rimowa Topas Series, Aluminum German-made Rimowa suitcases are simply beautiful, particularly the aluminum Topas series, which has been in production since the 1950′s. Classic styling that is reminiscent of a more romantic age of travel, is perfectly…
Objects of Beauty, 2.
8 years of Moleskine Notebooks. Ruled. The Moleskine-style journal has been used by writers and thinkers and creative-types for a couple hundred years, and while the Italian company from which it now gets it’s popular name is relatively new, notebooks…
Objects of Beauty, 1.
Blundstone 063 boots, Sandstorm Safari Duffle This is the beginning of a new project for me. A friend once commented that we (I think he meant me) mark our lives by the things we acquire. I think that’s less true than that we have an interesting…
Photographing My Father
This fall I took my girl and my camera to visit my father. We drank some wine, watched the leaves change colour, spent some time riding around the back roads in his 1949 Willys Jeep, Patches. And we went off for an hour to do a portrait project I’ve…

via: PixelatedImage Blog

Photojojo

Thu, 31 May 2012 06:25:07 -0400

Introducing Two iPhoneography Must-Haves
Leaving the house with your DSLR means never leaving your lenses or extra battery behind. Now, the same goes for your iPhone! The Keychain iPhone Charger and the Olloclip 3-in-1 iPhone Lens will have you more ready than an AP photographer on his first…

via: Photojojo

Digital Photography School

Thu, 31 May 2012 04:31:02 -0400

Advanced Portrait Retouch on a Male Subject in Lightroom 4 – Part 2 of 3
Introduction This tutorial has been transcribed from the SLR Lounge Lightroom 4 Workshop on DVD, a 14 hour Lightroom 4 A – Z guide with over 130 tutorials for mastering Lightroom from start to finish. The Digital download can be purchased from…
10 Tips for Getting the Most out of Your Remote Expedition
A Guest Post by Piper Mackay from www.pipermackayphotography.com. 1. Do your Research Taking an international trip to an exotic location, especially if you are going solo, can be a large investment. Whether you choose to go solo or join a group you need…

via: Digital Photography School

Dpreview News

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:19:11 -0400

Adobe launches ACR v7.1 and Lightroom v4.1 with X-Pro1 support
Adobe has launched final versions of Photoshop Lightroom v4.1 and Adobe Camera Raw v7.1 that include support for the Fujifilm X-Pro1. Both versions include the advanced defringing tools introduced in the Release Candidate versions they replace as well…
Panasonic DMC-FX90 firmware v2.0 makes Wi-Fi functions smarter
Panasonic has release firmware v2.0 for its DMC-FX90 Wi-Fi compact, adding a series of features to allow its use with smartphones. The FX90, launched in August 2011 featured the ability to upload images to smartphones, but the latest firmware adds the…
Nikon issues firmware updates for D4 and D800/D800E
Nikon has updated the firmware of both the D4 and D800 professional DSLRs. The D4 receives updates to v1.01 for both firmware A and B, while the D800 and D800E only have B firmware v1.01. In both cases the firmware corrects minor operational glitches,…
Review: Nik Snapseed for Mac
Snapseed started life as an iOS app that married Nik Software’s ‘U Point’ localized effect controls with a touch-based interface. The app has now stepped back across the mobile divide and is available for desk-bound Macs. Lauren Crabbe investigates whether…

via: News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

PetaPixel

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:07:01 -0400

The Beauty of Extreme Sports in Super Slow Motion
If there was an official list of things that are too epic, this video would probably be somewhere on it. It’s a compilation of videos showing various extreme sports captured in super slow motion.
A Giant Viewfinder For Your Phone
Here’s an interesting idea by Oregon-based engineering consultant Paul Anderson called The Daylight Viewfinder. The patent pending invention, which is in the process of raising $44,000 on Kickstarter, is a suction mountable, sun blocking viewfinder/app…
New App Uses Photo Sharing to Shame “Parking Douches”
Have you ever walked out to your car and seen someone abysmally parked next to you, or up on the sidewalk? Even if they aren’t blocking you in specifically, didn’t you wish there was a way — other than leaving a less than professional…
PhotoBeamer Makes Sharing Photos With Any Web Connected Display a Breeze
Last weekend we mentioned that the Bump app had just added browser integration, allowing you to transfer photos from your mobile device to your computer by simply “bumping” the space bar. And now another sharing app called PhotoBeamer has…
Using Painters Tape to Hang Picture-Perfect Picture Frames
Hanging pictures straight is a bit difficult as it is, but when we’re talking about two screw or two nail frames, getting them exactly right can be downright frustrating. Fortunately, the folks behind the DIY site It’s Overflowing have a solution…
Photo Series on Missing Persons Posters
There’s something profoundly sad about a missing persons poster. That rectangular piece of paper often signifies a last ditch effort, a one in a million chance, and it’s that desperation and sadness that Graham MacIndoe captures with his “Missing…
Leica M Monochrom Compared to the Leica M9
Leica’s new black & white rangefinder, the M Monochrom, eschews the standard color filter found in ordinary camera sensors in order to capture higher quality monochrome photographs. How much of a difference does this make compared to the standard…
World Photo Games: A Humorous Fusion of Photography and the Olympics
Canadian camera shop The Camera Store are the masters of viral photography-related ads (they’re the ones behind the Battle at F-Stop Ridge and its sequel). Now, with the Olympics just around the corner, they’ve released this humorous new video…
Manhattanhenge: A Unique Bi-Annual Photo Op for New Yorkers
Twice per year something really cool happens: the stars, or rather one particular star, aligns with the grid of streets running through Manhattan island, offering photographers and astrologists alike an opportunity to go out and snap a few very unique…
The Gun and the Camera: A Historical Relationship
The link between the camera and gun is evident in a shared metaphor, but is historically closer than we might imagine. During the 2004 battle for Fallujah in Iraq, NBC cameraman Kevin Sites filmed a marine shooting an insurgent in a mosque. Jon Kudelka’s…

via: PetaPixel

Joe McNally's Blog

Wed, 30 May 2012 07:13:02 -0400

Talking Down Under
Winding down now, after a month in Australia. Heading home this week. It’s been a wonderful trip, and I’ve learned a lot. Such as… G’day is actually one word. And when an Aussie says it, even to a total stranger, they generally really mean…

via: Joe McNally’s Blog

Digital Photography School

Wed, 30 May 2012 04:43:02 -0400

Dust and Dance: Behind the Scenes of a Beautiful Image
Photographer Thomas David recently published a beautiful series of images on Flickr by the title of Dust and Dance where he shot a dancer in action – with the action enhanced with Dust spraying off her. Here’s an example (used with permission)….
Composing Dynamic Landscape Images
A Guest Post by Todd Sisson from www.sisson.co.nz. As a landscape photographer I am constantly seeking that next X-factor shot – an image that leaps from the screen or page and demands the viewer’s attention – preferably attention of…

via: Digital Photography School

PetaPixel

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:13:02 -0400

Canon May Inject $16M Into Struggling UK Camera Retailer Jessops
The fact that UK camera retailer Jessops has been struggling financially is pretty well established; what’s now under debate is whether or not Canon is going to make a sizable invest to bail them out. Just how sizable are we talking? Ten million…
Surreal Locations Created by Mirroring Landscape Photos
For his project titled Perspe, Italian photographer Gustav Willeit created imaginary locations by mirroring landscape photographs and then adding in non-symmetrical elements into the images. Perspe by Gustav Willeit (via Visual News)
Super High Definition 33MP Video Camera Captures 4 Billion Pixels Each Second
Some of the biggest recent advancements in imaging technology have come in the form of video. Case in point, the new Ultra-High-Definition video camera made by NHK in Japan. This baby takes in 33-megapixel video at a mind numbing 120fps — that translates…
Dress Created with Film Strips and LEDs, Turns You Into a Walking Lightbox
The Little Slide Dress by Emily Steel is a geeky photographic take on the classic litte black dress. Created using strips of slide film, the dress also features LED lights that automatically provide a proper amount of illumination based on ambient lighting….
Flexplore is Like Pandora for Flickr Photos
Getting personalized recommendations for the music you listen to became common practice many years ago with the Music Genome Project and personalized radio stations by the likes of Pandora. Up until now, however, we haven’t seen anything that takes…
Miniature DSLR Earphone Jack Plugs
Etsy shop Tyndall’s Polymerclay sells earphone jack accessories shaped like tiny DSLRs. The plugs are based on popular camera models (e.g. Canon 5D, Nikon D90, Nikon D3), and are created from polymer clay for the body and resin for the lens. The…
A Mind-Blowing Impossible Shot from the Movie ‘Contact’
This has to do with filmmaking rather than photography, but check out this jaw-dropping shot from the 1997 movie Contact. Can you figure out how it was created? Here’s the answer.
YouTube’s Frontrow App Lets You Snap and Share Photos of Livestreams
Livestreaming events on YouTube is becoming commonplace, but besides the experience of being there, the one thing that livestreams don’t provide is a way to take pictures and remember the event. When you’re there you’re taking video…
Getty Images Changes Watermark from Annoying Logo to Useful Shortlink
Wanting to shed its image of being “old media” and “old fashioned”, Getty Images has unveiled a new watermark that does away with the annoying logo in favor of short links. Rather than plaster the words “Getty Images”…
Teen Finds Photo of His Long-Dead Uncle in a $1 Garage Sale Camera
Last Thursday, 13-year-old Addison Logan of Wichita, Kansas found something really cool at a garage sale: an old Polaroid camera for only $1 (score!). But when Addison got it home and started looking up how to use it on the internet, what he found in…

via: PetaPixel

Strobist

Tue, 29 May 2012 06:25:01 -0400

Learning to See Light: Exploring Blue Hour
The blue hour is that magical time that happens every evening, well after sunset but before full dark. We often think about pushing flash into the post-sunset sky. But just behind us, there is a cool mix of light happening from the east as night encroaches….
On Assignment: Reed Quintet
I shoot a lot of individual artists for the Howard County Arts Council. But when Bassoonist Eddie Sanders (center, above) asked if we could instead shoot his military reed quintet, I jumped at the chance. Really, how often do you get a chance to photograph…
Considering a Three-Way? Here’s What You Need to Know.
After Monday’s OA post, several people asked via Twitter and comments about the three-way flash brackets. They are super-useful, small, light and cheap. Or not, if you mistakenly buy more capability than you need… Read more »

via: Strobist