Photography News

Traditionally, statues are erected to honor people, things, or ideas of note that have contributed something valuable and/or memorable to humanity. Traditionally, selfie takers aren't placed in that category. One Texas city begs to differ, however.

The graduate program in photography at the University of New Mexico's College of Fine Arts has been recognized as one of the top five programs in the nation for more than 20 years. Once again, for 2016, U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of Best Grad Schools, puts UNM's program tied for fifth place with New York's School for Visual Arts. One of the driving forces behind the program is Professor Jim Stone, recognized recently with a lifetime achievement award by the Society for Photographic Education as the recipient of the 2016 Honored Educator Award.

Eye-Plug is a new, tiny external camera device that plugs into your Android phone's reversible USB-C port to produce 3D video and photo content in conjunction with your phone's built-in camera. Previewed by Engadget at Computex 2016, which kicked off today in Taipei, the Eye-Plug promises to be useful for a variety of applications and will supposedly cost only $35, which Engadget is unsure about.

Nearly 300 years ago, the infamous Pirate Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge (QAR), sank off the coast of North Carolina near Beaufort Inlet. A private salvage firm, Intersal, found a cluster of cannons and other artifacts in late 1996 on the seabed near the inlet. State archeologists later confirmed it was the wreckage of the QAR. What appears to be an unprecedented legal battle over who owns the copyright to a treasure trove of video footage and photographs documenting the recovery of the QAR over nearly 20 years is underway.

There may be no lens in the world more eagerly desired and anticipated than the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art. Sigma's wildly successful Art series of lenses have been a huge hit with their great optical quality and highly competitive pricing, leaving photographers practically begging for a portrait lens. Now, it looks like that wish may be coming true.

Kodak made big waves at this year's Cannes Festival announcing 12 features shot on Kodak film. Including Olivier Assayas’s film "Personal Shopper" staring actress Kristen Stewart, where he took home the award for Best Director and was given lengthy five minute standing ovation. This was a huge milestone for Kodak since the rise of digital technology combined with the ability to shoot 4K footage film looked to be a medium of the past. Kodak defied the odds and not only secured film as a viable creative choice, but has rebranded themselves into a thriving film market once again.

The next Photoshop CC update will bring a new feature called "Content Aware Crop Tool." At first sight, it works quite similar to the Content Aware Fill Tool, which was first introduced in Photoshop CS5. The new crop feature fills the corner gaps intelligently while cropping after straightening.

Whether you realize it or not, most videos produced for cinema or even high-end marketing campaigns have some sort of cropping on it, be it by design or with a specific purpose in mind. It's a common occurrence, and for the most part, when you wanted to use this kind of cropping you either had to make your own templates or scour the web in order to find what you were looking for. Well thanks to the folks over at PremiumBeat.com, they have compiled an extensive list of what they claim to be every popular video resolution in the world. All the way from 720 HD to 8K and creating crop ratios from 1:1 to 4:1 Polyvision.

Snap-on lenses are a big thing in the iPhone world. They open up possibilities for whenever someone is working with a fixed focal length system with a lens that cannot be removed. Now, Lensbaby is giving its fans the option to do the same with their GoPro cameras.

It's no secret that most businesses despise Facebook's current model, which has destroyed organic reach in favor of the "boosted" post. Instagram, on the other hand, has never employed such a process. That may be about to change, though.

Paris-based Photojournalist Maya Vidon-White on Saturday called it "good news for photojournalism." But in a New York Times article, she is quoted as saying: "I don't feel a total sense of relief." Vidon-White was facing criminal charges in France for a photo she took of a victim of the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, which was then sold to United Press International (UPI), a news agency, which in turn sold it to a French news agency. The image was ultimately published in a French magazine. The victim's family pressed charges under the nation's privacy laws, which are much stricter than U.S. laws.

Despite being the largest Native American tribe in the United States, the Navajo Nation lost part of a lawsuit against Urban Outfitters because they could not prove that they were famous enough to own the rights to the aesthetic.

One of the biggest concerns about drones is their usage around airports. Several recent close calls have left the government scrambling to continue to catch up to the quickly evolving capabilities and usages of the flying cameras. The FAA is now testing a new system for detecting unauthorized drones near airports.

Despite the explosion of interest in drones with cameras, one place you're not likely to see them used in the near future is commercial television newsrooms. A just released annual survey by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hoftsra University reveals most stations have not used drones with cameras and don't plan on using them. Why you ask? That makes no sense. From a photographer or producer or reporter's perspective, it doesn't. These Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), as the FAA refers to them, are far cheaper than a news helicopter to acquire and operate and can get closer to the action.

Move over Craigslist. Letgo wants your used camera gear and tripod. The online classifieds market is heating up fast, with the impending merger of Wallapop and Letgo, two startups whose roots are in Europe, but who are making their mark on the U.S. market. Reports in the Wall Street Journal and Techcrunch this month put the combined cash infusion for the new company at 100 million dollars.

If you've been looking for a new bag or organizational accessory, there are some big deals happening this weekend. Get up to $220 off a new Lowepro backpack or make your life easier with a few extra pouches for your go-to items on a shoot. Most of these deals expire on Sunday, May 22nd. Check out your options below.

Seventeen years ago, when digital photography and the Internet were still very much in their infancy, Michael Reichmann and Chris Sanderson started The Luminous Landscape. With his no-nonsense approach, vast experience and technical knowledge, and objective, even-handed approach, Reichmann shaped how we write and think about photography in the modern age.

MacPhun is a popular à la carte Mac photo-editing software company that offers a variety of solutions for various editing needs. For the next week and a half, they're offering their entire suite of products for a price of $129, compared to the $2,000 that it would normally cost. Is $2,000 a little steep for all of this? Sure. But at $129, some will find it hard to pass up these standalone, subscription-free editing tools. Creative Kit customers can save even more.

Nikon Rumors reports that Nikon has added several professional DSLR bodies to a list of those allowed to be serviced at authorized thirdy-party repair centers in the United States. This means that for many, both your grey market and USA model bodies can now be serviced within the U.S. for the first time. The list of service centers offering repairs on these bodies is still limited at around seven or eight total, but that's still seven or eight more than it was yesterday.

Imagine a world where a simple blink will simply freeze time; where the amount of blinks you take are the amount of photos captured. Well Sony is making this possible with their new patent of camera lens contacts. Yes a contact lens that enables us to just blink and captures the moment. The images may be individual still photographs or sequences of images, depending on your blinks. This might be straight out of a movie like "Mission Impossible" or "Minority Report," but the future seems to be around the corner for this kind of technology.

Just the other day I was thinking about the great footage and images I have that might do well in a stock library. I just didn't know where to go and which site was best. so I closed the folder and let it go. But, here at Fstoppers we get the best news first. Perfect timing for sure. We got a heads-up from Dissolve that they are launching a rights-managed stock library with 50,000 images on June 1st. They also want to open it up to individual photographers to contribute and form part of their premium stock offering.

For 10 years now, Patrick Hall and I have been professional wedding photographers. We worked for over a year to film "How To Become A Professional Commercial Wedding Photographer," a video tutorial that covers everything we know about the wedding photography industry. For the next two days it's 50% off with code "SAVE150".

Google's Cultural Institute was founded in 2011 with the goal of having "important cultural material available and accessible to everyone and to digitally preserve it to educate and inspire future generations." In their pursuit of said goal, Google has just announced their new Art Camera; a robotically controlled gigapixel camera specifically designed for photographing some of the finest works of art in existence.

Broncolor announced two battery-powered strobes today. Coming in 400-joule and 800-joule variants, offering flash durations of as little as 1/19,000s, and in a similar power option, the new Siros L strobes are clearly aimed at the 500-watt Profoto B1 with nearly identical features in all but one area, depending on what's most important to you.

Chances are, if you are at all interested in cinematography, you have heard of Brain Farm. Brain Farm is the entertainment and production company that brought you films like The Art of Flight, Jackass 3D, and View From a Blue Moon as well as tons of other film, TV, commercial, and digital content. With credentials like this as well as commercial clients ranging from Nike to Mercedes-Benz, I think it is safe to say these guys know what they are doing. For years, Brain Farm has been pushing the limits of Cinematography. That's why it comes as no surprise to hear that they recently paired a Phantom Flex4K with an Aerigon UAV to shoot the world's first Ultra High Definition, 4K aerial drone footage.

Calvin Klein recently released a photograph of a young girl (who looks underage but is actually 23) standing over the top of a camera with a skirt on and underwear visible. Is the ad crossing the line? Maybe, but the conflict is giving Calvin Klein millions of dollars in free advertising.

The DJI Phantom is the most popular drone ever made. It's cheap, light, and easy to use. It seems like everyone has one and therefore we have seen some hilarious crash videos with them. The Inspire 1 is a different beast though; it's the "professional choice" and it's very heavy and extremely rigid. This poor girl takes one to the face.

Canon has announced the Speedlite 600EX II-RT flash and EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM lens. The 600EX II-RT improves upon Canon's flagship Speedlite with faster recycling times and other features, while the EF-M 28mm f/3.5 offers a unique new feature and gives us some very interesting insight into the future of the Canon brand.

For a very short time, you've got a chance to get some of the best off camera flash products on the market at a hugely discounted rate. Get almost 50% off FlexTT5 Transceivers and MiniTT1 Raadio Slave Transmitters, for both Nikon and Canon. A wide variety of other PocketWizard products are also discounted until tomorrow May, 12th.

I have been on Instagram for quite some time now, almost five years actually. Being a designer by day I can appreciate the simplicity they have put forward for years. The way you can snap, edit, and post a photos so quickly is astonishing to me, and to a platform that works so well. Today, they are changing it all up with a super clean logo and branding across the line of their apps. They are also quietly pushing out the new UI which consists of a total overall of the look and feel of the app.

The Phantom 4 is out. I've got one and it's pretty awesome, but in reality, it's not THAT much better than the Phantom 3. If you're looking to buy your first drone I would suggest starting with something more affordable anyway. Right now you can get a new Phantom 3 Advanced for just $599.

In a decision that defies common sense, a photographer climbed a nearly century-old wooden building in the Big Cypress National Preserve and proceeded to shower it with sparks from lit steel wool. The building burned to the ground.

The news is filled with stories about people who use drones in ways that endanger lives. It wasn't long ago that drones kept firefighters from fighting life-threatening blazes in California. But firefighters battling an Alberta firestorm that could prove Canada's "costliest natural disaster," according to Business Insider, are looking to drones to help answer the question of how it started — something that is still unknown for this fire that is estimated to take months to extinguish.

For those Apple consumers looking for a laptop with a Midas touch, Apple’s newest addition to the Macbook family has officially gone from pre-order to available for same day shipping. Apple has made some significant changes with their newest model, most notably being the rose gold finish. This color first debuted on the iPhone 6s Plus in September 2015, with those models selling out internationally within days. Regardless of the memory or size you wanted for your phone, Apple had a three-to-four week wait to restock this color option. I can only foresee this newest computer model selling out with the same passion.

We were staying on a houseboat in Amsterdam for three months when I first met Viviane. My wife did a test shoot with her, and I shot some videos that day, and we became friends. She’s an international model represented by Premier Model Management and Modelwerk. Her then-boyfriend and now fiancé is an art director in Amsterdam.

Although the best thing you can do for Mother's Day is to actually do something for your Mother, lots of specials on photography gear sure help sweeten the day for all. The sale options extend far and wide on different types of gear and different sized discounts. Many of these deals expire in the next day or two, so be sure to check out our favorites, and act fast.

Some of you may be familiar with Leica's R system. Though the system was certainly overshadowed by the M cameras, these lenses are some of the best that Leica ever made. I was first introduced to these lenses during my brief foray into the Sony mirrorless system. I picked up a 50mm f/2 R mount lens and it is likely the best 50mm that I have owned. It was sharp, small, smooth, and light. It could be the perfect 50mm. There is, however, another level to the Leica R madness.

Hasselblad recently announced that you can buy the new H6D body with the 50-megapixel CMOS 50c back and decide later to trade up to the newer 100c (100-megapixel) back for the original difference in price. This promotion works for anyone who buys the H6D-50c at the full $25,995 price between May 1 and May 27, 2016. To partake in the offer, you must also trade up to your new 100c no later than September 30, 2016.

Softpanels LED lights claimed three awards at NAB 2016, and it’s easy to see why, with innovative features such as auto skin tone enhancement and auto balance feature for matching color temperatures.

Anybody that has purchased a lens at anytime knows that it can definitely be a costly endeavor, and most people would argue that frequently, you get what you pay for. For years Samyang, has produced affordable alternative options that maybe are not as refined as other lenses, but deliver a good bit of optical quality for the price. Up until now, they haven't offered autofocus-equipped lenses, but with this announcement, they have launched two autofocus lenses.

Nikon has sent out quite an enticing deal for the month of May. With the purchase of a D610, D750, or D810, you can get the respective battery grip for free. This is a huge savings, as the grips for these cameras are expensive. Essentially, you're getting an extra $350 rebate on top of the already fantastic sales that Nikon has had available on their bodies.

Here's a deal that sounds good on the surface, but many would argue isn't a deal at all. The $28,500 Hasselblad H5D-50C is more than 50% off at B&H. Sadly, it still costs more than my car.

Well, that escalated quickly. When Detroit-based Rapper Danny Brown used Photographer Michelle Grace Hunder's photograph without attribution, a simple credit request was met with a less than mature response. It only devolved from there.

On the tails of tragedy, one Denver nonprofit has focused on using photography as a valuable tool for healing. Almost a year to the day, terrible earthquakes struck Nepal. Eighteen individuals were given cameras as a way to cope with the dramatic change in their lives. The images that were produced are beautiful and poignant reminders of the resiliency of life. It is the core of photography, intended as a cathartic expression of loving memories and an emotional foundation for future reflection.

It isn't often that a t-shirt for photographers comes along that I'd be willing to wear. So many of them talk about how I shoot people, or how I'm going to snap. Not things that I want to declare to the world, thank you.

This little flying camera packs a punch. Weighing in at less than 250 grams (half a pound), the Hover Camera is a drone that you don't have to register with the FAA. It folds up, so it's super portable, and with the ability to film in 4K and auto-follow, you'll want to keep your eye on this one.

Online photo community Photocrowd.com, which recently launched a platform allowing photographers to create their own online store and sell prints of their work, has just gone public with a crowd-funding campaign. Fstoppers thought it was time to take a closer look at this community that’s drawing favorable comparisons with the likes of 500px and Flickr.

Has Came-TV created a poor man's Technocrane? This new jib is turning heads at NAB this year, allowing the user to extend the crane. Is it just a gimmick, though?

Anyone that has used a gimbal without a support harness for longer than a few hours knows that it can get exhausting, and stretching the use longer can be downright painful. Now, many people will say: "hey, why don't you get a Support Vest to take the weight?" That is a viable option. However, with those systems, you're frequently locked into a height, and you don't have the opportunity to change from a low level shot to a high level shot. Even shooting freehand, you're only able to get as high as your arms will reach.

This past Sunday, there was a report out of the United Kingdom from police that a British Airways aircraft collided with what was believed to be a drone. After investigations were initiated, the believed drone actually may have been a plastic bag.