New ‘Photos At My Door’ App Sells Your Facebook Photos Without Your Knowledge

There’s a new Facebook app on the market called ‘Photos At My Door‘. This new app enables your Facebook friends to browse through your galleries and buy different photo products (prints, mugs, keychains, phone covers) using your own images. The question is, do I want my friends to have the ability to sift through my public and ‘friends only’ albums and make mugs and keychains out of my images or worse yet, buy prints? The answer, on a professional photographer standpoint… absolutely not! [more]

Give Yourself a Photo Assignment, and Then Write About It

Sometimes, I find it difficult to motivate myself to go out and just shoot for the heck of it. Unless it is a project I’ve planned, or a client shoot, I often find myself making excuses for not going out to shoot.

I haven’t been able to decide if this is my inner lazy shining through, or if I am subconsciously convincing myself that “There is nothing good to shoot today, I’ll go tomorrow.” but it is a counter productive habit that I decided I needed to break.

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Cheap Telephoto Challenge – Brock Whittaker’s eBay Discoveries

Brock Whittaker, a landscape photographer in Phoenix, AZ recently decided to take it upon himself to look at some of the unknown and dated telephoto lenses that can be bought on eBay for ridiculously cheap. Among those, he was able to pick up a Sigma 400mm f/5.6 APO, Five Star 500mm f/8, Sears 2x Teleconvertor, and a Generic 3x teleconverter all for $50. His findings, were actually quite impressive. [more]

Double Exposure: What Happens When Exposing The Same Film (Or CF) Twice

Double Exposure is something most of us who ever had a film camera experienced at least once. By accident. It happened when the film got stuck, or when we used a used film again by mistake. With the digital age coming in and replacing film, in-camera double exposures became a very rare kind of photography, but in recent years, many DSLRs added the option to create a double exposure in camera, and this old style came back to life. Check out these great examples of Double Exposure found on Flickr. [more]

Interview With Lifestyle Photographer Basil Vargas

Most people think lifestyle photography is over rated. Just pictures of people hanging out having a good time and thats about it. Technically, yes that is it. However, it’s more than just that. It’s not that easy to just have the shots look like people hanging out. They have to work well with each other, you have to be able to tell a story with the images, show emotions, ect. Basil Vargas is one of the many Life-style photographers I really enjoy looking at. [more]

Powerful Photos Document Daily Life Fighting Cancer

Over the last 48 hours I have looked at these photos time and time again. I have shared them with my wife and daughter. I have been touched tremendously and my water-filled eyes have been opened to the daily struggles and emotions those face who are fighting cancer. I have been incredibly grateful to the photographer Angelo Merendino, who took the time to document his wife’s journey through photos and share them with all of us to help “humanize the face of cancer.” In Merendino’s words, “these photographs do not define us, but they are us.” [more]

ASMP & Photoshelter Release Copyright Guide

The Photographer’s Guide to Copyright, a robust downloadable PDF packed full of information about copyright issues was released this week from Photoshelter & ASMP. The guide gives a better understanding on how to protect still and motion images and how to safeguard your work from infringement.

In the guide you will find info on how to protect yourself, what defines fair use, registering copyrights and what to do if you have been infringed. This guide also provides in-depth [more]

Zeiss Tells the Story of Melding Design and Performance in the Upcoming 55mm f/1.4

Zeiss lenses have been around for over 120 years, but admittedly “product design has never been the foremost factor.” In designing their new high-end Distagon lenses coming to the market at the end of 2013, Zeiss wanted to really consider aesthetics in the project. “The newly-defined design is intended to reflect the lenses’ unique character and make Zeiss lenses truly unmistakable in the future.” [more]

The Most Beautiful Set Tom Cruise Has Ever Worked On

If you’ve seen any movies in the theater recently you’ve probably seen a preview for the movie Oblivion. A major part of the movie takes place on a science fiction “sky tower” above the clouds. Instead of using green screen the director had a 360 degree set built that allowed the team to project real skyscape video around the glass building. The results not only look incredible but they also gave the actors a more realistic set to work on. [more]

3 Tricks For Your Impossibly Small Film Crew

I know many of you out there think that a massive team and a giant budget is necessary to produce a quality video but most of the time that simply is not the case. I was just sent a link to a quick video about filming with an incredibly small film crew and these guys give 3 fantastic tips for the average person trying to get into video production. [more]

Photographing Quantum Physicists’ Chalkboards

There is something really beautiful about Alejandro Guijarro’s ongoing Momentum series. It is not big and bold and in your face, it’s quite simple and surreal.

At first the photographs present themselves to be mundane classroom blackboards with scribbles across the surface, resembling notes left behind from a previous class. The difference is that these chalkboards house the notes to some of the biggest brains in quantum physics from around the globe. [more]

Behind the Scenes: Blazing Fire and Fierce Fashion Photoshoot Combined

So, what happens when you bring two very popular themes in photography, fashion and pyrotechnics, together? A combustion of epicness emerges on your screen. Fstoppers favorite, Benjamin Von Wong, is at it again, and this time he’s brought along a few friends to help create the stunning images you see in the video. Pyrotechnician, Andrey DAS, and amazing designer,  Virginie Marcerou, worked with Ben to create the intricate scenes in the photographs. [more]

Video Showing One of Lightroom’s Most Under Utilized Tools

As a type of person that loves to figure out everything I can about gadgets and software, I am always surprised by how often I meet up with photographers that really only use the powerful programs on their computers for the most basic functions. Typically we get comfortable with a few features and never really explore what else can be done. Maybe we run out of time, maybe we just have no interest. Either way, I hope to share some short, quick, easy to follow along videos over the next few weeks sharing some of my favorite tips and tricks in Lightroom. [more]

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