Recent Science Articles

What's the Frame Rate of the Human Eye?

Have you ever wondered what the frame rate of the human eye is and, just importantly, why it matters? It turns out the answer is far more complex than a simple numerical value, and that has tremendous consequences for the design of cameras and why we work the way we do. This neat and informative video takes you behind the scenes of the science behind how the eyes sees to discuss the topic and the implications it has for filmmakers.

Photographer Prepared For Years To Grab This Epic Supermoon Photo, Which Has Since Caught NASA's Attention

Earlier this week, the largest moon of almost 70 years could be seen around the world. This "supermoon," as it is being hailed, occurred after it appeared 222,000 miles from Earth — to put it into perspective, that's some 30,000 miles closer than the most distant point it ever pops up. According to NASA, that caused it to appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than what we’re used to. Naturally, photographers everywhere were out in full force trying to grab the best photo. But one image in particular is garnering attention after making NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.

11 Ways to Improve the Sharpness of Your Images (Part 2)

Ever gotten your images off the camera, zoomed into 100%, and been a little disappointed with the results? Ever had a hard time figuring out what went wrong? In this series, we’re looking at 11 common causes of poor clarity and how to address each. With a little practice, you’ll be able to glance at an image and know how to fix it.

Are Liquid Lenses the Future of Photography?

Xiaomi recently teased a liquid lens for their newly announced Mi Mix smartphones. The liquid lens can change shape to alter the focal length and focus to suit a range of applications. Is this the future of lens technology?

Mexican Physicist Solves 2,000-Year Old Problem That Will Lead to Cheaper and Sharper Lenses

In most lenses, the center of the frame might be razor-sharp, but the corners and edges always appear a little soft. It’s something that’s been a problem for thousands of years within optical devices, with many researchers giving up hope until a recent breakthrough from a Mexican physicist, who has now developed a formula that will change how lenses are manufactured.

The Truth About F-Stops and Aperture

Most photographers learn the basics of aperture in regards to depth of field and light-gathering ability, but some of what you learned is probably wrong, particularly when it comes to f-stops. If you're ready to get geeky, check out this great video that explains the truth behind it all.

11 Ways to Improve the Sharpness of Your Images (Part 1)

Ever gotten your images off the camera, zoomed in to 100%, and been a little disappointed with the results? Ever had a hard time figuring out what went wrong? In this series, we’ll look at the primary causes of poor clarity and how to address each. With a little practice, you’ll be able to glance at an image and know how to fix it.

Here's Why Focusing and Recomposing Photographs Fails

Focus and recompose is an extremely common method for getting around AF sensors with limited AF point spread, but it's an imperfect technique that could be causing you more issues than it's worth.

The Powerful Benefits of Photography for Mental and Physical Health

Photography is not just about capturing beautiful images; it is a powerful tool that can positively impact our mental and physical well-being. Whether you are an amateur or a seasoned photographer, picking up a camera and immersing yourself in the art of photography can bring numerous advantages to your overall health. In this post, let's explore the remarkable benefits that photography offers for both mental and physical well-being.

Beware the Golden Myth of Photography

As someone who has spent a life in mathematics, I see a lot of attempts to ascribe mathematical concepts to real-world ideas in an overly simplistic way. The media misinterpreting a single medical study and reporting that a glass of red wine is equivalent to an hour at the gym does not mean you should forget the treadmill and buy more Malbec. Weathermen in Kansas do not expect the flapping of butterfly wings to cause tornadoes. But in photography, there's one incessantly perpetuated myth that drives me crazy.

Ever Wonder Why Images Shot at f/22 Are Softer Than f/8?

You may have noticed that as you stop down your lens, your images become sharper at first, but after a certain point, they actually become softer. Here is why no matter what lens you use, eventually, you will experience softness issues as you use narrower apertures.

Amateur Astrophotographer Captures Nearly Impossible Image

In what could be called a coincidence of cosmic proportions, an amateur astrophotographer from Argentina (say that three times fast!) has, for the first time, captured a spectacular space phenomenon on camera against nearly impossible odds, as reported by LiveScience.com.

Right Handed Photographers Using Their Left Eye

Recently a member of the Fstoppers Facebook group posted a confession with a simple question: Who else uses their left eye to look through the camera's viewfinder? I was shocked by the results.

If You Pointed a Camera Into Space, How Far Could You See?

Let's suppose you had a gigantic zoom lens — so big that you could effectively zoom as far as you wanted to frame any object. If you pointed it into space, how far could you see? It turns out that you could see a really long way away and yet, not that far at all.

New High-Speed Camera From NASA Captures Incredible Dynamic Range of Rocket Test

Trying to capture a rocket test using a high-speed camera requires some specialty equipment. Trying to capture that footage with enough dynamic range to see the detail in the plume and in the booster required NASA to develop a whole new camera. Watch this latest footage from a new camera NASA developed to capture a rocket test in slow motion and with high dynamic range.

Deep Learning Algorithm Automatically Colorizes Photos

This is one of those sites you're going to want to try yourself. Take any black and white image, feed it to the algorithm, and watch as it spits out its best guess at a color version, which is often quite convincing.

Summer Photo Op: The Perseid Meteor Shower

As you’re probably aware from the level of hype in your news feed, the Perseid meteor shower is approaching and you should get outside to see it now! Technically in late July, it is already active in our skies, but the reality is that there is a fairly narrow window of high activity only around the peak time. My own experience is that the number of meteors drops off dramatically a day before or after the peak evening.

ISO Is Not Fake and Tony Northrup Is Wrong

A few days ago, camera industry guru Tony Northrup published a video arguing that in the age of digital photography, ISO is effectively meaningless and that it’s no different from dragging the exposure slider in Lightroom. Photographer Dave McKeegan has offered a response and argues that Northrup’s logic is completely wrong.

The Secret to Making Eyes More Attractive, Backed by Science

Our biological instincts are so hard-wired when it comes to the perception of attractiveness that we're actually quite predictable in our choices, even if we can't explain the reasons behind them. Thankfully, science has delved into these unconscious tendencies, and its findings can really help give our portraits extra sex appeal.

NASA Releases a Time-Lapse One Year and One Million Miles in the Making

NASA's aptly named EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) camera sits about one million miles from our planet, where it uses an array of sensors to monitor and provide observations of cloud heights, aerosols, vegetation growth, and the state of ozone in the atmosphere. It also provides some pretty neat images of Earth, which NASA has assembled into a year-long time-lapse.

Why a Two-Sensor Camera Could Be a Fantastic Option

The concept of creating a mirrorless system is very similar in the case of all the camera manufacturers: get rid of the mirror and create a new lens mount closer to the sensor. What if there was another option to do it, arguably a better one?

100 Megapixels Is So 2017: This Camera Captures 1.5 Gigapixels

Just when you thought that your camera has all of the resolving power you will ever need with a 50- or even a 100-megapixel sensor, a new king of the hill has arrived on the scene and the comparison to what you have isn’t even close. With 1.5 billion pixels of CCD goodness, this camera smashes the ceiling on resolution and is sure to be the envy of anyone who cares about such things.

The Best Piece of Equipment To Improve Your Star Photography

Improving night photography is an ever closing gap riddled with tech-tips, tricks, and expensive gear. The Star Adventurer by Sky Watcher-USA seeks to be the reasonably, all-in-one option to improve your starscape photography. The built-in tracking head and accompanying accessories are the perfect companion to viewing and photographing the night’s sky.

How a Single Image Taken in 1995 Revolutionized Astronomy

The Hubble Space Telescope has been one of the most important scientific instruments to have ever been deployed, and it has provided countless advancements to the fields of astronomy and cosmology. This fascinating video takes a look at one of the earliest and most important images the telescope took and how it continues to impact science even 25 years later.

Watch an Asteroid Hit the Moon During a Lunar Eclipse

If you missed the recent Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse, you missed an extra special event, as for the first time, an asteroid was captured impacting the moon during an eclipse. Check out video from the event.

Can You Photograph Reality?

Do you believe that your images are objective representations of reality? You might be mistaken. Here are a few arguments why.

World's Fastest Camera Is Faster Than Light Itself

You think your camera is fast? Check this out. A group of researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a camera that is way faster than yours. I guarantee it. Their camera captures at a frame rate equivalent to five trillion images per second, a rate faster than previously thought possible. It’s so fast that even captures light in flight.

Princeton Research Makes Selfies Look Like They Were Shot With Portrait Lenses

What if you could change the focal length of your lens in post-processing? Princeton has figured out how to take a regular selfie and warp it to look like it was shot with a portrait lens. Their research allows for all sorts of possibilities, but above all, it’s fun as hell to play around with.

Capturing Light Itself: Photography at 1,000,000,000,000 FPS

Light moves fast — like really fast. 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum, to be exact. Capturing it might seem like a pipe dream, but one MIT professor has done it by doing something remarkable: creating a camera that shoots at 1 trillion frames per second.

The Beautiful Video Made When a Computer Predicts 100,000 Frames

Machine learning is an incredibly powerful thing. Damien Henry, a technical program manager at Google, took advantage of this, feeding a machine learning algorithm a single image and asking it to generate an hour-long video of approximately 100,000 frames by predicting the next frame based on the previous one. The result is gorgeous to watch.

Here Comes Another Low-Priced, High-Quality Astrophotography Telescope

It hasn't been long since I reviewed that Dwarf II portable telescope/camera combo. I found it reasonably priced, ($595 with filters, tripod, extra battery and carry bag), easy to use, and something that was going to excite people of all ages who have longed to take good astrophotographs without spending a fortune or having to learn a lot of complicated science and processing skills.

11 Ways to Improve the Sharpness of Your Images (Part 4)

So much of photography is about capturing a moment, a place, a person, a glance, a tiny slice of history that is impossible to recreate. When we've only got one shot, we want to make sure we get it right. In this series, we’re examining 11 things that can lead to a loss of image sharpness, what causes them, how to recognize them, and what to do about them!

How Does Autofocus Actually Work?

It's the unsung hero of your photos, and it's always been improving. It's that little switch on the lens. We've become accustomed to AF, and for good reason. It works, and it works very well.

Examining the Myths and Confusion Around Crop Factor Equivilancy

There are countless videos and forum threads discussing and debating about the principles of crop factor, depth of field, and sensor size. However if you are the type to geek out over the math and physics of photography then this is the video for you. This is no simple examination, at 35 minutes long it requires some advanced knowledge on camera sensors.

This Photo Took Over 11 Days to Expose

As photographers, we generally think of long exposures as being on the order of a few minutes, maybe a few hours if you get deep into astrophotography. This exposure took far longer than that, however; in fact, it took over a week to gather enough light for the final image.