Humor

Cell phones at weddings are getting really obnoxious. "Unplugged weddings" (where all cell phones are confiscated before the event) are becoming very popular these days. I've shot literally hundreds of weddings in my life and cell phones have always been a problem... with the guests. I've never seen this before though.

Hoffer Photography is comprised of Tony and Amy Hoffer, who are amazing wedding photographers located in Philadelphia. Yesterday Tony posted a blog and it wasn't just any blog, it was the best kind: the sarcastic kind. The text caption was "ever since the dawn of the internet, the photography community has been a supportive network that’s willing to forgo their competitive nature and put their egos aside in order to give thoughtful and constructive critique," and I was sold.

About every 6 months we see a new trend happening at weddings. It wasn't long ago that bridal parties were running for their lives while being chased by dinosaurs, or Star Wars AT-AT Walkers among many other things. The latest new trend, thanks to the Tumblr site Brides Throwing Cats, oh and of course a little Photoshop, is replacing the flowers being tossed with a cat. It's so simple, yet genius.

I'm a big fan of clever puns. I'm an even bigger fan of puns done in an original way, which is hard to do these days. The Instagram / Tumblr account "Talking Food" has blended the awesomeness of food photography and pop culture puns like "Go Shawty It's Sherbert Day" and my favorite "Batman and Reuben." If you have a few minutes to kill check out the page for over 100 puns that will put a smile on your face and food that will make you hungry. The most impressive part, the graphic design is all done on an iPhone.

Ever worry that the way you hold your strap makes you look like a tourist? Well, worry no more. Portland based photographer, Jimmy Hickey joins us with his slightly tongue-in-cheek video to teach all photographers how to take great photos and look like a pro while doing it.

As cell phone companies continue to improve their cameras, users are finding it increasingly easy to take better photos. Aside from resolution and low light capability, most phones now offer some sort of Automatic Image Stabilization. The technology works by either moving the sensor or lens to counteract unwanted movement before the image is converted to digital information.While some companies struggle to communicate how the image stabilization operates, LG has found a hilarious alternative to technical jargon.

Miley Cyrus is just becoming the talk of the town lately, but the one time she does something completely normal, everyone has to make a big deal out of it. Which is why she posted a plain old Nikon N80 35mm camera on eBay and it's currently up to $13,300 $80,100 $92,000 with plenty of time left to go.

As photographers, many of us will do the occasional wedding or two to help supplement income and boost our careers. Wedding photography can be one of the most stressful and challenging aspects of photography, but is often considered the most important because of its purpose. However, how do you handle an awkward situation where you're asked to stop photographing all together, in the middle of a ceremony?

We're all human and we all screw up. Though, as Photographers, its not always noticeable to those around us. Of course we still notice, whether at the shoot, or after while we're reviewing our images. Here I've collected a bunch of screw up stories from some friends so that maybe next time you can think of these and not feel so bad.

Fashion Week in New York is coming to an end today, and is largely considered the Grammys for the fashion forward and fashion photographers of the industry. It’s not too uncommon for fashion to get its share of criticism from the public, looking largely like a marketing con for “What’s New For Fall”. So what happens when Jimmy Kimmel decides to play some pranks on those at fashion week in New York?

Certainly you've seen them on Facebook and other social media avenues before. I’m talking about those oversimplified “I'm an artist, I don’t work for free” posters that photographers always have the desire to post and share. The people over at Shoppe Designs have decided that perhaps those are too polite, and built some with a little more sass and attitude.

As photographers and videographers, we always hate when people look at our work on a crappy-uncalibrated-small screen with bad colors. With their most recent commercial, LG proved how having a great calibrated screen can make a huge difference. With their new 84" ultra high definition TV they made people believe they were actually looking out a window. What happens next is absolutely hilarious.

From time to time, we’re graced with a new product that completely changes our workflow and makes our lives as photographers a hundred times easier than it was before. However, this luxury isn’t always the case, and we’re sometimes graced with some of the most ridiculous products imaginable.

If you have been to any sort of performance in the last few years, I think you'll recognize some of the people in this commercial. Crowds who take pictures with their smart phones, holding them up to reveal a sea of illuminated rectangles, often distracting an artist or blocking the views of others. This commercial takes this issue to an unreal level, but it's actually not that far off.

It wasn't that many years ago when our very own Lee Morris took me on one of his wedding gigs and totally opened my eyes to what wedding photography could be. I had this idea in my head that weddings were boring, cheesy and a photographic cinch to shoot. But when Lee introduced me to the idea of setting up killer seamless white photo booths at receptions, I realized they could be

Update: The featured video has been changed per request of the photographer that was featured in it. In summary the video showed the back of a photographer standing up in the middle of the aisle next to the front two rows shooting with a 70-200mm lens aiming at the bridal party. I saw this video (video replaced with dancing dog) posted up in a Facebook group I belong to by the amazing team of videographers over at Motivity Films.

The always entertaining Kai from DigitalRev TV takes to the streets, armed with 3 different models of Canon 50mm lenses: The 1.8, 1.4, and 1.2L. Using phrases like "sphincter twitching" and "buying meth", he colorfully illustrates his points about choosing the right lens based on your budget and compares the look and feel of each model.

In the past year, we've seen some pretty amazing advancements in camera/drone technology. Quadcopters like the DJI Phantom are incredibly affordable and seem very easy for anyone to master. When shooting a commercial earlier this year, I had a similar mentality. "Why don't I buy a cheap quadcopter and strap a GoPro to it. How hard can it be?"

As it turns out, even small drones can be used with disastrous results.

UPDATE: Original video was removed, but we found it again! In order to make our subjects look their best we need to be shooting them from the correct angles. Peter Hurley is the master at this and in his DVD he gives so many fantastic tips on how to accomplish taking photos of people looking their best. This YouTube video that popped up today on Reddit is probably the best example I have yet to see of how the simple change of an angle will give your subject an entirely different look. This is might just be the best 14 seconds of your day!

Photographer Lukas Renlund shares with us the second installation in his "Steal My Photograph" series. I was very impressed with this idea when I posted his Copenhagen Exhibit last August but Lukas has added a humorous new twist to his Barcelona installation by hiding a GoPro camera behind his photos to capture the reactions of the unsuspecting, would-be-thieves. I got a chance to catch up with Lukas and asked him a few of the questions that have been on everyone's mind.

DigitalRev's Pro Tog challenges are back, this time with a DIY theme. In this video see Pro Photographer Mark Chung create a continuos ring light using some basic hardware store materials, then use them in a fashion shoot.

This is highly unusual, and super unlucky for both the golfer and the camera guy. Today in the first round of the British Open, Pro Thomas Bjorn chipped a ball out of the "rough" on the first hole and struck a very expensive camera. An estimated $80,000 camera to be exact. There isn't much else to say other than watch this, then check out how crazy the damage looks. Yikes.

A Facebook page out of Korea, We Do Photoshop is somewhat of a...well I don't how to describe this exactly. After looking at the page, words have become difficult to muster on how to properly explain in detail what's going on over there.

It seems that the Facebook page (with over 36,000 thumbs up) was put together around the end of June so that people can upload their photos and request free photo manipulations.

The dreaded Myspace Angle, a condition that has plagued countless of self portraits for years. The extended armed and high angled photos still clutter up our Facebook newsfeeds long after Myspace whittled down to music bands and glitter graphics. Is it safe to assume that even Superheroes take the time out of their busy 'saving humanity' schedules to take a selfie? Apparently they do.

Stuck in the car on a boring road trip with the parents this 4th of July? Well here is a list of 10 creative apps to help pass the time. From drawing with words to finding what color the back of your dad's head really is. Check out the mostly iPhone friendly list, sorry Droid fans!