In the fall of 1962, the fifth American astronaut brought an iconic camera with him. It was custom built for the Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, and would ensure that Hasselblad was marked in history as the camera that photographed earth. Fifty-five years later, we may never see a camera quite like it. Famed Photographer Cole Rise has spent the last two years embarking on fixing that.
Industry icons like Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz often look to us plebs like they’ve been blessed by the photography gods with talent the rest of us can only dream about, yet their success stories often include incessant practice, unwavering determination, apprenticeships, and lucky breaks. What separates those of us at the bottom from the select few at the top? And, if you want to be front and center stage, how do you get there?
Where did you watch the eclipse? I thought I had a pretty good view, standing on a 180-foot terrace overlooking a forest with the city skyline in the background. It turns out that was nothing compared to the view from the perspective of space.
You might have heard that there was recently a solar eclipse across the United States. The event captivated much of the country, and this very neat data visualization shows just how that happened.
If you’re like me, you spent yesterday evening flipping through dozens of eclipse photographs on social media. Whether you wanted to see them or not, there they were. All the blurry, grainy Instagram shots taken through cheap eclipse glasses got me thinking…how much did we actually experience this crazy, incredible, once-in-a-lifetime event, and how much of it was spent waiting for the perfect, “'gram-worthy” shot? Does photographing something take you out of the moment and prevent you from actually experiencing it? According to a study published in Psychological Science, it’s complicated.
Google recently demonstrated research that makes the process of identifying and removing watermarks from images automatic, which would obviously introduce a huge problem for stock agencies. Luckily, they also showed an easy solution for protecting the images.
I'm a bit obsessed with space and the beauty associated with the vastness beyond our mortal coil. These new images from Mars Curiosity Rover are particularly stirring, though. Check them out!
If you stop and think about it, it's pretty difficult to exist in today's world. Vaccines are(n't) out to get your children, there could be Daleks around every corner, and even that vintage lens you scored on eBay might be radioactive, lurking between the sheets, following your every move, wreaking havoc on your DNA when you're not looking. Maybe even stealing your french fries. Or, at least that's what Mathieu Stern was concerned about before he made this video.
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.
Some of the greatest films ever made took advantage of deep focus and Hyperfocal distance to tell a story on screen. Here's how you too can master the concept and add a valuable technique to your video and photography repertoire.
There's a lot of discussion around having a camera out constantly during experiences. And while the etiquette of it is one question, a recent study shows that taking pictures of enjoyable events does indeed increase one's positive experience of them, as long as a few conditions are met.
Just when you thought you needed that crazy portrait lens, along comes someone shooting with nothing more than a drop of water. Check out this cool portrait series shot in a very unique way.
Have you ever wanted to capture on camera what the naked eye can't see? Derek Muller over at Veritasium has managed to do just that with a basic yet intriguing set-up in his garage.
Not too long ago, using autofocus in video was slow, unreliable, and generally unacceptable. Companies have been working to make it viable for filmmakers, with Canon's solution being Dual Pixel CMOS Autofocus, which has generally been lauded for its performance. Here's a neat, short video on how it works.
The Canon ME20F-SH is a unique camera, using a full-frame, 2.2-megapixel sensor to shoot at up to ISO 4,560,000. Marine biologists recently used the camera to film biofluorescent turtles deep beneath the surface.
In a story that's either a case of camera and computer technology taking a step forward or another nail in the coffin of privacy, the South Wales Police recently arrested a man using a mobile automatic facial recognition (AFR) system deployed in a van.
Manhattanhenge, the name given to a Stonehenge-style phenomenon that occurs twice a year in New York City, is happening this week. Want to check it out? Here’s how.
Back in March of this year, ESA Astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA Astronaut Shane Kimbrough went for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Pesquet recorded the walk, and the footage is truly astounding.
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.
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.
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.
Science is amazing. Using careful measurements and some advanced techniques, scientists reconstructed a remarkably precise account of the life of one of their neighbors from 700 years ago.
Space is endlessly cool. As our ability to send more and more advanced cameras deeper into space continues to evolve, the images we receive in return are becoming more stunning by the day. Such is the case with this image from the Juno mission.
Microscopes allow us to peer into the tiny worlds hidden from our naked eyes, but tracking slowly evolving movement with them can be a logistical nightmare. Scientists have developed a new technique for automatically tracking movement and locking focus, creating spectacular time-lapses in the process.
Have you ever thought about it? Light is the fastest traveling thing that we know to exist. Joe Hanson, Ph.D, presents ideas for the YouTube Channel "It's OK To Be Smart." He takes us through the history of light.
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.
At this point in our lives, the majority of us have come to understand our capabilities and our limitations. If we were never good at sports, we have come to accept this as truth. If we are great at math, we have likely received this "gift" and possibly moved into a career field where we can maximize the ease of which numbers have come to us. As photographers, you have the "eye" for it, or you don't. Are these established beliefs, based likely on past evidence in reality, or are they limitations we have placed upon ourselves?
Math isn't all nerdery and monotonous tedium with the abstract; it explains real phenomenon and cool effects, such as this seemingly magic helicopter.
Ah, the crown of the (Ant)arctic. Known in the northern hemisphere as the Aurora Borealis (northern lights), and as the Aurora Australis in the southern hemisphere, these brightly colored bands of moving and waving light are a majestic display in the night sky. Who doesn't want to take a picture of this otherworldly phenomenon? Here's exactly how to do it.
We've all heard of sonic booms, which occur when the shock waves produced by an object traveling faster than the speed of sound accumulate to produce a giant pressure wave, but what about "photonic" booms? Researchers have just shown that indeed, light exhibits the same effect, and they used a camera that records 100,000,000,000 frames per second to show it.
As photographers and videographers, the resolution of our displays is crucial to our ability to see the detail of our work. That's why it's a treat to see how far we've come since the advent of displays.
"NASA Supercomputer" and "DJI Phantom 3" are not words I ever expected to hear in the same sentence. Nonetheless, using advanced computer analysis, the agency has created this simulation of a drone's aerodynamics to help design better models in the future. It's pretty neat to watch.
The Golden Ratio? Psh. That's so 2016. If you want to really take your photography to the next level, it's time you step up to the Platinum Ratio.
When guests aboard the International Space Station look for a place to escape for a little rest and relaxation, options can obviously be limited. The “Cupola” was built in 2010 to provide astronauts with the best view possible while operating the ISS’s Mobile Services System’s robotic arm (the Canadarm2). The Cupola's seven bay windows allow for an incredible view that's become a favorite for photographers aboard the ISS. Russian Cosmonaut Andrey Borisenko brings us inside the Space Station’s observational dome with the first 360-degree 4K video of Earth from within the International Space Station.
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.
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.
Like most parameters in photography, resolution has an upper limit dictated by the laws of physics. However, a team of clever scientists have discovered a way around that fundamental bound, creating new possibilities for imaging in many realms.
This article will probably seem like a giant “duh” to a lot of you out there. Hell, even most avid selfie-shooters have figured this out. This is geared more towards the photographers who lust after huge, expensive light modifiers and overlook the amazing light source that is probably staring them in face. I suggest you start staring back!
Science meets art once again. Abe Davis, a computer science PhD student at MIT, recently published a research about interaction with the objects in videos, by measuring and mapping the vibrations of their movements. His project, which he developed with Justin Chen and Fredo Durand, and patented by MIT, aims to be used both in engineering and videography.
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.
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.
The smallest unit of light is a single photon. Consumer cameras could never dream of detecting just one, but a recent study has shown that the human eye itself is capable of such a feat.
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.
The night sky is pretty beautiful right now, but in the future, when Andromeda and the Milky Way collide, it's going to be spectacular.
"Fact is stranger than fiction" might never be more true than when it comes to deep space science. The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured images of the Abell S1063 galaxy cluster, and they give us insight deep into the past.
Imagine cameras so small they could be injected into your body via a syringe: medical imaging becomes less invasive and more capable. A team of researchers has created a camera that can do just that.
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.
Astrophotography is tough to master; it takes a lot of specialized equipment, careful post-processing, and a nocturnal lifestyle. Tiny1 aims to alleviate at least some of those issues (you'll still have to stay up late) and make astrophotography accessible for anyone interested in the genre.
If you're one of the hundreds of millions of people who uses Snapchat every day, you've probably played with its lenses that transform your face into all sorts of humorous, interesting, and horrifying things (trust me, I face-swapped with a clock once, and I looked like a Dali disaster). Making all that magic happen takes a lot of math and computing power, however, and the process is fascinating.
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.
