Photography News

For the next four days, from July 18-21, the Republican National Convention is taking over Cleveland, Ohio. There will be around 15,000 credentialed media in attendance, and according to Wired, some of the photographers will be suiting up for the worst possible scenarios.

There have been many times I've wished for a zoom lens on my drone, simply because it wasn't reasonable to fly closer to something to get the shot, whether that was because of airspace, people, or some other reason. DJI has now made that possible with the release of the Zenmuse Z3.

I really thought I was the cool kid on the block with my DJI Phantom 4; then DJI got together with Hasselblad to make this 50-megapixel, medium format monster. I'm no longer the cool kid on the block.

Great news for mobile editing fans! Lightroom for iOS and Android has taken a large step forward today, making editing on the go more versatile and capable than ever.

In the same style and featuring many of the same advancements (such as Peak Design's MagLatch) as the original Everyday Messenger bag, Peak Design is back, this time with four new bags based on a backpack (in two sizes), tote, and small sling design. If you want to get in on the best prices, you still have time to save an additional 10 dollars on early bird pricing. But the campaign is already more than 15 percent fully funded, and it's moving fast.

Two days after a heated and scary exchange in which a man almost ran over a photographer with his vehicle, there's good news: the person involved has been arrested and charged with multiple offenses.

Matterport is a new 3D camera that is designed to scan the interior of homes. The software stitches all of the still images together and creates a virtual tour of the home. Not a virtual tour as in a slideshow that realtors love, but one where you can actually walk through the home yourself. You can look up and down, left and right, move forward, backward, and so on. The technology, even in the state it’s in, is actually pretty incredible and really helps show off the home in a way we haven’t really been able to experience before.

File this one under scary and unnecessary. A California photographer had an intense encounter with a stranger who went so far as to threaten him and his client with a vehicle multiple times.

Let’s be honest, it is very rare we come across photographers who shake us instantly, make us believe in the magic of photography at its very rawest again; photographers who get engraved in our hearts from the first sight to their work. Fan Ho was that kind of artist for me. At 84, he passed away from pneumonia on June 19, 2016 at a hospital in San Jose, California leaving us a remarkably unique body of work. I came across his magical photos this winter and since then I am hypnotized by the imagery he used to create.

Just announced and already available for pre-order, the X-T2 is Fujifilm's latest and truly greatest mirrorless camera — and it's not even the most expensive. Supporting the latest 24-megapixel X-Trans III sensor are features that include 8 frames-per-second shooting (11 fps with a newly announced power grip), an ISO range of 200-12,800 (up to 100-51,200), and over-sampled video during both 1080p and a Fujifilm mirrorless camera first: 4K recording. If you want the best Fujifilm mirrorless body, this is it. And we're just getting started.

The DJI Geospatial Environment Online (GEO) is the company's built-in system for helping drone operators abide by airspace rules and regulations. Today, DJI has released a major update for the system that should go a long way in augmenting responsible flying and preventing incidents.

In case you spent your holiday weekend grilling food with friends or hanging out on a boat to celebrate America's Birthday, you may have missed that Canon lowered the retail price on two of their hottest video cameras for professionals: the Canon C300 Mark II and the Canon C100 Mark II.

Facebook has announced another change to its news feed algorithm, and yet again, it appears that Pages will take a hit in organic reach and referrals.

Be careful what you sign. Recently, a photographer was given a copy of the Vice Media Photographer Agreement and was very taken aback by what it contained.

Adobe has released Premiere Pro CC 2015.3. The new welcomed features are something I haven’t yet seen implemented in any other NLE. If you use Premiere, here is a look at what’s new, and if you’re not a subscriber, this might make you consider switching.

American Photographer Bill Cunningham, the simple living octogenarian who was credited as the first street-style photographer that snapped well-dressed passers-byes for The New York Times, passed away in New York on Saturday after being hospitalized for a stroke. He was 87 years old.

Need to back up your work in the field without carrying a laptop? Western Digital has just announced a new update to their My Passport Wireless Pro, which allows photographers to back up files via Wi-Fi, USB, or the built-in SD reader, all without a computer. They've also introduced a new line of network attached storage devices.

Sigma, a company most recently known for its success with their highly-praised Art lenses, has announced the pricing and availability of their latest camera release, the sd Quattro. Available in July, the sd Quattro mirrorless camera body will cost $799. For $999, there is a kit option available which will also bundle you with the 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Art lens.

Unfortunately, it seems it has finally happened: a drone has fallen from the sky and caused serious harm to an individual. A Quebec woman required an ambulance ride after being struck by a drone whose operator had been previously warned for his reckless flying.

From apps, to storing photos and movies, we are constantly wanting more and more memory space. This is an era where technology is getting better at capturing images and videos. With our smartphones capturing photos at 10 megapixels and videos with a maximum resolution of 4K, we are at the brink of storage wars. I have a constant battle with this issue and I already have an 64 GB iPhone 6s Plus. SanDisk will be coming out with a case that will soon solve every creative's problem: more storage.

Phase One just announced Capture One 9.2 making the already excellent raw converter even better. This new iteration adds support for a few new cameras, but most importantly comes with a bunch of fresh features to improve professional workflows. The primary goal of this new version is to make professional photographers’ lives easier.

Since its transition to digital, medium format has been thought of as bulky and heavy systems for high-profit commercial jobs or for wealthy photographers. Despite the attempt of Leica to create a smaller camera with the S series, no real alternative to the Hasselblad H and Phase One DF/XF has found a place on the market. However, this might change today with the brand-new Hasselblad X1D.

Today brings great news for commercial drone operators. The FAA has finalized the Part 107 rules, which bring with them relaxed requirements. Experts estimate the new rules could generate $82 billion and 100,000 jobs for the U.S. economy in the next 10 years.

Adobe updated its Creative Cloud Suite today with new features for many of its apps. In addition to a number of new and refined features across several applications (including some not mentioned in the title), this update focuses on improving performance in Photoshop, while it also offers a return to an old favorite.

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to send an invoice to a client, but you were not home? Maybe you are out on another job, shopping, hanging with family, at a friends, or in the other room watching TV. Hopefully you aren’t doing that last one, but Alto is here to help us out. If you don’t have QuickBooks or any other invoicing software, this is the tool for you.

Adobe has launched their latest update to Lightroom and Photoshop in the 2015.1 update. In the Adobe Camera Raw module and Lightroom, they have developed a new feature that is something photographers in the travel, architecture, and cityscape photography industry will really find useful. It can actually change some of your old previously unusable images into great images.

Bendable smartphones have been teased in the past, but this may be the first time we've seen a fully functional prototype that morphs with such ease and to such an impressive degree. It's an intriguing glimpse into a future full of possibilities.

Today Phottix has announced it is shipping its highly anticipated Odin II transceiver for Sony to their partners worldwide. The new Odin will allow Sony users with the Multi-Interface Shoe (found on the Sony a7x/a6x bodies) the ability to have TTL and HSS functionality using the Phottix Indra and Mitros+ line of flashes.

On Monday, Apple held its keynote presentation at the annual WWDC conference. Big updates were unveiled on stage, including interesting revisions to watchOS, tvOS, macOS, and iOS. One announcement that wasn’t talked about is the upcoming ability for iOS devices to shoot and edit raw images, which was instead hinted at through a presentation slide and a WWDC Session video description.

A gimbal is an important piece of technology that makes for some smooth video. It's the device that stabilizes the camera so you can get that cinematic look in your shot. It removes the vibration and shake. The gimbal's motors keep the camera level as the camera operator moves it. Drones use them, the DJI Ronin is basically a large gimbal, and the DJI Osmo is the latest handheld gimbal that DJI brought to market.

Drones continue to be polarizing: many photographers are embracing them for the way they enable new creative opportunities at relatively affordable prices, while some are bemoaning them as a danger, particularly to air traffic. Three British companies worked together to develop the Anti-UAV Defence System (Auds), which will soon be deployed for testing by the FAA and two U.S. companies.

I frowned, recoiled, and muttered an audible "ew." Thus was my reaction upon viewing this color. We all have our own tastes, but it seems that there's one color most of us can agree is especially disgusting, but that helps it serve a useful purpose.

The first competition in 2014 attracted hundreds of entries from all over the world. Now, the Craft & Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) in Los Angeles and the Farhang Foundation have put out a call for entries for the second, biennial juried exhibition of contemporary photography and video works relating to Iranian culture and heritage. The submission period opened June 1st and runs through August 8, 2016. Up to 40 photographs and videos will be selected by a panel of seven jurors for inclusion in a group exhibition at CAFAM from January 2017 to May 2017.

Canon and Nikon have been dominating the professional DSLR market for a while now. Photo accessories such as strobes triggers show that well. However, with the increasing popularity of Sony’s mirrorless cameras, flash manufacturers couldn’t stay with only “Canikon” options. Elinchrom apparently understood that with their Skyport HS and is releasing it’s Sony version today.

Apple has just uploaded ads which will most likely also be broadcast nationally. They consists of videos that were shot using iPhones. To use the tool to make the videos that advertises the tool is a great way to convey a message. It all enhances and forms part of their ecosystem that is the Apple brand. I believe it's well-executed, especially due to the fact that the videos were created by the users, making the products friendler to others.

2016 is the year of new tripod designs. Edelkrone launched their brand new design two months ago at NAB, and now, another company, Platypod Pro LLC, has announced on Kickstarter their new compact tripod system for low-angle use, both for photographers and videographers: Platypod Pro Max.

A first-person view (FPV) drone operator recently crashed his drone in a park where he had permission to fly. While the drone landed at least dozens of yards away from the nearest person, a woman walked the distance with her dog, picked up the drone, tucked it under her shirt, and walked away. The GoPro attached to the drone continued to record the entire incident, including the aggressive verbal language and possibly multiple 911 calls she made as she became rather hysterical and the situation got out of hand.

Yellowstone National Park has very clear rules about how close humans can get to animals: 100 yards from bears and wolves and 25 yards from all other large animals. One photographer disobeyed those rules and quickly learned a scary lesson.

Drones continue to explode in popularity. The small flying cameras have suddenly enabled thousands to get shots that only a few years back would have required a very expensive helicopter rental. If you're one of many photographers who now own one, there's a market you should look into.

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.