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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.

Despite being the largest Native American tribe in the United States, the Navajo Nation lost part of a lawsuit against Urban Outfitters because they could not prove that they were famous enough to own the rights to the aesthetic.

One of the biggest concerns about drones is their usage around airports. Several recent close calls have left the government scrambling to continue to catch up to the quickly evolving capabilities and usages of the flying cameras. The FAA is now testing a new system for detecting unauthorized drones near airports.

Despite the explosion of interest in drones with cameras, one place you're not likely to see them used in the near future is commercial television newsrooms. A just released annual survey by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hoftsra University reveals most stations have not used drones with cameras and don't plan on using them. Why you ask? That makes no sense. From a photographer or producer or reporter's perspective, it doesn't. These Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), as the FAA refers to them, are far cheaper than a news helicopter to acquire and operate and can get closer to the action.

Move over Craigslist. Letgo wants your used camera gear and tripod. The online classifieds market is heating up fast, with the impending merger of Wallapop and Letgo, two startups whose roots are in Europe, but who are making their mark on the U.S. market. Reports in the Wall Street Journal and Techcrunch this month put the combined cash infusion for the new company at 100 million dollars.

If you've been looking for a new bag or organizational accessory, there are some big deals happening this weekend. Get up to $220 off a new Lowepro backpack or make your life easier with a few extra pouches for your go-to items on a shoot. Most of these deals expire on Sunday, May 22nd. Check out your options below.

Seventeen years ago, when digital photography and the Internet were still very much in their infancy, Michael Reichmann and Chris Sanderson started The Luminous Landscape. With his no-nonsense approach, vast experience and technical knowledge, and objective, even-handed approach, Reichmann shaped how we write and think about photography in the modern age.

MacPhun is a popular à la carte Mac photo-editing software company that offers a variety of solutions for various editing needs. For the next week and a half, they're offering their entire suite of products for a price of $129, compared to the $2,000 that it would normally cost. Is $2,000 a little steep for all of this? Sure. But at $129, some will find it hard to pass up these standalone, subscription-free editing tools. Creative Kit customers can save even more.