Photography News

Stay up-to-date with the latest news within the photography industry. Here we feature new photography gear announcements, creative conferences, and other interesting headlines related to the world of photography and filmmaking.

What's New in Adobe Premiere Pro

Coming this fall you’ll be able to create and collaborate faster than ever with Adobe’s latest version of Premiere Pro CC. New updates to the program will allow you to open multiple projects at the same time, collaborate with multiple editors on the same project, and work with new graphics tools in the Essential Graphics panel. Let's have a closer look.

Spiffy Gear Introduces a Unique, All-Around LED Lighting Solution for Photo and Video

With its increasing popularity, photographers and videographers alike have begun to entertain LED lighting as a possible option for their shoots. Spiffy Gear believes they now have that solution, and it's called Spekular. Touted as the "Swiss army knife" to a creative's needs, they introduced their new product as the solution to make videographer and photographer's lives easier.

Wacom Says MacOS 10.13 High Sierra Support Coming by Late October

Despite nearly four months passing after Apple released the MacOS 10.13 High Sierra developer beta on June 5, Wacom apparently needs more time to sort out their tablet drivers for the new operating system. High Sierra was released today to the public, however Wacom is advising not to upgrade just yet to keep your tablets working.

Drone Versus Black Hawk Helicopter: Hit or Miss?

After many closes calls and inconclusive reports, a new incident involving a small hobby drone and two military Black Hawk helicopters might mark one the first drone to aircraft collision. Unlike many previous cases, this incident seemed to have left direct evidence. Army Lieutenant Colonel Joe Buccino, the spokesman for the 82nd Airborne, said that a civilian drone “struck on the left side of fuselage. There were no adverse impacts to the flight.” He added that “one blade was damaged [and] dented in two spots and requires replacement and there is a dented window.” Here is what we know.

This Adapter Lets You Autofocus Manual Focus Lenses

If you own a Sony mirrorless camera, you probably know that an adapter can open up a veritable treasure trove of vintage lenses or allow you to use other manufacturers' current offerings. Of course, the one major drawback is that you often lose (or never had) autofocus in these situations. This neat adapter gives you back that ability.

Drone Pilot Wins Potentially Landmark Lawsuit

In what could be a seminal case for drone operators in the United States, a Massachusetts man has won a lawsuit that challenged the legality of a local ordinance that restricted the usage of drones and required a registration fee, both beyond the level already set forth by the FAA.

Affinity Photo for iPad Is Updated for iOS 11, Supports File Drag-and-Drop

On Tuesday this week Apple released their latest mobile operating system, iOS 11. Now Serif, the creators of photo editing software Affinity Photo, have also updated their iPad app to take advantage of the capabilities introduced in iOS 11 such as drag-and-dropping images to and from the new Files app.

The Future of VR Won't Happen Until This Tech Becomes a Reality

The International Broadcasting Convention has just ended, but before wrapping up, there were some serious insights to the future of VR technology. Now, we may be seeing virtual reality being broadcast live in lieu of a regular TV event.

Hand-Woven Designer Camera Straps For Every Photographer

All you photographers out there! Does your camera strap look dull, worn out with the leather sweating the time and comfort out of your skin? Yes, they may be durable, but can they be more? Well, KIKI camera straps answer these questions fashionably. Made for every professional photographer, these cool, fashionable, and functional cloth camera straps might make you think of bidding bye to the conventional ones.

Profoto Announces World’s Smallest Studio Light: Profoto A1

After weeks of rumors, Profoto officially announced their latest A1 flash; a speedlight sized powerful flash, which can be used both on or off camera. The company calls their latest product “the smallest studio light” and considering its features, they seem to be right.

Adobe Spark Gets Much Needed Feature Improvements, Flexible Branding, New CC Plan

Adobe Spark has been the brand’s relatively recent jump into a range of both online and mobile products that make it easy for anyone to create well-designed content including videos, web pages, and graphics. For creatives that fancy themselves better image creators than designers of promotional flyers or small web experiences or for DIY small business owners, Adobe Spark hopes to fill in the gaps and make it both easy and fast to design range of content types for your business. Today, Adobe released some much needed updates that mark the start of what Spark always should have been.

Instagram Is About to Ruin Your Perfect Grid

Instagram is planning a change that is going to upset a lot of people. If you are one of those who likes to keep all your images in order and make use of the 3 x 3 grid, prepare for a storm that may stir your account's real estate.

Aputure Amaran MX: The Ultra Bright, Color Accurate, Credit Card-Sized LED

At IBC 2017, Aputure laid out their normal cornucopia of products — lights, microphones, monitors — but they didn’t show everyone the prototype for the The Amaran MX, a tiny, credit card-sized brother to the Amaran AL-M9. Why not? Well it’s still a prototype, so I suppose we shouldn’t get too excited, but on paper, the Amaran MX looks like an incredible addition to their line.

2017 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year

On September 14, 2017 the Royal Observatory Greenwich announced the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards. The Guardian writes of the awards, "Awe-inspiring views of the Universe were celebrated at the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017 awards ceremony, held at the Royal Greenwich Observatory." The competition inspired entries from all over the globe and this is the first year entries included images of the furthest planet in our solar system and asteroids streaking through the images. Of the over 3,800 entries competing in the 9 categories an overall winner has been chosen and the images simply speak for themselves.

Canon Is Developing Lighter Supertelephoto Lenses [Rumor]

Supertelephoto lenses are a love/hate relationship for a lot of photographers: they showcase some of the best optical engineering companies have to offer, but carrying them around is quite a workout. Canon is seeking to cut that weight with its supertelephoto lenses in development.

Alien Skin Reveals Huge Upgrade to Upcoming Exposure X3

Alien Skin, creator of the award-winning photo editing software Exposure, recently announced the upcoming release of the newest version of its popular product, Exposure X3. If you are unfamiliar with Exposure, it is a non-destructive raw photo editor designed to be an all-in-one software for editing and organizing your photos. It is probably most well known for the hundreds of presets included in the software that can emulate analog film, as well as dozens of other modern styles.

'IT' is Here and is Totally Crushing the Box Offices

This past weekend, Stephen King's "IT" opened in theaters and totally crushed things at the box office. The movie adaptation of Stephen King's classic horror novel looks to be both visually impressive and completely terrifying. Take two minutes and watch the official trailer if you haven't already. Take notice of the genius use of vibrant color pops woven into the otherwise muted color tones.

New Kid On the Old Block: The Polaroid OneStep 2

It looks like there’s a “new” kid on the block, and it happens to be our old friend Polaroid (Or is it "old guy on the new block," or "new old kid on the old new block," or something else entirely? I don't know...). There are a number of instant-print cameras on the market, but to me, they’re all missing at least one of two things: the brand recognition of the Polaroid name and the classic form factor of the camera that made it famous decades ago. The Fujifilm Instax camera is missing both. Even the current Polaroid offerings, such as the Polaroid Snap or the PIC-300, probably don’t have what it takes to rule the market. So, here it is. The Polaroid OneStep 2.

Adobe Announces New Innovations in Premiere Pro, After Effects, and More at IBC 2017

Adobe is updating its video applications and adding new features across the board. Many of these features include improvements for editing virtual reality content, smarter automated tasks, and some other features modeled after Final Cut 7, which Apple announced will not be supported in its upcoming MacOS High Sierra update.

Phase One Announces the IQ3 100MP Trichromatic Digital Back, XF System Feature Update 4

In a pair of announcements today, Phase One has introduced a new medium format digital back and a feature update to the XF camera system. The IQ3 100MP Trichromatic incorporates new color technology for authentic reproduction combined with 101 megapixels of fine, high-resolution detail. Feature Update 4 for the XF camera system focuses on focus control and accuracy, as well as new tools for new possibilities.

Apple Announces iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, and More

It's a big year for Apple. This is the year Apple finally introduces some major technological upgrades from augmented-reality and improved cameras to OLED screens in its iPhone lineup. And in doing so, they've released three new models alongside each other, the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X. Most importantly for us, however, is that the new iPhones not only feature the best cameras yet, but also more broadly represent the biggest leap in image technology in a single year thanks both to new hardware and software.

North Carolina Governor Declares October Photography Month

For the first announcement of its kind in the United States, Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina has declared October 2017 to be Photography Month. For those photographers who live in and are traveling to North Carolina during October, they will have even more reason to bring their cameras and take advantage of the festivals and photo-centric events while they are there.

Kodak Announces Printomatic 10-Megapixel Instant Zink Print Camera

Continuing with its strong comeback in the still photography arena, Kodak recently announced a digital camera called the Printomatic that is capable of printing instant photos. The camera uses a 10MP sensor and saves images to a digital card, but built into the camera is also an inkless printer system that prints on 2" x 3" Zink paper using heat.

Photographers Selling Prints for Hurricane Harvey Relief

Zach Lipson, a 32 year old photographer from Chicago, has brought together an exciting group of Instagram photographers to raise money for Hurricane Harvey relief in Houston. With 100% of proceeds going towards J.J. Watt's Houston Flood Relief Fund, Prints for Houston is worth checking out to see some fantastic photos and contribute to a worthwhile cause at the same time.

RED Shows a Preview of Its Smartphone's Holographic Display

RED made a surprising announcement a few months ago, entering the smartphone market with its Hydrogen phone. What the company didn't reveal then was how its innovative "holographic" display looked. This kept us interested and anticipating what this might be. Now, however, RED lifted the curtain up a little bit more, showing us the concept behind the display.

Can Lexar Live Again?

Recently we wrote the sad news that Lexar was going to close doors. Now we hear that it's going to live. Technically speaking, it will be the same brand name, but resurrected with another heart. Will that heartbeat manage to keep the company running at top speeds?

Photographers Around the World Are Devastated as Majestic Columbia River Gorge Destroyed by Fire

My heart is heavy as I write this tonight, 20,000 acres of my ancestors ceded lands and the very fir trees they once lived beneath, are burning to the ground. Not only is the Columbia River Gorge some of the most beautiful land in Oregon venture in to and photograph, it holds a special place in my own heart. Did you notice the red moon across the country Monday night? Many of you likely took a photo of it like I did here in Louisville, Kentucky. It was breathtaking but today I was devastated to learn the moon was painted by the tragedy in my home lands and across the Northwest.

Curvature Pen Tool: Adobe Photoshop CC Sneak Peek of an Easier Pen Tool Coming Soon

The Pen tool is incredibly powerful, but not always the easiest to use for newcomers. Even those familiar with other Photoshop features are often less proficient with using the Pen tool to select specific areas or create paths. While it's not meant to replace the original Pen tool, the new Curvature Pen tool previewed in this video helps make a faster and more accurate selection around objects with curved edges in a way that could even be faster for those who are already good with the traditional Pen tool.

Joey L. Releases Free Documentary 'Born From Urgency'

You probably know Canadian-born photographer and director Joey Lawrence for his beautifully lit commercial work and equally as impressive A-List celebrity portraits. In recent years Lawrence has shifted gears to document the Kurdish guerrilla organizations fighting against ISIS. Today a free documentary film and fine art book have been released to show conflict up close like you may have never seen it before.

Some Users Can Now Post Instagram Stories Directly to Facebook

In a possible push to make Stories on its main platform gain traction, Facebook is allowing some users to cross-post their Instagram Stories directly to Facebook using the platform’s mobile app. According to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Facebook and Instagram confirmed that the feature is being tested by a small percentage of users, predominately in Portugal.

War Photojournalist Exposed as Con Artist

In a story that could only happen in our current media saturated, social media crazed, 24/7 news atmosphere, a Brazilian man fooled established media outlets worldwide as well as 120,000 plus Instagram followers into thinking he was a United Nations war photographer for the past three years. After being exposed, he is supposedly "in Australia...spend(ing) a year in a van," and his identity still unknown.

Company Offers Free Data Recovery for Harvey Victims

If you haven’t heard about or seen images of the destruction that Hurricane Harvey has caused in Texas and Louisiana, you’re probably living under a big, dry rock. Around 100,000 homes have been affected by the storm, all with varying levels of damage as well as varying levels of insurance. Even one of our own writers was affected. For those of you who suffered a property loss in the flooding, there might be a small silver lining. A data recovery company is offering free services for hard drives damaged by flooding.

Atlanta Stadium Debuts Its Roof That Opens and Closes Like a Camera Lens' Aperture

When Atlanta and their NFL franchise announced that they will be breaking ground to a new stadium, they wanted to shoot for the stars and redefine the benchmark. After nine years of planning and constructing the new stadium, Atlanta last night debuted their first big game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. While it's a magnificent piece of architecture, one feature in particular catches the photographer's eye more than others. Let's take a look!

Get a Great Deal on the Tamron 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD Lens

The Tamron 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD lens is the only normal focal length lens you can get for Canon or Nikon that has image stabilization built in. It's a unique lens that has been generally well received, and with this deal, it's an excellent bargain.

National Geographic Conflict Photographer Documents Hurricane Harvey Flood Experience

In my old hometown of Houston, Texas, residents and officials are assessing the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey which has left entire highways underwater, small towns decimated, and approximately 30,000 people evacuated. When a tragedy like this happens in our own backyard, we have a plethora of photographers to thank for capturing the aftermath. Erin Trieb is a Texas native who lives in Turkey but happened to be visiting family in Houston when Hurricane Harvey hit. Trieb has a history of documenting trauma left by war and conflict in the Middle East due to her role as a conflict photographer for National Geographic.

Sandisk Releases Massive 400GB MicroSD Card

Sandisk continues to push forward with the release of their record breaking Sandisk Ultra 400GB microSDXC UHS-I Card. Now owned by Western Digital, Sandisk once again topped their previous record-breaking 200GB & 256GB models released in the prior two years.

Fstoppers Writer's Home Destroyed in Hurricane Harvey

Andrew Richardson has been an Fstoppers writer for over two years now, and he needs our help. Like thousands of other Texans, Andrew's house currently has several feet of water in it, but Andrew's story in particular is incredibly heartbreaking.

Sandisk iXpand Base: An Easy Photo Backup Solution for iPhones

When was the last time you backed up your iPhone photos? For many people, taking the time to back up what are often some of our most cherished photos rarely gets done consistently. Sandisk recently tried to solve this problem with the release of their iXpand Base, a flash drive and charger made specifically for iPhones.

Finally, The Greatest Mobile Photography Lenses are Coming the Galaxy S8

Finally, the greatest mobile lens company is now kicking things off in serious fashion with offering their lenses to more major phone brands. With iPhone being the flagship for the longest time of prime users they are also offering it to the Google Pixel as well as the latest and greatest from Samsung with the Galaxy S8.

The Sony RX0 - The Action Camera That's More Than Meets The Eye

Sony is the most exciting camera brand right now. There I said it. They just keep bouncing from field to field making huge leaps and bounds in technology and the latest example of that is the entirely new, exciting Sony RX0—Sony’s first foray into the action sports world. But it's not exciting for the reasons that you might imagine.

Olympus Announces OM-D E-M10 Mark III with 4K Video, 121 AF Points, Same Price

Olympus packed a big punch into a tiny camera today with the announcement of its OM-D E-M10 Mark III. The camera features a 16-megapixel sensor and can shoot at 8.6 fps. These features, added to the 3-inch touchscreen and even the 5-axis in-body stabilization, are nothing new. The treat here is the addition of 4K video with a respectable 102 mbps bitrate and a new 121-point autofocus system — all for the same price that the Mark II sold for yesterday technically still sells for today.