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David Bickley
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Articles written by David Bickley

Kodak to Exit Bankruptcy As Commercial Printing Company
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A plan which cuts about $4.1 billion of debt for Eastman Kodak was approved by US bankruptcy judge Allan Gropper yesterday. The plan allows Kodak to reorganize itself into a company that will actually provide no consumer products but will instead focus on printing technology for corporate customers. This is good news for the company on the whole by saving it from extinction, but it does nothing to compensate shareholders.

The Only Thing You Need To Do To Become a Better Photographer
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There is nothing I love more than when someone takes the gloves off and drops a serious dose of truth. Especially about getting better as a photographer, and even more so in the age of "I'll fix it in post." In this video from 30-year veteran documentary photographer John Free offers some great advice for becoming a better street photographer, and absolutely perfect advice on becoming a better photographer overall.

First a Phone, Now a 41mp Smartwatch...Why?
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It hasn't been that long since the Nokia Lumia 1020 made all sorts of waves with it's claims of a 41mp sensor and now (as if 41 were the magic number) we have a "smartwatch" on the horizon from Hyetis (pictured) with the same idea. It's called the Crossbow. If you're picking up some irritation in my tone you're not wrong. The mega-pixel war is still raging but we've shifted our attention from robust cameras to accessories with cameras built in.

This Beautiful Lightning Storm is Really a Miniature Fake
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Lightning is hard to photograph. You have to have patience, solid timing and a general acceptance of the possibility of getting soaked. If that doesn't really resonate with you there's always the route that Matthew Albanese chose. Rather than go through the stress, waiting and danger of shooting an actual lightning storm he

Bing and 500px Partner Up and Showcase User's Work
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500px announced yesterday that they are collaborating with search giant Bing, in order to give it's users the opportunity for some crazy exposure. Bing already showcases a new image on it's main page every day. The change is that now 500px will curate the image collection via user submitted images. Yesterday's image was from Alisdair Miller, a member of 500px for two years. The cool part about all this is that they aren't just using your image,

Google Glass May Be Able to Help the Visually Impaired
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Although Google Glass has, and is still getting a lot of negative attention for privacy concerns there are two OpenGlass projects that could deliver some amazing benefits. The video accompanying this article shows user trials of two different OpenGlass projects designed to inform users who can't see about what they are "looking" at. The first is "Question-Answer" which is pretty self explanatory. The user simply takes an image

Lingerie and Corsetry Photoshoot with Karl Taylor (NSFW)
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Before we get into the meat of this video, I've got to warn you...it's long. Like nearly 20 minutes long. That said, if you'd prefer not to gawk at the model and get to the parts that will truly help you with your photography, I have them listed out below. Despite it's length this may be one of the better BTS videos I've come across in a while. I say this because it's not often that a photographer will actually

Behind the Scenes with Melissa Rodwell for Ben Trovato
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Melissa Rodwell is easily one of my favorite fashion photographers. It's not even because of her work, although it is phenomenal for sure. She is at the top of my list due to how involved she is with us mortals. If you're unfamiliar, she runs FashionPhotographyBlog.com, a site so popular it holds the number 1 spot on google when you search for fashion photography. That's not an easy feat. Every now and then she puts out a behind the

Video From an Electron Microscope Just Made The World Cooler
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When I read about this earlier today I nearly dismissed it as being another blurb about ultra-macro photography. Thankfully it's not, kind-of. Don't get me wrong things through an electron microscope are insanely cool, but I've seen them. What's the cool part then? German photographer Stefan Diller, after 3 years of hard work, has figured out how to create some incredible video with these monstrous magnifying glasses.

Shloosl Can Copy Your Key From a Smartphone Photograph
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How would you feel if I told you that you could take two pictures of a house key with your phone, send them off and receive an exact copy in the mail a few days later? If you're anything like me then it makes you a bit uncomfortable. Security concerns aside, Shloosl is making it happen. The company is so good at duplicating keys this way that it even nailed LifeHacker writer Adam Dachis' key when nobody

How To Shoot "Bullet Time" Video With a GoPro and a Ceiling Fan
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I've seen a lot of DIY setups over the years, but every now and then one comes along that's so unstable it's scary and yet way too cool not to try. You can tell by the title that this isn't going to be some amazing setup with a hundred cameras arrayed. This is what it sounds like...A GoPro on a ceiling fan whipping around your subject while

Lasers Take Down a $20,000 Camera in Less Than One Second
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Hopefully you already know this but, concert lasers will kill your camera. They are bad for your eyes and equally so for your lovely camera sensor. This isn't a random unlikely occurrence. It will happen every time, to any camera with a digital sensor. It doesn't even matter how high-quality your gear is as evidenced by the above video from a once lovely RED Epic.

What You've Probably Overlooked Now That Your Hobby is Your Career
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For many professional photographers the path to this life started off as a creative outlet. It was birthed out of a need to escape the day to day grind that came from an unsatisfying career, stress, or creative boredom and experimentation . You started slow and with every hundredth of a second the passion grew. Eventually you scoured the internet to try to understand how to make that ominous jump from safe, secure life into pro

Shutterstock Founder Becomes First Silicon Alley Billionaire
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Shutterstock founder Jonathan Oringer became a billionaire yesterday when Shutterstock Inc (SSTK). shares rose to a record high. Shutterstock is the world's largest photo and video marketplace and has about 28 million licensed photos, illustrations and videos available for sale on its website.

39 year old Oringer owns about 55% of Shutterstock's shares,

The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio
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John Hess From FilmMakerIQ.com traces the evolution of the screen shape from the silent film days through the widescreen explosion of the 50s, to the aspect ratio of modern digital cameras. If you've ever wondered why and how the formats we use today came to be, this is something you'll want to watch. The topic is too broad to summarize for those that would prefer to not watch his video but, there is one piece that definitely stuck out to me.

Behind the Scenes with Martin Wonnacott for Jameson Irish Whiskey
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It's been over a year since Profoto interviewed Martin Wonnacott about his amazing beverage photography. Now the man dubbed "the master of liquids" has released a behind the scenes video of his work for us all to drool over and try to dissect. There isn't anything to guide you through it either, just press pause a lot. Martin definitely knows how to make a

Joe McNally on Creating Lighting That Matches the Character of Your Location
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Joe McNally does it again with a great video on making sure you're lighting for your overall scene. He breaks down the editorial by first discussing the message he wants to communicate, and then goes on to explain the whys and hows for lighting to achieve that vision. McNally is a great teacher and is able to convey these ideas in a way that even those new

Mobile Apps Essential to Your Photo Business
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There is always talk about what apps you need to get in order to take cool photos, but the fact is you already have a camera. Quite honestly there is no camera or editing app that will greatly affect your business in my opinion, and that is what's truly important. So what apps does it take to really help streamline your business? I'll tell you what has worked wonders for me, and what I believe will do the same for you.

Metallic Mood Photoshoot BTS With Rob Werlinger
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When Profoto contacted Portland-based fashion photographer Rob Werlinger about doing a blog post for them, he pulled out all the stops. "The concept revolved around metallics and you can see them used prominently in the wardrobe, makeup, and also reflected in the mood and emotion of the model,” writes Rob. “Since we were using the 'Profoto Pro-8a packs' that feature action-stopping short flash duration times, I wanted to bring in a strong element of motion as well.”

How to Photograph a Watch in Studio
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It never ceases to amaze me when I see how complicated lighting setups for products can be. Thankfully photographer Phillip McCordall can walk us through his process with relative ease. This tutorial video definitely doesn't come close to the most complex setup, but of course it's still very interesting to see especially considering how cheap most of the modifiers are. This is seriously a setup most of you could do in your living room.