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Andy Day

Paris, FR
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Articles from Andy Day

Canon Glass on the Sony a7 III: Another Reason to Switch Systems

If there's one thing that makes long-time Canon users twitchy about making the jump to Sony, it's glass. Switching systems can be an expensive decision, and the cost of Sony's lenses only makes this worse. "What about adapters?" you might ask. In this video, photographer Jason Lanier tackles that question head-on and gives his verdict. 

What It Takes to Create an Award-Winning Photograph

What does it take to win an internationally respected photography competition? A few weeks ago, the Sony World Photo Awards announced their winners, one of whom was Fstoppers community member Mikkel Beiter, who won two awards: Open Travel and Denmark National Award. We caught up with him to find out about his work and his prize-winning photograph. 

Fujifilm X-H1: A Review From Kaiman Wong

Just as excitement over one major camera release starts to die down, another one arrives. Fstoppers just reviewed the brand new Fujifilm X-H1 and, to get a second opinion, check out this review by the inimitably anarchic YouTuber Kaiman Wong. 

The Ultimate Travel Lens: Which Would You Choose?

Many of us are a little obsessed with image quality, buying the best quality glass that we can afford, so it's fascinating to hear the thoughts of an established professional when it comes to lens choice — and system choice, for that matter — for travel photography. Brace yourselves, as image quality and wide apertures take a back seat when it comes to a life on the road. 

Sony World Photo Awards 2018: Winners Announced

Following 320,000 submissions from more than 200 countries and territories, the winners of the Sony World Photo Awards 2018 have been announced. After a record-breaking number of entries, the judges have revealed the 10 winners of the Open Awards, and 70 winners of the National Awards.

Sony a7 III Versus the Best of the Rest: How Does It Compare?

With the arrival of what's arguably the year's most important camera, the big question being asked is how it compares to its immediate competitors. In this video, Tony Northrup rattles through his thoughts on how the Sony a7 III stacks up against the best of the rest. For anyone who's not constantly geeking out with the industry's latest specs, this is a really useful guide. 

Instagram Rolls Out Repost Feature, Sort Of

Instagram is reported to have started rolling out a new feature in its mobile app that allows users to reshare posts — albeit to Stories, not Feeds. A small number of users have seen the arrival of the new option and TechCrunch has received confirmation from Instagram that resharing is being live tested. 

Unique Archive of Beatles Photographs for Sale

On March 24, a unique archive of photographs of the Beatles will go on sale and is expected to fetch at least $350,000 at auction. Photographer Mike Mitchell was just 18 when he shot the Beatles' first US concert in 1964, and the 413 negatives with full copyright are available to purchase. Mike's story of how the photographs came about is compelling. 

Auto-Detect Copyright Infringements: Putting Imatag to the Test

Late last year, Imatag announced a new means for photographers and image-makers to protect their work: their service allows customers to embed an invisible watermark which is then tracked on the web, alerting the copyright owner each time that the image is published online. I put their service to the test. 

Later Now Offers Automated Instagram Publishing

Perhaps in keeping with its name, Later has caught up with Hootsuite and now allows users to automatically post images to Instagram, joining a small number of social media management tools that offer this feature. 

One of My Photography Subjects Is Now a Convicted Sex Offender

What would you do if one of the proudest photographs in your archive suddenly took on a very dark association? In 2004 I sold an image of a parkour athlete to Adidas to launch a new line of trainers. That athlete is now a convicted sex offender. 

How One Man's Photography Transformed America

Twenty four photographs from the early 20th century by sociologist Lewis Hine sold at auction recently, giving us a reminder of the impact of his work on life in America. 

The Death of Celebrity Photography

Photographer and artist Tyler Shields has announced in a short video that "celebrity photography is dead." No stranger to divisive statements, Shields is exploring the discussion around the democratization of photography and the implications of a new generation of celebrity photographers creating images of themselves and others.  Of course, Shields is drawing us in with a clickbait ti

Behind the Scenes at the Winter Olympics with Getty Images

As the Winter Olympics draws to a close, Getty Images has offered this fascinating insight into the logistics of covering this remarkable and incredibly cold event. Battling geography, climate, and equipment while coordinating a huge team of photographers is an immense challenge. 

Why 40mm Is the Perfect Lens Focal Length

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my love for Canon's 40mm pancake lens. Clearly, Kaiman Wong was reading and, it being Pancake Day recently (aka Shrove Tuesday aka Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras), he was inspired to dig out his 5D and take it for a walk through the streets of central London. 

Even Peter Lik Says His Art Is Not Worth the Money

“It’s like a Mercedes-Benz. You drive it off the lot, it loses half its value," says artist Peter Lik, describing his own work. This brutal article from the New York Times examines the extraordinary amounts of money that people continue to spend on Lik's work and how he has created his own speculative — and lucrative — economy. 

Rooftop Photography as Fine Art

Rooftops hold a certain allure but it's not just urban explorers and extreme sports narcissists that are drawn to the tops of buildings to capture this alternative view of the city. Photographer and Artist Alain Cornu drags a 4x5 field camera onto the rooftops of Paris to create stunningly beautiful images that feel like portals into another world. 

Is Social Media Killing Extreme Sports Athletes?

Pressure to produce quality content for social media profiles is contributing to the unnecessary injuries and deaths of many adventure sports athletes, according to Marc Peruzzi, a former competitive rider writing for Outside. 

Why You Should Never Upload Your Images to Unsplash

If you've ever considered uploading your work to Unsplash, you should probably watch these two videos, or at the very least, familiarize yourself with the points raised by legendary commercial and editorial photographer, Zack Arias. If nothing else, Arias wants photographers to understand the risk of facing a lawsuit as a result of uploading their images to the site. 

Beyond Boudoir: Photographing Real Couples in Bed

"I get invited into strangers' bedrooms to photograph real sex," shouted the headline. A few days ago, I encountered the work of Roxy Hervé, a London and Paris-based artist/photographer who had been interviewed by Vice.

How a Pancake Lens Will Change the Way You Take Photographs

As a minimalist (read, "simpleton"), there's something that appeals to me about prime lenses. Unfortunately, the other side of being a minimalist (read, "cheapskate") means that I tend to avoid using gear that doesn't offer flexibility. When I randomly treated myself to Canon's budget, plastic 40mm f/2.8 pancake, little did I realize how much joy it would bring me. 

Capturing Fear: Photographing a Parkour Community Training Event

One of my regular gigs is photographing the training events hosted in London by Parkour Generations. Winterval, a day of hard training outdoors regardless of the conditions, takes place every January and shooting it can be a daunting prospect; winter in London is often grim, with short, dark days made grimmer by drizzle or worse.

Drugstore Chain CVS Health to Ban Retouched Images

Drugstore chain CVS Health announced today that it will stop using photo manipulation in the promotional images for its store-brand makeup and will require all other companies to follow suit by 2020. Companies that continue to use manipulated imagery will have their adverts labeled by CVS to help customers understand that the photograph has been altered.  

Ten Reasons to Hate Instagram

Every change that Instagram has introduced since it went mainstream has been a step backwards for photographers. It's reached the point that, although I still post a few times a week, my love for the platform died a long time ago, and watching it stumble towards nothing but selfies and adverts is heartbreaking. Here are my biggest gripes, in no particular order. 

Is Every Photograph From Chernobyl a Lie?

Pripyat, once a town of 40,000 people and now a short distance from the world's single most deadly object, stands inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. As I waited to get a coffee at the tiny shop alongside the Zone's checkpoint, I cringed slightly at the array of glow-in-the-dark knickknacks on sale.

Behind the Scenes of an 8K D850 Time-Lapse in the African Desert

Late last year, Photographer Marsel van Oosten received one of those phone calls that we all dream of: Nikon rang to ask if he would be interested in shooting a time-lapse to promote the global launch of their new, groundbreaking camera: the D850. 

A Defense of Rooftop Photography

The unfortunate and widely-reported death last week of 26-year-old rooftopper Wu Yongning led to a lot of discussion regarding rooftop photography, personal responsibility, and the blurred boundaries between urban exploration, parkour, and "exposure porn" - i.e., hanging from the edge of buildings or balancing at incredible heights in order to create photos, videos, and short-lived internet fam

New Instagram Features: Hashtag Following and Recommended for You

Two new Instagram features emerged this week: the ability to follow hashtags and the addition of "recommended for you" into a user's feed. This might be great news for freebooters, and not so great news for users who are already disillusioned with Instagram's algorithms. 

Feminists Take Action Against Sexist Billboards

A group of masked feminist campaigners in Paris is taking direct action in protest against sexist advertising. Brigade Antisexiste is an anonymous collective of activists who meet regularly in order to graffiti and undermine billboards and other printed adverts that are considered demeaning. 

Affinity Photo for iPad: 50 Percent Off Flash Sale

Serif have just announced a flash, two-day sale of their professional photo editing software, Affinity Photo for iPad. You can buy the software until 7 a.m. EST, Saturday, December 9 for $9.99, a saving of 50 percent on this powerful app. 

Instagram Freebooting Is Out of Control and the Company Is Letting It Happen

As Instagram evolves, copyright violations don't seem to be an issue for this social media giant. More images mean more views which mean more ad revenue, and there is zero incentive for Instagram to take any serious action against reposters, lost as it is in this huge gray area of what constitutes a breach of intellectual property. 

Squeezing Extra Autumn Colors Out of Lightroom

If you've been out shooting recently, there's a good chance that you're now sitting down to edit a pile of photographs that capture the incredible colors that autumn brings. This brief tutorial shows you a quick and dirty trick (jump to three minutes to skip the waffle!) for getting Lightroom to make the most of those gorgeous, orangey tones.