Articles from Casey Berner

You may have received a new camera or gear for the holidays, or you took advantage of all the deals in December and upgraded your kit with some new toys. But what about your old gear? Well, if you have decided not to keep it as a backup and have emotionally moved on, you might have decided to try and sell your old camera body or lenses.

The authenticity of those #wild #liveauthentic social media photos of the outdoor adventure types is questionable at best. But some people really do walk around in the forest with bright colored puffy jackets for more than just snazzy photos and all the likes.

The countdown to mandatory drone registration with the Federal Aviation Administration has begun here in the United States. But there is one major privacy issue that has recently come to light. Personal information from drone owners, including names and addresses, will eventually be publicly available, according to a report from Forbes. 

The Game of Life has only a few pivotal moments; graduating college, choosing a career, and getting married. And most people only want to do that last one once in their life. So when a friend asked me to shoot his proposal to his longtime girlfriend, I was both elated and terrified.

Epic sunsets seem to kind of sneak up on us. While a sunset happens every day, you need nature to cooperate and give you the right conditions for an out-of-this-world finale. One of the struggles many photographers face with landscape photography is if the conditions will be right for the shot. Will clouds block out the sun? Will it be too clear?

The much sought-after and elusive Vimeo Staff Pick is a badge of honor and a surefire sign you are about to get a lot more views. There is no specific type of video that is chosen by Vimeo as a Staff Pick and trying to become one can seem overwhelming and almost impossible.

Iceland has become a naturelovers' playground and a hotspot for adventure photographers looking to visit the home of some of the most popular Instagramable locations on Earth. But many travelers visit the island nation during the warmer and more accessible summer months. Winter is when most of the country is covered in snow and ice and tourism drops dramatically.

Remember those "Shot on iPhone 6" ads you saw everywhere this past year? They were on billboards, TV spots, magazines — everywhere. And Apple barely had to create one piece of original work.

All good things must come to an end.

Images are extremely easy to copy, repost, and republish on the Internet and as photographers we have an inherent interest to not let that happen without our permission. We work hard to create our photographs, investing time and money into our projects.

The same technology to protect movies, music and books could soon be coming to your images. The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) recently announced an initiative that may one day bring digital rights management (DRM) to the most common image format in the world. 

In a newly released YouTube video, famed Photographer Annie Leibovitz discusses her recent photo shoot with Caitlyn Jenner for the cover of Vanity Fair. 

I have always been a firm believer that the best camera is the one that is with you. Images are about story and feeling, not megapixels and dynamic range. When a moment happens, you want to be ready. Buttons, menus, confusing UI and accessories just delay a photographer from capturing those moments right at their peak.

Happy New iPhone Day! Today, that small startup in Cupertino known as "Apple" released their latest and greatest iPhones, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. But with all the hype and cool new features, we were mostly concerned with the camera and boy, did they deliver. 

Going on an adventure this weekend? Maybe a hike or a cool concert? You're probably going to Instagram it too, aren't you? Well, put your iPhone down, because Barbie (yes, the Hasbro toy) is killing it on Instagram better than you ever could. 

There has been a disturbance. Have you felt it? Some astute photophiles (not a word I just made up) have noticed a change in quality in their posts when Instagram pushed a photo to Facebook after the most recent update, 7.5. So I decided to run a few comparison tests of my own to see if the quality really was different, and why my photos suddenly started to look so gritty. 

We never thought this day would come, but Instagram now allows you to natively post portrait and landscape oriented photos and video. The days of cropping, white backgrounds, and 640x640 pixel photos and videos are over (unless you don't want them to be). 

To say that time-lapse video and drone footage is everywhere would be an understatement. YouTube is chalk full of amateur aerial video with the recent abundance of inexpensive drones, and time-lapse clips are everywhere. If they are a fad remains to be seen but sometimes we get to see some really innovative videos showcasing some true creativity. 

Recently I had the distinct honor of being a groomsman in a close friend’s wedding. It’s a lot of hurry and stand while remembering where to look. The pressure really is more on the two people getting married to remember their lines: “I do.” But as part of the wedding party, you also get the full brunt of posing, smiling and cheesing it up for the wedding photographer. 

Sometimes, the web does some weird things and we are blessed with a time-sucking gift from the Internet gods. Today's miracle comes from Web Developer Eric Andrew Lewis, who works for the New York Times.

It has come to our attention that the supposed source of this content did not acquire the photographers’ permission to post their works, let alone the rights to grant us permission to repost.

It is nothing new for celebrities to call on their fans to have a little fun with Photoshop. Our own Lee Morris challenged all of you a few months back with his many stages of beardedness.

I am probably going to piss off Lee Morris and Patrick Hall and probably some of you with this post but there has been a lot of conversation lately, including multiple posts on Fstoppers.com, about ‘discounted,’ ‘gray market’ and ‘on sale’ cameras dramatically priced lower than their manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). 

I’m outdoors a lot and I post images and video of my adventures to social media all the time. But one of the biggest problems I have is if it’s anything more than a snapshot on my iPhone, or a video on my GoPro I can pull over to my phone via WiFi, I have to wait till I get home to edit on my laptop, slowing down the time it takes from getting the shot to sharing it with my followers. 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! That buzzing noise you hear overhead isn't superman either, it's a remote control drone with thousands of dollars in camera equipment strapped to the bottom. And wow do they get some cool images.

Going through a breakup can be hard. Especially when your significant other leaves you nothing but the dog. That’s exactly what happened to Rafael Mantesso. On his 30th birthday, his wife walked out leaving him with nothing else besides their bull terrier, Jimmy, whom the wife named after her favorite shoe designer, Jimmy Choo. 

"What the heck just happened?" I remember saying to a friend as we finished Season 5, Episode 8, "Hardhome" of Game of Thrones a few weeks ago. I was in a crowded bar with many other GoT fans as we all just sat in silence as the credits rolled. This was no "Red Wedding" but I still had that "Oh S***" feeling you get when everything hits the fan.

Smell that? It's the once yearly aroma of cut grass, processed meats and the aftermath of a lit firecracker. And as the sun sets on July 4th, you're probably gearing up for an evening of fireworks to celebrate America's independence (unless you a reading this in one of the hundreds of other countries around the globe and then it's just 7/4 and a regular weekend). 

The brain-trust that is Instagram over at Facebook HQ in California recently released two major updates to their photo-sharing social media app that will help users connect with more photos and photographers.

If you're like me, photography is not just about weddings and portraits. I love getting outdoors with my camera and exploring the mountains and forests around my hometown of Seattle, Washington. Anything from a day hike to a multi-night backpacking trip is always an opportunity to photograph my adventures and share these beautiful landscapes with others. 

We all know someone who has had their gear stolen, lost or damaged but it is rare to hear about a large commercial organization hit by thieves. Those headed to work at LensProToGo Monday morning were surprised to see just that as the company’s Concord, Massachusetts office had been robbed. 

Thumbtack, a professional services website used by many freelance photographers, has received a "manual action" from Google which has caused the site to be removed from Google's search results and many photographers are feeling the effects. 

The era of 360-degree filmmaking is upon us. Google, in collaboration with The Mill and production company Bullitt, has released the 360-degree short film "HELP" for free on Google's mobile storytelling platform Spotlight Stories. The film is full of explosions, aliens, and action all within a beautiful 360-degree world. 

With less expensive gear being introduced all the time, we have seen a boom in time-lapse films in recent years, making it easier for just about anyone to make their own time-lapse clips. But with the deluge of videos comes innovation and the need to differentiate yourself.

Our cameras today are extremely powerful with settings and features that help us archive stellar image quality. But sometimes the images we come home with just don't capture the true essence of what was photographed and what our eyes saw. The photo is just a bit overexposed or underexposed and doesn't capture what we felt in that moment we pressed down on the shutter button.