The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has been all over the news over the last few days. And if you were lucky enough to have clear skies, you could have observed it or take some photos. Photographer Jason De Freitas used this rare opportunity to take some photos, and he created something quite unique. He managed to capture the ISS trail between Jupiter and Saturn during the conjunction – and he did it on film....

It’s impossible not to notice that some types of Instagram photos all look alike. Especially photos from iconic locations, where thousands of people stand in the same spot to snap an Instagram photo in the same pose. Just think of all the tourists “pushing” the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Photographer and videographer Oliver KMIA decided to mock this trend, so he has created a video which shows the lack of creativity in Instagram travel images....

This is one of the weirdest, but at the same time coolest, lens filters I’ve ever seen. There have been a lot of filters purely for one-off effects over the years, and some of them are still commonly available today. Most of them are kind of gimmicky and, well, this one is, too, really. It’s the Soratama from Zenjix, a 72mm filter that actually has a glass sphere right in the centre of it....

About a week ago, Tiktok came up with a challenge to empower people and make them feel sexy. It’s called the Tiktok Silhouette Challenge, and the idea is to shoot a video of yourself to the sound of a Paul Anka “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” mashup with Doja Cat’s “Streets.” The “trick” is that the video starts pretty trivial. But as the music transitions, you merge a second video....

Thanks to companies like the Impossible Project, Polaroids have seen a massive resurgence in popularity. While Fuji and others have come out with other forms of “instant film” in recent years, Polaroid still seem to see the most demand. One advantage of using Polaroids, is that you can actually lift the emulsion from the backing and remount it onto pretty much any surface you like. It’s not a quick process, but it is fairly straightforward....

The perceived devil horns grabbed the headlines, but the real story behind the deep symbolism embedded within Time Magazine’s 2016 person of the year cover featuring Donald Trump is much more interesting. Nadav Kander is a brilliant photographer and the impression of Donald Trump that you get from his photograph is unmistakable – following in a long tradition of using photography to influence perception – like Arnold Newman’s evil brooding image of Nazi industrialist Alfred Krupp, to Platon’s cold, inhuman portrayal of Vladimir Putin....

While pretty much all cameras today have some form of light meter built-in, there are still plenty of older film cameras that don’t. Short of going by the Sunny 16 rule and hoping you’re close, there isn’t much you can do to ensure a good exposure besides using an actual light meter. Sure, you could carry around a big bulky Sekonic or even a little slender Sekonic, but why not mount one to your camera’s hotshoe?...

Creating 360° videos involves lots of complicated settings, multiple memory cards, and you can’t go without stitching software. But the Sphere Pro lens is about to change it. Thanks to this lens, if you want to shoot full-spherical video, all you need to do is attach the lens onto your camera and start shooting. And judging from the video, the results are quite awesome. Sphere Optics Company has created the first lens for DSLR that “sees everything”....

Watermarks are a hotly debated topic. There are lots of good, and some silly, arguments both for and against them. But it’s funny how nobody ever seemed to accuse Van Gogh or Picasso of “ruining” their artwork by adding their signature to the corner of the canvas. So, with that in mind, here’s Colin Smith at Photoshop Cafe to show us how to turn our actual signature into a watermark....

I’ve been following Mike Delgaudio, otherwise known as Booth Junkie, for quite a while now. Mike’s a professional voiceover artist and so he makes a lot of videos about how you can record voiceovers, typically on a low budget, at home. He’s usually using large-diaphragm cardioid condensers and shotguns but rarely ventures from the comfort of his booth to record audio out in the real world. You know, the way filmmakers do....

Back in 2020, Facebook (now Meta) bought Giphy, by which it became one of several mainstream platforms under its wing. But UK’s watchdog says enough. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered Meta to sell the animated GIF platform – and the order is final. The reason behind the ruling is that Meta’s purchase of Giphy limits the choice for social media users in the UK. Meta’s platforms already make up 73% of user time spent on social media in the UK, and Meta’s ownership of Giphy pushes people further to using Meta-owned sites, CMA concludes....

CFexpress is coming. Of that, there is no doubt. It’s the drop-in replacement for XQD and will also replace many of the CFast 2.0 slots on the next generation of cameras. ProGrade Digital was the first to announce support for the new format, back in April last year, but they’ve been holding off on releasing it until hardware comes out that actually supports it. See the update at the bottom of this article containing a response from ProGrade Digital....

Anybody who shoots video or timelapse knows that the key to getting great shots often involves camera movement. This is why sliders and dollies are so popular. Almost every timelapse shooter or filmmaker I know owns one. Of course, they’re not cheap. So lots of people have come up with ingenious ways to build their own. Including one from way back in 2011 by Frugal Filmmaker that costs less than $20....

There are a few ways to make your own horizontal slider. But if you need a vertical one, you can just grab your tripod. In this video, Mark Holtze will show you a handy trick that will give you smooth camera movement and turn your tripod into a vertical slider. Mark uses a Manfrotto BeFree, an affordable and “pretty standard” photographic tripod. After attaching the camera, he unscrews the vertical head lock of the tripod....

Vaxis recently launched their Atom 600 KV wireless video transmission system designed specifically for the RED Komodo. Now the company has announced that it’s also available in a new Stormtrooper White flavour, so that those who happen to have the white Komodo can color coordinate their rig. The Atom 600 KV offers up to 600ft of transmission (line of sight) with less than 80ms of latency. It features passthrough signals for HDMI and SDI as well as for power and supports up to 1080p 60fps frame rates....

Back in May, Rotolight began legal proceedings against competing lighting manufacturer, Vibesta for alleged infringement of its intellectual property. The dispute was over the design of their Peragos Disk light, which they alleged infringed on design patents (amongst other IP) of the Rotolight Neo 2. Now, Vibesta has announced that they’ve won a preliminary ruling on the case brought against them by Rotolight in The District Court of The Hague....

Ever since the Loupedeck+ (review here) was announced, offering compatibility with a wider range of software than just Lightroom, there’s been one feature I’ve hoped for. That feature is compatibility with video editing software. Today, Loupedeck has come through and announced that it’s happening, beginning with Adobe Premiere Pro CC. It seems that I wasn’t the only one waiting for this feature as Loupedeck writes in their press release that “the decision to include video editing functionalities is exclusively based on feedback from Loupedeck’s invested community”....

The third-party autofocus lens collection for Fuji is just exploding now that they’ve opened up their protocols. The latest to be added to this list is an ultra-wide and super bright lens from Viltrox. It’s the Viltrox 13mm f/1.4 autofocus lens and it offers a field of view equivalent to about 20mm on a full-frame system. At f/1.4, though, for an APS-C lens this wide, that’s extremely fast, which should make it ideal for things like interiors, weddings and events....

No matter if you’re selling or buying used gear, I’m sure you’d like to get a good price. Bokeh Market is a website which will tell you the market value of used gear: cameras, lenses and bundles. This way, you’ll get the insight into the real-time value of used gear, so you can determine the price to sell it or make sure not to overpay when buying. You can type the exact model of the camera or lens you want to buy or sell, or browse through the brands and select the gear from this category....

There are definitely a lot of possible applications of drones, and they seem to increase as technology progresses. And Harbin Siberian Tiger Park in China uses the drones for quite an unusual purpose – exercise. As you can see in the video, these Siberian tigers are not only intimidating and huge, but they are also chubby. They live in captivity and they are well fed, so it’s no wonder they’re not in their best shape....