Ads annoy most of us, but when they’re well-made and creative, they can even be fun to watch. Spa Nederland (mineral water company) has one of those brilliant ads – it shows shooting portraits with a lens made from a water droplet. Photographer Robin de Puy used only a droplet, a glass plate and electricity to create a lens made of water, and it was even possible to focus it....
In some aspects, animals can be just like humans. They can be kind, caring, affectionate, but also dangerous and ready for a fight. They can suffer or jump with joy, be happy or sad. Macedonian photographer Goran Anastasovski has devoted the past ten years of his life to capturing intimate portraits of animals at the local zoo, particularly big cats. His sepia portraits of tigers, lions, and leopards show the wide range of emotions and behaviors we can see in these magnificent creatures....
Swedish photographer Erik Johansson is known for his dreamy and surreal images. This time, he decided to depict the change between day and night. As always, the artist of great imagination took a lot of time and effort to turn his idea into a photo, and in this video, he takes you behind the scenes of his latest project. The image he titled Daybreaker was shot in August 2018. And just like all Erik’s conceptual images, it started off with a sketch....
I have a few favorite cafes in several cities, and I think I’ve just found another one. But it’s not an ordinary café as no human can get inside, sit down and order a drink. It was made by photographer Kristen Flagg in her own backyard, and its visitors are chipmunks, squirrels, and birds. Kristen doesn’t only serve them fruit, seeds, and nuts, but she also takes photos of her cute little customers....
Being passionate about photography and doing it for a living has plenty of great sides. But, there are some downsides as well, and they can affect your private life. In this video, Manny Ortiz and his wife Diana get honest and personal about how photography can negatively affect marriage. It’s a cautionary tale and an inspirational story for all of us, as we all sometimes tend to take relationships for granted and we find it hard to switch off from work....
A good silhouette can be an amazing picture. Without seeing any actual real detail of our subject other than the outline, they can suggest all kinds of mood and emotion in an image. Silhouettes can be both scary and romantic depending on the form of the figure, or figures. They can tell a story, simply by the environment behind them. They can also tell us a lot about the person, beyond what they look like....
Well, this is an exciting bit of news. It looks like Profoto will soon be announcing their first hotshoe flash. Yes, that’s right, a Profoto speedlight. It’s a bold, but inevitable, move, I think. The existing flash companies have to do something to survive and compete, or they disappear. There’s so much more gear available now, and a lot more pressure on companies to innovate and really deliver what users want instead of what the company simply wants to sell....
Have you ever been to Socotra? Up until recently, I’ve never even heard of this Yemeni island, and even when I learned where it was, that was about it. But then I saw photos that Daniel Kordan took at this place – and I was mind-blown. This small island is described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth.” It’s rich in endemic plants and birds, and in insanely photogenic places....
The model will be the most important part of this team – The subject of your images. This is something that aspiring photographers take a lot of time to understand. And aspiring photographers find a lot of excuses around this fact. (Of course, the ones that do get it, are not aspiring for long). Fashion or Beauty Model? Pretty girls make awful models. Yes, this is the truth. Here are the photos that show up when I google “beautiful girl” You will notice some things that all (or most) of them have in common: round features, lack of sharp/noticeable bone structure and a soft expression (also probably there is not enough variety of expressions/poses) – These are pretty girls....
We’re only two days from an official announcement now from Sigma about their new 85mm f/1.4 DC DN Art series lens for L and E mount. As expected, though, the images of the new lens have leaked a little early, courtesy of serial leakers, Nokishita. Four photos of the new lens have leaked, and it looks a lot like Sigma’s 105mm f/1.4 Art for DSLRs, but shorter and with an aperture ring....
Profoto calls it “The world’s smallest studio light”. Most of the rest of us just call it the $1,100 speedlight. Yes, that’s right, we’re talking about the Profoto A1X. An update to the original $1,000 speedlight, the A1X has also proven to be a fairly popular light amongst Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus shooters. Thus far, though, Fuji users had been left out in the cold, at least on the hot-shoe....
Launched in 2017, the $1,000 Profoto A1 was a pretty unique design amongst speedlights. Finally, the world had a round head speedlight – something that many photographers had been asking for, for at least the last couple of decades. Now, Godox is getting ready to start shipping their new V1 round head speedlight, launched at Photokina 2018. But Profoto calls foul play. According to Fotosidan, Profoto is accusing Godox of intellectual property theft, specifically patent infringement, with the design of the Profoto A1....
Regular readers here at DIYP will recognise the name Nick Sherlock. More commonly known for his adventures with 3D printing, he’s turned his hand towards coding. This time, he’s produced an app for Sony mirrorless cameras called Quantum Mirror that submits the photos you shoot to the DALL-E 2 AI to generate variants of them for some interesting and sometimes surreal results. Nick stresses that he’s not affiliated with either Sony or OpenAI and this is not an official app....
A part of my childhood just died. Microsoft Paint was never the pinnacle of photo editing software. But there was a time when it was the most popular image application out there (because it’s all that most of us had access to). It’s the first form of painting or editing application many of us experienced when we first acquire a Windows PC. It certainly was for me. This venerable application, though, is facing its end....
The RED Komodo 6K rumour mill is starting to get some confirmations as it gets closer to production. RED President, Jarred Land, now has a “Stormtrooper” Komodo 6K in his hands, the white colour typically denoting a pre-production unit, and has let loose a few more specs, including the fact that it uses a global shutter sensor. Since making the above post over on RED User, Jarred has received quite a few questions regarding its capabilities....
For filmmakers who want to buy an entry-level cine camera, RED Raven may be a good choice. However, it’s not available on RED’s website any longer, but they’ll need to head over to Apple store. The camera will be available as a kit online and in selected retail stores. And while RED is developing their own smartphone, this seems like a beginning of an interesting cooperation between the two companies....
Facebook has relatively recently introduced the so-called “reactions” to posts. But soon, instead of clicking on the heart or a laughing emoji, you will be able to “react” with your profile photo. The researchers at Tel Aviv University and Facebook have come up with a method to bring your selfies to life. All they need to do it is a single photo, and the resulting animation is pretty impressive. It seems like your photo is actually a short video, and it’s incredibly accurate considering that they only use one 2D image for the animation....
It’s inspiring to see talented kids devoted to developing their talent. Since I love photography, I find it especially heartwarming to see the young ones who are passionate about it. Robert Irwin is one of these kids. The 13-year-old son of “The Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin is a devoted photographer, and despite his young age, his work is really good. While he also takes photos of landscapes and cities, you can probably guess that his main passion is wildlife....
Recently released Samsung Galaxy S9 is the first smartphone that lets you change its aperture. This phone’s camera has caused a lot of interest, and it has knocked the Google Pixel 2 off the throne at DxO. In this video, JerryRigEverything tears down the Galaxy S9, so you can take a closer look at how its variable aperture works and what it looks like. Jerry tears down the phone completely, so you can get to know all of its tiny bits and pieces in case that you’re interested....
Next in our ongoing Photographer Spotlight series is Sara Melotti. Sara is an Italian photographer, content creator, storyteller and world traveler, currently based in New York City. Sara’s work has been featured by many international brands and publications including the New York Times, Vanity Fair and Glamour. (We have also featured Sara before with her sensational article: Instagram Created a Monster – A No Nonsense Guide To What’s Really Going On....
