Way back in 2015, just a couple months shy of three years ago, we told you about a pretty insane lens that went up for sale on eBay. That lens is a massive 2540mm lens used by the likes of NASA to track the Saturn V rocket launch during Apollo and other programs. Back then, it was listed for an eye-watering $33,500 and the listing has remained, unsold. Now it appears to have received a little bit of a price drop....

I’ve seen my fair share of stellar Milky Way images over the last couple of years. But Finnish visual artist and astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio has raised the bar. He created a high-resolution gigapixel class mosaic image of the Milky Way that took nearly twelve years to create. He used around 1250 hours of exposure between 2009 and 2021 to create enough data for this photo. And although it was extremely labor-intensive, it was well worth it!...

With all the talk of the Canon EOS R5’s overheating and shortcomings for filmmakers lately, it can be difficult to remember that this camera was primarily designed for shooting stills. And stills is what still primarily interests a lot of would-be Canon EOS R5 owners. In fact, there are many photographers out there who are only interested in stills and don’t care about video one bot. So, how does the EOS R5 hold up as a photography camera?...

We always talk about how light hits a portrait in a certain way, but we never actually see how the light hits a portrait, one second its dark and then in the next second it’s lit. There is no hitting. Well, here is how light actually hits a portrait. Of course you can not actually film how light travels, you would need a shutter speed of 1/, not to mention the insane triggering system you’d need....

What is the most versatile item in your studio? Is it your camera that can take photos and video? Or maybe your laptop you use for tethering, editing, and chatting with your clients? Perhaps it’s your speedlight or a V-flat which both can be used in a variety of ways. The most versatile item in Filip Soukup’s studio is none of the above. In fact, this Czech photographer argues that, for him, it’s a simple, cheap, and easy-to-build DIY item....

Overheating is a common issue for some photographers and filmmakers (especially filmmakers). Certain brands have been pretty notorious for it, while others seem to handle things just fine. In this video, Gene Nagata (AKA Potato Jet) throws a bunch of different DSLR, mirrorless, cinema and action cameras into an incubator at their maximum claimed operational temperature (40°C or 104°F) to see just how long it takes for them to overheat and shut down....

OConnor is a name that’s been held in high regard in Hollywood for years for their fluid video tripod heads. In fact, their inventor, Chadwell O’Connor won Academy Awards for them in 1975 and 1992. Now part of the Vitec group, OConnor has been able to combine their heads with Flowtech legs into a single package. The OConnor 1040 Flowtech. It costs $10,260, and we had to see it for ourselves....

Textures can really enhance the mood or the feel of an image. People that follow me and my photography know I love using textures in my work. So, it was an absolute no brainer to test out the Infinite Texture Panel. There’s no shortage of Textures around the internet these days… but what if you had access to the largest database of high-resolution textures with a click of a button?...

When you reach a certain age, all your friends will start having babies. And of course, all of them will start sharing gazillions of their images on Facebook. Okay, babies are cute (sometimes), but that’s just too many baby photos at the same time! If your News Feed is swarmed by baby photos – there’s now a plugin that lets you block them. The Baby Blocker was launched by condom company SKYN, which is a pretty awesome marketing trick if you ask me....

We’re only a few days away from “Rogue One” premiere, so we decided to present you with a photo editing tutorial that can help you turn anyone into a Jedi. Mathieu Stern has published this comprehensive and easy tutorial on his website, and all you need are a Jedi, a few props, a tripod and a camera. And some Force, naturally. To get the final result, you will need to take three photos: one with the model sitting on a stool, one with someone holding the prop, and one with the empty background....

Motion designer Christian Stangl has shown us some incredible videos shot in space. This time, he chose quite the opposite of the vast universe and filmed a timelapse from up close. Using macro lenses or a microscope, he shot an incredible timelapse named Dry Out, showing various plants shriveling as they dry out. “Life needs water. But this fluid tends to evaporate over time into a gaseous state,” Christian writes in the video description....

After Deep Nostalgia, here’s another tool that lets you animate your still images. Tokkingheads lets you choose a photo or avatar, merge it with a video to copy the moves from it, and even add audio to your creations. It’s a bit less impressive than Deep Nostalgia, but more fun and interactive… and I got totally hooked to playing with it! Tokkingheads was created by Rosebud AI. As you can probably guess, it uses artificial intelligence to turn your still images into animated video clips....

Before a presentation we did during a bad-weather day on a photography workshop I co-guided in Northern Norway, I was asked to give my best advice for landscape photographers. I wanted to talk about some slightly different topics rather than repeating standard tips such as ‘straighten the horizon’, ‘use f/11’ and ‘photograph during golden hour’. These tips won’t make an instant change to your images but they are essential to be aware of if you want to develop your craft and grow as an artist....

Three years ago, TinyMOS introduced TINY1, the world’s smallest astrophotography camera. Now they’re launching NANO1, which is three times smaller than its predecessor. With the new model, it looks like the smallest astrophotography camera has just got even smaller. Yet, despite the size – the NANO1 is more powerful than its big brother in terms of specs. The NANO1 weighs only 100g (3.5oz) and it easily fits in your pocket....

If you’re in search of an editing controller to make your workflow faster, I believe you will like Tourbox Elite. It’s a Bluetooth editing controller, the first one to my knowledge, invented by the company TourBox Tech Inc. It’s tiny, nicely designed, meant to speed up your workflow no matter the editing program you use. Let’s start with the immediately obvious: the design. It’s compact and sleek, and I quite like it....

Projecting light and shapes onto your model opens up a whole lot of possibilities for creative, unusual portraits. If you’re looking for some inspiration and something new to try, this might just be it! In this video from Adorama, Gavin Hoey shows you how to take outstanding portraits with projectors. He shows you two different methods, using continuous light and a strobe, so you can try whichever suits the lighting gear you own....

Passengers flying from eight Muslim-majority countries will no longer be allowed to bring almost any electronics in their carry-on. Everything but cellphones and medical devices will have to be in the checked luggage starting today. This means laptops, tablets, Kindles and of course – cameras, can no longer be in the carry-on. According to Senior U.S. administration officials, the reason for the ban is security and prevention of terrorist attacks....

Advertisements Luckily I have this wife person I live with who I get to ramble off my random ideas to and she can set me straight about things. In other words she was all, “Robert, if you really want to dive deep, why not separate the different selection tools into their own posts rather than trying to cram all that information into one post?” Well played, Sara, well played. So yeah, that’s happening....

In this short video Joe Edelman uses an egg to explain a bit about portraiture lighting by having a single source of light move over an egg. It is kinda like our portrait lighting cheat sheet card, only in video. If you want to see more of Joe’s great work, we have featured his excellent tutorials before.

Understanding exposure is vital if you want to make informed decisions about your photography. And specifically understanding the exposure triangle. The relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed. It’s a delicate balance that newer photographers can often struggle with. But let Aaron Nace guide you through it in these videos with a little assistance from Star Wars Lego. It’s a three-part series, released over last month or so, with the final video going up a couple of days ago....