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Advertisements The competition was co-founded by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam, both professional photographers. They wanted to create a photographic competition that focused on the lighter side of wildlife, but most importantly though, they wanted to promote the conservation of wildlife and their habitats. This contest does it in a unique and fun way, through humorous and light-hearted imagery and a positive message. Along with this year’s images, the contest founders are sharing a few ideas on how you can be a conservationist at home:...

The new round head for the Godox AD200 looked intriguing when it was first announced. And while they’re not quite shipping just yet, photographer Rob Hall has got his hands on one. He decided to put it head to head against the AD200 using the Fresnel head with the MagMod magnetic modifier system to see how they compare. While Rob admits that he’s not an expert with the MagMod system, he has been using them for quite a while....

The inevitable day has come. In a process that began several years ago when Costco began winding down some of its photography services, the company has now announced, via an “IMPORTANT PHOTO CENTRE ANNOUNCEMENT” on their website, that all Costco photo departments will close at all of Costco’s locations on February 14th. Costco isn’t completely doing away with photography and will still be offering some services online, however, there will be no more in-store service....

Professional photographers get all kinds of weird requests during their career. And just when you think you’ve heard everything, someone asks for a refund in case they get divorced. Yup, you read it right. A couple asked a photographer if he could add a clause that guarantees a refund in case they get divorced. A Reddit user justinwheelon shared a screenshot of this message online, and it caused plenty of reactions within the community....

The idea of curved sensors has been around for a while now. Sony have been working on it since at least 2012, and we even got to see images created by it in 2014. Canon also filed a patent at the end of last year for both curved and “bendy” sensors. So, they’re definitely on the way. But new techniques developed by a team at Microsoft Research could speed things up dramatically....

Yes, that’s right, the drone registry introduced in 2015, and deemed unconstitutional back in May of this year is now back. When the drone registration system was first introduced it was met with mixed response. On the one hand, there’s those worried about privacy, and on the other the “Well, if you’re not doing anything illegal, what do you have to worry about?” Now, it seems privacy be damned, thanks to a bill signed into law yesterday by President Trump....

In a Mother Jones piece, Ramenda Cyrus analyzes A1 coverage of last year’s George Floyd protests and contends that the media is still relying on old tropes to represent Black Americans. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Allen and Sarah take a look at her arguments and the supporting voices of author Martin Berger and “Reading the Pictures” publisher Michael Shaw. Also in the show: The 400 Years Project collects stories of Native Americans, facial recognition errors are preventing people from collecting unemployment, Darnella Frazier receives a special citation from the Pulitzer Prizes for her video of George Floyd being murdered, Emily Ratajkowski sells her NFT for $175,000, and books from Ben Brody, Sebastiao Salgado, and Todd Bigelow....

With drones now well and truly here to stay, some close calls, some too close and too many major disruptions, drones regulation is big on the minds of lawmakers around the world. While more laws generally won’t stop those who purposefully intend to break them, authorities are attempting to do something about holding them accountable. The idea of “Remote ID” is that drones would essentially have a digital license plate....

DJI first introduced geofencing capabilities to its drones in 2013. It’s a technology that uses the GPS data to prevent drones from flying into no-fly-zones such as airports. Now, DJI have released GEO (Geospatial Environment Online) which provides drone pilots with up-to-date information on where restricted locations exist. As well as the permanently restricted areas that have always been in place, the new system allows for the creation of temporary no-fly-zones for unfolding events, such as forest fires....

DJI has officially added a new member to their drone family – Phantom 4 Advanced. After announcing the termination of Phantom 4, it seems it got a decent replacement. Phantom 4 Advanced has some similarities to the rest of the series, like its sleek and elegant look and some of the features. But it has some advantages and improvements over its terminated predecessor. It seems that a new and improved version of Phantom 4 is ready for takeoff....

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this one. The HMS Queen Elizabeth (Ro8) is the Royal Navy’s largest warship. It’s brand new. It cost £3 billion ($3.9 billion) to build. It was only officially named last month, and it’s not even been formally commissioned yet. The HMS Queen Elizabeth began sea trials on June 26th. During a recent visit to Scotland as part of this tour, a gentleman who is not being named managed to land his drone on it....

The Gnarbox (pronounces narbox) comes with an impressive promise. It will provide editing, backup, and preview for your videos (and stills) with no laptop while you are on the go. We chatted with Will Africano, COO and co-founder of the Gnar box at Photo Plus Expo and got a glimpse of the device. If the Gnarbox will live up to the hype they created, this box is probably going to be in everyone’s kit....

I recently returned from a seven day wilderness canoe trip to Algonquin Provincial Park with my family. The purpose of the trip was half family vacation and half extended photoshoot for my portfolio at Stocksy United. Backcountry canoeing with an eight and ten year old meant that we had to stick to a relatively moderate route – but paddling roughly 60 km in total with 10 km of portages also meant that we had to pack as light and compact as possible....

Some photographers will go great lengths to get the perfect shot. But it seems that Instagram influencers and “influencers” will go even further. Now there’s an Instagram account that shows behind the scenes of “doing it for the ‘Gram”, and it’s absolutely hilarious. Even the name of this account makes me giggle: @influencersinthewild. It was created by Tank Sinatra, who, oh the irony, seems to be an influencer himself. His account has amassed over 2 million followers, and Influencers in the Wild are followed by almost as many people....

I’m once again truly humbled to see that my new short: Everest A Time Lapse Film – II is captivating audiences around the world. As always, my goal is to bring to life the majestic beauty of the Himalayas and to inspire others to dream big, discover their passions and explore this beautiful planet we inhabit. Everest and the people of Nepal have given so much to me and this is a very small way of giving something back....

Advertisements The contest shared 2020 shortlists earlier this year, and I couldn’t wait to see the winners. French photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux has won the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s title of Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020. He has beaten over 5,000 entries from photographers across six continents, and his image also won the Galaxies category. Taken in Forges-les-Bains, Île-de-France, the photo shows the Andromeda Galaxy shot in a very unusual way....

When, during the sixties, Jane Goodall gave wild chimpanzees a name instead of a number, she put the science world upside down. Anonymous animals were no longer nothing but a number. With something apparently as simple as a name, she validated their individuality and uniqueness. “When you face a fox, you face personality.” Many years from then, we still tend to grossly underestimate our fellow earthlings and regard them like interchangeable particles of a uniform set....

This time last year, there was a pretty big fuss about FindFace, an app that uses facial recognition to discover people’s identities with pretty high reliability. But for 33-year-old Fu Gui from China, facial recognition technology turned out to be life changing. It helped him find his family and reunite with them after being apart for 27 years. It began in 2009, when Fu recalled memories of his earliest childhood with a family that wasn’t known to him....

Do you pay attention which side is your model facing in photos? And do you think this is important for the message? According to a recent study, it is. Simone Schnall, Director of the Cambridge Embodied Cognition and Emotion Laboratory, says in her report that the subject should be facing right. If we want to portray a person as dynamic, progressive, positive and forward-thinking, we ought to portray them looking right....

When SYRP first kickstarted the Genie, we knew that it was something a bit different, but we had no idea how vast the echo system will be. The Slingshot is the third member to the Genie system (after the mini and bracket). The Slingshot builds on the same Genie motor to move between two points. Only instead of riding a slider, it is hang on a rope bridge. The slingshot comes with two mounting brackets which you can hang on trees or walls or bridges, and a big four-wheels cart that holds the Genie, a camera and an optional Genie mini....