7 Golden Photojournalism Rules by a Reuters Chief Photographer

7 Golden Photojournalism Rules by a Reuters Chief Photographer

What are the key tips to shooting great news photography? This video by award-winning Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj, an experienced Asia hand, shares his seven ideas on how to shoot news photos that engage audiences and tell a great story. Damir Sagolj’s golden rules are: Anticipate Research Reach Out Prioritize Practice Interact Be Invisible Watch […]

Longing for the Perfect Camera — Expectations and Reality

Longing for the Perfect Camera — Expectations and Reality

It’s a new industry in itself: the market for what’s not here yet. The camera industry in particular plays with the hopes, doubts and expectations of photographers. In part because ever new improvements, functions and promises make believe a photographer’s work improves proportionally to the money spent and technical improvements gained. Fact is, chances are […]

Nikon Bets on Full-Frame

Nikon Bets on Full-Frame

Another most telling afull-frame dug out by Nikon Rumors, and forgive me if the recent full-frame focus on THEME is beginning to bore you. But a press release by Nikon Germany suggests the world’s number two camera maker is to focus on the full-frame FX format. Nikon says its “current” full-frame portfolio consists of the […]

What Just Happened?! And You Thought an Adapter Is an Adapter…

What Just Happened?! And You Thought an Adapter Is an Adapter…

Glorious title, isn’t it. Had been swirling around my head for the past few days. The other morning I looked up DP Review for my ritual daily kick of gear news and gossip, and well, the latest news item was titled What Just Happened? Whatever. I feel morally eligible to use the title as well. […]

Coming Your Way: The Lens Wars

Coming Your Way: The Lens Wars

By BENGT NYMAN Camera manufacturers insist on proprietary lens mounts to favor the sales of their own lenses. Proprietary autofocus communications and algorithms contribute to this protection. Even proprietary electronic shutter controls do. However, this is all about to be turned on its head. Nikon has probably been restricting when and how Sony can enter […]

Phoneless Cameras R.I.P. Rant — Only the Size of Your Prints Justifies $$$ Gear

Phoneless Cameras R.I.P. Rant — Only the Size of Your Prints Justifies $$$ Gear

By ANONYMOUS* WTF, just read an article you tweeted Dan, about a National Geographic photographer “capturing the aura of the Scottish Highlands with the iPhone 5S“… What a brave new tool for brave new photography… Worst of all, I can’t even tell if these images are really shot with an iPhone or not!! Paid by […]

Open Letter to DxO — We Need a Universal Method for Lens Testing and Comparison

Open Letter to DxO — We Need a Universal Method for Lens Testing and Comparison

By BENGT NYMAN First a thank you, DxO, for introducing the expression P-Mpix — or Perceptual Megapixel — for describing the sharpness of a lens. It elegantly translates the older one-dimensional line pairs per millimeter measurement into a two-dimensional resolution matrix directly comparable to the MP specification of a camera image sensor. I believe that […]

The Photographic Revolution

The Photographic Revolution

By BENGT NYMAN Photography is no longer a matter of preserving the visual image of an important person, or even about preserving the wedding day or the evolution of a newborn into and through childhood. Nor is it a matter of taking a picture of a friend, but rather a picture of ”now” as instant […]

Ever-Present Photography — Why It Is a Problem

Ever-Present Photography — Why It Is a Problem

Interesting thoughts by Australian philosopher Damon Young on why ever-present photography is a problem. Not too long ago historic events happened — and not even a single selfie was taken by anyone. These days, whatever insignificance happens, it’s selfies and constant photographic recording of everything everywhere. Even better, from the comfort zone of your home […]

18 Photography Things You’ve (Hopefully) Been Doing All Along

18 Photography Things You’ve (Hopefully) Been Doing All Along

Right, that’s a title implying, “18 Things You’ve (Probably) Been Doing Wrong.” Anyways, here we go: Back to Basics: Photography is first and foremost about aperture and shutter speed. That’s what defines images. Modes? Bracketing? HDR? Multiple exposures? Time to go back to the roots. Settings, D’oh! The camera remembers, you don’t. Forgot again you […]

Hitting a Nerve — The Future of Still Photography Is Motion

Hitting a Nerve — The Future of Still Photography Is Motion

By GAIL MOONEY I created quite a stir when I posted the article How Motion Is Changing the Future of Photography on my blog. What surprised me most about the comments I received from that post was that most folks just couldn’t begin to imagine the future that I was contemplating in my writings. With […]

The YouTube-ization of Photography

The YouTube-ization of Photography

Everything ends up on YouTube these days. Politics, private lives, even funerals. And, of course, photography. Once we used our cameras exclusively for stills. A camera without video function can’t be sold anymore these days — even though many photographers could live happily ever after without 1080p et al. The mechanisms behind this trend away […]

Photos vs. Real Life Moments — How Steve Jobs Changed the World for the Worse

Photos vs. Real Life Moments — How Steve Jobs Changed the World for the Worse

He may have even changed the way we use and look at photography, but by encouraging people’s deeply confessional urge to show and share themselves in every possible situation Steve Jobs taught us to forget about enjoying real life moments. Smartphones are amazing. Not less amazing is the colossal loss of interpersonal relationships. Wasn’t photography […]

Telephoto Paradigm Shift? The Yearning for Dual Focus Prime Lenses

Telephoto Paradigm Shift? The Yearning for Dual Focus Prime Lenses

By BENGT NYMAN Film resolution and later image sensor resolution used to be the limiting factor driving the design of the equipment used in photographic image capturing. For example, we take the continuously variable zoom lens for granted. It was once necessary to accurately frame just the part that we wanted to become our image. […]

Your Red Can Really Be Her Blue — Colors Depend on Who You Are

Your Red Can Really Be Her Blue — Colors Depend on Who You Are

This is in part a continuation of B. D. Colen’s thought-inducing The Subject Is Black and White, dealing with the question that a color photograph may or may not distract from the subject. Without light — or wavelenghts for that — everything is black, right? Let’s assume every person sees black as is, as black. […]

The Physics to Better Photography — Is It the Photographer or Gear?

The Physics to Better Photography — Is It the Photographer or Gear?

It’s an age-old question dividing photographers again and again. What’s more important. The photographer or gear. We all know the answer. The photographer. Or is it? When the shot does well, it’s the photographer. When it sucks, it’s the camera. All things being equal, the better photographer will usually get better shots while better gear […]

Mediocrity and Anemia Ravage the Newsstand

Mediocrity and Anemia Ravage the Newsstand

By DIEGO GIUDICE After five years without visiting the USA, last month I had the opportunity to fly for a few days to San Francisco, California. I always enjoyed the U.S., among other things because I could catch up with a vast variety of newspapers and magazines of the highest quality, a fact that over […]

Caution: Photography May Ruin the Experience

Caution: Photography May Ruin the Experience

In my earlier days I worked as a tour guide, traveling the world to finance my studies. On one tour to Vietnam an elder man was in the group. He was the one who seemed to enjoy the trip the most. This was all pre-digital times, but while the other tour members were busy with […]

Open Letter — Dear Leica:

Open Letter — Dear Leica:

Negativity has become the new favorite pastime of many photographers. Instead of going out and enjoying our cameras, we’re glued to the computer screen and comment on stuff that has nothing to do with our lives. We neither contribute anything positive to society nor are we able to look at ourselves in the mirror and […]

The True Digital Mini M — This Is What Leica Has to Do:

The True Digital Mini M — This Is What Leica Has to Do:

Remember, you read it here first, a week before it was on all the other sites: the ominous X Vario’s name confirmed. But this post is not about unabashed self-promotion. Many photographers obviously want a “Mini M” that Leica marketing suggested. Leica could sell tons of slimmed down M with interchangeable lenses, EVF, image stabilization, […]

This Might Even Work: When Photographers Are Replaced With iPhones

This Might Even Work: When Photographers Are Replaced With iPhones

Chicago’s Sun-Times recently laid off its entire staff of 28 full-time photographers to replace them with iPhones. Seriously. According to a Sun-Times memo “reporters begin mandatory training on iPhone photography basics following elimination of the paper’s entire photography staff. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be working with all editorial employees to train and […]

“A Final Embrace” by Taslima Akhter

“A Final Embrace” by Taslima Akhter

I thought long and hard whether to post this photo on the front page. It’s not the average welcoming screen on the Web. Thing is, am currently on assignment in Bangladesh. Maybe I’ll post a few images later on. But what’s there to post when one sees a photo like the one by Bangladeshi activist […]

Custom-Tailored, Anyone? The Quest for the Perfect Camera Bag

Custom-Tailored, Anyone? The Quest for the Perfect Camera Bag

Well the title should rather ask, “What’s the Perfect Camera Bag?” The choice of a camera bag is as personal as gear a photographer is working with. Some need no bag at all. For others, purists, even a strap is an overkill. Yet others again depend on several lenses, flash, spare battery and charger to […]