Technology
Daguerre's Daguerreotype
An image of an inventor, captured with his own invention:Louis Daguerre, a pioneer in photographic chemistry, would have been 224 years old today.Not as though he would have lived anywhere near that long...
Stories by Alex Wild
The Sciences
Nature Publishing Group's New Journal
[What's this about?]
Technology
Smoke photographs better with backlighting
Earlier this year I needed an image of a working bee smoker*. But standard ambient light produced a rather flat image:What to do? I hid a Canon 430EX speedlight out of view behind the smoker, and when it fired the smoke came alive:Light does interesting things to smoke...
Technology
How to not get trampled by an angry elephant
What sort of nature photographer lies down in front of an enraged bull elephant?How about the little remote-control kind? Meet BeetleCam:Wildlife photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas modified an RC car by beefing up the motor to support a Canon 400D camera and flash units...
The Sciences
The Money Shot
Sold at auction yesterday for $4.3 million, the most expensive photograph in the world:I have no further comment.[h/t Adrian Thysse]
Evolution
Naskrecki's "Relics" argues for a conservation ethic rooted in evolutionary history
Piotr Naskrecki's new book Relics is not easy to read. Physically, I mean.I have wanted to review this book for some time. After all, Piotr Naskrecki is a leading conservation photographer & katydid biologist, and I loved Naskrecki's last book The Smaller Majority .But I had to concentrate hard to stay focused on the text...
Technology
What Good Is The Lytro Light-Field Camera?
I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to get my hands on a demo model of Lytro's new and purportedly revolutionary light-field camera. This is a camera whose sensor records the direction of incoming light in addition to its intensity and color, allowing the camera to "see" over a broad focal depth...
Technology
Fill Flash Balances Foreground with Backdrop
Here's a simple image of a bug on a branch:Appearances aside, producing this image was technically more challenging than my usual fare. Both the sky and the insect are properly exposed, meaning I essentially had to plan and meter for two photographs in one exposure.Consider the scene with only natural sunlight and the camera metered for the sky:To correct for the dark, underexposed bug I added foreground light in the form of a diffused radio-triggered flash...
Environment
Meet Your Neighbours: Clay Bolt Talks About His Conservation Photography Initiative
If you've noticed a recent influx of the cleanest, whitest, prettiest nature portraits ever to grace the internet, you've probably seen the work of Meet Your Neighbours.
Space & Physics
The Amazing Space Photos of Ron Garan
So I'm browsing my photography feed on Google+. There are the usual charming street photos, some gorgeous birds, plenty of bugs on flowers. A sunset or two.Then, unexpectedly, a moonrise from somewhere high above the earth...
Technology
Thrifty Thursday: Army Ants Filmed on a Budget
Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs movies taken with equipment costing less than $500. [Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 - $241; Glidetrack shooter - $276]I often fill the Thrifty Thursday slot with still photographs from my trusty Panasonic digicam...
Technology
Is Google+ better for photographers?
I've been playing with Google+ the past couple weeks, and my conclusion is this: Yes. If photographers had to chose between sharing images on Google, Facebook, or Twitter, Google is the standout.Two aspects of Google's new social media network improve on the earlier sites, at least from the perspective of image-sharing: Most importantly, images look fantastic...
Technology
Thrifty Thursday: A Herd of Hoppers
Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500. [Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 - $241]A prairie ant ( Formica montana ) tends treehoppers ( Publilia sp.) for honeydew on the back of a sun-soaked leaf...
Technology
Simplicity = Winning in Nikon's Small World
[black & white modification from the original image by Andrew Gillis]I've been attempting, perhaps unwisely, to reverse-engineer the judging of Nikon's famous Small World competition...
Technology
Thrifty Thursday- Autumn in Two Dimensions
Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500. [HP deskjet F4280 printer/scanner - $150]Central Illinois is reaching peak color, and I've placed it on a flatbed scanner...
The Sciences
Nikon Announces Winners of 2011 Small World Competition
While science journalists' attention remains focused on the Nobel prizes, another set of awards- rather diminutive in scope- were also released this morning.Nikon has announced the 2011 winners of its prestigious Small World Photomicrography Competition...
Technology
Give yourself an extra appendage with Manfrotto's Magic Arm
Here's the most recent addition to my kit: a Manfrotto Magic Arm. It holds things in unusual positions, and it is sturdy enough to support heavy objects- up to 6 pounds- without budging...
Space & Physics
Great Images In NASA
I often surf by NASA's website for the Image of the Day, but NASA's site holds an inexhaustible supply of imagery. One of my favorite sections is their historical collection, Great Images In NASA:http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/index.htmlNASA is a taxpayer-supported agency, so these images appropriately have been placed in the public domain...
Technology
Thrifty Thursday: Freeze the action for under $500
Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500. [Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 - $241; Canon 430EX II speedlight - $208; Jasmine the Cat - priceless]I wouldn't ordinarily attempt this kind of precision shot with a cheap automatic camera...
Technology
Lighting a landscape photograph, pre-photoshop
And now, a photograph I took at a local park:Prairie is a visually subtle biome and, in my experience, one of the most difficult to photograph. It is at once both plain- a flat horizon with few salient landmarks- and hopelessly busy, packed with intricate textures...
