Bruce Davidson receives Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award

The World Photography Organisation has just announced the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award. The 2011 honour is going to Bruce Davidson and he’ll collect his gong at the Sony World Photography Awards on 27 April at the Odeon, Leicester Square. (Yes, if you were wondering, it did used to be called the Lifetime Achievement Award.)

Davidson has been shooting for over 50 years; he’s run away with a circus, followed a New York gang, and documented the Civil Rights movement; his work has been exhibited at MOMA in New York, the Foundation Cartier-Bresson in Paris, and the Tate Modern in London, to name just a few; he’s worked for Life magazine and is a member of Magnum Photos; and he’s directed three films. That’s a whole heap of awesome.

The Dwarf, Bruce Davidson, Magnum Photos

Some of Davidson’s favourite pictures, including those from his time with the circus, will be on display in the Terrace Rooms at Somerset House in London from 26 April to 22 May 2011. From 4 – 28 May there’ll be a retrospective of his work at Chris Beetles Fine Photographs in London, too.

For more information on the Sony World Photography Awards and on Bruce Davidson, check out worldphoto.org

(Featured image: USA. Los Angeles. 1964. © Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos)

My Focus on Imaging round-up

I spent a lot of time wandering around halls 9 and 10 of the NEC yesterday. A lot. Partly this was because there was plenty to see, but also because I managed to get myself well and truly disoriented on a couple of occasions. (My legs are doing okay this morning; thanks for asking.) But apart from my cartographical vagaries, what were highlights, and what are my tips for anyone planning on going between today and Wednesday?

Fuji's X100. Gorgeous, but actually I'm not convinced

Highlights

I admit it, the first place that I headed to (and this one couldn’t be missed because of its massive green and white banners) was the Fuji stand where they had some X100s for us to play and fiddle with. I say ‘some’ because the queues were quite extensive so it didn’t really feel enough. Did I love it as much as I thought I would? Well, I wasn’t sobbing that I’m not on the pre-order list. The hybrid viewfinder is great; I liked the aperture ring; but I couldn’t see myself using it.

Kudos to Pentax who had knowledgeable staff manning their stand, unlike at least one other big name (I’m looking at you, Nikon). They also had a couple of 645Ds out for public delectation, in addition to a bank of K-r and K-5s. I did really like the 645, but I doubt I’ll be taking the plunge with a medium format for quite some time.

Sony still had the NEX-3 on display, even though it has been pulled.

To my surprise, Sony still had the NEX-3 on display. So I called them on it. Production has ceased, but they want to get rid of what they’ve got. I’m not sure that I would still have been displaying them, it’s not as if they’re cutting edge and all shiny and new, is it? But that’s me. Ah well.

As to why they’ve called time on it, I was told that the NEX-5 came down in price significantly and people realised just what more they could get for their money with it. Let that be a lesson to you, Sony: better product differentiation. Oh, and my thoughts on the NEX-5? Far too fiddly. I’d probably get used to it in time, but far too fiddly.

The general impression

Focus is always full of people selling photobooks and albums and frames, so unless someone is selling something that is outstandingly different (or their stand looks like a circus bigtop) it very much feels as if seeing one means that you’ve seen them all.

Was Canon missed? By me, yes. By others, no. As someone pointed out: it’s not as if they’ve released anything new at the top end for a while, but that’s not necessarily the point as there are new Canon products about to hit the shops. It’s just not a 1D mkV. Still, they’ve managed to generate publicity for themselves by not attending.

Top tips

It got very warm. Really warm. And I’m someone who usually complains about being too cold. Dress in layers.

Work out where you want to go and what you want to see. When you’ve done those bits, let yourself wander to soak up the atmosphere and find the stands you’d otherwise have missed.

I had one of the worst coffees ever there. Avoid. Please.

The battle of the Instagrams

It’s a very simple idea and it’s a little bit addictive, too. It’s a website where Lomo-fi can do battle against 1977; Toaster can take on Inkwell; and Apollo and Hefe can slog it out. Two Instagram images are placed side-by-side and you get to choose which you prefer by clicking on it. And then another two appear. And another two. And another two. Oh hell, before you know it, you’ve been sucked in and you’re late for your dinner date.

It’s called Pic A Fight. It was developed by Paul Stamatiou and Chad Etzel, because, as far as I could tell, they could. It entertained them. It’s been entertaining me this evening, too. Instagram users can sign up and submit their images to contest fights. The images that score the most highly get displayed in the Top Pics gallery. And, yeah, that’s about it.

Kapow! Fairy lights versus dessert

You can even send other users’ pictures into pitched battle if you fancy a bit of fratricide, though.

Pic A Fight: slightly addictive Instagram aesthetic contests.

(Headsup to TechCrunch.)

August Sander at the Dean Gallery, Edinburgh

My overwhelming memory of this exhibition is just how big it is. There are over 170 of Sander’s prints on display – including ‘that’ portrait of the pastry chef – so if you had to pay for entry (which you don’t), it’d be excellent value for money. As it is, it makes for a very thought-provoking afternoon. Or morning. I just happened to be there of an afternoon.

My overwhelming impression of this exhibition is of the early 20th century obsession with human ‘type’ that pervaded society and stretched its tendrils into photography as well as any other aspect of life that you could probably mention. Around the same time that Sander was exploring his idea of human ‘type’ in Germany, Hoppe was doing something similar in London: taking photos of people who belonged to specific strata in society, or did particular jobs.

Pastry Chef, 1928, National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Lent by Antony d’Offay 2010 © Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur – August Sander Archiv, Cologne; DACS, London, 2011.

With 170 pictures, you do get to see a lot of ‘types’. Some of them were photographed in the studio, with nothing to suggest their background, whilst others were photographed in their working environment, like the pastry chef, or with clear signs of their trade, like the bricklayer with his hod. If you weren’t told that the subject was ‘An Intellectual’, would you ever know?

That was typical of Sander: he’d title his portraits according to the perceived ‘type’ of person the subject was and we don’t necessarily know their names. Seeing a woman labelled as a ‘Pastor’s Wife’ – defined by her relationship to a man – made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Was this the type of reaction he intended to provoke in his audience? Probably not. But he was a product of his time and I’m a product of mine.

Sander might have wanted to document society and give a picture of the age, but for me, what he has actually succeeded in doing is giving you a very clear insight into his own psyche. These pictures tell you a great deal about him, and the greater sense of the period in which he was living. They don’t, however, tell you an awful lot about the people in them. Whether or not that was how Sander envisaged his oeuvre being received almost 100 years later, I don’t know, but it is interesting all the same.

I didn’t walk away from this exhibition buzzing, but I did enjoy it. If you’re in or around Edinburgh, it’s worth a wander up to the Dean Gallery and an hour or so of your time.

August Sander: People of the 20th Century runs from 12 February to 10 July at the Dean Gallery, 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR.

(Featured image: Bricklayer, 1928, National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Lent by Antony d’Offay 2010 © Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur – August Sander Archiv, Cologne; DACS, London, 2011.)

iPad version 2; with cameras x 2

Apple made us wait for a camera on the iPad, but when it came, they gave us not one, but two of them. Yep, there’re both front- and back-facing cameras on the new tactile tablet. Self-portraits, video-calls (or Face-Timing, in Apple-speak), and photos taken with a device measuring 24×17.5cm are go. And so is Photo Booth. I do like Photo Booth. I can turn myself all Andy Warhol.

The back camera has a 5x digital zoom and 720p HD video recording capability to 30fps with audio. The front camera gives you VGA-quality stills and VGA video at 30fps with audio. Exposure is touch-controlled, and when you want to manipulate your Photo Booth images that’s done with touch, too.

Seeing as you can make videos on this here iPad2, you can edit them with iMovie. Makes sense. Then you can share them on YouTube or Vimeo or FaceBook or, or, or…

Front- and back-facing cameras for 'Face-Timing'

I was terribly restrained when the original iPad came out and repeatedly told myself that no, I really didn’t need one. But I’m not so sure I can convince myself otherwise with this shiny beast. Especially as Apple have said that it’ll be shipping at the same price as iPad version 1. And it comes in white from day 1. And it’s 33% thinner than the original one. And I’m just going to shut up now.

iPad2, available 11 March 2011, starting at $499. All the details from Apple.

The mobile megapixel battle continues

Oh heavens make it stop, please. We don’t need 17 megapixels of resolution on our mobile phones. The lenses are terrible, the lighting is rarely sufficient, and… urgh. Can someone please send a memo to Sony? Maybe even Samsung, too? Until a few of the basics in taking pictures have caught up with the sensor size in mobile phones, it looks just as if they’re embarking on a pointless megapixel escalation battle.

The rumours are the Sony has come up with a 17.7mp CMOS sensor for use in mobile phones. It might even have 120fps video. When it’ll be available, or how, isn’t known yet. Are they planning on using it in digital cameras as well as phones? Maybe.

Yes, it is awesome that they can squidge going on 18 million pixels of sensitivity into something so tiny. That really is a fabulous engineering feat. But right now they’re not especially useful because so much else about mobile phones is well below the spec that they need. Stop. Take a breath. Let everything catch up with itself. Then perhaps we really will be impressed.

Still, I’m waiting for Samsung to up the ante.

(Headsup to Engadget.)

(And that’s a picture of Sony’s 16mp sensor, announced in October.)

Gearing up for the Format Festival

The superb Format Festival opens in Derby on Friday. The organisers have taken their lead from the whole ’2011 is the year of street photography’ thing and the show this year has been called Right Here, Right Now: Exposures from the public realm. Yep, it’s all about pictures taken in public places. From 4 March to 3 April, there’s a shed load of interesting photographic stuff going on in Derby and close by. Here are some of the highlights.

The In Public exhibition features the work of 20 photographers who have the ability to notice the unusual nestling amongst the everyday. It’s held at Derby Museum and Art Gallery and runs from 4 March to 17 April.

Mob FORMAT is an online gallery of images that have been submitted by the public. And they’re being exhibited very publicly, too: on the BBC Big Screen in Derby marketplace, no less! The images need to fall into one of six categories: Street noir; In the crowd; The decisive moment; When worlds collide; Street surreal; and Shoot from the hip. You can get more information on how to participate in it here.

The Lonely Ones by Gus Powell, from the 'In Public' exhibition

Two groups of teenagers, one from Derby and another from Kolkata got to experience life in each other’s cities. They took photos along the way. To have a look at life in a foreign city through the eyes of a young person, head to Derby Museum and Art Gallery from 4 March to 17 April for the Street Life exhibition.

Of all the learning activities that are taking place, the two that most caught my eye were the photo storytelling workshop on 5 March and Crazy Lenses on 19 March. (You can make a kaleidescope. Who wouldn’t want to have a go at that?) If neither of those appeal, though, take a look here. I’m sure you’ll find something to take your fancy.

And not forgetting the host of other exhibitions and events, such as seminars on the relationship between photography and these here intergoogles, and a session run by the picture people from the Guardian, which sounds very cool.

All the groovy details are on the Format website.

(Featured image from the Street Life exhibition.)

Giving a good photo critique

Giving feed-back on something is really easy. Giving useful feedback on a subjective matter — such as photography — is, in fact, extremely difficult. That’s why I’ve created sort of a check-list with some tips as to how I like to do critiques.

Myself, I’ve spent a lot of my days critiqueing stuff. Back in the day, when I did a lot of writing, I went to Folkehøgskole. (kind of like an artistic boarding school where you faff about for a year while you decide what to do with your life. As far as I know, it’s a Scandiwegian concept — I’ve written more about the folkehøgskole over on Everything2.com). Part of the school's idea for improving its writers was to give each other feed-back on writings done in class.

Since then, I've given hundreds (if not thousands) of photography critiques (hence my old blog name, 'Photocritic'), and over the years I've slowly developed a template of sorts that means it takes as little time as possible to do a critique, whilst giving the photographer as much useful information they can use to become better photographers as possible.

Photo: Valencia by Photocritic.org, on Flickr

Why?

The first question you have to consider is this: “Why are you doing a photo critique?”. After all, by the time you’re doing the critique, the photo has been taken. It might be hours, days, even months or years since the photo was taken. Perhaps it was taken abroad, or in a situation where the photographer will never be again. In other words, it is important to remember that a photo critique isn’t about a single photo: it’s about how a photographer can develop as a snapper, both technically and artistically.

“I like this photo, the contrast is cool” means nothing to the photographer, it only means that you like this particular photo, and that you feel that contrast is a good thing. “I like this photo, because it shows you’ve thought about the lighting, and the increased contrast adds to the overall impression of the amount of time you’ve put into lighting this item”, for example, would encourage the photographer to continue putting more work into their lighting. They’re on the right track, and you're pushing them along. It's easy to understand which of the two is most useful!

Photos in context

So, when you’re writing a photo critique, try to break away from the single photograph, and try to take a wider approach to the way you look at photos by a particular photographer.

Also remember that there’s no right or wrong in photography. Gross technical errors (vast exposure problems, for example) can be universally wrong, but artistic considerations are not universal. Personally, I have a strong affinity for tightly cropped black and white photos. I have a friend who loves to do landscapes in colour, and I find it really difficult to give him useful critiques, because it’s not my style of photography…

Finally, if you’re the photographer getting critique, don’t get defensive. If fact, just shut the hell up. Getting people to talk to you about your photos is a rare opportunity, so don’t waste it. Let people talk (even if you think they’re full of shit), it’s their opinion, and your target audience should be important to you. Let them rant, and if you really have to, defend yourself afterward, once it’s all finished. Although — honestly — if you feel you have to defend yourself, you might want to take a step back and consider why :-)

Photo: Valencia II by Photocritic.org, on Flickr

Right, so how can you do a photo critique?

1) Look

First of all, take a close look at the photograph. Let your eyes scan it closely: Make sure that you’ve caught every possible detail of the photo. If something jumps out at you as being really good or really bad, note it, but don’t say anything

2) Interpretation

Now, talk about the photo for a little bit. This is the thing that is most frequently overlooked when doing critiques, but is actually one of the most useful things you can do to a photographer. For the interpretation, start off by saying “When I look at this photo, I feel…”. Explain what sort of emotional response the photo raises in you. Follow up with “I think this photo is about…”. Any symbolism you spot, tell the photographer. If you aren’t sure, let them know that.

3) Technical points

The next thing to take care of, is the technical points. Is the photograph technically okay? Did you spot dust, is the exposure okay, is there any unwanted blur (wrong focus, motion blur, zoom blur etc)? Are the colours accurately represented? What’s the contrast like? Could the photographer have used lighting differently? Would a bigger or smaller aperture have been beneficial?

4) Artistic points

What do you think about the crop and aspect ratio? If the photo is in black and white, should it have been in colour and vice-versa? Is there a good balance between the foreground and the background? Would the photo have worked better with a different prop / model?

5) Good points

This is where you point out what you like about the photograph, and why. The why bit is most important: If you can’t tell why you like X, Y, or Z, there’s no point in mentioning it. “I like the sky” is useless. “I like the colour of the sky” is better. “I like the deep blue colour of the sky because it contrasts nicely with the yellows and reds in the photo” is perfect. Put some thought into this.

6) Points worth improving

This point is saved for last, because you’ve made the photographer more confident about their photograph by now. It is still important to remember that the photo has been taken, and that this photo can’t really be changed anymore. As such, there’s no point in slating people for their photographs. Tell them one or two specific points that could be improved on this particular photo (‘clean up dust’ and ‘turn into black and white’ are useful suggestions, as they can done in the darkroom), and perhaps one or two points that you would have done differently, if you were the one taking the photograph.

Photo: Orange tree in Valencia by Photocritic.org on Flickr

7) Overall

How did this photo appear to you overall?

An example critique

Take Untitled, by Solofotones on Flickr, for example:

When I look at this photo, it makes me think of... street performers everywhere.

I think this photo is about... the people who go out of their way to inject some random into your life, and who, in the process, remind you why you're alive; it's not just to trudge through it all, it's to be surprised, amused, and bemused by the world. This photo illustrates all of this

Technically... I think this photo is weaker than some of your others. His hand is in perfect focus, but his face is just a big haze of blurriness. The shallow DOF is very important in this photo - otherwise the background would be a mess of impressions, fighting for your attention

What I like about this photo... is the archaic hat-tip the young gentleman is doing, and the feeling of him being an outcast in a world that is raging around him. He clearly doesn't give a damn, which makes him awesome.

If I were to improve or change anything, I would... tweak this photo quite a bit. His face is too hazy for my liking, which is obviously a very subjective thing, but in my opinion, street photography is all about people - their eyes and faces are the be-all and end-all of street photography, and if you haven't captured it properly, then - no matter how awesome the photo is otherwise - it doesn't cut it.

Of course, I don't have access to your original negatives or prints, so I had to make do with the Large file - I made a few changes: I ramped up the contrast a lot, I removed the lamp which is hovering in thin ear next to his head (and a couple of bright white dust spots, too, because I was out there with with the clone tool anyway), and re-cropped the photo to give it a different focus. I'm not 100% happy, but I think it illustrates that if you go back to the source material, there's a lot of potential for this shot

Does it have the X-factor? Overall... I think this photo has a lot of charm and intensity - The suggested changes are very subjective, obviously, and you might not agree with the ascertations. The shot itself is a gem, though, and I think a slight re-edit could do wonders to make it as good as it deserves to be. Give it a shot!

Your turn!

Right, now you've got a taste for one way you can do a photo critique (although obviously you can adapt it to suit your critique style and the photo you are critiqueing) along with an example... Why not pick a photo by your favourite Flickr friend, and give it a good thorough critique?

Finally, you may be interested in Attracting Better Feedback and Dealing with Negative critiques - you never know when those skills may come in handy!

PS: You may have seen an earlier version of this write-up before on my blog (I first posted it in February 2007). The version you have just read is vastly expanded (it's nearly twice as long), and I have changed my mind about some aspects of doing photo critiques in the meantime - so consider this version 2.0 of this blog post. Enjoy!

150 unmissable photography sites

Make sure you're sitting comfortably - you won't be going anywhere for a while...

A few years ago, I wrote a post highlighting some of my favourite photography sites, and it quickly became one of my most-commented posts. It turns out that despite the fact that I included lots of sites, it was never enough. Now, I'm not much of the bookmarking type, and so as time went on, I never really kept a record of my favourite sites.

Until recently, that is. About six months ago, I started a new blog post, tentatively titled "100 great photography sites", but I quickly discovered that there are many more than 100 fantastic sites out there. Then, the post completely ballooned out of control, as I tried to write descriptions and a bit of information about each of the sites I had collected.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... 150 photography sites that will waste most of your month, if you'll let them.

1 - Flickr

A fantastic community-based site that enables user to create profiles and upload, tag, and organize their photos to share with friends and family. It also has groups so users can share photos about similar topics, themes, or concepts.

2 - Digital Photography Review

Probably the most viewed website for getting reviews about the latest classic cameras and accessories. Enables users to compare various cameras, and find images and specifications. Members can also comment, ask questions and post topics in the forums. Easily the best place to research your next camera!

3 - Small Aperture

Small Aperture writes about photography 'stuff'. Anything goes, really, from new cameras to their own monthly photo competition, via the odd rant and tutorial. But they're as irreverent, unstuffy, informal, quirky, and opinionated as they can get away with, which is a breath of fresh air. It's pictures, cameras, websites, and exhibitions on too much caffeine and sugar.

4 - Photo Competitions

If you are interested in amateur or professional photography competitions, visit this website to take part in almost all aspects of photography contests like landscape, nature, travel, wildlife, cities, culture, underwater adventure and many more.

5 - The Luminous Landscape

Those who love nature and landscape photography will find vital information, latest news, tips, and tricks on this website. People will also find out some relevant and valuable articles on various topics related to landscape photography.

6 - CleVR Panoramas

A fascinating and simple online application that allows users to create amazing panorama and turn them into interactive virtual tours. Users simply have to capture images and stitch them all together to get stunning scenery.

7 - Digital Photography School

Well-written and rather useful articles about composition and techniques for different types of photography make this a great resource. It also includes tips on photographing everything from silhouettes via waterfalls to spider webs.

8 - Strobist

If you are a beginner in photography and don't know much about on-camera or off-camera flash light, visit this blog to get more about off-camera flash photography and take your photos to the next level of professionalism and beauty.

9 - Earth Shots

A brilliant website with a 'Photo of the Day' contest celebrating the beauty and diversity of our planet. Users can submit their photos to participate in the competition and grab a chance of winning the title. Winners are allowed to add biography and links to their photo. This way, they can promote themselves and their masterpiece.

10 - PetaPixel

An outstanding blog created in 2009 that is all about educating and providing resources to photographers regarding the latest photography skills. It is a great website containing newsletters, reviews, articles, as well as tips and tricks about photography.

11 - DeviantArt

A place where you will find various topics in the art community. Launched in year 2000, it now has more than 13 million users. A community destination, deviantart is a platform that enables emerging and establishes photographers to exhibit, promote and share their work with the online world.

12 - Imaging Resource

This website is one of the most comprehensive and complete sources of digital camera reviews. It contains a fantastic data of the latest to old digital camera reviews to help users know about the specifications and configurations. The website also covers numerous reviews about photography accessories.

13 - Photo Jojo

A very cool website about thrilling and interesting newsletters and photography tips. News are taken from various resources and are collected in one archive which makes it a pretty cool place to visit.

14 - Picasa

Picasa is a simple application to organize and edit your digital photos. This application developed by Google is a superb image viewer that allows users to crop, adjust levels, and share photos with friends and family conveniently.

15 - Long Exposures

A fruitful webpage totally dedicated to Long Exposures, a fantastic branch of photography. Understanding this category is important to get good results in low light conditions and even at good light, since in many scenarios, photographers require long shutter speed. This website covers almost every aspect of long exposures, and helps users understand and master the technique.

16 - Canon Digital Learning Center

Whether you're a Canon fan or simply curious on learning about Canon cameras and accessories, this website is for you. It is all about Canon learning, guide tutorials and articles. Enjoy surfing through various articles and extract maximum information out of Canon Digital Learning Center.

17 - Bodyscapes

A wonderful website to visit as it presents galleries of sensual and erotic art of the nude body which gives the impression of landscape. Allan Tager started this project in in 1976, and is still adding new images up to the present.

18 - National Geographic Photography

Since 1888, National Geographic Society has been motivating people to love the planet. This link offers the users with fabulous images taken by experienced photographers. The site is full of important facts and figures related to all kinds of photography, especially on wildlife and nature.

19 - Tutorials Plus: Photography

Photo tuts is all about learning every aspect of photography. The site regularly adds tutorials and articles, and they cover most aspects of photography, including aperture, exposure settings, post processing, film photography and much more.

20 - Rob Galbraith

This website was first launched in 1996 and since then it has been serving photographers with latest products and accessories. It also has some in-depth analysis and reviews of the latest technologies related to photography.

21 - Ultimate Exposure Computer

A detailed guide for those who love nature photography, covers almost every aspect of nature photography at a beginner's level. A convenient and handy exposure setting chart is available for the users. Over 12,000 photographs are also available in the photographs section.

22 - Philip Bloom

Philip Bloom has developed into being a bit of a poster child for the Digital SLR video movement; and his blog is a great resource if you' have interests in that general direction.

23 - Bob Atkins Photography

This site covers information and knowledge about Canon EOS system, as well as film and digital camera reviews and previews. News about Canon cameras, latest technologies, articles on photographic optics, photographic book reviews, image galleries, guide on digital and film photography, and many others are also available on this website.

24 - Digital Photo Magazine

Fresh information about the latest cameras, accessories and gears especially selected for the digital photographer. A comprehensive section is included to enable users to understand various terms, tips, and tricks about digital photography.

25 - Infrared Photography using a Digital Camera

An outstanding website covering multiple topics about camera manual setting and mods. It also provides information about infrared photography as the name of the website suggests. To top it, all the info is on a single page!

26 - Smashing Magazine's 50 Superb Photography Techniques

A collection of 50 incredible and amazing photography techniques and tutorials to help users in their photography skills. Tutorials cover almost all types of photography such as high speed, black and white, tilt-shift, motion blur photography and much more.

27 - Ken Rockwell

Ken Rockwell is a famous photographer and his website covers a lot about photography techniques and understanding. Impressive 'how-to' articles are added to the website and it also includes some comprehensive camera and accessory previews to the index.

28 - Digital Camera Resource

An incredible website featuring loads of camera reviews of recent cameras. The good thing about these reviews is that they are aimed squarely at the the consumer-end rather than the high end professional cameras. DCR have been around for ages, and have a well-deserved reputation for being honest, unbiased, and devoid of sugar-coating.

29 - PDN Pulse

This website is a leading online magazine containing the latest news and headlines about photography. News are collected from every possible source and displayed regularly. Users can sign up and become a part of the photographer community.

30 - PhotoSIG Photo Critique

PhotoSIG is an online community for photographers and photography enthusiasts. Users can post comments on the pictures found in the website and they are allowed to post their photos for public reviews and criticism.

31 - Photo Rumors

Want to update yourself with the news even before they happen? Visit Photorumors to find out about the latest gossips and rumors about some of the finest brands in the market. News are divided into categories to enable users to easily surf through the ones they are looking for.

32 - Resize It

Resize-It is an easy-to-use web-based tool that enables users to to resize, crop and edit their pictures anytime they want. It's simple, for sure, but it does what it says on the tin, and has helped me in a pinch many a time.

33 - Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider

Scott Kelby is the editor-in-chief of the Photoshop user magazine and the president of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). His website is a famous blog regarding tips and comments from Scott's professional friends and Photoshop experts.

34 - Photography Corner

A leading photography website containing articles written by members, superb photography forum, equipment and product reviews, photography tutorials, monthly contest and prizes, photography blogs, and many other interesting sections.

35 - 1x.com

1x is a community dedicated exclusively to collecting images from outstanding photographers, famous photographers, and serious amateurs all in one place. Users can submit their photos and images, after which they are screened by 1x experts. Images are published only if they match the site's high standards - a perfect haven of inspiration!

36 - A History of Photography

Interested to learn about the history of photography? This website covers photography history from around 1920 up to the present day. It is designed in a simple way to enlighten users with the step by step development of photography.

37 - Camera Hacker

Every camera has its own limitations and sometimes it's extremely frustrating for a photographer to face boundaries and limits while he is about take some breathtaking pictures. This website offers tricks and camera hacks to do the impossibles and go beyond the limits.

38 - Digital Protalk

David Ziser's blog about photography tips, techniques, and news for digital photography, Photoshop and Lightroom. A fantastic blog about numerous sections and categories about photography skills. Users would also love to visit the top10 section.

39 - SLR Gear

Get latest news and gossips about the digital photography world. It is an open discussion forum about the latest, as well as old SLRs where amazing reviews are written and presented to the passionate general photography people.

40 - SmugMug

A superb place to buy and sell photos. Smugmug offers an easy and convenient way for photographers to sell their image stocks by presenting it to the online world. Here they can submit their portfolios, photos and links - basically everything they want. A true website on sharing your photos online on twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

41 - Camera Dojo

A website created by Carry Garisson in 2007 that is entirely dedicated to help people grasp the most out of their photography skills simply by providing them with useful articles, reviews, tutorials and an active forum.

42 - Beyond Megapixels

This is not a website but a complete digital guide, with tips and tutorials that are fit for every struggling photographer. The website also covers the latest photography news and reviews with books and so much more than you could ever expect.

43 - Photo Attorney

This website takes care of all the legal issues related to photography. Photo Attorney is the website that will help you understand your rights related to photography as well as specific legal needs that mostly confronts both professional and amateur photographers.

44 - What Digital Camera

As the name of the website suggests, it is a website where you can make a decision about what digital camera you should look for in buying according to your needs and level of expertise. It is an online magazine with hundreds of camera previews for users.

45 - Popular Photography

This website almost covers it all - everything related to photography, whether it may be articles or reviews. A good section of 'how-to' is included to solve user issues and problems related to photography.

46 - Cambridge in Colour

This website is full of tutorials about taking photos and editing them. There is a wide range of tutorials, with topic ranging from basic camera tips to advance techniques. There's a forum as well, including an active question-and-answer forum for when you get stuck.

47 - Better Photo

Online courses are available on this website for those who love photography and wants to master it. Better Photo is a place where users find it all, may it be tutorials, or tips and tricks. This is one place that covers it all.

48 - Wedding Photography

Wedpix is an online magazine containing a complimentary recourse for brides and grooms, photographers, wedding planners and photojournalism enthusiasts. Articles featured in every issue covers a vast array of topics including general wedding photography and many others.

49 - Breathtaking Photography

A website about photographing mountains. A handy amount of articles are there to add beauty to this website along with some cool wallpapers and images. Website is dedicated to alpine photography as a whole, and includes trip reports, etc

50 - Snappy Shutter

An interesting and easy blog about photography for beginners, regularly updated with new articles and tips. The website also contains 70 most wanted articles to help them improve their photography skills.

51 - By Thom

This website from Thom Hogan is completely devoted to Nikon photographic equipment and accessories. Here, visitors will also be able to find books written by Thom Hogan about Nikon SLRs and accessories. A comprehensive website about Nikon world and fan club.

52 - Luminous Lint

An interesting website about individual photographers, their biographical information and books. This website has a discussion platform to discuss various themes of fine photography and to find out answers to common photography-related questions.

53 - A Photo Editor

Rob Haggart's website is an online photography journal and magazine that introduce people to the latest technique and skills about photography. It is a website for those interested in the latest news and creative photography.

54 - DIY Photography

An astonishing website for photography lovers to learn how to take stunning and mind-blowing photographs. This is where they could discuss photographic issues, share and learn new techniques, and explore affordable alternatives for costly photo studio gear.

55 - Shutter Bug

A detailed and universal website about photography encompasses almost everything related to this field. A handy techniques section is included to help photographers take breathtaking pictures. It also provides previews and reviews about latest products.

56 - Amateur Photographer

The Amateur Photography magazine website is a great place where amateur photographers can find a lot of info about photography in every aspect. Interesting reviews and previews, image galleries, and online courses make this website a must-visit link.

57 - Photography.com

This website is a complete resource of photography offering a wide range of articles, equipments, and digital camera reviews. A place where users can purchase cameras and find stock photography. By signing up, users will be able to promote themselves and their photography.

58 - Red Bubble

A fine and supportive community for those interested in creative arts. A marketplace, meeting place and learning place where users will feel comfortable. It is where users can sell their work, and users can buy calendars, canvases, cards, t-shirts, tickets and frame-prints.

59 - Photoshop User

Photoshop is a world-leading photography application used widely by photographers for post-processing. This website allows members to master Photoshop from world renowned instructors. Website includes Photoshop magazine and tutorials. This is where members can enter the community of Photoshop lovers.

60 - Outdoor Photography

An extremely interesting and amazing website related to outdoor photography. If users are interested in joining photography contests, they must visit this website as it offers a number of contests taking place all the time. It also provides useful information related to places good for outdoor photography, and a blog filled with numerous articles.

61 - About Photography

About.com is an utterly powerful search engine, where users will be able to go through basic lessons and reviews related to photography. It offers a wide range of photographic lessons and pools.

62 - The F-stops Here

A good and reliable series of columns and articles related to outdoor photography. Articles and columns are extremely easy to follow and understand. All the articles are given on the main page.

63 - Nikonians

Those who love Nikon camera's accessories and other products of Nikon must visit this website as it is entirely developed for Nikon lovers. It is an unofficial Nikon website that covers almost everything related to Nikon photography.

64 - MyShutterpace

It is a social network for digital photography admirers. This is where you will be able to share photos, stories, and experiences on all levels. It has an open discussion forum for new technologies and techniques.

65 - The Pinhole Gallery

A website about inexpensive pinhole cameras. Pinhole photography is all about making mistakes and learning from them. The website includes techniques and the latest tips about using pinhole cameras to capture some amazing photos.

66 - Photojournalism

A blog created by Mark M. Hancock for those who are willing to join photojournalism for collections interesting and thought-provoking images for weekly and monthly magazines and newspapers. Join if you want to become a professional photojournalist.

67 - Nature Photographers dot Net

A website for professional photographers dedicated to nature, wildlife and landscape photography. An online magazine where bulks of photo galleries are available to help young and talented photographers looking for inspirations and techniques.

68 - Alpha Mount World

If you are interested in buying yourself a new professional camera and can't make any decision, Alpha Mount World is there to help you out in the Sony camp. It's a comprehensive website containing previews about the latest cameras and accessories.

69 - Nature Photography

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for photographers since the start of the photography industry. Nature photography has developed into a huge class since nature has a lot to offer. Naturescapes is a website with complete information about Nature photography, enriched with lots of articles and essays.

70 - Basic Digital Photography

Are you new to digital photography and has no idea whatsoever about selecting a camera and clueless on your first step in the field of photography? This Website offers you a step-by-step tutorial to guide you about the world of digital photography and selecting the camera that best suits you.

71 - Photocrati

If you are about to open your own website related to photography and considering WordPress for this purpose, Photocrati will provide you with best quality with amazing and user-friendly themes designed specially for photography websites.

72 - Professional Photography Mag

Professional photography magazine has been serving the emerging photographer for more than 100 years now. This website covers topics that are faced by amateur and professional photographers to help them pursue their photography career.

73 - Nikon Rumors

If you are a part of Nikon fan club, this website is surely for you! This website provides you with extensive and comprehensive reviews about current and upcoming Nikon cameras and accessories. A very good section of tips and forum is there to help you excel in your photography art.

74 - Photo.Net

This site is the perfect blend of education, art, and community. This site provides information about all major camera brands and informative articles about everything from aerial to street to wedding photography as well as interactive user forums and galleries. There are free and paid subscriptions that enable users to create accounts and upload portfolios as well as request critiques from fellow members.

75 - The Wide Lens

A community-based website that lets users share their stories about photographing experiences in any form such as digital or film photography. Publish your photos and see what people has to say about it - a good way to know about your photography skills.

76 - Digital Photography Tips

Tips can take your photography to next level and they are easy to follow since you just have to take a few chances and come up are with amazing results. This website covers all tips related to photography, may it be night photography or sky photography. Tips are all this website has to offer.

77 - Photographers Network

If you are looking for professional photographers or only the elite, this is the website for you. Users can find out photographers for their wedding or any other event. Photographers can enter into the group of elite photographers by simply signing up if they meet the criteria.

78 - Digital Guru

A nice-looking website with photography articles and reviews about accessories and cameras. Articles are further divided into different categories to help users navigate easily. A few tips and tutorials are also added to the website.

79 - 1001 Noisy Cameras

This website covers almost everything about photography. Latest news and reviews add spice to the website and allows users to go through detailed reviews about the latest DSLRs and equipments. Every brand has its own section which makes visitors surf through what they are looking for conveniently.

80 - Friday Photo School

Photography is incomplete without learning and getting directions from some of the experienced and expert photographers. This website offers an online photography TV for those who are looking for video tutorials and lessons. It's a 24-hour channel for photography lovers.

81 - Blipfoto dot com

Blipfoto is an online community allowing members to publish one photo a day. It is a great way to share your thoughts, experiences and photography skills with the whole photographic world. Become a member of the Blipfoto family!

82 - Blue Melon

Blue Melon allows members to organise their photos in categories and set privacy levels for their albums. Users can also add tags and titles to their photos and publish them to the web . They can enjoy 1 GB free memory storage for their images and publish them whenever they want to. Users can also order prints and calendars.

83 - Pixzii

Pixzii is a cool photography blog which collects unique, unseen images from various sources and publish them to the world. Photographers can see all kinds of photographs and get inspirations for their next venture.

84 - Jack Hollingsworth's site

Jack Hollingsworth is famous for his photographic abilities and skills and his website covers mostly everything about issues related to upcoming and amateur photographers. Videos are added to assist photographers comprehensively in their photographic abilities.

85 - iStockPhoto

An online platform for designers, photographers, and advertisers to stock their photos, images and valuable videos so that they can share their experiences and stories with the online world. An international community where users can buy and sell image stocks.

86 - Digital Photography Help

A brilliant website devoted fully to educate blossoming photographers about the latest cameras and also includes a variety of other things related to photography. This site is designed to meet the needs of common users and provides a healthy series of tips to improve your photography skills.

87 - Kodak

This website is not only for Kodak products and services but also covers lots of photography-related information, tips, and forums. It also has photo galleries where users can upload their photos and share them with the world.

88 - Correcting Picture

Tips and tricks can be extremely useful as it is the easiest way to learn and understand anything you want. This site is equipped with highly useful ones to improve the users' photography skills. A huge number of 'how-to' articles are available to provide users with basic knowledge and tutorials.

89 - Ephotozine

A website built for those who are looking for online photography community and wants to share their experiences and thoughts with other photographers. Here, users can also upload photos and enjoy chatting with other members online. Numerous articles and reviews add beauty and makes it top of the class website.

90 - Photography Tips and Techniques

This site has been handling users at beginner and intermediate levels since 1997 and is a very well established photography resource center that facilitates users with a good search engine. It also has lots of 'how-to' articles covering many aspects of photography.

91 - Food Photography Blog

A collection of articles related to information and education about creative food photography. Articles describe almost all aspects of food photography such as lighting, styling, art decoration, specialty techniques, and portfolios. The website also covers general photography to some extent.

92 - Lens Culture

An international online magazine celebrating contemporary photography. It covers photography from all continents and points of view. A whole lot of essays, articles and criticism on photography is available on this website.

93 - The Online Photographer

A great collection of articles and links for web-savvy photographers. It's a place where they will find whatever they are looking related to photography from various perspectives. A huge blog encompasses everything about online photography.

94 - Analog Photography Users Group

An international forum where individuals devoted to non digital or analog photography can find and discuss various issues related to traditional non-digital photographic processes. Users can also chat with other analog photographers.

95 - Digital Photo Buzz

This website is created to help photographers on the latest updates in the photography industry and profession as well as to inspire them to improve their art in photography. Tips and tricks are running all around the website to help users in every step of their photography career.

96 - Photography Served

This website brings you top-quality creative work, with each site streaming fresh projects in specific categories. The served sites are powered by Behance networks, the world's leading professional creative work community.

97 - Tyler Shields Portraiture

Tyler Shields started his career in directing music videos but later turned to photography. Now, he runs his own website about photography and some of his interesting and creative works are present in his website.

98 - Photography on Wikipedia

An encyclopaedic information about photography is given in this link. It is where users will find all vital information about essential terms in photography as well as settings, modes of production, processes, and some relevant links within and outside Wikipedia.

99 - Photonhead

A good website for those looking for tutorials and guides. This website is extremely useful for the those who are new to photography as it has some very useful beginner guides and tutorials. There is also a section dedicated to tips and tricks on photography.

100 - Digital Picture Zone

Photography information, latest photography techniques, fantastic articles, tips, digital camera and accessories reviews, and some outstanding features makes this website into the list of must- visits. Everything you will love to know about photography is here in one place.

101 - Sports Shooter

If you are looking for news about photography contests on sport events, visit this website. It offers a variety of details about events related to sports photography and also enables users to become members of the website and share their thoughts and experiences.

102 - Photo District News

This is an award-winning monthly website built for professional photographers and also encourages upcoming newbies. This website is distributed in variety of sections dedicated to reviews, news and photography contests.

103 - Darkroom Source

Interesting articles on new equipments, accessories, and techniques commonly used in darkrooms are available on this website. Some external links are also added to this website to provide users with beneficial knowledge and guidelines about the darkroom.

104 - Black Cat Photographic Rules of Thumb

There is a big difference between learning photography and applying quick methods to become impressive photographers. Applying quick methods will require users to follow as many tips as they can. This website states the 50 most demanding tips for photographers to improve one step ahead.

105 - Vignetting

A website about photography and photography optics. The main purpose of this website is to point out lens imperfection and explain optical phenomena observed in photographic images. It also discusses optical vignetting.

106 - Love Photo Blogs

The purpose of this website is to gather photographers in one platform where they can share their thoughts, experiences and share some of their sample images with the whole world. A lovely place to discover new photos from all around the globe - and they are featured my Photocritic blog at some point, too! Nice touch.

107 - Shutter point

Professional photographers need not only to capture images but at some stage will need to sell them out as well to earn some money. Shutterpoints offer a platform where photographers can sell their photos to potential buyers.

108 - Photo Previews

A website for those interested in selling their photos without even having to pay commission. A good platform to display your work to the online world and let them choose your pictures and decide whether they are good enough for them to buy or not.

109 - Photography Articles

A well-constructed, informative website covering a wide range of articles about all kinds of photography. Latest articles about photography tips and techniques are available on front page to help users with improving their skills in this field.

110 - Cool Photo Tips

Yourphototips.com is a great website to look for the latest photography tips and techniques. Half of the photography skills are dedicated to applying tips in your photos. This website offers a wide range of tips which will surely help you in capturing some outstanding photos.

111 - Impulse Adventure

The complete resource of digital photography articles related to workflow, file naming, archiving, and many others. The articles are well-written and in conversational style. Better for the newcomers to excel a step ahead in their photography experience.

112 - Apogee Photo

A free online photography magazine to educate, entertain, and train general people, especially photographers of all levels. The website is entirely dedicated to articles, photography book reviews, and various 'how-to' photography articles.

113 - Pro Photo Resource

An awesome website covering different types of articles about photography. It also has great photography E-books to educate photographers at every level. It is specially designed for professional photographers to help them excel in their field.

114 - Simon Beedle's Landscape Photography

Simon is a multi-award-winning Australian landscape photographer whose work is nothing short of inspirational. His gallery section especially is a source of huge inspiration to me, and he writes a little bit about how he arrived at each individual photo as well. Well worth a peek!

115 - They Shoot In

They Shoot In, apart from the curious name, is a lovely blog which collects a series of interesting articles. Under the tagline of "Enhancing The Photographic Journey", the site shuns the mainstream, and seems to specialise in quirky, interesting news stories.

116 - Byte Photo

A great website about photo albums and galleries where photography enthusiasts are allowed to take part in various contests and post comments on various photography topics. Members can also share their photos with the rest of the community to get important feedbacks and expert opinions.

117 - Panoramio

A fabulous website from Google permits users to organize and tag their photos to the place they want in Google earth so that they can share their photos with the whole world. The website also has a wonderful forum related to photography and photographic issues.

118 - Photo Secrets

Very attractive and easy-to-use website. A great place learn about photography, with tons of tips and techniques. Good articles are added regularly, mostly on how to sell your photos and also some photo secrets. It is basically a free guide for photographers.

119 - Photoblogs

This website helps users find all kinds of photo blogs available on net. Users are enabled to search blogs through catagories and find the one that suits them. It is a resource to help people find out whatever they are looking for.

120 - Basic Photography Tutorials

An amazing website for beginners to get the basic knowledge related to composition, exposures, aperture, shutter speed, and many more. All the tutorials are well-organized and are kept in chapter vise. A fruitful website for fresh photographers.

121 - Photography Blog

A tremendous and remarkable blog covering almost everything about photography including the latest cameras. Reviews are updated daily and are also related to other things such as accessories like tripods, lenses, software, books, and printers. A special section is dedicated to Photography techniques as well.

122 - Center for Fine Art Photography

The Center of Fine Art Photography is built on the basis of promoting photography and supporting the growth of skilled artists through exhibitions, events and educational programs. A nice place for newcomers.

123 - Dreams Time

A distinguished leader in stock photography and a major supplier of high quality digital images to the users. The community-based agency where users can share, make slideshows, and off-course is a free image-providing source.

124 - ACDsee

A photography software website used mostly to edit your photos and modify them according to your needs such as sharpening, cropping, auto-balancing, and many other features. An amazing complete software for photographers to enhance their images.

125 - Nightscapes

Those interested in night photography can find good night photography images and information in this site. This website is full of night and night sky images. This well-constructed website by Thor Olson has a lot to offer.

126 - All things in Photography

A great website about the latest articles you will be needing to improve your photography skills. A dedicated section on tips is available to help photographers in their photography along with fruitful reviews about the latest products.

127 - Neo Camera

Neocamera is a medium for expressing ideas and knowledge about digital cameras and various types of photography. This website will help users find the camera they are looking for as it covers comprehensive and complete previews and reviews about cameras.

128 - Fine Art Photography

The website is thoroughly dedicated to fine art photography. The images in this site include black and white photography, digital photography, color photos, hand painted photography, infrared photographs and fine art photographs from all around the world. The site has photography articles and tips to help users identify their skills in a particular trade.

129 - Photography Match

A colorful website about photography and photos. The website contains hundreds of vital articles and image galleries to help users in their field of photography. It has its own way of presentation with easy navigation through articles.

130 - The Digital Picture

A superb website about advanced cameras as well as the old ones. It has some amazing tips and tricks regarding all types of photography. The website has a wide range of Canon cameras, accessories and digital SLR reviews.

131 - Photography Course dot Net

This website offers a variety of online courses for beginners, intermediate, and advanced levels. A great way to learn and understand photography at every level as very useful tutorials are also added to this wonderful website.

132 - School of Photography

School of Photography has been online since 1999, providing variety of courses related to photography at two levels. Level 1 courses are for beginners and Level 2 is for the advanced. A very good place to go through online photography courses.

133 - Choosing Film

The online community devoted entirely to film photography. Once becoming a member, you can post your pictures, images and talk to other professional film photographers. You can also collect information about tips and tricks related to this type of photography.

134 - Photobucket

A place where users can share their photos online and also take part in competitions and win prizes. A very cool place for image hosting and photo sharing. Users can also customize, make slide shows and edit their photos using this website.

135 - Picture Social

A social network where photographers from all levels share their knowledge and learn from others. Feel free to ask questions and share your experiences related to photography. It also provides users with free unlimited space to save their pictures and photos.

136 - Trek Earth

Trek Earth is a website entirely dedicated to engage people interested in photography around to world to become one promising community. Members are motivated to take captivating earth photos from where they belong and are allowed to criticize any other photos in the community.

137 - Digital Photos

Constructed in 2007, it now provides users with good quality photos and free eCard facilities for all occasions. Photos are divided into further categories to enable users easy surfing through the whole website.

138 - Weather Photography

This website contains photographs of many weather phenomena and lets users understand photographing different colors of nature. This also covers astronomy, clouds, lightning, atmospheric optics, new techniques and many other subject matters.

139 - Rangefinder Forum

A fantastic, comprehensive and extensive photography forum where dedicated professional photographers discuss their issues and keep each other updated by providing the latest news and feeds about latest SLRs and equipments.

140 - Photo Joy Blog

A good blog about photography where users can visit blogs from all around the world. A common place for learning about various photography mods and settings. Nice and easy-going learning.

141 - Lomographic Society International

Lomography introduces simplicity and casual photography back to the world of snapping photos. This site is a good place where you can find some interesting articles related to locations, lifestyle and many more. It also has an online shop where users can get cameras, accessories and various other things.

142 - Wildlife and Nature Photography

If you are interested in nature and wildlife photography, you ought to visit kimberlay website, a comprehensive website with lots of useful information about nature and wildlife photography. It's a nice place to comment and ask questions as well.

143 - Lighting Mods

Amazing website about latest photography gadgets and photography skills and education. This website is updated regularly to keep its users up-to-date about the latest photography developments and news. Learn and understand photography with good written articles.

144 - Picture Soup

Picture Soup is an online place for your photographic imagination. Here, users can read handy and interesting articles about photography tips and tricks. Those interested in digital camera reviews can also visit this website to read whatever they are looking for.

145 - New School of Photography

As the name suggests, this website is all about learning and understanding the art of photography in every possible way. Articles and tips are extremely useful for those interested in unique and creative photography.

146 - Photo of the Year

A website to enable photographers to share their experiences and stories with the rest of the world and get important feedbacks to improve their photography skills. The website also covers a variety of articles and essays about photography such as nature, landscape, and sky photography.

147 - Robigelow

An interesting website containing hundreds of articles dedicated to photography and its various types. Articles are divided into categories which helps users find what they are looking for. It's a website with nice and easy navigation.

148 - Professional Photography

A simple website that offers free professional photography tips, articles, photography jobs, and career lessons to instruct the professional photographers how to further improve their knowledge in craft, art, and skills needed for a career in professional photography.

149 - Family Photography

A website devoted to family photography as it includes tips, tricks and various aspects of family photography. It has also some useful articles about baby photography, nighttime photography, and some cool outdoor tips.

150 - Photography Reviews

This website is all about digital camera reviews, and photography community. It's a good website to find out detailed reviews and comments about new and latest cameras. A bulk of lesson articles are also added to the website.

151 - Pixiq

And finally... You're reading this on Pixiq, so it should come as no surprise that I'm a little bit biased. Nonetheless, apart from my deep insights, Pixiq has a lot of fantastic inputs from a stunning array of insightful photography writers. Well worth adding to your RSS feed and keeping an eye on!

So, what'd I miss?

Undoubtedly, 151 websites still isn't going to be enough for you, my web-hungry readers... Did I miss any sites? I probably did - so leave me a comment and I'll see if I can't add them to the list with time!

GRID: keeping track of all your social media photos

How many different places do you post pictures? On Flickr, perhaps? Maybe to FaceBook? How about on Twitter? I could on listing sites, but you’d get bored. I don’t want that. But the point is that people post different pictures to different places, and keeping track of them can be a bit tricky. How would you like a site that tracked all your images by date and displayed them on a huge grid?

Guess what? Someone’s thought of it. It’s called GRID, it was inspired by Mike Harding’s Coffee by week, and it’s being developed by a start-up called vvall. Right now, it can only track images uploaded to DailyBooth, FaceBook, PicPlz, and TwitPic. They’re working on Flickr, Instagram, and the like. With so many different platforms to share pictures, and so many ways to get them there, it’s taking a bit of time.

I don’t actually make that many of my pictures public, and I’ve a favoured place for those I do unleash on an unsuspecting world, but I do love the idea of being able to see all your pictures in one place organised chronologically. It might be the historian who likes organisation in me coming out, but I doubt I’m the only one.

GRID: social photos displayed chronologically.

(Headsup to TechCrunch.)

Very pretty science

We’re used to taking pictures with our Nikon D5000s, our Olympus E-PL2s, and our Canon S95s. But there are some highly talented scientists out there making images with CT scanners, electron scanning microscopes, and confocal microscopes; astonishing pictures of moth wing scales, fish embryos, cells dividing, and plant stigmas. It’s not the sort of thing that you’ll find on Flickr, but you will find some of them – in fact a lot of them – at the Wellcome Collection.

Every year, the Wellcome Collection acquires thousands of images that document scientific exploration, development, and discovery. They’ve been doing this for a long time, but for the past 11 years, they’ve awarded prizes to the ‘most informative, striking and technically excellent’ images submitted to them that year.

Zebrafish retina, Kara Cerveny, Steve Wilson's Lab, UCL

The winners, all 21 of them, of the 11th Wellcome Image Awards have just been announced. It’s worth taking a look.

It’s also worth knowing that all of the images held by the Wellcome Collection are freely available for non-commerical personal and academic use. If you’d like to use images commercially, contact them to discuss fees.

Wheat infected with ergot fungus, Anna Gordon, National Institute of Agricultural Biology, AND Fernan Federici, University of Cambridge

If you can’t get to the Wellcome Collection to enjoy the exhibition, you can also peruse the gallery of winning images. You can also find out more about Wellcome Images in general.

Wellcome Image Awards exhibition runs until 10 July 2011 at the Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE.

(Featured image: Honeybee, by David McCarthy and Annie Cavanagh.)

Film gets a look in at Sony World Photography Awards

Although the shortlists for the Sony World Photography Awards have already been announced, there’s still one category for which entries haven’t yet closed. It’s the Moving Image Award, which was introduced this year in recognition of the awesome things people are doing with their cameras that moves beyond still images.

If you get your skates on, you can still submit an entry as the deadline is 1 March (but you do need to be an Advanced World Photography Organisation member). The judging panel will be looking for ‘…an approach that combines the unique strengths of the different media forms and brings them together in a powerful interpretation that goes beyond forms and into the realm of memorable and narrative experience.’ All in a three minute film.

Win that, and along with a shiny Sony NEX-VG10 Handycam you get to attend the awards ceremony at Odeon in Leicester Square on 27 April.

However, we, the general public (or at least a few of us who like photos and pictures and films and happen to know about the competition) get to form our own judging panel, too. We get to decide the People’s Choice award. (Somehow, the term ‘People’s Choice’ makes me think of megalithic supermarkets and bulk quantity dog food. But never mind.) The other judging panel, the one that selected the Overall Moving Image award, will shortlist a selection of films, and we can vote for our favourites on the WPO website. The winner of that one bags a Bloggie camera.

Want to know more? It’s all over on the WPO website.

Phocus Quick and Phocus Mobile from Hasselblad

In addition to an upgrade to its standard image editing software, taking it to Phocus version 2.6, Hasselblad has just announced details of two shiny new picture editing bits of kit. There’s Phocus Quick and Phocus Mobile, for those of us who like to do things fast, and on the move. Well, sort of.

Phocus Quick transfers images from camera to computer at the touch of a button and will even carry out a few minor functions along the way, if you so want. The original RAW images stay on the memory card, though. You can look over the fruits of your labours on the big screen quickly, and then come back and edit them more thoroughly a bit later.

Phocus Mobile lets you connect wirelessly to a Mac running Phocus 2.6 and browse images on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. It also serves as a tethering device, so that you can control your shiny Hasselblad H4D from your shiny Apple mobile product.

Will they be useful? I’ve no idea. It seems to me as if they’re halfway to being useful, but haven’t quite managed the entire shebang. Still, if you use Phocus, they’re both free.

Phocus 2.6 and Quick are available from Hasselblad now; Phocus Mobile will be downloadable from the App Store from March. More details are available on the Hasselblad website.

High speed flash sync: Photo-geekery at its finest

This photo was taken at broad daylight. Because I used flash and a fast shutter speed, it comes out looking like this...

I am a photo geek. I admit it. I love photography technology - especially the crazy high-tech stuff the camera manufacturers come up with. One of the most incredible pieces of electronic engineering you can buy in the photography world today is a humble flash. I'll tell you why...

In most circumstances, your flash can sync with your camera up to a certain shutter speed. back in the dawn of photography, this 'sync speed' used to be 1/60 second on most cameras. When you buy a SLR camera and a flashgun today these days, standard flash sync is 1/200th or 1/250th of a second for almost all makes and models of camera equipment.

But then, the camera boffins came up with something deeply awesome: High-speed flash sync. To understand why you need it, and to explain how and why it works we need to take a look at how flashes work normally.

How a flash works

Inside your camera, there are two pieces of black fabric (known as 'curtains' - this is also where the expression 'second curtain flash' comes from) that move across the sensor at very high speed. Think of this whole set-up as a window that has two curtains that go all the way across the window. When you press the button, one curtain is pulled from left to right, and at the end of the exposure, the second curtain is pulled across to cover the window again. Once the exposure is complete, both curtains are returned to their original position on the left, ready for the next exposure.

Only a few years ago, when we were shooting on film cameras that had a manual advance lever, these curtains were on springs. When you were pulling the thumb lever to forward to the next frame on your roll of film, you would also pulling the two curtains back in preparation for the next exposure.

When your flash is in normal flash mode, the following happens: You press the shutter. The first curtain of the shutter opens fully, and the camera sends a signal to the flashes, and the flashes fire. At the end of the exposure (whether the exposure is short or long), the second curtain is pulled across to finish the exposure. If you had your camera set to 'second curtain' sync, the flash would trigger just before the closing curtain gets pulled back to cover the sensor.

Flash at higher speeds

When you start talking about very fast exposures - like the 1/8000 second exposure offered by cutting-edge SLR cameras - but basically at any speed faster than the camera's flash sync speed, something interesting happens.

The shutter curtains themselves move incredibly fast, but when you're talking about extremely fast shutter speeds, the speed of the shutters starts to become a factor: As the shutter has to be open for such a brief period of time, the closing shutter actually starts moving before the opening shutter has finished moving. The effect is that the whole imaging chip does get the same amount of light, but the imaging sensor is never exposed all at the same time.

If you're shooting in natural light, this isn't a problem at all, but if you want to add a flash to the mix, it becomes tricky: If the shutter is never fully open, when do you fire the flashes?

The ingenious solution

Flash manufacturers realised that people still wanted to use flash even at high shutter speeds, came up with an ingenious solution: High speed sync mode, which changes the way your flash works, enabling you to take photos at much higher shutter speeds.

When the flash is set to high-speed mode, instead of a single flash once the shutter opens, the flash actually sends lots of tiny flash pulses for the duration of the exposure. This ensures that the subject is evenly lit as the shutter curtains move across the sensor: Perfect exposures even though the sensor is never open all at once!

So, is there a downside? Well, in High Speed sync mode, your flashes do take significantly more power, so you drain the batteries much faster. On the other hand, if you need it, use it: The effects can be incredible, and it gives you a lot more flexibility in your flash photography!

Now in video form!

I did a video for Gizmodo UK about high speed flash sync; in all its poorly-animated glory here:

So what can you use it for?

You can use high speed flash sync for lots of things - but start by having a look at Darkening a Room by Adding Light - that should bring you a few ideas!

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© Kamps Consulting Ltd. This article is licenced for use on Pixiq only. Please do not reproduce wholly or in part without a license. More info.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

If you fancy having a go at a bit of lo-fi photography, you’ll have the perfect excuse over the Easter weekend. The last Sunday in April has been World Pinhole Photography Day since 2001 (at least, it has been according to pinholeday.org) and this year, seeing as it’s the Easter weekend, they’re turning it into a bit more of an extravaganza than normal. You get a whole weekend of pinhole-wonderfulness.

The basic principle is take a photo between 23 April and 1 May 2011 using a pinhole camera, and upload it to the world pinhole photography gallery. There are no prizes, just the satisfaction of being part of a worldwide photography project, and maybe even learning something along the way.

But (this is a good ‘but’, I promise) there are also workshops and classes and pinhole-related events taking place all over the world. You can learn how to make your own pinhole camera, or take better pinhole photos, or join a barbeque where people will be taking pinhole pictures. You never know, you might even meet the love of your life whilst carrying around a cardboard box that makes photos.

Still not inspired? Take a look at the previous years’ galleries.

Inspired now? Ah, you don’t don’t have a pinhole camera and there isn’t a make-your-own-pinhole-camera class taking place near you. No worries, I’ll point you in the direction of the most excellent Teaching a cardboard box to be a camera by the most excellent Katie Cooke. There! Sorted.

Lots more information is available from the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day website.

(Featured image: Ferentino, Piazza Matteotti by Antonio Corvaia.)

Never Let Me Go

Mostly because I can, I thought that I’d treat you to something a tiny bit different today. My brother was giving me his review of Mark Romanek’s latest film, Never Let Me Go, the one based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, and starring Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, and Carey Mulligan and he was doing it so well I thought that you guys might enjoy it, too. So without further ado, here’s what the young Mr Bowker has to say about it. It’s not particularly spoiler-y, but there are some key plot elements in it. Just so that you know.

Last Monday (yes Valentine’s day, no not in a romantic context) I went to see Never Let Me Go. I went in a group of six people and to say opinion was divided wouldn’t be, well inaccurate. Three people liked it, a lot, three did not; I was one of the latter.

The film focuses on the lives of three characters, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth (portrayed by Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley, respectively) and their lives as people cloned for the purpose of becoming organ donors. Specifically, it focuses on the love triangle between these three occurring over three decades, beginning in 1974, moving to 1984 and then finally 1994.

For me, skipping between decades, while necessary for the plot, didn’t encourage any great emotional connection with the characters, so I found their tribulations boring. I had no stake in them. I thought the film was too short to get to the bottom of the relationships properly; perhaps if it had taken time to build the characters and make them more multifaceted with more layers to find interest in I would have found myself more engaged.

The film’s based on a book, and a few of the differences between novel and script seem to have had an influence on the portrayal of the characters. The most important difference is the addition of tracker wristbands in the film. In the film the characters are kept captive to their lives by these wristbands that, ehm, keep track of their whereabouts; in the book they are nonexistent, leaving more room to play with the concept of freedom and captivity as a major plot device.

Of course, if this had been in the film, it’s possible that many people would have gone away thinking it was a huge plot hole saying ‘Well, why didn’t they just run away?’ but if the film were based around the concept of freedom, choice and the ethics of breeding clones to be used as organ donors (which was only covered briefly towards the end of the film) it would have been far more impressive. At least, I think so. It seems to me the writers have taken a thoughtful and contemplative book and reduced it to a simple story of a love triangle.

As for the cinematography, I thought it simple but effective. It matched the story line well; when the characters were young and carefree it was bright and sunny, but as the story progressed and their lives seemed more bleak so to did the visual side of the film. (I probably would have found it even more impressive if the projection had not been awful, with wiggly green and black lines flickering down the screen for much of the film.)

The shots didn’t come over as too artsified, with needless bokeh or camera glare, either (not that there is much opportunity for either of those things in any of the scenes). The camera work simply tells the story, which is no mean feat. On many occasions, art is what you leave out rather than what you try to cram in; restraint and skill can go hand-in-hand. And Never Let Me Go is definitely restrained and all the more beautiful for it. Still, it is pretty hard to make things ugly when they’re filmed on the Norfolk and Sussex coastlines, not to mention the St Andrews University campus.

In conclusion, while the film was pretty, it was far too one dimensional and didn’t quite do enough for me intellectually or emotionally. It felt as if there were something missing, and as if things moved a bit too fast. It all trundled along in an inevitable fashion to the conclusion you knew it would have from early on. It’s by no means a bad film – and it is definitely very beautiful – it’s just disappointing, because it could have been very, very good.

(Guest written by Josh Bowker.)

Perfect Portraits

Portraiture, face pics, mush captures, gob snaps. In today’s PCoF (it’s what all the cool kids and hip youngster-dudes are calling Photography Concept on Friday) we’ll be dipping our toe into the gigantic swimming pool that is portraiture. It’s a metaphorical swimming pool. Into which we metaphorically will be dipping our metaphorical toe. Got it? Good. I can feel myself starting to waffle already, so I will resist the charms of loquacity and press on.

A natural light portrait - this ladybird wanted in on the action. No I did not pin it to her thumb.

Essentially, there are two sides to portraiture: lighting and, for want of a less hateful phrase, ‘people skills’. Lighting is a massively complex subject, and there are many, many blogs, books and videos out there to teach you the basics and more. I’m going to focus on the ‘people bit’, as repeating basic lighting theory is horribly boring and can be found elsewhere. Not only that, but the actual interaction with people and how you get the best out of them is the bit I actually enjoy.

First, however, I will briefly look at a couple of technical basics that you should follow to take your portrait from 'holiday snap on your mum’s compact' to 'ooh, very professional!', whether that's Venture Photography-style light and bright or far more whimsical magazine-style images.

Basics

In most cases, the eyes should be the focus of any portrait (in most cases), so ensure that the eyes are in sharp focus. Anything less and you should be throwing it away, I’m afraid. Composition is also of the utmost importance. The ‘rule of thirds’ (as explained by our very own Duncan Howsley here) should be kept in mind at all times. Of course, don’t be afraid to break the rules every now and then if it works for the shot.

Finally, on the subject of composition, pay close attention to your backgrounds. If you’re not shooting someone against a plain background, you really want to avoid having anything too busy going on behind your subject. There’s nothing worse than getting home after a shoot and loading up that shot you were so pleased with, only to find that there’s a double decker bus growing out of the side of her or his head.

Even if your portrait is well lit, technically sound, in perfect focus and head object-free, if the subject of the shot looks awkward and uncomfortable (unless that’s the intention of the image, of course) the image is, essentially, a big ol’ failure. So how do you get them to act natural?

Relaxing Your Subject

An example of a studio lit portrait.

First off, talk. Talk, talk, talk. Give your subject directions on what to do. Give them positive feedback, even if it’s going horribly. You’ll find that the more you praise (‘good’, ‘that’s great’ and ‘yeah that looks really nice, let’s do a couple more like that’), the more their confidence will build.

Not only that, but talk to them in general. Show an interest, get them chatting, perhaps between lens and lighting changes. Not only does this help you get a bit more background about the kind of person they are, it helps them to relax a little more. Finally, don’t be afraid to tell them when they’re doing something wrong, just do it constructively. Tell them what is working, but that they’re doing a thing with their eyebrows that looks insane, and oh Lord it needs to stop. Except more constructively than that.

I often find that people get very dry-eyed and ‘blinky’ after a relatively short space of time, so a little trick I like to use is getting the sitter to close their eyes while I compose and then asking them to open their eyes and look into the lens. Not only does this keep the subject more relaxed, it adds a bit of movement to the equation, meaning that there is less of a posed look to the shot.

An example of an "on location" portrait for a magazine.

In general, movement is good. Although it can feel cheesy, getting the sitter to turn their head into the shot can also remove some of that stiff, posed element, as they spend less time keeping their head perfectly still. To avoid blinking, I sometimes count people in, so they know when to not blink. Check with your subject whether they like this or not, though, because I find some people are straight up terrified of a countdown and will pull crazy, panicked faces.

Don’t spend too long framing your shot – get used to framing quickly. The longer you make your sitter wait for you to take the photo, the more anxious they become, and the less natural and relaxed they will look. Just imagine being on the other side of a dSLR with two large softboxes pointed at you, waiting for a good four or five seconds for a flash to go off, trying to keep your eyes open and a fixed smile on your face for the duration.

A nice, cheeky one is to tell your subject that you’re just ‘testing the lighting’. This doesn’t have to be a complete lie: you could indeed be experimenting with your lighting setup. This little trick sometimes has the effect of the subject completely relaxing, in a ‘oh, well this shot doesn’t even count’ sort of way and you can snap them while they’re totally off guard. Sneaky, eh?

Another studio image, captured during a quiet spell.

Finally, make sure you switch up the poses quite a lot. Not only does this allow you to get a good idea of the subject’s best side, it also allows you to keep them busy and distracted. This will make them forget about the fact that there’s a camera pointed at them, as they’ll be busy taking on the directions you’re giving them. In short – practice, practice, practice. The above advice is the most relevant for very simple headshot setups with ‘normal’ people, or anyone whose job doesn’t involve being photographed five times a week.

Good portraiture, in my opinion, is essentially about tricking your subject into forgetting that there’s a camera pointed at them, even if it’s just for a split second. The examples in this article, shamelessly taken from my own portfolio, have been chosen because I think they all reflect that philosophy in some way.

So, on your ‘to do’ list this weekend – grab an unsuspecting friend and have a portraiture session with them. See what you get out of it! You might just get hooked.

Photography and Affect - talks by the Photographers' Gallery

The Photographers’ Gallery, despite being closed, is still laying on events and next up are a series of talks that delve into the idea behind physical and emotional responses to photographs. Between 1 and 10 March, seven different people will explore the relationship between the visceral and the intellectual in photographs. Six of the talks are free whilst one will cost you the princely sum of £5 (or £3.50 for concessions).

The full schedule looks something like this:

• Images and Suffering, Paul Tebbs, Tuesday 1 March, 18.30
• The Image — Imploded Action, Contagion, Affect, Bridget Crone, Wednesday 2 March, 18.30
• The Flesh of the Image: Touch in Photography, Dr Weibke Leister and Esther Teichmann, Monday 7 March, 18.30
• Photophobia: Performing Documents, the Unimaginable and the Lure of Darkness, Dr Chantal Faust, Tuesday 8 March, 18.30
• The Photographic Stare: Re-thinking the Spectacle in Photography, Dr Jorella Andrews, Wednesday 9 March, 18.30
• Image, Gesture and Fiction, Jonathan Miles, Thursday 10 March, 18.30

These all take place at Downstairs at Yumchaa, 45 Berwick Street, London, W1F 8SF. They’re free, but booking is essential.

And the paid-for one: Affect and the Portrait by Prof Alexander Düttmann on Friday 11 March at 19.00, 7-9 William Road, London, NW1 3ER.

Tickets are available from http://shop.photonet.org.uk/

(Image by Esther Teichmann, from Mythologies, 2010.)

London Street Photography at the Museum of London

I’ve had a street photography-infused couple of days: Hoppé yesterday and at the Museum of London today. But then, 2011 has been dubbed the Year of Street Photography, so it isn’t all that surprising. The Museum of London is contributing to this with its exhibition of over 200 street photos shot in London, dating from 1860 to 2010, which opens tomorrow. Almost all of the pictures have come from the museum’s own archives, and they form an intriguing story for both the city of London and the evolution of street photography.

Admiralty Arch on the day before Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, 1 June 1953, Bob Collins, © Estate of Bob Collins, courtesy Museum of London

I suppose that I would say that, though. In another life, before I found myself writing about all things photographic, I studied and taught history. Bring together history and photography and you have me in my element. Still, using objectivity was something that I got to practise lots back in my days immersed in Tacitus, so I’d best dust it off now.

When you look at the exhibition as a history of the evolution of photography, you get to see images taken on tripod-mounted glass plate cameras through to mobile phone snaps, via everything from the first hand-held cameras to stereoscopes. So not only do you get to see how photographic styles have changed over the years – you start with Victorian pictorialism and move through modernism in all its forms, the influence of cinema and of European immigrants, and even touch on photojournalism – but you get to see how technology has an influence on what gets photographed and how.

Westminster Bridge Road, c. 1962, Anon, © Museum of London

Those glass plate long-exposures couldn’t capture cleanly anything that was moving; so you either have someone definitely posed, or a haze of ghostly motion, and often a bit of both. When smaller, hand-held cameras became available there was an explosion in candid, concealed shots: photographers hid their kit in brown paper bags! You get to see how artificial light changed the look and the subject of photos, and how smaller, lighter cameras have made street photography that bit more spontaneous.

At the very core of this exhibition, though, are London’s inhabitants; young and old, rich and poor, native and immigrant. You get to see the relationship between the city and the people who live in it, and how both have changed.

Of course, people are what street photography is all about. You get to see them when a camera was a curiosity right through to now, when so often it feels as if a camera is something to be feared. In fact, it’s sad to see how few children feature in the later images. Their increasing absence is documentary evidence of the altering attitudes to photography and privacy.

Oxford Street, 1998, Richard Bram, © Richard Bram/ Courtesy Museum of London

Historians and photographers alike are going to get something out of this exhibition, but somehow I think that the biggest winner could be photography itself. The exhibition conveys just how important photos are to documenting our lives and our history.

The next time that I hear that tiresome refrain: ‘You can’t take photos here!’ I’d really like to pack off the myopic shrieker to take a look at this exhibition. Maybe, just maybe, they’d pick up just how much of today will be lost to tomorrow without the help of the camera and the skill of the photographer.

London Street Photography runs from 18 February to 4 September 2011 at the Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5HN.

(Featured image: Bishops Court, City of London 1882, Arthur Eason, © Museum of London.)

On the cover of the Rolling Stone

The after picture has added a lot of 'glow' to her body, given her bigger breasts, and has done something with her hands.

It'll come as no shock or surprise to anybody that the Rolling Stone magazine tweaks their photos a little here and there. And honestly, I don't have a problem with that either; they're in the business of selling magazines, and I've been in the magazine industry for long enough to know that this particular truism is as true as they come: a sexier lady on the front will sell more magazines.

Nonetheless, it's always interesting to see quite what gets changed; so when a friend of mine e-mailed me the before-and-after versions of these photos, I couldn't help but make a comparison... Check 'em out.

In the comments - what do you think about editing photos like this? A good idea, or an outright lie?

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Do you enjoy a smattering of random photography links? Well, squire, I welcome thee to join me on Twitter - Follow @Photocritic

© Kamps Consulting Ltd. This article is licenced for use on Pixiq only. Please do not reproduce wholly or in part without a license. More info.