Tag Archives: photography

OnePlus Lights Up London with a Moonbow



OnePlus‘ partnership with Hasselblad and the recent launch of the OnePlus 9 series of smartphones have been greeted with almost universal acclaim. To celebrate this and the open sale of the 9 Pro, OnePlus’ latest crazy publicity stunt has been to generate a “moonbow” in London and capture it with the OnePlus 9 Pro.

What’s a moonbow? Officially, it’s much like a rainbow but with moonlight rather than sunlight creating the bow. In this case, OnePlus have cheated a little and put the rainbow round the moon by generating a cloud of mist and a high-powered light. Regardless, it’s still pretty impressive.

Naturally occurring moonbows are very rare, mainly because the light from the moon isn’t anywhere near as bright as sunlight, so it’s extremely hard for the human eye to spot the spectral colours in the dark. OnePlus helped out to make it a bit easier to spot – “Using high-powered light projections beamed through a wall of mist set under the perfect light conditions of the full moon, OnePlus created London’s very own first-ever man-made Moonbow in front of Tower Bridge, shot on the OnePlus 9 Series. The man-made Moonbow took 12 hours of on-site build time, used 60 tonnes of environmentally friendly recirculated water an hour and was created by a high power 20,000-lumen light projector.”

Of course, the moonbow had to be captured using a OnePlus 9 Series camera, co-developed with Hasselblad. Their emphasis is on natural colour calibration and while I wasn’t actually there to take the photo, it seems pretty realistic and I’d be happy with the photo if I’d just taken it on my smartphone.

At the moment, OnePlus is running a series of photo competitions based on a number of weekly themes – True Attitude, True Love, True Freedom and True You. Each week Hasselblad photographer Julius Hirtzberger will choose a winner from photos tagged with #TrueColors on Instagram. The winning photographers will receive a OnePlus 9 Series handset and other goodies. Visit @oneplusunitedkingdom for more details.


National Geographic Best 100 Photos of 2018



As the planet twirls to the winter solstice, the “Best of 2018” starts to emerge. Most of these are worthless click-bait, but National Geographic’s Best 100 Photos of 2018 presents truly amazing photography from the world around us.

NatGeo’s great photos aren’t just well composed shots of still life.  For us, they show 2018 through a temporal lens, from the joy of humanity to the tragedy of life; the incredible diversity of our species saddled by the divisions within. For the other inhabitants of the world – the animals, the fish, the birds, the reptiles – appreciate their beauty in increasingly rare natural environments. For some of these, it really is last chance to see.

Take the time to look and take in every single one. It’ll be worth it.


TIME’s 100 Most Influential Images



Time 100 PhotosAs it’s still early Advent, it’s not quite that period between Christmas and New Year where “The Best of 2016” features grace the front page of every media outlet. Still, that hasn’t stopped TIME announcing its 100 Most Influential Images of All Time. Fortunately, TIME has done a much better job than most and this feature explores the background and impact of iconic photographs, from “The View from the Window at Le Gras” by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce to “Alan Kurdi” by Nilüfer Demir. These are the images which define the human experience for nearly two centuries; too many of the pictures show suffering and pain, but others will reassure and confirm the amazing achievements selflessly done for the benefit all.

Pillars of Creation

Pillars of Creation” by NASA / ESA / STScI / Arizona State University

Take some time to review the pictures, dig into their history and understand how that captured moment changed the world and perhaps directly affected you.


Vivitar Gets More From Life at CES



PrintVivitar has a long history in photography and cinematography going back to the middle of the previous century. Constantly reinventing itself, Vivitar’s latest iteration is to focus on the fun side of consumer electronics. Marlo and Todd enjoy the new cameras from Vivitar with Director of Marketing, Melissa Hoistion.

First up is the Vivitar DVR988HD 360 Cam which will feature two 180 degree lenses on the front and back of the camera, taking a full 360 degree view. Built-in video stitching software merges the two views into a seamless panoramic image of the journey, whether on a roller-coaster or a scenic bicycle ride. The 360 Cam will record full HD 1080 x 1080 pixel video at 30 frames per second, capture still images at 12.1 MP resolution and shoot about four hours of video on a single battery charge. There’s 200MB of internal storage and a micro SD slot for an additional 256 GB. The Cam will be US$169 when it comes out in Q2.

Next is the new Vivitar MicroCam Air DVR939HD is a miniature life-blogging camera with a 160-degree lens and records full 1080p HD video and 10MP still photos. With very simple controls, the resulting footage can be viewed using a free companion app on smartphone or tablet and there’s a range of clips and mounts to attach the camera to clothing, bikes and helmets. Expected on sale in Q2 for only US$79, I could see myself getting one of these as the MicroCam can record key moments without intruding on the experience.

Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com and Marlo Anderson rounds up the latest technology news at The Tech Ranch.

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IK’s iKlip Grip is a Pro Selfie Stick



IK MultimediaIK Multimedia‘s iKlip Grip shows the clear difference between a professional monopod and the much maligned selfie stick. IK’s Starr gives Daniel a demo of the Grip and shows why it deserves to be in your travel bag.

The iKlip Grip is a multifunction smartphone video stand that can work as a monopod or trip, can hold smartphones either vertically or horizontally, or can hold any camera with a standard screw mount, such as a GoPro. There’s a complementary Bluetooth shutter remote control.

It’s all very well done; for example, the tripod feet fold up neatly into the handle, and whatever your feelings are about vertical video, it’s great to have that option in case it’s needed.

The iKlip Grip is available now for $69.99. Much better value than that no-name clone selfie stick!

Daniel J. Lewis is the host of the award-winning podcast about podcasting, The Audacity to Podcast. Daniel helps others launch and improve their own podcasts for sharing their passions and finding success.

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Panasonic Lumix ZS100 4K Camera



Panasonic LS100The new Panasonic Lumix ZS100 comes with a raft of features that make it a little bit different from the average pocket snapper (and a price to match). Daniel chats with Darin Pepple from Imaging with Panasonic to review the ZS100’s features.

To start with, the ZS100 has a 1″ 20 megapixel sensor, which is huge for a camera in this class and gives good depth of field control. And then there’s a whole bunch of tricks such as taking a still from a 4K video or a post focus mode which captures a series of apparently out-of-focus shots from which you then choose the feature to focus on and everything snaps into focus on that point.

The camera comes with a companion app for smartphones and there’s wifi connectivity built in, so you can see on the smartphone (or tablet) what the camera sees.

Available in mid-March for US$699 online and from good photography stores. Outside of the US, the camera may be called the TZ100.

Daniel J. Lewis is the host of the award-winning podcast about podcasting, The Audacity to Podcast. Daniel helps others launch and improve their own podcasts for sharing their passions and finding success.

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PicLab HD: Spice Up Your iPhone Photos



hd-iconLike many photographers, I’ve spent countless hours experimenting with a seemingly endless stream of photo apps for iPhone. While Photoshop is great for hardcore RAW editing on a desktop, sometimes you need a quick and simple solution for editing photos on the go. The latest addition to my mobile photo arsenal is a beautiful little tool called PicLab HD.

PicLab HD is a powerful design studio that enhances your photos with a plethora of effects and overlays. Just import a photo from your photo library and browse through the extensive catalog of filters, moods, stickers, and overlays. You can also perform basic adjustments such as contrast, brightness, saturation, and blur.

The cool thing that sets PicLab HD apart from other photo editors is its wide variety of text and artwork overlays, all created by professional designers. You can customize the size and color of the overlays to create the perfect addition to any picture. The $1.99 app includes several collections of these stickers, and you can purchase additional packages for $0.99 each, or purchase the entire catalog of artwork for $2.99.THIS TO THISThe free version of PicLab doesn’t include as many features as PicLab HD, but it’s a good place to start experimenting with what the PicLab ecosystem has to offer. You can upgrade from within the free app to access the features of the HD version, or download PicLab HD directly for $1.99 in the App Store. If you’re a serious photographer/designer/artist/enthusiast, I recommend making the plunge and buying PicLab HD– it’s most definitely worth it!