It was an incredible year on Shutterbug.com with many of our online photo stories posting record traffic numbers in 2015. In looking back at which articles were the most popular for us in 2015, I’m struck by the diverse range of topics that drew interest from readers.
Yes, I’m sure that headline got your attention but it’s not merely “click bait.” We really are giving away heaps of photo gear to readers in our brand new sweepstakes campaign!
Forgive me if I catch my breath for a second but I just returned from the PhotoPlus Expo show in New York City and it was an exhausting show in many respects. But I say that in a most positive way.
I’m constantly impressed by the fine photographs posted by readers on Shutterbug’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/shutterbugmag) and make a point of reading the technical descriptions of how the images were made—as well as the comments by others in response. One of the great things about photography, whether you pursue the craft as a profession or a hobby, is there’s always something to learn from someone else with a different vision or a unique style.
The camera market is in a constant state of flux these days thanks to a still volatile economy and the popularity of disruptive, non-traditional imaging forces including smartphone cameras, GoPros, drones and a host of other wirelessly connected, social sharing-focused digital doohickeys. So it was not a complete surprise when a rumor started making the rounds of the photo blogs recently that Samsung was planning to exit the camera business.
“I work in color sometimes, but I guess the images I most connect to, historically speaking, are in black and white. I see more in black and white - I like the abstraction of it.” – Mary Ellen Mark
At Shutterbug.com, we have a vast archive of how-to stories and tips pieces offering advice from photography experts on what you should do to take better photos. But after following the wacky and occasionally disturbing photography news this past month, I’ve come up with a list of five things you really shouldn’t do as a photographer.
This is a test to see how close you’ve been paying attention. Have you noticed some changes to Shutterbug.com in the last few months? If you have, you get an A+ because while we have redesigned many aspects of the site, we wanted many of the changes to be smooth and intuitive rather than overdone and confusing.
I got a lot of feedback – mostly positive but with a few spirited rejoiners – to last month’s editorial “Smartphones (Still) Can’t Compete with Great Camera Gear,” that I feel I should “double down.” Again, this isn’t a knock against using smartphones for shooting images. As I mentioned last month, I do it all the time with some pretty decent results. And many serious photographers are constantly turning to that little phone in their pockets and have produced many spectacular photos.
When I tell someone I’m the editor of Shutterbug, the discussion quickly turns to photography (imagine that!) and everyone, absolutely everyone, has something to say about taking photos. This is one of the best things about having cameras in smartphones. More and more people are enjoying photography and that’s the truth, plain and simple.
If you followed the controversy over the World Press Photo (WPP) awards in March and care anything about the state of photojournalism these days, you might be a little sick to your stomach by now. In the latest debacle involving the WPP contest – and there have been a few in recent years – the organization revoked the first-place prize it had given to Italian photographer Giovanni Trolio for a photo story he had submitted called “The Dark Heart of Europe.”
There's a famous line from the otherwise forgettable movie "The Godfather: Part III." It's the scene where Al Pacino, playing an aging Michael Corleone (in bad prosthetics and make-up), laments that he can't seem to get out of the family Mafia business and live the straight life. "Just when I thought I was out . . . they pull me back in," he says angrily.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: another one of Nikon’s new full-frame digital SLRs has a problem. In this case, a small number of Nikon D750s have been producing a dark, shadowy band in the frame when capturing images with lens flare. While the issue was first reported by D750 owners who took to YouTube to demonstrate the problem, Nikon eventually acknowledged that the lens flare flaw was real and said it would offer free repairs. Last week, the company issued an official service advisory for the D750, saying that Nikon service centers needed to a adjust the camera’s autofocus sensor “to resolve the occurrence of unnaturally shaped flare.”
The most hotly discussed photo topic in the past month, undoubtedly, has to be the reported sale of a photo by Australian photographer Peter Lik for a record-breaking price of $6.5 million. I say “reported” sale because, as of yet, no unbiased source has been able to officially confirm this news, which was announced by Lik’s parent company in a press release in early December.
Every email I receive from Shutterbug.com writer Steve Meltzer these days is sadly familiar. “We’ve lost another one,” Steve will write while sharing news of the passing of yet another photographic master. The list is staggering, all men of a certain age (in their 80s) who’ve passed away in the last month or so.