Gobsmacked: Frogs Holding Umberellas!

This week's edition of weird and off-the-wall news from the World of Photography is not at all weird or off-the-wall; it's more like amazing, gobsmacking news.

Frogs Holding Umberellas – Really!

We know that chimps and monkeys use tools; it turns out that tree frogs do too – they use umberellas!  Three absolutely awesome photographs by Penkdix Palme were published by SWNS.com yesterday.  These photos show a frog clutching at the...

From Equatorial Africa to the Arctic Pole . . . and Outer Space!

Today we look at three very unusual photo galleries.  On Monday German, Canadian and American websites posted news items about exhibitions and galleries related to subjects from Equatorial Africa, the Polar North, and in Outer Space!

Equatorial Africa

Helen Whittle on Deutsche Welle suggests that the West's view of Africa has been defined by Photography.  Whether or not she gives photography more credit and more power than it deserves, her thesis...

Akvis, Fujifilm, Canon: Apps, Lenses, Allegations!

A Revised App

Akvis have just released AirBrush v. 2.0.  If you're a photographer, it allows you to play at being Cezanne or Gauguin.  

Available either as a standalone app or a plugin for Photoshop, AirBrush converts your plain jane photograph into an airbrushed painting with one click – choose one of the 55 presets and that's it.  Or mess around with the effect settings.

The sample image on Photography Blog's...

Controversy: Facebook/Instagram, Your Slip is Showing!

Story-Review-Gallery Combo

Story

Thank heavens we're not 'fanboys' and thank heavens we don't do reviews anyway!  DPReview has a short story about bogus online reviews that 'dis' one or another product.  These fake reviews are attributed to fanboys gone bad.  This news story is actually based on a bona fide academic study, Deceptive Reviews: The Influential Tail (40 pages) by Eric Anderson and Duncan Simester.  

It's an open secret that some...

Galleries: Combat and Worship

The past 24 hours have offered up two extremely contrasting galleries: one devoted to combat; the other to worship!

Combat

Kainaz Amaria on NPR's 'the picture show' discusses a War Photography exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington.  She says, "it has the usual array of iconic war photographs" but the real strength of this exhibition is "in the presentation of our collective war story."

Actually, another strength may be...

Oh, The Rugged Sea Life!

Today's three-part post focusses on stories from the past day or two that have to do with being rugged, on 'sea life', and both. 

Rugged

The Pentax K-30 is not an out-and-out competitor in the 'tough camera' category; rather, it is a small DSLR that is rugged and designed for extreme weather usage.  As it happens, Pentax's very own Optio WG-2 is considered to be the best tough camera.

 Joe Farace...

Of Pelicans and Pixels; Pots and Pans

Pelican: The Shape of Things to Come?

If you're up-to-date on camera technology you'll have heard of the Lytro, a camera which captures reflected rays from different angles of incidence to construct an image whose focus-point can be controlled and adjusted after the fact.

Now Pelican is barging in on Lytro (which has been featured on our sister blog) territory and going one better: you can choose multiple focus-points which can...

A Nice Pairing: FinePix S8400W and jAlbum 11

Fujifilm's FinePix S8400W has got the once-over by Daniel Bell on ePHOTOzine.  

This is classed as a 'bridge camera' – or should it be called a 'hybrid camera'?  As far as appearance goes, it certainly looks like something cobbled together.   For a camera so light and small, the DSLR-style pronounced, protruding grip stands out as does the flash housing on the plate.

Bell's review is nothing if not honest;...