CoolPhotoIdeas

Information about Photography: Ideas, gifts, prints and novelties!

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Photographer's i magazine launched for iPad

There's no shortage of photography magazines out there, but one which recently caught out eye is Photographer's i -- an multimedia iPad magazine which promises to feature the biggest photographers writing about their best work.

A spokesperson said: "Photographer’s i Magazine is designed from the ground up to make the most of the multimedia capabilities of the iPad and other tablets.

"It offers innovative content in the form of text, photos, video, and audio.

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Nikon D4 and D800 prices increased in UK: Will your camera be going up £500?

If you've got a pre-order in for a D4 or a D800, your biggest worry has until now been how long will it be before you get your mitts on your lovely new camera.

But now a potential spanner has been thrown into the works -- in the form of a blunder prompted price hike.

It's being reported that due to a 'systems error' at Nikon the D4 and D800 have been accidentally underpriced by £500 and £200 respectively.

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Photoshop Touch finally released for iPad

Last year ago we were blown away by the idea of a "fully functional" version of Photoshop on the iPad -- sure we'd already got Photoshop Express on our tablet, but we wanted more.

Well after 11 months of repeatably asking Adobe "Are we nearly there yet?" they have rolled out Photoshop Touch at MWC 2012 in Barcelona -- and it's a corker!

Sure it's not quite the same Photoshop you know from your PC or Mac, but it's not far off and is certainly a set up from all those photo apps which consist of a few naff filters.

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Great photography idea for capturing animal shots

A photographer has used his ingenuity and his humble iPhone to shoot some pretty impressive shots and video footage and of animals at a zoo.

On a recent trip to the zoo Mark Rober noticed how desperate people were to get a photo of the gorillas -- and that the gorillas weren't impressed with humans banging on their enclosure.

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Phones4u put smartphone cameras through their paces

Smartphone cameras are getting better and better, sure they're not going to replace your DSLR any time soon, but some are surprisingly able -- the problem is knowing which ones.

Luckily the guys from Phones4u have recently put a range of camera-totting phones through their paces, including the Sony Xperia S, iPhone 4S, Galaxy S2 and Nokia Lumia 800.

In a video which has been uploaded to YouTube the cameras are put to test in a series of challenges the first of which was to see how long the phones took to take a photo.

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8-year-old is Iraq’s youngest professional photographer

Qamar Hashim is an award winning photographer from Iraq who has been praised for his images of people in Baghdad… did we mention he's only eight?

The son of a photojournalist, Hashim has now become a celebrity in his own right after becoming the youngest photographer to win a variety of local Iraqi photography awards.

Hashim says he started taking pictures when he was 4-years old, capturing moments such as US troops invading outside his window.

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Camera returned to owner after year beneath sea

A camera which was lost and spent a year at the bottom of the ocean has finally been returned to its owner... after being discovered by a scuba diving wildlife photographer.

Diver Markus Thompson had been exploring the sea at Vancouver, British Columbia when he came across the submerged DSLR camera which had clearly seen better days.

However, he was able to recover 50 images of a family vacation from the memory card within the Canon EOS 1000D camera and decided to try and find the original photographer.

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Photographer tried to film storm waves… lost £2,000 camera

how to lose $2400 in 24 seconds from Kurtis Hough on Vimeo.

It's the one thing photographers dread, having their camera snatched away from them as they're trying to capture an image.

And that's exactly what happened to Kurtis Hough as he was trying to shoot footage of storm waves in Oregon, only it wasn't a mugger which took his camera, it was the sea.

This footage shows what happened after he left his Canon 5D Mark II on a ledge several feet above the beach… squeamish camera owners should look away now.

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Broken vintage cameras repurposed as nightlights

It's never nice to see a camera which has stopped working, destined to life out the rest of it's years unused in the bottom of a dusty old cupboard.

And it's with this in mind that Jason Hull has embarked on a mission to give a new like to old cameras from the 50s and 60s.

That's because Jason is converting cameras he finds at flea markets, garage sales and on eBay into working nightlights which plug into the wall and give a nice glow.

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250 flashing cameras make impressive music video

It's not all that often we write about music videos here on Cool Photo Ideas… but it's not all that often they include quite as much photography gear as this.

That's because this video for the track "Bright Siren" from Japanese rock band Androp features a rather impressive 250 Canon cameras and flashes.

The cameras were stacked on a custom made shelving system which acted as the backdrop for the band and connected to computers to control when they flashed.

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Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs Limited Edition

There are few photojournalists who have taken as many truly iconic images as Steve McCurry whose work includes the famous green-eyed Afghan Girl.

And now Phaidon have released a limited edition collection of his most beautiful photographs which is sure to be of interest to photo-fans… even if it does cost £250.

While there are plenty of considerably cheaper Steve McCurry books available, this specially-bound large-format edition, is signed and numbered by the photographer and comes with an exclusive signed print.

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App tells story of how National Geographic photographers did it

If you are anything like us, you will have at some point looked at some of the great images in National Geographic and wonder just how the photographers did it.

Well there is good news, National Geographic has released an iPad app which will tell you just that for 50 of their greatest ever images.

'50 Greatest Photographs of National Geographic' - which can be downloaded for £2.99 - is said to tell you the story behind the iconic images with videos from the photographers themselves.

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MOO targets wedding photographers at WPPI

Anyone reading this who is self-employed will almost certainly know about Moo.com and their range of business cards and other unique printed goods.

But Moo have just announced that they will be targeting wedding and portrait photographers by showing off their latest digital image-based products at Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) in Las Vegas.

Moo say their Business Cards, Postcards, Greeting Cards, MiniCards and StickerBooks help photographers stand apart from the crowd… and even if they don't manage that, they are pretty cool.

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90% of camera users share their images

It used to be that the only person who would see your photos, would be you - but not any more, not by a long way.

A recent study of camera users in the UK, France and Germany has discovered that a massive 90 percent of us share images with friends and family online.

And what's interesting is how we do it. While people in France and Germany are more likely to share images by getting people to look at their PC or laptop, Brits tend to use websites and e-mail.

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Site allows you to get photos reviewed by pros

One of the best ways to take better photographs is to constantly review your images and look at what you did well, and what you could have done better.

But the problem for many hobby photographers is that they don't necessarily have the knowledge to be able to do this themselves -- which is where Photosynesi.com comes in.

For a fee ranging from $39 to $129 their reviewers - who include award winners and respected photographers - will look at your images and offer constructive feedback.

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Lady Gaga reveals bizarre Polaroid camera glasses

We were a little bit dubious when we heard that Polaroid had named meat-wearing songstress Lady Gaga as a 'Creative Director' of the firm.

But after seeing the trio of kooky 'Grey Label' gadgets designed by Lady Gaga revealed at CES, it kind of makes sense. Almost.

The most Gaga of the new products are the GL20 Camera Glasses -sunglasses which can take a photo of what you're looking at and then display them on a pair of 1.5 inch LED screens on the lenses.

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A Year In Photography: Magnum Archive

The Magnum Photos Agency are responsible for some of the world's best photography, and they're adding to their impressive archive on a daily basis.

Now they've released 'A Year in Photography' a book showcasing 365 photographs from some of their talented snappers who are guaranteed to inspire anyone holding a camera.

The 736 page book presents work by almost 70 photographers - including Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Abbas, Eve Arnold, Raghu Rai, Martin Parr and Alec Soth - each represented by four to five images.

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Photo Contest - A Single Drop of Water

A photography contest has been launched by a non-profit organisation to help raise awareness about the importance and scarcity of water around the globe.

There are several water-based shooting challenges with categories including a single drop of water, water in our daily lives, waterscapes and clean water initiatives in the competition.

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Strictly No Photography: The pictures you're not allowed to take

As a photographer there are few things more annoying than lugging all of your camera gear somewhere -- only to discover one of those frustrating "No Photography" signs.

But that doesn't stop everyone, as StrictlyNoPhotography.com proves. It's a website dedicated to sharing photographs taken in places where photography is meant to be strictly forbidden.

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Cloak Bag offers discrete photography wherever you are

A discrete camera bag has gone on sale which promises to help you capture all those moments you might otherwise miss due to feeling conspicuous or unsafe.

The 'Cloak Bag' has been specifically designed while thinking about the times you don't want to be seen wielding an expensive DLSR. That's because you don't ever need to take it out.

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