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Social media users have been debating which camera has the most satisfying shutter sound of them all.
A viral video, posted on TikTok by lens manufacturer TTArtisan, compared the shutter sounds of various cameras.
@ttartisan_global Comparing the shutter sound of cameras (season 2) #camera #photographer #fujifilm #nikon #leica #canon #filmcamera ♬ original sound – TTArtisan
The clip amassed over 3.5 million views on TikTok and had photographers debating which shutter sound was the most gratifying.
In the popular clip, TTArtisan compared the shutter sounds of the Fujifilm X-Pro I, the Nixon D3X, the Leica M240, the Canon 6D, and the Huazhong Film camera — and viewers were torn.
Several TikTok users felt that the Nikon D3X had the least satisfying shutter sound — reminding them of “paparazzi” and the “sound of a diesel engine.” However, other photographers disagreed and said Nikon had that “satisfying perfect shutter sound.”
Meanwhile, some viewers called the Huazhong Film camera’s shutter sound pleasantly “nostalgic.” While another photographer argued that it resembled the “sound of a horror movie.”
But many TikTok users seemed to be drawn to the distinct shutter sound of the Leica M240 camera.
“The Leica was smooth,” a photographer writes.
“Something about that Leica M240 resonates with my mechanical keyboard enthusiasm,” another viewer humorously comments.
Social media users praised TTArtisan’s video as “photography ASMR” and several individuals said they felt inspired to take some pictures after watching the clip.
Meanwhile, others lamented the fact that smartphone cameras offer no reassuring shutter sound for photographers and give nothing but “silence.”
The shutter sound of a camera can be influenced by factors such as the camera model and design, the type of shutter, and the shutter speed. Different camera models and shutter types produce varying sounds, with focal plane shutters generally being louder and leaf shutters quieter. The speed at which the shutter operates affects the duration and character of the sound.
TikTok has increasingly become the online space to discuss photography for younger users. Generation Z users on TikTok recently debated how modern digital cameras are better than smartphones for taking photos.
A photographer also recently went viral on TikTok after he revealed “the worst question” that a shooter could be asked.
Meanwhile, another photographer divided TikTok after she revealed that she used editing software to restock a grocery store shelf to make an image more aesthetically pleasing.
Image credits: Header photo via TikTok/@ttartisan_global.
When it comes to landscape photography, few techniques are more popular and invite more creativity than long exposures. If you are new to the technique and would like you to get started, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you everything you need to be on your way.
Coming to you from Mike Smith, this awesome video tutorial will show you the ins and outs of long exposure photography. I think the most common mistake I see photographers new to the technique make is leaning too heavily on it for the visual interest in a photo. Long exposures can do wonders for an image by bringing order to turbulent water or clouds and revealing hidden order in chaos, but what it cannot do is make up for an unbalanced composition or a frame that lacks good subject matter. Think of it as a tool to supplement an image, not to carry it entirely, and be sure to think carefully about how it will change the overall balance of the frame. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Smith.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.”
An aspiring wedding photographer suffered a “huge setback” after her mom accidentally donated her brand new $3,000 camera to Goodwill — sparking a huge campaign to get the camera back.
Kelsie Lee had spent “several years” saving up for her Canon R6 Mark II with dreams of using it to be a wedding, engagement, and elopement photographer.
After purchasing the camera, Lee was been enthusiastically taking photos of her friends and family. But this all came to a crashing halt after her mom unintentionally donated the R6 to a Goodwill store where it was purchased for just $70.
“I was using it to take some photos of my family and me before we went out to dinner,” Lee tells PetaPixel.
“I didn’t want to bring the camera inside of the restaurant at the risk of damaging it and I also was hesitant to leave it in the car because of possible theft.
“My dad and I thought it would be a good idea to hide the camera in a cardboard box in the back of my mom’s car — who was not at the dinner.”
Later, when Lee went to retrieve her camera from her mom’s car the “worst possible thing had happened” — the box and camera were gone.
“My mom had absolutely no idea my camera was in there and I had absolutely no idea that box was headed for Goodwill,” Lee explains.
“We went to Goodwill immediately after we realized what happened. Turns out we missed the camera by ONE hour!”
Lee says she was “crushed” when the manager broke the news, but it wasn’t the camera she was most upset about.
“I had spent several years saving up for a camera and dreamed about owning a professional camera to push the needle forward on my dream of working in the wedding/engagement/elopement photography and videography space,” she explains.
“It felt like such a huge setback, but it was truly the SD card that I was heartbroken about…The feeling of losing memories you’ve been collecting over a period of time is one I do not ever want to feel again.”
After losing her camera, Lee took to TikTok and in a heartbreaking post detailed what had just happened — she offered a $500 reward for the return of the R6.
@kelsierlee Please tiktok do what you do best
The video racked up over one million views and sparked a wave of interest which ultimately led Lee to get her camera back.
“The incredible community that rallied behind my story on different social media platforms sent me so many leads,” Lee tells PetaPixel.
“It was overwhelming in the best possible way to have the support from complete strangers to help me get my camera back.”
After some people had falsely claimed they had her camera, Lee received a message on Instagram from a couple who said that they had it.
“I was initially hesitant,” says Lee. “They sent me photos of the camera and I knew right away it was mine — I definitely blacked out for a second. I couldn’t believe it.”
@kelsierlee Replying to @Sarah ♬ original sound – kelsie
The kind-hearted couple drove two hours to return the camera and did not want the reward money, but Lee insisted that they were compensated plus gas money.
“This couple did not owe me anything, they bought the camera fair and square and chose to do something good because they are good,” says Lee. “They deserve every single ounce of good karma that is headed their way.”
The one caveat was that after the couple bought the camera they had cleared the SD card. But, Lee is working with an expert to restore her photos.
Lee does not hold her mom responsible in any way, adding: “It was entirely mine for putting my camera in a box in the back of her car without her knowing.”
In fact, Lee looks back at the entire episode with fondness. “Without it I would have never met the incredible couple that returned my camera,” she says.
“I never would have been able to connect with an entire community of people who were willing to help a complete stranger and together with that community, we were able to do something really freaking cool.”
It means the couple were left without a camera. But, there’s a final twist in that story too. Lee made another TikTok video urging Canon to provide a camera to them and the imaging giant received the message and is now finalizing details with the good-hearted couple.
“This whole event has changed my life, I am so grateful for everyone that helped me and the impact this was able to have,” adds Lee.
“People are so good, and sometimes the media is filled with negative news. It has been incredible to be a part of something good and shown over and over again how remarkable humans can be.”
Lee has an professinoal photo Instagram account here. You can follow her on TikTok and Instagram.
Image credits: All photos by Kelsie Lee.
Brendan Fraser is enjoying a well-deserved career revival right now, but his skills extend beyond acting as well. Fraser is a talented photographer, and this neat video will show you some of his story and images.
Coming to you from T. Hopper, this interesting video will show you some of Brendan Fraser’s photography work. Fraser’s work mostly focuses on photojournalism, and he is a fan of the lo-fi aesthetic. In fact, he has a dedication in a book on instant cameras.
In a 2003 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Fraser described his love of the craft as beginning “somewhere between instant gratification and always finding myself in interesting places.” In fact, he even had an exhibition later that year. He clearly has a strong eye for storytelling and composition, and one has to wonder if his skills in front of the camera translate to those behind the camera to some degree.
Fraser is far from the only celebrity with a love for photography. Baseball legend Randy Johnson, actor Jeff Bridges, actor Henry Winkler, musician Ben Folds, model Helena Christensen, and many more are known for their skills with a camera.
Check out the video above for the full rundown.
SUQIAN, China, May 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On May 15 and 16, the “Foreigner’s View of Yanghe” Photography Project was held in Suqian. Photographers and journalists from renowned organizations such as MBC, Vietnam News Agency, and Voice of Vietnam, gathered in Suqian, known as the “Capital of Chinese Liquor”.
Their objective was to delve into the centuries-old art of liquor brewing and gain a deep appreciation for the rich heritage of Chinese liquor culture. Through their lenses and reporting, they aimed to provide a unique perspective from foreigners on Yanghe and contribute to the broader understanding and promotion of Chinese liquor culture.
Chinese liquor, known as Baijiu, plays a significant role in shaping the unique Chinese liquor culture.
Suqian, located in the northern part of Jiangsu Province and within the Yangtze River Delta, holds a distinct identity as the home of Baijiu and serves as a cultural symbol. With a history that dates back to the prosperous Sui and Tang Dynasties and continued growth during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Suqian’s liquor-making tradition exemplifies the deep-rooted heritage of its liquor culture.
The region’s natural water sources, climate, soil, air, and ecological environment rich in microbial flora make it the prime location for liquor production in eastern China. The renowned brands “Yanghe” and “Shuanggou”, along with six other well-known Chinese trademarks, have made Suqian’s liquor specialties a household name, extending far beyond the borders of Jiangsu. In March 2019, Suqian was officially recognized as “China’s Liquor Capital” following a re-evaluation, solidifying its status as a prominent hub for liquor production.
In the manual brewing workshop of Yanghe Distillery, craftsmen are skillful in operation, clouds are blown on the retort barrels, and the air is filled with the aroma of liquor. Because all the processes are all hand-crafted, the puree that comes out is rich in aroma, thick and long-lasting, sweet and delicate.
Photographers came to Yanghe’s liquor making workshop covering an area of about 93,000 square meters, the old Yanghe cellar, and the century-old underground cellar known as the treasure of Yanghe’s town. In the automatic intelligent 3D warehouse and the Shuanggou modern packaging logistics workshop, they can feel the traditional culture and the modern exploration behind the industry.
Water is the “key” to Suqian. Sitting on the wide ecological water system, with a water area of 2,367 square kilometers, it continuously delivers clear water to Suqian liquor. During the event, the group came to the Hongze Lake Wetland Scenic Area, which is densely covered with tidal flats, rivers, swamps, and lakes.
Liquor, being a universal language, has increasingly gained significance as a medium for cultural exchanges and a bridge that connects different civilizations. It serves as a vehicle for mutual learning among nations. In this context, media reporters and photographers utilized liquor as a medium to explore and understand Suqian’s rich liquor culture during their two-day trip. Through their exceptional storytelling skills and captivating photography, they shared the flavors and essence of the liquor, effectively conveying the narrative of Suqian’s liquor culture. This media coverage plays a pivotal role in promoting Suqian as the capital of liquor to a broader audience and enabling its recognition beyond regional boundaries.
Zhang Liandong, Chairman of Yanghe Distillery, emphasizes that Chinese baijiu serves as both a new symbol for China and a global trend in experiencing Chinese culture. To transform Chinese brands into global brands, it is crucial to integrate and organize renowned liquor companies for international expansion. This involves establishing a world-class liquor production zone that showcases the exceptional quality and value of renowned Chinese liquors. By leveraging the production zone as a representation of world-class famous liquors, the aim is to enhance the global perception and recognition of Chinese baijiu.
Image Attachments Links:
Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=440823
Caption: The manual brewing workshop of Yanghe Distillery
SOURCE “Foreigner’s View of Yanghe” Photography Project
SUQIAN, China, May 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On May 15 and 16, the “Foreigner’s View of Yanghe” Photography Project was held in Suqian. Photographers and journalists from renowned organizations such as MBC, Vietnam News Agency, and Voice of Vietnam, gathered in Suqian, known as the “Capital of Chinese Liquor”.
Their objective was to delve into the centuries-old art of liquor brewing and gain a deep appreciation for the rich heritage of Chinese liquor culture. Through their lenses and reporting, they aimed to provide a unique perspective from foreigners on Yanghe and contribute to the broader understanding and promotion of Chinese liquor culture.
Chinese liquor, known as Baijiu, plays a significant role in shaping the unique Chinese liquor culture.
Suqian, located in the northern part of Jiangsu Province and within the Yangtze River Delta, holds a distinct identity as the home of Baijiu and serves as a cultural symbol. With a history that dates back to the prosperous Sui and Tang Dynasties and continued growth during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Suqian’s liquor-making tradition exemplifies the deep-rooted heritage of its liquor culture.
The region’s natural water sources, climate, soil, air, and ecological environment rich in microbial flora make it the prime location for liquor production in eastern China. The renowned brands “Yanghe” and “Shuanggou”, along with six other well-known Chinese trademarks, have made Suqian’s liquor specialties a household name, extending far beyond the borders of Jiangsu. In March 2019, Suqian was officially recognized as “China’s Liquor Capital” following a re-evaluation, solidifying its status as a prominent hub for liquor production.
In the manual brewing workshop of Yanghe Distillery, craftsmen are skillful in operation, clouds are blown on the retort barrels, and the air is filled with the aroma of liquor. Because all the processes are all hand-crafted, the puree that comes out is rich in aroma, thick and long-lasting, sweet and delicate.
Photographers came to Yanghe’s liquor making workshop covering an area of about 93,000 square meters, the old Yanghe cellar, and the century-old underground cellar known as the treasure of Yanghe’s town. In the automatic intelligent 3D warehouse and the Shuanggou modern packaging logistics workshop, they can feel the traditional culture and the modern exploration behind the industry.
Water is the “key” to Suqian. Sitting on the wide ecological water system, with a water area of 2,367 square kilometers, it continuously delivers clear water to Suqian liquor. During the event, the group came to the Hongze Lake Wetland Scenic Area, which is densely covered with tidal flats, rivers, swamps, and lakes.
Liquor, being a universal language, has increasingly gained significance as a medium for cultural exchanges and a bridge that connects different civilizations. It serves as a vehicle for mutual learning among nations. In this context, media reporters and photographers utilized liquor as a medium to explore and understand Suqian’s rich liquor culture during their two-day trip. Through their exceptional storytelling skills and captivating photography, they shared the flavors and essence of the liquor, effectively conveying the narrative of Suqian’s liquor culture. This media coverage plays a pivotal role in promoting Suqian as the capital of liquor to a broader audience and enabling its recognition beyond regional boundaries.
Zhang Liandong, Chairman of Yanghe Distillery, emphasizes that Chinese baijiu serves as both a new symbol for China and a global trend in experiencing Chinese culture. To transform Chinese brands into global brands, it is crucial to integrate and organize renowned liquor companies for international expansion. This involves establishing a world-class liquor production zone that showcases the exceptional quality and value of renowned Chinese liquors. By leveraging the production zone as a representation of world-class famous liquors, the aim is to enhance the global perception and recognition of Chinese baijiu.
Image Attachments Links:
Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=440823
Caption: The manual brewing workshop of Yanghe Distillery
SOURCE “Foreigner’s View of Yanghe” Photography Project
LOS ANGELES — Meet Jolie, an Indochinese green magpie. She’s cute, bossy — and lucky to be alive.
In 2017, she was among 93 Asian songbirds, many endangered, found stuffed into luggage while being smuggled through Los Angeles International Airport. Only eight of the birds survived.
A female Indochinese green magpie named Jolie poses at the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens. She is the Photo Ark’s 14,000th species.
Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark
Jolie now lives in a mixed-species aviary at The Los Angeles Zoo, where National Geographic Explorer Joel Sartore photographed her for the Photo Ark, a project with the ambitious goal of documenting every species in human care.
“She was charismatic and posed … she was grooming and fluffing up and making little vocalizations, and she was absolutely a great subject,” he said.
This sassy songbird marks a huge milestone for Sartore — his 14,000th animal species photographed.
“The Photo Ark is an opportunity to really get to know animals that we wouldn’t know even exist and hopefully save species and their habitats while there’s still time,” he said.
“As these other animals go away, so could we,” he added.
Joel Sartore with frill-necked lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingii, at a high school in Victoria, Australia, 2017.
Photo by Douglas Gimesy
The effort began 17 years ago in Sartore’s hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. His wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, so the National Geographic photographer took a one-year hiatus to care for her and their three young children.
No longer trotting the globe on assignment, Sartore turned his camera’s lens toward his own backyard.
“I thought about a way of highlighting the small species,” he said. “We all know what gorillas and tigers look like, and that they’re rare. But we don’t really think about the sparrows or the toads or the mice of the world.”
A springbok mantis, Miomantis caffra, at Auckland Zoo, New Zealand, 2013.
Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark
Throughout history, species have gone extinct without a visual record of their existence. Perhaps blurry black-and-white photographs and museum exhibits help humans understand these long-gone creatures, if we’re lucky.
Santore created the Photo Ark not only to preserve these records but inspire others to do more. The animals are photographed with a black or white background and studio lighting to limit distractions.
An endangered Coquerel’s sifaka, Propithecus coquerel, at the Houston Zoo, Texas, 2012.
Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark
“The photographs are actually kind of boring, and it’s good. It’s really good,” he said. “We let the animals be the stars of the show … This is the animal, that’s it.”
Friday marks Endangered Species Day, and this year, the U.S. celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Postal Service is marking the occasion with new stamps showcasing 20 endangered animal species from the Photo Ark collection.
From the desert bighorn sheep to the Wyoming toad, the featured animals can be found within the 50 states and U.S. territories.
“At one point, the black-footed ferret and the Vancouver Island marmot and the Mexican gray wolf — these are animals that all got down to fewer than two dozen each — and they’ve been pulled back right from the very brink of extinction just by people that cared,” Santore said.
He remains optimistic as he continues his journey, aiming to photograph more than 20,00 species in total. His son, Cole, has promised to finish the job if needed.
“if you look at the Photo Ark, you see really what biodiversity looks like, and it is so varied and so fascinating. It’s so worthy of protection,” he said.
Visit NatGeo.org/PhotoArk to find your favorite animals and more.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of National Geographic Partners and this ABC station.
Growing up in the small southern Ontario city of Windsor in the 1960s and ‘70s, Kenneth Montague had a front-row seat to a much bigger cultural world roiling and unfolding just across the Detroit River.
The river serves as the border between Canada and the United States, and the seven interconnected towers of Detroit’s Renaissance Center — today a monument to failed efforts at urban renewal in the 1970s — remain the most prominent feature of the diminutive Windsor skyline.
They’ve helped to make Detroit a constant presence in the Windsor psyche, within easy reach but a world away. Montague’s parents, both of whom had immigrated to Canada from Jamaica before he was born, indulged their son in the cultural riches of the city across the water. Whether it was the wonder of the Detroit Institute of Arts, or the musical splendor of Motown, it left a lasting imprint on the young Montague’s mind.
On one trip to DIA, he recalls, “I remember seeing a photograph by James Van Der Zee (from 1932) of a Black couple in Harlem in their raccoon coats and their Cadillac with whitewall tires,” he said. “And that was just not what I was seeing growing up, in my era of “Sanford and Son,” or “Good Times” — just that general buffoonery that dominated the portrayal of Black culture that in no way reflected my middle-class, Black family in Canada. It was a moment of clarity: I thought, ‘There’s something I can aspire to.’”
Some 30 years later, Montague, now 60, carried those experiences into the world of art collecting as a young dentist in Toronto. The first picture he acquired, in 1999, was that Van Der Zee image of the couple in their finery; it spurred a passion project, blossoming into a collection and a slate of collaborative curatorial projectsthat he’s stewarded from his downtown Toronto apartment into a significant photo volume published by the Aperture Foundation and a museum exhibition soon to arrive at the Peabody Essex Museum. “As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic,” a show of more than 100 works from Montague’s photography collection, opens at PEM on June 17.
But growing up in Detroit’s sphere was by no means uniformly inspiring. One of his earliest memories, as a 5-year-old, was a bleakly hot day in July 1967 when even in Windsor his parents were sent home early from work for fear of their own safety, as the city they’d come to love erupted in riots and violence. They stood in their living room facing the river, watching smoke billow above the Detroit skyline. “It was apocalyptic,” he said.
The exhibition’s title, encompassing both inspiration and trauma, is also deeply personal: Montague’s father, Spurgeon, would tell his son that as Black immigrants rooting themselves in a sometimes-inhospitable milieu, striving to achieve was important. “He would always tell me, ‘As you do well, Ken, you bring up others in your community.’” The publishers at Aperture took the story as inspiration, distilling it to “As We Rise,” an apt rubric for the collection as a whole. While by no means uniform — it has grown from its roots in photography to include painting and other media — the collection is notable for its frank, dignified portrayals of everyday people throughout the Black diaspora, whether in Europe, the Americas, or Africa itself.
“There are so many works in the exhibition where there’s a real connection between the photographer and the sitter,” said Elliott Ramsey, the curator at the Polygon Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, which organized the show. “It could be quite intense to be surrounded by these very direct gazes — confrontational or even aggressive. But in ‘As We Rise,’ it never feels that way. Remember, these are images of Black life by Black photographers. There’s a warmth, a reciprocity, an inherent sense of trust.”
For Montague, that unity wasn’t consciously intended, but something deep inside him that bubbled up into his collecting. “For me, that settlement journey was always about uplift,” he said. “Certainly, there are images of protest, images of unrest. But Aperture was very smart in figuring out, I think, what the collection, organically, was about: Community, identity, and power.”
The collection’s humble beginnings and eventual arrival in the halls of more official culture track a recent evolutionary arc of cultural diversity itself. Montague was never one to buy things and tuck them away in storage; in his Toronto apartment, he would stage small exhibitions and salons with guest speakers and create a convivial atmosphere where the invitation was open to all (he calls the work he’s acquired the “Wedge Collection” because of the apartment’s awkward, not-quite-square walls; his curatorial arm is called “Wedge Curatorial Projects.”)
At the time, he was acquiring pieces by Black artists like Barkley Hendricks, Jamel Shabazz, and Van Der Zee, who, by now, have become renowned names in the pantheon of Black art. There’s some satisfaction, Montague says, with following a passion and then having the world catch up to him. “When I started, contemporary African art was this exotic thing for a lot of collectors; it was certainly fringey for a lot of publications and museums,” he said. “These were things I wasn’t seeing on the walls of galleries or museums, and I wanted to make a space for them.”
“As We Rise” has already been staged at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and the Polygon Gallery. PEM is its first American venue, and further dates are currently under negotiation, but not yet confirmed. For the PEM presentation, the exhibition will change shape; curator Stephanie Tung conceived a frame that embraces the impassioned, organic evolution of the collection itself.
“We were thinking about, ‘What can we add to the conversation?’” she said. “It’s a show of 100-plus works, but 75 artists, so it’s fascinating but disparate. We wanted to build groupings that would be resonant with each other.”
Working with Ramsey, Tung conceived a presentation inspired by the elliptical verse/chorus patterns of the musical staples of jazz and Motown close to Montague’s project, and heart. The structure, she hopes, will create “a chorus of voices that achieve a kind of harmony,” she said, assigning organizing rubrics like belonging, family, and self-fashioning, to the collection. “We’re working within themes, and variations on themes.”
For Montague, it’s been satisfying to see a happenstance life’s pursuit refashioned as a coherent narrative that he hoped might come together one day. “I’m not a professional curator,” he said, “but I always had this idea of storytelling. So many of these things were happy accidents. I just bought the work on a dentist’s income because that’s what I could afford. I’m a very middle-class collector, so this is a very gratifying experience for me.”
AS WE RISE: Photography from the Black Atlantic
At Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem. June 17 through Dec. 31. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org
Murray Whyte can be reached at murray.whyte@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheMurrayWhyte.
Oksana, mother of Oleh Skybyk, 27, morns the death of her son at his funeral at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv on 28 April 2022. Oleh, who volunteered to serve in the military at the start of the war, was killed in an artillery attack in Popasne region in eastern Ukraine on 24 April, leaving behind his wife and two children (aged three and one). Tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have died since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, with an estimated 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed, according to the Ukrainian government
Photograph: Kiran Ridley
