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Peanut Butter maker weighs in on the GIF vs JIF debate

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#JifvsGif is a debate long-held in the photographic community, but did you ever think a Peanut Butter company would get involved? J. M. Smucker Company, the maker of Jif Peanut Butter, has teamed up with Giphy, the GIF hosting company. The same company we all use to place our ‘Oh no she didn’t!’ GIF’s on Facebook, in an attempt to gather the world’s opinions on the matter.

But what is the actual issue here? Well, it’s the pronunciation. Should it be pronounced with a hard G, as in Gate? Or is it a soft G, as in Gem? Perhaps the issue comes with language – take the word ‘Garage,’ for instance, where both apply!

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Here is the science behind what makes sunset photos so beautiful

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Golden Hour and Blue Hour are the optimum times for us photographers. It’s been drilled into us since day one. We have apps that tell us when the sun will rise and set, and tell us in which direction. The thing is, it’s only worth knowing that information if the sunset or sunrise is going to add to our shot.

There’s a science behind beautiful sunrises and sunsets. This article aims to arm you with the key factors which make for a beautiful sky.

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This photographer uses Disney theme parks for magical inspiration

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There are many people who have dreams but sit on them their whole life. Doug Young is not one of those people. If there’s one example out there of packing up to follow your dream, this is it. Doug is known on Instagram as @dougdoesdisney and this account was a dream he pushed to reality.

Hailing from Massachusetts, Doug packed his whole life up to move to Florida. The aim was to be close to the house of mouse, and the results are, honestly, phenomenal. Nothing but Disney has inspired Doug to hone his passion for photography. The aim of this post is to share some inspiration with you, too.

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Watch this long exposure of the Atlas V launch kicking off ESA’s Solar Orbiter (SolO)

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Norman Peay has always been fascinated by aviation. In this photo, he captured the launch of the Altas V rocket on February 10th, 2020. The launch was set to 11:30 PM from Kars Park, Merritt Island, Florida. Merritt Island offered a gorgeous, unobstructed south view of LaunchPad 41, approximately 10 miles in the distance. This launch should get the ESA’s Solar Orbiter (SolO) started, with an objective to perform close-up, high-resolution studies of the Sun and its inner heliosphere.

Norman gave us an insight into this shot and his passion for rocket photography.

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Your Stacking Rocks photos look cool, but they are killing animals

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Photos of rock stacks adorn our Instagram feeds. There are videos of them being created in elaborate styles. Sometimes they defy gravity with anything from pebbles to boulders in their formations. These eye-catching photos are usually framed against stunning natural backdrops and have a calm and tranquil quality to them.

There’s a darker side to these stacks, though. Two of them actually. So much so, that researchers are warning against making them. Is this another side-affect of the ‘doing it for the gram’ culture?

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100 Lego Star Wars photos from one dedicated toy photographer

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UK based photographer David Saunders has reached 100 photographs in a Lego Star Wars project. David shoots Lego, dinosaurs, action figures, and other awesome toys. If you ever have a moment take a look at his social media. The images will amaze you.

To stay on top of our game, photographers should undertake personal projects. If you need inspiration, you’ve certainly found it here!

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Instagrammer forces plane to land 2 hours into flight claiming he has coronavirus

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28-year-old James Potok, self-professed #ViralBoy, made a very tasteless joke with a view to going viral. The Instagrammer falsely claimed to have coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on a plane. The WestJet flight he was on from Toronto to Jamaica was forced to turn around and land.

Unfortunately, this was the result of the ‘likes’ culture. James did this because he wanted to go viral. In an interview with Global News, he recalled having previously gone viral with a very different claim. He is quoted as saying, “I figured it would invoke some type of reaction. Not on the plane; more people seeing on social media, going, ‘Wow, this kid’s got some balls,’ or, ‘this kid is crazy.‘”

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The dunes are a newly discovered kind of aurora – and we have unseen photos

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The Northern Lights are on many people’s bucket lists. The celestial phenomenon occurs in the upper levels of our atmosphere. We’ve long sought explanations for these beautiful lights, and extensive research has come up with many answers. We thought we had it all covered until something strange happened. Recently, in Finland, a scientist discovered a new type of Aurora.

Each Aurora we see has a classification, it makes it easier to describe. For example,  these ripples and waves of light got a cool-sounding label like ‘corona’, which describes an Aurora straight above us. The one that appears as if it’s falling straight down. This new observation, labelled ‘dunes,’ was discovered by citizen-scientist Pirjo Koski and her team in Finland.

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Instagram is ‘killing’ Hallstatt, Let it go!

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Instagram has a tendency to make places ‘trend’. This makes global locations become inundated with tourists. Sometimes it’s cool, but sometimes this is to the detriment to the local community. Let’s look at what’s going on at Hallstatt as an example.

Hallstatt, Austria, is a very small town, virtually free of traffic, and with minimal facilities, and about 778 inhabitants. The town has featured recently in Frozen as Arendelle. It is not surprising, then, that it’s seeing a higher flux of visitors than usual. The estimated number of tourists is 1,000,000 yearly. That is an incredible number compared to that local population of 778. They are literally drowning in visitors. Many doing so ‘for the gram.’

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How I got my drone confiscated in Morocco (the most important thing you need to know about drones!)

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With drone photography, things right now are very fast-paced, both in the development of the tech and the implementation of the rules. There’s a lot I can tell you about drone photography. Overarching all of the creative elements the single, most important piece of advice I can give you is this:

Make sure you know the local drone laws, wherever you are and wherever you’re going!

As I mentioned, there’s a lot I can teach about drone photography, I’ve written a lot about it and I have a course live on KelbyOne all about it right now. The appeal of drone photography is huge. It’s been maximized by DJI, who are now the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer (true story) and camera manufacturer. Others such as Parrot and Yuneec are also cashing in on us photographers and our constant quest for new angles.

These new angles are the big appeal, and rightly so. Creatives have it embedded within them. Since our childhood, we have been scoping out birds-eye views. Think about it for a second, when we’re on a plane and we come into land we often stare out of the windows looking for a point of reference in order to see what is familiar to us from a new perspective, such as searching for our home or our favorite stadium, or simply a city skyline. Drones are here to stay. The rules are being implemented and enacted for everybody’s protection. But what does that actually mean for photographers?

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