Ever seen the largest panoramic photo in the world? As of 2013, the record belongs to a 320-gigapixel photo of London. I adore these gigapixel panos of the world's cities, and I'll never miss a chance to sink my teeth into one and go exploring for an hour. I think I must be a bit of a voyeur, because anytime someone posts a photo like this, I find myself spending several minutes navigating the city in close-up detail. Sure, the possibility of finding a sunbather on a rooftop is titillating, but more than that I'm interested in the mundane bits of life that gigapixel city panoramas reveal—like a cup of tea cooling in a window, or a mother lifting her child out of her carriage. I love catching a glimpse of the world's citizens going about their day unaware. It's fascinating, and that—more than the image quality, stitching issues or HDR-style processing—is what interests me about an image like this. So thank you to the diligent photographers who spent three days creating this great photograph. World record or not, I love this kind of thing.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/02/21/320-gigapixel-photo-of-London-is-the-worlds-largest-panoramic-photo

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Unless you live in the most northern or high-altitude climes of North America, chances are good you're getting close to the official end of winter. But even those of us who can sense that Spring is in the air are not completely out of the woods. Many areas of the country could still be due for a late season surprise snowstorm. If and when it arrives, be ready with the know-how to make the most of your last chance at a snow photography opportunity. The problem is, many winter photo tips are always the same; adjust your exposure compensation because of all the snow, yadda yadda yadda. But this collection of uncommon snow photography tips from James Maher is chockablock full with good, insightful advice that is definitely not the same old stuff. So assuming that global warming doesn't bring us an early summer, check out these snow photo tips at DPS and get your warm socks on.

http://digital-photography-school.com/5-uncommon-snow-photography-tips-that-can-transform-your-winter-scenes

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I recently stumbled upon a video from Adorama TV that offers a great glimpse into what it's really like to be a studio food photographer. Rick Gayle offers a look inside his studio, as well as his equipment and workflow, which is immensely helpful for photographers who may be looking to build their portfolio with food. In this day when everybody with a smartphone is a "food photographer," setting your work apart requires an understanding of actual tools and actual lighting techniques that the pros use. And this video offers a short but extremely informative look into that world. There's a lot here, and even more across the Adorama TV channel. 600+ videos, in fact. So after you've finished watching this video, check out the dozen or so other food photography videos in the channel, and then consider subscribing for a wealth of photographic information right at your fingertips. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD6zQQDgFUs
http://www.youtube.com/user/adoramaTV

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Ever wonder about the mechanics of how your camera's shutter actually works? Even if you understand the exposure cycle (mirror up, front curtain drops, back curtain drops, mirror comes back down) you probably don't know exactly what it looks like to the naked eye, slowed down to several thousand frames per second. Well let me tell you: I've seen it, and it looks really cool. Check it out in super-slow-mo videos for a variety of D-SLRs courtesy of the always insightful DIY Photography blog.

http://www.diyphotography.net/watching-the-exposure-cycle-in-slow-mo-reveals-some-impressive-engineering

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Whether or not you utilize this technique with Instagrams or any other photograph you may have made, I love this idea. It's a do-it-yourself stained glass window made from 35mm transparencies. Brilliant! Sure, this Photojojo article suggests printing your favorite Instagrams onto transparency paper, but there's no reason you couldn't use your favorite "plain old fashioned" digital image files and print them as transparencies too. For the analog-inclined, you can use regular 35mm slides. It's a great way to show off some of your favorite photos will making something quirkily beautiful out of an otherwise bare window. Brilliant! I'll be putting this to use in my own home asap—if my wife lets me.

http://content.photojojo.com/diy/diy-make-stained-glass-instagram-windows

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Photojojo is now selling the Optrix iPhone Adventure Suit—a waterproof plastic housing designed to protect your iPhone and turn it into a go-anywhere underwater action-cam. I think the idea is wonderful—protecting your iPhone so that this one device can really do multiple things for you, including putting itself in harm's way to get the pictures and videos—but at high price I wonder if it's really worth the risk. After all, if your GoPro comes loose from its mounting and disappears to the depths of the ocean, you're out a couple hundred bucks and whatever footage you shot that day. But when your iPhone goes missing, you've got an expensive and time problem on your hands. If you're desperate to take your iPhone with you on a dive, this may be the solution. But if you lose your phone, don't say I didn't warn you.

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/optrix-iphone-adventure-suit

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The squeaky clean folks at the Dove soap company have been running ads featuring real women looking really beautiful for many years. As part of the company's pushback against over-manipulation of the female form in advertising, the company applied a bit of digital guerrilla warfare. Namely, they created a downloadable Photoshop action that purported to add a "skin glow" to make beauty images even more beautiful. In fact, though, the action undoes every digital change the photographer has made, restoring the image to its original state and applying a layer with a message asking them not to mess with real beauty. It's a great tactic, eve if it's a bit deviously mischievous. Check out the video at Chase Jarvis's blog.

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2013/03/photoshop-action-hack-un-airbrushes-womens-bodies

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Here's a fun little post from BuzzFeed. It's a collection of historical photographs that represent photographic firsts. For instance, Niepce's famous "first photograph ever" is included, as is a personal favorite of mine—Louis Daguerre's street view of Boulevard du Temple in Paris, which accounts for the first photograph of a person. (Interestingly, the person was visible because he stood still long enough while getting his boots polished to register on the film.) Also included are a bunch of other images I'd never seen before, but which remain interesting nonetheless—like the first night view of wildlife and the first image of a tornado. It's a fun collection, well worth a look.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/firsts-in-the-field-of-photography

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