Mark Wilson, Author at Gizmodo

These 65 Objects Are Your Most Precious Possessions

A family heirloom is often something that’s very important to us, so important, in fact, that we bury it away and rarely share it with even ourselves. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, readers photographed their most treasured possessions. Winner – Berninghaus Hercules The subject of this photograph is my Grandfather’s Berninghaus Hercules barber chair. Contrary…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Heirlooms

Maybe there is something you own that’s very special to you, passed on from someone who was also special t you—but maybe you don’t appreciate this object very often. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, you’ll photograph an heirloom. The Challenge Capture a photo of an heirloom. The Technique Many of you will likely be working…

Tech News Mark Wilson

108 Photos With Perfect Compositional Balance, Supposedly

Many call the “rule of thirds” the perfect way to compose an image. You may disagree, but these 108 photos from this week’s Shooting Challenge won’t be called wrong without a fight. Winner – Rows The clean lines of rowing is why I chose it as my subject for the Rule of Thirds Challenge. This…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Rule the Thirds

Composition will always be part of the fun and challenge of photography. But there is a way to guarantee great compositional balance every time. It’s called the “rule of thirds.” And for this week’s Shooting Challenge, you’ll absolutely rule it. The Challenge Capture a photo that demonstrates and celebrates the rule of thirds. The Technique…

Tech News Mark Wilson

55 Professional Studio Photos…Taken Outside With Dreary Sun and Tinfoil

For most of us, it’s cold and dark outside. But nature still provides more than enough light that, with a little tinfoil ingenuity, can generate amazing, professional-grade macro photographs. Here are our favorite entries to this week’s Shooting Challenge. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-creative-sunshine-macros-5873034 Blood Orange I don’t have a macro lens, but this seemed like a fun challenge…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Creative Sunshine Macros

Magazine-quality studio macro shots are gorgeous. Small objects with exquisite detail and perfect lighting. Well, what’s so insane about those photos is that they can be duplicated at high noon with nothing more than the sun and a foil reflector. The Challenge Duplicate the tutorial’s methodology to create a glowing, studio-quality macro shot with little…

Tech News Mark Wilson

New Year’s Eve as Seen Through Drunk Goggles

New Year’s Eve is a bit fuzzy more most of us, so it’s completely appropriate that, for this week’s Shooting Challenge, Gizmodo photographers captured blurry, long exposure photographs. Winner – At the Stroke What’s more emblematic of New Years Eve than a midnight kiss? Two kids in love were captured with a flash, then ambiance…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Long Party Exposures

New Year’s Eve is this weekend, meaning that most of us are attending parties. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, I want you to capture that party…in a really long exposure. 15 seconds to 30 minutes. The Challenge Take a long exposure of an NYE party. The longer, the better. (And feel free to use lights…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Why Unwrap Presents When You Have X-Ray Gift Vision?

Shaking gifts. It’s never worked because unless someone gave you broken glass, there’s no way to hear what’s inside. Besides, it’s almost 2012, the Future. Instead, these 19 photographers let us look through the gift wrap with x-ray vision. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-x-ray-christmas-gifts-5870115 TSA Santa Well, two months ago, just 4 days after I praised my shiny new…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: X-Ray Christmas Gifts

Lights. Bows. Wrapping paper. Fruit cake. Unconditional love. Drunken Santa. All of these things mean Christmas. But more than any of that, gifts mean Christmas. And for this week’s Shooting Challenge, we want to see your coolest gifts…through the wrapping. The Challenge Take a photo of a wrapped Christmas gift. Take a photo of the…

Tech News Mark Wilson

11 Photos That Have Entered the Real World

Photos are just supposed to be photos. They’re not supposed to go corporeal, assemble and become something new. The following ten entries to this week’s Shooting Challenge started as photos and ended as something inherently different. Winner – PRESS The timing on this challenge is uncanny! I needed a logo for my Bachelor of Engineering…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Mixed Media

Digital has made photography simple at the cost of tactility. We don’t touch film or prints anymore; there’s a new disconnect from photos and physical art. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, you’ll start in digital but end up somewhere else. The Challenge Take a photo, then create that photo into something new and physical. Then,…

Tech News Mark Wilson

33 Frozen Photos Taken Through Ice

When most of us find ourselves looking through ice, it may be the last, chilling scene we ever see. Here are 33 frozen photos from this week’s Shooting Challenge that you can enjoy while warm. Winner: Space Scape Ice reminds me of space. Naturally. So after some thinking, I decided to set out and create…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Ice Filter

It’s getting cold (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere), that time of year when a single snow angel too many could turn any suburban lawn into Rainbow Valley. Rather than submit, let’s celebrate the cold photographing through ice. The Challenge Take a photo through a semi-transparent sheet or block of ice. The Technique…

Tech News Mark Wilson

30 Shameless Photos that Rip Off Famous Paintings

You can take a photo and hope it turns out well, or you can take a photo and rip the color palette from a famous painting, claiming the artist’s soul as your own. Good artists borrow, great artists use Photoshop. Winner – Field of Wheat with Cypresses I spent the entire day on Sunday shooting…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Thieve Colors From Famous Paintings

What if you could see color like Renoir, Rembrandt, Matisse, Dalí or Picasso? What if you could “borrow” their talents, taking your own photo in their colors? Well, you can. And for this week’s Shooting Challenge, you will. The Challenge Take a photo. Choose a famous work of art. Then map that work’s colors to…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Reader Recipes: 31 Dishes You Always Eat at Thanksgiving

Every family has their own special Thanksgiving dishes. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, 31 of you shared your very personal culinary traditions. You shared a taste of your families…even though many of you have lost the people behind the memories. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-your-familys-thanksgiving-recipe-5862168 Winner: Cranberry Chiffon Pie This is a traditional recipe from my wife’s family, passed…

Tech News Mark Wilson

56 Images That Are Better Out of Focus

Most of the time, we want our photos perfectly in-focus. We spend thousands on better lenses and millions in R&D to pull off the feat. But some of the time? This week’s Shooting Challenge shows us softer can be better. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-soft-focus-5860080 Winner – Bay Bridge Hack When I saw this week’s shooting challenge I got…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Shooting Challenge: Soft Focus

Imagine the first shot of a dame in an old black and white movie. She’s soft. She’s glowing. She’s radiant. She’s really just the byproduct of antique, flawed lenses. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, you’ll recreate soft focus. The Challenge Capture a photo in soft focus. The Technique Modern lenses have been engineered to be…

Tech News Mark Wilson

62 Beautiful Photos That Only Use Two Colors

These 62 photographs have one thing in common: none of them uses more than two base colors. These two colors in tiny dots produce halftones from which all the gorgeous shadows and highlights derive. They’re simple yet striking. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-duotones-5857851 Winner – Blue Fog This is my entry for the duotone challenge. Living on the water…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson

These 65 Objects Are Your Most Precious Possessions

Shooting Challenge: Heirlooms

108 Photos With Perfect Compositional Balance, Supposedly

Shooting Challenge: Rule the Thirds

55 Professional Studio Photos…Taken Outside With Dreary Sun and Tinfoil

Shooting Challenge: Creative Sunshine Macros

New Year’s Eve as Seen Through Drunk Goggles

Shooting Challenge: Long Party Exposures

Why Unwrap Presents When You Have X-Ray Gift Vision?

Shooting Challenge: X-Ray Christmas Gifts

11 Photos That Have Entered the Real World

Shooting Challenge: Mixed Media

33 Frozen Photos Taken Through Ice

Shooting Challenge: Ice Filter

30 Shameless Photos that Rip Off Famous Paintings

Shooting Challenge: Thieve Colors From Famous Paintings

Reader Recipes: 31 Dishes You Always Eat at Thanksgiving

56 Images That Are Better Out of Focus

Shooting Challenge: Soft Focus

62 Beautiful Photos That Only Use Two Colors

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