Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

• The shootout at Gulf Photo Plus is always a fantastic thing to watch. Luminaries such as Greg Heisler, Zack Arias, and David Hobby have been past participants. Here’s the latest one.
  
• Joe McNally talks to Marc Silber about lighting. A good, quick 4-minute video that’s more about philosophy than technique.
• Speaking of Joe McNally, if you haven’t seen his photo from the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, here it is.
• Now, we’re not going to be able to provide the castle, the swimming pool, the giant print or the model, but we will soon have the Hasselblad H5 line of cameras in our rental inventory. Here’s what photographer Henrik Sorenson did with one of these gorgeous machines.
  
• And finally, via our friends at PetaPixel, the story behind some amazing portraits taken with an iPhone and a $10 lamp.

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

• We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: any time Joe McNally talks, everyone should listen. This latest video will only be only till Feb 20, 2013, so make sure you watch it before then.
  
• Here’s another photographer you should always listen to/watch/study with if you get the chance: Gregory Heisler. From the guys over at the Profoto Blog comes a recounting of Greg’s shoot with Yasser Arafat.
• Yet another photographer we love is back with his series of image critiques. Here’s Episode 15 of Zack Arias’ “Photography Critiques.”
• Budding auto photographers should head over to Scott Kelby’s blog and take a look at his detailed post on how he shot details on an Aston Martin Vantage. Mmm…. car porn!
• And finally, from our friends over at PetaPixel, classified in the “Oh, Iran!” category: another Photoshop blunder from that country makes us chuckle all over again.

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff! As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

• We love it when one of our own gets a nod from someone we admire. Our very own Alex Huff was mentioned in this week’s episode of Photography Tips and Tricks, by none other than R.C. Concepcion. Have a look at the end of the video below.
  
• The Sony RX1 has become a favorite around these parts; check out this Russian-made turret universal optical viewfinder that seems to work perfectly with it.
• Any time Philip Bloom does a gear review, we tend to drop everything and listen. Here, he breaks down the Canon 1DC for you. As usual, it’s a thorough, full-featured review.
  
• This one’s for the retouchers among you. The guys at PhotoShelter have established a reputation not just for being a great photo hosting service, but also for bringing you some fantastic original content via their blog. In this webinar, they talk to veteran retoucher Amy Dresser about her process and technique – and it’s worth watching every second.
  
• And finally, from the “If he opens his mouth to talk, you should be quiet and listen department,” the Phillipines’ 24/7 cable news network, ANC, sat down with Joe McNally for a really good interview.
  

 And now, for the BorrowLenses.com Roundup!

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

• This week, we start with the trailer for an upcoming documentary on Alexandre Deschaumes, called Ethereal Photographies. Have a look at the trailer and you’ll see why.
  
• From one French photographer to another and from the wilds of the earth to the streets of France, we next bring you the work of photographer Philippe Echaroux, who came up with an awesome project to photograph strangers on the streets as though they were celebrities.
  
• Back here in the US, one of our absolute favorite photographers rediscovers that most humble of lighting modifiers – the umbrella. Joe McNally tells us of the return of said umbrella – and once again, schools us mightily.
• Winter is coming. And while that Game of Thrones reference might leave some scratching their heads, here’s a great little tutorial from our friends at Digital Photography School that won’t leave you scratching your heads about how to create great snow photographs.
• And finally, from our friends over at Profoto comes a truly magnificent collection of lessons from some of photography’s masters. Masters like Gregory Heisler, whose Time Magazine cover of Rudy Giuliani is an absolute marvel of contextual lighting (see the embedded video below). Other masters in this series include Jeremy Coward and Matthew Jordan Smith, to name a couple. Go check this collection out – it’s worth every second of your time.
  

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

Behind-the-scenses, how-tos, and technique tutorials are excellent tools to help photographers get better at their trade. Just as important, however, is listening to and understanding the experiences of the shooters you look up to. Here are a couple of videos along that vein.

Mike Cali Self Portrait in Dubai. Shot with the X-Pro1. Photo Courtesy and Copyright © Michael Cali.

Welcome to Photo Finds, a feature where we point you to some of the best photography around the web.

When I picked wedding and portrait photographer Michael Cali as the person I wanted to talk about in today’s Photo Finds feature, I didn’t remember right away that he and last week’s Photo Finds photographer, Brad Moore, had something pretty significant in common. Both Brad and Michael have served as assistants to one of the most amazing photographers alive today, Joe McNally. Brad is his former assistant (he works for Scott Kelby now) and Mike is Joe’s current assistant. (more…)

Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

• 

  Canon 60Da

  Let’s kick off with a couple of new product announcements. First, Canon just introduced the 60Da. The “a” designation is for astrophotography. Hit up the link to learn why you’d want this variant of the 60D.

• Sony’s got a new camera that might shape up to be good competition for the RED Scarlet. It’s 4K-ready, has built-in ND filters, and retails for less than $10K.
• Speaking of video, Dan Chung at DSLRNewsShooter.com has a great comparison of the two big guns in this DSLR video arena – the D800 and the 5D Mark III.
• Speaking of news, here’s how one small-time newspaper is surviving the publishing apocalypse: by focusing on photos.
• Here’s a bit of humor for you. Having difficulty with your photography? Try Fauxtographer!
  
• And speaking of fauxtography, Picnik users rejoice! You were crushed when Picnik was shut down; now, Flickr has a new option for you.
• Let’s keep going with this thread – the bane of overly serious photographers everywhere, Instagram is now available on Android.
• And, because you can’t have an Android story without some controversy,  the complaints from iPhone users about the Android fanfolk ruining Instagram have already started.
• In the end, though, regardless of which camera you use and how you share your images, what brings photographers together is passion for image making. In that regard, we can probably find something to related to in this letter by one of the greats of our time, Joe McNally, to a newcomer to photography.

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!