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Hello, fellow photographers! Saturday, September 26, was World Cyanotype Day. We may be a little late to the celebration, but a process this blue (and this good) deserves more than a single day. |
The cyanotype process was discovered in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, though Anna Atkins is perhaps the name most closely associated with the process. Her work has long influenced my own: I love the crossover between photography and science, as well as her methods of documenting and categorizing the natural world. And, to be frank, the deep-blue prints are simply striking. |
World Cyanotype Day has been running since 2015, and there is still time to share your work. You can submit one image through the World Cyanotype Day website or submit to Alternative Photography. Both calls are free, with submissions open through October 2. And if you need help deciding what to make, the 2026 theme is “Global Blueprint.” |
And, of course, I always love seeing cyanotypes, so please send them my way, too. If you’d rather check out an ambitious project using the process, a year ago we interviewed Edd Carr, who created 2,100 hand-printed cyanotypes for a stop-motion music video. |
On the gear-news front, this week was quieter than the previous two. Still, Nikon announced the Z5IIC, an approachable new full-frame mirrorless camera, while Xiaomi unveiled its latest flagship phones, with 200MP cameras. Let’s get into it. |
— Abby Ferguson, Features Editor |
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Photo by Richard Butler |
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This week, we announced the return of one of the website's most popular features: full spec camera comparisons. It works slightly differently than before, but it presents the data from our 26-year database in a way that’s easier to read and compare, and it works on mobile devices for the first time. You can read more about the update here, or jump right to the comparison page to check it out. |
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Posts That Stopped the Scroll |
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If you’re not very familiar with the history of this photographic process, the post below may be insightful. It briefly walks through the origins as well as how cyanotypes work. |
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For those who haven’t had an opportunity to make a cyanotype before, I’d highly recommend it. It’s an incredibly simple photography process, but one that can produce bold, beautiful results. If you want to try it out, this post has some useful tips in the caption. |
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Lastly, these are some of the more beautiful cyanotypes I’ve seen lately. The level of detail and depth in each is incredible. |
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Lately, I've been seeing a lot of videos about a certain photographic technique: putting a piece of paper or cardboard in front of your lens with a shape cut out of it to change the bokeh so out-of-focus specular highlights are rendered not as balls, but as whatever you want.
People's creativity has been endless. Sure, there have been the classics: snowflakes, hearts, stars. All fun, for sure, but what really hooked me was the person who made it in the shape of a radiation warning trifoil, then attached a motor to it so it spins.
As always, it's hard to tell whether this is actually a widespread trend or if Instagram just noticed that I interacted with a post or two showing it and has now instructed its algorithm to show me every example of it on the platform. But I'm having fun either way, I guess.
This technique is nothing new. One of my favorite examples is from the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, where it's used to show what a young couple's preoccupations are. Ramona is concerned with her exes, so the lights behind her are rendered in an "x" shape. Scott, meanwhile, is purely infatuated with her, his background rendered as a blur of hearts. (Edgar Wright: pretty decent at making movies, it turns out!) I'm certain there are much older examples out there, though.
Still, it's nice to see a new generation discover it and start to play around with it. And I suspect that, in some ways, it's easier than ever to achieve the effect. What if, instead of having to cut out a shape in cardboard and tape it to your lens, you could just model a cap with a shape missing and 3D-print it? The possibilities could be endless, and I can't wait to see them on my feed. |
– Mitchell Clark, Reviews Editor |
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We are nearing the end of September somehow, but there is still time to participate in the month of mini challenges. Keep your eye out for new prompts, which happen every 48 hours, and share your images in the album. |
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“I myself have always stood in awe of the camera. I recognize it for the instrument it is, part Stradivarius, part scalpel.” |
IRVING PENN, PHOTOGRAPHER |
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