Photography & Video

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for creating and editing digital photos and videos, as well as how to make your own still and video cameras.

The real-world origins of some of your favorite Star Wars sounds

I remember seeing the old footage of Star Wars sound designer and foley artist Ben Burtt, banging on a steel radio tower guy wire with a crescent wrench to record blaster-sounds, from a TV documentary when I was like five years old. Which is one of the reasons I thoroughly enjoyed this video interview with him, in spite of the fact that it’s part of a puff video for Lucasfilm’s new book about Star Wars sound effects. Click the embedded player to be taken straight to Ben’s interview at 1:05. [via Gizmodo]

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan

200 countries, 200 years, 120,000 data points, 4 minutes…

…and a pretty sweet Minority Report-esque dynamic infographic (“infomotion?”), to boot. The point? The world today has more than its share of problems, but we can all be thankful it isn’t the world of 200 years ago.

The charming Swede is Hans Rosling–physician, statistician, and host of BBC 4’s The Joy of Stats. Pretty much everything about this video makes me happy, not least of all that the Brits have a TV program celebrating statistics itself. [Thanks, Dad!]

P.S. If you’re feeling cynical, check out the equally-cool-but-way-less-uplifting Animated Map of Nuclear Explosions, 1945-1998 by Isao Hashimoto.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
Best Space Pictures of 2010

Best Space Pictures of 2010

Nation Geographic’s Best Space Pictures of 2010 A colorful, craggy column of dust and gas dubbed the Mystic Mountain stars in a picture from the Hubble Space Telescope released April 23 as part of celebrations for Hubble’s 20th anniversary. The picture highlights the results of star birth in the Carina nebula.

Continue Reading Phillip Torrone2