Everyone reading this post should know that I love Peak Design products. Obviously a while back we had a great time working together on the Everyday Messenger bags but that didn’t require me to stick with their products *checks calendar*… *faints*… *gets up off the floor* 10 years later! How did a decade happen????
Anyway, one of the more recent bits of kit that I use from them is the Travel Tripod. It’s been allll over the place with me since launch, from the most southern tip of New Zealand to the north coast of Scotland and loads of places in between and has never let me down. In this relationship, unlike others in my life, I’m far more likely to be the one to cause issues, that’s for sure. Back to my original point. Today Peak Design are launching the Pro Tripod line with enhanced features such as increased strength and stability to carry heavier cameras and lenses, improved ball head functionality and accessories for full fluid pan/tilt video capture. It looks like they’ve also refined the design and further enhanced build quality too. Nice stuff all round!
So, if the original wasn’t “pro” enough for you maybe the new one will be. You can find our more here where they’ve spent countless hours crafting a useful info and sales page. If you grab one, have fun! And if you don’t well, um, enjoy knowing that you made a terrible life decision. 😉
I’m working on a new people-based photography project and decided I’d give Skylum’s Portrait Editor a try. New toys are always fun. Here’s one of the early results. Very pleased with the look given the demanding desert conditions that the tool had to deal with! More soon… and if you want to check out Aperty you can do so here.
I’ve started work on a portrait project which is, let’s just say not insignificant, in its scope… because if I think about it too much, I realise it’s quite the crazy undertaking! So, while I was planning this out, I had to think about how my workflow might work. How do I make things as easy on myself as possible and keep the creativity as the priority, keeping the “how” out of the way as much as I can. I played with a few tools for a while and have now settled on Aperty. Before I get into that here’s a quick look at it:
That image in the interface, pretty great end result from minimal time. It was clear to me from early on in the testing that my normal tools, like Lightroom and Luminar, which I use A LOT, offer great processing but Aperty and its focus on portraits, offers a slicker workflow and quicker almost one click solutions.
Above you’ll see exactly what I mean. On the left, a before, right is the after. 2 button clicks to apply some sympathetic tweaks to the image. Areas to pay particular attention to are the bridge of the nose, forehead and right of the eye. In some cases, the wrinkles disappear, in others the harshness (which was partially due to the environment) is reduced.
Now, don’t get me wrong… if transforming your models into smooth skinned alienlike creatures is your style, that’s possible too… but for more terrestrial based portraits, the tweaks applied by Aperty in just a few clicks feel appropriate, never overdone. Above, that’s the blemish and skin smoothing sliders at work.
This being Skylum there are of course some fun additions to the normal options available too. You can for example have the software add some eyeliner to your model, or tweak their iris color as just two examples but that’s something for another day.
For now, what I see from Aperty is a great tool for anyone working on people pictures. The tools flow in a really nice, logical way for a processing work and a lot of the clutter you’d find in more general processing applications doesn’t feature here. Yet you can still do great environmental portraits too, which is what I think I’ll leave you with today… oh, and one more thing. You can grab Aperty for a 50% discount here, plus a bonus month on the subscription and a bunch of extras. Have fun!
By DPG Editorial Staff, May 26, 2025 @ 07:00 AM (EST) Source: Straits Times
Singapore isn’t just home to Asia’s biggest dive show, ADEX. It’s also where—come July 23rd—you’ll find one of Asia’s largest attractions devoted to educating the public about the ocean and its inhabitants. The new Singapore Oceanarium—a rebranding and upgrade of the previous facility, S.E.A. Aquarium—will be about three times larger than its predecessor and will feature 22 zones. The oceanarium is part of Resorts World Sentosa, situated on the island of Sentosa in southern Singapore.
While the centerpiece of the oceanarium remains the Open Ocean exhibit—an almost five-million-gallon enclosure containing sharks, rays, and thousands of other marine animals, and featuring a 120-foot underwater viewing panel—various new exhibits have been added. Among these is Ocean Wonders, home to one of the world’s largest Kreisel tanks, which is specially designed to house over 5,000 thousand moon jellies. Another is Whale Fall and Sea Mount, a deep-sea zone that uses immersive sights, sounds and live deep-sea habitats to educate visitors about how a whale fall becomes a life-giving oasis.
“More than just a new name, Singapore Oceanarium represents a bold transformation into a world-class ocean institute that inspires deeper knowledge, love and action for our oceans,” states the Resorts World Sentosa announcement. To serve that goal, the oceanarium aims to “push the boundaries of marine research” through partnerships with top academic institutions, including the National University of Singapore and the Earth Observatory of Singapore at Nanyang Technological University. In addition, a research and learning center, adjacent to the oceanarium, will provide “advanced facilities for scientists and researchers to conduct valuable research work and drive marine science outreach on-site.”
Resorts World Sentosa will soon be releasing information about forthcoming programs—and ticket prices.
Dutch photographers and couple Sarah van Rij and David Van Der Leeuw create dreamlike worlds within the artistic traditions of surrealism, yet in a style undeniably their own. Elegant and cinematic, their imagery conveys an understated sense of mystery.
Their images exhibit an anamorphic, collage-like quality, often achieved by capturing objects distorted in reflective surfaces or by incorporating their own shadows to obscure or warp a scene. They are drawn to the visual density of big cities in their work and have recently published two books—one a personal project focused on New York, and the other a commission for Louis Vuitton featuring images taken in Seoul.
The photos presented here were captured in New York in December 2024 and created using only in-camera effects.
“In our street photography, we don’t just point and click,” David explains. “We try to create something different—something that highlights the surreal qualities of life.”
For Sarah and David, photography is about mood and leaving room for the viewer’s imagination. “When I started,” Sarah notes, “I was super into color, and I still am. Color can really set a mood,” she adds, explaining that, for her, art is “when I enter a room and I’m drawn to it because of a color, a shape, or a face.”
What makes their images interesting goes beyond gear and equipment. “It’s definitely not technical for us,” David points out. “We never apply tricks,” Sarah observes, adding, “Some people think we make double exposures, but we never do—all our photographs are in-camera.”
“A lot of our images are totally unplanned,” David says. For the work created with the Sigma BF camera, they went out in New York, staying close to each other but not photographing exactly in the same spots. At the end of the day, they looked at the images they had taken, made selections and pieced everything together.
New York is a city they know well and keep coming back to, having lived there for six months spread out over two years. Their latest book, Metropolitan Melancholia, came out of their stay in the city. “We feel very at home here,” David says, adding, “New York has a lot of art direction in the city. The colors are very beautiful.”
“It’s a unique city where so many people have arrived to start a new life and become American or a New Yorker,” Sarah says. That sentiment, Sarah observes, “offers a very interesting feeling for us.”
An element of New York that is essential to Sarah and David’s photographic approach is the city’s cinematic quality. They both love film and cite Alfred Hitchcock, John Cassavetes, Roman Polanski, and Michelangelo Antonioni as a few of their many influences. Their work is infused with this obsession, evident in its ability to tell a story within a single image.
Sarah and David are self-taught image-makers. “Neither of us attended a proper photography or art school,” Sarah says. “We both have our own paths into it.”
As a child, Sarah was surrounded by film and cinema. Her mother made sure she was exposed to the classics. David grew up in an art-filled home with a father who was a painter.
Both are kids of the 90s and early 2000s, a time of rapid change, with the rise of the digital era and increasing access to imagery through Tumblr and Flickr. That period “was a really important point for me,” Sarah says. It was then that she began to find her place in the visual world. “We got our first little phones with cameras, and I would always capture everything around me.”
You might think everyone is on Instagram. It certainly feels that way sometimes and perhaps it is in Meta’s best interest to promote this. Or at least posit the idea as an inevitability.
Blue red and green letters illustration of social media icons. Photo by Alexander Shatov
Well, you’d be wrong because apparently there are enough people not on the platform to warrant paying creators to bring new to Meta’scrown jewel.
That’s not a new business tactic, but it’s sort of novel for social media which is probably why it is just in a beta testing phase at the moment, FStoppers reports.
When you consider some of the recent legislative action in the States, there is some incentive to push forward such a program.
Creators basically have users sign up via a link and are then paid per sign up or after 1000 “qualified taps.” Successful promoters can earn up to $USD 20,000, the website reports. Naturally, it’s going to be hard to reach that level but there are certainly some accounts that could blow past that requirement with ease given their scale and reach.
This new strategy would seem to be in direct competition with TikTok’s and YouTube who have similar programs, highlighting the intense competition in the social media space.
You might recall some time back there was talk of banning TikTok in the United States. While that hasn’t gone anywhere, it did spur a kind of blood-in-the-water approach by rivals to scoop up users left behind if TikTok were banned.
And while that didn’t happen, the race to secure as many users as possible continues, even while it becomes increasingly harder for creators to make money no matter what the platform.
Any thoughts on this strategy are welcome in the comments.
Check out some of our other photography news at this link.
Isotta is now shipping its new RED64 strobe, which the Italian company had on display in their booth at the ADEX Singapore dive show in April. With an anodized aluminum body sporting Isotta’s signature red paint, the RED64 features a circular flash tube, promising a smooth, even light beam. The strobe has a guide number of 22 and a color temperature of 5,300ºK. Flash power can be manually adjusted in 10 increments, from GN 22 to GN 1.
According to Isotta, at GN 8, the strobe can keep up with burst shooting at 6fps, and when fully charged, the strobe achieves 300 flashes at full power. The company says the strobe offers high-speed sync (HSS) compatibility with Sony, Canon and Nikon cameras. Powered by eight rechargeable AA batteries, the strobe can be triggered fiber-optically or electrically via its S6 bulkhead.
Available now from retailers such as Backscatter, the Isotta RED64 costs $1,500.
When purchasing underwater photography equipment like the products mentioned in this article, please support DPG by supporting our retail partner—Backscatter.com.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Isotta Strobe RED64
TECHNICAL DATA
Red color anodized aluminum body;
Coupling ball diameter 25 mm ;
Two connections: 1 fiber optic and an S6;
Servo flash function;
Power 230 Watt;
Guide Number 22 underwater with ISO100;
Instant recharge (at half power);
300 flashes per full power charge;
Color temperature: 5.300 ºK;
10 manual adjustments for flash power;
HSS for Sony, Canon and Nikon;
Full power white, half power white or red focus light;
Up to 6 fps with guide number 8;
Circular lamp with metal parabola;
Double O-Ring seals on all buttons and removable parts;
8 rechargeable AA NiMh batteries, removable and replaceable by the user;
Flash completely waterproof even with the battery compartment open;
LED indicator for flash ready, mode, mode change and battery status;
Working depth: 100 meters;
Weight in water: 230 grams;
Weight in air: 1500 grams;
SPARE PARTS
4467 – O-ring set for maintenance for RED64 flash;
4367 – Battery holder;
Battery cap;
4504 – S6 cap;
Ball diameter 25 mm;
Fiber optic bushing bodies;
Fiber optic cap;
Protective O-ring set for RED64 flash;
WHAT IS INCLUDED
RED64 strobe;
Ball 25mm;
Replacement O-ring kit;
Porta batterie interno (batterie escluse);
Silicone lubricant 15gr / 0,5 oz;
Warranty: 2 years manufacturer’s (excluding batteries);
The intrepid diver covered more than 27,000 miles to accomplish the task, which took place in late November of last year. New additions to his logbook include stops in Thailand, Malta, Egypt, Malta, and Argentina. The record-setting plunge took place in the frigid waters of Antarctica.
“When I finished my final dive, I called my sisters first to share the good news,” Scott told Essence.com. “I could feel the pride and excitement in their voices—it made the achievement feel even more real.”
Scott’s journey into the record books is a long time in the works. After dropping out of New York City’s foster care system as an adolescent, he joined the Marines and served in Afghanistan. Following his service, Scott earned a culinary degree and spent a year backpacking in Asia.
Finally, in 2014 he took the giant stride into diving in the Bahamas and never looked back. Scott eventually worked his way up to Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) and even authored a book on his adventures, Trent’s Adventures: Deep Sea Discovery, hoping to inspire young ocean explorers of all backgrounds.
“Breaking a Guinness World Record isn’t just about making history; it’s about showing that we belong in these spaces,” Scott shared on Instagram. “Black explorers, Black divers, Black adventurers—we’ve always been here, and we will continue to push boundaries.”
Learn more about Barrington Scott’s recent (and lifelong) diving journey in this wonderful profile featured in Essence.
Scientists Find New Evidence That South Korea’s Female Freedivers Evolved for a Life Underwater
By Ian Bongso-Seldrup, May 8, 2025 @ 10:00 AM (EST) Source: CNN
Haenyeo sing traditional songs before heading out to sea to harvest abalone, sea urchins, seaweed, and other seafood from the waters around Jeju Island, South Korea
Scientists studying the DNA of the famous female freedivers of Jeju Island—the haenyeo—have discovered there are unique genetic differences that the women have evolved to cope with the physiological stress of freediving. Published in the scientific journal Cell Reports on May 2, 2025, the research was led by Melissa Ann Ilardo, a geneticist and assistant professor in biomedical informatics at the University of Utah.
Ilardo and her colleagues recruited 30 haenyeo divers, 30 non-diving women from Jeju Island, and 31 women from the South Korean mainland for the study. The participants’ average age was 65. As well as sequencing their genomes from blood samples, the researchers compared their heart rates, blood pressure and spleen sizes. In order to simulate dives, participants held their breath while submerging their faces in cold water, stimulating the mammalian dive reflex. As a result, the heart rate slows, blood pressure increases and the spleen contracts.
The analysis showed that the participants from Jeju—divers as well as non-divers—were more than four times more likely than the participants from the mainland to have a genetic variant associated with lower blood pressure. “Your blood pressure increases as you dive,” explains Ilardo. “Their [Jeju residents’] blood pressure increases less.” The scientists suggest that the genetic trait may have evolved to keep unborn babies safe—since the haenyeo dive throughout pregnancy, when high blood pressure can be dangerous.
Previous research has linked cold and pain tolerance to another genetic variation, and this study revealed that the participants from Jeju were more likely to have this genetic variant. However, the researchers weren’t able to say with certainty whether the variant may be important for the haenyeo’s ability to dive throughout the year, since the participants’ ability to withstand low temperatures was not measured in the study.
Genetics wasn’t the only factor to explain the haenyeo’s impressive diving capabilities. During the tests, the researchers also found a dramatic difference between the heart rates of the divers versus the non-divers. A reduced heart rate would help the haenyeo conserve oxygen during their dives. “Actually, their heart rate dropped about 50% more over the course of the dive than the control (participants),” says Ilardo. “We know that it’s because of training, because it’s something that we only saw in the haenyeo.”
While much more work needs to be done, the research could potentially lead to the development of new drugs for lowering blood pressure.
Here’s one of the early results. Very pleased with the look given the demanding desert conditions that the tool had to deal with! More soon… and if you want to check out Aperty you can do so 
