Sunday 9 February 2014

A Look at GoPro and the Action Photography Revolution

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If you look at the earliest photographs, you'll see stiffly posed people grimacing in sepiatone. That's because the first cameras required long exposures, so people had to sit very still and hold one expression to prevent blurring. It wasn't fun, and there was no way to capture action photographs.

Action was the province of painting, not photography. Painters could capture anything they could imagine to get action down on canvas. One aspiring painter even had her husband's cavalry regiment charge her so she could capture the experience on canvas. Unfortunately, that wasn't always practical.

The development of modern cameras with fast film, and later digital photography changed everything. Pictures could be taken in a fraction of an eyeblink, moving action photography into the mainstream. Every sporting event sprouted forests of photographers, staring through viewfinders to catch the perfect shot of an athlete in action.

The only problem was that all these action photographs were taken from the outside looking in. Photographers could capture what the subject was doing, but the view through the viewfinder could never match the view through the athlete's eyes. It was sight without feeling, it lacked immersion because it was always clear that the photographer wasn't really experiencing it.

This is what led to the GoPro revolution. GoPro gave action photography the immediacy of a first-person shooter videogame, by taking pictures from the athlete's perspective. It wasn't just athletes, anyone doing anything could use a GoPro to capture the moment.

The GoPro's success comes from two factors, the lack of a viewfinder, and its ease of mounting. By removing the viewfinder, they were able to break the paradigm of looking through the camera at what was happening from the outside. Then they made it so you can put a GoPro anywhere, on your body, on your head, wherever you want it. The combination is what lets anyone put the GoPro into the heart of the action. It goes where you go.

The newest GoPro, the HERO3+ Black Edition takes everything GoPro is known for and takes it to the extreme.

    It supports 4K video at up to 15 frames per second
    It supports 2.7K video at 30 frames per second
    It shoots 12MP stills at 30 frames per second
    It's water resistant to 180 feet

This is a camera that counts 720P HD as its lowest video resolution, and only goes up from there. All you have to do is strap it on, turn it on, and live your life to the extreme. It will capture everything you do, and give others the next best thing to being there. The GoPro isn't your traditional camera, it's a way to share your experiences. There's no reason to let someone standing on the sidelines create your image when you can use a GoPro and share your vision.

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