Free Republic

The truth is out there . . . maybe. A photo tweeted by astronaut Scott Kelly is generating plenty of extraterrestrial buzz. Kelly, who recently broke the U.S. record for most days in space, tweeted the picture taken from the International Space Station Sunday.

"What this photograph demonstrates is that..." There was lightning and thunder in his words and eyes when Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was lashing out at the liberal media during Wednesday night's debate. There was a whole different picture during a break, when Cruz spent some happy moments with his daughters Caroline and Catherine. A picture of Cruz with the two girls was uploaded to Twitter, where voters got a glimpse of the man behind the message. Wonderful photo of @tedcruz loving on his sweet daughters during a break in the action. #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/cCt3GXZQJg- Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett)...

Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured a near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto's horizon. The smooth expanse of the informally named Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west (left) by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) high, including the informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and Hillary Montes on the skyline. The backlighting highlights more than a dozen layers of haze in Pluto's tenuous but distended atmosphere. The image...

The Pentagon is illustrating Defense Secretary Ash Carter's trip to Israel with a picture of any angry-looking Benjamin Netanyahu. The picture is available on the Defense Department's website:The caption reads, "U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following a meeting to discuss matters of mutual importance in Jerusalem, July 21, 2015."The photo was taken by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Clydell Kinchen.

The Transportation Security Administration is getting an earful from angry Americans after the agency’s spokeswoman tweeted a photo of the contents of a traveler’s suitcase – $75,000 in cash – for all the world to see on Tuesday. “If you had $75,000, is this how you’d transport it? Just asking! TSA @ RIC spotted this traveler’s preferred method,” tweeted Lisa Farbstein, TSA spokeswoman at headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The public reaction was fierce and included some of the following comments: So … taxpayers are paying you to tweet photos of their luggage? image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/06/TSA_Lisa_Farbstein.png TSA_Lisa_Farbstein What other perfectly legal possessions...

Should photographers be able to include copyrighted public building and sculptures in photos without having to worry about payment or permissions? The concept is called “freedom of panorama,” and it’s currently under attack over in Europe.

If you’re interested at all in bird watching and photography, Merlin Bird Photo ID is a website you should add to your bookmarks. It’s a new website that can help you identify the species of the bird in your photograph.

.....Chicago Police Officers Jerome Finnigan, left, and Timothy McDermott with an unknown man in a photo believed to be taken between 1999 and 2003. | Court file photo Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday had two choice words for the now-fired Chicago Police officer who joined another former officer in posing with rifles as they stood over a black man lying on his belly with deer antlers on his head. “Good riddance.” “Let me be clear: That photo does not represent the values of the city of Chicago that we all share in common. It doesn’t represent the values of the...

Courtesy of The Democrats (via Twitter), of course I don’t even know what to say about this. It’s almost as if whoever runs the Democrats’ Twitter account decided to take on a personal challenge of coming up with the most inappropriate photo imaginable for the day when the nation honors its war dead. It’s about fallen soldiers? Ha! Screw that! We’ll not only post a photo of our president instead, but we’ll show him eating ice cream with a goofy look on his face, while a bunch of sycophantic photographers click away like the lapdogs they are. Oh, and a...

He says it’s in compliance with the federal lunch rules championed by First Lady Michelle Obama. “The meal in this photo and other meals served by Portsmouth Public Schools meet nutritional and USDA requirements,” according to the food service coordinator. An unscientific poll by WAVY found 92.3 percent of respondents (10,138 people) did not believe the lunch was “acceptable.”

It was a month ago that a Texas lawmaker sparked a hoopla by proposing a bill that would limit the photography and filming of officers. If passed, anyone caught pointing a camera at an officer from within 25 feet could be charged with breaking the law.

The Internet is teeming with photographs and videos of the starry night sky that dazzle the eyes and tickle the imagination, but have you ever wondered how the imagery compares to what photographer’s naked eye actually saw while the camera was taking a picture?

Texas House of Representatives lawmaker Jason Villalba sparked quite a controversy earlier this month after proposing a bill that would make it illegal to photograph a police officer from within 25 feet. People were so angered by the idea that Villalba has received death threats from angry members of the public.

Screen shot 2015-03-13 at 09.38.36.jpgThe U.S. State Department clearly has a firm grasp of the reality of the jihad threat. Of course, it is bound as a matter of policy to deny and downplay that threat, so gaffes like this are bound to happen. “Internet gaffe by US government as UK extremist’s sharia law photo used in free speech ad,” by Martin Beckford and Abul Taher, Daily Mail, March 15, 2015: The US government has made a bizarre internet gaffe by posting a British Muslim extremist’s photograph of veiled women calling for sharia law, citing it as an inspirational example...

Los Angeles has agreed to pay a $50,000 settlement to three photographers after they were detained by LA County Sheriffs while taking pictures in public places. As part of the settlement, the city will also teach its sheriff deputies that photography is not a crime.

Want a better understanding of how Photoshop’s sharpening filters work and how to best use them? Here’s a tutorial in which Photoshop expert Deke McClelland discusses using Photoshop’s features to bring out clearer details in your digital photographs. McClelland discusses all the sharpening filters found in the Sharpen menu in Photoshop (e.g. the one-click sharpening filters, Unsharp Mask, and Smart Sharpen), as well as the Sharpening panel found in Adobe Camera Raw.

Heads up: you can currently download a free copy of onOne Software’s Perfect Effects 9. It’s a $60 program that can be used as a Photoshop or Lightroom plugin or as a standalone tool. Inside are customizable filters and hundreds of presets that allow you to quickly apply custom looks to your photos.

Explorer Sam Cossman recently employed the help of multiple drones to capture photos and footage of the Marum Crater in an active volcano on the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. He ended up losing multiple drones in the process, but he left the island with spectacular images that will help provide a better understanding of the volcano and the life that exists around it.

Non-profit worker who provoked fury with disrespectful Arlington photo tells how she lost her job, can't date and now lives in fear For almost a year after Lindsey Stone was fired, she refused to leave the house. Her former employer, Life (Living Independently Forever) dismissed her in 2012 over a picture that a coworker had taken of her giving the finger at Arlington National Cemetery. The firing of both women came after an ardent online campaign that had flooded Life, which works with 'pretty high-functioning people with learning difficulties,' according to Stone, with emails. In addition to the firing, it...