Facebook has teamed up with Ray-Ban to bring you Ray-Ban Stories, its first pair of “smart glasses.” They combine the recognizable Ray-Ban frames, Facebook technology, and a pair of cameras so you can now share absolutely every moment of your life on social media. Sounds familiar? Yeah, I thought of Snapchat Spectacles, too. Facebook’s no stranger to copying ideas, and this isn’t the first time it tries to be like Snapchat....

Smoke can be useful in all sorts of ways in your photo and video work. Jordy Vandeput and Yannick Theunissenof Cinecom.net share five creative ideas to use a cheap smoke machine and add all sorts of smoke effects to your videos. You can use smoke bombs for your shots (either buy them or make them), but you can also go with a smoke machine. You can get them at a pretty low price, and here are some suggestions how to put it to use for your video work....

Not all photographers and filmmakers went to school for it. There are pros and cons of both formal education and learning everything on your own, but both can give you valuable knowledge and skill, that’s for sure. If you’ve decided to learn filmmaking yourself, there are many things you can do to learn and improve. But are you doing all of them? Jordy Vandeput of Cinecom suggests five things that you probably aren’t doing, but they can be great ways of improving as a filmmaker....

Nowadays you can simply buy fake blood, even online. But if you don’t have a high budget and you’re filming the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre – you will probably still want to rely on DIY blood. Ketchup doesn’t really work, so – what’s the perfect recipe? Before cinema and TV, there were only theaters. And in theater, a red handkerchief symbolized blood. However, the directors wanted something less symbolic and more realistic....

Full frame vs. crop: which one should you buy? Whether you’re getting your first camera or want to upgrade from the one you already own, this is one of the decisions you need to make. Photographer Sheldon Evans shares his experience with both types of DSLRs. He switched from full frame to APS-C, now he’s going back to full-frame, and he’ll give you some reasons why you should choose one over the other....