Luminosity masks are one of my favourite things about editing images in Photoshop. They offer so much more power than you can get in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. Creating them, though, can often be a long winded affair. And a given set of actions to create them may not always work so well on any given image. In this video, Photoshop wizard, Unmesh Dinda shows us a way to create luminosity masks very quickly and easily....
To really understand light and see the shot before it happens is a skill one can only gain through experience. Most of us can see good light when it’s staring us in the face, but predicting the future isn’t easy. It’s something we should all try to learn, though, especially if we plan to shoot any kind of documentary. This video from The Great Courses, is an excerpt from a course which includes twelve National Geographic photographers....
Privacy is a big deal these days. Whether it’s online or in the real world. And one of the biggest things people seem to be shouting about in the real world lately is drones. Many people are just absolutely paranoid about them. To the point where they’re shooting them out of the sky. But here’s commercial drone pilot, Brad Simon of Diamond Aerial with a reality check for you. Drones, for the most part, are definitely not spying on you....
Like any career, becoming a professional photographer requires time, effort, skill, and of course – making mistakes. But there are some mistakes that you may keep making and that are constantly holding you back without you even noticing. In this video, Scott Choucino discusses the five biggest mistakes that were holding him back in his photography career, and maybe you’re making them, too. 1. Working too much Here’s one mistake all of us have probably made, especially if we do the job we love: working too much....
Facial recognition is an incredibly useful consumer tool for organizing our burgeoning photo albums. Companies like Google and Apple have slowly integrated machine learning algorithms into their consumer photo products, which allow you to search by keywords without the need for manual tagging, or to simply click on a face to see more photos of that person. In this week’s episode of PhotoShelter’s photography and culture podcast, Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah Jacobs (@sarahjake) and Allen Murabayashi (@allen3m) discuss the controversy surrounding Clearview AI and the implications for facial recognition going forward....
105mm (and 100mm) f/2.8 macro lenses are pretty common. They’ve been the go-to macro lens for many Nikon and Canon shooters in the past and there are also equivalents available for Sony and L mount, along with a whole bunch of third-party options. One thing I’ve not seen before, though, is a macro of this focal length that’s also got tilt-shift capability. Well, it looks like Astr\hori’s about to release one!...
Images taken from the International Space Station never seem to disappoint, and the latest from astronaut Mark Vande Hei definitely belongs in the awesome pile. Mark’s latest capture shows a stunning shot of both the Earth and the moon, all in one image. “Shockingly bright as I opened our shades, the Moon lingered, strutting by,” Mark tweeted. “Lots of time to find good camera settings! Soon we’ll be exploring our neighbor again....
It looks like Panasonic isn’t the only company not giving up on their previous range of mirrorless cameras despite bringing a new one out. Despite the recent EOS R announcement, Canon Rumors reports that Canon is planning to release two new EOS M mirrorless cameras next year. And, no, I doubt any of them will be full frame. A few months ago, people were begging Canon to make a full frame EOS M camera....
The Verge reports that the New York Attorney General believes retailer B&H has dodged over $7,000,000 in taxes in a lawsuit filed recently. It’s all to do with the “Instant Rebate” offers, which are common amongst online retailers these days. The suit claims that B&H has “cheated” the NY sales tax and that they “chose profits over principles”. The investigation and lawsuit come as a response to a whistleblower they say approached them in January 2016....
Normally when we talk about exposure calculators in photography, it’s to figure out what ISO, aperture and shutter speed we want to use for the scene before us. But with the rate of payments coming in “exposure” seemingly on the rise, a new type of “exposure calculator” has arrived. This one just popped up on Photography Domination, and it’s pretty amusing. Based on what they describe as “important metrics and complicated scientific algorithms”, we are presented with a form asking us to enter our experience level, genre, what camera brand we shoot, whether it’s film or digital....
Generally speaking, different lenses have different purposes. For example, a 50mm or an 85mm are often used for portraits, while wider lenses like 24mm are best for landscapes, architecture and interiors. However, there are times when you can (and should) break the unwritten rules and rethink the purpose of your lenses. Guys from Mango Street give you some examples and ideas how to do it. Wide lenses for portraits Telephoto lenses generally work best for portraits, as they are flattering for the subject and separate it nicely from the background....
High-end video gear cost a lot of money, and if your budget is thin, it can be frustrating. Fortunately, there are often cheaper solutions that maybe won’t get you a Hollywood-level image quality, but they’re good enough to turn your ideas into an engaging movie. Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter often introduces us to these affordable solutions, and in this video, he has assembled an entire video kit for under $300....
Wild animals are not exactly known to be the perfect photo models if you stand too close to them. On the contrary – some of them will run away, and others will chase you or even attack. Still, some photographers and tourists keep thinking that they will manage to get away with getting too close. Well, not with this bull elk. When a tourist came too close to it to take photos or video, the animal charged at the man, and the whole incident was caught on camera....
In ways much like the chicken and the egg, it is tough to distinguish which came first, my love of photography, or my obsession with optics. As a young kid, I would go to the local sunglasses stores and grab all the promo literature they had and take it home to read, sometimes even putting it in my backpack so I could look at it during lunch recess. Saying I was a sunglass nerd is only wrong in that it is past-tense – I am still a sunglass nerd....
The idea of a modular camera isn’t all that new. And I don’t just mean being able to bolt on a microphone or a lens. Pretty much all of RED’s cameras are modular. You buy a “brain” and then you get all the associated bits and attachments to actually be able to shoot with it. Now it looks like Canon are getting in on the modular action, although in a different sector of the market....
Nearly two years after releasing the EOS Rebel SL2, Canon has announced the newest addition to its EOS line-up. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 is another affordable, tiny, and lightweight DSLR aimed particularly at those who are just starting out at photography and video. A big improvement over its predecessor is that it shoots 4K/24p, but unfortunately – with a huge crop. The SL3 is very similar in design to the SL2....
Just when I thought I could write about something else today, Canon pops up to let us know that they’re announcing a new firmware update for the Canon EOS C300 Mark III and EOS C500 Mark II digital cine cameras. What does this new firmware do? I hear you ask… Well, it adds support for Frame.io Camera to Cloud (C2C). Frame.io C2C allows for lower bandwidth proxies to be beamed over to remote editors across the Internet for collaborative workflows....
It’s taken a while for Canon to jump on the whole BSI train, although the company appears to have filed a patent in for what appears to be a method of manufacturing a stacked back-side illuminated sensor. And not just any BSI sensor, this one features Canon’s Dual Pixel Autofocus tech, too. The patent takes a long-winded way to describe the system, essentially stating that it will both make the sensor easier to manufacture and also offer all of the usual benefits of a BSI sensor – like increased light-gathering abilities for high ISO performance (although the EOS R5 doesn’t suck, even without BSI)....
After some leaked images and specs, Canon’s 600mm and 800 mm f/11 lenses are now officially up for preorders. All specs and photos are now available, and so is the price: the lenses cost $699 and $899. They have been released along with two new teleconverters which give you even longer focal lengths. So let’s dive in and see what the new gear has to offer. Canon RF 600mm f/11 IS STM The Canon RF 600mm f/11 IS STM is a compact and lightweight telephoto lens designed for Canon RF cameras....
Canon has released its 2019 end of year financial results and presentation, in which Canon highlight how they’ve done over the last year, and also talks a little about what we can expect in the future. If you want to see the financial side of things you can click the links above, but what was particularly interesting, is Canon’s quite surprising focus on new specific new EOS R bodies and RF lenses....
