Late March on Beaver Pond in Arapaho Bend Natural Area near Fort Collins. The lake was ice free for about two weeks. No green colors yet. Geese are still swimming, but starting to settle down on two islands. Muskrats are […]
paddling with a camera
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Photographer Josh Rossi is no stranger to creating epic photography for and of his family. His portraits of his daughter as Wonder Woman swept across the Internet like wildfire, and he’s continued doing amazing work, including this touching series where he transformed disabled kids into Justice League superheroes.
So why did he let some run-of-the-mill “family photographer” take last year’s Christmas pictures for him!?
He didn’t know either. In fact, he felt deeply ashamed by this lapse in judgement, and so he set to work creating something amazing to redeem himself this Holiday season. Cue Star Wars theme.
“I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and my wife has been asking me to do some pictures of us so I went all out this year for our family photos,” Rossi tells DPReview. And by all-out, he means he recreated the Star Wars: The Last Jedi posters featuring himself, his wife, and their two children instead of the lead actors.
“I had such a fun time doing this with my family,” he told us, “especially with my 1 year old.”
Rossi sent over a few behind the scenes images for us (below) and you can see the final shots in the gallery at the top.
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To see more of Rossi’s work, or if you just want to say hello and kudos for another really creative and well-executed project, head over to his website or give him a follow on Instagram and Facebook.
All photographs by Josh Rossi and used with permission.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Lightroom has long been the “go-to” program for organizing images and has come into its own as an editing powerhouse as well. If you haven’t been using Lightroom for organizing your images, you are missing a big part of the digital photography pie. The secret to your organization success in Lightroom is using keywords and star ratings effectively.
That doesn’t mean that you need to keyword every last image you import into Lightroom. But you can label batches of images and then eventually cull down the keywords to easily find your best images. With over 30,000 images in my Lightroom catalog, I’m pretty happy about being able to find an image in a matter of seconds with the use of this simple system. It’s well-suited for beginners and combines keywords and star ratings.
For example, a file name could be; “Iceland_2015_03”.
Many people name their folders by date or location. I prefer location, then date, as it’s much easier for me to remember that way. Whatever naming system you use, just be sure that it’s consistent, and makes sense to you. If you decide “Location_Year_Month” is the best way for you to set it up, make sure that every folder is done the same way.
For example, these folder titles could fall into the Iceland_2015_03 category. Don’t make the mistake of creating random titles like this: Winter 2015, Iceland 2015, Iceland March 2015, Reykjavik 03_2015.
When you first import your images into Lightroom, you can rename the whole set of images, or rename them after import. It is much faster and easier to rename them upon import. Follow the import prompts and enter as much information as you can when you first are bringing images into Lightroom. It will save you loads of time later on.
I usually keep the original file number of the image assigned in-camera and then add the location or another identifying label to the front end of the name. You can batch rename and keyword a series of images in the import module. You don’t have to keyword each image individually, but keyword in batches to make it easier.
My other secret tool is the star rating tool. When the images are first imported, I cull through the images quickly and add a one-star rating to the images that I would like to come back and edit. At this point, I don’t try and add any more stars than just a simple one-star.
Another easy way to add ratings to an image after import is to use the “Paint Can tool”. With this tool, you can set a parameter (like a star rating, keyword, or set of keywords) to “spray” on to an image or a collection of images. If you would like to “spray” a star to your favorite images, this is a fast way to do it.
The Paint Can tool is located on the bottom left of the grid view and it looks like a spray can. Click on it and you will see a selective panel, choose “rating”. After you select “rating”, on the right side of that panel is a series of dots. Click on one of those dots, and it will turn into a star.
Paint Can Tool
Then you can quickly go through your images in the grid view and “spray” a one-star rating on all of the images that you like. At this point, don’t apply any more than a rating.
If something really merits a better star rating, go back and review the images again. Once you do your second pass of the images, set the spray can to a 2-star rating. Then repeat the same method for those images that you might like to go in and apply Lightroom adjustments.
You can also use it to paint in a color label, flat, metadata or any of these things.
Reserve the 3-star ratings for those images that you might use for an article or blog post and the 4-star ratings are only reserved for the best of the best which you would put in your portfolio. Keep your star ratings consistent, so you know that if an image has a 4-star rating, that it reflects your best work.
Now that you have set up the keywords and star ratings to your images, you have the ability to search or filter images in your catalog. In the Filter Bar in the Grid View, choose the Text option and the drop down box to select keywords, and start entering specific keywords.
The Spray Can tool can be used for a variety of options to add information to your images. You can “spray” not only star ratings but keywords, metadata information, labels, presets, or assign target collection images.
The next option is to add a series of keywords to your images. We already know that the files you are importing will be from Iceland. Use that as the keyword that applies to all of these images. Then consider where you were on your trip to Iceland. Are your images from the North Coast or the South Coast? Do you have pictures from Reykjavik? Do you have images from Vik? Who is in the images?
The idea here is to start out broad and then narrow your focus. Perhaps your whole shoot is from Iceland. Perhaps another broad category would be winter, ice, or arctic.
Select the Spray Can tool and go to the drop-down menu to the right of the icon. Select “keyword” and enter the word or words you would like to apply. “Spray” your series of images that are from the North Coast and apply that keyword. Change your keyword, and then spray your series of images that are from the South Coast. Continue to narrow down your focus. Then spray just those images from the South Coast that were taken in Vik and so on.
The keywords you should apply will depend on what you would like to use your images for in the future. Are you submitting to a stock agency? Are these images for personal use only? When will you use the images?
The best plan for creating keywords would be to apply basic information that will remind you about the subject, in order to help with locating images later. Start your keywording upon import and use the broadest subject that will apply to all of the images, and then narrow down your keyword focus.
Once you have started to create keywords, Lightroom will suggest keywords that might work with the current set of images in the Keywording panel. The suggested keywords help you to create cohesive words that can be used on multiple sets of images.
Notice at the bottom of the Keywording panel, there is an area with keyword sets. Lightroom automatically gives you some presets to use in this module. Click on the keyword set for “outdoor photography” and see the keywords that are suggested. If there are keywords you would rather use, right-click on the down arrow of the keyword set and you will see the option to “edit set” where you can add and remove words from that set.
The list of keywords from the preset will come up and you can add or subtract those keywords that apply to your images. Then, when you are keywording a certain genre of photography, you can select your keyword set of “outdoor photography” or “portrait photography” and rapidly choose from those sets of keywords. This will also prevent you from creating multiple keywords that mean the same thing. This is useful when you are using specific keywords to search for an image.
Then you will see Lightroom begin to sort images based on the keywords you entered. You can then add another dimension to the search, and a star rating.
This is when you can go back into your Lightroom catalog of 30,000 pictures to find the 4-star rated image in “Iceland” that has a keyword “Eagle Rock”, and find it in a second. Then you’ll see how great this system works. You can also limit your search to specific folders or collections when those are selected in the left-hand column of the Library Module.
Have you tried to organize your images in Lightroom? What kind of naming system works for you? What kind of challenges are you experiencing? Feel free to share your comments below.
The post Why Lightroom Keywords and Star Ratings are Important for Your Photography Workflow by Holly Higbee-Jansen appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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We sent some files to our friend Jim Kasson for analysis, and he confirms that the Sony a7R III is definitely still a Star Eater, despite several claims to the contrary that have been published online over the past week.
Looking at Kasson’s graphs, one can clearly see the noise reduction kick in near Nyquist in Kasson’s energy plots. Indeed, in our own shots of the stars with the a7R III and latest a7R II (firmware v3.00 and above), our final files only show stars that are larger than one pixel with a few neighboring pixels: suggesting that smaller stars are indeed ‘eaten’ or dimmed due to a spatial filtering algorithm.
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| At a 3.2-second exposure, the ‘spacial filtering’ (Star Eater) is very mild, and won’t affect your stars. |
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| But as soon as you hit 4-seconds, spacial filtering kicks in big time, causing the same Star Eater problems that was seen in the a7R II |
This is a missed opportunity for Sony, and something dedicated astrophotographers will want to consider when deciding between the a7R III and other options that don’t have this same issue (a Nikon D850 for example). Other photographers happy with the number of stars still in their shots simply won’t care.
We’ll drop in one of our sample photos shortly for your pixel-peeping pleasure. But for now, we can say this with confidence: while a lot of stars still survive ‘Star Eater’, the a7R III continues the trend of noise reduction that dims or erases small stars at exposure longer than 3.2s.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Ricoh is showing off two upcoming lenses at the Photo Plus Expo show in New York this week. The HD Pentax-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW is designed for full-frame cameras, while the HD Pentax-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 is intended to be paired with the company’s APS-C DSLRs.
We weren’t able to get our hands on the new lenses, sadly – they’re still under glass – but we’re told that they’re cosmetically near-final. Click through for a closer look.
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We’ve known about the HD Pentax-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW for a while, but the last time we saw it (also under glass) it was little more than a lens-shaped lump of plastic. Things have advanced since then, and the copy on show here appears to be a working prototype.
The upcoming 50mm is one of a new generation of ‘star series’ lenses that Ricoh intends for high-resolution imaging with its flagship K-1 and (presumably) follow-up full-frame models.
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The 50mm F1.4 will come with a generously proportioned lens hood. The ‘AW’ in the designation stands for ‘All Weather’ and denotes environmental sealing, which should mean that like the K-1, it will stand up to use in harsh conditions.
A new ring-type SDM autofocus drive promises fast, quiet focusing. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the new 50mm should be available in spring of next year.
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Meanwhile, the HD Pentax-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 is intended to be paired with the company’s APS-C DSLRs, and covers an effective focal length range of ~17-28mm. The fast maximum aperture of F2.8 is fixed across the zoom range, and while it hasn’t been spelled out anywhere, the sample on show appears to feature a switch for optical image stabilization, covered in black tape.
This would be a bit odd, given that Pentax’s DSLRs are stabilized in-body but could point towards hybrid stabilization. The alternative explanation (and probably more likely) is that it’s either a zoom lock or simply a vestigial bump which will be removed in shipping lenses.
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Beyond the usual hyperbole (photographers should be able to ‘effortlessly capture breathtaking landscapes’ with this lens, apparently) details of the exact specification are sparse. Along with the mystery switch, the focus scale has also been obscured.
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No pricing information has been shared, but we’re told that the 11-18mm will be available next summer.
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Here’s the new K-1 ‘Silver Edition’, announced in August. This special edition of Ricoh’s flagship full-frame DSLR features a special silver coating, to match the silver versions of Pentax Limited lenses.
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This is the kind of thing that often looks great in manufacturer-supplied renderings, but a bit tacky in real life. We’re pleased to see that in person, the silver K-1 looks pretty classy.
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A special silver hotshoe cover is an especially nice touch. The K-1 silver edition is limited to 2000 copies worldwide.
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Alongside its conventional cameras and lenses, Ricoh is also showing off its new Theta V 360-degree camera, which improves on the original model with much better resolution and advanced video features. Learn more about the Ricoh Theta V
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
These closed and abandoned astronomical observatories once gazed skyward into a star-spangled universe, revealing hidden wonders of time and space. Once.
You’ll typically find observatories atop the highest mountains, mainly because there’s less air to see through up there. Smaller countries with smaller mountains do the best they can, as is the case with this abandoned observatory (or old radar station, depending on the source) slowly deteriorating high up on Portugal’s aptly named Serra da Estrela (“Star Mountain Range”).
Flickr member David Barnas (Dark Spot Photography) perfectly captures the lonely majesty of abandoned observatories in the above image. This breathtaking photo dates from May of 2013 and offers a unique view of the dome of one of Case Western University’s now-disused observatories.
Lick Observatory encompasses a number of telescopes and other related observing tools protected by structural domes of various ages and sizes. With construction atop Mount Hamilton near San Jose, California beginning in 1876, Lick Observatory boasts individual observatories in current use, temporarily closed and outright abandoned pending demolition. Flickr members Kelly The Deluded (kjoyner666) and Panoramio user Nick Sower captured what appears to be the 20-Inch Carnegie Double Astrograph in need of a new paint job – at the very least.
The venerable City Observatory on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland dates back to 1818 and provided stalwart scientific service for nearly two centuries – the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh moved out of the observatory in 2009. Since then, the buildings have been managed by the City of Edinburgh Council, who restored the interior decor but then rented out the rooms as holiday accommodations. Flickr member Jenni Douglas (photojenni) snapped the interior of one of the observatory’s domes in May of 2007.
Russia’s hotly-contested annexation of Crimea from the Ukraine was still six years away when Flickr member Max Bashyrov (movaxdx) snapped the above image of “some kind of abandoned observatory.” With all that visible rust, we’ll have to assume it was formerly engaged in observing Mars, the Red Planet.
[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]
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[ By SA Rogers in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]
Fans visiting Disney World’s upcoming Star Wars Land expansion, set to open in 2019, will have the opportunity to immerse themselves even more deeply into the fictional universe in an almost Westworld-style experience. At its D23 Expo in Los Angeles this week, Disney announced a new Star Wars-themed hotel where every window will offer views of ‘outer space,’ every employee will be in character, and every guest will be the protagonist of their very own Star Wars storyline.
Premiering as part of the new Disney 360 vacation concept, the hotel will be a ‘living adventure.’
“It’s unlike anything that exists today,” says Bob Chapek, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. “From the second you arrive, you will become a part of a Star Wars story! You’ll immediately become a citizen of the galaxy and experience all that entails, including dressing up in the proper attire. Once you leave Earth, you will discover a starship alive with characters, stories, and adventures that unfold all around you. It is 100% immersive, and the story will touch every single minute of your day, and it will culminate in a unique journey for every person who visits.”
Disney also unveiled models of the new park along with its name, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The park will also be an interactive experience with each guest as a character – so you don’t have to stay in the resort to enjoy that aspect of the action, but it certainly seems like it would add to the overall effect.
“One attraction will make you feel like you’re on a Star Destroyer inside a hangar bay. It’s an attraction built on a scale we’ve never done before.
The second attraction will give guests the opportunity to fly the Millenium Falcon, piloting the ship, shooting blasters or preparing for hyperspace – all while completing a critical mission. But how you perform on the mission holds even bigger stakes: perform with skill and you may earn extra galactic credits, while bringing the ship back banged up could put you on the list of a bounty hunter. End up on Harkos’s list and you may face a problem if you show up at the local cantina!”
[ By SA Rogers in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]
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[ By Steve in Culture & History & Travel. ]
The Chevrolet Corvette’s long list of silver screen starring roles turned America’s first mass-produced sports car into an automotive pop culture icon.
One of the Corvette‘s first film appearances was in the 1955 film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly. Directed by Robert Aldrich, the movie starred Ralph Meeker as Mickey Spillane’s hard-boiled private investigator Mike Hammer. The latter roamed the mean streets of Los Angeles in his 1954 Corvette, one of only 3,640 manufactured that year and one of only FOUR painted black.
Hammer’s black ‘vette may have looked cool but performance was anything but hot due to the pedestrian Stovebolt Six engine under its fiberglass hood. GM introduced a V8 for 1955 but limited model year production to just 700 in order to move the rest of the slow-selling ’54s. Even so, Hammer’s sleek (for the times) ride definitely added badly-needed panache to a niche model whose future was very much in doubt.
True Lies, a 1994 action-adventure-comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, and even Charlton Heston has aged rather well. Ditto for the red 1959 Corvette driven by Paxton (playing sleazy used car salesmen Simon) as he regales AH-nold on his time-tested seduction technique: “Let’s face it, Harry, the ‘Vette gets ’em wet.”
“Hey buddy, where’s the gas cap on this thing?” Built in 1959 “to test handling ease and performance,” the Corvette XP-87 racer won an SCCA National Championship in 1960. It was then modified with the addition of a passenger seat and made the rounds of the auto show circuit.
The XP-87 bowed out in grand style, appearing in the 1967 film Clambake as the private car of Elvis Presley’s oil tycoon character. Thank you, XP-87, thank you very much.
“You can hedge your bet on a clean Corvette”… Heavy Metal – the 1981 animated sci-fi fantasy film produced by Ivan Reitman and inspired by the eponymous graphic magazine, featured a 1960 Corvette but if you arrived a few minutes late to the movie theater, you probably missed it.
Here’s a link to the ‘vette’s impressive entrance (dude totally sticks the landing!) in which it literally brings evil to the world in the form of the glowing green loc-nar. Mustang owners most definitely approve.
[ By Steve in Culture & History & Travel. ]
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Photographing the Milky Way is unlike any other kind of photography. The camera settings are completely different, as are the post-processing techniques, and there’s a lot more planning that goes into a successful outing than people (who haven’t done it before) realize.
The Milky Way over Half Dome in Yosemite NP, shot from Glacier Point.
You see, finding the location of the Milky Way in our sky is always changing. In the northern hemisphere the best time to photograph the Milky Way is in the late spring to early fall. It isn’t even visible during most of winter because it’s only above the horizon during the day when we can’t see the stars. And of course in the southern hemisphere, everything above is reversed.
The Milky Way over a group of oak trees in San Luis Obispo, California.
When the Milky Way is visible, it’s hard to know when it will be in peak position and in which direction (north, south, east, or west) it will be visible. Then there’s the question of whether or not it will be rising straight up from a certain direction or appear as an arc across the sky.
All of the answers to these questions will, of course, determine what foreground subjects you can use at any given time of the year. For example, if you’re trying to shoot Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, you’ll need the Milky Way to be visible in the northeast sky. Plus, you need it there at a time of night when the moon is either beneath the horizon or during a moon phase where the light from the moon will be minimal. If it’s a full moon for example, the Milky Way and night sky will be considerably dimmer than say during a new or crescent moon.
The Milky Way over Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah.
As you can see, there are a lot of variables. That’s where the app Star Walk 2 comes in.
I found this app years ago when it was in its first incarnation, and still use it today for most of my night sky photography planning. This app is beautifully designed and will let you know exactly when and where the Milky Way will be at any given time, along with every other star and constellation in the sky. It’s an incredible resource for photographers. I created a video showing how I use it.
Have a look below and let me know what you think.
I know there are other options and apps that do similar things available as well, so comment below and tell us what you use. I’m always open to trying new things and would love to hear them.
You can find the Star Walk 2 app in the Google Play Store for Android and on iTunes for Apple devices.
The post How to Use the Star Walk 2 App for Milky Way Photography by James Brandon appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Recently we introduced our new Night Photography course by dPS writer Jim Hamel. Learn more about this brand new course here, so you can take stunning night photos too!
Photography of the night sky and the stars can be challenging but rewarding. If you do it right you can end up with images like these:
By Kris Williams
By Tom Davidson
By Paul Weeks
By Chris Gin
By Bureau of Land Management
By Diana Robinson
By Shannon Dizmang
By Bill Dickinson
By Jimmy
By Howard Ignatius
By sian monument
By Jeff Krause
By Michiluzzu
By Olli Henze
By Olli Henze
By Julien NKS
By Tom Davidson
By Tralphe XY
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The post Star Gazing – 18 Twinkly Images of the Celestial Sky by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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