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Posts Tagged ‘Around’

Watch out Profoto, the Godox V1 round head flash is just around the corner

08 Mar

At Photokina 2018, Godox revealed plans to release a round head speedlight designed to compete with the Profoto A1. That product, the Godox V1, has finally arrived under Adorama’s Flashpoint brand and is expected to launch under the Godox name through B&H Photo soon.

The Flashpoint Zoom Li-On X R2 / Godox V1 features a round zoom head with both automatic and manual zoom control, a magnetic head rim for light modifiers, backlit matrix LCD, support for 330-degree rotation and 120-degree tilt, and a guide number of 92 ft / 28 meters at ISO 100 (50mm). The model’s removable Li-ion polymer battery can power up to 650 full-power flashes per charge with a full-power recycle time of less than 1.5 seconds.

Photographers can use the Godox V1 as an on-camera standalone TTL flash and as a ‘wireless command center’ for the company’s other monolights and speedlights. As well, the new model is fully compatible with the Canon E-TTL system with support for EXIF inscription, HSS, flash value lock, and exposure compensation.

When used as a master, the Godox V1 is able to control four wireless groups, and as a slave, this flash supports both intelligent and regular optical modes.

Other features include the promise of a ‘stable’ color temperature held at 5600±200K across the full power range, HSS shutter speeds up to 1/8000s, front and rear curtain sync, laser AF assist lamp, SMD LED modelling lamp, and the inclusion of multi-purpose buttons.

The Godox V1 is currently listed as pre-release by Adorama. Neither price or availability date are provided, though it is expected to be cheaper than the Profoto A1.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Miami Beach police use camera blimp to get around drone surveillance ban

15 Jan

The Miami Beach Police Department found a loophole to circumvent Florida’s 2015 ban on police drone surveillance — a tethered, relatively immobile blimp with a camera attached to the underside. Officially called a ‘tethered aerostat,’ the helium-filled vehicle was used to monitor the approximately 15,000 people who attended the Capital One Beach Bash over the New Year’s holiday.

In 2015, Florida passed the Freedom From Unwanted Surveillance Act, which banned the use of drones for police surveillance. In a letter to the city commission on January 3, City Manager Jimmy Morales explained the police department’s use of the camera blimp, citing necessity due in part to ‘the legal restrictions on police departments under Florida law and because of limited battery life and flight time’ associated with drones.

Morales went on to call the blimp ‘a new technological solution for aerial monitoring,’ one the police department felt was necessary due to “the emergence of new threats of terrorism seen around the world in such large gatherings…”

A Miami Beach Police Department spokesperson told the Miami New Times the department doesn’t believe its tethered aerostat violates state law. Use of a lighter-than-air vehicle for aerial surveillance has proven controversial, however, with critics saying there is little difference between a stationary floating camera and a remote-controlled flying camera.

The region’s law enforcement has repeatedly demonstrated interest in camera-based surveillance, including the Miami-Dade Police Department’s attempt in 2017 to deploy a wide-area surveillance system involving Cessna planes equipped with cameras. That plan, which was abandoned following heavy criticism, would have monitored the entire county using technology developed by the U.S. Air Force for use in combat zones.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to Photograph Kids Playing, Running Around and Generally Being Kids

11 Nov

If you’re a people photographer, it’s hard to resist photographing kids as they play, run around and… well, be kids. It’s also a great chance for you to play as a photographer.

Here are seven tips to help you capture photographs of kids at play.

It was a grey hazy day at the beach so I focused on silhouette photos of my kids at play.

1. Use Your Phone Instead of Missing the Moment

I teach people how to use their new DSLR cameras. One of their biggest frustrations is that their friends seem to take better photos with a phone than they can with their complicated DSLR.

If you’re still struggling with your DSLR, don’t be afraid to use your phone as a camera. As long as you keep in mind the most important parts of a photo – light, moment, and composition – your phone will take great photos.

This photo of my daughter running through a puddle was captured with my iPhone 4s. Because it was a bright day, the shutter speed was fast and froze the water as it splashed.

2. Be an Observer Instead of a Boss

If you’re going to photograph kids at play, it’s best to have them acting candidly rather than telling them what to do. Just let them play, and they’ll give you countless moments to photograph. The moment you step in and tell them what to do or how to play, you’ll ruin the moment.

I wanted a nice portrait of my daughter with these fall colors, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to make her stand still for one. So I let her walk on ahead of me. When I called her name she looked back, and I snapped the photo.

3. Angles

While photographing kids at play, consider the angle you’re using. Your photos will look more exciting if you go for low angles or face to face. Get down to their level (if not lower) and into their world.

I achieved this extremely low angle by laying down on the ground and looking straight up.

Before it was hauled away, my kids turned this mattress into a trampoline. A low angle helped to capture how high he was jumping.

4. Get Close

Join in the play, and get as close as you can while using a wide angle. When you look at the photo it will make you feel like you’re right back there in the moment.

This son was wrestling with his dad so I decided to get in as close as I could. The wide-angle helped to exaggerate the moment.

5. Get Behind Them

Photographing people from behind adds a bit of mystery to your photo. It lets the viewer bring a little more of their own imagination to the photo. When we can’t see the person’s face, it makes us imagine what they’re up to.

This over-the-shoulder shot anticipates the action that’s about to happen.

 

This photo was taken in a massive outdoor sandbox. Obviously, he’s been sliding down the dirt hills on his bum.

 

This combines taking a photo from behind with getting in close. (Taken with an iPhone.)

6. Play With Your Shutter Speed

One of the biggest problems you’ll face when capturing action is motion blur. So you’ll need a fast shutter speed.

But you can also play with a slow shutter speed and capture creative motion blur.

Slow shutter speed motion blur

I took advantage of my iPhone’s slow shutter speed to capture this portrait of my daughter. As you can see her face is basically sharp while the background is quite blurry. This was achieved by having her walk toward me while I walked backward. To the camera everything is moving except for her.

7. Tell a Story With Your Photos

You can tell a story with your photos. It might be a ‘before and after’ story using just two photos. Or it could be a beginning, middle and end with three photos. It might even be a longer story that fills a photo book.

Daddy daughter candid moment.

This story begins with a little girl taking her daddy by the hand and leading him.

 

Daddy daughter dancing

Then in the middle of the story, she dances with her daddy.

 

Daddy daughter play

The story ends with her daddy swinging her around wildly.

Final Checklist

Here’s a checklist for photographing kids as they run around and play.

  • Consider this playtime for you as a photographer.
  • Use any camera you’ve got – even your phone.
  • Stand back and let moments happen on their own.
  • Be creative with your angles.
  • Get in close.
  • Add mystery to your photo by photographing kids from behind.
  • Be creative with your shutter speed.
  • Tell stories with multiple photos.

Now go out there and take some great photos of those kids being kids and share them with us in the comments.

The post How to Photograph Kids Playing, Running Around and Generally Being Kids appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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DJI updates geofencing system to better protect airspace around airports

24 Oct

DJI has announced Geospatial Environment Online Version 2.0 (GEO 2.0), a geofencing update for its drones that improves their ability to avoid restricted airspace near airports. The improvements are “based on a more finely-tuned evaluation of risks associated with aircraft approaching and departing different types of airports,” according to Brendan Schulman, DJI VP of Policy & Legal Affairs.

The update will arrive in phases starting in November for airports and airspace in the US. DJI indicates similar upgrades will arrive in other regions, but doesn’t provide a timeline, saying only that they “will follow in due course.”

DJI explains that its new system enables Geospatial Environment Online to create a 3D “bowtie” safety zone around airport runway flight paths; the update also adds complex polygons for placement around non-runway facilities deemed sensitive.

The update also adds restrictions for the final approach corridor of active runways, which are designated as “runaway exclusion zones” by the FAA Reauthorization Act. DJI has dropped AirMap and selected PrecisionHawk as its new North America data provider. The company collaborated with the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) to get guidance on GEO 2.0 from general aviation pilots and airports.

DJI drone owners will need to update their drone firmware and the DJI GO 4 flight control app to access the changes.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Study sheds light on selfie deaths from around the world

06 Oct

A study newly published by the US National Library of Medicine NIH sheds light on deaths that occurred while taking selfies. The team behind the study found a total of 259 selfie-related fatalities had occurred between October 2011 and November 2017 from a total of 137 incidents around the globe. Risky behavior is cited as the primary cause of these tragedies.

The researchers conducted their study “to assess the epidemiology of selfie-related deaths across the globe,” according to the published research paper. Selfie-related deaths were categorized into two “causes” categories: non-risky behavior and risky behavior.

Risky behavior accounted for the majority of deaths, 72.5% of which involved male and 27.5% of which involved female victims. India was found to have the highest number of reported incidents, with Russia, the US, and Pakistan following. Falling, drowning, and transport-related incidents topped the reasons for the deaths.

As well, the study found that male victims were three times more likely to die during selfies due to risky behaviors, whereas non-risky behavior was the primary cause of female selfie-related fatalities. A recent example of such a tragedy involved 26-year-old Chinese “rooftopper” Wu Yongning who died after falling from a skyscraper.

The researchers conclude that regions with tall buildings, bodies of water, and other similar perilous places should be declared “no selfie zones” to help protect people from potential injuries or death.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: A Sony flash ‘feature’ you may not like, and how to work around it

16 May

Photographer Robert Hall sent us his latest video, because he’s found some interesting things about the way the live view and EVF on recent Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras respond when you attach a flash or flash trigger to the hot shoe. And, usefully, he’s also found a workaround.

Like many mirrorless cameras, the Sonys offer a choice of whether the preview display reflects your settings (to help assess exposure) or ignores them to give a consistently bright preview (useful if you’re working with strobes in a studio). This is one of the key advantages a digital preview can offer over an optical viewfinder. You select this by turning “Setting Effect” On or Off in the Live View Display menu.

However, when you attach a flashgun or trigger, this setting is over-ruled, automatically switching to a ‘corrected’ preview simulating the metered exposure. This is a behavior we quite liked when we tested the camera, but Hall points out that it’s not very helpful if you want to assess the contribution of ambient light to your scene. It essentially surrenders the advantage of using a digital preview.

This, in turn, led Hall to work out what the ‘Shot Result Preview’ option—assignable to a custom button—is for. It lets you work around the camera’s enforced behavior when you have a flash or trigger attached, albeit at the cost of one of your custom buttons. We checked with some other brands and found Panasonic cameras do the same thing as Sony, but without any kind of workaround.

From our perspective, it would be much simpler to add a second option after the ‘Settings Effect’ On/Off option in the menu: one that lets you define what happens when you add a flash. That way you can accommodate the preferences of both kinds of photographer, but without the need for workarounds.

It also goes to show: for all that we criticize the complexity of menus in current cameras, it’s extremely difficult to build a camera that works the way every user will want. It also highlights the occasional need to re-assess the way cameras work, from the ground up, rather than gluing patches and workarounds on top of what’s already there.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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PIXEO is a crowdsourced collection of the best photo spots around the world

08 May

Whether you’re looking for new spots in town or looking for the best photo locations while on vacation, a new app called PIXEO is here to help.

Made exclusively for iOS (for now), PIXEO is a paid photo scouting app that relies on crowdsourced information to show the best photo spots in a given area. It currently features more than 10,000 locations, provided by more than 200 paid subscribers.

Beyond location, the pins across the map include photos that have been taking there, the current weather at a chosen location, directions to get there and notes from other photographers on whether or not the location is worth your time.

Using the app is simple. After downloading PIXEO from the iOS App Store, you’re presented with the opportunity to subscribe monthly or annually for $ 3 per month or $ 25 per year, respectively. Don’t worry, though. There’s a 30-day free trial to test the waters and see if it works for you.

Once in the app, it’s just a matter of finding an area you want to scout for locations. After you select a location and find a pin that another photographer has contributed, you can just save it to your favorites and hit the road.

PIXEO was only launched two weeks ago, so don’t worry if there’s nothing nearby. It has been featured in the ‘Best of What’s New’ section in the iOS App Store in multiple countries and is continually gaining new locations.

You can take PIXEO for a spin by downloading it from the iOS App Store.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Days Inn is advertising a $10k summer gig shooting sunsets around the US

03 May

Here’s an interesting opportunity for any landscape photographers who need a “summer job” in the most literal sense of the term.

Wyndham Hotels’ property Days Inn—which features a rising Sun as its logo—has posted a job add seeking a photographer to serve as its “Sun-tern” for a one-month gig this summer. The chosen photographer will capture images of the sunset in cities around the US, providing them to Days Inn for use in hotel properties, on the company’s social media accounts, and more.

Days Inn is offering a $ 10,000 stipend for the gig, paid travel expenses, Wyndham Rewards Diamond status, as well as “a glowing recommendation upon completion of the Sun-ternship from Barry Goldstein, Wyndham Hotel Group’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.”

The company is seeking “a creative amateur photographer,” according to the Sun-ternship Web page. Applicants must be at least 21-years-old, located in the US, and have an open schedule during the project. Anyone can submit an application via email until May 20th, and all applicants should include an original outdoor photo as well as 100 words detailing “why you’re the best person for the job.”

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Oppo and Corephotonics sign strategic agreement around dual-cameras

20 Apr

OPPO, one of China’s largest mobile phone manufacturers, has signed a strategic licensing agreement with Corephotonics, a developer of dual-camera technologies based in Israel. Under the agreement, the two companies will work together on the development on Oppo’s smartphone camera roadmap, covering optical zoom, depth mapping for bokeh simulation and related features, as well as other areas involving smartphone camera optics optics, mechanics, computational imaging and deep learning among others.

“Mobile photography is a key focus of OPPO, and we have always been eager to forge strong partnerships with leading suppliers like Corephotonics,” said Dr. King, OPPO’s Hardware Director. “Corephotonics’ dual cameras with wide-angled and telephoto lenses, along with the periscope-style construction, optical image stabilization and image fusion technology, edge mobile photography even closer to what digital cameras are capable of doing.”

Oppo and Corephotonics have worked together in the past, including on a 5x optical zoom module that was implemented in an Oppo prototype device and displayed at last year’s MWC. We’re looking forward to seeing the results from this now more formalized relationship.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Shooting the Sony a7 III around the Pacific Northwest: Sample gallery updated

24 Mar

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Now that we’ve gotten the Sony a7 III in our Seattle offices and are working our way through our full review, we’ve updated our sample gallery with a selection of our favorite images from our neck of the woods.

From cherry blossoms at the University of Washinton to coastal lighthouses and even a few furry friends for good measure, check out our gallery for a taste of Seattle in the springtime.

See our updated Sony a7 III gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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