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Make the Most of High Contrast Lighting for Dramatic Street Photos

02 Aug

The post Make the Most of High Contrast Lighting for Dramatic Street Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Street photographers often love the type of light many others seek to avoid. High contrast lighting is favored by many because of the drama it adds to the action, or lack of it, in the streets.

Making the most of high contrast lighting is a matter of being able to see it more as your camera does. It also helps to have a good knowledge of how you can manipulate your photos during post-processing.

Make the Most of High Contrast Lighting for Dramatic Street Photos Young Market Vendor

Seeing like your camera

Your eyes can see a wider range of tone than your camera can. This is changing as camera technology advances. Soon cameras will be able to record more details in the highlights and shadows over a broader range. For now, your eyes are more capable.

What you see on your camera’s monitor when you review a photo is different than what you’ll see on your computer. On your camera, you will not see so much depth or detail. Learning to discern what your photos will look like after some post-processing will help you take better photos.

Taking photos knowing how you will process them later helps you make better decisions while you’re taking photos. The choices you make about exposure and composition can depend on what treatment you will give a RAW image on your computer.

When you look at a high contrast scene, your eyes will see more detail than your camera is able to record. Because the difference between the light value of the highlights and shadows is so vast, your camera cannot record it all. But your eyes will still be able to see it.

Understanding this when you are in high contrast light will help you make better photos.

high-contrast-lighting-for-dramatic-street-photos- Cycle Shadows

Expose with intent

Photographing in hard light means you must make careful exposure choices. Do you want to see details in the highlights? Do you want to see details in the shadow areas? You must choose if you want to make the most of the dramatic lighting.

Exposing for the highlights and letting the shadows fall into black is one of the most popular methods. This adds drama and mystery to your street photos.

I prefer to set my exposure manually. This way I know it will not alter until I change the settings myself. I will choose a light area to make a meter reading from. Then I will underexpose it a little to make the effect a little more dramatic.

This will make the shadow areas appear even darker. It also means I am less likely to have bright areas with no detail.

Setting my exposure in this way, I know I’ll be able to push the contrast effect even further during post-production.

If you set your camera to expose for the shadows, the highlight areas will be even brighter. You will lose detail in the lightest parts of your composition. Sometimes you will want this and to keep the details in the shadows. You must make a conscious choice when you are setting your exposure. If you get this wrong, you will find you cannot manipulate your photos so much during post-processing. This is more so if you are taking .jpegs rather than RAWs.

high-contrast-lighting-for-dramatic-street-photos Happy Man with contrast

Make use of the shadows

You can hide things in the shadows. You can conceal people or unwanted distracting elements in the darkness of a shadow.

Careful use of shadows can isolate your main subject and draw the viewer’s eye to it.

Use graphic lines of shadows created by architecture, trees or other strong forms. The shadows themselves become graphic elements in your photographs. You can combine them with the solid forms in your composition to create tension or harmony.

Look for how static and moving shadows appear in your compositions. What do the shadows of people look like on the pavements or walls as they walk by? Are there shadows created by trucks, buses or cars passing by? Can you see light reflected off windows back into the shadows?

While you’re out with your camera, think about how the shadows might look when you add more contrast during post-processing.

high-contrast-lighting-for-dramatic-street-photos

Find a location and choose your time

Observe how the daylight looks at the places you like to photograph. It will be different at various times of the day and during different seasons.

Look at how the shadows fall on the ground and surrounding buildings. Are people walking in the sunshine or in the shade? At which points to they emerge from the shadows? Is the light in front of them or behind?

Pick a good place to work from and stay awhile. If you can visit the same location on many different occasions, you’ll build up a more diverse set of photographs. Doing this, you’ll be able to compare the photos you take. This can help you learn your favorite time to photograph at that place. Then plan to do it again and take even better photos.

Find a place where the light is how you like it and the background is interesting. Make sure the background will support the style of photograph you are wanting to take. Is the background in full sun or in the shadows? Is the light falling on it pleasing to you?

Move around and look at the space from different angles. Where you photograph from will look different depending on where the sun is. You might prefer the sun behind you or to one side. Some scenes may look better when your subjects are backlit. These should be carefully made and not left to chance.

If you are including people or traffic in your photos, be observant of how it is moving. Anticipate where it looks best. How does the light look on a person as they walk through your composition? Does the traffic moving in one direction look more interesting than traffic moving the other way?

Once you have decided on a place to work from, stay there. Being patient is one of the most important things to do as a photographer. Wait and watch. Look for patterns of movement and also when these patterns are interrupted or broken. These can be some of the most interesting times to take street photographs.

Conclusion

Look at the sunlight and think about how you can post-process to enhance the look you want.

With street photography, you are reliant on the available light. You must look at it and figure out the best place to stand. Then you must make the right choice of exposure settings to take advantage of the high contrast.

Once you have found a good location and made a few exposures hang around. Give yourself time and space to really work a scene. Try going back to the same location at different times of the day and in different seasons. You may be surprised at how different your photographs will look.

We’d love it if you would go out and try some of these techniques and share your photos with us in the comments below.

The post Make the Most of High Contrast Lighting for Dramatic Street Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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How to Take High Quality Product Photos With Your Smartphone

18 Jul

Smartphone camera technology has gone through an incredible evolution over the last several years. If we think back to how comparatively primitive our phone cameras used to be (certainly by today’s standards), what you get with a mid to high-end smartphone nowadays is quite remarkable. So remarkable that when compared side by side, photos from something like the iPhone X, Continue Reading

The post How to Take High Quality Product Photos With Your Smartphone appeared first on Photodoto.

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Capture One Studio launched to add automation for high volume studios

14 Jun

Phase One has launched a new version of its Capture One image editing software application that is designed to assist workflow processes in busy studio environments. Capture One Studio allows central control for operations that use multiple photographers shooting high volumes of images that need to be edited and catalogued as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The application is highly customizable, and allows certain tools to be locked off and others to be set up to be consistent across the whole studio. New automatic processes can color-correct, name images, store them and send them for back-up as they leave a tethered camera, while scripts can be created to determine processing paths and issues such as sizing, cropping and output destinations.

Businesses will be able to create on-screen guide lines and grid lines to ensure compositions suit specific layouts which can be shared to all photographers and which can be exported and used in Adobe’s Photoshop as well. Capture Pilot will also be able to display these custom guides and grids so composition can be checked remotely on a tablet or smartphone.

The company says that Capture One Studio can be tailored for individual businesses, and that its experts come as part of the service to help set up the software and to maintain it. For more information see the Capture One website.

Press release:

Capture One launches Capture One Studio

An all-new, customizable, and automation-ready solution for today’s high-volume photo environments; It is Capture One performance at scale

COPENHAGEN, June 13th, 2019: Capture One, the world’s premier name in image processing software, has announced a new product: Capture One Studio. With capabilities that focus on efficiency at scale, workflow management, and automation, Capture One Studio brings all the power, flexibility, and unbeatable quality of Capture One to an enterprise level production unlike anything else.

Capture One Studio adds new features backed by scriptable enhancements and advanced automation technologies, allowing anyone to build custom workflows. There is native barcode scanner support for error-free and expedited data entry; backup on capture for automatic data redundancy; workspace and tool locks to prevent errors; advanced guides for precision set-up of brand guidelines; Capture Pilot enhancements to aid collaborative workflow, and more.

“We’re excited to present the first ever photo editing and asset management solution specifically designed for high-powered workflows and multi-user teams.” said Jan Hyldebrandt-Larsen, VP Software Business at Phase One. “Developed together with leading e-commerce and high-end brands, Capture One Studio merges industry-leading photo editing tools with automation technology, accurate color profiling, and advanced asset management to meet the specific needs of fast-paced photo production, and eliminate the costly mistakes and time-consuming processes holding studios back.”

Building on Capture One’s industry-leading standards of precision and quality, Capture One Studio’s robust new offering allows brand and studio operations to be easily managed, offering greater efficiency across the board, and higher ROI. Saving time on arduous processes enable the team to focus on photography and deliver the best possible images.

The pressure to create more content is relentless, and it has to work across multiple channels, be on-brand, original, personalized, and timely. Studios must be incredibly efficient to manage that level of demand, rethinking processes, and implementing the best tools. The right software collaboration can be critical to ensuring brand consistency and performance. This level software is not only about the system capabilities that enable efficiency and reduce administrative burden, but also the end-to-end experience, which includes premium support and consultancy.

Capture One Studio is a strategic partner that allows services to accommodate the various people in the organization, from creatives to studio staff, management and business.

By combining the very best software and support solutions, Capture One Studio makes for an unbeatable imaging solution for your organization, whether a 10-person studio or 100-person team. Capture One Studio is built to scale and deliver new workflow opportunities for your business, and the endless possibilities for bespoke solutions make Capture One Studio both time and cost saving.

Capture One Studio – Feature Set

Automation Technology
A powerful scripting language allows you to customize actions, streamline data entry and build intuitive workflows that align perfectly with your team’s needs. (Mac only)

A single license key
Easily add and remove users with a centralized license system and eliminate extra costs due to staff turnaround. Accurately forecast expenses with a pay-as-you-go subscription model.

Advanced Guides and Grid
Create Guides as presets for faster work. Transfer guides in the processed files for quality assurance approval or include them as Photoshop guides when exporting to PSD, so retouchers and other users stay compliant with the master specification.

Create guides and grids as presets for faster work and utilize them in Photoshop. Streamline multi-user workflows and minimize composition mistakes when multiple team members work on the same image.

Sync Grids, Guides, and Overlays with the Capture Pilot app
Capture Pilot integration for Grids, Guides, and Overlays allow multiple team members to remotely, review composition, and sizing specifications during shoots, while clients can pick their favorite shots off-set.

Native Barcode Scanner support
Save endless man hours and redefine your workflow as a hands-free experience by connecting a barcode scanner to automatically name captures as you shoot. Mac users can script actions to further enhance the scanning workflow.

Next Capture Metadata and Next Capture Keywords
Accelerate workflows and reduce data entry with new tools for applying metadata ahead of the shot during tethered shooting. Combine the tools with barcode scanners and spreadsheets to instantly scan metadata. (Mac only)

Backup on capture
Reduce risk, save on back-up software costs and protect your assets as you shoot with automatic back-up from a tethered camera to a chosen destination.

Studio workspaces
Our dedicated team of experts delivers customizable workspaces and craft the ultimate workflows to match your organization’s productivity needs.

Workspace and Tool locks
Prevent users from altering the interface with Workspace and Tool locks and an admin pin lock for extra security. Eliminate costly interruptions and ensure compliance across multi-user workflows.

Color reproduction and color profiling (Canon and Nikon Only)
Reduce editing time and save on retoucher costs with fine-tuned color profiling for the most popular e-commerce cameras. Minimize color discrepancies and meet the demands of specialist product photography with more accurate colors out of the box.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Get Low and Aim High – How to Use Low-Angle Photography to Great Effect

17 Feb

The post Get Low and Aim High – How to Use Low-Angle Photography to Great Effect appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

One way you can make photos stand out is to compose them from an unusually low viewpoint. But why is low-angle photography so effective?

Good photography is hard to define, not least because there is always an element of subjectivity in judging it. Even when you have firm ideas about what great photos look like, there is no guarantee you’ll create them frequently. In fact, the more honed your tastes become, the less easily your own photos are likely to satisfy you.

Low angle photography - gate shot from below

Shooting this Prague gate from below gave it more visual impact and a cleaner composition.

Is there any secret to taking eye-catching pictures? If so, I wish I could harness it. There’s one idea I try to bear in mind: show people things in your pictures they don’t see in their day-to-day lives. That means looking closely and seeing details, noticing the unusual, emphasizing the point of interest, keeping things simple, and knowing what to exclude. What is it you have seen and want to convey?

Low angle photography - statue looking downwards

Statues shot from below often work well when the subject looks down at the camera.

Used creatively, low-angle photography meets the criteria of being unusual and will often make viewers look twice. However, it needs a bit more thought than just pointing the camera upwards.

Getting low, aiming high

Of course, low-angle photography isn’t a radical idea in the context of photographing architecture or statues, because they will often rise above you anyway. Unless you photograph these subjects from distance, you’ll always be pointing the lens upwards. But even with these subjects, you need to get the angle of the shot right and consider what qualities you’re aiming to accentuate.

Low angle photography - St Dunstan's Hill in London

In this slightly eerie photo, the street name at the right adds extra interest and gives the picture scale.

If you’re photographing less lofty subjects such as people, animals or plants, you’ll have to get very low to make the perspective unusual. This, of course, could draw attention to you as a photographer, so you might have to shake off any inhibitions. Concentrate on the shot and you’ll soon forget about what other people think.

Architecture & statues

In the case of architecture, more ornate buildings (e.g. Gothic) aren’t always best shot from directly beneath, because all their detail becomes obscured or lost. You could photograph them that way and pick out a detail such as a gargoyle using shallow depth of field. The same can be done with statues on occasion, whereby you focus on an interesting part of the statue from below and isolate it.

Low angle photography - Canary Wharf in London

Three buildings add to the enclosed feeling of this photo, while the carefully positioned clock lends it some scale.

Modern buildings like office skyscrapers often have the benefit of windows and lines, which narrow and converge if you photograph them from immediately below. This is an effective way of directing the eye towards the top of the building. Use of diagonals is an old trick for leading the eye into the picture, but you might need something else to make the shot a great one: perhaps a dramatic sky or cloud above the building.

Low angle photography - statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in London

Using a shallow depth of field, I isolated the eyeglass in the hand of famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, London.

Camera angle

There is no obligation when standing under a building or any other subject to keep it central or horizontal in the frame. By rotating the camera, often you’ll find an angle that increases the slightly giddy impression of towering height. This effect should not be underestimated. It’s a useful trick in low-angle shooting to make the viewer feel slightly disorientated.

Left: Silhouette of Rouen Cathedral. Right: One Canada Square – the tallest building in the UK when I shot it. The presence of a second building adds to the giddying effect.

When pointing a camera upwards inside a church or cathedral, I avoid including small sections of detail at the edge of the frame. Instead, I rotate the camera until everything in the picture looks intentional and not something I didn’t notice.

This is an obvious shot to take of the Crossing Tower in Rouen Cathedral. The main trick lies in composition and finding an effective angle.

People

Photographing people from a low angle produces some interesting effects. If you look at old “film noir” movie stills, you’ll see a lot of shots where the camera is pointing upwards. This gives portraits a moody feel and empowers the subject because he/she towers above the photographer and, ultimately, the viewer. The downside of shooting from below is that it can be unflattering, often making subjects look broader in the body and fatter in the face.

Low angle photography - casual portrait from a low perspective

A somewhat moody low-angle portrait. You’ll see a lot of low angles as well as low-key lighting in old film noir movies.

You can shoot from low angles in street photography, too, whether from the hip or the ground. Be careful when shooting from the ground that you’re not invading anyone’s privacy by pointing the camera upwards—stay aware of your surroundings and watch who is entering the frame and how they are dressed.

This shot at the Venice Carnival was taken from ground level. Without any prompting, the lady in the middle obligingly leaned over towards the camera.

The mere act of taking street photos from a low level may not, in itself, create a successful photo (if only it were that easy). You still need to have seen something interesting or out of the ordinary and the composition must be right. You might notice a detail at ground level and juxtapose it with the people above it.

Animals & pets

Many people photograph their pets from above, but if you get down to their level you can almost humanize them. That is to say, you’ll often capture their character better than from above. Like human subjects, photographing a pet from floor level gives it more power. An example of this might be if you photograph a cat preparing to pounce—you’ll put yourself in the position of the cat’s prey.

Cats often take on that regal, aloof look when photographed from below.

Flowers

Sometimes you’ll get good results when shooting flowers from a low angle. One benefit in good weather is that you might get a plain blue sky as a background. Blue goes well with red and yellow – the three together form a triadic color scheme. It also blends well with orange (e.g. California Poppies), since blue and orange are complementary colors.

This low-angle shot from many years ago was completely unsighted. I was aiming to contrast life (flowers and bumblebee) with the WW1 gravestone and tragedy of war. I don’t know that I succeeded, but the idea still resonates.

Of course, it may not be color that inspires you to photograph flowers from below. You might want to emphasize a long stem or capture the translucent qualities of a flower’s petals against a bright sky. You might go for the dramatic effect of many flowers looming over the lens—a bit like a miniaturized forest.

These flower shots from below aim to show the sunlit semi-opaque petals as well as color and shape. The fact that they are tall flowers makes this treatment easy even with a bulky SLR.

Trees

Trees are a prime candidate for low-angle shooting, either individually or collectively. Like buildings, you need to stand immediately below them to make the shot even slightly unconventional and maximize the effect. Such photos aren’t always striking unless there is an interesting branch formation or pattern above, so you should take care in picking a subject. Colorful foliage is an obvious thing to look out for, too, especially during fall.

I shot this mainly for its bark pattern and texture, using the blue sky as a pleasing backdrop. Interesting branch formations or foliage colors might also prompt you to take such pictures.

Equipment

You don’t need any special equipment to shoot from low angles, but obviously a flip-out LCD screen is a useful thing to have. If you don’t have that, at least digital photography costs nothing to experiment with, so you can shoot blind until you get what you want. This was how I first took low-angle photos—with repeated unsighted exposures. A wide-angle lens might help you accentuate height sometimes with its sweeping view of the world, but this is not a necessity.

I hope this article inspires you to shoot some great low-angle photos, whatever the subject. Good luck, and please share with us in the comments below!

The post Get Low and Aim High – How to Use Low-Angle Photography to Great Effect appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

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CMOS image sensor sales at all-time high

11 May

Industry analysts IC Insights report that CMOS image sensor sales will be at an eighth straight record-high level this year, with worldwide revenues growing 10% to $ 13.7 billion. This comes after a 19% increase in 2017.

The growth is due to a spread of digital camera applications to vehicles, machine vision, human recognition and security systems, but demand is also driven by more advanced smartphone cameras using multiple sensors.

Smartphone cameras accounted for 62% of CMOS image sensor sales in 2017, but this number is forecast to decrease to 45% in 2022 as demand in other sectors, such as automotive, is expected to grow faster.

Overall, CMOS image sensors accounted for 89% of total image sensor sales in 2017 by value. This is a noticeable increase from 74% in 2012 and 54% in 2007. In terms of units shipped, CMOS imagers represented 81% of all image sensors sold in 2017, making CMOS by far the most utilized image sensor technology and also suggesting CMOS sells at a premium, compared to its rival technologies.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Tamron interview: “Our strength is high quality lenses in a compact size”

28 Mar

L-R: Koji Satoh, Manager of the Product Planning Department of Tamron’s Imaging Products Business Unit, Minoru Ando, General Manager of Tamron’s Optical Design and Engineering Research and Development Unit, Kumiko Saito, General Manager of Tamron’s Marketing Communications Department, and Takashi Sawao, General Manager of Tamron’s Imaging Products Business Unit.

At last month’s CP+ show in Yokohama, Japan we sat down with senior executives from several major camera and lens manufacturers, including Tamron. Our conversation covered various topics, including the move to new native mirrorless designs, and the decline in DSLR lens sales.

The following interview was conducted through an interpreter, and has been edited for clarity and flow. Answers from the four interviewees have been combined.

Is the new 28-75mm a completely new design?

It is, yes.

How long has it been in development?

Typically a lens like this takes around one year to develop.

Tamron’s upcoming 28-75mm F2.8 is the first third-party zoom lens designed natively for full-frame mirrorless cameras.

What was your goal when designing this lens?

When we are planning new products, we’re always thinking about the voice of our customers, and customer benefit. The market is moving towards mirrorless, so we wanted to launch new FE lenses. Sony has the biggest market share of the mirrorless market.

With the Sony Alpha 7 series, the bodies are compact, but the lenses are relatively big

We’re also aiming for high quality, and good performance. And specifically for FE lenses, we wanted a small and lightweight option. With the Sony Alpha 7 series, the bodies are compact, but the lenses are relatively big. So when we were planning a fast lens for FE lens it was important to us that it would be compact, but still high quality.

This is the first third-party [zoom] lens for the Sony full-frame E-mount, and we’re expecting it to do well in the market.

Are you planning to create Sony E-mount versions of your existing SP primes and zooms, or will you make entirely new designs?

We’re not planning on making Sony E-mount versions of our existing lenses, no. Our concept is a little different to Sigma’s. We’re trying to customize lenses specifically for FE, otherwise they’d be too big. When it comes to autofocus, mirrorless has different requirements too. Mirrorless cameras are good for movies as well as stills, and existing AF motors aren’t very good for video. This lens [the new 28-75mm F2.8] has a stepping motor for autofocus, which is better for video.

The new 70-200mm F4 promises high quality, without the size and weight that we generally associate with faster F2.8 telezooms.

How important is the Sony customer base to you now?

Very important. Everybody is going to mirrorless. Canon and Nikon will launch full-frame mirrorless cameras, probably in the near future. When this happens, we can easily make Canon and Nikon versions of our [native] E-mount lenses. The same design could work for [multiple mirrorless mounts].

So with this new lens, you’re thinking ahead.

Yes, to the near future.

Optical performance of the new 28-75mm F2.8 will be equivalent to our SP lenses

This new lens is not in the ‘SP’ range. What does this signify?

Within Tamron, we have an internal definition of SP, where we usually utilize metal for the body material, and certain other features. Optical performance of the new 28-75mm F2.8 will be equivalent to our SP lenses, but for this model we prioritized smaller size and lower weight, so we used polycarbonate instead of metal.

Is this new lens weather-sealed?

Yes, it is. We describe it as ‘moisture-resistant construction’.

Despite not belonging to the ‘SP’ range of lenses, the new 28-75mm is moisture-resistant, featuring a rubber gasket around the lens mount to protect against dust and water incursion.

Is making this change to mirrorless lens designs an urgent priority for Tamron?

I can’t give you any detailed information about our future roadmap, but we’re watching the market closely. And Sony has the biggest share of the mirrorless market, so of course E-mount lenses are a priority.

How do you want the Tamron brand to be viewed by your customers?

We’re always thinking about our customers, and we’re not going to sacrifice performance and quality. We want to be recognized as a high-quality brand, and we stand by our customers, always. Each brand has a strategy, and our approach is a little different to [some competitors]. We try to very open with our customers.

Our strength is making compact, light and high quality lenses.

We’ve seen some manufacturers create entry-level cine lenses for videographers. Is that something that Tamron is interested in?

Maybe in the future, but at this point I can’t say whether we’ll enter that market.

Balancing performance and size is a Tamron strength

If you had a choice between making a lens that was very large, but very high quality, or one that was smaller and optically less impressive, which would you choose?

We try to pursue both small size, and high performance. Balancing performance and size is a Tamron strength. For this new zoom, if we had started at 24mm for example, the lens would be much bigger and heavier. By starting the zoom range at 28mm, it became much smaller and lighter, and easier to handle. We think that’s what our customers want.

Tamron’s ‘Tap-in Console’ allows the performance of some of its SP lenses to be tweaked and customized on an individual basis.

Increasingly when we visit factories, we’re seeing more and more automation. How much automation does Tamron use in your factories?

Automation is being gradually increased, but we don’t emphasize it. In some cases, manual processes are better for product quality. If automation would be good for the quality of the final product, we might utilize it. It all depends.

Are your lenses mostly assembled by hand, at present?

Some processes are automated, but others are manual so it’s difficult to say.

We’re always thinking about what we can provide in the market that’s innovative

Where do you think the biggest opportunities lie for Tamron in the future?

We’re always thinking about what we can provide in the market that’s innovative. Our strength is high quality lenses in a compact size. So going forward we want to be able to provide good products in each market segment.

The requirement for video must change how you develop lenses, beyond just the kind of AF motor you use?

Yes, it does. We have also developed other technologies to support video. At this point we’re not finished, but we’re always developing ways of manufacturing new lenses.

Optical designs need to change, and also autofocus technology

When we look at conventional DSLR lenses and mirrorless lenses, the technologies necessary to make them are a little bit different. The optical designs need to change, and also the autofocus technology. We’re always thinking about what kind of technologies would be good for mirrorless compared to DSLR, and what works for what focal length, and things like that.

You mentioned that the audience for mirrorless lenses will increase – will the audience for DSLR lenses decrease?

Yes, it already is. We’re watching the market and the data already shows us that the market is declining.

Editor’s note:

Perhaps the most interesting insight from our interview with Tamron this year was confirmation that the market for DSLR lenses is declining. It makes complete sense that Tamron (and Sigma) would be focusing on developing lenses for full-frame Sony E-mount cameras now, since by common agreement, Canon and Nikon will launch their own large-sensor mirrorless cameras pretty soon.

Tamron’s executives see their company’s mission as slightly different to Sigma’s

In the same way as one basic optical design can be adapted for multiple SLR mounts, Tamron’s new FE 28-75mm F2.8, which is optimized for the short flange-back distance of modern mirrorless systems, could be adapted for future mirrorless platforms as and when they emerge.

It is clear that Tamron’s executives see their company’s mission as slightly different to Sigma’s. Whereas Sigma is committed to a ‘no compromise’ approach in its Art-series which sometimes results in large, heavy products, Tamron sees its value in small, lightweight but still high-performing lenses. Maybe the primes will open up to F1.8 rather than F1.4, and the zooms might start at 28mm rather than 24mm, but clearly the company believes that some users will be happy with those compromises for the sake of smaller, lighter (and potentially cheaper) lenses.

Tamron sees its value in small, lightweight but still high-performing lenses

I think they’re right about that, and the new 28-75mm F2.8 looks like a good start. Obviously we don’t yet know how it will perform optically, but if it compares well to Sony’s own 24-70mm F2.8 GM at equivalent focal lengths, it might well become a benchmark standard zoom for mirrorless. That, in turn, would put Tamron in a very good position to get in on the ground floor of development for the wide range of full-frame mirrorless cameras we’re expecting from various manufacturers in the future.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Sony a7 III dynamic range and high ISO improve over its predecessor

17 Mar

Sony recently announced the a7 III, a comparatively affordable full frame mirrorless camera that incorporates a host of advanced features derived from the a9 and a7R III. The combination of price point and feature set makes it attractive to both enthusiasts and pros, particularly those looking to get into full frame or perhaps even make the switch to mirrorless. While we’ve already shot quite a bit with it and offered our thoughts on the camera as a whole, we hadn’t had a chance to take a deep dive into its image quality performance.

And we know many of you are wondering: what’s the dynamic range like? The high ISO performance?

Let’s take a look.

Low light (high ISO) performance


a7 IIIISO 25,600	a7R IIIISO 25,600	a7 IIISO 25,600

Low light performance has improved markedly over the a7 II, putting it more or less in-line with the a7R III (and therefore a9) when images are viewed at the same size (we’ve downsized the a7R III shot to 24MP). These are 100% crops here (if you’re viewing on a smartphone or Retina / 4K display, see this footnote* below). Roll over the captions, or click on any of the images to view our full studio scene images for each camera.

This is a great result, but also comes as no surprise: noise performance is broadly determined by a combination of sensor size and technology, and we’ve recently seen some significant improvements to sensor technology made by Sony. In particular, the backside-illuminated (BSI) and dual gain architecture of most recent Sony sensors helps squeeze every last bit of performance out of these already low noise imaging chips. Furthermore, the original a7 and a7 II lagged in high ISO performance, often failing to surpass the best APS-C sensors.

Dynamic range vs. the a7R III

The a7 III more or less matches the base ISO dynamic range of the a7R III, when both are viewed at common size (we’ve normalized all our graphs to 8MP). That means both cameras will give you similar ability to make use of (brighten) shadows in Raw files if you want to show a wider dynamic range than shown with the default tone curve.

In numbers, that’s 14.6 EV and 14.8 EV for the a7 III and a7R III, respectively, which falls within our margin of error. You might see a difference in extreme pushes or exposure adjustments, but it’s not likely to be photographically relevant.

a7 III (orange) vs. a7R III (blue). There’s a slight chance you might notice the 0.2 EV advantage of the a7R III at base ISO or the 0.3 EV advantage of the a7 III at higher ISOs, but we doubt it. As our test scene images show, the two cameras look very similar when viewed at the same output size.

Note the jump in dynamic range at ISO 640 for both cameras. That’s essentially the camera’s second ‘base’ ISO, where the second stage of the dual-gain architecture kicks in. At ISOs 640 and above, most recent Sony sensors use a higher gain mode that essentially amplifies the signal at the pixel-level to get it above the (already pretty low) noise floor.** In laymen’s terms, that just means ‘more picture, less noise’, particularly in shadows – hence the increase in dynamic range.

Our analysis shows the a7 III to just edge out the a7R III at these higher ISOs, albeit only by about 0.3 EV (which happens to be right around our margin of error). You might see this in the deepest shadows – in fact, if you look very closely at the darkest patch in our ISO 25,600 rollover above, you can kind of see a tad bit less noise in the a7 III, but is that photographically relevant? Up to you.

… but it shows a marked improvement over its predecessor

While base ISO dynamic range remains the same as its predecessor, the dual-gain design brings a marked improvement at high ISO. Shadows at high ISO will be notably cleaner on the a7 III, and that’s before you consider the better overall high ISO performance – even in brighter tones – likely due to either a more efficient sensor or lower upstream read noise.

Compared with the a7 II (green), the a7 III (orange) shows much better dynamic range (at least 1.6 EV) at higher ISOs. Also, whereas you can see noise reduction being applied to the a7 II’s Raw at 25,600, it doesn’t kick in until ISO 64,000 (beyond the graph) on the Mark III.

Compressed continuous drive performance

If you shoot compressed Raw, the camera drops to 12-bit sensor readout in continuous drive modes. This negatively impacts dynamic range, dropping 1.4 EV at base ISO and roughly 1 EV at ISO 640. Dynamic range catches up at higher ISOs, though never quite matches the performance of 14-bit readout. Even at ISO 6400, 12-bit files are roughly 0.4 EV behind – though this is unlikely to significantly impact your photography. The differences at lower ISOs and at ISO 640, on the other hand, you might notice in more extreme pushes.

a7 III Uncompressed (orange) vs. Compressed 12-bit (light orange) performance. We’re not sure about the jumps at ISO 160 and 800, but for the most part there’s a drop in dynamic range at lower ISOs that more or less evens out at the higher ISOs.

In Single drive mode, compressed Raw continues to use 14-bit sensor readout, so measured roughly the same dynamic range as Uncompressed (it dropped 0.1 EV, but that’s within our margin of error).

And if you’re confused about when the camera drops to 12-bit – which is the only time you’d see these drops in DR – the only combination that diverges from 14-bit is when you shoot compressed Raw in (any) continuous drive mode. All other combinations of Mechanical or Electronic shutter, drive mode or Raw type are 14-bit.

vs. a7R II

We threw this one in here because the a7 III and a7R II are currently being sold for roughly similar price (the latter is $ 400 more expensive), so we’re aware of some discussion about choosing between the two. You’re unlikely to notice our measured 0.2 EV higher base ISO dynamic range of the a7 III, but you might notice the 0.5 EV advantage at ISO 640. At higher ISOs the cameras even out.

Realistically though, there’s not much difference between these cameras.

a7 III (orange) vs a7R II (red) dynamic range. You might notice the 0.5 EV advantage of the a7 III at ISO 640, but for the most part performance is similar.

Summary

We’ve summarized our results in numbers in the table below.

	ISO 100 (24MP)	ISO 100 (8MP)	ISO 640 (24MP)	ISO 640 (8MP)
a7 III	13.8 EV	14.6 EV	13.4 EV	14.2 EV
a7 III (compressed 12-bit)	12.4 EV	13.2 EV	12.3 EV	13.2 EV
a7 II	13.9 EV	14.7 EV	11.8 EV	12.6 EV
a7R III	14 EV	14.8 EV	13.1 EV	13.9 EV
a7R II	13.6 EV	14.4 EV	12.9 EV	13.7 EV
a9	12.6 EV	13.4 EV	12.4 EV	13.2 EV

So what’s the take-away? The a7 III’s image quality more or less matches what we’ve come to expect from modern, well-performing full-frame sensors. There’s really not much difference between the a7 III, the a7R III, the a7R II, or the Nikon D850 for that matter.

The a7 III does show a marked improvement over its predecessor at high ISOs, both in dynamic range and general noise performance, thanks to a number of sensor improvements (efficiency, BSI, dual-gain, etc.). Interestingly, the a7 III, which we’d imagine shares a similar sensor to the a9 minus the stacked design, offers roughly 1 EV more dynamic range than that camera at ISOs 100 and 640 (though the cameras even out at the highest ISOs). General noise performance of the a9 – if you’re not pushing your files – is similar though.

The a7 III’s image quality more or less matches what we’ve come to expect from modern, well-performing full-frame sensors

The a7 III offers great image quality performance at an affordable price point. That said, it’s not image quality that sets this camera apart from its contemporaries but, rather, its significant other capabilities like autofocus, silent shooting, video and a number of other things we’ll be delving into in our full review.

* Retina & smartphone optimized 100% crops:


a7 IIIISO 25,600	a7R IIIISO 25,600	a7 IIISO 25,600

** Technically speaking, it’s not exactly more amplification. Rather, the sensor switches to a different circuit within the pixel that has different capacitance at the floating diffusion node. This essentially generates a larger voltage swing (signal) per photoelectron captured, which means the signal – your picture – is less affected by the noise floor of the sensor and electronics.

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Behind the scenes of Joe McNally’s ‘High Fashion Heist’

18 Dec

Joe McNally created this shot in the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest, Hungary using the Nikon D850, a 14-24mm F2.8 zoom lens, and strobes. A lot of strobes.

Nikon D850 | AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8 @ 14mm | ISO 160 | 1/20 sec | F5.6

Joe McNally is one of the most recognizable names in photography. As one of the foremost fashion and portrait photographers in the world, his work has been published internationally in books, magazines and newspapers for decades.

In his role as a Nikon Ambassador, McNally had early access to the new Nikon D850. We spoke to him recently to talk through the process of creating one of the most arresting images of Nikon’s D850 launch campaign.

How did the idea for this image come together?

I think the bottom line here is that I’ve seen way too many James Bond movies! I wrote up three separate potential treatments, and this one I titled ‘The High Fashion Heist’. So imagine an elegant lady sweeping down a grand staircase, gown flowing behind her, clutching stolen gems, racing past the sleeping security guard. And the wrinkle is her gown inadvertently is toppling a priceless statue. It’s a heist gone wrong, that type of thing. I also wanted to include the feeling of motion or speed.

The museum was willing to work with us, it was affordable, and it’s Budapest, which is an amazing place

Did the concept evolve during the process of putting the shoot together?

The original treatment did not include the toppling statue. I was driving the sense of motion from the flowing gown, and we wanted to emphasize a little more tension, so when I re-wrote the concept I threw in the idea that she’s knocking over a statue.

Where did you shoot?

We had to work outside the U.S., and we came up with a number of locations – one of which was in Edinburgh, Scotland, and one was in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. And one was the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest, Hungary. They sent me scouting photographs of it, and it had that feel. The old elegance. The big staircase.

The museum was willing to work with us, it was affordable, and it’s Budapest, which is just an amazing place. So after the idea was approved, we moved forward on the location pretty quickly.

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The bust tipping over in the foreground – was that manipulated in post?

The column and the head are supported by metal braces. We couldn’t buy a bunch of busts and have them smash on the floor, so we took the column and put a brace against it, and the head, and then touched out the braces in post.

I’d say there were probably about 20 large power packs and heads, and about 10-15 Speedlights

How did you light this shot? Was it all strobes?

It’s virtually all strobes. We were allowed to come into the museum at around 6 o’clock at night when it was closed, and we worked until 6 o’clock in the morning. So there was no natural light. So if you look at the windows up top, camera left, those are strobes on a crane truck outside. I’d say there were probably about 20 large power packs and heads, and about 10-15 SB-5000 Speedlights.

Were you shooting in TTL mode, or was it all manual flash exposure?

I shot all manual for this. The D850’s touchscreen is fantastic, because now, if I’m doing something complex with six groups of Speedlights for example, I can just tap on the screen and alter their values.

How did the D850’s particular feature set help you in putting this shoot together?

First off, there’s the resolution. When you shoot in an ornate place like this, you really want to be able to capture all of the detail, and the camera handled that really well. The D850’s sensor has great dynamic range, so I didn’t have to over-light. In the cavernous spaces, I could hint at lighting, and I knew that the shadow detail would be alright. The autofocus is hyper-accurate, which is essential, because you don’t want to get THE expression and THE particular arrangement of the gown absolutely perfect and have any sort of focus issues afterwards.

I was able to effectively control two fields of flash, with the Speedlights being controlled from the camera

I was shooting the flashes in manual exposure mode, but I was controlling all of the Speedlights using the WR-10 radio trigger from the camera. So I had a big strobe system on a different radio system, but I also had the Nikon Speedlight system. I was able to effectively control two fields of flash, with the Speedlights being controlled from the camera.

We had a big crew, plus a video crew, the clients were there, we had a props person, hair, makeup, fashion, styling, and a very elegant wonderful model. I had a crew of five assistants! So the convenience of the new technology really helped.

Are there other features of the camera that you’re excited to try out?

So far, I’ve used the D850 strictly as a stills camera. I’ve been using it a lot just for simple portraiture and for beauty portraiture, but I’m very much looking forward to going into video mode with this camera. Again, the detail is really pretty luscious and pretty wonderful. I have a small stills and video project I’m going to be shooting in February, and I’m looking forward to it.

I shot the Rio Olympics with my D5, because it’s tough and it’s fast, and I’ve always used my D810’s when I needed resolution. But the D810 doesn’t have the radio controls that I’ve come to be so fond of with the SB-5000 flashes. And the D810 didn’t have things like the tilting LCD from the D500, which I’ve found to be very convenient. With the D850, I can have all of that in one camera. Speed, resolution and convenience.

This is sponsored content, supported by Nikon. What does this mean?

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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High Sight launches the Mini portable cable camera system

14 Dec

Manufacturer of cable camera systems High Sight has unveiled the latest addition to its product lineup. The Mini System was designed with portability and ease of use in mind, but builds on High Sight’s experience building larger and more complex products. The unit is controlled via a button interface and can carry gimbals, such as the DJI Osmo, Gopro Karma Grip and similar models.

“The High Sight Mini has been a blast to create and will be a game changer.” said Kevin Brower, president and chief executive officer of High Sight. “The Mini has evolved into something more than we could’ve hoped for. With our ping pong mode, you can set it up and walk away, it’s like having an extra cameraman on set just continually getting great footage.”

The Mini uses speed and position sensing for smooth movement and has been developed to be be fully autonomous. According to High Sight, this means the operator can focus on camera control, allowing for single user operation when normally two users would be required.

The Mini is made from machined aluminum and weighs only 1.3 lbs (0.6 kg). It can carry a payload of 3.3 lbs (1.5 kg) and easily fits into a backpack.

The demo reel below will give you a better idea of the kind of shots that are possible with the company’s cable systems. And if you think the Mini could be a useful tool for shooting your next video, you can find more information on the High Sight website.

Press Release:

High Sight Mini Sets The Bar With Ultra-Portable Design And Smart Functionality

Features Fully Autonomous Mode, Whisper Quiet Movement, and Reliable Performance. High Sight Launches New Product Allowing One of a Kind Shot.

Salt Lake City, Utah, November 7th, 2017 – High Sight (highsightcam.com) cable camera systems is proud to launch the ultra-portable and fully autonomous Mini system. The new system was developed through years of experience building larger and more complex products. The Mini was brought about when creator and owner of High Sight saw a need for a smaller version in their current product line.

Innovative: The Mini was designed to be compact, easy to use, and intelligent. Through years of experience High Sight developed the mini to be fully autonomous. By eliminating the task of controlling the Mini the operator can focus live camera control. This functionality allows for a single user to capture the same shot that would normally require two users. The Mini is great at capturing new and creative angles. Use it to shoot
interesting b-roll or set it on ping pong mode and capture great moments in your next BTS video.

Intelligent speed and position sensing for perfectly smooth movement
Fully Autonomous mode
Button interface for quick and easy operation
Compact size allows for maximum portability
¼-20 mount to carry gimbals like the DJI Osmo, Gopro Karma Grip and many more
Machined aluminum for increased durability and protection
Made in the USA

Specs and Details:

Weight: 1.3 lbs. / .6 kg
Dimensions: 7.48” Long : 3.2″ Wide : 2.3″ Tall
Max Payload: 3.3 lbs. / 1.5 kg
Max Speed: 10 mph
Battery: Rechargeable: Lithium ion battery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Shooting an Olympic sailor in action using remote high speed sync

12 Nov

This article was originally published on Luminous Landscapes, and is being republished in full on DPReview with express permission from Terry McDonagh.

In January of last year, I was commissioned to shoot some dramatic action shots of an Olympic sailor; however, I did some image research and wasn’t overly impressed by any images I found, so I decided that a good approach would be to try and light the subject and by doing so I could afford to underexpose the available light.

This would help add to the drama, plus in doing so I would be able to get some light into the water spray coming off the boat. In order to get this shot, I needed to freeze the action using a high shutter speed and combine that with flash, so how was I going to achieve all that?

Obviously, I needed to use flash, but I knew I would be shooting at a high shutter speed, so it had to be high-speed sync (HSS). The beauty of HSS is that it allows you to shoot at a high shutter speed whilst still syncing the flash, which was unheard of a few years ago.

I decided that I would use two flashes, both for the extra power and to avoid any redundancy due to the high risk of this particular situation. I was attaching a flash to a boat which could easily capsize, and I was doing it in January when, due to it being 3°C, the batteries weren’t going to last too long. In other words: I was only getting one chance to nail this job, so I had to minimize the chances of anything going wrong.

Flashes facing Starboard

I had used HSS before, but never remotely and not on the water, which was all a bit daunting.

To prepare, I did a bit of research on trigger systems and decided on a Phottix Laso trigger for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it would trigger my Canon 600EX-RT directly, via the built-in radio on the flash. Second, it came with a separate receiver for my Canon 580 EX-ll, which meant I could control both units remotely from one base unit. And finally, the receiver had a metal hot-shoe mount, which I wanted, as I knew that the gear was going to get bounced around out there so I wasn’t risking any plastic hot-shoe mounts.

Flying along flashes pointing to starboard

The next part of the jigsaw puzzle was the batteries, as HSS is really hard on batteries and the faster the shutter speed, the higher the power drain. I did some more research and came across some ‘Panasonic Eneloop pro rechargeable’s’, apparently the best. I purchased a few sets of them, tested them in the cold, and found they were amazing.

Which brought me to my next major problem: waterproofing the flash units. There was a strong chance that they would be submerged if the boat capsized, and having sailed a Lazer, the boat that I would be shooting, a few times, I knew that these boats flip over very easily. To counter this issue, I developed a triple bagging system using some freezer bags.

When I submerged the flash in a bucket of water to test, it stayed watertight: Happy Days!

The trick was to place one bag over the complete unit and then mount it to the hot-shoe. Then I placed another bag over this, but upside down, and a third one over the spigot so that it was completely sealed.

Flashes bagged up and tethered.

Then it was just a matter of pushing the spigot into the Manfrotto clamp which was attached to the boom of the boat.

Flashes pointing to port.

I headed down to the yacht club to do a technical recce and try to attach the gear to the boat and figure out all my settings.

I settled on mounting the units upside down, firstly so that the sail would not damage them, and also because I was afraid they might rotate with any impacts, plus I reckoned there would be fewer forces on them if they were not top heavy. I used a Manfrotto super clamp as it has a secondary safety lock, so I was able to instruct Annalise how to open the clamp and rotate the speed-lights.—every time she did a tack she rotated the units so they were always facing her, and she was brilliant at doing it. Her sailing wasn’t too shabby either.

Total control

So, I had designed a system that I could remotely fire, adjust exposure and rotate, and it was waterproof… pretty cool! Next thing was to get out there and see how it all worked.

On the day of the shoot, conditions were perfect: overcast, but with some nice contrast. I was getting a light reading of around 1/640 @ F3.2 iso 500. I underexposed by around two stops to try and get some drama into the images but without making it look too much like nighttime.

We headed out to sea about 4 km out as that’s where the wind was and I wanted little or no background buildings etc. in the images. To preserve the batteries I left the units off until we reached our destination, This proved to be a bit of a mistake as the boats were dancing around a lot, so much so that I almost fell in trying to locate the switches on both speed-lights and the receiver, and through the Ziploc bags it proved very tricky.

Luckily my very quick-witted boatman spotted this and grabbed me at the last moment, otherwise I honestly would have gone into the water with a 5DSr and a 70-200mm lens plus my phone etc. Thank god is all I can say.

We shot for approximately an hour, as that was long enough for both Annalise and me, and the batteries were getting very low on energy. I reckoned I had the images I needed in the bag.

Annalise loving the conditions.

I was shooting on a Canon 5DSr with a 70-200mm lens. Final settings were 1/640 @F3.2 and iso160. I had considered using a faster camera but the flash wouldn’t have kept up with it so I just stuck with the higher 50MP camera, which was important as we were using the image on billboards etc. so the higher the quality the better.

The shoot worked out brilliantly. The hardest bit was trying to maintain focus on Annalise, and trying to keep the horizon level; plus, watching all the other elements meant that after an hour of this type of thing you’re pretty burnt out.

When we finished, Annalise nearly fainted when she heard that there was approximately €2k worth of gear attached to her boat. She said had she known she wouldn’t have sailed so hard! I didn’t believe that for one minute.

Wind just died, time for home.

Based in Dublin, Terry works for leading advertising, design and architectural agencies throughout Ireland and often abroad in the areas of industry, architecture, products, people and food.

He provides a fast and reliable digital retouching and manipulation when required, and shoots live action commercials too. Feel free to contact Terry for more information.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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