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Posts Tagged ‘Inspiring’

New York Times unveils prototype system aimed at inspiring confidence in photojournalism

10 May

Misinformation is a big issue online, especially with how quickly false stories are shared. The New York Times R&D team has worked with the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) on a prototype system ‘exploring tools to give readers transparency into the source and veracity of news visuals.’ If a picture is worth a thousand words, the picture must be verifiably truthful to its viewers.

As CAI points out, it used to be a given that a ‘photograph never lies.’ However, that hasn’t been true for a long time. It’s easy for an image to be manipulated and tell a story far from the truth. It’s hard to tell fact from fiction, and a fake or doctored image can make the rounds so quickly that you see it many times on your feed before you ever see the original image. That is if you ever see the real image at all. A study by Adobe found that there’s a lack of trust in images and that people are concerned about seeing doctored content. The study also found that photographers are concerned with image theft and plagiarism.

The NYT R&T team shows their ‘secure sourcing’ prototype visualization.

For photographers, it’s not just about the honesty of an image, it’s about credit. Someone can screengrab a photographer’s image and spread it around the web before the photographer ever has the opportunity to demand the financial compensation they deserve. After the image has been seen all over the internet, the value of their work has already been irreparably damaged. Santiago Lyon, Head of Advocacy & Education at CAI, writes, ‘Regardless of source, images are plucked out of the traditional and social media streams, quickly screen-grabbed, sometimes altered, posted and reposted extensively online, usually without payment or acknowledgment and often lacking the original contextual information that might help us identify the source, frame our interpretation. and add to our understanding.’

Scott Lowenstein of NYT R&D says, ‘The more people are able to understand the true origin of their media, the less room there is for ‘fake news’ and other deceitful information. Allowing everyone to provide and access media origins will protect against manipulated, deceptive, or out-of-context online media.’

Along with Adobe and Twitter, The New York Times Co. is a founding member of the CAI. The CAI and its partners ‘are working to develop an open industry standard that will allow for more confidence in the authenticity of photographs (and then video and other file types). We are creating a community of trust, to help viewers know if they can believe what they see.’ To this end, the new prototype outlines a ‘secure sourcing’ workflow, which will preserve metadata with secure signatures at each step as an image is captured, edited in Adobe Photoshop, and published. As an image is published, links to an original image will be attached and signed by a social media platform.

Photograph by Niko Koppel for the NYT R&D project, integrated with CAI Content Credentials.

Lyon writes, ‘This important work demonstrates how a well-respected news outlet like the NYT is experimenting with CAI technology, giving us a hint of what’s possible at scale. This aligns with our goal of displaying a CAI logo next to images published in traditional or social media that gives the consumer more information about the provenance of the imagery, such as where and when it was first created and how it might have been altered or edited.’

Lyon continues, ‘This will bolster trust in content among both consumers and capture partners (such as Qualcomm and Truepic), editing partners (in this case, our colleagues at Adobe Photoshop), and publishers, such as the New York Times and others.’

Eventually, the hope is that CAI logos can be placed next to images on traditional publishing and social media platforms, inspiring confidence in the provenance of images and explaining how an image was edited before being published. Ideally, viewers would be able to click on the CAI logo and find out about the image creator and see all the edits that have been made.

For the initiative and the NYT R&D prototype to work, widespread adoption is necessary. The overall distrust in the news and images will require considerable work to improve. Reliable, secure, and accessible records of image creation and edits will go a long way toward inspiring confidence in images.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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darkly inspiring…

08 Jun

If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don’t even start.

This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs, and maybe your mind.

It could mean not eating for three or four days.
It could mean freezing on a park bench.
It could mean jail. It could mean derision.
It could mean mockery, isolation.

Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance.
Of how much you really want to do it.

And you’ll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds.
And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.

If you’re going to try, go all the way.

There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire.

You will ride life straight to perfect laughter.

It’s the only good fight there is.

Henry Charles Bukowski
1920 – 1994

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13 Inspiring Street Photography Images

22 Jan

The post 13 Inspiring Street Photography Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Street Photography is a great way to see what goes on around us day-to-day.

Check out these inspiring street photography images from some fantastic instagram photographers.

 

 

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Feature image: Guilherme Romano

The post 13 Inspiring Street Photography Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


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SmugMug Films: An inspiring BTS look at photographing the autumn beauty of Slovenia

15 Jan

SmugMug Films has released ‘Framing the Journey,’ a short film that follows photographer Karen Hutton around the landscapes and cityscapes of Slovenia.

The seven minute film, which was made in partnership with Fujifilm, ‘unveils both the epic beauty of a charming country tucked between Italy and Croatia and the wonder of the artist experiencing it all for the first time.’

Hutton, whose past careers have included acting, singing, voiceover work, figure skating and horseback riding, says her ‘photography is about a philosophy […] It’s about the world, about life, and all the possibilities that exist in between.’

The short film does a great job highlighting the fantastic work of Hutton and showcasing the seemingly endless beauty across Slovenia. Sure it’s effectively a glorified ad for both SmugMug and Fujifilm (as well as DJI whose Mavic Pro 2 drone was used to capture much of the 4K footage), but that doesn’t take away from the inspiring and informative narration provided by Hutton nor the stunning scenery.

To see more work from Karen Hutton, visit her website. To see other SmugMug Films, head to the SmugMug Films’ YouTube Channel.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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These Inspiring Landscape Photographers will Make You Want to Take Better Photos

04 Jan

The post These Inspiring Landscape Photographers will Make You Want to Take Better Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Mark Harpur

These landscape photographers are taking some inspirational photos.

We thought we’d share these with you to get you inspired to go out and take some fantastic landscape images. They are in no particular order.

1. Rach Stewart

 

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2. Daniel Greenwood

 

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3. Jacob Moon

 

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4. Daniel Tran

 

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5. Jay Vulture

 

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6. Warren Keelan

 

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7. Gergo Rugli

 

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8. Mads Peter Iversen

 

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9. John Weatherby

 

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10. Tony Hewitt

 

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Who inspires you? Let us know in the comments below.

The post These Inspiring Landscape Photographers will Make You Want to Take Better Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


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The 10 most inspiring drone images of 2018

21 Dec

The 10 most inspiring drone images of 2018

Thanks to camera drones, it’s easier than ever to capture stunning photos from an aerial perspective. Whether through careful planning, or clever editing to create interesting art, drones can be used to push the boundaries of creativity. Here, we present the 10 drone images that inspired us most this year.

Above: Reuben Wu

This image is part of musician and artist Reuben Wu’s Lux Noctis series. Taken in the Vermillion Cliffs of Arizona at night, Wu used a drone with a powerful DIY LED light attached to it to achieve a halo effect above the peaks.

He set up a digital medium format camera positioned high up from across the pinnacles. A single drone was used so he could operate the camera and flight simultaneously.

Fabien Barrau

French photo editor and photographer, Fabien Barrau, mixes photos taken with his DJI Mavic Pro and stock images to create landscapes that oscillate between reality and fantasy.

Inspired by the phenomenon of pareidolia, he creates animal faces within the elements of the landscape. Barrau spent more than 60 hours in Photoshop to realize this image of the night owl.

Martin Sanchez

What’s most remarkable about this image of a group of hippos, taken in Tanzania with a Mavic 2 Pro, is that a drone is the only possible tool that can capture these animals in such close proximity, from above, without disturbing their natural habitat.

Mole Media

Danny, an Australian-based remote pilot from Mole Media, was inspired by legendary photographer Demas Rusli who created a similar image.

He used a Mavic Pro for his take on a classic, found an intersection in Penrose State Forest, shot in RAW, and used Photoshop to individually recreate the seasons and add different layers of objects and clouds. The result, a 4 seasons in 1 day illusion.

Reed Plummer

Reed Plummer happened to capture this school of salmon in perfect circular formation, no post-processing needed. The image was captured on the coast line of Wamberal Beach in New South Wales.

Marc Le Cornu

Marc Le Cornu used a DJI Phantom 4 Pro with an ISO of 100 at 1/1000 shutter speed and f/8 aperture. He wanted to catch his local ferry in full flight for ages, so after some careful timetable planning, he flew from a rocky point close to the shipping lane and managed to race out to get in position as the ferry approached.

There was only one chance to capture the perfect top down due to the speed of the ship. When he initially edited the shot in Lightroom, he thought it resembled a starship. That sparked the idea of creating the illusion of a rocket blasting into space. The final image was created in Photoshop, adding a few stars and lens flare.

Henry Do

Using a Mavic Pro Platinum, Henry Do shot a series of images using Automatic Exposure Bracketing. This process of capturing these shots starts with a horizontal scene at a straight angle, followed by repeatedly turning the lens down slightly and shooting, repeating the process until the camera is pointing down at 90 degrees.

Do uses a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop to merge these images into a portrait, splits individual images, such as day and night in this view of Barcelona, and merges them again to create this effect.

Micah Fitch

Micah Fitch perfectly captured this image of a recent Space X launch with an Inspire 2, Zenmuse X5S, and the 25mm f/1.8 Olympus lens (50mm equivalent on the X5S’s M43 sensor). He took 3 shots as quickly as possible in the 4:3 aspect ratio and stacked them vertically, overlapping about 30% from shot to shot.

The goal was to also frame the Huntington Beach Pier in the foreground to add a sense of scale. Micah combined 3 RAW files using Lightroom’s panorama mode, matching the exposures up. The overall intention for this image was to edit it so it would mirror what he saw with his own eyes.

Costas Spathis

Costas Spathis created this image with a Mavic Pro. The settings he used were ISO 100, shutter 320, and a f/4 aperture. The original capture was a simple line of ships located in a calm Marina in Greece.

To create this particular illusion, Spathis used a tool called Polar Coordinates in Photoshop. Much of his work is inspired by the sea and his love of symmetry.

Kristina Makeeva

Moscow-based photographer Kristina Makeeva creates magic with her images, many where she relies heavily on Photoshop to produce surreal effects.

What makes this image particularly remarkable, besides the fact that she placed one person with a yellow raincoat in the center of a fall-color-lined street for a striking, unique composition is that she used Automatic settings on her Phantom 4 with minimal editing. This image was taken in Ontario, near Toronto, Canada.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Inspiring Photography of the Waves and Oceans of Tahiti by Ben Thouard

14 Sep

Ben Thouard is an award-winning ocean and surfing photographer living on Tahiti – an island in French Polynesia. His love of surfing and photography took him there at the age of 22, and he hasn’t looked back since.

In this film by Roam, titled SURFACE, Thouard gives us a unique view of waves and surfing. The film documents how he works, and how his shots are captured – it’s a valuable look into the creative process of such an experienced photographer.

Note: Watch it fullscreen, you’ll feel like you’re in the water with him!

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“Being in the water, moving with the waves and going with the flow… you feel the energy from the ocean,” says Thouard. “You feel very humble in front of all of that power.”

Thouard discovered photography at the age of 15 and spent all of his time underwater trying to capture images of the ocean. Most of Thouard’s days are spent exploring and waiting for the perfect conditions, but when all of that comes together it makes for stunning photography.

Thouard has now created a 184-page book, also titled SURFACE, documenting his work photographing waves and the ocean in beautiful imagery.

Here’s a short trailer on the film above, if you want a more concise insight into his work:
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To see more of Thouard’s work, head over to his website.

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19 inspiring entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

13 Dec

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

The Sony World Photography Awards—one of the largest annual competitions in the world of photography—is just a month away from closing its entries. To remind photographers of this deadline (and just maybe brag a little bit about the quality of the entries they’ve received so far—World Press Photo has released a teaser of 19 stunning entries submitted to the competition so far.

From perfectly composed black-and-white street portraits, to spectacular wildlife images, to landscape photos that’ll rev up your wanderlust, there’s a little something for everyone in this Holiday teaser.

Scroll through the slideshow to see them all for yourself. And if you’re planning to submit your own entry, you can do so for free right here. Just remember: the submission deadline for the Open, Youth, and National Award competitions is January 4th, 2018, and the deadline for the Professional – Best Series of Works competition is January 11th, 2018.

Press Release

New images released to mark one month until deadline of 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

December 5, 2017 – Photographers worldwide have just one month left to enter the 11th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards. To mark this deadline, the World Photography Organisation, the creators of the Awards, today releases a new selection of entries from the Open competition. Submitted by photographers from around the world, the images cover a wide variety of topics, from stunning aerial landscapes to intimate portraits and animals in the wild.

The internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards are one of the most important fixtures on the worldwide photographic calendar, with many of its shortlisted and winning photographers gaining global exposure and recognition. Last year’s Photographer of the Year, Frederik Buyckx (Belgium) said, “Being named Photographer of the Year has given me more exposure than I could ever have imagined. It has opened doors but, just as importantly, the awards has also encouraged me to keep on working on my personal projects.”

Past shortlisted photographer Simon Butterworth (UK) said “It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this achievement to my career, the global coverage was amazing, in fact, interest in my work as a direct result of the awards continues to this day.”

All entries to the Awards are free at www.worldphoto.org/swpa

Deadlines and Jury

The 2018 judges have been tasked to reward the very best contemporary photography from the past year across the following competitions:

Open – best single image
Youth – photographers aged 12-19, best single image
National Award – best single image taken by a local photographer from 60+ countries Deadline: January 4, 2018

Professional – best series of works
Deadline: January 11, 2018

The juries are chaired by Mike Trow, Picture Editor, British Vogue (Professional competition) and Zelda Cheatle, Curator (Open, Youth competitions and National Awards). Full details about the 2018 jury can be found at www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/2018- judges

Key dates

The shortlist for all competitions of the Awards will be announced on February 28, 2018. The Open and National Awards winners will be announced March 20, 2018. The Photographer of the Year and the Professional category winners will be announced April 19, 2018.

Prizes and exhibition

Prizes include $ 25,000 (USD) for the Photographer of the Year and $ 5,000 (USD) for the overall Open competition winner. All category winners will receive the latest Sony Digital Imaging equipment and Professional category winners are flown to London to attend the Sony World Photography Awards dinner on Thursday April 19, 2018.

The Awards’ winning and shortlisted images will once again be exhibited at Somerset House, London. Running April 20 – May 6 2018, the exhibition will also include exclusive new works by the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award, to be announced in January 2018. Previous recipients include Martin Parr (2017), RongRong&inri (2016), Elliot Erwitt (2015) and Mary Ellen Mark (2014)

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Back to the future by Sung Lok Cheung | Image © Sung Lok Cheung, Hong Kong (China), Entry, Open, Portraiture (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

The photo was taken at TeamLab, Dance! Art Exibition, Shenzhen, China, in a venue called the Crystal Universe. The light illusion is an artwork that uses an accumulation of light points to create a sculptural body.

By this time, I had been waiting with my friend for the right composition to happen. I saw a little girl in a red dress running around. I kept on waiting and waiting expecting that she would come to the perfect spot. Luckily she ran out again by the channel. I found it is so called “The Decisive Moment”. I couldn’t wait to press the shutter, when the lighting was perfectly right, to create a beautiful moment. It looked like the girl was crossing a time tunnel.

That is why I put “Back to the Future “ as the title of my photo. I was inspired by the idea that opportunities are to be left to those who are well prepared. Or, to put it another way, that good preparation is the way to become successful. By pressing the shutter at the right moment, an amazing photo was finally realised.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Life in Macau by António Leong | Image © António Leong, Portugal, Entry, Open, Street Photography (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Macau is probably better known as a gambling city near Hong Kong, but very few know that it is the most densely populated city in the world—over 18,000 people packed in a km square. High rise residential buildings are everywhere in town. How many stories are in each Kilometer cube?

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

African Mystery by Matthieu Rivart | Image © Matthieu Rivart, France, Entry, Open, Wildlife (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

The photo was taken during my last trip in Kalahari (Kgalagadi Park, South Africa), last September. The Kalahari lions are famous for their black mane.

After a long drive through the park, I came across two of them, sharing a springbok kill. A violent fight took place between the two to get the best pieces. They ultimately headed towards the nearby waterhole, where they got a rest during the sunset, which gave me the perfect opportunity to capture their legendary beauty.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Morning Glory by Huibo Hou | Image © Huibo Hou, United States of America, Entry, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Morning glory hot spring in Winter, Yellowstone National Park, USA

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

The Horns at sunrise by Vincent Chen | Image © Vincent Chen, China, Entry, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

I took this photo in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile’s Patagonia region in Feb 2017.

I came to this secluded viewpoint in early morning and was fortunate to get pretty amazing weather. The sunshine shone onto the famous Cuernos del Paine peaks—they looked magnificent and incredible.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

On White by Chris MacDonald | Image © Chris MacDonald , Canada, Entry, Open, Wildlife (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

A red fox stands in the snow. I was out for a hike in the early January snow when I cam across a set of fox tracks. I followed them around a curve and found this fox standing in a clearing. I got down to my knees quickly to try not to scare him off and started taking pictures.

As some of the heavy snow fell of the trees, he paused and turn to see what was making the noise. I have photographed this fox over many years. His nose is so distinctive it helps to identify him. By getting low, it gave me the snow in the background to create the isolated effect of white.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Untitled by Oliver San Juan | Image © Oliver San Juan, Philippines, Entry, Open, Street Photography (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

This photo was taken somewhere in the famous Divisoria Market of Manila, and shows 3 generations of men.

First is a kid that seems to be playing, the middle-aged man in the center seems to be thinking of something deeply, while the last man sits very relaxed while reading a newspaper. It is like an evolution from being a playful kid to a relaxed, worry-free old man.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Newspaper… by Martin Schubert | Image © Martin Schubert, Czech Republic, Entry, Open, Street Photography (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

I was waiting on a tram in Prague, and this man was sat eating a snack. First, I photographed the scene from another angle, but when I noticed the poster behind him I moved fast to the right place and shot this picture. After 30 seconds he stood up and left.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Little Indian by Virgilio Liberaton | Image © Virgilio Liberato, Philippines, Entry, Open, Portraiture (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

The photo is taken around March or February 2017, when its still cold here in Kuwait. Its a park we shoot in actually here in Kuwait, where its not allowed to shoot at any park or location unless you have permits—let’s just say I’m a run and gun photographer.

The park is named Green Island. It’s near the seaside and not too many photos were taken there because you need to pay to get into the park. It was a little bit cold at that time, so not too many people were going to the park. The model is wearing a Native American headdress because we can’t bring extra people on that shoot, and its also not allowed for that headdress to be seen here in Kuwait.

This scene was just timing. We had finished our shoot, and while going home I found the spot that would be great for her: a bush that she could pass through, but only a little space so I imagined letting her pass by and calling to her. In the instant I captured her eyes, its hard for her because of small thorns of the bushes.

So thats how I got her photo. Paying attention at the last minute helped me find that great spot, which I didn’t see when we came to the location.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Nattfari, Húsavík by Matteo Redaelli | Image © Matteo Redaelli, Italy, Entry, Open, Travel (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Whale watching is a wonderful experience to enjoy if you travel across Iceland. This boat, Náttfari, is a traditional Icelandic wooden boat sailing the most of the year around Skjalfandi Bay, where you can enjoy this majestic and unique experience of whale watching.

The afternoon I took this picture was really unexpected because the morning the weather was truly better. That is the fun part of Iceland. I feel joyful when a normal morning suddenly transforms into an unusual afternoon. That was exactly what happened during this day.

I remember that it was very cold but at the same time so nice because was unexpected such a lot of snow around Skjalfandi Bay on Náttfari. Knowing that the Bay was surrounded by humpbacks whales was another point for the wonderful experience it was. I love to travel and share my time with nice people as the crew was on Náttfari for the time I was there for a scientific project.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Lunch Break by Omer Faidi | Image © Omer Faidi, Turkey, Entry, Open, Street Photography (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

At lunchtime in my office, I went out to the balcony and when I saw the workers at the construction site next door, I said “wow!” I went back inside to get my camera and shot them from the 6th floor. They were looking very peaceful and natural.

I returned shortly after, and the moment had passed.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Jump by Milo Angelo Ramella | Image © Milo Angelo Ramella, Italy, Entry, Open, Wildlife (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Jump: A snowy owl flies, alarmed by the call of another female.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Wanma Pentium by Shen Jianfeng | Image © Shen Jianfeng, China, Entry, Open, Travel (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

My image was taken in July 2017, in the grassland grazing area of Wulangbu Dam in Inner Mongolia, China.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

The Big Meringue by Placido Faranda | Image © Placido Faranda, Italy, Entry, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Scala dei Turchi (The Turkish Steps) is a white cliff in Realmonte (Sicily), made of a soft limestone and a blinding white marlstone. Natural erosion has created steps on the cliff face, making it look soft and sinuous, like a Big Meringue covered with sprinkles (the people sitting and walking on it).

The origin of the name “Turkish Steps” is intriguing. While there is a big resemblance to Pamukkale (Turkey), the designation of “Turkish” was given centuries ago by local people, for the frequent raids carried by Turkish pirates on this area. Legend says they would find a shelter for their boats behind this rocky formation, and then climb the “steps” of the cliff and raid the villages.

Today, Scala dei Turchi is a wonderful spot for viewing the sunset, as the bright white marl turns into a strong orange. Only after shooting this image, while watching it on a bigger screen, did I notice the newlywed couple in the frame kissing for their wedding photoshoot. Exactly at the edge of the cliff.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

K means kite by Krzysztof ?wik | Image © Krzysztof ?wik, Poland, Entry, Open, Street Photography (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

The kite competition on the Marseille beach. France.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Papuma by Haryadi Bakri | Image © Haryadi Bakri, Indonesia, Entry, Open, Enhanced (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

The picture of Papuma taken on 8 October 2017 on my 7 day trip to Bromo Mountain, then to Papuma Beach at East Java, Indonesia.

It was my first time visiting Papuma beach, at Jember City. I arrived at midnight from the Surabaya night train after finishing my 3-night trip hunting star trails at Bromo mountain.

Papuma Beach is not actually at the city, but far on the southern tip of the coastline. I had to return to to beach 3 times in a day just to make sure I had the right location for capturing the clouds and the stars at night—sadly, it was very cloudy at night, so I’m combining the star trails from Bromo mountain.

That’s it, but before combining, I made sure the south pole in the picture is in the right position as the real location. No doubt, this is the image that I wanted to create.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

The child and the reindeer by Pehuen Grotti | Image © Pehuen Grotti, France, Entry, Open, Travel (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Every morning, all the reindeer are released so they can graze all day, and at night they all come back themselves. Here we can see one of the Tsataan children taking care of his reindeer before the cold night comes.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Golden Happy Hour by Hans Gunnar Aslaksen | Image © Hans Gunnar Aslaksen, Norway, Entry, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

This image was taken in October in a small bay in Larvik, southern Norway. Larvik is a small town south of Oslo.

The location for this image is not far from where I live. It is kind of a secret gem that few people know about. I discovered the place and its potential on a local hike I did. I have been here several times under different weather conditions. This location is quite tricky as it needs perfect waves to work. That means that they cant be to big or else you and the camera will get soaked. But calm water will not add enough interest and dynamic to the image.

This specific evening the waves where just perfect. Just big enough to wash over the stones and not to big so I could get a low angle with the camera. The setting sun was also in a perfect position—the low sun was not obstructed by clouds and it lit up the rocks in the bay beautifully.

I knew that the sun would set in just half an hour, so I had to work fast and find the best composition. The light just got better and better and I knew that I had a chance to capture something special. I tried to anchor the shot with the beautiful stones in the foreground and experimented with different shutter speeds to create interesting movement in the waves. I tried to make every element lead up to the sunstar for a strong composition. I am very pleased that also the clouds acts as leading lines towards the setting sun.

19 of the best entries from the Sony World Photography Awards

Frazzled by Zhayynn James | Image © Zhayynn James, India, Entry, Open, Wildlife (Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

A handsome alpha male Lion-tailed Macaque keeps a wary eye on the rest of his troop after a drink of water. They are one of the most endangered primate species in the world and are highly endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.

Their species is fragmented across the Western Ghats in pockets and their future, much like this male’s mane, looks frazzled.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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10 Inspiring Photo Documentaries Worth Your Time

04 Mar

As we try to find inspiration in our environment that fuels our desire and imagination as artists, we each develop our own style. Sometimes, you may find yourself feeling stuck creatively. Or you might be enthusiastic about taking photos but be unsure where to focus your energy and enthusiasm. If that’s the case, you might profit from a little history Continue Reading

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My Favorite Year: A Sony shooter’s inspiring 365 day project

28 Dec

With start of a new year, many photographers will take up a ‘365 challenge’, creating and sharing a photo every day of the year. If you’re looking for inspiration to start your own, Toni Ahvenainen’s ‘Year of the Alpha’ project is the perfect place to start. He’s a DPR reader, an enthusiast photographer and, of course, a Sony shooter. In our Q&A he tells us how the project started, how it evolved and what he learned along the way. See gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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