Att välja Bitcoin Life Rate de bästa kryptosystem som finns på marknaden är en mycket viktig aspekt av handeln. Om du inte är medveten om detta kan det sluta med att du förlorar mycket pengar i det långa loppet. Om du vill göra mest vinst på kortast möjliga tid måste du göra din hemläxa väl. Här är några av de grunder som du bör känna till innan du väljer de bästa mynten att handla på marknaden med.
Bitcoin Life Rate
En av de första sakerna du måste titta efter i de bästa valutorna som finns på marknaden är deras inflationsgrad. För att förstå detta måste du först förstå vad inflation är. Inflation är helt enkelt en ökning av priserna utan att varor och tjänster minskar. Till exempel är en enårig dollar värd mycket mer om några månader, eller hur? Så om du väljer att investera i de bästa råvarorna för det här århundradet vore det klokt att hålla utkik efter de valutor som enligt prognoserna kommer att uppleva den högsta inflationen under de kommande tio åren.
Ett annat grundläggande övervägande när det gäller att investera i de bästa valutorna är deras historik när det gäller handel och gruvdrift. Man kan inte bara välja vilket gammalt system som helst att investera i idag. Det finns hundratusentals valutor som handlas på marknaden och endast ett fåtal utvalda är lönsamma. Därför är det nödvändigt att du forskar väl om de olika systemen som finns tillgängliga för att veta vilket av de tillgängliga kryptosystemen som är det bästa att investera i.
Ett av de enklaste sätten att avgöra vilken av de bästa valutorna att investera i är genom att titta på den underliggande tillgångens egenskaper. Detta kallas tillgångens egenskaper och de är kända som Ripples. Låt oss ta en titt på två exempel på de bästa valutorna att investera i under det kommande decenniet. Den första typen av tillgång är aktier. Ett index som följer värdet av olika typer av företag kallas aktier. Så om vi tittar på de tio främsta valutorna som kommer att styra aktiemarknadens värde i framtiden är det troligt att dollarn kommer att fortsätta sin uppgång eftersom värdet på aktier i USA och Europa förväntas stiga.
Den andra typen av tillgångar är guld. Det finns en stor sannolikhet för att guldpriset kommer att stiga under det kommande decenniet. Om du håller på med handel och inte har teknisk kunskap om vilken av de bästa valutorna du ska investera i bör du prova de bästa kryptovalutorna som sannolikt kommer att öka i värde under detta årtionde. Bland de möjliga valutorna att investera i Bitcoin Life Rate finns euron, den japanska yenen, den australiska dollarn, schweiziska francen, den kanadensiska dollarn och det brittiska pundet. Var och en av dessa valutor har sina egna för- och nackdelar och du bör noggrant studera dem innan du investerar i dem.
Även om det är lätt att bli lockad av de dåliga nyheterna om att investera i kryptovalutor finns det ingen dålig investering när det gäller mynt. Anledningen till detta är att de flesta investerare som är nya i den här branschen slutar med att förlora sina pengar eftersom de inte har rätt kunskap om vilka av de bästa valutorna de ska investera i. Så när du letar efter de bästa valutorna att investera i är det viktigt att du blir bekant med alla dessa. Detta beror på att endast genom att bli en registrerad användare av en onlinehandelsplats kan du få tillgång till alla de bästa kryptovalutorna som finns tillgängliga i världen idag.
Det finns många fördelar som är förknippade med att investera i de bästa kryptokurvorna, bland annat det faktum att de handlas på den globala marknaden. Därför är det lätt att handla med de bästa valutorna och du kan också förvänta dig god avkastning. Att investera i de bästa valutorna kräver dock att du lär dig hur systemet fungerar, grunderna i ekonomi och företagsledning. Om du till exempel är en investerare som är ny på att investera på altcoin-marknaden, är det bättre om du får hjälp av professionella personer som experter och handlare.
Det finns många fördelar som du kan njuta av när du investerar i de bästa valutorna i världen. En av dessa är att när du väljer de bästa kryptosurferna kan du vara säker på att värdet på din investering alltid kommer att vara stabilt. Eftersom värdet på varje mynt varierar beroende på utbud och efterfrågan är det viktigt att du investerar i de bästa valutorna och sedan handlar med dem enligt dina behov. När värdet på en valuta fluktuerar kan du alltså enkelt sälja dina tillgångar och investera i de nya.
Det bästa sättet att investera i de bästa kryptosurfarna är att se till att du är välinformerad om de olika faktorer som påverkar värdet på ett visst mynt och du har också en expert som kan lära dig hur du väljer de bästa valutorna att investera i. När du vill göra vinster från handeln med den bästa kryptosurf bör du alltså se till att du utbildar dig om marknadens ekonomi och affärsmodeller. Här är nästa intressanta blogginlägg: Var kan jag betala med Bitcoin?.
The post Bitcoin Life Rate Erfarenheter first appeared on Hur man använder kryptovalutor på rätt sätt.
Can a camera lens go bad over a period of time? What is the life of a camera lens? These are the questions that linger in your mind if you have multiple lenses in your kit. If you are on a budget, you might be looking at buying used camera lenses. In this case you also need to know what Continue Reading Photodoto
Comments Off on Can Camera Lenses Go Bad? Camera Lens Shelf Life Explained
The online genealogy company MyHeritage has launched a new AI-powered service, Deep Nostalgia. This new service animates family photos (or other photos, as we’ll see) to allow users to ‘experience your family history like never before.’
Deep Nostalgia uses AI licensed from D-ID to turn still images into animated photos like the Live Photos feature in iOS portraits in the ‘Harry Potter’ films. Deep Nostalgia relies upon videos of facial animations, which the AI then applies to a still image. For example, an old black and white portrait of a man looking off-camera comes to life, with the subject moving his head, blinking and smiling at the camera.
“It makes me so happy to see him smile again!” Try our new #DeepNostalgia #PhotoAnimation feature for yourself and prepare to be AMAZED!!! https://t.co/p3h600G3MX pic.twitter.com/YdAn9IxyW0
— MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) February 28, 2021
MyHeritage prepared several drivers for Deep Nostalgia, which are then applied to a face in a still photo. You can animate all the faces in a photo, such as in a family portrait, although a separate animation must be created for each face. The technology automatically selects an animation sequence for a face, but users can select a different sequence as well. The animation sequences are based on genuine human gestures. Different MyHeritage employees are the foundation for many of the animation sequences.
To try Deep Nostalgia for yourself, you must sign up for a free MyHeritage account. Once you sign up, you can begin uploading images, which are animated and turned into a GIF. If you don’t do the full signup process, MyHeritage states that any images you upload will be deleted automatically to protect the user’s privacy. If you are uploading small or blurry images, MyHeritage’s Photo Enhancer will enhance your photos before the animation is applied, as Deep Heritage requires a high-resolution face.
It’s a neat idea to be able to bring old photos back to life. For many, their only connection to family members featured in old photographs is the image itself. They may never have seen them in person. In many cases, including those shared by different users on Twitter, Deep Nostalgia produces pretty impressive results.
oh my! @MyHeritage has created such an extraordinary photo animation tool. Here is my grandmother! I have clients waiting for work today, how can I tear myself away from this and from #RootsTechConnect pic.twitter.com/op6cMjcXXH
— Nicole Lascelle (@pedigreetales) February 25, 2021
As pointed out by The Verge, not everyone is using the service to add life-like qualities to antiquated family photos. Twitter user Flint Dibble opted instead to upload photos of statues from the Acropolis Museum in Athens. If you’ve ever wanted to see a statue of Alexander the Great move and blink, now you can. As Kim Lyons of The Verge asks, ‘I wonder if perhaps there are some photos best left un-animated?’
Alright, I’m joining the game and animating some ancient stuff. This is from the Acropolis Museum in Athens
Kinda fun, though it won’t work on ancient animals! I’ll add more as I get some OK ones pic.twitter.com/AwG9fA99Lj
— Flint Dibble ??? (@FlintDibble) February 28, 2021
Jokes aside, Deep Nostalgia is a fascinating technology that can create impressive results. Photographs are the lasting connection we collectively have to our past. When our photos are of lost loved ones, the images take on a much deeper meaning. For some, seeing someone blink and smile again may feel morbid or odd, but it may be a special experience for others.
As MyHeritage writes, ‘Some people love the Deep Nostalgia feature and consider it magical, while others find it creepy and dislike it. Indeed, the results can be controversial, and it’s hard to stay indifferent to this technology.’ To try it for yourself, head over to MyHeritage.
The post Black and White Still Life Photography: How to Do It (And Why It Matters) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
In the quest to improve your photography, sometimes the best approach is to slow down, concentrate on the basics, and be purposeful and deliberate. Working in black and white will do that. Making still life images will do that.
Combine the two, and you get black and white still life photography – which is an excellent way to make some great images and become a better photographer while you’re at it.
One of my most successful images of all time is this very minimalistic monochrome composition. It taps into the power of black and white and still life.
The power of monochrome
I will often use the terms monochrome and black and white interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference.
Black and white photos are just that: images with tones from white through black and all shades of gray, but with no color information whatsoever.
A monochrome image, on the other hand, might have a color tint. For instance, you can create a warm, sepia-toned shot or a cool, cyanotype photo. A single color – with various shades – would be present in the image.
A sepia-toned image is monochrome, but not black and white in the purest sense.
But note that this article applies to both black and white photography and monochrome photography equally.
Why black and white?
Early photographers had no choice because they couldn’t shoot in color. Monochrome images were all they could make.
Of course, this ultimately was not a serious limitation; many of the most iconic photographs ever taken are black and white. Surely even non-photographers have seen what might be one of the most famous black and white still life photos of all time, “Pepper No. 30” by Edward Weston. And I can confidently say that Weston’s photo would not be better if it had been made in color.
Today, the default choice of most photographers is color. Because our world is in color – as are most of the photos we encounter – “seeing” in black and white is a skill you must develop.
You must learn to look at a subject with an eye toward the basics – the “bones” of an image, if you will. Shape, form, tone, and texture are those bones, and the best black and white images play to those strengths, where color is unnecessary and even a distraction.
Is this the yellow brick road? Perhaps, but the strength of the shot is “good bones” in all the areas monochrome excels: shape, form, tone, and texture. It also utilizes some good compositional elements. Color is not needed.
Learning to see in black and white will, of course, make you a better black and white photographer. But if you can see in black and white while recognizing and taking advantage of the structural elements of a subject, you’ll become a better color photographer, as well.
Color then becomes an enhancement to an already-good image – one with a solid “bone structure” of shape, form, tone, and texture.
Why still life?
My two favorite genres of photography are probably still life and landscape.
Why?
It could be because they are so opposite. In landscape photography, you can rarely move the subjects in your scene, you compose by where you stand, and you don’t have much control over the light. Often, you must wait for the light to be just right, and you must be ready if and when such a moment happens.
The elements, the layout, the composition, the lighting, the camera position; you’re in control of everything when you make a still life photo.
Still life photography makes you the master. You set the scene, deciding what to add in and take out. You arrange the objects for the best composition, you choose the camera position, the lighting, and any additional components comprising your shot.
Then, when you’re satisfied and ready, you take the photo.
In a word, still life photography give you complete control.
Where can you find subjects for black and white still life photography? Where can’t you?! How about the silverware drawer? Here are some creative still lifes with a few forks.
You might also find good still life subjects in the vegetable bin….
…or get back to the “roots of photography” with a subject like this.
When considering subjects for black and white still life photography, remember what gives an image “good bones:”
Shape, form…
…tone…
…and texture.
Then add another distinct advantage. Consider this definition:
“A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.).”
A real advantage of still life photography is that your subjects are still. They don’t move.
So in still life photography, it won’t matter if your shutter speed is 1/30s or 30 seconds. Being able to have such flexibility over your choice of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO is huge, and it opens up all kinds of possibilities that other genres of photography don’t offer.
Light painting is one of those unique possibilities. Since you don’t have to deal with a moving subject, you’re free to “paint” a subject with light during an extended exposure.
And this makes for some dramatic still life shots:
A still life subject that doesn’t move lends itself well to light painting. If you need a 15-second exposure and still want to stick with ISO 100, it’s no problem.
Lighting
Lighting for black and white still life photography comes back to the advantage we already identified:
Control.
The lighting instruments you choose, the modifiers you use, the number of lights and their placement – it’s all within your control.
Let’s break this down a bit more:
White balance – Since you’re processing in black and white, you can ignore the color temperature of your lighting instruments. And this frees you up to use all kinds of light sources, from flashlights, LEDs, and daylight to candlelight, fluorescent lights, and incandescent lights. Yes, as you convert an image into black and white, the color tones will respond differently. But you can handle adjusting your black and white tones if your white balance is initially off. I’ve often “rescued” impossibly bad color images simply by converting to black and white.
Placement – We spoke about the “bones” of shape, form, tone, and texture, which exist in all photos but are more readily apparent in black and white. In black and white still life photography, you get the opportunity to accentuate these “bones” with your careful consideration of lighting placement and control. Want to emphasize texture? Rake a hard light across the subject from the back or side at a low angle. Do you want a soft look? Try a broad light source, like a softbox, that illuminates the subject from the front. You can light your subject to create the look and mood you’re after. As the saying goes, “No rules, just right.”
Want to create some dramatic texture? Use a single hard light source – in this case, a simple flashlight – and rake it across your subject’s surface from the side.
Or you could have the low, late afternoon sun backlight your subject, again to emphasize texture.
A camera trick to help your visualization
In order to make this trick work, you must shoot in RAW.
(Also, I highly recommend you shoot in RAW all the time. Here’s why this is important.)
Now, when shooting in a RAW format, your camera will always capture a color image (and that is what you want).
The playback image you see on the rear LCD, however, will not be the RAW file. Instead, it’ll be a JPEG representation of the image.
So if you want to get better at seeing in black and white, why not switch the JPEG to black and white while keeping the RAW image in color? That way, after taking an image, you can immediately see it in monochrome – but you’ll still keep all the color details for post-processing later.
Bruce Wunderlich, a fellow dPS writer, describes how to set up your camera to do this. He promotes it as a way to better compose color photos, and it is good for that – but if monochrome is where you’re headed, it’s even more beneficial.
So read Bruce’s piece, set up your camera accordingly, and you will have a real aid in making black and white photos.
A still life doesn’t have to be a tabletop object, nor must it be shot under artificial light. This agricultural implement was shot outdoors in bright sunlight. The story of the shot is the repeating patterns. The yellow and red colors of the machine would only have distracted the viewer. Having my LCD set to preview the image in black and white helped me visualize the shot!
Editing for black and white
After a session of black and white still life photography, you’ll bring the images into post-processing as RAW color images.
Color?
Yes. Even if you’ve set up your camera using the recommendation above – where the LCD displays your images in black and white – your actual RAW images are still in color.
That’s a good thing. It’s during editing that you will convert your photos to black and white.
This will allow you to determine how various colors will be converted to monochrome. For instance, back in the black and white film days, you could darken the sky by shooting with a red filter. Because the red filter would block most of the blue light, the sky was rendered very dark on the black and white film.
Today we can create those effects during editing. When converting from color to monochrome, you can adjust the luminance of specific colors (e.g., you can darken the reds, the blues, and the yellows), thus affecting the overall look of the image.
Lightroom offers a nice black and white conversion tool, and there are a number of good articles on black and white conversion in Lightroom, such as this one by Andrew Gibson. You may also wish to try other methods of black and white conversion. A popular option is the Nik Silver Efex Pro plug-in from DxO, but there are dozens of other programs and methods for converting from color to black and white.
Without the limitations of having to make the color in a photo “look right,” you are free to creatively take the tonality in your black and white images wherever your creativity leads you.
The original image at left; a black and white conversion with boosted green luminance in the center; a black and white conversion with decreased green luminance on the right.
Age your photo
Here’s another fun black and white still life photography trick:
Replicate a vintage black and white look!
First, make sure you find the right subject. I recommend working with old collectible objects. Then capture the shot and enhance it afterward with effects such as sepia toning.
It can be a fun and instructional exercise to gather some objects, set up a pleasing composition, light it, photograph it, and create a monochrome file complete with sepia toning.
Collect some items to create a theme, make your still life black and white image, then edit it to produce a “period look.”
Take your “aged” still life even further with some special effects!
Gather some objects, decide how you want to set your scene, light it, take your shot, then go for an antique look with a sepia tone. Canon 50D | Canon 50mm f/1.8 | 1/15s | f/22 | ISO 800
Black and white still life photography: Now go do it!
You can and should read up on the concepts and techniques of photography, but there’s only so far “book learning” will take you.
Black and white still life photography will slow you down, make you think, concentrate your efforts, and force you to really study things.
You just have to dive in and do it!
So gather some subjects, decide how to arrange and light them, determine where you want to place your camera, what focal length you will use, how you will expose the image – all of those things.
Think about what you’re doing, what you’re trying to communicate, and why you’re making the photo.
Take your shot, evaluate it, consider what might make it better, and shoot it again.
Then repeat! There’s no hurry. You’re making photographs, not taking snapshots. You are the master when you practice black and white still life photography.
And that, as they say, is the beauty of it. Go make some great shots!
As always, leave your comments, questions, and photos in the comments section below. Best wishes!
This was shot outdoors after the early morning dew beaded up on this lupine leaf. I put a piece of black cardboard behind the leaf, then did some further clean-up in the edit.
The post Black and White Still Life Photography: How to Do It (And Why It Matters) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
Hot on the heels of DJI releasing its latest gimbals, Chinese gimbal manufacturer FeiyuTech has released the AK2000C, its latest three-axis handheld gimbal for mid-sized camera systems.
The AK2000C is a lightweight handheld gimbal that can hold just shy of 2.2kg (5lbs) worth of camera gear and run for up to seven hours on a single charge. This payload would be enough to hold recent cameras, such as the Canon EOS R/R5/R6, Fujifilm X-T3, Nikon Z6/7 and Sony a7 III with standard primes and zoom lenses attached.
The frame of the gimbal is constructed of an aluminum alloy and, much like DJI’s gimbals, it features quick-release locks on all three axes for keeping everything secure when packed away. The gimbal comes in at just over 1kg (2.5lbs) and folds up to 69mm (2.7”) x 208mm (8.1”) x 348mm (13.6”).
FeiyuTech says the AK2000C is powered by its W7 algorithm, which includes pre-programmed shooting modes, such as timelapse, 360 pans, selfie mode, vertical shooting and more. Both camera and gimbal settings can be controlled right on the gimbal using its new OLED touchscreen (FeiyuTech doesn’t specify what specific cameras work with the gimbal though).
The AK2000C is currently avaialble to purchase through FeiyuTech’s online store, Amazon and authorized FeiyuTech retailers for $ 229.
Award-winning artist and director Lynette Wallworth released her documentary Awavena in 2018 to critical acclaim. The project’s director of photography, Greg Downing, utilized numerous cameras during production, including the specialized Canon ME20F-SH multi-purpose camera.
Awavena follows the first female shaman of the Yawanawa tribe in the Amazonian rainforest. As part of the film, the crew documents an Ayahuasca vision quest and represents this experience using real footage captured in incredibly low light and CGI. Downing, with the aid of the ME20F-SH, captured footage of fluorescent insects and plants in nearly no light, something that Canon believes could have proven impossible for other cameras.
This week, Canon shared a video going behind the scenes with Downing and the ME20F-Sh camera. You can view this below.
If you’d like to view the trailer for Awavena, it can be seen below. Awavena is Wallworth’s second mixed-reality VR film, following up on the Emmy-winning film, Collisions. Wallworth says, ‘We engaged DP Greg Downing from XRez to film in the Amazon and brought the eminent Australian fluorescent biologist Dr. Anya Salih, my longtime collaborator, along on the shoot so we could film the previously unseen world of forest fluorescence as part of the vision sequence.’ Wallworth’s full artist statement about Awavena can be read here.
While the Canon ME20F-SH camera is getting a bit long in the tooth, its technical specifications and features continue to impress over five years since it was announced. The camera utilizes a 2.26MP CMOS image sensor, which was originally announced all the way back in 2013. The sensor has pixels measuring 19?m, allowing for 1080/60p video capture in light levels as low as 0.0005 lux at a gain setting of 75 Db, which is equivalent to over ISO 4,000,000. The ME20F-SH supports Canon’s EF and EF-S lenses. While Awavena represented Downing’s first experience with the ME20F-SH camera, he has long relied upon Canon cameras for his work and has been a longtime Canon Professional Services member.
Canon ME20F-SH camera
This is not the first time footage from the ME20F-SH has been featured on our site. In 2016, Ben Canales recorded video of the Perseid meteor shower using the camera. You can see that footage below.
In 2017, Canon outfitted an industrial done with the ME20F-SH all-purpose camera for nighttime surveillance. That video can be seen here.
As PetaPixel notes in its coverage of Awavena, the ME20F-SH has been used to record the aurora borealis in real-time and record bioluminescent coral over 1,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface. You can check out these videos below:
After facing imminent closure, Tetenal is back with a vengeance and has relaunched their online shop. This is fantastic news for analog photographers, as Tetenal has been producing critical photochemicals since 1847, making Tetenal the oldest active company in the photo industry.
In January 2019, we reported that Tetenal Europe faced closure. After going into voluntary insolvency protection in 2018, Tetenal Europe GmbH failed to find new investors and was preparing to close its doors. In February 2019, an employee-led management buyout was accepted and Tetenal lived on.
In an announcement at the time, one of the leaders of the employee-led movement, Burkhardt Mueller, said, ‘We respect the heritage and the responsibility for 172 years of photo history that we inherit. Together with the global photo community and commercial partners from the analog photo industry, we will relaunch proven products to ensure reliable sustainable supply for film and photo studios, while developing new business models, products and services.’
A screenshot from Tetenal 1847’s new online store.
Jumping ahead to the current day, the wheels are in motion at the new Tetenal. The company is offering a 5% discount on all purchases from their online store using the discount code ‘tetenalpromo09’. The company offers worldwide shipping.
Tetenal’s relaunch includes new black and white chemistry, including film and photo paper developer, stop, fixer, photo paper tones, stabilizer, wash aids and wetting solutions. If you’re interested in traditional wet plate photography, there’s emulsion available for that as well.
Tetenal is not content to simply keep producing more of the same, however, it is also working on new products. Tetenal has nearly completed the development of Tetenal Developer Tablets. These E6 and C41 developer tablets are dry chemicals you can dissolve in water to make your own solutions at home. This has two major advantages over traditional liquid concentrates. First, tablets have a lower shipping weight and volume. Secondly, liquids can oxidize, which limits shelf life when using chemicals in small batches. Tablets, on the other hand, are easier to store and have a longer shelf life.
Tetenal has nearly finished the development of effervescent tablet forms of E6 and C41 developer. Click to enlarge. Image credit: Tetenal
It is a big deal for Tetenal to survive. While the company is perhaps best known for its film processing chemicals, it is also a producer of source chemicals for many other companies throughout the world. Tetenal also contributes to digital photography by supplying chemicals to companies such as Epson, Eizo and other inkjet and dye sub media distributors. Tetenal’s chemicals are also critical to the motion picture industry.
In an article for PetaPixel, Ludwig Hagelstein wrote an excellent in-depth look at Tetenal since its 19th-century beginnings. It is well worth checking out for those interested in photographic history and analog photography.
Click to enlarge. Image credit: Tetanel
To learn more about Tetenal’s history and its product offerings, head to its website. It’s excellent to see the company continuing to survive and innovate amid challenging market conditions.
Hardware modder, retro gaming enthusiast and Everyday Carry co-founder Bernard Capulong has come to the rescue of an anonymous Redditor who recently expressed their desire for pettiness on the social media platform. The result? A video demonstrating the use of an old Game Boy camera as a modern, live webcam.
On Tuesday, September 1, a Redditor known only by the handle ‘/u/eye_for_an_homunculi’ posted a question on the Game Boy subreddit: is it possible to use an old Game Boy camera as a webcam? The reason, Homunculi explained, was to use the camera as a type of petty ‘gotcha’ in protest of ‘a long list of insane rules’ he or she had to follow when taking an online exam.
It didn’t take long before Capulong dropped a comment demonstrating that it is possible; he shared an image of his setup, as well as video captured using the Game Boy camera as a webcam. The process is expensive if you don’t have the right hardware and fairly convoluted, Capulong explained, making it quite impractical but nonetheless fun.
According to the video demonstrating the project, the Game Boy camera is run off a Super Game Boy 2, the adapter cartridge used to play Game Boy games on the Super Nintendo (SNES) for a bigger-screen experience. Things get a bit more complicated from there, however.
According to Capulong, the adapter cartridge is used with the Analog Super NT, an FPGA-based SNES that includes an HDMI for use with modern displays. Using this HDMI-out functionality, Capulong ran the video signal to an Avermedia Live Gamer ULTRA external capture card, which was then connected to a Windows laptop over USB-C.
Naturally, some interested users wanted to know whether it is possible to do this setup with the OEM SNES console, which quite obviously does not have an HDMI port. In response, Capulong said that while it is technically possible, it would require more effort, including an upscaler cable that would be able to deliver an HDMI signal to the capture card, ultimately increasing the cost and effort involved.
The end result is a novelty that isn’t very useful — many modern webcam applications include filters that could simulate the low-resolution appearance without the convoluted setup and extra costs. With that said, going with the more practical option is considerably less fun.
Great black and white photography is stunning. It’s eye catching, emotive, and expressive. Usually, it’s also wonderfully simple. So is still life photography. In this article, I’ll give you seven tips on how to create stunning black and white still life photographs. Before we get into the tips I’d first like to answer a couple of foundational questions: What makes Continue Reading
The post 7 Awesome Tips for Black and White Still Life Photography appeared first on Photodoto.
The post Great Fruit and Vegetable Still Life Photography Ideas appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
Before there was photography, artists used paints and brushes to record their visions onto a canvas. Fruit and vegetable still life images were common subjects for many. Even today, in art schools, a fruit bowl might be an early subject. Learning to reproduce shapes, tones, color, and replicating the way light, shadow, smooth reflective objects, and dull matte objects look in the light – all those things would be part of your training.
We, as photographers, would do well to take a similar approach to our photography. We have it easier in many ways; not needing paints and brushes to create our images on a blank canvas. However, learning about light, composition, and technique are still foundational lessons.
If you are stuck at home, this could be a good opportunity to slow down, work on the kitchen table, relax with a slow-paced style of photography, and learn some new photography skills. A fruit and vegetable still life project could be just the way to spend a quiet day at home.
Putting these kiwi slices on an inverted glass pie plate, and then putting an LED flashlight under the plate, so the light shone through them, was the key to making this photo.
Subject selection
There are several reasons why fruits and vegetables make good still life subjects. They have interesting shapes, textures, colors, and details. As they are food, we can work to make them look especially appetizing, selecting the freshest and best subjects to be our “models.”
People who specialize in food photography will often use the talents of “food stylists” who carefully pick just the right subjects. They then use tricks, much like a fashion makeup stylist would use, to make their “models” as flawless and stunning as possible.
If you have access to choice fruits and vegetables right now, by all means, go seek such subjects. On the other hand, if being restricted to home means you need to use that somewhat sad-looking collection of carrots from the bottom of the refrigerator, just take your photo in a different direction.
If all you have is some sad looking carrots from the bottom of the refrigerator, go with what you have. Note the “wood backgrounds” here are actually printed sheets from a craft store.
Types and styles
In the early-to-mid 1600s, the Netherlands saw the rise of a collection of artists we now refer to as the “Dutch Masters.” A realistic style, emphasis on dramatic directional lighting, and the play of light and shadow are earmarks of the look. A good example of a Dutch Golden Age still-life artist is Willem Kalf. See his image below, “Still Life with Lemon Peel.” Now, as a photographer, how might we emulate that look?
Still Life with a Peeled Lemon – Willem Kalf (Dutch, 1619 – 1693) 1664 Oil on canvas * Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection * Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A favorite technique of mine for emulating the Dutch Master’s look is light painting. I discuss this at length in my DPS article, “Learn these Two Techniques for Dramatic Light-Painted Photos.”
A distinct advantage of still life photography is that shutter speed is not critical. If you need a multi-second exposure, no problem. Work from a tripod so your camera is rock-steady, lock up the mirror on a DSLR to minimize vibrations, and use a cable release or perhaps the 2-second timer to trip the shutter. Go to full-manual mode. Keep your ISO at the lowest setting to minimize noise. Select an aperture based on how much depth of field you seek, and select a shutter speed for however much time you need for the “painting.”
Grab your flashlight and paint away.
Seeking to emulate the style of the Dutch Master’s paintings, I made this light-painted shot using just the illumination of a small flashlight and a 10-second exposure.
A favorite photographer I follow now on Instagram is Carlo Denino. Often with just a single fruit, vegetable, or other subjects, he produces exquisite light paintings. I encourage you to give his images a look and see if you can then emulate his style. I know from personal experience it’s not nearly as easy as it might look!
Lighting
Light Painting
Light painting is just one way you can go when doing fruit and vegetable still life images. Natural lighting can often be great and will require nothing more than your camera.
Dutch Master’s images were typically painted to look like they were illuminated by a single light source off to the side.
Find a window where you can place your subject and see if you can create the look. If you need a little fill to reduce the shadows, a simple reflector or even a white card can do the trick.
Always keep an eye out for photo subjects. Both of these were done outside when I just happened across the scenes. The shot on the left was done with my LG V30 cellphone. The one on the right, when I happened to have my camera one day on a neighborhood walk.
Non-conventional lights
Explore how other lights that would be considered non-conventional for photography, such as LED-flashlights, can work. Yes, they will not usually be as bright as standard photo lighting, and their color temperatures can vary. But they do have the advantages of being cheap, small and portable, and perhaps something you already have on hand. Use long exposures to compensate for their lower light output, and when you shoot in Raw mode, finding a good white balance will be much easier.
When working close to small subjects, an LED flashlight might be all the light you need, especially when with still-life, your shutter speed can be as long as you want.
Flash
Speedlights can be another option. You will typically not want your light to come from the front of your subject, so your pop-up flash or hot-shoe-mounted Speedlight isn’t the best way to go. If you can, get the flash off the camera and fire it with a remote trigger. Or perhaps use a flash cord to get it away from the camera. If not, try bouncing the light off the ceiling, a wall or a reflector to redirect the light and soften it.
Bright sunlight and a shutter speed of 1/3200 second was the trick to freezing the motion of these shots. Splash photography with fruits and vegetables is a great combination creating a “freshness” look.
Tricks with conventional photo lighting
If you have dedicated photography lighting, that’s great. Give it a try and perhaps use your fruit and vegetable still life subjects to explore some new lighting techniques. Try different ways to modify the light with snoots, reflectors, flags, diffusion, gobos, colored gels, or whatever else you can think of.
Unrestricted by time or pressure to get it right quickly will open you up to experiments you might have never tried. If you fail twenty times but come up with a new and exciting technique just once, you can consider your experimental lighting play a great success.
Lighting direction
With their interesting colors and sometimes translucent nature, fruits and vegetables can lend themselves to some interesting lighting techniques. Rarely will you want to light from the front of the subject as this will produce rather flat and uninteresting light.
Instead, try side lighting to emphasize texture, backlighting to perhaps create some nice rim-lighting, or if you want to get some really creative looks, lighting through your subject.
Fruits and vegetables that can be sliced thin work great for this. For example, I made thin slices of a kiwi, then made a platform from a glass pie plate under which I placed an LED flashlight. The light shining up and through the slices really emphasized the color and detail. Citrus fruits work well for this technique too.
Experiment and see what you can create.
Citrus fruits sliced thin make great subjects for backlighting as the colors and textures are so interesting. We also expect to see them in drinks and scenes like this.
Backgrounds
As with any other photo subject, carefully consider the background when you stage your fruit and vegetable still life image. You will want a background that complements and doesn’t interfere with your subject.
Quite often, the best background will be the simplest. Consider using a completely white or black background if that works for the image you’re trying to create. Lightroom makes it very easy to blow out whites or totally blackout shadows with the adjustment brush aided by other tools like the clipping indicators and Auto and Range Mask. Paint out what you don’t want to keep the focus on your subject.
The fruit here is more the “supporting cast” in this shot of a raspberry lemonade cupcake. However, all the elements of this shot were carefully chosen. The background is a piece of scrapbooking paper from the craft store.
Of course, the other option you always have with photography is blurring, and thus simplifying, your background with a limited depth of field.
If you are a new photographer just trying to get your head around how depth of field works, the slow and deliberate nature of making fruit and vegetable still life images is a great way to experiment and understand the relationships of apertures, focal lengths, and their effects on depth of field.
Spritz things up
A favorite trick of food photographers looking to make their fruit and vegetable still life images look fresh and also add interest is to use a spray bottle to spritz their subjects with water. Sometimes to create larger droplets that hang better and last longer on the subject, they will add a bit of glycerine to the water.
Macro
The structure of living things is often fascinating, and being able to explore fruits and vegetables up close can reveal some really interesting things. Whether you use a dedicated macro lens, extension tubes, bellows, close-up filters, a reversed lens, or a combination of these, macro work is just the thing to divert your attention from your troubles while you focus on the unseen world.
Working inside in a controlled environment with no wind and complete control of the lighting will also help you learn macro techniques.
Get close and explore the detail with a macro shot. Often my LG V30 cellphone rivals even my dedicated DSLR macro lens.
Tell a story
When making fruit and vegetable still life images, it can enhance your photo if you add other objects to help “tell a story” about your scene. Rather than simply take a photo of an apple, slice the apple, add a cutting board and a knife to invite the viewer to consider what might have been going on. Add props that enhance the theme and avoid those that distract. Consider what makes sense in that particular scene and things you would naturally find paired together.
Add other items to your fruit and vegetable still life images to help tell a story.
High and low key
Fruit and vegetable still life photography can sometimes lend itself to high and low key renditions. To briefly define the terms, high-key is a lighting and exposure style that is very bright and contains little or no shadow. Contrast ratios, that being the difference between the lightest and darkest tones, are minimized. High-key photos will often have an “ethereal” look to them.
Two high-key images done very differently. The raspberry shot used a fast 1/1000 second shutter speed, the onion a slow 1/13 second shutter speed.
Low-key images are the opposite and typically quite dark, often with shadows that are totally black. They will often be quite contrasty with few mid-tones. Sometimes a low-key shot will use highlights in certain places to emphasize shape and form. Back and rim-lighting can lend itself well to a low-key look.
Here’s an exercise to try; take a fruit or vegetable, compose your shot, and make a “normal” exposure. Then, without moving the camera or subject, change the lighting and exposure to give it a high-key look. Now change the lighting and exposure again and see if you can get a low key look. This is a fun way to explore lighting techniques and understand the dramatic difference lighting can have on a scene.
Still life that moves
We call it “still” life because, most often, the subject doesn’t move during the exposure and is static. But need it be that way?
Fruits and vegetables can make great subjects for some dynamic images. In my article “Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash,” I show some fun ways to make some really exciting images. You’ll note that almost all of my subjects were fruits and vegetables.
Still-life doesn’t have to be still. The short duration flash of a Speedlight froze the action in these shots.
There’s also this image from my “How to Use Multi-flash to Capture Compelling Action Photos” article. The orange pepper stood out nicely on a dark background and allowed me to make the stroboscopic image as it flew through the air.
Mom may have told you not to play with your food, but here, it’s entirely appropriate and a whole lot of fun.
Mom might have told you not to play with your food, but for photographic purposes, you have my permission to go crazy.
Conclusion
Many of you may be homebound and looking for creative ways to keep up your photography practice. Making fruit and vegetable still life images has some advantages;
It uses subjects you may already have at home.
It lends itself to a variety of different lighting techniques.
Macro photography is a possibility.
You can explore all kinds of new techniques.
If you get some really good shots you may be able to sell them as stock images.
After you’re done, you can eat your subjects!
Get back to your roots. A shot one day when visiting a farmer’s market.
Have fun with your fruit and vegetable still life photography, and post some of your great shots in the comments below.
If you’d like feedback, critique, and have a question about how to do something better, post that too. I try to answer all comments and look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes and be well!
The post Great Fruit and Vegetable Still Life Photography Ideas appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
You must be logged in to post a comment.