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Posts Tagged ‘Smart’

MIOPS launches Kickstarter campaign for Flex, its featured-packed smart camera gadget

26 Nov

MIOPS, makers of the Smart Trigger and Mobile Remote, is back on Kickstarter with another new product designed to make it easier than ever to capture unique images. The Flex is a ‘smart camera gadget’ photographers can use to create timelapse videos, capture photos of lightning strikes, breaking glass and more.

Flex attaches to your camera’s hot shoe and communicates wirelessly with an accompanying app for iOS and Android. Flex offers many different features and shooting modes, including:

  • Camera control
  • Lightning sensor
  • Sound sensor
  • Laser sensor
  • HDR bracketing
  • Geotagging
  • Live view framing
  • Holy Grail (day to night) timelapse
  • Basic timelapse
  • Long exposure timelapse
  • HDR timelapse
  • Time warper
  • Stormlapse
  • Cable release
  • Press and hold
  • Press and lock
  • Timed release
  • Self timer
  • Timed release with self-timer

As you can see, timelapse is an important aspect of Flex’s feature set. As MIOPS says, ‘Flex is one of the most powerful devices for making timelapse videos.’ A large part of what makes Flex such a promising tool for timelapse creation is that the application shows you a live preview of your timelapse video during the shooting process. When capturing a timelapse in changing conditions, Flex can automatically change your camera’s settings as well, allowing you to capture a ‘holy-grail timelapse,’ which is a timelapse with smooth day-to-night and night-to-day transitions. It’s a notoriously difficult type of timelapse to create.

Flex includes many timelapse features, including a live preview function on the Flex app. Image credit: MIOPS

For high-speed photography, such as capturing lightning strikes or capturing the perfect moment of action, Flex incorporates numerous helpful features. When photographing lightning, Flex automatically captures photos as soon as its sensor detects lightning. For photographing something such as a popping balloon, breaking glass, or a falling object, Flex includes a sound-activated shooting mode and it has a laser sensor that can be tripped to trigger image capture.

When using Flex, you can remotely control your camera, including adjusting settings and capturing images. Image credit: MIOPS

Flex includes new features for more traditional photography applications as well. From the Flex app, you can remotely adjust your camera’s settings and capture images. MIOPS says, ‘Go ahead – put your camera in hard-to-reach places to get that amazing angle.’ With customizable shutter speed control, Flex can also be used to capture very long exposure images, beyond what your camera can capture on its own. Further, you can see what your camera sees via live view from your smartphone.

Flex attaches to your camera’s hot shoe and is compatible with many cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm. Image credit: MIOPS

Flex is compatible with cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm, including both DSLR and mirrorless cameras from Canon, Nikon and Sony. For the full list of compatible cameras, click here.

Flex has already eclipsed its $ 50,000 goal with 43 days to go in the Kickstarter campaign. MIOPS expects to ship Flex to backers in June 2021. The Flex is available for $ 199 USD with the ‘Super Early Bird’ backer option, a $ 100 savings compared to the expected MSRP. For full details of the Flex and the various backer options, head to the Flex Kickstarter page. To learn more about MIOPS and its other products, click here.


Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Mount any Canon EF lens to Fujifilm’s GFX cameras with Metabones new EF-GFX Smart Expander adapters

19 Nov

Metabones has announced the release of the EF-GFX Smart Expander, a new adapter that makes it possible to use every Canon EF mount lens on Fujifilm GFX camera systems.

The adapter uses an optical design consisting of five elements in three groups to multiply the focal length and F-stop of Canon EF-mount lenses by 1.26x to match the image circle of EF lenses to Fujifilm’s GFX cameras while retaining the same diagonal field-of-view.

A front and back view of the EF-GFX 1.26x Smart Expander adapter.

The EF-GFX Smart Expander offers electronic integration, including support for phase-detection autofocus (PDAF), in-body image stabilization (IBIS), optical image stabilization on stabilized lenses and smooth iris on lenses that support it. The adapter features a physical toggle that can switch between auto aperture (for use with Program and shutter priority shooting modes) and manual aperture (for use with aperture priority or manual exposure). If an entirely manual lens is attached, the button will bring up the manual lens selection option on the GFX camera system being used so you can manually enter the focal length to account for IBIS operation and EXIF data.

As you would expect for such an all-encompassing adapter, there are some limitations in place. Below are a number of issues Metabones is aware of as of the initial release of the adapter:

  • In some rare cases lens hoods designed for 3:2 may need to be removed for 4:3 use with Smart Expander.
  • Each lens needs to go through a calibration procedure when first used. Refer to the online user manual on Metabones’ web site for instructions.
  • Autofocus may have unsatisfactory performance and may not work at all with some lenses
  • For video autofocus, increasing FOCUS SENSITIVITY and decreasing AF SPEED are required under the AF-C CUSTOM SETTING (MOVIE) menu.
  • AF+MF and lens aberration correction are not supported.
  • Some film-era lenses may not be able to achieve the sufficient AF accuracy required for digital cameras. Worn lenses with faulty sensors may lead to AF problems on a mirrorless camera even though the lens may appear to function normally on a DSLR.
  • Aperture diaphragm makes frequent noises with older lenses. Use aperture priority and manual exposure modes, or use a lens which supports smooth iris.
  • With IS/OS/VC lenses the IS MODE setting is ignored and both SHOOTING ONLY and CONTINUOUS modes behave in the same way which is similar to a Canon camera but different from what Fujifilm OIS lenses do. This is done to maximize IS effectiveness. A negative consequence of this is that there may be no OIS during focus check.
  • MF Distance Display does not work (although AF Distance Display does if the lens transmits distance information).

Metabones has included a Micro USB port on the adapter so future firmware updates, some of which may address the above issues, can be installed via its macOS and Windows Metabones app.

A front and back view of the optics-free version of the EF-GFX Smart Expander adapter.

The Metabones EF-GFX Smart Expander 1.26x is available now for $ 729 through its online shop and authorized Metabones retailers. An optics-free version of the EF-GFX Smart Adapter is also available for $ 439.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Tether Tools Smart Shooter 4 adds Sony tethering to Lightroom Classic

10 Oct

Tether Tools has introduced a new version of its Smart Shooter application that adds a plug-in for Sony cameras so they can tether directly into Adobe’s Lightroom Classic. The standalone software is also compatible with Nikon and Canon cameras and allows users to control their camera settings and import images from the camera as they are being shot.

While Nikon and Canon users can also use Lightroom Classic they need to do so via hot folders from the standalone software, but with the new plug-in Sony cameras can be seen in the Lightroom Tethering Bar. Images shot on Sony cameras will be pulled in to Lightroom automatically, collecting presets on the way to give users finished pictures directly in their catalogs.

Users can also elect to save pictures to the computer and the memory card at the same time, while the on-screen live view allows multiple loupe positions for simultaneously checking focus in more than one area. The company says Smart Shooter 4 offers more camera controls than before and that import scripts can be automated.

A ‘Pro’ version of the software gives photographers the ability to toggle between up to eight connected cameras, and to trigger them all at the same time. It also allows barcode and QR code scanning via the tethered camera.

Tether Tools Smart Shooter 4 is available now and costs $ 69.95 for the standard version and $ 195.95 for the Pro version. Tether Tools says it is working on a plug-in for Canon cameras that it hopes to release next year. For more information see the Tether Tools website.

Press release

New Smart Shooter 4 Plug-in Enables Sony Tethering Support For Adobe Lightroom Classic

Photographers can now enhance their tethering experience in Lightroom through this direct integration from Tether Tools.

Tether Tools is pleased to announce the release of an integrated Smart Shooter 4 plug-in for Lightroom Classic. As the industry leader in solutions for tethered capture, Tether Tools developed the plug-in with the goal of expanding Lightroom Classic’s native tethering capabilities. The result is a smooth, stable tethered connection with added Sony compatibility and valuable features for Nikon users. The Smart Shooter plug-in for Lightroom will provide users with efficiency, enhanced workflow quality, and delivering a more unified tethered experience.

“Tether Tools is always assessing how we can create compatibility between gear and systems within the tethered workflow. Among other great features, we’re really excited for Sony photographers to be able to tether directly into Lightroom,” says Josh Simons, Tether Tools’ President & CEO.

Smart Shooter 4 is a digital photography workflow application that allows users to fully control a camera from a computer, giving the freedom to explore and experiment to help take the perfect picture. Automatic download and display provide the ability to fully evaluate photos in seconds, and real time live view output will help focus and compose the image. Scripting language lets users have control of their camera, allowing them to take multiple photos with varying settings just by clicking a single button.

This integration with the Smart Shooter Plug-In adds onto native Lightroom Classic functionality to provide:

Compatibility with Sony Cameras: Users will be able to see their Sony camera in the Lightroom Classic tethering bar and ingest images directly into Lightroom Classic without any additional configuration or set-up.

Automatically Apply Lightroom Presets: Using the plug-in, images are immediately imported into Lightroom Classic catalogs so that users will be able to apply presets in real-time. This saves time compared to alternative solutions that require use of watch folders.

Save to card and computer simultaneously: Smart Shooter provides the ability to capture and save images to both their computer and camera memory card for backup.

Advanced Tethering Features: Direct your tethered session from Smart Shooter to take advantage of its advanced tethering features including multi-loupe view, Live View, automated scripts, increased camera controls and more while still instantly transferring images to Lightroom.

Barcode Scanning: Automatically scan barcodes or QR codes, through the camera lens, to automate workflow, improve organization and save time in post-production.

Multi-camera connectivity: Seamlessly toggle between up to 8 cameras in Lightroom or simultaneously control and trigger up to 8 cameras from the Smart Shooter interface.

Long-time Lightroom user and photographer Bryan Welsh stated, “As a working portrait photographer, I rely on tools that enhance my ability to work without adding stress. The new plug-in for Smart Shooter 4 and Adobe Lightroom [Classic] performs seamlessly to deliver on that. This combination allows me to see my best work realized.”

Smart Shooter comes in two versions, both for a single user, but with different options and prices. Smart Shooter 4, which costs $ 69.95, can be used with one camera and offers tethered shooting, remote control, live view and prepackaged scripts. Smart Shooter 4 PRO has the functions from the base version, but offers multi-camera control, Through the Lens Barcode and QR code scanning, external API integration and custom scripting. Priced at $ 195.95, it also allows users to shoot simultaneously with up to 8 cameras.

For Sony and Nikon users, the Smart Shooter Plug-In for Adobe Lightroom is available on TetherTools.com and through Tether Tools retailers globally. Each purchase grants a fully licensed version of Smart Shooter 4 or Smart Shooter 4 PRO which includes the Lightroom plug-in. Tether Tools is also working to make the plug-in available through the Adobe Exchange. Tether Tools is working with Adobe to enable full plug-in support for Canon next year.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Vaonis teases upcoming feature for its Stellina smart telescope with 546MP panorama

16 Sep

French company Vaonis unveiled a fully automated camera telescope, Stellina. The product is designed to allow amateur astrophotographers to easily capture beautiful images of the night sky without the need for regular manual control or extensive astrophotography knowledge.

Vaonis is preparing to launch a new feature via software update in 2021 and it recently tested the feature by capturing a massive 546MP panorama of a group of nebulae. The new feature is ‘Automatic Mosaic-ing’ and it will take advantage of Stellina’s image stacking and image stitching technologies. This feature will let you create ultra-high-resolution panoramas of the night sky without you needing to do anything manually.

The image, shown via the screenshot below, was captured with the new feature by Vaonis Technical Director, Gilles Krebs. The image shows, from left to right, the Running Chicken, Statue of Liberty and Carina nebulae. These nebulae are about 7,000 light-years away. The image is comprised of 208,000 total photos, stacked into 168 images and then stitched together into a 546MP panorama. The panorama represents 336 hours of total exposure time. You can explore the full-size image by clicking this link.

Image credit: Vaonis

The Vaonis Stellina is designed to be easy to use and its intelligent, smart design allows the user to easily set up and use the device. DPReview contributor and astronomer Jose Francisco Salgado wrote an excellent review of Stellina. Salgado says, ‘The Stellina is a well-thought out smart telescope. It can easily be transported from one location to another and setting it up cannot be more simple.’ He continues, ‘…if you want a fun-to-use, click-and-shoot device that will work for you while you relax and enjoy the night sky then the Stellina is right for you!’ You can learn some of the basics of Stellina in Vaonis’s video below.

If you’d like to learn more about purchasing the Vaonis Stellina, you can head to Vaonis’s website. Vaonis has also begun teasing a brand new product that they ‘believe will change astronomy.’ The Stellina is already a compact device considering its capabilities, but the new teased product will be even smaller. It will be fully unveiled on Kickstarter on October 1. If you’d like to sign up for alerts or learn more about the new product, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Stellina: imaging the sky with a smart telescope

26 Jan

Stellina Telescope Camera
$ 3,999 | vaonis.com

Stellina is a self-contained, portable telescope designed to easily take photographs of celestial objects. All you need is the Stellina itself and a smartphone. It is not a traditional telescope that lets you explore the universe through an eyepiece. Instead, it captures images with its built-in camera which then you can view on your phone (or tablet). During my latest trip to Yellowknife, Canada I was able to put the Stellina to the test and capture some classic telescope targets.

When folded, the Stellina looks like a retrofuturistic home appliance and one could hardly guess that it holds a telescope and a camera inside. Its weight of 11 kg (25 lb) makes it portable but its bulky size of 49 x 39 x 13 cm (19 x 15 x 4.7 in) and the lack of handles makes it a little awkward to move around. The Stellina comes with a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod (1.3 kg, 2.2 lb) which provides leveling and stability to the telescope.

Stellina is a portable astronomical telescope and camera. Everything you need to take photographs of celestial objects is contained in this unit and on a smartphone/tablet app.

Setting up the Stellina

The Stellina requires 5.1V / 2.4A to operate. It can be powered by an external battery connected through a USB Type-C port and stored in a compartment, or by an AC external power adapter. The 10,000-mAh battery included with the Stellina should provide approximately 5 hours of use. Once powered up, the Stellina creates its own Wi-Fi network which you use to control it from the Stellina app (available for both iOS and Android devices) .

The Stellina reads the local time and GPS coordinates off your smartphone and then it automatically focus and aligns itself by looking around the sky and identifying stars. All this is done in a completely automated fashion and in just a mater of minutes. Pretty smart!

The Stellina comes with a 10,000-mAh battery that is easily stored in its own compartment and provides approximately 5 hours of use.

Imaging with the Stellina

The Stellina uses a 400mm F5 apochromatic lens and a 1/1.8″ CMOS Sony sensor (3,096 x 2,080 pixels, 6.4 MP) to produce a series of exposures which are then combined into a final image with a Field-of-View (FOV) of 1° x 0.7°. But first you must pick a target.

Once the automated calibration is completed, the Stellina offers you a catalogue of astronomical objects that are visible from your location at that particular time. For each of these objects the Stellina app provides you basic information about the object, its current location in the sky (altitude and azimuth), as well as the recommended exposure time.

Stellina provides useful information of the potential targets up in the sky at the current time, including recommended exposure times.

According to Vaonis, the Stellina manufacturer, “The catalogue includes all Messier objects and the most interesting NGC targets in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.” Some objects whose angular diameters exceed the Stellina’s FOV are excluded from the catalogue, but Vaonis plans to extend that list when they add the ability for the Stellina to combine multiples images in a mosaic.

Vaonis is also planning to let users enter sky coordinates manually and point at any direction in the sky. That will be another welcome feature since the Stellina does not let you manually slew. Luckily, these features should easily become available through software updates.

I selected the Andromeda Galaxy, the Stellina slew to the correct location in the sky, and started imaging. To do this, the telescope relies on a technique called image stacking where a series of relatively short exposure are combined to produce an image with a higher signal-noise ratio. As more images are exposed and added, you can interactively review how the stacking and image processing improves the final image and decide when to stop exposing.

In the two screenshots below, you can see how the image improved from a combined exposure time of 2 min 40 sec (16 exposures of 10 seconds each) to a combined exposure time of 8 min (48 exposures of 10 second each). As expected, the spiral arms of the Andromeda Galaxy appear more prominent as the Stellina gathers more light.

Comparison of a 2 min 40 sec exposure with a longer 8 min exposure. Stellina has the impressive ability of showing you in real-time how the final exposure improves as more images are added and total integration time increases.

I could have exposed for a longer time but, unfortunately, clouds rolled in. Impressively, the Stellina software rejects cloud-covered images and does not add them to the stack, so when clouds cover the FOV you will notice how the total exposure time pauses until the clouds move out of the way. Evidently, automation is at the heart of Stellina and Vaonis has done a great job in the programming of this telescope.

On the other hand, what did not impress was the feedback given by the Stellina app when saving JPEG photos. You can either save images on the app itself or on your smartphone’s photos app (and in the cloud if your phone is set up that way), but if you choose the latter, the photos are deleted from the app (with no warning) along with any observation information. That is, photos copied to your photos app are saved without any metadata. Furthermore, JPEG photos produced by the Stellina are downsampled from 6.4 MP to 1.4 MP.

There’s definitely room for improvement in documenting Stellina’s features

If you want to enjoy full-resolution images you need to retrieve FITS (Raw) files using the USB port. That’s great! As long as you know that options exists. And therein lies a problem. The Stellina instruction manual does a good job of explaining how to set up the telescope up to the point of connecting it to the app, but nothing further. Once you start controlling the telescope via the Stellina app, documentation and feedback from the app is underdeveloped.

I learned about the ability to save Raw images on a Q&A page on the Vaonis support site. Unfortunately, by then I had returned the unit. There’s definitely room for improvement in documenting Stellina’s features. I look forward to someday using the Stellina again and processing its FITS files.

Resulting (JPEG) Images

Below is the resulting 8-minute exposure of the Andromeda Galaxy. The Stellina did a good job of automatically focusing, tracking, stacking, and processing the images. Nevertheless, a bright vignette is fairly noticeable. According to Vaonis, the vignette ‘is produced by the luminescence of the sensor’ and they are working on improving the image processing algorithm.

1.4 MP JPEG of the Andromeda Galaxy saved from the Stellina app. This is the result of 48 10-sec exposures stacked automatically by the Stellina for a total exposure time of 8 minutes.

Afterwards, I selected the open cluster The Pleiades from the catalogue and let Stellina combine 60 10-sec images. Judging by what the Stellina captured in a total exposure time of 10 minutes, it’s a shame that the clouds rolled in again. The blue reflection nebula around the cluster stars was starting to nicely show up in the final image.

1.4 MP JPEG of The Pleiades cluster saved from the Stellina app. This is the result of 60 10-sec exposures stacked automatically by the Stellina for a total exposure time of 10 minutes.

Final Thoughts

The Stellina is a well-thought out smart telescope. It can easily be transported from one location to another and setting it up cannot be more simple. A carrying case to move the telescope around would be a welcome addition.

The fact that the Stellina finds its orientation with respect to the sky, focuses, exposes, stacks, and process images in a completely automated fashion is quite the feat for a prosumer device. Although the Stellina app needs further development, the whole experience of operating the Stellina is fun and the ability of seeing the final exposure improve as more images are stacked is quite gratifying.

The whole experience of operating
the Stellina is fun

Once you’re happy with your final exposure you can easily share your astrophotographs with friends and the rest of the world in a matter of minutes. Stellina is definitely a telescope for the social media age. Then at home, you have the option of experimenting with the Raw files.

Unfortunately, all this comes with the high price tag of $ 3,999. For that price, some will consider instead the more versatile combination of camera, lens, tripod, and star tracker. But if you want a fun-to-use, click-and-shoot device that will work for you while you relax and enjoy the night sky then the Stellina is right for you!

What we like:

  • Extremely easy to set up
  • Smart and highly automated
  • Instant gratification of previewing images as they are stacked
  • Fun to use

What we’d like to see improved:

  • A carrying case included with the telescope
  • Ability to slew to any location in the sky
  • Further development of the Stellina app

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lenovo unveils 21.5″ Smart Frame wall screen for displaying digital images and artwork

08 Jan

Lenovo has introduced a new product for displaying albums of digital images as art in one’s home or office. Called the Smart Frame, this new connected 21.5-inch display is designed to look like a large picture frame, blending in with one’s existing decor to showcase the user’s own images or a selection of licensed artwork stored in the cloud.

The Lenovo Smart Frame is designed for use with the company’s snap-on mounting system, which enables the user to rotate the image from portrait to landscape modes for displaying different types of images and artwork. Buyers are given the option of choosing different frame materials and colors to match their existing decor.

A built-in color tone sensor monitors the ambient lighting in the room where the Smart Frame is mounted and automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness for what Lenovo claims is ‘a more natural and aesthetic viewing experience.’ The display has an anti-glare matte finish for a realistic, viewable experience during daylight hours.

According to Lenovo, the Smart Frame uses an AI to curate the user’s own photo album, selecting the highest quality images to create digital collages that show multiple photos at once. As well, the device comes with a companion app that offers access to hundreds of pieces of artwork.

Lenovo plans to launch the Smart Frame in North America in August with a starting price of $ 400.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photoshop Sharpening for Beginners – Unsharp Mask, High Pass and Smart Sharpen Explained

02 Jan

The post Photoshop Sharpening for Beginners – Unsharp Mask, High Pass and Smart Sharpen Explained appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

photoshop-sharpening-for-beginners

With the constant improvement of technology, it is realistic to expect tack sharp images straight out of your camera. Many times, though, the image appears sharper on your camera than when uploaded to your computer. This is because images need to be sharpened for their specified output. In Photoshop sharpening for beginners, we look at why and how to sharpen your images. Also, you will review some of the sharpening filters and techniques that help make a huge difference to the overall quality of your final edit.

Image: F/5.6 1/200/ ISO800 @420mm

F/5.6 1/200/ ISO800 @420mm

Why sharpen?

Before we delve into the photoshop sharpening tools, it is important to know why and when you need to sharpen your images. The premise of sharpening is that it increases the contrasts around the edges in your image.

As previously mentioned, you need to sharpen images for their specific output types. This means you sharpen an image displayed on the internet differently than one meant for print.

Sharpening is also very useful when it comes to correcting smaller focus issues. For example, if you are shooting a portrait and the focus is on the ear instead of the eyes.

Sharpening the subject’s eyes brings the attention back where you intended. In other genres of photography, use sharpening in pretty much this same way. Sharpen the areas you want to draw the viewer’s eyes to and decrease the sharpness in areas you want to “fall away”.

Photoshop-Sharpening-for-Beginners

Sharpen for your respective output: web vs print. Details make a difference F/11 1/250 ISO200 @10mm

Keep in mind that while sharpening takes your image to the next level, there are times when it is not needed. While sharpening a person’s eyes and lips can take their portrait to the next level, you want to avoid sharpening their skin!

How to sharpen

As with other editing techniques, Photoshop sharpening filters are destructive (when applied directly to your image). Use layers and smart objects, to maximize the following sharpening tools and avoid permanently changing it.

Bonus Tip: When post-processing, save the application of your sharpening technique for last.

Unsharp Masks

While the name “unsharp” sounds like a tool that would make your images less sharp, this counter-intuitively named filter is, in fact, a sharpening tool. Interestingly enough, it was regarded as the best tool to sharpen images in earlier iterations of Photoshop.

While it is still useful, some of the other tools afford you a greater amount of control.

Photoshop-Sharpening-for-Beginners

Photoshop sharpening for beginners notes: When you sharpen an image too much, it starts to look a little noisy.

To use Unsharp Mask:

  • Duplicate your original/background layer
  • Right-click on your new layer and choose “Convert to Smart Object”
  • Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask. This brings up a dialog box with the options: Amount, Radius and Threshold

 

Remember, we said that sharpening basically increases the contrasts around the edges in your image? Well, building on that will make these sliders easier to understand.

Use the Amount slider to increase or decrease the amount of contrast in the edges of your image.

Radius manages the level of detail. So a smaller radius will manage the smaller details, while a large radius affects a bigger area.

The last slider, Threshold, affects the areas of higher contrast.

Photoshop Sharpening for Beginners – Unsharp Mask, High Pass and Smart Sharpen Explained

When using these sliders, a good starting place is to figure out your radius first. Do you want to sharpen the smaller details or the larger ones? If you are still unsure how to work with Photoshop sharpening for beginners, experiment!

In this example, push your radius up and then work back down until you affect the areas that you want. From here, you can start moving around the other two sliders until you get your desired results.

One of the downsides of using Unsharp Mask is that it is Layer specific. This is because it affects your entire image, so you need Layer Masking to discard areas that you don’t want sharpening.

Smart Sharpen

The Smart Sharpen tool is like a child of Unsharp Masks, as it gives you some more options. One of the cool things with Smart Sharpening is that it ignores skin detail and focuses on areas with higher contrasts e.g. eyes, eyebrows, lips.

Use the same workflow as above to access the Smart Sharpen filter. The dialog box gives you more advanced options than the previous Unsharp Mask. Amount and Radius work the same way as previously described.

Image: F/5.6 1/1600 ISO100 @420mm

F/5.6 1/1600 ISO100 @420mm

A drop-down menu allows you to remove different types of blurs such as Gaussian, Lens and Motion blur. Lens blur is the most common removal used in this menu.

Image: In Photoshop CC, your menu looks a little differently but has all the same options. Additiona...

In Photoshop CC, your menu looks a little differently but has all the same options. Additionally, it includes a useful option to reduce noise.

Smart Sharpen also allows you to create presets. This is helpful if you are sharpening a batch of images at similar focal lengths. Remember, when you apply your filters/filter preset to a Smart Object, you can further adjust/refine it.

High Pass Sharpening

Another photoshop sharpening for beginners is the High Pass Sharpening technique. While it is a little more advanced than the other tools, you can still easily apply it. It is not a filter found in the Sharpen Menu like the Unsharp Mask and Smart Sharpen filters. What it is, however, is a combination of steps that sharpens your image.

To process with High Pass Sharpening:

  • Duplicate your layer
  • Desaturate your new layer. It seems like a strange step, but since sharpening increases saturation around your edges, your image may start to look surreal.
  • Right-click on your desaturated layer and choose “Convert to Smart Object”
  • Go to Filter -> Other- > High Pass. Your entire image now turns to gray, and when you move the radius slider, you will see the targeted detail areas affected.
Photoshop-Sharpening-for-Beginners

Left: Using High-Pass in the default normal mode, see how your edges are defined. Right: Using High-Pass in Overlay Blend Mode allows you to see your changes in real-time

There is, of course, an alternate way to this gray image where you see your edit in real-time.

Prior to the last step above:

  • Select your desaturated layer and go to Blend Modes
  • Select Overlay
  • Then go to Filter -> Other -> High Pass and adjust

 

Photoshop-Sharpening-for-Beginners

At full size, you don’t always see that the eyes are not as sharp as they can be. Like Smart Sharpen, the eyes and lips are sharpened, but the skin is unaffected. F/7.1 1/125 ISO100 @70mm

Note: This sharpening technique is the only one that lets you apply sharpening with different blend modes.

Conclusion

Remember, sharpening should be the last step in your post-processing workflow. These filters and techniques in Photoshop Sharpening for Beginners will take your image to that next level. It helps to know when and why to sharpen an image and as with all processing, applying correctly makes a huge difference to your final image.

Do you have any other photoshop sharpening for beginners tips you’d like to share? Please do so in the comments!

The post Photoshop Sharpening for Beginners – Unsharp Mask, High Pass and Smart Sharpen Explained appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.


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Why Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a Good Idea (and How to Set Them Up)

25 Nov

The post Why Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a Good Idea (and How to Set Them Up) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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Smart Previews in Lightroom CC will help enhance your workflow. They are a smaller file you can work with rather than working on full-sized RAW files.

One of the biggest advantages of using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is when you work remotely. You can store your RAW files on your main hard drive and keep the smart previews on your portable drive. So if you have your RAW files imported to your main computer hard disk, you can make smart previews for your laptop or external drive. You can even store them on a flash memory device like a thumb drive, SD card, or the cloud.

Smart Previews Lightroom CC

How to use Smart Previews in Lightroom CC

Creating Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is easy and can be done when you import your files or at a later time. Lightroom makes a smaller DNG file (an Adobe Digital Negative RAW image file.) These are compressed and take up a fraction of the space RAW files do. The DNG files are located in a separate folder than the RAW files of the same images.

To configure Lightroom CC to create Smart Previews when you import photos, go to the File Handling panel. This is on the right of your screen after you have clicked on the Import button. Make sure that the Build Smart Previews box is checked.

Smart Previews Lightroom CC

You can create Smart Previews in Lightroom CC when you’ve already imported your photos.

Select the files you want to make Smart Previews of in the Grid mode. Go to Library in the top menu and choose Previews->Build Smart Previews. When an image has a Smart Preview, there is an icon indicating this in the Histogram window.

Why Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a Good Idea (and How to Set Them Up)

Working on a smart preview in the Lightroom Develop Module, you will be working on the compressed DNG file. This means your computer will run faster. To ensure you have this enabled, go to Edit->Preferences. Check the box ‘Use Smart Previews instead of Originals for image editing.’

Why Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a Good Idea (and How to Set Them Up)

What are the main advantages of Smart Previews

The three main advantages of using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC are:

  1. Speed up your workflow
  2. Save hard drive space
  3. Easier remote editing

Once you have created the Smart Previews, your computer manages the image files using fewer hardware resources. The file sizes are smaller, so they draw less of the computer’s CPU, GPU and RAM.

Working with Lightroom CC on a laptop or with an external drive is better with Smart Previews. You do not need to have all your RAW files on a remote hard drive to be able to keep editing. Your edits will be auto-synced (keep reading to learn how to do this).

Remote editing from a laptop or classroom computer is much easier. This is because catalogs with smart previews are so much smaller. By only exporting the DNG files with your catalogs, you are saving a huge amount of space.

Smart Previews Lightroom CC

How to export and re-sync using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC

Once you have imported your photos and created Smart Previews in a Lightroom CC catalog, you can export the catalog or part of it. Simply go to File->Export as catalog and make sure to check these boxes:

  • Export selected photos only
  • Build/Include Smart Previews
  • Include Available Previews

You don’t have to check the ‘Include Available Previews’. But if you have already made adjustments to some images, it’s a good idea to.

Uncheck the ‘Export Negative Files’ box.

NOTE: If you leave this one checked, you’ll be including all the RAW files. This is what you are wanting to avoid.

Why Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a Good Idea (and How to Set Them Up)

Save the file where you can locate it again easily. Now you can copy it to another storage device or the cloud.

When opening Lightroom on your laptop or another computer, select the catalog from your storage device. You can work from your device or copy the catalog to the drive of the computer you are working on.

If you open the catalog from where it’s stored, all the changes you make in Lightroom will be saved there. Copying the catalog file to the hard drive of the computer you are now working on requires you to export it again when you’re finished.

To bring the files you have worked on back to your main computer, simply connect the portable storage. Copy the Lightroom catalog with the images you’ve been working on back onto your main computer’s hard drive.

To do this, go to File->Import from Another Catalog. Now locate the catalog from your portable storage. From the drop-down box, select ‘Replace: metadata and develop settings only.’ Click OK. Your Smart Previews will appear in your catalog, including the changes you made.

Smart Previews Lightroom CC

Conclusion

Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a game-changer if you often work on your photos from more than one computer. Being able to make use of your laptop because the file sizes are smaller and more portable is a great advantage. It may seem like a little more work to set up to use Smart Previews, but once you have done it a few times, it will seamlessly become part of your post-processing workflow.

Do you use Smart Previews? What are your thoughts? Share with us in the comments.

 

The post Why Using Smart Previews in Lightroom CC is a Good Idea (and How to Set Them Up) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.


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Apple’s Smart Battery Cases for iPhone 11 models feature a dedicated camera button

21 Nov

Apple has announced its new Smart Battery Cases for its latest iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max devices, and hidden within them is a little surprise. Each of the Smart Battery Cases features a dedicated camera button that launches the Camera app.

According to the product description, the dedicated camera button will launch the Camera app regardless of whether the iPhone is locked or unlocked. ‘A quick press of the button takes a photo and a longer press captures a QuickTake video,’ reads the description.

A close-up look at the dedicated camera button, located on the right-hand side of the case when looking at the screen of the iPhone.

This marks the first time any dedicated camera button has been found on a first-party case or battery case from Apple and further amplifies Apple’s emphasis on photography with its latest devices.

The Smart Battery Cases cost $ 129 for all iPhone 11 models and come in three colors: Black, White and Pink Sand. They are available to order now through Apple’s online store, physical Apple Stores and authorized Apple retailers.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nitecore announces ‘world’s first’ smart battery for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras

15 Aug

Nitecore has announced the NFZ100, the world’s first ‘smart battery’ for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras, including the a7 III, a7R III and a9 systems.

Like most ‘smart’ electronics, the unique feature of the NFZ100 is the ability to manage and monitor the battery with an accompanying smartphone app. Nitecore NNERGY, as it’s called, is available to download for free on both Android and iOS devices.

Once installed and connected to the NFZ100, the NNERGY app will let you monitor the battery health, battery level, battery voltage and other real-time battery information. Nitecore even offers a dedicated ‘Storage Mode’ within the app that will discharge the battery to 70% to help maximize its lifespan if it won’t be in use for some time.

Individual batteries can be labelled with three-digit identifiers to ensure you can tell them apart inside the app. There is even an option to upgrade the firmware of the batteries as Nitecore further develops its technology. Yes, you read that right, you might soon need to update the firmware of your camera batteries, not unlike you do your camera itself.

The NFZ100 batteries feature 2,280 mAh capacity, which Nitecore estimates is good for 500 still photos when shooting with the Sony a9. Voltage is 7.2V, giving it a power rating of 16.4Wh.

Other features include overcharge protection, over-discharge protection, overcurrent protection, over voltage protection and short-circuit protection. The batteries weigh 82.5g (2.91oz) and measure 52 x 38.7 x 22.5mm (2.05 x 1.52 x 0.89in).

The Nitecore NFZ100 doesn’t appear to be available to purchase through any online retailers as of now and no current pricing information is available. DPReview has contacted Nitecore and will update this article with more information if we get a response.

In the meantime, you can find out more information on Nitecore’s website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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