This week we take a look at one of the more unusual optics we’ve seen for quite a while. The Laowa 24mm F14 Macro Probe lens may look like something out of a science fiction movie, but as Chris and Jordan discover, it opens the door to some really interesting photo opportunities.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Everywhere you look, it seems like everyone has their hands on a drone. YouTube is crawling with aerial drone footage, and you can buy one at just about any electronics store. But just because drones are everywhere doesn’t mean you can (legally) fly them anywhere.
Here at dPS, we dove into topics such as tips to get started with drone photography and how to get stunning aerial photos with your drone. One thing we haven’t covered that’s worth talking about is where you can and can’t fly your drone. Read on for some tips on things to consider before you fly a drone.
On the surface, drones may seem like fun toys or new tools to add to your photography or videography kit. After all, they’re marketed as such and most of the time, they don’t do any visible harm. However, drones can be dangerous from the perspective of privacy and physical safety.
No one likes the idea of a drone spying on them, or worse yet, a drone that comes crashing down and damages property or hurts someone. But these very plausible scenarios are exactly why drone regulations exist – to protect drone pilots and the general public from accidents.
So who comes up with drone rules and regulations? That depends entirely on where you live. Generally speaking, drones are considered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and as such, they are regulated by the national aviation authority of each country. Thus, most countries will have their own rules, and often each state or city within the country might have further regulations.
So it’s important to do extensive research about where specifically you plan to fly your drone. Punishment for violating drone regulations can be hefty fines or even imprisonment, so it is very important to follow drone rules, especially in foreign countries.
Drone rules vary in every country, but here a few common ones:
Today, drones vary from fitting in the palm of your hand to requiring a large backpack to transport them. Generally speaking, drones weighing any more than 0.55 pounds must be registered with your national aviation association before flying.
Some countries require drone operators to pass an exam to get a license before flying a drone, so be sure to get licensed if it’s necessary.
In some places, you must have insurance for your drone in order to fly. But drone insurance is something you should have any way to protect your investment.
Even the tiniest drone can be a hazard to someone or something if it comes crashing down from the sky or runs into an airplane. As a general rule, don’t fly your drone over crowds of people or near private or government property. You should also avoid flying near airports or helipads.
In the United States, drones are considered unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). As such, they are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). There are two sets of regulations: one for those flying drones for fun, and one for those flying for commercial (professional) reasons. A summary of the FAA rules is below, with more details available here.
If your head is spinning when you reach the end of this article, you’re not alone. There are many more drone rules and regulations than most people know about, which makes enforcement of them very patchy.
What’s more is that drone regulations are in a constant state of flux, so it’s hard to say exactly what rules exist and apply at a given time. But with that said, it’s better to know the rules and do your best to follow them, or risk getting arrested and potentially fined like this French tourist in Italy.
The post Make Sure You Know all the Drone Regulations Before You Fly by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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LED lighting technology is all the rage, and there are great reasons to invest in LED lights. (Beyond using them as a lightsaber.) However, photographers are keenly aware that it’s not just the light that’s important, but also the quality of light you have.
One tool we can use to assess the color accuracy of a light is the color rendering index, or CRI, which provides some information about how accurately a light can reveal color compared to an ‘ideal’ light. A light which perfectly emulates the color accuracy of natural daylight would have a CRI score of 100.
Companies love to state CRI numbers on their products, leading you to believe that they can provide the color accuracy you’re looking for. However, while a higher CRI number is generally better, it’s important to understand how that number is generated, and why it’s not as definitive as manufacturers like to make it sound.
Learn more at premiumbeat.com
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
Rapidly warming oceans have led to an explosion of jellyfish numbers in seas around the world – allow that fact to float around your brain for a bit as you stare at translucent invertebrates illuminated within your very own desktop jellyfish aquarium. Would owning such a thing offer comfort and entertainment, or just be a sad reminder that humans have really mucked things up on our home planet? Now’s your chance to find out.
The JellyTank is a compact 5-gallon aquarium with a modern design and color-changing, remote-controlled LED lights. This ‘flow bar design’ with laminar pump-driven water creates an environment similar to what jellyfish would experience in the wild, and there’s a built-in mechanical and biological filtration system. The tank is made of high-grade aquarium acrylic, and its housing is available in black or white.
The creators came up with the idea after purchasing a $ 400 jellyfish tank for their office, and finding that the grates kept sucking up the jellyfish and killing them. They wanted to create a ‘sustainable’ tank that comes pre-assembled for the least amount of fuss. Everything you need to set it up is included, except for the moon jellyfish, which are purchased separately through the JellyTank website.
“JellyTank is currently working on developing an aquaculture facility to grow Jellyfish for our customers,” reads their Kickstarter. “We are speaking with industry experts and marine biologists from across the nation to develop the best protocols and standards of practice to ensure we deliver the healthiest sustainable source of jellyfish available in the world today. our proposed aquaculture program will be overseen, staffed and managed by leading jellyfish aquaculture specialists.”
This living reminder of the ravages of human-induced climate change can be yours with a pledge of $ 175 or more at the JellyTank Kickstarter. The creators aren’t allowed to include live jellyfish with their rewards, so they have to be claimed separately when the kits are ready to ship. People are clearly excited about the project, having raised almost twice the fundraiser’s goal with 16 days to go. It remains to be seen whether flushing dead jellyfish down the toilet is as depressing as doing so for your late pet goldfish.
[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
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Tonight’s supermoon will be the largest in decades, appearing 7% larger than your typical full moon. While photographers around the world are making a game plan to capture the drama, Twitter user Alex Duggan has found another, simpler solution. Step one: secure a tortilla. Step two: apply it to the nearest window for instant supermoon.
Couldn’t see the supermoon so just stuck a tortilla wrap on the window.. same effect ???? #supermoon2016 #supermoon pic.twitter.com/zB7VkTZhu5
— Big Al (@_AlexDuggan) November 14, 2016
Since we’re guessing that a tortilla won’t do the trick for you, here are a few actual supermoon photos to help you get inspired.
Are you planning on photographing the supermoon? Do you find the whole thing underwhelming? Let us know in the comments.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Raise your hand if this scenario sounds familiar: you get a new camera, possibly as a gift, and immediately your mind leaps with excitement at all the photographic possibilities that await. You quickly start taking photos of everything around you; houseplants, food, pets, your kids, the trees in your yard, even mundane objects like cookware, or office trinkets. You just can’t wait to get your new camera and kit lens off the shelf and shoot photos of everything.
But after a week or two the lustre wears off, and your camera starts spending more time in your closet than in your hands. You find yourself too distracted, too uninspired, or worst of all, too busy to take photos. Every now and then you pick up your camera, put it in Auto mode, and take a few interesting pictures – but sooner or later your camera, which initially held such wonderful photographic possibilities, spends most of its time tucked away, only to be pulled out on special occasions when you really need some good photos.
If that rings a bell it’s because almost everyone interested in photography goes through a similar phase at some point. Thankfully there’s hope! I’ve been in this same situation, as have many other people I know. So, here are some tips that will help you get your camera out more often, so you can start learning and growing as a photographer.
This may seem obvious, but it’s an important step that many new camera owners overlook. Your fancy DSLR or mirrorless camera doesn’t have to be just for special occasions, it can be for anything you want. The important thing is that you have it with you to take pictures.
Basically, if you don’t want your camera to end up collecting dust on a shelf, don’t let it sit and collect dust on a shelf. Going to work? Grab your camera. Heading to a friend’s house? Take your camera. Taking a walk? By all means, bring your camera. Of course you’re going to bring your camera to events like your kid’s baseball game or your friend’s graduation, but using it only in those circumstances often leads to camera atrophy.
This shot was a complete accident. It was not planned at all, and I only got it because I had my camera with me when I was out for a walk.
The famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky once quipped, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”, and the same holds true for photographers. The only way you’ll ever start taking more pictures, and thus growing as a photographer, is if you start taking more pictures. And you can’t do that if you don’t have your camera.
I take mine with me to work every day, and even though I have a similar daily commute and work routine, I constantly find myself looking for new shots to take, and new ideas for photography. If you are worried about breaking your camera, buy a cheap bag or a better carrying strap. If you’re a bit self-conscious of what people may think if they always see you with your camera, just tell them you’re trying to learn more, and get better as a photographer. It might seem kind of weird at first to take your camera with you wherever you go, but that will likely pass (it has for me, and for others I know) as you start to discover the joyful serendipity that’s inherent in documenting the world around you with a camera that’s leaps and bounds better than the one in your mobile phone.
In the movie Office Space, the protagonist, a twenty-something chump named Peter Gibbons, tells a pair of consultants why he has so much trouble doing his job. “It’s a problem of motivation,” he casually explains, as the three of them discuss his low work performance, and what can be done about it. Photographers, especially new ones with recently-acquired gear from the holidays, often suffer from the same problem. They are highly motivated to take pictures and use their cameras, but when the rigours of their daily life set in, they lose the motivation they once had. One solution is to join a group, whether online or face to face, of fellow photographers and enthusiasts.
Photography communities have been invaluable to me as a source of knowledge and inspiration.
Being a part of a photography community offers all sorts of benefits. You can get answers to questions, get help with your camera, share your own experiences with others, go on photo walks, engage in photo critiques, and get to hang out with a lot of really fun people. If you live in a small town like I do, you may not have a group that you can join in person, but there are many online forums that offer similar experiences. DPS has an extensive set of online forums where people engage in all sorts of photography discussions, and there are hundreds more like this on the internet. Facebook is rife with thousands of photography groups that cater to interests as varied as people who like sharing photos, to those who own specific models of cameras, or live in certain locations. Reddit’s r/photography forum is a fantastic source of news, information, discussion, and education.
I could go on and on, but the point is that joining some type of photography community will not only help motivate you to take more photos and grow as a photographer, it will also help you meet a lot of new and interesting people who share a similar passion for taking pictures.
I don’t know anything about astrophotography, but asking about it in photography communities taught me enough to get this composite shot of a recent lunar eclipse.
Many churches, businesses, and support groups use the concept of accountability partners; people with whom you develop a personal relationship in order to keep each other on the straight and narrow path. Photographers can benefit from this type of accountability as well by taking part in weekly photo assignments, essentially ensuring that you always have a reason to go out and take pictures. DPS has a weekly photography challenge, but there are lots of other weekly challenges you can find online as well.
While the goal is not to create a one-on-one relationship of support and trust, just knowing that you have an assignment to take pictures each week can go a long way towards helping you use your camera more often. In doing so, you will learn more about your equipment, but also grow as a photographer as you try new things, and get exposed to ideas for pictures you would have never otherwise considered.
Doing weekly photo assignments has forced me to look for picture opportunities where I would have never otherwise seen them.
Notice that I said weekly and not daily, and there’s a reason for this. Photography burnout is a very real problem especially for new photographers, and doing a daily challenge or assignment can be fun at first, but often gets more than a bit overwhelming. I know several people who have actually stopped taking photos because of a daily challenge. They felt like they were failures because they could not meet the requirements of taking pictures every single day, and that in turn led them to stop taking pictures altogether.
Monthly challenges are nice, and will not usually overwhelm you, but they are (in my opinion) a bit too infrequent to be sufficiently challenging or motivating. Weekly photo assignments seem to hit the sweet spot, and can be a fantastic way to help ensure you get a lot more use out of your camera.
If you do a weekly assignment for a while and don’t feel as though it offers enough of a challenge, then by all means start doing daily photo projects. Alternatively, if you find that you can’t meet the demands of a weekly photo, then go down to one a month. The point of these is to hold yourself accountable for using your camera more often, to improve your skills over time, and a weekly assignment is a fantastic place to start.
This final rule is more of a word of caution to new photographers – do not fall into the trap that likes or shares on social media equates to quality images. Use your camera to take photos that are interesting for you, not for others. Find ways of expressing yourself, capturing emotions, telling a story, or presenting a scene through photography, not with the purpose of getting likes on Instagram or Facebook, but simply because it’s something you personally enjoy.
The problem with chasing after likes and shares is that there’s simply never enough. Initially you might be thrilled to have a dozen, but soon you’ll want more. After a little while you’ll be thrilled to have 100 likes, but then you might wonder why your friend got 200 on a picture that you think is clearly subpar. One of your photos gets shared a hundred times, or you post an image that gets lots of shares, but another one is virtually ignored. Or a beautiful shot you took gets no retweets, while a selfie you took with your iPhone gets retweeted dozens of times. Or an image you spent hours trying to capture gets no comments at all.
If your enjoyment of photography can only be quantified by social media metrics, you’ll probably never be satisfied.
This is one of my favorite animal pictures I’ve taken. I know it’s not perfect and the squirrel blends in a bit too much with the leaves, but I like it and that’s what gives it value to me.
The problem with these scenarios is they all rely on external validation of your work, and if it fails to materialize, then it can lead to feelings of worthlessness on your part. Taking pictures should be fun, interesting, experimental, captivating, and enjoyable for you. If you like your photos, then it doesn’t matter if you don’t get hearts, thumbs-up, plus-ones, or shares online. Of course you can, and should, seek opinions and advice from others so you can learn to grow your skill, and improve as a photographer. But, don’t let the worth or value of your images be determined by the numbers below them on social media. That’s a trap into which many budding photographers have fallen, and while it can be fun to see one of your images get a lot of attention, the truth is that attention is so fleeting that people will move on to something else within a few hours.
If you just got a new camera, congratulations! If you have one that’s been sitting around waiting to be used, go pick it up! I’m excited for you, and I am thrilled for the journey that awaits. If you have been in these situations before, what are some of your favorite tips and tricks that have helped you use your camera more over the years? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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The post How to Make Sure You Use Your New Camera by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.
New Lightroom users often get into trouble because of a lack of understanding as to how Lightroom works. Unfortunately the result of these misunderstandings is often that their precious photos are lost, either permanently or temporarily. When you are new to Lightroom it can help if you understand some basics about how Lightroom works to ensure that your precious photos are safe.
Here’s a quick five question quiz to see if your photos are safe in your hands.
Lightroom stores a copy of your photos for you. When you delete a photo from Lightroom even if you opt to delete it from disk, the original is still safe.
Lightroom simply keeps an record of where your images are on your hard disk. It does not actually store any images. So, if you remove a photo from Lightroom, and when prompted select Delete from Disk, then then you’re deleting the original of that image. If that was your only copy you’ll have deleted that forever.
You have deleted all the photos from a folder inside Lightroom. This means that there are no photos left in that folder so it’s safe for you to open Finder or Windows Explorer and delete the folder itself.
Lightroom can only handle photo and video file formats. Even if you delete all the photos and videos from a folder in Lightroom there may still be other files in that folder that Lightroom can’t handle, such as PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel and Quicken files. You cannot know that a folder is empty of files unless you check it by opening it in Finder or Windows Explorer.
Your photos are safe because every time you see a prompt to backup Lightroom you always click to do so.
When you choose to backup upon exiting Lightroom, all you’re doing is backing up the Lightroom catalog, NOT your photos. Your photos are never backed up by Lightroom, so you will need to set up some other routine for backing up your image files. Also note that, in most cases, Lightroom saves the catalog backup on the same drive as the original catalog is stored so, if your drive crashes, you’ll lose the original catalog and all backups – so make sure you change it to save the backup on an external drive. (Note: you can only do this in the dialog box above when it pops up)
When you make changes to a file in Lightroom those changes are written to the file so, if you open the file in Bridge, Photoshop or some other graphics program you will see the image as it was edited in Lightroom
Whether or not the changes that you make to a photo in Lightroom are written to the photo files will depend on how your Lightroom preferences are configured. Choose Lightroom > Catalog Settings (Edit > Catalog Settings, on the PC) and select the Metadata tab. There are two settings of concern here: Include Develop settings in metadata inside JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD files and Automatically write changes into XMP – for the edits you make in Lightroom to be written to the files themselves, both checkboxes should be checked.
You have moved or renamed some folders on your drive which contain photos. When you next open Lightroom you see that Lightroom can’t find those photos any longer. You must now reimport those photos into Lightroom.
When you move or rename folders outside Lightroom it is true that Lightroom will report the images as missing. However, instead of importing the images again, you simply need to tell Lightroom where the images now reside. To do this, click the exclamation mark icon, and choose Locate. Navigate to the folder that you renamed or moved, and select the image that matches the one that was missing (you need to find the exact image that was marked as missing). Click the image, and make sure that the Find nearby missing photos checkbox is checked, then click Select. The Lightroom catalog will be updated with the new location of the image and any other images that are in close proximity to it.
Note: You can also do this by right-clicking on a missing folder in the left panel of the Library module. Then navigate to find the entire folder and relink it to Lightroom.
In future, it is best to move images and folders, as well as rename folders, inside Lightroom. Changes such as this, that you make inside Lightroom, are written to your drive automatically. The benefit is that when Lightroom makes the changes, it always knows where your photos are, and won’t report them as being missing.
If you answered any of these questions incorrectly, your lack of understanding of how Lightroom works might be putting your photos at risk. Spending some time learning how Lightroom operates will help you keep your photos safe.
Now if you got all these questions right and if you are a Lightroom expert – what questions would you ask of a new user to help them keep their photos safe? We invite you to pose these as True/False questions – but remember, to help folks out – you should give them the answer, as well as pointing them in the direction of keeping their photos safe.
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The post 5 Questions to Help You Make sure Your Photos are Safe Inside Lightroom by Helen Bradley appeared first on Digital Photography School.
If you post amazing professional-quality photographs to your website and nobody can access them, are they really that amazing? Nobody will know. All that hard work, focus, determination, and artistic ability -POOF – all for nothing. This is exactly what is happening to many very talented photographers. They pour their heart and soul into their art form and then entrust it to outdated technology that doesn’t adequately display their work on mobile devices.
With the proliferation of mobile devices, it’s no surprise that many people do most of their web browsing on the go. Consider the following eye-opening statistics found on visual.ly:
Those are startling numbers, especially if you’re not keeping up with the changing face of the web. Unfortunately, it seems that there has been a lag in photographers adopting the appropriate web technology to showcase their work in a way that accommodates mobile users. To ensure that your site and your photography work are presented in an impactful way, it must be optimized specifically for mobile viewing.
Just building a site for the desktop doesn’t guarantee that the results will transfer to phones and tablets, or even the new smart watches. You do not want interested viewers to open your site on a mobile device and find a helter-skelter layout with distorted or inaccessible images. If this happens, it puts you in a difficult spot – you’re left hoping that they remember and desire to seek out your site for a second time when they’re back at a desktop computer. That’s wishful thinking considering the deluge of distractions we all encounter every day and the somewhat shrinking attention spans of the high-definition, high-speed digital generation. Here today, gone tomorrow, or maybe sooner in the case of your hard work and aspirations.
One of the worst-case scenarios you could be in is with a portfolio site that is completely based on Adobe Flash, leaving you to lose a whole group of mobile users who will rapidly look elsewhere when your site doesn’t load on their device. No one likes seeing a blank screen or a message saying, “This content cannot be displayed on your device.”
Mobile devices often will not play Flash websites
It’s vital to give your audience exactly what they want – fast, fluid access to your dazzling work anytime anywhere. If they can’t clearly navigate your web site, it raises questions in their minds about your professionalism and your commitment to viewers and to your art form. This is not a good place to be for a proud, ambitious photographer. The good news, however, is that there are readily available solutions that you could leverage whether you already have an existing site or are starting one from scratch.
The key to optimizing the mobile user’s experience is to have a site that uses responsive web design or adaptive web design. These are two types of site programming that ensure a seamless transition of your content from the desktop to all mobile devices, regardless of screen size. Anything less than that, and you’re severely limiting exposure for your work and jeopardizing your chance of making a significant first impression. Negative experiences can turn into negative reviews. These travel fast in the digital age, and it’s difficult to change those perceptions once they’re public.
Using an adaptive design, you get a site that is specifically designed for particular browser sizes found on most mobile devices. In a lot of cases, the mobile site almost looks like a native app. Problogger.net (also run by dPS owner Darren Rowse) is an example of such a site. With this type of design, the experience on a mobile device is a bit different than that of a desktop, but you could still access the content in a readable format. This results in a fast and easy to read site that is user-friendlier on small web browsers.
Example of an adaptive design
A Responsive site is even better in that it is flexible in displaying the same content across a large array of devices while keeping much of the same styles. It maintains a fluid layout by using elements that are automatically resizable and could be placed where they fit best on the screen. This even works great on desktops when you want to shrink the browser window.
A perfect example of a website with a responsive design is Digital Photography School’s own site. If you’re accessing the site from a desktop browser, notice how the site responds fluidly as you resize the window. If you’re reading this from a mobile device, you’re still able to read the content just fine without having to manipulate the browser by zooming in and out or doing a lot of horizontal scrolling.
dPS is a responsive site
Updating your site from a clunky old format is quite simple, and the tools are readily available. Most people who have a blog use a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. These systems allow you to change the overall look and feel of your site by offering different designs or themes. There are plenty of available themes that are already responsive or adaptive right out of the box. These range in cost from free up to $ 100. A simple web search will reveal many sites that specialize in offering a variety of this type of themes. I’ve had great success using Theme Forest.
In addition to themes that are optimized for mobile browsing, these CMSs also allow you to install plugins that display the same content in a mobile-only theme. In some cases, especially if you already have an existing site, this might be the easier route to take.
At some point, we’ve all experienced the disconnect between the artistic or creative world and the technology world. But in the modern age, you really can’t draw a distinction without suffering the consequences. It’s much wiser to embrace the role of technology in displaying art – in this case photography – and use it to your advantage.
With just a bit of effort, you can make sure that you nail that vital first impression with your fans and give your work the digital stage that it deserves!
The post Give Your Photographs The Stage They Deserve – Make Sure Your Website is Mobile Ready by Jorge Hassan appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Embed fonts inside your Word 2010 documents to ensure others can see your texts as designed.
If you plan on exporting a Microsoft Word 2010 document to an earlier format for those with older versions of Office, or if you use non-standard fonts in your documents, others may not be able to see them as designed.
By default, Word 2010 does not include copies of fonts inside document files. If you send a file to a friend, co-worker, or family member, and they do not have the fonts referenced in the document, their copy of Word will try to substitute alternate fonts. Thus, your documents may not display as designed. However, this setting can be changed:…
Read more at MalekTips.
New Computer and Technology Help and Tips – MalekTips.Com
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