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Posts Tagged ‘Technical’

Technical readouts reveal faster shutter speeds, improved ISO and more in iPhone 11 Pro

20 Sep

Like he did last year for the iPhone XS, Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of the iOS camera app Halide, has again made use his app’s technical readout feature to obtain additional camera specifications above and beyond what can be found in the official spec sheet. He’s broken down the data and compared the new iPhone 11 Pro to last year’s XS model. Let’s have a closer look at his findings:

The 11 Pro main camera comes with a 6-element lens that offers a 26mm equivalent focal length and F1.8 aperture. The chart below details the changes between the XS and the new model. As you can see the base ISO on all of the camera modules has increased by half a stop, the maximum shutter speed has been increased from 1/22,000 sec to a whopping 1/125,000 sec and the maximum ISO has been expanded to ISO 3072 vs the previous ISO 2304 limit, coinciding with the increased base ISO level.

It’s not quite clear at this point what the blisteringly fast shutter speeds could be used for. The increased maximum ISO doesn’t necessarily mean that the new iPhone will produce lower levels of image noise at a given ISO setting but it should be able to achieve better exposures in very dark settings.

Apple iPhone XS versus 11 Pro main camera comparison, source: Halide

As before, the telephoto cameras features a 52mm equivalent focal length but now comes with a faster F2.0 aperture. This should improve low light tele photos and should also produce a more visible ‘natural’ bokeh than on the iPhone XS.

Apple iPhone XS versus 11 Pro tele camera comparison, source: Halide

The iPhone XS did not come with an ultra-wide camera, so we can’t compare but the new camera offers a 13mm equivalent field-of-view, an F2.4 aperture lens and phase detection AF.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro ultra-wide camera specifications, source: Halide

The front camera has been updated, too. It now features faster shutter speeds, a higher maximum ISO, larger image output size and a wider field-of-view.

Apple iPhone XS versus 11 Pro front camera comparison, source: Halide

Overall the hardware changes don’t look too impressive on paper, but they are of course only a (small) part of the whole story as Sebastiaan points out in the blog post:

‘It’s kind of unbelievable that even with the glowing reviews out today, Apple has said that there’s more software processing yet to come. We’re told Deep Fusion is a very big leap in post-processing quality, but with the changes to Smart HDR, Semantic Mapping in the imaging pipeline and discrete situational processing like Night Mode, these specs are the furthest from the whole story on the new iPhone cameras yet.’

The Halide app is available from the iOS App Store for iPhone and Apple Watch and will set you back $ 6.


Image credits: Charts used with permission from Sebastiaan de With, developer of Halide.

Updated (September 19, 2019): Edited to clarify the increased ISO ratings and base ISO levels.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon issues technical service advisory for VR issue in certain Z6, Z7 camera units

21 May

Nikon has issued a technical service advisory for a number of Z6 and Z7 cameras regarding an issue where Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) technology ins’t fully functioning on particular units.

Nikon doesn’t elaborate on what’s causing the issue with the VR malfunction in the affected Z6 and Z7 cameras, but says it will repair affected devices free of charge, including the cost of shipping, even if the warranty on the camera has expired.

A screenshot of the Z7 serial number checker website.

To aid in determining if your unit is an affected one, Nikon has set up dedicated webpages where you can enter your Nikon Z6 and/or Nikon Z7 serial numbers and see if it’s affected and covered by the advisory. No specific serial number ranges have been presented, so the only way to find out is to use the dedicated webpages.

If your camera is affected, the webpage will provide instructions on how to get your camera(s) repaired. If your camera is experiencing VR issues and isn’t recognized by Nikon’s serial number checker, Nikon requests you go through its support platform to address the issue.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Google Pixel 3 interview: technical deep dive with the camera team

11 Oct

Recently, Science Editor Rishi Sanyal had the chance to sit down with two of Google’s most prominent imaging engineers and pick their brains about the software advances in the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Isaac Reynolds is the Product Manager for Camera on Pixel and Marc Levoy is a Distinguished Engineer and is the Computational Photography Lead at Google. From computational Raw to learning-based auto white balance, they gave us an overview of some key new camera features and an explanation of the tech that makes them tick.

Features covered in this video include the wide-angle selfie camera, Synthetic Fill Flash, Night Sight, Super Resolution Zoom, computational Raw, Top Shot and the method behind improving depth maps in Portrait Mode.

These features are also covered in written form in a previously published article here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Technical Camera is an iPhone camera app for advanced users

12 Jun

Dire Studio today launched Technical Camera, an iPhone app aimed at mobile still photographers who prefer manual control over auto modes, along with artificial intelligence and a range of interesting features.

The app offers a highly customizable interface, with manual exposure and focus, compensation and locks, focus peaking, and fully configurable auto ISO. The Smart Function Keys feature lets you customize the function of on-screen buttons and you can set the direction of the virtual dials in the user interface.

Advanced users will also appreciate the ability to shoot in Adobe RGB color space and – as far as we are aware – the ability to define image settings for different albums and shoot directly into these albums is unique. For example, you can set a small image size and turn geotagging off for images saved into a “Notes” folder, but toggle Raw capture and maximum image quality for your “Prints” folder.

If you are using a dual-camera iPhone the Framing Previsor feature should be useful as well. It allows you to preview the tele camera’s angle of view on the wide-angle camera’s live view image, giving you a direct comparison between the two lens options. In addition there are highlight and shadow clipping alerts and a range of grids to choose from.

Lastly, Technical Camera also looks like an interesting app for the users of super-wide-angle accessory lenses. The app can correct the distortion of a number of popular lenses and also offers basic corrections for non-supported lenses. More information and a list of all supported lenses can be found on the Technical Camera website.

The app is compatible with newer Apple devices running iOS 10.3 or later and can be downloaded now from the App Store for $ 6.99.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Artistic Versus Technical Photography Skills – What is Holding You Back?

24 Apr

Eiffel tower at dusk - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

In my work as a teacher – and as an artist – I have noticed something that might sound very obvious but is rarely talked about in our journey to become better photographers. That is, how we live our day-to-day lives will show us where we are going wrong in our photography. Figuring out your shortcomings is the only way to overcome them.

Let me explain.

“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse

How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography - night shot of Paris

Photography is an inner game. Everything about who we are is expressed in our photos. You can ask 100 photographers to photograph the same scene and they will all pick out different elements, they will all work on different parts of the scene and they will all end up with different images.

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” – Ernst Haas

What we respond to as a human being is filtered through our experiences and thoughts and for a huge part, through our personalities.

Paris monument - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

So if you are unhappy with the photos you are taking, as well as looking at all the usual suspects – technique, composition, etc. – I would take a close look at how you do things in your life and what that says about your personality.

Look at the strengths and weaknesses in yourself – you can then work to balance them and become the very best photographer you can be. Let’s take a look at a few (stereotypical) examples:

Person A – technically proficient, creativity lacking

This first stereotype is of someone whom I have met several times on my workshops. There are many of these people about. Let’s call them Person A.

night shot of a city - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Person A lives very much in their left brain – the home of the analytical mind. Person A is great with detail-oriented, academic tasks.

I am going to bet that because Person A is so strong in this area of analysis, they have lived in that side of their brain for a long time, and become better and better at tasks associated with that. But they have neglected their right brain, their more creative side.

Your right brain is the home of creativity, of ideas, of inspiration even. At least that is what science is saying at this point…

Person A is often amazing with their camera – they either know or are working on knowing, a lot of camera techniques. Technically their photos are excellent, which sounds great, right?

night shot in Paris - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

But their photos are boring! Their photos lack feeling. They can see it themselves. They look at their photos and wonder why they lack that certain “Je ne sais quoi” – that certain something – that takes a photo from good to wow!

Their photos are decent, they work technically and/or compositionally. But they aren’t memorable, or particularly unique looking. People don’t look at them and feel something deep in their souls, they don’t feel stirred by them. Worst of all, they don’t remember them.

What’s the problem? And what is the solution? My number one diagnosis is that this person finds it very difficult to be present, to live in the present moment and to just “be”. They find it very hard to daydream, to drift, to explore and get lost. They have lost touch with their imagination.

Blue hour mosque Istanbul - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Person A is drawn to interesting looking subjects but they don’t feel much when they are taking photos – so their images end up looking a bit cold or soulless.

Person B – highly creative, technically challenged

Now person B is very different. They are very good at inhabiting emotional states, they are drawn to mood, feeling, and atmosphere. Capturing subjects that move them and fill them with wonder and awe is their forte.

They have so much passion for photography, and constantly seek out locations and subjects that really excite them. The process of being creative is exciting, inspiring, and gives them so much joy.

Hagia Sofia Istanbul - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

The problem here, though, is when they look at their photos they are rarely, if ever, what they pictured in their head. They may see the feeling and atmosphere but in reality, if they are being honest, they don’t capture the feeling or mood of the subject in their images. The images don’t ooze with atmosphere in the way they want them to.

Person B is thinking – why aren’t my photos better!

Finding your solution

Now the creative solution for these two people would be completely different from each other – right? What person A has to do to create better photos is not what person B needs to do to create better photos.

night scene on the river - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

This is why you need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can work to balance them out. Learning is not a one-size-fits-all journey.

I have students who pick up using Manual Mode in 2 weeks and some who take two years to master it. Others take two years to feel comfortable shooting strangers, whereas some are relaxed and confident after one afternoon’s instruction and shooting.

But it’s not how long it takes – it’s the fact that you are working on improving all aspects of your photography.

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

man in a workshop - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

In fact, it’s more impressive to me that someone continues and perseveres than just focuses on what is easy for them. That’s how you improve.

Now back to our example people. I wonder if you can imagine what solutions I’m about to suggest for each to help them develop their photography.

The solution for those lacking creativity (A)

If this sounds like you, what you are doing, for the most part, is focusing on the technical execution of the image, not the real feeling behind it. And if you can’t feel anything when looking at an image – then what’s the point? You might as well as just stare at cereal boxes.

night shot of city - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photographySo you need to work on inhabiting states of emotion, wonder, and awe whilst shooting. To notice atmosphere and to then translate that into your images.

The solution if you lack technical abilities (B)

For Person B: There is a definite lack of technical skills – and this translates as not being able to capture the vision in your head. You could see a life-changing sunset, but pointing your camera at it will not capture the real vision of what it looks and feels like to be there. You have not learned to translate emotion via the technical.

cat on a street scene - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

If this sounds like you, then you need to get a better understanding of your camera and the technical possibilities. An understanding of composition is also helpful. By learning and utilizing the potential of the camera you will be able to create the photos within that you so desire.

Can you see that I have taken two extremes and that in an ideal world they would both get a little of the other’s natural tendencies? By doing that we can then create balance. And nature thrives on balance and harmony. Not too much of this, not too much of that.

Salt is essential to bring out the flavor in cooking, but if you add too much it’s gross…you get what I’m saying.

Haman sign Turkey - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

These examples may seem extreme but I do teach many people who fall into either one of these camps.

So instead of just focusing on learning more, I encourage you to take a long, long look at what your personality is like – and work out where you need to focus.

The way that I have thought about it for myself is that I am very good at being in the moment. It’s a skill I’ve developed over 30 years of shooting. I also love the technical part of photography (never met a user manual I didn’t want to read).

So what’s the personality issue that affects my photography?

Blue mosque Instanbul - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Well, I am so in the moment, so wrapped up in light and mood and atmosphere that the big challenge I’ve had in my career is to not get stuck into taking singular great images. One of this, one of that.

My weakness has been the inability to create and sustain a varied collection of photographs. It took me several years to realize that I was reacting to the world, rather than going out and seeking what I wanted.

I would just wander and drift, and see where my interest and attention led me. I had to work hard on becoming much more proactive – instead of I’ll wait for the shot, I had to become open to the idea of I’m going to find the shot.

sunset over a city scene - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Now, keep in mind that I don’t always do that. Again the key here is finding a balance. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater; build on your areas of weakness, but still, celebrate your areas of strength.

I am now a much more proactive photographer – I don’t confine myself to singular, wicked shots. I build projects, and I sustain them over time, and I work hard to make incredible images that work together as part of a story.

All the photos in this article are from a series of projects I’ve been working on for several years of cities at dawn. I love photographing the beauty of dawn light, the emptiness of the streets and the odd snippet of early morning life. The cities in these photos are Paris, London, and Istanbul.

tulips - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Some tips to help you

How do we overcome our weaknesses?

To start – you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your personality. If you don’t already know then ask your family or friends, I’m sure they would be more than happy to tell you!

You might think of concerns like:

Issue: You’re very shy and you find yourself holding back when you really want to grab a shot.

Solution: Do the thing that you fear! Perhaps it’s some street photography or portrait work to build your confidence with people. Or wandering off up that cool looking mountain.

flag in Turkey - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

If you don’t overcome your fears, you will always be holding yourself back from what you love to photograph. Great images rely on jumping into the process with your whole being, your whole heart.

Issue: You are better at talking about what you’re going to do than actually doing it. You alternate between perfectionism and procrastination.

Solution: Focus lots and lots of effort on getting started and work on producing a project. Don’t worry about it being perfect, or waiting for exactly the right time, because as someone with procrastinator to perfectionist tendencies, this could mean that the perfect time will never happen.

For this issue, start to work on producing something, anything, just so you can move through that block of never doing something. Then once you’ve got some work under your belt, you can then start working on making the photos or project you are involved in, better. Getting started and staying with something is the thing to focus on initially, though.

blue hour image - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Once you know where your weaknesses lie, then you can start to look for ways to overcome those issues. There are always solutions. When you are not afraid to look at the weaknesses in your creativity and to work on them, then you create so much more freedom in your photography practice.

If you feel like you can go anywhere and do anything, then your photography will grow exponentially.

Do things differently

Shake things up a little. For example, if you’re a big planner in your “real life” – maybe you want to begin by not planning. Go out, drift around, get lost, and just explore. Move away from all the planning.

night street scene - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

Or if you are like me – doing more planning has been essential to being a better photographer. I am so used to exploring with my senses rather than doing lots of research. While that is great and has served me well, a little planning has made me much more effective on my shoots.

Develop an “open awareness”

We tend to live our lives going from one fixed activity to the next. Whether that is at work, driving home, shopping, cooking, emailing or sorting out the myriad of problems, issues, and conflicts that pop up every day.

We end up flitting from one thing to the next, mostly concentrating in a narrow focus on one thing at a time – which is obviously very helpful when we want to get things done.

If, though, you want to develop new ideas and get good insights about yourself or your photography, then having an open – rather than focused – awareness is key.

Open awareness is being aware of your thoughts, but not paying too much attention to them. Allow for some space to enter and open up to the world around you. So you are letting thoughts drift through but you are still noticing other things – the weather, the clouds, the birds – but not letting your attention focus on any one thing in particular.

This brings tremendous space to your mind, space you need for new ideas and insights. If you are always thinking, thinking, doing, doing; you won’t have space for inspired ideas or amazing insights.

London at sunset - How to overcome your technical or artistic shortcomings and improve your photography

When you develop open awareness you have the ability to see your thoughts, your ideas, but also allow space for other things. You start to observe the world around you, to pay attention to your thoughts and habits and tendencies without getting locked into them.

Believe that you can change and develop yourself

“We are what we believe we are.” – C. S. Lewis

I know so many people who are scared of their cameras. They are intimidated by learning the technical aspects of photography. They tell me it’s impossible to learn!

Yet I know that as humans it’s possible to learn anything if the desire is strong enough.

You don’t have to confine yourself with your photography just because you can’t do something. As Picasso said:

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso

Science is also telling us now that what we previously thought about the brain – that it was a set, fixed entity that stops developing as we become adults – is in fact not the case.

We can develop our brains at any point by having new experiences and learning new things. We can cultivate new skills, we don’t have to stay in this fixed idea of what we are good at and what we aren’t good at.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso

I cannot stress the importance of this idea enough. If you feel the urge to create in your life – with photography or any other medium – it’s a beautiful calling.

In my life, there is nothing more important than taking photographs. I know what it brings to my life, to ideas about photography and how I’m able to light little fires of inspiration in other people.

When you are being creative you are putting down your smartphone, the to-do lists, the emails and the shopping lists. Instead of looking inwards at your life – you are looking outwards at the world. You are committing yourself to the deeper, more interesting, more beautiful parts of life.

You are connecting to other people and to the world around you. Surely, paying more attention and creating connections to others is an incredibly important thing to promote in this day and age.

“Photography in our time leaves us with a grave responsibility. While we are playing in our studios with broken flower pots, oranges, nude studies and still lifes, one day we know that we will be brought to account: life is passing before our eyes without our ever having seen a thing.” – Brassai

Photography is such an exciting way to be creative, I hope I’ve given you some ideas on how to challenge yourself to keep improving and growing as a photographer.

We all have it in us to create memorable, unique, and interesting images. I’d love to know what you think of these ideas – please comment below.

The post Artistic Versus Technical Photography Skills – What is Holding You Back? appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

22 Feb

What is it that makes one picture appear dull and another more striking? What is it that makes some tones appear detailed and others smooth and transient? The answer to both of these questions involves the issues of color hue, color purity, and tone distribution.

Prague A - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

This street scene in Prague is the original underexposed camera image.

Prague B - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

The same image after tonal and color adjustments have been applied.

The science of color and tone

All color detail is determined by these three elements. In the Photoshop/Lightroom world, you’ll recognize these terms as HSL or Hue, Saturation, and Luminance. The world of photography is both an art and a science. The science part is filled with graphs, measurements, and strange words that most people don’t encounter every day.

These terms come from the scientific vocabulary of engineers, chemists, and mathematicians in the photographic trade. When digital cameras were introduced to the general public years ago, suddenly everybody could push around the colors and tonal range in their own pictures. While Adobe Photoshop provided a serious workshop, it showed up with a boatload of technical color science terms.

Unfortunately, if you don’t fully understand the terms, you may not be taking full advantage of the controls they provide. In this article, I’ll do my best to bring these terms down to Earth and make them understandable. We’ll get past the technical jargon and get into the practical application of these terms.

Hue, Saturation, and Lightness

Hue, Saturation, Lightness (luminance) are the irreducible minimum building blocks involved in good color editing and reproduction. While there are many more issues to be addressed in the processing of an image, these three are the make-or-break elements that must be understood and adjusted if you want your color images to catch a viewer’s eye.

Incidentally, when editing your images, these elements should be addressed in that very order; value (hue), intensity (saturation), and tonality (luminance). While hue and saturation concern color, luminance refers to the tonal structure of an image; pretty much an issue of dark versus light.

The Saturation slider affects the intensity of the color in an image. This is a powerful tool; exercise restraint.

Genoa A - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

The Saturation effect on a Genoa Italy cathedral – normal saturation levels.

How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Genoa B - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

None.

HSL Dialog Sat Low - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Genoa C - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Oversaturated.

HSL Dialog Sat High - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

A Primer on Image Detail

Contrast usually refers to the overall light-to-dark extremes of an image but the real power of post-production editing is in pushing the tonal values around inside the overall range.

But if you really want to make the detail in your image stand out, you must adjust the internal contrast of the image. The biggest difference-maker adjustment should be the middle tones of your images; tones in-between the lightest and the darkest in your image.

TrafalgarSq A - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Trafalgar Sq O Levels - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

The middle slider in Photoshop’s Levels dialog is referred to as the gamma slider. Gamma is another one of those legacy scientific terms that you can think of as a “mid-tone” adjustment. Moving this elementary slider from left to right actually shifts the entire middle range of tones from lighter to darker.

TrafalgarSq B - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

This picture of the King Charles statue in London’s Trafalgar Square is backlit and was dark, but a simple middle tone adjustment opened up the shadows and revealed hidden detail.

TrafalgarSq A Levels - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Photoshop’s Levels tool is the most basic of tonal controls. There are actually several much more effective tonal shaping tools available in Photoshop and even more comprehensive controls in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom. We won’t get into a thorough discussion of these tone adjustment tools and workflow recommendations in this article (perhaps at a later time).

Leaves A - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Leaves B - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

This picture of winter leaves was fairly well exposed but required both tonal and color adjustments to reveal the rich colors in the original scene.

Camera Raw dialog - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Editing for Tonality

There’s a reason why tone adjustment should be your number one issue in image preparation; even more critical than color accuracy.

Your eyesight has tonal perception and interpretation capabilities that far exceed the dynamic range of any digital camera. Make no mistake, capturing seven stops of light range is an amazing feat. But capturing this wide range of tones doesn’t automatically translate into detail, image definition, or good tonal distinction.

Properly reassigning those internal tones to more closely match what your eyes see is where the real editing magic happens. Hang with me here because this will get a bit involved, but I think it will definitely be worth your time.

LinearCapture Eye Camera - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

This chart shows the difference between the way your eye registers light and how your camera records it.

Camera View – Human View

Your camera’s image sensor records light quite differently than your eye perceives it. The camera actually records a lot of data from the lighter portion of the scene and very little data from the darker portion. The image sensors capture light in a linear fashion. Unfortunately, humans view the lighting in scenes in a logarithmic fashion.

You might say that original camera files usually benefit from a “fashion” adjustment, generally lightening the middle tones. Camera images that don’t get their tonal values adjusted almost always lose detail in the darker areas of the image. Virtually all camera images benefit from internal adjustments.

Chrominance and Luminance Explained

Chrominance deals with the color component of an image while luminance deals with the contrast or tonality component of an image.

Chroma refers to the color in an image while luma describes the non-color or tonal part. Achromatic is a fancy scientific word that is pretty simple to understand. Remember your high school English… the prefix “a” means “without,” so a-chromatic literally means without color.

In the HSL model of color, hue, and saturation fall in the chrominance column while tonality and contrast are on the luminance column (the structural or tonal backbone of an image).

Basic Luminosity Adjustments

Where does the term “luminance” come from? Light is measured in lumens. A lumen is the smallest measurable unit of light visible to the human eye. Luminosity then is the measure of lumens reflecting from (or transmitted through) a light source and perceived by your eye. The more lumens, the brighter the light. Light measurements are also made in increments called candelas. A candela is roughly the value of light produced by a single household candle.

Photo by Akshay Paatil on Unsplash

Just as “horsepower” is a carryover index of a measurement of power (relating to the pulling strength of multiple horses) candelas is an index of the cumulative light emitted from multiple candles. These legacy terms are sometimes confusing, and it would be nice if photographic color science terminology were simplified for those just entering the process, but until then, you’ll have to get acclimated.

I’ll take it slow, as you can easily drown in the scientific terminology minutia. I’ll keep the terminology on a basic digital imaging level so that you can make practical use of what you learn.

Basic Color Science

Ryb-colorwheel

As stated before, all color is composed of three elements; value, intensity, and luminosity. Value (or hue) refers to the “color” of color, or what differentiates red from orange or purple. Intensity (or saturation) refers to the purity color, distinguishing pastels to pungent colors (the more white light is combined with pure color, the more the color strength is diluted). Luminosity is the measure of the brightness and relates to the image’s lightness or darkness.

Hue (value) differentiates one color from another. Saturation (intensity) determines the purity of color. Luminosity (brightness) determines tonality.

The detail in digital imaging terminology is the degree to which colors and tones distinguish themselves from each other. While hue, saturation, and luminance all play a significant role in detailing an image, the heavy lifting of detail is done by luminance or the shaping of the internal tones in an image. Detail is a product of contrast, and contrast is almost completely controlled by the luminance element. This is why post-production professionals perform all their sharpening adjustments in the luminance channel exclusively.

Shadows Highlights dialog - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Photoshop’s Highlight/Shadow dialog box

Camera Raw dialog - How to Understand the Science of Photography and Technical Terms for Mastering Image Tonality

Adobe Camera Raw main dialog.

Shaping Light

Contrast, like audio equalization, cannot be effectively accomplished by using a linear (bass-treble) type control such is the luminance slider in the HSL panel which simply lightens or darkens an image. The effective shaping of an image requires the individual adjustment of five specific tonal regions of an image; highlight, quarter-tone, mid-tone, three-quarter tone and shadow. I use a variety of controls to shape my tonal contrast.

Ansel Adams once stated, “Half the image is created in the camera, the other half is created in the darkroom.” Though you may never use a darkroom to produce a photographic image, the essence of his statement is still true. Capturing pixels with your camera is only your first step in producing a good picture, what you do with the image that comes out of your camera will determine your skills as a photographer.

Digital photography provides almost limitless avenues for personal expression. Shaping the color and tonality in your images is the backbone of great photography. Determine to learn something new about this fabulous art form every day. Push pixels around and stay focused.

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Google’s new AI ranks photos on their technical and aesthetic quality

27 Dec
Image: Google

We have seen several attempts at automated image assessment from both technical and aesthetic points of view in the past. For example, Google researchers have previously used convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to assess image quality of specific image categories, such as landscapes.

However, these previous approaches could typically only differentiate between low and high image quality in a binary way. Now, a Google research team has developed a methodology that can provide a more granular assessment of the quality of a photograph that is applicable to all types of images.

The NIMA: Neural Image Assessment model uses a deep CNN that was trained to predict which images a typical user would rate as looking technically good or aesthetically pleasing, using that information to rate an image on a scale of 1 to 10.

To achieve this, it relies on state-of-the-art deep object recognition networks and uses them to develop an understanding of general categories of objects. As a result, NIMA can be used to score images in a reliable manner and with high correlation to human perception, which makes it a potentially very useful tool for labor intensive and subjective tasks, such as automated image editing or image optimization for user engagement.

The NIMA team says that, in testing, the model’s aesthetic ranking of images closely matches the mean scores that were assigned by human judges. What’s more, the technology is still in its infancy; further retraining and testing should improve the model even further. Once systems get better, future applications could include image capture with real-time feedback to the photographer, auto-culling, or providing guidance to image editors to achieve optimized post-processing results.

More detail on this fascinating new system are available on the Google Research Blog.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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VLC 3.0 technical preview launches with 360 video and photo support

29 Nov

VideoLan has launched VLC 360, a new version of the media player that supports 360-degree videos and images. The current release is a technical preview; all of its features are slated for inclusion with the final VLC 3.0 release across all platforms. VLC 360 Technical Preview is currently only available for macOS 10.10 or later and Windows 7 or later.

VideoLan teamed up with Giroptic to introduce these new features, which include the ability to play 360-degree video and photos, display 360 content with ‘Zoom,’ ‘Little Planet,’ and ‘Reverse Little Planet’ modes, and control content using both a mouse and keyboard. Future mobile versions of VLC with 360 will also support control using a phone’s built-in sensors.

VLC’s makers plan to release future versions of its software with 360-degree features for Xbox One, iOS, and Android. As well, VideoLan says the media player ‘will probably support’ virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and Google Daydream View starting next year. VideoLan is also working on 3D audio playback support.

Via: VideoLan

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Match Technical launches Thumbs Up EP-5S thumb rest for Fujifilm X100

08 Aug

Chinese accessory maker Match Technical has introduced a version of its ‘Thumbs Up’ accessory grip for the Fujifilm X100. The Thumbs Up EP-5S is an updated version of the grip we featured in our Leica M9 preview, and slots into the camera’s hot shoe. It features a revised, ‘ergonomic profile’ thumb rest, includes a silicone insert to cushion the join between the grip and the camera, and is available in either black or silver. (via DCWatch)
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Match Technical launches Thumbs Up EP-5S thumb rest for Fujifilm X100

08 Aug

Chinese accessory maker Match Technical has introduced a version of its ‘Thumbs Up’ accessory grip for the Fujifilm X100. The Thumbs Up EP-5S is an updated version of the grip we featured in our Leica M9 preview, and slots into the camera’s hot shoe. It features a revised, ‘ergonomic profile’ thumb rest, includes a silicone insert to cushion the join between the grip and the camera, and is available in either black or silver. (via DCWatch)
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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