The post 6 Times Photoshop Is Better Than Lightroom [Video] appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
Lightroom is a fantastic editing program, but should you use it for every edit? Or is Photoshop sometimes the better choice?
In the video below, landscape photographer Mark Denney tackles these questions head-on. Denney explains how he incorporates Photoshop into his own workflow, and he lists the six times he always turns to Photoshop over Lightroom.
So if you’re wondering whether Photoshop is really necessary, I highly recommend you hear what Denney has to say. And when you’re done, leave a comment on this article letting us know whether you agree or disagree with Denney’s recommendations!
The post 6 Times Photoshop Is Better Than Lightroom [Video] appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
Misinformation is a big issue online, especially with how quickly false stories are shared. The New York Times R&D team has worked with the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) on a prototype system ‘exploring tools to give readers transparency into the source and veracity of news visuals.’ If a picture is worth a thousand words, the picture must be verifiably truthful to its viewers.
As CAI points out, it used to be a given that a ‘photograph never lies.’ However, that hasn’t been true for a long time. It’s easy for an image to be manipulated and tell a story far from the truth. It’s hard to tell fact from fiction, and a fake or doctored image can make the rounds so quickly that you see it many times on your feed before you ever see the original image. That is if you ever see the real image at all. A study by Adobe found that there’s a lack of trust in images and that people are concerned about seeing doctored content. The study also found that photographers are concerned with image theft and plagiarism.
The NYT R&T team shows their ‘secure sourcing’ prototype visualization.
For photographers, it’s not just about the honesty of an image, it’s about credit. Someone can screengrab a photographer’s image and spread it around the web before the photographer ever has the opportunity to demand the financial compensation they deserve. After the image has been seen all over the internet, the value of their work has already been irreparably damaged. Santiago Lyon, Head of Advocacy & Education at CAI, writes, ‘Regardless of source, images are plucked out of the traditional and social media streams, quickly screen-grabbed, sometimes altered, posted and reposted extensively online, usually without payment or acknowledgment and often lacking the original contextual information that might help us identify the source, frame our interpretation. and add to our understanding.’
Scott Lowenstein of NYT R&D says, ‘The more people are able to understand the true origin of their media, the less room there is for ‘fake news’ and other deceitful information. Allowing everyone to provide and access media origins will protect against manipulated, deceptive, or out-of-context online media.’
Along with Adobe and Twitter, The New York Times Co. is a founding member of the CAI. The CAI and its partners ‘are working to develop an open industry standard that will allow for more confidence in the authenticity of photographs (and then video and other file types). We are creating a community of trust, to help viewers know if they can believe what they see.’ To this end, the new prototype outlines a ‘secure sourcing’ workflow, which will preserve metadata with secure signatures at each step as an image is captured, edited in Adobe Photoshop, and published. As an image is published, links to an original image will be attached and signed by a social media platform.
Photograph by Niko Koppel for the NYT R&D project, integrated with CAI Content Credentials.
Lyon writes, ‘This important work demonstrates how a well-respected news outlet like the NYT is experimenting with CAI technology, giving us a hint of what’s possible at scale. This aligns with our goal of displaying a CAI logo next to images published in traditional or social media that gives the consumer more information about the provenance of the imagery, such as where and when it was first created and how it might have been altered or edited.’
Lyon continues, ‘This will bolster trust in content among both consumers and capture partners (such as Qualcomm and Truepic), editing partners (in this case, our colleagues at Adobe Photoshop), and publishers, such as the New York Times and others.’
Eventually, the hope is that CAI logos can be placed next to images on traditional publishing and social media platforms, inspiring confidence in the provenance of images and explaining how an image was edited before being published. Ideally, viewers would be able to click on the CAI logo and find out about the image creator and see all the edits that have been made.
For the initiative and the NYT R&D prototype to work, widespread adoption is necessary. The overall distrust in the news and images will require considerable work to improve. Reliable, secure, and accessible records of image creation and edits will go a long way toward inspiring confidence in images.
The post Ways Creativity Can Help in Times of Uncertainty appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.
When times are challenging for us, either individually or collectively, I find that my photography plays an important role in helping me get through intense life experiences like those we are all experiencing right now. So today I want to share some valuable ideas on ways creativity can help in times of uncertainty.
Life feels so strange when you are tootling along, maybe a bit bored or lethargic, and then something deeply unsettling happens, seemingly out of the blue.
And you are confronted with the big life questions: how to survive when you are faced with pandemics, mortality, aging, illness, financial problems, etc.
Often, when things get tough, we stop doing the things that make us relax and make us happy. We contract with fear or worry; we start focusing on the uncertainty, the pain, and the problems.
But what I would love to share with you today is that, instead of contracting when things get rocky, instead of making our lives less joyful and fun, we can actually use photography, and our love of being creative, to help us cope in tough times.
Using our creativity can help us to explore the world. It can help to take our minds away from obsessive worrying, to look beyond our challenges, to find beauty in unexpected places, and to connect with others.
There are so many opportunities to weave in moments of immense joy from this incredible medium of photography that we all love so much.
So here are my ideas on how creativity can help you in times of uncertainty.
The simple joy of making
One of my favorite writers, Neil Gaiman, is extraordinary when discussing the benefits of being creative. But a very simple idea of his is perhaps the most powerful here:
“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” –Neil Gaiman
I never, ever regret spending time shooting.
Even if I don’t get any shots I love, making the effort to explore and take photos makes my day better.
Of course, this is especially true when I hit those amazing moments when I capture something perfectly.
If I find some incredible light, a beautiful vista, or an interesting face, I feel fantastic when looking at those photos afterward.
Even if I get zero good shots, I know that every single time I make the effort to shoot, I am feeding my ideas, my imagination, and my creativity.
Even if I get things wrong, make something boring, or miss a shot, the effort of shooting, as well as the experience of shooting, always feels worthwhile to me.
It is a pretty basic but powerful idea to think that we humans just love to make things.
It’s part of what makes us human: to have ideas, to experience the world not just as a way to get our needs met, but as a way to add something to what is already here.
And, of course, I always regret not shooting.
Creativity can expand our vision beyond the here and now
When we are so wrapped up in our lives or the challenges we are facing, it can feel like our struggles are the only things we can think about.
This is especially true when we are fearful and worried. We see everything through the filter of our worries.
And so it is good, in fact, essential, to take our minds away into realms of other possibilities and see the world beyond what is freaking us out.
It’s important to contemplate and see the worlds other people are living, to explore the wilderness, to look at the stars and imagine their eternal timelessness.
To bring the focus of our lives away from the minutiae and worries and toward the vast incredible planet that we live in.
To remember that this is just a moment in time.
We know that life goes on. Every day is new. Challenges are overcome, eventually. Things continue to change. We can rely on that.
The photographer Diane Arbus said that being a photographer gives you a license to talk to people you wouldn’t usually approach. And this is the amazing thing that applies to all of photography, I believe.
Having a camera in hand is an incredible license (permission, even) to try and look at the world in a new way.
So use it.
Use photography to go beyond whatever is concerning you right now. Use photography to see things afresh, to look at new places, or to try and look at the same things in new ways.
Use limitation to stretch your creativity and imagination
During lockdown, I took some of the best photos I had in years. Because I didn’t have the chance to just go out and explore, I was confined to my apartment and had to squeeze my inspiration and imagination to come up with something awesome in this confining situation.
I had to dig deep and think beyond what was ordinarily possible; I had to look at the limited opportunities that I had and make the very best of them.
And I did! My creativity, because I used it daily, because I valued it and fed it, gave me some amazing ideas for great shots.
(It’s important to remember what the wonderful writer Maya Angelou said: “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”)
It’s amazing what the imagination can do when given very tight restrictions!
Creativity can help us share and connect with others in challenging times
We all face challenges. Life has times of darkness for us all.
It is not unique to hit a point in life that you believe will shatter your spirit or break you from worry.
And yet so often we hide these experiences and feelings from each other because they are strange and oddly embarrassing to share.
But we can use our craft and our creativity to bring light and to share our experiences with others. To show people that we are all human, facing many similar challenges.
This quote from the writer James Baldwin sums up the power that creative people have:
“The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.” –James Baldwin
Bringing calm to our minds and bodies
There are many studies that show being creative is good for our emotional health.
Being creative is often compared to meditation. This is because we get lost in creative tasks, and getting lost in something has a calming effect on our nervous systems.
It’s soothing to be focused on something that is concerned with something beyond the practical, which is about creating something beautiful or interesting or fun.
And, as I mentioned before, anything that moves us away from our worries, that brings us ideas and inspiration, is so valuable during times when it feels like life is sitting on quicksand.
Creativity is a way to work things out
I want to live for more than just getting by. I want to live in a way that is exciting and interesting and electrifying. And yet there is so much that brings us away from the joy.
It’s very easy as humans to get so embedded in our habits, both in how we live our lives and how we think, that it often feels like we are running on autopilot.
This can be especially true in times of uncertainty. We go over and over and over the things that are concerning us. We think of ways to help, what to change, and how to fix things. We talk about our concerns a lot and get lost in endless articles. We discuss, rationalize, and disagree.
But maybe there is no fix, and you can only live with whatever is on your path. The obsessive thinking and worrying is not going to help you at all.
I love this quote from Edward de Bono because, to me, it shows that we can use creativity to break out of old patterns and habits, and to go beyond how we see the world at the moment:
“Creativity involves breaking out of expected patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” –Edward de Bono
Creativity brings you into the present moment
This is ultimately all that we have: this present moment. We cannot escape back to the past nor rely on the future. This is what we have now. And to always be sucked into doing or planning or thinking is to miss the only real life that we have:
What is here, right now.
It is so easy to get lost in the moment. But somehow, when we are challenged with any of the things that are hard in life (grief, loss, or pain), the challenge can serve as an opportunity to wake us up.
It slams our attention into focus, and it can be a time when we break. But it can also be a time when we suddenly say: I am going to stop getting lost in the busyness of life. I am going to pay attention to what is actually here.
And by facing the feeling of uncertainty, by acknowledging that it can overtake our thoughts, can seep into our bodies, can overwhelm us, we can start to do something to transcend it.
We can use these times of uncertainty to allow all that is unnecessary and distracting to simply fall away.
And creativity can help us with the whole process. It can help us see what we aren’t seeing. It can open our eyes to all that is fascinating and meaningful and true for us.
Being creative isn’t something to save only for retirement or when you’ve got time. It isn’t to be saved for when your kids are older or for when you’ve completed all your tasks (tasks are never-ending, aren’t they?).
Creativity can help us move through dark times with more grace and understanding. It can comfort us at times when we struggle. It pays attention to that part of ourselves that is so uniquely human, that weirdly, magically, strangely, unnecessary, completely impractical side of who we are.
If we are to enjoy our lives, isn’t it because we are not just doing what is necessary, but reveling in the pleasures and beauty and joy of it all?
Otherwise, what is the point of all of our hard efforts, all of the work, all of the struggles and challenges we face?
What is the point if there isn’t a little bit of stardust to delight our spirits at least once every day?
I hope these ideas have been helpful to you and have ignited your imagination. I hope these ideas have shown you how creativity can help in these times of uncertainty. I would love to know if they have, so please share your thoughts in a comment below.
The post Ways Creativity Can Help in Times of Uncertainty appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.
Testing conducted in Seattle by our Technical Editor Richard Butler. Real-world production experiences by Jordan Drake: the director and editor of many of our ‘DPRTV’ videos.
Originally published Aug 3, updated Aug 6: conclusions and analysis revised based on additional experience with the camera
If you have any interest in cameras, you may have witnessed the heated discussions lately around the new Canon EOS R5 and R6’s tendency to overheat when capturing video internally. The Internet tends to amplify the most extreme version of any story or phenomenon, which might have lead to you getting the impression that the cameras are unusable.
Jordan’s EOS R5 experience
We shot for 10 hours at a variety of locations, which I thought would give the camera ample opportunity to cool down. I planned to shoot the episode in the 4K HQ mode, with occasional 4K/120P and 8K shots peppered throughout. Quickly I realized that setting up a shot and menu-diving would reduce the amount of record time I had for HQ, so I found myself spending far less time previewing the shot before rolling, adding a layer of stress.
Eventually, I realized couldn’t record all the talking points in 4K HQ, and settled on using 4K HQ for wide shots and standard, line-skipped 4K for closeups. This made shooting sustainable, though I found myself avoiding trying to capture any spontaneous establishing shots or cutaways, lest I drop the dreaded overheating clock a bit lower. While our host Chris took it in his stride, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be for the talent to not know if the camera will last until the end of a take.
I also found myself heavily rationing the 4K/120P as it really chews up your remaining shooting minutes. I spent two minutes capturing the seagull footage in the episode: beforehand I the camera said it would shoot 15 minutes of 4K HQ, when I returned I had only five minutes remaining!
If the quality difference between 4K HQ and standard 4K capture were not so dramatic, this would bother me less. However, once you start viewing and editing the gorgeous 4K HQ footage, it makes it that much harder to go back to inferior line skipped 4K, and that’s a type of disappointment I don’t want to be dealing with on a shoot.
After extensive testing of both cameras, our conclusions with regards internal recording are:
From a cold start, the Canon EOS R5 and R6 perform in line with the company’s video performance claims.
Non-video use cuts into available shooting time, adding significant uncertainty for video shooters
We tested a pair of R5s and an R6 in a variety of warm conditions and found they consistently performed in line with the limitations that Canon acknowledged at the point of launch. However, the practical implications are that the cameras are prone to overheating if you shoot for extended periods and if you have crew or talent waiting to re-start shooting, they may take too long to recover.
It should be noted that Canon did not design either the EOS R5 or R6 to be professional video tools, nor does it primarily market them as such. But based on our testing and real-world usage we would caution against using them as a substitute.
So why is YouTube saying the sky is falling?
Our testing suggests that the cameras perform in exactly the way that Canon said they would. However, there is an important caveat that Canon’s figures don’t address: although the cameras can repeatedly deliver the amount of video promised, they may not always do so in real-world usage.
Even set to the mode designed to limit pre-recording temperature build-up, the clock is essentially running from the moment you turn the camera on. Video recording is the most processor-intensive (and hence most heat generating) thing you can do, but any use of the camera will start to warm it up, and start chipping away at your recording times. Consequently, any time spent setting up a shot, setting white balance, setting focus or waiting for your talent to get ready (or shooting still images) will all cut into your available recording time, and you won’t reliably get the full amount Canon advises.
Not only does this make R5 a poor fit for many professional video shoots, it also means that you can’t depend on the cameras when shooting video alongside stills at, say, a wedding, which is a situation that the EOS R5 clearly is intended for.
Even when left in direct sunshine, the cameras continued to record for the duration Canon promised. However, this is only true when you’re not using the camera for anything else.
The one piece of good news is that the camera’s estimates appear to be on the conservative side: every time the camera said it would deliver X minutes of footage, it delivered what it’d promised. You can also record 4K footage for much longer if you can use an external recorder but again, this probably isn’t going to suit photographers or video crews looking for a self-contained, do-everything device.
Click here if you want to see our test methods and results.
EOS R5 suggestions:
Expect to shoot line-skipped 30p for the bulk of your footage
Only use 8K or oversampled HQ 4K for occasional B-Roll
4K/120 and 8K will cut into your shooting time quickest of all
Be aware of your setup time and cumulative usage (including stills shooting)
EOS R6 suggestions:
Don’t expect to be able to shoot for extended periods
Be aware of the need for extensive cooling periods between bursts of shooting
Analysis: Why hadn’t Canon thought about this?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking this means Canon didn’t put enough thought into thermal management for these cameras. Our testing suggests this isn’t the case, but that the cameras’ specs are rather over-ambitious.
Jordan’s EOS R6 experience
I had done some testing prior to my shoot, and was comfortable that overheating wouldn’t be a problem if I stuck to 4K/24p. Unfortunately, my experience on a warm day was quite different to that room-temperature test. There’s no line-skipped 4K mode on the R6, so if the camera overheats, you’re back to 1080P, which will be a jarring transition for viewers watching on larger screens.
While I was able to record much longer with the R6 before encountering the overheat warning, once it appears the camera takes far longer to cool down again than the R5. Our regular drives in an air conditioned car allowed Chris and Levi’s R5 to function throughout the day, but at one point I was left sitting in the car, babysitting a hot R6 while they went out to shoot. During a one hour lunch, the R5 had returned back to normal, but the R6 had a twenty minute warning still on.
This was hugely disappointing as, rolling shutter aside, the R6 video quality is excellent, and I’d be perfectly happy using it over the R5. However, the longer cool down times would probably lead me to use the R5, dropping to line-skipped 4K from time to time.
While I enjoyed most aspects of using these two cameras, I have no intention of using either of them as a primary video camera. They would be great for grabbing occasional, very high quality video clips, but I’d never want to rely on them for paid work.
With the exception of specialist video models, most cameras that shoot 4K are prone to overheating, regardless of the brand. Some companies let you extend the recording time by ignoring overheat warnings (and risk ‘low-temperature burns’ if you handhold the camera), while others simply stop when they get too hot. This should make it clear that shooting 4K for an extended period is difficult. For instance, Sony says the a7 III will shoot around 29 minutes of 4K video with the temperature warnings set to ‘Std,’ while the Fujifilm X-T4 promises 30 minutes of 4K/30 and 20 minutes of 4K/60.
The cumulative heat is constantly counting against you
8K is four times as much data as natively-sampled 4K and seventeen times more than the 1080 footage that older cameras used to capture so effortlessly. Perfect 2:1 oversampled 4K (downsampled 8K) requires this same amount of data, which is still 1.7x more data than is used to create 4K oversampled video from a 24MP sensor. Data means processing, which means heat.
What’s interesting is that the exterior of the cameras don’t get especially hot when shooting for extended periods. We’re only speculating, but this could indicate that Canon has tried to isolate the camera’s internals from external temperature fluctuations, with the down-side that they can’t then dissipate internally produced heat.
This would be consistent with us getting the full recording period out of the camera, even when tested well above the 23°C (73°F) conditions specified by Canon. And with the fact that leaving the camera’s doors closed and battery in place didn’t change the recovery time. However, while this appears to be workable for the line-skipping 4K mode, the added workload of the higher quality settings seems to present a problem. Dealing with 1.7x more data than the a7 III and X-T4 is a step too far: the R5 will match them for promised recording duration but only from cold. This leaves it much more sensitive to any other use beyond video recording.
The EOS R6 is a slightly different matter. It can shoot 40 minutes of 4K taken from 5.1K capture, which is a pretty good performance and may be enough that you won’t often hit its temperature limits. However even after a 30 minute cooling period, it has only recovered enough to deliver around half of its maximum record time, whereas the EOS R5 recovered nearly its full capability. The more extensive use of metal in the construction of the R5 seems to help it manage heat better than the R6 can.
And, as both Jordan’s and Richard’s experiences show: if you don’t have time to let the cameras cool, that cumulative heat is constantly counting against you.
The post How to Keep Your Photographic Muscles Flexing During the Times of Isolation appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
We’re currently facing challenges that most of us haven’t faced before. How do you keep photographing when you can’t visit interesting locations or meet your models? Here are some ideas for you to exercise your photographic muscles during this time of isolation.
1/13 sec. f/8; ISO 800
According to where you live, you may be more or less constrained regarding your travel distances. Maybe the problem is not even reaching an adventurous place but you can’t even get to your studio. Whichever is your case, these ideas are meant for you to keep photographing with minimum resources.
Get smart
If you happen to be in insolation and unable to reach your equipment, maybe it’s time for you to go into mobile phone photography, if you haven’t done so already. Smartphones today have multiple cameras, a wide range of focal lengths and super-high resolution. This is not to say that you can’t do great things with lower-range devices.
The device itself is only one part of the equation, then you can go into the huge variety of apps you’ll find on the market. There’s one for every need and budget. Firstly, you can use a camera app to control the settings of the camera, and then other ones for post-production.
I took this image with a Sony Xperia Z3 using the default camera app.
In this example, you see the original photo on the left made with a very basic (and old) device.
The middle image is a version processed for Instagram. I used ‘A Color Story’; an app that has some basic retouching tools, sets of filters constantly updating according to the trends, and a grid to schedule your feed.
In the image on the right, I used the Photoshop app for normal post-production as I would have done on my computer. I cropped and fixed the perspective, and also did some fine-tuning of the exposure. You can sync it up with your Adobe CC account or you can use a lighter version for free if you are not subscribed.
Self-portrait
If you’re housebound and you live alone, you can use yourself as a subject.
If you’re a portrait photographer, this can keep you going while gaining insight into what it feels like to be on the other side of the lens. However, if you’re not used to doing portraits, this is your chance to experiment with new types of photography. If you’re shy, you can go abstract or conceptual; so no excuses – keep photographing!
I decided to go with a creative collage.
You don’t have a problem getting models? Still, these times are giving everybody the extra push into boosting their online presence. A self-portrait may be just the thing you need to build your brand identity.
Look back
Photography is not just about the shooting, it starts with the idea and planning. Then it continues during development and post-production.
So, to keep photographing, you can also work on the other steps in the process. If you have your hard drive with you, or have your work in the cloud, use this time to dive into your old photographs to do any of these exercises:
Catch up with all the editing, cleaning and back-ups that you just haven’t had the time to do until now.
Do a self-reflection exercise by reviewing your work. There’s a lot that you can learn and improve while looking at the evolution of your projects and techniques. Find your style and what drives you. If it helps, start writing down your thoughts.
Save an old photo. We all have one (or more) photos that didn’t really come together in-camera, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to delete. Maybe you have some new skills that can improve it? Perhaps you just have a new take on it that you didn’t see before? Maybe it still won’t be great, but it will surely serve as practice.
1/1600 sec; f/5,0; ISO 400
Post-processing
Use this time to improve and experiment with your digital darkroom skills by processing old files.
Another choice is to download images from the web and practice on them. If you’re not buying them from a stock photo website, then remember to keep an eye on the copyright so that you’re not breaking any laws. Some good free stock sites are Unsplash and Pexels.
1/50 sec. f/8; ISO 1250 Processed with the wet-plate filter from the NIK Collection
For inspiration, you can check out many of the DPS tutorials on basic and creative post-processing.
DIY
I’ve always been a fan of DIY even when I’m not facing any specific limitations. I think that doing things yourself can make you fully understand how they work. Anyway, regardless of one’s philosophy, now we’re facing some difficulties in mobility, availability, and maybe even budget.
If you haven’t done it yet, it’s time for you to try some DIY. Luckily here at DPS, you can find many tutorials on the subject.
If you’re limited in lightning you can try: Creating Effective DIY Studio Lighting with Household Items. DIY Flash and Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers.
If you’re missing your accessories: How to Use Ordinary Items to Make DIY Photo Filters. How to Make a DIY Lens Hood to Eliminate Lens Flare.
If you’re lacking props and backgrounds: DIY Food Photography Props on a Budget. DIY Lighting and Background Accessories for the Budget Conscious Photographer.
If you just want to have fun and try something new: DIY: How to Create a Coffee-Stained Texture for Aging Images in Photoshop. DIY Photography: How to Make Your Own DIY Lightstick for Cool Photos.
Conclusion
Being isolated doesn’t mean that you have to stop doing the things you love. Keep in mind that you’re not alone. Share in the comments section, your exercises and ideas so we can support each other as a community of photographers. And, also share any of your images as a result of trying any of these exercises. We’d love to see them.
The post How to Keep Your Photographic Muscles Flexing During the Times of Isolation appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
We’ve already seen the Peak Design Travel Tripod and gotten our hands on it for a short period of time, but after successfully sending out units to its Kickstarter backers, Peak Design is ready to open up orders to the public. At 12am PST on April 7, Peak Design will allow the general public to purchase their latest piece of gear; but that’s not all. Peak Design says 100% of profits from every tripod sold will be split 50/50 to COVID-19 disaster relief and climate change relief funds.
The Travel Tripod launch announcement was originally embargoed for the day of the launch, April 7, but Peak Design Founder and CEO Peter Dering took to YouTube in the above video to explain the decision to launch the tripod at the time they’ve chosen, as well as announce a ‘Weird Times Sale’ that is currently live and sees nearly all Peak Design gear (everything except the Travel Tripod) between 20–40% off to help keep inventory moving during a time when sales have all but ceased.
A breakdown of the discounts for Peak Design’s sale.
Travel Tripod Updates
The Peak Design Travel Tripods were first introduced in May 2019. Over the course of its Kickstarter campaign, the company raised over $ 12.1 million from more than 27k backers. Over the course of production, Peak Design altered a few aspects of the design to refine the initial version to improve the overall experience. Specifically, Peak Design’s revisions include a new hex tool key with leg clip holder, an updated padded, weatherproof carry bag and an ultralight conversion kit that turns the tripod into a more compact tabletop tripod.
Peak Design also opted to use an aluminum center column for its carbon fiber tripod, citing testing its own engineering team came up with as well as insight from tripod testing extraordinaire David Berryrieser of the Center Column. Peak Design says Berryrieser’s testing, ‘revealed a significant improvement in the aluminum center column resisting lateral twist, less vertical slip and higher max load for the counterweight hook […] All this for the price of 16g or 10 paper clips worth of additional weight.’
As previously mentioned, 100% of profits from each Travel Tripod sold from April 7–10 through PeakDesign.com and Peak Design’s retail partners around the world will be distributed to the CDC Foundation and Climate Neutral.
You can find the ‘Weird Times Sale’ on Peak Design’s online shop and authorized Peak Design retailers. Travel Tripod sales should go live at 12am on April 7 if you’re interested in securing one.
The post Helping You the Way We Know Best During These Trying Times appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
Many people are stuck in their homes at the moment. So let’s make the most of it and do some photography! Image by dPS writer, Lily Sawyer
Let’s face it – we’ve all been stressed about the Coronavirus (covid-19).
For many people, they have had to self-isolate (including members of the dPS team). This can be anxiety-inducing and people can also start feeling isolated and down.
So we want to do what we do best. We want to give you all some photography exercises that you can do in and close to home. That way, you’ll get to focus on your creativity, keep the boredom at bay, and, hopefully, feel less stressed with life until this all starts to resolve itself.
How this will work is that each week over the next month (mid-week before our weekly newsletter goes out, starting tomorrow), we will publish a 7-day challenge. In this challenge, we will give you a challenge idea per day that you can do right within your own home or yard. We will also publish more articles on things you can photograph around the home, as well as some post-processing articles.
We care about our community and wish you all the best at this time. Please stay safe and keep in touch with us – whether by commenting on posts or heading over to our FB group where you can chat and share your photos.
Let us know if there is anything else you’d like to see here on dPS that will help you through these times too.
All the best, Caz and the dPS team
The post Helping You the Way We Know Best During These Trying Times appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
Profoto has announced the A1X, an updated version of its A1 speedlight that’s improved in nearly every way.
The A1X isn’t quite a successor to the A1. Instead, it sits alongside the A1 as a more powerful alternative in the event the A1 just isn’t enough for your needs. In the words of Profoto, it has ‘a little more of everything.’
Specifically, the A1X has a more powerful internal battery that gets 450 full power flashes per charge compared to the 350 of the A1. It also features a 1 second recycling time compared to the 1.2 second recycling time of the A1, 20 wireless channels instead of 8 and a new display interface, similar to the one found on Profoto’s B10 light. The A1X is also available for Sony, whereas the A1 was limited to Canon and Nikon camera systems.
Aside from the above differences, the A1X is effectively identical to the A1. It features the signature round head, AirTTL and HSS, a magnetic click-on mount for Profoto’s optional Light Shaping Tools, an LED modeling light, built-in Air Remote capabilities and firmware update functionality. The device can be used both off-camera and on-camera, features flash durations from 1/800th to 1/20,000th and can work at distances up to 300m (1,000ft).
Below is a hands-on video created and shared by Adorama:
The A1X measures in at 75mm x 108mm x 165mm (3.0in x 4.3in x 6.5in) and weighs 560g (1.23lbs) with the included battery. Included with the flash unit is a Li-Ion battery, a USB Type-A to Micro B, a power cable, a battery charger, a flash stand, a dome diffuser, a bounce card and a dedicated bag for protecting the A1X.
The New York Times photo blog Lens will go on a temporary hiatus starting later this month, the publication’s Director of Photography Meaghan Looram announced to staff in a note that has been shared on Facebook. Looram praised the photo blog, saying it ‘set out to showcase work that risked getting lost in the digital blizzard.’ However, Looram notes, ‘Lens was founded during a different era,’ and it seems it is time for the photo blog to evolve.
Looram’s note explains:
‘Lens was founded during a different era. Digital platforms were presenting new challenges to the industry, and Lens provided one of the few dedicated showcases for photography. But since then, the means of consuming photography have changed and expanded. We believe that this is the perfect time to take stock of and celebrate what Lens has achieved and to give serious thought to how to better position Lens for the future.’
The photo blog isn’t ending, but will instead return as an updated offering that better suits present needs. ‘We want Lens to evolve into an unrivalled source for those who want to read about and think about photography,’ Looram said. The team plans to solicit ideas from readers regarding ways to reinvent the brand as ‘a dynamic space to highlight more of the incredible photography that all of you produce on a daily basis.’
Looram concluded her note, stating:
‘There will be time to celebrate Lens and its wonderful run. In the meantime, a final nod to the creators, producers and caretakers of Lens: What an extraordinary thing you created and produced for a decade. You have our deepest admiration and gratitude. Onward.’
Though Lens is temporarily ending, Looram notes that The NYT is still accepting pitches and the annual New York Portfolio Review that Lens helped launch will continue in the blog’s absence.
Residents of a Paris street plagued by Instagrammers, selfie takers and music video crews are asking the city government for a weekend and evening ban to give them some peace.
The number of images on Instagram with the hashtag ‘Rue Crémieux’ has reached over 31,000 and those trying to live in the quaint cobbled street have had enough, according to a report on French website Franceinfo.
Sur un remix dubstep de “Jingle Bells” ?? #paris #ruecremieux pic.twitter.com/r7Fd23bYyB
— Club Crémieux (@clubcremieux) December 28, 2016
Residents have to not only put up with tourists photographing their beautiful street but with parties of dancers filming routines with their pastel colored houses being used as a backdrop and the blaring music that goes with it. Locals have described the situation as ‘hellish’ and are fighting back, forming an association to petition the local government for road closures at the weekend and during evenings so that they can get some peace.
Quand tu tournes ton clip tout seul. ???? #SOSdétresseamitié #ruecrémieux pic.twitter.com/S9BWW68Dc4
— Club Crémieux (@clubcremieux) November 15, 2016
Alternative Instagram and Twitter accounts have been set up to document the ‘S**t people do in rue Cremieux,’ as seen above. The accounts show pictures and videos of dance troupes, fashion shoots, music video crews, endless selfie takers and photographers using the street as though it were a public studio.
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