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Posts Tagged ‘Week’

DJI confirms its drones are prepared for the GPS 2019 week rollover event

22 Mar

DJI has confirmed its drones are prepared for the GPS 2019 week rollover scheduled to take place on April 6. The event may disrupt some GPS receivers, but most manufacturers have confirmed that their systems have been tested ahead of time and are prepared for the rollover.

The GPS 2019 week rollover is an event that will take place due to how the Global Positioning System (GPS) works. Receivers are provided with time information from the GPS system, which uses a 10-bit week counter to count weeks from 0 to 1023. Upon reaching the end of that range, the system reverts back to 0 and starts over.

GPS receivers that aren’t prepared for the rollover may incorrectly report a date of 19.6 years in the past (1024 weeks), resulting in some GPS devices displaying a date of August 22, 1999, starting after the April 6 rollover. The first GPS rollover took place on August 21, 1999.

To avoid this complication, manufacturers must push out software updates to prepare their devices for the change. In a brief statement published on March 20, DJI said that all of its ‘platforms have been thoroughly tested’ and will not be impacted by the GPS rollover. DJI drone owners can continue to use the devices as normal.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photogenic Paris street seeks to ban Instagrammers certain times of the week

21 Mar

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.

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.

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.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Going Back to Basics – My Week With a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens

12 Dec

The post Going Back to Basics – My Week With a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

The demise of my first Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens was an unfortunate one.

First, I dropped it – which is OK.

It happens. Still recoverable, I know.

Until, clumsily, I stood on it too.

And, just to be sure it was finished, what was left of the lens then rolled down a small hill. When I caught up, I scooped it up in my hands, all scratches and broken glass. It was my first, and I was gutted.

Nevertheless, after what seemed like an appropriate period of mourning, I did what any photographer would. I bought something newer, and shinier.

I decided to graduate to a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. From there it was all systems go, zooming in and out of those hard to reach spots and enjoying the freedom that a versatile medium-range workhorse affords. And despite the occasional bashing here and there, its been my go-to lens ever since.

Recently, however, I acquired another Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. Just like my old one, but much less crunched. So I decided to see what going back to a prime lens would be like. Especially after relying so heavily on the reach of the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. Here’s a quick rundown on my week with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II and why a break from your old favorite can be surprisingly beneficial.

Suddenly lighter

The first difference I noticed after clicking the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II into place was the weight, or should I say, the lack thereof? The bulk of the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM was enormous compared to the little ‘plastic fantastic’ (as the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II has come to be known). Photographing with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, I had a lot less neck pain, which meant I could stay out shooting for longer without needing some painkillers.

Ditching the weight of the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM had another benefit too. Without swinging around a heavy lens, I was able to move a lot more freely. I could crouch, jump up and down, do some parkour…

Okay, I’m not that athletic.

However, being able to move allowed me to line up shots with more ease.

A lighter lens meant I could easily sneak my camera under this umbrella for a photograph

Slowing it down

The technical differences between Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II took some getting used to – zoom being one of the most pronounced. Instead of getting closer to a subject in-camera, I needed to reassess what I wanted to achieve. This meant strategically positioning my body to get the shot. Sure, I walk around seeking out subjects to photograph all the time. But, with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, I needed to be just a little more active to get the image I was after.

Sticking with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II got me thinking about the physical and mental elements that come together to create a successful shot. It made me slow down and appreciate the machinations of photography and the tactility of the image-making process.

Lots of light

One of the biggest differences between the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is written in the name of the lenses themselves. It’s aperture. While the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM can manage a valiant F/4, it doesn’t quite cut the mustard compared to the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, opening up to an aperture of f/1.8.

What does this all mean? Basically, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II can allow a lot more light to pass through to the camera’s sensor. That’s a big deal in low lighting conditions. For example, shooting at night with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM may require a much slower shutter speed or higher ISO value to achieve the same exposure the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II can at a faster shutter speed and a lower ISO. This means that the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II can produce much better image quality in low light.

Photographing in darker environments can be challenging. But the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II allowed me to experiment at different times of the day without having to worry about available light. Of course, its a consideration when calculating exposure, but I was a lot less concerned about clogging up my images with insane amounts of noise than I would be with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM in the same conditions.

The f/1.8 aperture of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II allowed me to take this shot with a lot less noise and a faster shutter speed

Extension tubes

Another benefit of the ample aperture of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is its versatility when coupled with a set of extension tubes. Extension tubes physically move your lens away from the focal plane. This makes the minimum focusing distance (the shortest distance at which a lens can focus) smaller, meaning you can get closer to your subject while still maintaining focus. It’s a way to shoot macro photography without an expensive dedicated lens.

However, extension tubes do have their drawbacks. One of them being diminishing the available light in a scene. With the addition of each extension tube, less light is able to reach the camera sensor. This drop in light can be difficult to contend with if you don’t have a tripod and a perfectly still subject. A fast lens like the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is ideal in this situation. Even on a terribly overcast day, I was able to get some nice, sharp shots at a decent shutter speed. It meant that I could hand-hold my camera to take macro shots that may have required a tripod with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM.

Bokeh

One aspect of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens that I was eager to experiment with was its capacity for bokeh. A Japanese word meaning ‘blur’or ‘blurry’, bokeh refers to the quality of the out of focus parts of an image. The term is often used to describe how unfocused bright points in a scene are rendered as disks of light in a photograph.

While all lenses are capable of bokeh effects, zoom lenses tend to smooth a background over rather than shape it. Prime lenses, on the other hand, deliver a more defined disk-like bokeh result. In addition, bokeh requires the lowest possible aperture value to take full effect. This makes the maximum f/1.8 aperture of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II ideal for some sweet bokeh magic.

Seeking out opportunities for bokeh made me re-evaluate my surroundings. I had to quickly develop an eye for points of light that I could use to disperse into globes of color. But with the ease that a small camera lens affords, the little ‘nifty fifty’ produced some really fascinating results with little effort on my part.

Testing bokeh out on a rainy night in the city

Conclusion

There are plenty of other comparisons to explore between the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II and the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. I know, a week isn’t a very long time to truly get accustomed to a new piece of equipment, but challenging myself to a week of prime-lens-only photography was a lot less difficult than I thought it would be.

In fact, it was pretty fun!

Up until now, I’ve been a one-camera-one-lens kinda gal.

But playing around with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II made me think twice about my equipment repertoire. And with the weight and maneuverability of a small mammal, captivating bokeh and such a tight performance in low light conditions, I think I might just add it to the camera bag too. Just in case.

Without stepping on it this time.

 

Do you use the nifty fifty? What are your thoughts?

The post Going Back to Basics – My Week With a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.


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Leaked: GoPro to reveal entry-level ‘HERO’ action cam this week, will cost $200

27 Mar

A major leak earlier today confirmed what rumors have been claiming for over a week: GoPro is preparing to release an entry-level version of its HERO action cam. The new camera—ostensibly just called the GoPro HERO—will feature the same styling as its high-end HERO6 sibling but, thanks to some pared down specs, is allegedly priced between $ 180-$ 200.

According to this leaked PDF courtesy of Nokishita, the GoPro HERO will shoot 1080/60p and 1440/60p video as well as 10MP stills at up to 10fps, can capture timelapse video at 0.5 second intervals, is waterproof to 10m (~33 feet) out of the box, and features a 2-inch touchscreen on the back.

The PDF (which is in French) also specifies that the camera features WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, voice control, and compatibility with GoPro’s one-touch Quik Stories highlight video creation in the GoPro app.

The leak does not cover price or release date; however, Photo Rumors is reporting that the new HERO camera—also seen in the leaked images above—will cost between $ 180 and $ 200, and Nokishita writes that the HERO will be announced on March 30th. If that turns out to be the case, be sure to check in with DPReview this Friday for the official details.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photo story of the week: Flowing under a solar storm

17 Mar
A night of stunning Northern Lights dancing above Haukland Beach, the Lofoten Islands, Arctic Norway, on a moonless evening.

The serene stream that flows from the surrounding mountains and pours into the Norwegian Sea curved into a beautiful shape, paralleling the curves of the Auroral display. Haukland is a very good location for shooting Aurora, since it has numerous interesting features (such as the mountain and the stream), and since any water left stationary frequently freezes over and supplies more variety and interest. It’s also relatively shielded from artificial lights.

This image was taken in the winter of 2016 during my Lofoten workshop. I used a Sony A7R and a Samyang 14mm F2.8 with a Metabones adapter. The photograph was taken at F2.8, ISO 3200, and 8 sec exposure. The high ISO, wide aperture and long exposure were used to counter the darkness and produce a balanced exposure.


Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates. Erez offers photo workshops worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photo story of the week: Locomotion

10 Mar

In November 2013, I was fortunate enough to backpack through Southeast Asia with my partner. We visited some incredible places, met some of the nicest people and experienced many amazing moments along the way, but the place that is most memorable for me would be the quiet town of Hoi An, in Vietnam. It is located on the coast of the East Sea in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam.

The thing that convinced me to travel SE Asia was definitely the change of lifestyle from western society and, of course, their culture. I have always been fascinated by the diversity of different cultural lifestyles. Everywhere you look in Asia, especially around the cities and busy little towns there are photo opportunities waiting to be captured. Sometimes the action is difficult to keep up with when you are standing in the middle the bustling streets with people scattered everywhere. Taking a steady shot is impossible when so much spontaneous movement is going on around you.

This is when the cinematic technique comes into play—namely: panning. This works a treat for some unique and fun images. I spent most days walking the streets with my camera hanging from my shoulder, ready for moments like these to come by, and the majority of my photos from Hoi An were of local people riding their bicycles and scooters through town.

This image is of two young Vietnamese boys riding a bicycle through Central Market. I stopped my aperture down to F16 and shot a low ISO of 50 to eliminate as much ambient light reaching my sensor. This gave me an exposure of 1/4 sec: quick enough to pick up definition in the subject, but slow enough capture motion blur. I locked my auto focus onto the boys as they approached and fired continuously while panning my camera with them as they rode past. I ended up with a dozen shots, but this was my favorite.

The photo was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and Sigma 35mm F1.4 at F16, ISO 50, and 1/4 sec shutter speed.


Drew Hopper is a freelance documentary photographer from NSW, Australia, working on long-term projects whilst exploring the visual literacy of the still image. You can find more of his work on his website, or by following him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Week Photography Challenge – Antiques

10 Mar

This week it’s time to dig out all your old stuff, or get out and look for some antiques. Things that are aged and beautiful – look for old buildings, your old shoes, rotting wood of an old window, antique cars, clocks, books, etc., yes even people. Remember these old things have great value, especially our senior citizens – so photograph them with the respect they deserve.

Textured wall of an old building in Havana, Cuba.

 

If you want to add a few tricks to your images of antiques try these techniques:

  • How to Create an Antique Photo Look Using a Lemon and Layer Masks in Photoshop
  • How to Apply a Texture Overlay to Your Images to Create an Antique Look
  • How to Create a Retro Faded Look Using Lightroom or Photoshop
  • How to Add Vintage Frame Overlays Using Alien Skin Exposure X
  • How to Use Split Toning to Make Your Photos Stand Out

Split toning to make it look like an antique photo.

Antique cars of Havana.

Even try your hand at some light painting as was done here to “turn on” the car’s headlights.

An old typewriter makes a great subject. Simplify your composition for maximum impact.

Weekly Photography Challenge – Antiques

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

The post Week Photography Challenge – Antiques by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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ImageBrief is shutting down, users have one week to save their images

03 Mar

Photo licensing service ImageBrief, which was founded in 2011, is officially shutting down. The news was announced over email, in which ImageBrief notified current users of the close, and told them they have one week to download their images before the site’s servers are wiped.

During its six years in the licensing industry, the company offered customers a different way to get the images they need: rather than searching a pre-defined library, companies could submit on-demand “briefs” detailing the work needed, which photographers responded to in hopes of having their images purchased. This was a big change over how traditional stock photography agencies operate—and one that has been picked up by other companies over time—but the model doesn’t seem to have worked out in the long run.

ImageBrief users were surprised by the closure announcement, which was delivered in the form of an email earlier this week. The statement, which says ImageBrief connected more than 70,000 creators with clients from around the world, fails to provide a reason for the company’s demise. It does, however, advise photographers who participated in project briefs that they must download their account assets within the week, after which point the content will be deleted.

The full email reads:

Today, we’re announcing that after six years of connecting agencies, brands and creators, we will be closing down ImageBrief’s photographer marketing services

We’re proud of the products and apps we built, but even more so, we’re grateful for the community that enabled them to grow. More than 70,000 creators earned millions of dollars collaborating with 12,500+ global agencies and brands in 169 countries.

There has never been a better time for creators to thrive. Demand for content has increased, and the tools to create world-class creative are more accessible than ever.

Our talented team of engineers, designers, developers, and curators have worked tirelessly to make ImageBrief a success in a competitive and rapidly evolving landscape, and our immediate priority is to help you transition to other services to support your business.

In the coming days, our team will be in contact with you directly with detailed information about your specific account, license history, and services. Over the next week, we recommend logging into ImageBrief to download and retain your license history and related assets. […]

We want to thank you for your participation and loyalty, and look forward to working with you in the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.

Sincerely,

Team ImageBrief

As of this morning, all of ImageBrief’s social media pages have been deleted. And the homepage has been pared down into a simple log in page for buyers and photographers, with no mention of the closure.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Top 5 news stories of the week on DPReview

16 Dec

Top 5 Photography News Stories of the Week

The world of photography news moves fast, with tens of interesting, tragic, educational, and inspirational stories breaking sometimes daily. To help parse through the noise and focus on the signal, each week, we’re going to recap the 5 top photography news stories from the previous seven days.

This week, the tragic story of a young photographer’s death was the most popular—and controversial—of the news stories we covered on DPReview. This was followed by a shocking story of a musician kicking a photographer in the face, an inspirational round up of the best Nature photos of 2017 and, finally, a pricey announcement from Apple and a Leica sensor test rounded out our list.

Scroll through the slideshow for a quick recap of each story, and then follow any of the big blue buttons to dive deeper.

Famed Chinese rooftopper falls to his death from 62-story skyscraper

In November, 26-year-old Chinese rooftopper Wu Yongning fell to his death from atop the 62-story Huayuan Hua Centre skyscraper when a photo stunt for an unnamed sponsor went horribly wrong. The story—and a video of his fall—only came to light this week, shining a tragic light on the dangerous lengths some photographers will go to for an exciting shot.

Read the Full Story


Photo: Weibo

Musician kicks photographer in the face during rock concert, sending her to the ER

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme found himself the subject of heated criticism and disgust this week, after a video and photos seem to show him purposely kicking photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face during a performance.

His apologies—first over Twitter, and later over Instagram video— have not gone over well.

Read the Full Story


Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video

These are the winners of National Geographic’s Nature Photographer of the Year 2017

Moving from tragedy and anger to inspiration, National Geographic revealed the winners of its annual Nature Photographer of the Year contest. And as you might have expected, every shot from the Grand Prize winner down to the Honorable Mentions and People’s Choice awards were fantastic.

The Grand Prize went to photographer Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan of Singapore, who beat out 11,000 other entries with his intense wildlife portrait of an orangutan crossing a river in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park.

Read the Full Story


Photos courtesy of National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2017

A fully loaded iMac Pro will cost you $ 13,200

On December 14th, Apple finally put the “most powerful Mac ever,” its new iMac Pro, up for sale. And now that the powerhouse of an all-in-one is live on the Apple Store online, we were able to check how much a fully loaded version would cost you.

No surprise here: an 18-core iMac Pro with 128GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD and Radeon Pro Vega 64 graphics card costs about as much as a modest sedan!

Read the Full Story


Photo: Apple

DxOMark: The full-frame Leica M10 is ‘on par’ with the best APS-C sensors

DxOMark finished their review of the Leica M10 sensor this week, giving the sensor an overall score of 86.

The Good News: this means that the sensor inside the M10 outperforms almost every other digital Leica ever made, coming in second only to the Leica SL with its overall score of 88.

The Bad News: the expensive camera still falls significantly short of the top-of-the-line full-frame sensors out there, performing “more on par” with the best APS-C sensors DxOMark has tested.

Read the Full Story


Photo: DPReview hands-on photo by Barney Britton

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photo story of the week: The Milky Way over the Dolomites

02 Dec
Gazing at the Milky Way over Tre Cime in the Dolomites

I have wanted to visit these mountains for a very long time. The incredible shapes and formations found in the Dolomites are like something out of a fairytale.

The hike up to Tre Cime was absolutely gorgeous and the location is really accessible. On this night, hiking under the stars wth my girlfriend Serena, who is also a landscape photographer, barely felt like reality… okay, I suppose once the wind picked up, it started to feel a bit real again.

Once we got up there, we walked around a little bit to check out different views and angles. The night was particularly chilly and we weren’t prepared for it. We hunkered down by some rocks and halfway through the night, noticed an incredible flash of light that lit up the sky for a few seconds. It was one of the brightest shooting stars that I’ve ever seen in my life. The whole evening just felt really magical.

I used the Sony A7S with Canon 16-35 for this Panorama image, the wide perspective was created by 8 vertical images, stitched together. The orange glow on the horizon is light bouncing off nearby towns and creating light pollution.

The photograph was processed and color corrected using both Lightroom and Photoshop.


Michael Shainblum is is a landscape, timelapse and aerial photographer based in San Francisco, California. He has been working professionally as a photographer and filmmaker for 11 years since the age of 16.

To see more of his work, visit his website or give him a follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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