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Luminar Neo to Offer Advanced AI Photo Editing (and Debut This Winter)

17 Sep

The post Luminar Neo to Offer Advanced AI Photo Editing (and Debut This Winter) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Skylum has announced yet another eye-catching photo-editing program, Luminar Neo, billing the software as “a creative image editor driven by AI technologies of the future.”

As the company behind Luminar 4 and Luminar AI – programs that debuted innovative, AI-based tools such as AI Sky Replacement and Composition AI – Skylum is no stranger to success in the AI photo editing market. And Luminar Neo aims to improve upon the Skylum formula, offering amateur photographers an AI route to pro-level edits, along with higher-level control for advanced shooters.

Yet Luminar Neo isn’t a simple Luminar AI iteration. According to Skylum, Luminar Neo “is a quintessence of all [the company’s] applications released to date,” and “will retain almost all of Luminar AI’s features” but add “all-new, cutting-edge, AI-powered tools.”

For current Luminar AI users wondering whether it makes sense to upgrade, Skylum spells out the difference between Luminar AI and Luminar Neo:

“Luminar AI is the easiest-to-use image editor fully powered by artificial intelligence for those who prefer a time-saving, Template-driven workflow for quick results…Luminar Neo is for those who want more editing options and more creative control.”

In other words, while anyone – including complete beginners – will feel at home in Luminar AI, the new Luminar Neo pushes in the direction of programs like Luminar 4 and Adobe Lightroom Classic, both offering a slew of tools for enthusiasts and pros alike.

Skylum has already teased a handful of new Luminar Neo tools, including a powerful photo relighting option, intelligent background switching, sensor dust removal, power line removal, and some form of AI masking, but we’ll have to wait to learn precisely how these features work and who they’re for.

Luminar Neo has no release date – the promotional materials merely claim a “winter” launch – though you can expect an announcement sometime in the next few months. An early December release would make sense, given the upcoming holiday season. And if you know you want Luminar Neo, you can preorder a one-time license for $ 54 USD.

So who should think about buying Luminar Neo? The new program should suit serious hobbyists all the way up through advanced amateurs (and potentially even pros). If you like the idea of creative AI effects but still want to be in control, Neo is likely a better pick than Luminar AI. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an ultra-easy, no-effort-necessary editor, Luminar AI is the better option.

Now over to you:

What do you think of Luminar Neo? Will you purchase it? Does it sound good? Bad? Are you disappointed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Luminar Neo to Offer Advanced AI Photo Editing (and Debut This Winter) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Olympus to ship 150-400mm F4.5 this winter, adds 8-25mm F4 Pro to lens roadmap

02 Jul

Olympus has released a little more detail about its upcoming 150-400mm F4.5 with built-in 1.25x teleconverter. The lens’ development was first announced in January 2019, and Olympus says it will arrive on the market in winter of 2020. A couple of images of the final lens have also been shared.

Additionally, two more M.Zuiko Pro lenses have been added to the roadmap: an ED 8-25mm F4 Pro and an ‘unspecified’ macro lens which appears around the 100mm equiv., focal length on the chart.

OM-D E-M1X owners can also look forward to a firmware update in winter 2020 adding bird detection to the camera’s Intelligent Subject Tracking Autofocus.

Press release:

OLYMPUS UNVEILS UPDATED M.ZUIKO® DIGITAL LENS ROADMAP

Provides Updates on the Development of the M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400 F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO Lens and Announces the Development of Firmware to Support Bird Subject Detection Autofocus for the OM-D® E-M1X

Center Valley, PA, July 2, 2020 – Olympus is pleased to announce an updated M.Zuiko Digital lens roadmap, outlining plans to expand the M.Zuiko lens lineup and including an update of anticipated availability of the previously announced M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO super telephoto zoom lens with built-in 1.25x teleconverter.

The upcoming M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO lens, for which development was announced in January 2019, continues with an estimated scheduled release of winter 2020. This is the first Olympus® interchangeable lens with a built-in 1.25x teleconverter, extending the maximum focal length to 1000mm1 (35mm equivalent). Final images of the lens are now available.

Two new lenses, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 PRO lens, as well as an unspecified macro lens, will join the M.Zuiko lineup as part of Olympus’ commitment to broaden the field of photographic expression. Olympus will continue enhancing its lens lineup to maximize the unrivaled system portability made possible by the compact, lightweight, high image quality of the Micro Four Thirds® System.

Furthermore, to make super telephoto shooting more convenient and to fulfill the growing needs of birding and wildlife photographers, development is underway to newly add Bird Detection capability to Olympus’ Intelligent Subject Detection Autofocus on the OM-D E-M1X camera. This new feature will be available for the E-M1X via a firmware update that is scheduled for release in Winter 2020.

1 When using the built-in teleconverter. Widest aperture setting is F5.6.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Winter Stand Up Paddling on Horsetooth Reservoir

20 Feb

I love paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir in cold season. Boat ramps are closed, no power boat traffic, usually quiet and calm. Snow and ice can enhance scenery. A great time to paddle, train, relax or photograph. The Horsetooth stays […]
paddling with a camera

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How to Photograph Beautiful Winter Snowdrops (or Other Flowers)

18 Feb

The post How to Photograph Beautiful Winter Snowdrops (or Other Flowers) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

Every year the forests and parks gain a touch of magic as the winter snowdrops emerge. For just a fleeting few weeks, their delicate flowers form beautiful white carpets that seem to flow in the weak winter sun. But sometimes, when we go out to photograph them, the results can be a little lackluster.

It seems like it shouldn’t be hard to take a great snowdrop photo, and yet many photographers really struggle to capture their beauty. Here are some of my top tips when it comes to the art of photographing these tiny flowers. Don’t forget your macro lens or close-up filters to get the best shots.

Get down low

When the flower you’re photographing doesn’t stand taller than the top of your boots, you’re going to have to get yourself and your camera down close to the floor for a worm’s eye view. For this reason, I always keep a couple of carrier bags in my camera gear. The alternative is wet knees and elbows, so I recommend you do the same!

ISO100, 35mm (50mm equiv.), f2.8, 1/550th sec

You can either rest the camera on the floor or use a very small tripod. Alternatively, some full-size tripods can invert, allowing you to get the camera down close to the ground.

Once you’ve got your camera down low, you can either use the screen to compose or the camera’s phone app (if it has one). I’d also suggest using manual focus for these kinds of shots; otherwise, you might find that your camera’s auto-focus locks on to errant blades of grass rather than the winter snowdrops themselves.

Choose interesting light

It’s hard to guarantee interesting light if you’re going out on location, but there are a few things that you can do to help swing the odds in your favor.

Heading out to your preferred winter snowdrops patch either first thing in the morning or during sunset can give you a better chance of having more interesting light. In the morning, you will also get the beautiful dew that makes specular highlights in the out of focus areas, adding extra magic to your photos (but you could also add “dew” with a spray bottle – I won’t tell anyone).

Left: ISO100, 35mm (50mm equiv.), f2.8, 1/320th sec. Right: ISO200, 35mm (50mm equiv.), f2.8, 1/4000th sec

Look for an opportunity to backlight the flowers with the sun. The light coming from behind can really highlight the thin white petals. You might want to add a small reflector or a pop of fill-flash to the front of the flower if you try this approach.

Of course, if you plan ahead, you could also grow winter snowdrops in a pot at home. That way, you can take them indoors when they start to bloom and spend as long as you like experimenting with different kinds of lighting!

Think about the depth of field

Your aperture choice can really make or break your snowdrop photo. Because it sets how much of your image is in focus, it’s the camera setting that requires the most thought for flower photos.

Deciding if you want a wide depth of field, or to focus on just one small part of the scene, is the choice that is going to make the biggest visual statement. It’s also one that you can’t reverse after the shot.

Both approaches have merit, and if you’re in any doubt, try shooting at a variety of aperture settings and choosing later.

My favorite way to shoot small flowers is with a shallow depth of field. This helps the viewer focus on just the subject without the background becoming distracting.

The image on the left was shot at f2, while the image on the right was shot at f8. Both were shot at ISO200, on a 35mm (50mm equiv.), lens.

A shallow depth of field also allows a single snowdrop to stand in isolation in your photograph, showing off its beauty. This approach can be especially good if the snowdrop is an unusual variety – some types of snowdrops can cost a huge amount per plant!

But if you’re trying to capture the vastness of a white carpet of snowdrops, then a larger depth of field can be more effective. That way, you can show the beauty of the mass of flowers without them all blending into one.

Post-process creatively

Many photographers shoot winter snowdrops every year, and a lot of images make it online. It’s easy to get lost amongst the crowd when it comes to photographs of snowdrops. Post-processing your images creatively can be both a good way to learn more about your software, as well as a chance to produce something truly unique.

ISO100, 35mm (50mm equiv.), f1.4, 1/1250th sec

You could go for post-processing that is as simple as a basic color grading. Emulating one of the different kinds of old film stocks might be a good place to start. Don’t forget to consider photographing with a black and white conversion in mind too – the white flowers really pop off a green grass background when you go black and white!

If you’re feeling adventurous, you could try adding textures to the image, or even following my method for layering multiple photographs in Adobe Photoshop.

There are no rules in flower photography, so let your imagination run wild when it comes to creative post-processing.

Try something abstract

These perfect clumps of little white flowers give you a great opportunity to try out something a little more experimental and off-beat. If you’ve not tried shooting abstract images before, just remember to approach the process with an open mind and try not to get hung up on what other people might think.

You could start off by trying an unconventional angle or using a tine depth of field to focus on just one part of the flower. Use the colors of the petals and the lines of the stems to create strong compositions where the subject itself is of secondary importance.

Both: ISO100, 35mm (50mm equiv.), f16, 1/4th sec

Alternatively, how about trying out some ICM – intentional camera movement?

Set a long shutter speed (I usually start around 1/4 sec) and give the camera a wiggle while the shutter is open. You may find that you need to use a very small aperture or add a neutral density filter to your lens to allow for the long shutter speed without overexposing the image.

The technique is gaining popularity amongst many abstract photographers, and everyone has their preferred wiggle method!

When it comes to this kind of image-making, the key is to approach it with no expectations and not to be disappointed if you don’t get amazing results the first time.

As always, practice does make perfect, and it takes more than one attempt to create a masterpiece!

Take your camera for a walk and shoot

As always, the most important thing is to get shooting and start somewhere. You’ve only got a limited window of opportunity to photograph the snowdrops, so make the most of it while they’re in full bloom.

ISO100, 35mm (50mm equiv.), f2.5, 1/480th sec

The easiest way to find displays of snowdrops will be to follow the social media pages of country houses or landscaped gardens near you. They often use their social media pages to notify subscribers of whatever seasonal flowers are at their best.

You could also ask on local photography groups if anyone has an idea for other hotspots to find snowdrops – they often crop up in woodlands and parks that have been around a long time.

Don’t forget that these ideas can apply to plenty of other kinds of flowers too. But you might find that none are quite such showstoppers as the delicate little winter snowdrops.

So, go out and shoot some winter snowdrops and share them with us in the comments below!

The post How to Photograph Beautiful Winter Snowdrops (or Other Flowers) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

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Fun winter photo projects for the long, dark days of winter

22 Dec

With the nights and mornings pretty close together for the next few months, and the sun taking some time out to recoup, many photographers head indoors to escape the dark and the rain. Plenty of us are tempted to hang up our cameras until the Spring, with a brief interlude should a decent amount of snow make an appearance.

Don’t be one of those photographers.

Just because bright light and blue skies are a rarer occurrence in the winter months doesn’t mean we have to stop taking pictures. There’s still plenty you can do, provided you’re prepared to use some imagination. Here are a few ideas to keep you shooting until the better weather returns.

Still life

I used a gold sheet of card from a craft store to send a little warmth back into the subject from the left hand side. The diffused flash was positioned on the right, and contrasting the white light from the flash with the gold light from the reflector emphasizes the warm effect

A good mastery of still life photography should help improve your photography across the board, and the winter months are a very good time to get some practice in. Working with a few objects on the table top with just a single light and a reflector is an ideal way to teach yourself more about lighting, exposure and composition.

If you are new to this area I suggest starting with just an orange and a table lamp, moving the lamp around the orange to see how the direction of the light changes the way the orange looks. Once you’ve done that and looked carefully at the way highlights and shadows control the sense of three dimensions in the image you can move on to everyday objects laying around the house.

Keep things simple by using just one or two objects in your scene, and try lighting with just one source and a couple of reflectors to moderate the shadows.

Here I used a single LED panel at the top of the frame, and a couple of mirror tiles to the left and right of the handle to throw some light back in the opposite direction. A wide aperture created a shallow depth-of-field to draw the eye diagonally up the handle to the point of focus.

The blueberry doesn’t need to be sharp for us to know it is a blueberry, and it is used as a counterweight to the main area of interest

Knives, forks and spoons offer interesting shapes and compositional challenges, and natural objects saved from the autumn, like nuts or dried leaves, give you the chance to bring nature into your work. The supermarket is also filled with interesting fruit and vegetables, and home stores and hardware stores stock nice cups, glasses and industrial looking bolts, screws, springs and fascinating sheets of metal/plastic/wood that will make interesting backgrounds.

One of the nice things about still life is that you can take your time and there is usually no rush, so you can look really carefully, try things out and try again when it doesn’t work the first time.

Tips:

Work slowly and really look at the effect of the light on your subject
Use silver, gold, white and black cards to bounce/block light
When used as a reflector, mirrors throw back so much light they can save you having to buy a second flash

Macro

Planning ahead for your winter shooting can involve collecting interesting items from the garden during the Fall. If you didn’t manage to do that don’t worry as your local florist will almost certainly thought of it. Here a little light either side is used to demonstrate the three-dimensional qualities of the seed head and the stem, and to lift it from the black-cloth background. I used a pair of hotshoe flash units fired through mini-softboxes attached to an adapter ring

An extension of still life, macro photography will test your ability to see details and to look more closely than usual. Successful macro photography is all about finding hidden textures, patterns and features of everyday objects as well as capturing tiny plants and animals that might otherwise escape our attention.

Macro does require at least some specialist equipment, whether that’s a reversal ring, a coupling ring to mount one lens backwards on another or an actual dedicated macro lens. Using a lens designed for macro will make your life a lot easier and will deliver the best quality without too much effort, but high-quality macro lenses can be costly.

Extension tubes are very affordable, and can be added to a standard lens to help you get a little, or a lot, closer, and a micro adjustment platform for your tripod head can help when it comes to getting accurate focus in the closeup range without having to move the tripod.

Lights don’t need to be expensive. This was lit with a small pocket flashlight positioned to make these pasta shells glow in the dark. A sheet of white paper under the lens was enough to throw a touch of light back to reveal some of the details of side of the shells closest to the camera

Cable and remote release devices will help to avoid camera shake with dramatic magnifications and tethering software will allow a bigger preview to ensure anything is perfect before you trip the shutter. How about using the long winter months to teach yourself focus stacking so you can control exactly what is and isn’t sharp in your images?

Tips:

Having a dedicated macro lens will make your life easier
Use a tripod or support, don’t think you can do this handheld
Be aware that depth-of-field is tiny in macro work, so add lots of light if you need small apertures

Window portraits

Late afternoon light on a winter’s day softly passing through a bay window was all that was needed for this portrait. I kept the sitter well back from the window to produce nice soft contrast but still retaining enough to show the shape of her head and features. Using the white balance in Daylight mode shows the coolness of the light and lets us know this is a winter image

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is actually – daylight gliding through a north-facing window will always provide some of the best kind of lighting for natural-looking portraiture. On rainy and overcast days the light levels might be lower but that light will also be softer and more flattering.

Position your subject close to the window if you want more contrast and further away for less, and try turning them 3/4 against the light to get a more dramatic effect. Using a black card on the unlit side of the face can help to deepen shadows if there’s more light than you want bouncing around the room. A net curtain or sheet of thin paper across the window can diffuse the daylight on a sunny day or when you only have south-facing windows to play with.

Positioning the subjects directly in front of a sunny window gives them this stark and very direct frontal lighting. I stood with my back to the window and pulled the shutters across to create the stripes on the groom’s jacket. The light on his face is reflected from the white top-side of the shutters.

As he is close to the window the light drops off quite quickly, leaving his friends visible but much darker. This helps to express who is the most important player in the scene, and who are the secondary elements.

Extra diffusion will also cut down the light making it easier to achieve a wide aperture if you want shallow depth-of-field.

Try experimenting with white balance too, so you can create a warm or cool effect whatever the conditions outside.

Tips:

Try the sitter at different distances from the window to vary contrast
Move your sitter between each end of the window to alter how the light wraps around their face
Use net curtains, bubble wrap or paper to diffuse the light even more

Home studio

Using quite a small soft light creates strong direction but avoids razor-sharp edges to the shadows. The small light also allows a rapid fall off, so the subject’s head is lit more brightly than her body, and positioning the light just slightly behind illuminates the front of her face while leaving the side closest to the camera dark – drawing attention to her closed eyes. A small direct light from behind her lifts her shoulders from the background and helps to create a sense of depth in the picture.

Opera singer Golda Schultz for the BBC Proms Magazine

When there’s not too much natural light coming through the windows, or we need more for smaller apertures and lower ISO settings, it’s a good time to think about alternative light sources. Domestic lights can be very useful for lighting in a home studio but they don’t always deliver enough power, so sometimes we need to look at flash.

There have never been so many flash units available for photographers so we have plenty of choice. Big studio monoblock type studio flash offer the advantage of power and a modeling bulb so we can see what we are doing, but they can feel expensive for the enthusiast. A useful alternative is to use one of the host of hotshoe flash units that are available – either from the manufacturer of your camera or from one of the many independent brands that have sprung up over the last ten or so years.

This is the set-up for the shot above. You can see that I believe in keeping things simple. The lights are Rotolight Annova Pro on the left and the Neo2 on the right. I used a Veydra Mini Prime 35mm T2.2 cinema lens – for a softer feel – on the Panasonic Lumix DC-G9

Modern hotshoe flash units are remarkably powerful, flexible and easy to use, and with auto and TTL modes they can be set to do all the work for you. In manual mode they offer more straight forward options and with wireless control becoming the norm you don’t have to leave the camera position to make your changes – or to check the results of any adjustments you’ve made.

What makes hotshoe style flash units so useful now is the mass of accessories and modifiers that can transform their light to be indistinguishable from that of a professional studio flash. I use adapter clamps so that my flash units can fit inside the softboxes, dishes and snoots that I use with my main studio units, and enjoy the convenience, the shorter set-up time and that they fix in smaller spaces.

Tips:

Keep the flash/light source away from the camera for a more three-dimensional effect
Bounce light from a white wall/ceiling to create a larger/softer light
Use an adapter that allows you to use soft-boxes and accessories with your flash head for a wider range of lighting looks

Summing up

I’d find it easier to hold my breath all winter than to keep my lens cap on between the end of November and the middle of February. In fact, shooting in the winter months is exactly as exciting as shooting when the sun shines all day, we just have to think differently and to create shooting situations rather than relying on nature to do it all for us. Indoors we can still enjoy the wonders of natural light but just through a window, and when there’s black clouds we can use normal domestic lights or a pop of flash to do the same thing.

All that’s required for winter shooting indoors is a little imagination and sometimes a tripod to support those longer shutter speeds. So take a look around your home to see what/who you can aim your camera at, and perhaps take a trip to a florist/hardware store or secondhand shop to see what treasures you can find. The cold weather and shorter days are no excuse – keep on shooting and keep those creative juices flowing until Spring.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Important Things to Consider When Photographing Winter Scenes

08 Dec

The post Important Things to Consider When Photographing Winter Scenes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

Winter is a great season for photography and a magical time of year to be outdoors. Photographing winter scenes can be an exciting opportunity to capture some unique and wonderful images, particularly when a familiar scene is covered in a blanket of snow and takes on an entirely different perspective. Here are some considerations on how to photograph winter scenes:

1. Make the most of winter’s longer dusks and dawns

In spite of the colder temperatures, one of the joys of winter is that the sun tends to linger longer at dusk and dawn. It also remains lower in the sky throughout the day, providing great light.

If you can brave the elements and venture outside to capture these magical moments during the winter, you are more likely to have a productive shoot and be rewarded for your efforts. One advantage of photographing at dusk and dawn in the winter is that sunrise is much later than in the summer, and sunset is earlier.

Winter landscape, Oxfordshire

2. Find contrast

When photographing winter scenes such as snow, there are usually displays of strong contrast between subjects and colors that can make for striking images. For example, the whiteness of snow stands out really well against the darkness of a tree silhouette and combines beautifully with a colorful sun.

Alternatively, warm winter skies work really well with the cooler tones of snow. Look to find and photograph these types of contrast in your images, and the results will be more visually stunning.

Oxfordshire, England

3. Shoot bright and colorful scenes

Make the most of the winter light and shoot brightly-lit scenes. The bright white snow adds a certain beauty to a winter scene and can make a dull subject more interesting. A great time to shoot colorful winter scenes is when the sun is shining.

Yosemite, USA

Seek out colorful vistas that may include an animal, a tree, people, a house, a building, or even a snowman. Capture their warm colors in the glowing light. You may find you will need to overexpose a touch if your pictures are coming out slightly dark to make your images slightly lighter.

Iceland

4. Bring plenty of batteries

Batteries tend to lose power and run out faster in colder weather, especially when photographing winter scenes.

Be sure to fully charge them before you set off to maximize your shooting time and keep spares in a warm place, such as an inner pocket.

5. Keep warm

One of the most important challenges with photographing winter scenes is keeping warm. It is amazing how quickly your body temperature can fall when standing still photographing in the cold.

Wear layers to keep the heat in (thermal and wool base layers work really well). Wrap up warm with gloves and a hat and consider hand (heat) warmers. These are great for heating your hands after they have exposed them to the elements, especially if you have to remove your gloves to navigate the camera buttons when taking photos.

There are winter gloves designed specifically for photographers. The thumb and forefinger flip back so you can keep your hands warm while photographing. Consider investing in a pair if you will be in snow and cold a lot.

Also, bring snacks and water to stay energized and hydrated.

6. How to photograph snow:

Snow brightens the landscape and makes everything outdoors look amazing. However, photographing snow does come with its challenges. Here are some useful tips worth considering when photographing snow:

Setting White Balance to “Cloudy White Balance” or setting your Kelvins to the warmer spectrum will help to make up for the bluish-tinge snow gets. This is particularly evident on overcast or cloudy days when you may get a blue cast to the snow in your images.

Iceland

Overexpose when shooting snow so that the snow is white rather than “grey”.

Snow can trick your camera meter into underexposing when using your camera’s automatic metering system.

In order to achieve the correct exposure, you will need to compensate for this by adding positive exposure compensation (overexposure) of 1 to 2 stops. The raised exposure value (EV) will help the snow to appear whiter rather than a dull grey. Then your images will be more accurate and a better representation of the snow-covered scene that you see as a result of this.

This applies whether you are capturing falling snow or after it has settled on the ground.

Also, consider using a polarizer filter – this can cut glare and reflections off the snow when it is sunny. It can also help you to see through streams of water better because it cuts through the reflections on top of the water.

Yellowstone, USA

Conclusion

Winter can be a brilliant season for photography, whether you are capturing photos close to home or at more distant exotic locations. Don’t be deterred by the challenges faced when photographing winter scenes. Get out there and have some fun with your camera this winter, and use these tips to capture some great photos you can be proud of.

Share your winter images with us below and any further tips you may have.

The post Important Things to Consider When Photographing Winter Scenes appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

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Our recommendations: essential gear for your winter photo adventures

01 Dec

Winter travel gear for photographers

Whether you’re photographing wildlife at Yellowstone or your kids sledding at the neighborhood park, winter presents a lot of great photo opportunities. However, winter also has its own challenges due to the short days, cold weather and – in places like Seattle – a fair bit of rain. On the next few slides, we’ll take a look at some important gear to consider as you head out for your winter photography adventures.

Gloves

This one should be pretty obvious. If you’re shooting in very cold weather – especially when handing metal lenses or other gear – you’ll want to keep your hands warm. Otherwise, your camera will be about as useful as a brick in your numb, unresponsive fingers. Typical gloves are usually a poor match for photography as they limit dexterity, but there are some good options for photographers.

Look for gloves or mittens that fold back to expose your fingertips. These facilitate short periods of exposure to the cold without having to remove your gloves completely, and you can uncover just one or two fingers while keeping the rest of your hands insulated. Great options include gloves from Vallerret (pictured), Freehands and The Heat Company.

Sometimes, a pair of lightweight or liner gloves are all you’ll need, but not all liners are created equal. Look for gloves designed to work with a capacitive touchscreen, which will allow you to use your camera’s touch controls as well as other electronic devices like a smartphone. We like RucPac’s professional tech gloves, but there are probably lots of options at your local outdoor store as well.

Hand warmers

Hand warmers are obviously designed to do a good job of warming your hands, but they’re good for other things as well. For example, I find them effective at keeping the non-photographer who’s stuck outside with me a bit more patient while I get that one last shot before heading inside (yeah, right…). Of course, hot chocolate liberally spiked with Bailey’s Irish cream seems to help as well, but your mileage may vary.

One of my favorite tricks is to gaff tape a hand warmer to the barrel of a lens. This can be useful when shooting in an environment where you’re at risk of dew or frost forming on the front lens element as the temperature drops. I’ve used this technique when photographing time-lapse sequences of the night sky or the aurora borealis. Sometimes, just a bit of warmth is all you need to avoid a ruined sequence.

Chemical hand warmers like those from HotHands (pictured) can be found everywhere from your favorite online outlet to the local hardware store. If you cringe at using disposable hand warmers, check out HotSnapZ reusable hand warmers, the EnergyFlux Enduro rechargeable warmer from Human Creations or the Zippo Hand Warmer which heats catalytically to produce flame-free heat.

Camera cover

Many cameras today include weather sealing to keep out the elements. However, the fact that you’ve got weather sealed equipment that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to get your camera soaking wet, despite all those manufacturer videos showing cameras getting sprayed by a garden hose.

Camera rain covers have been around for a long time, and while they may not be quite as necessary as they used to be, it’s still nice to have one when shooting in a complete downpour. You can find a variety of commercial models from companies like Think Tank Photo and Ruggard (pictured). There are lot of great DIY hacks as well – a hotel shower cap or plastic shopping bag with a few rubber bands can work miracles. It’s good to have one of these stashed somewhere if you’re shooting in a rainy place. You know, like Seattle.

Tripod leg wraps

Other than a camera and lens, one of the largest, coldest objects many of us carry around in the winter is a tripod. If you’ve ever used a tripod with bare hands in really cold weather, particularly and aluminum model, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Of course, one solution is to use gloves. But there’s another solution as well: leg wraps. (For your tripod’s legs – not yours. That said, I make no judgements about fashion.)

Some tripods come factory equipped with leg wraps. However, if your tripod arrived, ummm… naked, a set of LegCoats (pictured) from LensCoat.com will run you about $ 50. Your hands will appreciate them.

Extra batteries

Cameras operate pretty well in cold weather, but even the best can be susceptible to power loss from cold batteries. In fact, with more photographers moving to mirrorless cameras our dependence on batteries is arguably greater than it was with DSLRs.

To keep shooting in the coldest conditions, consider some cold weather best practices for your batteries. Keep reserve batteries in your pocket so they stay warm rather than going into a deep freeze in your bag. When removing a battery that’s been in the camera for a while, consider putting it back in your pocket (a different one) for a few minutes to warm it up a bit. You may discover it has a fair amount of power left once it’s back to a normal temperature.

Finally, if you’ve recently switched from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera, consider picking up a couple extra batteries before a big winter trip. Some newer models get impressive battery life, but they still require more power than most DSLRs.

Night sky apps

Winter brings with it short days and long nights. Why not take advantage of it by doing some night sky photography? When planning night shots, it helps to know things such as in what direction the Milky Way will rise, what time it will be visible, or even just the phase of the moon. There are a lot of apps to help you with this; I recommend Sky Guide for iOS (pictured) or Star Walk 2 for Android.

If you live far enough north to see the aurora borealis (the northern lights), consider downloading an app like Aurora Forecast Pro (iOS, Android) which can alert you when conditions are such that you might be able to see the aurora from your location. All it takes is a burst of solar activity for the aurora to be visible at lower than usual latitudes, including northern areas of the continental US.

Zip-lock bags

Zip-lock bags are a great all-around utility. If it’s wet outside, they keep gear dry. If your gear gets wet you can put it inside a bag with a desiccant to dry it out. A large zip-lock can even be adapted to serve as a rain cover for your camera.

However, one of the best winter uses for zip-lock bags is transferring equipment between cold and warm environments. If you’ve been out shooting in frosty temperatures and walk into a warm building with any humidity, you may find water vapor condensing on your equipment. Instead, seal your gear inside a zip-lock bag before going inside and let it equilibrate to room temperature for at least 30 minutes. This makes it less likely that you’ll need the next item on our list.

Oh, right. Don’t use the same bag that you used for pasta sauce. I always forget that part.

Silica desiccant beads

When camera gear gets wet on the outside we usually dry it off and keep going. However, if you make the mistake of getting moisture inside your gear, as may happen when you walk from a cold to a warm environment, you’ll need something other than a towel or microfiber cloth to get rid of the moisture.

When that happens – assuming you didn’t actually drop your whole camera into an ice-covered pond – silica gel beads, which acts as a desiccant, come to the rescue. Put the gear, along with a bunch of beads, into a zip-lock bag and seal it up. It may take some time, but eventually your gear will dry out. Silica beads can be purchased in bulk or in packets. In a pinch and don’t have silica beads? Use instant white rice instead.

Silica gel beads can often be found at hardware stores, but if you have trouble finding them locally there are lots of options on Amazon.

Headlamp

While not – strictly speaking – photography equipment, a headlamp can be one of the most useful accessories when the short winter days get dark. Since most cameras don’t have illuminated buttons a headlamp is a great way to see them, along with your other gear, without giving up one hand to hold a flashlight. Consider a model that includes a red light to better preserve your night vision while working.

A headlamp should probably be part of your winter kit anyway, just in case you get stuck somewhere after dark; I keep one in my pack at all times. If you’re not sure where to start check out options from companies like Petzl, Black Diamond, Princeton Tec or NiteCore (a company that, oddly enough, recently announced plans to manufacture full frame cinema lenses).

Personal locator beacon

This one applies to people whose winter photography takes them into the backcountry, away from roads, or anywhere else that might be inaccessible or cut off from mobile phone service. If you’re that kind of person and you don’t want to become the next Aron Ralston, it’s a good idea to carry a personal locator beacon (PLB) like the SPOT Satellite Messenger or Garmin InReach. With many PLBs it’s now possible to communicate with someone remotely, and in a real emergency they can be used to set off a search and rescue by local authorities. It’s like insurance – you hope you don’t need it, but if you do you’re glad to have it.

Umbrella

Finally, it’s not frozen everywhere in winter. In some places – Seattle comes to mind – it basically means a lot of rain, which is why our sample galleries often look grey enough to be mistaken for Log video footage this time of year. One simple technique to keeping rain off your camera and lens is to go old school and use an umbrella. “But, wait!” I hear you say, “I need both hands to use my camera.” I like to secure an umbrella to my pack so it just hovers above me. I’m sure it works better with some packs than others, so your mileage may vary on this one.

Hopefully, I don’t need to tell you where to buy an umbrella, but before you do that let me suggest acquiring a used umbrella instead. Go to the Lost and Found desk at just about any large venue or destination and tell them you lost a black umbrella. Chances are good they’ll bring out a box with a couple dozen to choose from. As you drive away in your 8-passenger SUV you’ll have the joy of knowing that in some small way you’re helping to save the planet.

Alternatively, you could just get the Nubrella (pictured).

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Do you need a hot tea for your winter paddling?

09 Dec

Perhaps you don’t need a hot tea for winter paddling, but if you make a longer photo session in the middle of your work, it’s a different story. Landscape photography requires standing in one place and waiting for light. Of […]
paddling with a camera

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How to Take Better Winter Landscape Photos

01 Nov

Winter is personally my least favorite time of year – it’s cold, it’s depressing, there’s barely any sun out. But one thing that even I have to admit is that winter landscapes make for positively fantastic photographs – if you know how to approach them. There are a couple of issues that even amateur photographers will notice when they take Continue Reading

The post How to Take Better Winter Landscape Photos appeared first on Photodoto.

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Shooting Greenland in Winter Part 3: Familiar Places

23 Jun

In the previous articles in this series, I wrote about reaching Uummannaq in problematic conditions and about the better days that followed. For this final article, I’d like to tell you about my experience shooting Ilulissat and Disko Bay in winter.

I’m no stranger to Disko Bay. I’ve been traveling and guiding there for several years now, so I wasn’t as excited about shooting there compared to Uummannaq. My visit was quite productive however, and sometimes surprising. Weather was problematic some of the time, with very heavy snow making it hard to shoot anything more than a few meters away. On the few days I could shoot, I had a very good time and produced some images I’m happy with.

Winter is a very good time to shoot travel scenes in Ilulissat. I’m a nature photographer but had commitments to sponsors, and thus had to try my skill at shooting non-nature scenes that they had asked for. This included shots of town and shots of dog sledding.

Ilulissat harbor in winter. The boats are resting on sea ice.

The dog sledding was done on a snowy day, which added a lot to the experience and also allowed me to easily isolate my subjects. To shoot the musher and dogs from above while moving I had to kneel as high as I could and shoot blindly, but it wasn’t so hard after a few tries. I did almost fall a few times.

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When it stopped snowing, my guide Jakob and I took a fast snowmobile and headed to Kangia Fjord. The drive was going great, and I was enjoying the complete white cover created by the heavy snow the previous day. And then… we got stuck in the snow. It appeared that it had snowed so heavily, the powder was over a meter deep and had no time to harden. After 2 hours trying to dig us out, we had to call for help. The upside was that we got stuck right at a frozen side-fjord which was packed full of beautiful icebergs embedded in sea ice.

I took advantage of the situation and of the white conditions to take some surreal images of the icebergs surrounded by turquoise sea-slush, which had been exposed when the currents had slightly moved the icebergs.

The thing I was most looking forward to was an iceberg sail. I had done it many times in summer, but in winter the bay is covered by a layer of slush, which might have prevented the sail from happening, but otherwise creates opportunity for very interesting photography.

I attended two sails. The first was a normal tourist sail, which I took together with many other visitors. The sail was good, but the boat stayed near the fjord. This is problematic since the really interesting and intricately-shaped icebergs are ones which had time to melt into those shapes, which means they are also ones that are farther in the bay (usually to the north). The tourist sail missed those entirely.

Finally, right before finishing the visit, I managed to get a boat for a few hours just for myself. I tried my best to use it wisely, since costs were high and time was short. I sailed north of Ilulissat, and managed to find some beautiful icebergs surrounded by frozen sea ice, which added a lot to the images. The sea ice also gave the open water a calm and reflective appearance, a relative rarity in Disko Bay.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that it encouraged you to think of visiting Greenland in winter, and trying what it has to offer.

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

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in Southern Iceland, Northern Iceland, The Lofoten Islands, Patagonia, Greenland in summer, Greenland in winter, Namibia the Faroe Islands and Ethiopia.

Erez offers video tutorials discussing his images and explaining how he achieved them.

Selected Articles by Erez Marom:

Parallelism in Landscape Photography
Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
On the Importance of Naming Images
On Causality in Landscape Photography
Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
The Art of the Unforeground
Whatever it Doesn’t Take

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Posts Tagged ‘Winter’

OLYMPUS UNVEILS UPDATED M.ZUIKO® DIGITAL LENS ROADMAP

Get down low

Choose interesting light

Think about the depth of field

Post-process creatively

Try something abstract

Take your camera for a walk and shoot

Still life

Tips:

Macro

Tips:

Window portraits

Tips:

Home studio

Tips:

Summing up

1. Make the most of winter’s longer dusks and dawns

2. Find contrast

3. Shoot bright and colorful scenes

4. Bring plenty of batteries

5. Keep warm

6. How to photograph snow:

Conclusion

Winter travel gear for photographers

Gloves

Hand warmers

Camera cover

Tripod leg wraps

Extra batteries

Night sky apps

Zip-lock bags

Silica desiccant beads

Headlamp

Personal locator beacon

Umbrella

More in this Series:

Selected Articles by Erez Marom: