Before we all had cameras in our pockets and even before affordable digital, point and shoot cameras, there was the humble disposable camera. A common addition to any holidaymaker’s suitcase and often found scattered around the tables at wedding receptions disposable cameras were the everyday persons go-to camera of choice. Despite the dominance of the camera phone and digital photography Continue Reading
The post Are Disposable Cameras Any Good? appeared first on Photodoto.
The post 4 Simple Ideas to Expand Your Creativity appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
Creativity ebbs and flows.
But, as Maya Angelou said, the more creativity you use, the more you have. Whether inspiration is proving to be elusive, or you are looking for a new approach to your creative practice, these four simple photographic techniques can help spawn ideas to expand your creativity further.
In infrared photography (technically known as near-infrared photography), film or digital sensors record renderings of otherworldly scenery in wavelengths beyond the bounds of the human eye.
There are a few ways to achieve digital infrared photography. One method is to purchase an infrared filter like the Hoya R72 or the Kenko Infrared R72. These filters block visible wavelengths and permit a small amount of infrared light to reach the sensor.
Another way to achieve infrared photography is with an infrared camera conversion. Camera conversions involve removing a sensor’s hot mirror, a device that reflects infrared wavelengths of light. The hot mirror is then replaced with an infrared filter that blocks visible light instead. Infrared camera conversions can be done DIY style, or by sending the camera off to a conversion company.
If you can’t get your hands on infrared photography equipment, you can also add infrared effects to images in post-production. By making adjustments in editors like Photoshop, imitation infrared effects can alter an image for eye-catching results.
In terms of generating ideas to expand your creativity, intentional camera movement is a simple and refreshing technique. Intentional camera movement, or ICM, involves deliberately moving the camera during the length of your exposure for creative effect.
The process is simple:
Set your camera to a longer exposure, depress the shutter button, physically alter the camera’s orientation, and review the results. ICM images are rarely exactly the same, which makes the technique a captivating process that emphasizes the physicality and painterly quality of the photographic medium.
Sometimes, a complete change in artistic direction can be a welcome adjustment. Making a photogram is a simple yet valuable insight into the photographic process, and is often one of the first introductions to photography in art class.
The photogram is a cameraless form of photography which usually involves the placement of objects onto a light-sensitive medium like photographic paper. The arrangement is then exposed to light, creating a negative rendering of the objects on the developed paper.
Not everyone has access to the materials required to make a photogram. There is, however, a digital process that can be a great way to create a photogram effect.
Collect a handful of objects of different transparencies, arrange them on a flat light source, photograph the arrangement, and make a few adjustments in Photoshop. The project makes for an evocative take on the popular darkroom process.
Abstract photography is a genre that is full of ideas to expand your creativity.
Like ICM, abstract light trail photography encourages the physical movement of the camera by the photographer. By combining the use of a slow shutter speed with camera movement and isolated light sources, luminously-engaging abstracted images can be made.
Wait until it gets dark, grab your camera, and head out to locate streetlights, traffic lights, headlights, neon displays, LEDs, sparklers; anything that emits points of light.
Set a slow shutter speed, focus on a light source, depress the shutter button, and proceed to swing, angle, zoom, rotate, or (gently) shake your camera during the exposure. The process creates intricate light paintings that trace the path of the camera during the exposure.
New photographic techniques almost always stimulate ideas to expand your creativity.
Whether you’re making ICM photography, abstract light tails, infrared techniques and effects, or a simulated photogram series, new challenges and perspectives will help cultivate fresh ideas and hone your photographic skills.
The post 4 Simple Ideas to Expand Your Creativity appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
The post Take Control of Color Adjustments in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.
With all the sliders, options, and numerical values to tweak in Lightroom, there is no end to the editing possibilities at your disposal. Sometimes, you just want an easy way to make your images stand out and shine without all the hassle of adjusting dozens of individual options.
Fortunately, you don’t need to go overboard with editing to do some really incredible color adjustments in Lightroom. Three basic parameters can work wonders for your images: the Hue filter adjustment, as well as the Saturation and Vibrance sliders.
Along with White Balance, Hue is one of the most basic color adjustments you can make to a photo. Strictly speaking, Hue refers to the actual color of an image or a part of the image. It’s one of the building blocks of a photo that, along with Saturation and Luminance, affects your pictures on a foundational level.
The HSL panel in the Develop module lets you adjust the Hue of various colors. Essentially, you can make the reds shift from purple-ish to orange-ish. Or change your greens to be more yellow or teal.
Hue allows you to precisely control the overall appearance of your image, but the HSL panel works on an all-or-nothing basis. Moving the sliders affects the hue of every red, orange, yellow, and so on across the entire photograph.
Hue works well in a picture like the red cardinal above because the colors are clearly distinct and separate. Adjusting the Hue slider for the color red will affect the bird but nothing else because there are no other reds in the picture.
A recent update to Lightroom turbocharges the Hue editing tool by also allowing it to be used with filter adjustments. You can make precise Hue adjustments using the Radial and Graduated filters as well as the Adjustment Brush. These are incredibly powerful tools that help you get the precise color adjustments in Lightroom that you were never able to get before.
The usefulness of this new approach to Hue adjustment is amazing, and using it could hardly be simpler. Just create a new filter or Adjustment Brush, then click and drag the Hue slider to change the colors of the portion of your image affected by the filter or the brush.
The top of the color rainbow stays locked in place while the bottom shows you the degree to which your colors are being changed. For precise control, check the Use Fine Adjustment box or hold down the Alt key (or the Option key on a Mac), which reduces the effect of your left-to-right dragging to give you finely-tuned adjustments.
To illustrate how this works, here is a picture of two yellow flowers. Adjusting the Hue using the HSL panel would allow me to change the yellow of both flowers. Using a Hue Adjustment Brush lets me change the color of one single flower. This is a maneuver that used to require jumping over to Photoshop and using multiple layers and tools, but can now be accomplished in mere seconds in Lightroom.
To change the color of the flower in the foreground from yellow to red, all I have to do is click the Adjustment Brush and paint in a new adjustment over the yellow flower. Then click and drag the Hue slider to the left, and you have an instant red flower.
The Auto Mask option helps ensure that my edits stay within the yellow flower. I can also hold the Alt key (or the Option key on a Mac) to erase parts of the adjustment that I don’t want.
Using the Hue adjustment with a Radial Filter or Graduated Filter follows much of the same process as the Adjustment Brush. Apply a filter and adjust the Hue accordingly to change the colors of a portion of your image. These additions to Hue options in Lightroom are a bit like selective color editing, where most of a picture is black and white with one portion displayed with color.
Hue adjustments for the filters and Adjustment Brush go one step further by giving you total control over individual colors in specific parts of your pictures. If you haven’t yet tried it, I recommend checking it out and seeing how easy it really is! And if you want even more control over your color adjustments in Lightroom, there are the Saturation and Vibrance sliders to look at.
These two sliders can go a long way towards giving your photos an extra degree of refinement. However, they are often misunderstood and misused. They both complete the same basic function, in that they make the colors of a photo punchier or more exaggerated. Where they differ is in the method used to adjust the images and the way the colors are adjusted.
Saturation is kind of a blunt instrument, like editing your image with a hammer. It allows you to adjust the intensity of all the colors in a photo equally, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if it gets you the result you are aiming for. It’s easy to overdo it with saturation, though, so adjust carefully.
Vibrance takes a more intelligent and subtle approach. This slider analyzes the colors of an image that are already saturated and, therefore, don’t need much adjustment. When you move the slider to the right those colors are generally left alone, as are common skin tones. The result is an image that feels punchier without being overwhelmed with color.
The image series below shows the difference between these two sliders. The first is an unedited RAW straight out of camera.
Adjusting Vibrance up to a value of +60 makes the background colors more noticeable and also punches up the blue clothing. Faces and hands are relatively untouched, as are some of the clothing colors like orange and green that don’t need much adjustment.
In contrast, the Saturation color adjustment in Lightroom ramps up every color indiscriminately. The final image looks like it was run through a series of poorly-implemented social media filters and is a little jarring and unpleasant to look at.
This example is a bit of an exaggeration, though! Saturation is a perfectly acceptable adjustment, as long as you use it carefully. Generally speaking, ramping up Saturation to such extreme values will not yield the best results. I like to keep it around the +5 to +15 range, which gives a more subtle effect and makes all the colors pop just enough to stand out while not being overbearing.
Another way to take control of color adjustments in Lightroom without getting too complicated is to lower Saturation and Vibrance.
Lowering the value of Saturation and/or Vibrance can give your images a subdued look, almost like a sepia filter. I like this effect on portraits, and if you shoot for clients you might find this to be a useful adjustment to keep in your back pocket when editing. Many people like a desaturated look, because it can feel comforting and a bit nostalgic.
When working with portraits, I find that little Vibrance and Saturation adjustments in Lightroom go quite a long way. Generally, I do just a little bit of one or both and don’t exceed a value of +10. It might not seem like much, but those small edits can give your images that little extra push to really stand out.
Vibrance and Saturation color adjustments in Lightroom really come in handy when working with landscapes, flowers, animals, or anything else in nature. Here’s where I like to put my foot on the throttle and really push the sliders a lot more than I would with portraits. Rather than jarring and unpleasant, the results are often dramatic and even captivating.
I shot the photo below in Minnesota just south of the Canadian border, just as the sun was coming up. The image looks fine, but it’s a little bland and doesn’t quite convey the emotion I want the viewer to experience. Thankfully, a little Saturation and Vibrance can fix it.
Bumping Saturation up to +55 yields a much-improved image, albeit with a few tweaks that still need to be implemented. Colors are richer, contrast is greater, and the scene is much more similar to how it was when I was standing among the trees listening to the birds chirp overhead.
Even though the picture is better with increased overall Saturation, adding some Vibrance gives it just the final touch it needs. I would never add this much Vibrance and Saturation to a portrait or street photograph. When working with shots of nature, these adjustments can make a huge difference without feeling ostentatious or overbearing.
If you really want to get creative with Vibrance and Saturation, you can use a combination of both adjustments, but not in the way you might thing. Color adjustments in Lightroom are all a matter of personal preference, but one trick I like to use, especially with people in everyday life and not necessarily formal portraits, is to raise the vibrance while lowering the saturation.
Some of the best editing can be almost invisible. I lowered Saturation while raising Vibrance, which shifted everything just enough to give the picture a low-key-but-slightly-enhanced look. It’s a small but noticeable edit when compared to the original, and shows how using both adjustments together can yield impressive results.
This technique combines Saturation and Vibrance for a result that is more than the sum of its parts. The entire image feels a little more subdued and welcoming, while important colors are emphasized just a little more. The end result is, like a lot of good adjustments, subtle but effective.
Image editing doesn’t have to be complicated. While there are many tools and options for color adjustments in Lightroom, often just these simple basic features will get the job done just fine. I particularly like the new Hue tools and the unparalleled freedom they offer photographers.
If you have not yet tried this, or if it has been a while since you played around with simple Saturation and Vibrance, you might be surprised at how much these can do to make your images go from just okay to absolutely astonishing.
The post Take Control of Color Adjustments in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.
The post How, Why, and When to Use Polarizing Filters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.
Polarizing filters are one of the most useful accessories a photographer can own. They are small, inexpensive, and make a significant impact on your photos.
Post-processing allows you to make many alterations to the photos you take. But no post-processing software can mimic the effect of polarizing filters. Using a polarizer cuts down on reflections, haze, and scattered light. They also boost color saturation and contrast.
Many imaging programs have tools to control color saturation and contrast easily and effectively. Some have dehazing tools. But none (so far) have the ability to remove glare and reflections the same as polarizing filters can.
The most common polarizing filters are circular and consist of two glass pieces sandwiched together. They go on the front of your lens, so you need the correct size to fit your lens diameter (or an adaptor).
Once the filter is on the lens, you can rotate the outer layer of the filter. As you turn the filter, the effect it has on light entering your lens changes. At different angles of rotation, the amount of light that’s filtered out will vary. This depends on where the sun is and which direction you’re pointing your camera.
The most noticeable effect of a polarizing filter is when it’s rotated at a ninety-degree angle to the sun.
Here, you can see the effect the polarizing filter has on the reflection of the wood surface it is resting on. The glare coming off the wood is almost totally removed by the filter.
At times, reflections can enhance a photograph or even be the main subject. But they can also be unwanted and distracting.
When you are photographing:
it can be challenging to create a clear representation in your photos. Reflections from these types of surfaces can invade your composition. They are not always possible to avoid without using a polarizing filter. Even with a polarizing filter, you may not be able to completely eliminate reflections from a surface.
Skies and clouds photographed with a polarizing filter can take on a whole different look. Compare the two images below. For the first one I used a polarizer, and for the second one I did not.
Neither image was post-processed. You can see the difference in the detail of the clouds and in the saturation of the blue sky.
When photographing at the beach or beside a lake, a polarizing filter is especially useful. Being able to control the strength of reflection in the water makes a significant difference in your photos. The added saturation boost also makes water and skies look more appealing.
Polarizing filters work by stopping some light waves from entering your lens. Light waves reflect off uneven surfaces in different directions. A polarizing filter only allows light to enter the lens that’s coming from certain directions.
As light waves vibrate and bounce off different surfaces, the direction and rate of the vibration is altered. This is why colors are also affected by polarizing filters.
When light reflects off a flat surface, using a polarizer will have a more uniform effect on it. This is because the waves are primarily moving in a similar direction. So the reflection of a window will be influenced differently by a polarizer than that of a surface that’s not flat.
When the reflected light reaches the filter, some of the waves will be blocked from entering the lens by the coating on the filter. This dichroic coating has chains of molecules lined up in one direction. Waves of light parallel to these chains are blocked by the filter.
As you rotate the outer ring of a polarizer, you can see how the effect of the filter changes. This is because you are altering the direction of the lines of the filter coating in relation to the light waves.
Using a polarizing filter is best done by turning the filter and observing what’s happening. Either by looking through your viewfinder or at your rear LCD screen, you will see the image changing as you turn the filter.
There are techniques you can read about that rely on scientific breakdowns of how these filters work. They will tell you in which direction you’ll see the most effect. But, in reality, every scene you photograph is different. It is impossible to predict correctly how the light gets blocked by the filter.
If you use a polarizer often, you’ll get more used to how it works and how you can use it to manage reflections in your photos. At times, you’ll be able to virtually eliminate reflections; in other situations, the filter will make little difference.
Experimenting with polarizing filters is the best way to make use of them. I usually carry a few in my bag of varying sizes. These fit my 55mm, 35mm, and 105mm lenses, which are the lenses I use the most.
Using a polarizer with a wide-angle lens can create some weird results because of the broad field of view.
If you’re making a series of photos to stitch together as a panorama, take your polarizer off. The edges of your photos may not join seamlessly if you’re using a polarizer.
Remember to attach polarizing filters to your lenses when you want to boost the color of a blue sky or reduce the reflection off a shiny surface. As you’re getting used to using this filter, take some photos of each scene with and without the filter.
That way, you’ll quickly begin to get a feel for the differences it makes.
The post How, Why, and When to Use Polarizing Filters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.
Writing is not for photographers. This is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard, and as a photographer, I have heard many. Do you know what is even more absurd about this declaration? For a long time, I am the one who swore by it. This was following the demise of my first personal photoblog. You can say Continue Reading
The post 8 Amazing Hacks To Be A Pro Photographer Blogger: The Definitive Guide I’m Using To Write How I Shoot appeared first on Photodoto.
The post Nikon to Announce the 14-24mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.2 for Z Mount appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
Nikon hasn’t managed to capture much airtime over the past few months, what with the Canon EOS R5 and R6 launch as well as the Sony a7S III announcement.
But Nikon continues to produce top-notch kit, and we’ll see the fruits of the company’s labor later this week, with the official announcement for two new lenses:
The Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S.
And the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S.
Both lenses are designed for Nikon’s Z mount cameras, which means that they’ll be compatible with Nikon’s mirrorless bodies: the Nikon Z5, Nikon Z6, Nikon Z7, and Nikon Z50.
Let’s take a closer look at what you can expect from these two lenses.
This lens will be a Z mount remake of a popular F-mount (DSLR) lens, the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G.
And, if the original lens is anything to go by, the Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S will be an absolute powerhouse.
At the very least, the Z mount 14-24mm will give Nikon users an ultra-wide zoom with an f/2.8 maximum aperture, which will be appreciated by many photographers, including astrophotographers and other low-light shooters. At present, Z mount f/2.8 zooms are limited to the 24-70mm f/2.8 and the 70-200mm f/2.8; while both of these are excellent lenses, they just don’t offer the perspective that you can get from a 14-24mm lens.
According to Nikon Rumors, the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 will work with front filters (which is always a concern with ultra-wide lenses), but will also take rear filters. The 14-24mm will be relatively compact, and will feature “smooth and silent autofocus.”
In other words:
The Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 will likely be a lens that does a lot of things well, from landscapes and astrophotography to those ultra-wide travel and event shots that draw the viewer straight into the scene.
Nikon already offers a Z mount 50mm lens: the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S.
But the new 50mm f/1.2 S will go beyond the 50mm f/1.8 S; that extra maximum aperture may not seem like much, but it’s critical for low-light shooters of all types, as well as anyone who’s after the best possible bokeh.
That’s why, if you’re a portrait photographer or an event photographer, the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S should be at the top of your wish-list.
While the 50mm f/1.2 S is likely to offer stellar image quality, such a wide maximum aperture comes with a serious price:
The lens is going to be big and hefty. This certainly won’t be your easy-to-carry nifty fifty, so if that’s what you’re after, look elsewhere. But it will be a high-quality, well-built, weather-sealed lens that many professionals are after.
The Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S and the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S lenses are bound to be impressive (even if they have a price tag to match!).
So if either lens seemed appealing, I recommend you keep an eye out for Nikon announcements over the next few days.
You won’t regret it!
Now over to you:
Are you excited for these two new lenses? And if you could pick one of them, which would you take? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The post Nikon to Announce the 14-24mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.2 for Z Mount appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
The post 5 Tips for Setting the Focus in Your Landscape Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jim Hamel.
For many types of photography, the question of where you should set your focus is pretty simple. For example, in portrait photography, there is one simple rule: focus on the eyes. When the eyes aren’t on the same plane of focus, focus on the near eye. End of story.
It is pretty simple with other types of photography, as well. In wildlife photography, you focus on the animal. In fact, in any type of photography where there is a clear subject, you always focus on that subject. That’s not to say it is always easy, but at least it isn’t difficult to figure out.
Foreground sharpness is paramount in many landscape photos.
But what about landscape photography, where you are generally capturing more of a scene than a solitary subject? Where do you focus to ensure that everything in the scene is as sharp as possible? The answer isn’t always so clear.
Therefore, in this article, we’ll cover some tips for helping you know where to set the focus.
Again, oftentimes in landscape photography, you are trying to capture a scene rather than a solitary thing. Many times, the scene you are trying to capture is far away from you.
Most lenses have a range of focus values, and once you get beyond a certain distance (often 20-30 feet, or 8-10 meters) the focus is set at infinity. Everything beyond that point will just be infinity. Therefore, if you are taking a picture where most things in the frame are far away, it might seem that you should just set the focus at infinity. If you are using autofocus (and most of us are), you might be inclined to set the focus using something that is very far away from you.
If everything in the frame is truly at infinity, then setting the focus at its maximum distance is not a horrible idea. If there is nothing close to you, then there is just no need to do anything else; you don’t need to overly complicate things. But more commonly there are aspects of the scene that are closer to you than infinity. Where do you set the focus then?
You can get into hyperfocal distance (we’ll talk more about that in a minute) and make this as technical as you want. But often your time is precious when you’re out shooting. The light is changing and things are moving. You can get a pretty good sense of things without resorting to calculations.
As a result, consider this rule of thumb: Set the focus at infinity and then just turn it back a little bit. But there’s an obvious question: How do you define a little bit?
I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer for you. It will vary from lens to lens, but will usually be about a 5-10° turn or just to the highest distance number printed on the lens (if your lens has these numbers).
Why would you want to do that?
Because of the depth of field that will be in your picture (more on depth of field below). Since you are taking an outdoor photo, you will probably not be shooting wide open, or even with a large aperture. So there will likely be some depth depth of field involved. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a large depth of field, but the point is that it gives you some leeway. By pulling the focus forward, that leeway will still get everything out to infinity in focus. It will also get things a little closer in focus, as well.
Many pictures are ruined because the foreground is not sharp. It happens all the time. Therefore, if you have something in your scene that is close to the camera, focus on it. If the ground is prominent in your picture, set your focus close to you. Make sure that foreground is in focus. Often you will set the focus only a few feet in front of you.
But wait a second, you might ask, what about my background? Won’t it be out of focus or blurry?
Probably not. If you’re using your wide-angle lens (and if you are taking an outdoor photo that has a discrete foreground, then you probably are) you will have a wide depth of field, even at moderate to large apertures.
A sharp foregound focus furthers the viewer’s sense that they can walk into the picture.
Let’s not lose sight of the obvious, though. When you have a definite subject or center of interest in your photo, just focus on that. It is the most important part of your picture, and you absolutely need it in focus.
Don’t worry about your foreground, and don’t worry about your background. Just make sure the subject is in focus. Frankly, if there is a little fall-off in sharpness from your subject, that will probably not be such a bad thing.
Sometimes you just want a definite subject in focus, and having the background start to blur out is just fine, as in this image of a sheep.
There are no free lunches in photography. You probably already know that by using a smaller aperture to get a larger depth of field, it will cost you light. The smaller aperture lets in less light, so you will have to use a longer shutter speed (risking blur if you aren’t using a tripod) or raise the ISO (risking digital noise in your picture).
But the smaller aperture will also lead to something called diffraction, particularly in cameras with smaller digital sensors. Therefore, just using the smallest aperture possible isn’t always the answer. You cannot just set your focus anywhere and rely on a super-wide depth of field to save you.
There are two ways around this issue though, which we’ll talk about next.
With everything in the shot at a distance of infinity (30 feet or more), I did not need a wide depth of field to keep everything in focus.
Hyperfocal distance is just a fancy name for determining how close you can set your focus and still keep your background acceptably sharp. There are apps and calculators that will tell you this distance depending on your aperture, sensor size, and focal length.
For a full explanation of hyperfocal distance along with some charts and links to apps that will calculate it for you, check out this article: How to Find and Use Hyperfocal Distance for Sharp Backgrounds .
An example will illustrate the point made above about backgrounds tending to remain sharp when you are using wide-angle lenses. If you’re using a 16mm lens on a full frame camera and shooting at f/11, your hyperfocal distance is only 2.5 feet. That means you can set the focus on a point just in front of you, and keep everything behind that point sharp.
Knowing the hyperfocal distance will often liberate you to set the focus point quite close, in order to maintain sharp foregrounds in your picture. It also means you often don’t need to use the smallest aperture your lens offers, so you can avoid the effects of diffraction.
When the methods above won’t work for you, or you just need to make sure absolutely everything in the photo from front to back is tack-sharp, you may want to consider focus stacking. Here you take multiple pictures of the same scene using different focus points.
Start by setting the aperture of your lens where it is sharpest (also called the sweet spot; if you don’t know, that is usually in the range of f/5.6 – f/8). Take a shot with the focus set close to you, then repeat the process, gradually setting the focus point farther and farther away with each shot. Later you blend your pictures in Photoshop (for more about how to do that check out this article: Maximizing Depth of Field Without Diffraction).
This method is not a cure-all. It obviously won’t work with moving subject matter. In addition, it can be tedious, and you risk slightly moving the camera since you have to twist the focus ring between shots. Still it can be a powerful tool for maintaining focus and sharpness throughout your entire picture.
No rule is going to cover every situation when it comes to focus. As with many aspects of photography, you’ll just have to use your own judgment in the field. Hopefully, as you do so, these tips will help you nail the focus and keep the picture tack sharp where it matters.
This week we are doing a series of articles to help you do better nature photography. See previous articles here:
The post 5 Tips for Setting the Focus in Your Landscape Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jim Hamel.
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Self Portrait appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
It’s been a long time since we pushed a ‘Self Portrait’ challenge in your general direction! These can be very confronting for many reasons, how we see ourselves, confidence, or something as simple as the lack of a tripod (You can put your tripod on a bench, or the floor, or in a tree!) but it’d be great to get as many of us to try this out as possible – it’s not about anything other than learning to photograph people, and who is your most readily available subject? YOU.
One of our resources on self portraiture
I’m one of those crazy (or not?) people that have participated in a 365, got the t-shirt, made a small book, it was fun! But it really goes a long way to showing you a lot about portrait photography, lighting (I used a desk lamp for the longest time!) and how your gear works… But we don’t want to see 365 of these, just one.
A self-portrait doesn’t need to JUST be of you, you can disguise yourself behind a coffee machine, or across a workbench. But set your scene and think about your lighting, and see what you come up with! Here are a couple of helpful resources on portraits for you to have a look at, grab a cup of tea and your camera and get started!
Self Portrait Tips & Examples and A Mirror Self-Portrait challenge from a few years back!
A little shout out to ‘Moncat‘ who submitted this photograph to last week’s ‘Spring’ challenge!
Simply upload your shot into the comments 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 favourite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them.
You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.
If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSSelfPortrait to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.
Follow us on Instagram?
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Self Portrait appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
The post Sony to Announce New Line of Compact Cameras Next Week appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
Sony’s is famous for its full-frame mirrorless lineup, which offers stellar image quality, lightning-fast autofocus, and more.
Sony is also famous for its APS-C mirrorless lineup, which offers similarly fast autofocus but in a compact package.
Yet Sony is about to take their mirrorless system a step further.
Earlier this week, Sony unveiled this graphic on their Sony Japan website:
And while the announcement hasn’t officially been followed by additional details, Sony Alpha Rumors has reported that Sony will be announcing a brand-new type of mirrorless camera, one that combines the compactness of the Sony a6000 series with the image quality of the a7 and a9 series.
According to Sony Alpha Rumors, the first of these cameras will be labeled the Sony a7C, where the ‘C’ will likely stand for either Concept or Compact.
So what can we expect from this new mirrorless body?
Sony Alpha Rumors also reports that the a7C “will be marketed for vloggers and YouTubers,” and will debut alongside a new set of compact lenses.
If all this information is accurate (and I suspect that it is!), we’re going to be in for quite a treat. The a7C will offer some of Sony’s best goods, and future a7C cameras should be similarly impressive.
Really, this camera seems like a powerful hybrid; while it may be aimed at YouTubers and vloggers, it should also appeal to travel photographers, street photographers, and even more casual, walkaround photographers.
Plus, the new compact lens lineup will hopefully address a common frustration among Sony mirrorless photographers: that the cameras are compact, but the lenses aren’t.
So if you’re looking to grab a compact camera that can handle video and stills on the go, keep an eye out for the announcement!
Now over to you:
Are you excited about the upcoming Sony a7C announcement? Is it a camera you’ll be interested in purchasing? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The post Sony to Announce New Line of Compact Cameras Next Week appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.
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