360Photography

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  • Portrait mode perspective: the iPhone X versus the Canon M100

    With all the latest photo-centric smartphones including a form of Portrait mode, are interchangeable lens cameras still coming out on top?

    It’s safe to say that Portrait mode, the artificial blurry-background generator on modern smartphones, isn’t going anywhere. And now that it’s here, it’s only going to get better. It’s an incredibly handy feature to have, and for the vast majority of users, is easily good enough that they may rethink the need to purchase a so-called ‘real’ camera in the future.

    But ‘good enough’ is a subjective assessment. So, we set up a tripod and grabbed an accessible entry-level camera that’s specifically aimed at smartphone users, and did our own informal comparison. It turns out, though, that things aren’t all that simple.

    The first comparison

    We found through our informal exercise that the iPhone X’s built-in Portrait mode on its default camera app appears to roughly approximate the blur from shooting a 35mm F2.8 lens on an APS-C camera. In this case, we used the Canon EOS M100.

    iPhone X in Portrait mode Canon EOS M100 w/ EF-S 35mm F2.8 @ F2.8

    Unfortunately, the tripod needed adjustment of an inch or two to make sure the iPhone image and the Canon image ended up a broadly similar positioning of the subject in the frame (there may be some distortion or other corrective effects at work that we don’t have full insight into).

    For this comparison, the iPhone X had HDR enabled in Portrait mode, and the M100 image was processed through Adobe Camera Raw using an adapted EF-S Macro 35mm F2.8 lens.

    Apple also includes ‘lighting modes,’ so let’s see if that makes a difference in your preference.

    The second comparison

    iPhone X in Portrait mode with Contour Light Canon EOS M100 w/ EF-S 35mm F2.8 @ F2.8

    Here, we re-processed the iPhone’s image to use the ‘Contour Light’ option. It gives the iPhone’s image a much more ‘purposed’ look to the light, almost as if there is an umbrella off-camera left, instead of just a window, while the Canon image looks the same, because, well, it doesn’t have ‘portrait lighting’ modes.

    The third comparison

    iPhone X in Portrait mode, Focos app set to F1.4 iPhone X in Portrait mode, Focos app set to F20 Canon EOS M100 w/ EF-S 35mm F2.8 @ F2.8

    Lastly, there’s a free app called ‘Focos’ that allows you further tweaks on images taken in Portrait mode. You can even specify the level of blur you want, measured in approximate f-number. Here, we see the two ends of the spectrum currently included in the app, from ‘F1.4’ to ‘F20.’

    What’s the big deal?

    We’re approaching a time of reckoning for traditional camera manufacturers. Not only are computational cameras getting better, but they’re increasingly in people’s pockets, at the ready whenever they’re needed.

    There are, of course, aspects of traditional cameras that phones can’t replace; the form factor, the controls, the feel of the thing. But those are increasingly diminishing requirements for a broad range of photographers (especially since, as you well know, everyone these days is a photographer).

    But to remain relevant, these sort of software ‘tricks’ are something that camera manufacturers are going to need to think more and more about. There may yet come a time when, finally, you don’t absolutely need a bigger sensor for better results. And it’s not necessarily a matter of ‘if,’ but a matter of ‘when.’

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Video: How to make an HDR image using Microsoft Excel… seriously

    Photographers have many different kinds of software for producing high dynamic range images, but Microsoft Excel probably doesn’t make your list of photo editing apps. Well… be prepared to change your mind.

    On the off chance you don’t know what Microsoft Excel is, it’s a spreadsheet application that’s primarily used for business application. But in May of last year, Columbia University computer science student Kevin Chen showed that is was also capable of producing an HDR photo using some complicated math and a couple dozen GBs of RAM.

    Before coming to Columbia, Chen worked as an intern at Apple, working on camera technology. It was that experience—understanding the math behind digital photography in general and high dynamic range imagery specifically—that allowed him to implement the “system of linear equations” that is typically used in HDR imaging.

    After turning the original photo grayscale, and using each cell in Excel as a different “pixel”, he was able to implement this math (and zoom way out) to reveal his final product. Here is the color before and grayscale after:

    Sure, you probably don’t want to make Excel your primary HDR processing software. But Chen’s presentation reveals something that is easy to lose sight of when you’re processing digital files and working with photographs: as far as your computer is concerned, it’s all pixel values and math.

    Check out the full presentation up top, and then head over to Chen’s website if you want to know more about the young computer scientist.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • The ‘Chairpod’ is a chair-tripod hybrid that’s either ridiculous or brilliant

    Photos via DC Watch

    Sometimes an idea is so crazy, it might just be brilliant—what might be described as “wonderfully weird.” The upcoming Chairpod by Japanese tripod manufacturer Velbon might be one of those inventions… or it might just be weird. We haven’t decided yet, so we’ll leave that judgement up to you.

    Originally reported on by Japanese site DC Watch (translated version here), the Chairpod HY 127 is a hybrid between a tripod and a three-legged folding chair that was originally exhibited at CP+ 2017 (how did we miss that!?). One of the legs, in this case, has a standard tripod camera mount on the top that can be extended out to bring the camera level with your face. At max length, it’s reportedly 117 centimeters tall, or about 3.8 feet, without the optional extension rod. And if you won’t want to use it sitting down, it turns into an odd sort of monopod.

    According to DC Watch, the Chairpod will be released through major retail chains in Japan “in late January”, and the publication expects it to cost about 19,850 Yen (~$ 179 USD). No word yet on whether or not this quirky masterpiece will make it to the US or European markets.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Smartphone front cameras might soon be placed underneath the display

    Photo by Julián Gentilezza

    With smartphone displays getting larger and moving to an 18:9 (or 2:1 if you prefer) aspect ratio and display bezels shrinking at the same time, there is hardly any space left at the front of new devices for physical controls or other components.

    Physical home buttons and fingerprint readers have already largely disappeared from the front and moved to the rear or edges of devices; however, moving the front camera to the rear isn’t really an option (for obvious reasons) which is why devices like the iPhone X or the Essential Phone have ended up with unsightly notches at the top of their displays.

    A new patent by Samsung could offer a solution: moving the front camera and other components, such as the earpiece and proximity and ambient light sensors, underneath the screen. A camera that can see through the display would also offer an additional advantage, allowing manufacturers to place it towards the center of the screen so that the camera and the face of the person you’re talking to would be roughly in the same spot.

    While Samsung’s idea definitely looks like an elegant answer to the space limitations at the front of modern smartphones, nobody has built a suitable camera yet. That said, an earlier patent that has been referenced by Samsung, Apple and LG among others, suggests using an OLED display with a very high refresh rate. The system could then activate and deactivate the screen at a very fast rate and allow for camera recording during the inactive periods.

    As usual with patents, there is no way of knowing if and when the technology will make it into a production device, but the idea of a totally seam- and bezel-less display is certainly an appealing one.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Learn about Photoshop blending modes in just 8 minutes

    Confused about what all those layer blending modes do in Photoshop? Well, you don’t need to be any more. Jesus Ramirez of the Photoshop Training Channel has made an excellent short video tutorial that explains each mode in simple and easily-understood terms, so even beginners will get the picture.

    His 8-minute Crash Course uses a gray tone chart over a normal photograph to show how each blending mode alters the way the chart appears. Jesus also demonstrates how different brightness values blend together, and how to use layer blending to control color density and saturation. Finally, he also explains why the modes are grouped into six sections on the drop-down menu, so you can quickly find the mode you need depending on the situation.

    Check out the full video above. It’ll only cost you eight minutes of your life, and you’ll almost certainly learn something new unless you’re already a Photoshop expert.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • This is the world’s first variable graduated ND filter

    Aurora Aperture has just introduced a very interesting little piece of photography gear: the world’s first variable graduated neutral density filter. Variable NDs are fairly common, as are graduated NDs, but until now nobody had thought to (or at least managed to) mix the two ideas into one.

    Enter the Aurora PowerGXND: a variable hard transition graduated neutral density filter with continuously variable range of up to 5 stops (ND 0 – 1.5). Here’s a quick intro video to get you familiar with the new filter family:

    And a 4K demo video that shows the filter in action:

    Aurora has introduced, and is funding, this filter family through Kickstarter, where the PowerGXND is being offered in three sizes and with a variety of mounting accessories. You can get the filters in Large (105mm), Medium (82mm), or Small (62mm) sizes, which can be mounted onto a camera using either a “slim lens adapter” or a square filter holder adapter plate.

    The filter also features hard stops at either end of the scale, multi-layer nano coatings to repel water, oil and dust, and a direct reading scale to help you dial in the exact stop value you’re looking for.

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    To learn more about the Aurora PowerGXND, head over to the Kickstarter campaign where you can reserve your own (the project is already fully funded) for anywhere between $ 95 for the 62mm ‘slim’ kit to $ 340 for the 105mm w/ 130mm holder kit.

    Press Release

    Aurora Aperture Introduces World’s First Variable GND Filter Family

    Irvine, California, January 15th, 2018 – Aurora Aperture Inc., a Southern California company specialized in photography filters, today has introduced the world’s first variable graduated neutral density (GND) filter family, the Aurora PowerGXND.

    The PowerGXND family is an hard transition GND filter with a continuous range up to 5 stops (ND 0 – 1.5). GND filters are widely used in photography and videography for balancing a high contrast scene for proper exposure.

    “The Aurora PowerGXND family is the world’s first variable GND filter,” said Jeff Chen, founder and CEO of Aurora Aperture Inc. “offering a wide range of light balancing capability for both photographers and videographers. Until now users need to carry multiple fixed stop GND filters with light reduction values of one, two, and three stop with no fractional stop value. With our variable GND filters, all you need is one filter and just rotate the filter until you see the desired result, it is truly that easy.”

    The Aurora PowerGXND filter is based on the innovative Aurora PowerXND variable ND filter introduced in 2016. While keeping the original thin frame profile, a new hard stop feature is added to limit the filter rotation within the minimum and maximum settings. Another new feature is a direct reading scale so users can quickly dial the filter to a stop value easily.

    Designed in California by Aurora Aperture, the Aurora PowerND filters are made from Schott B 270® i Ultra-White Glass. Filter surfaces are applied with PFPE hydrophobic and oleophobic coatings to repel water, soil, and dirt. With these multi-layer nano coatings, the Aurora PowerGNXD filters are capable of answering the demands of 4k videos and modern high density sensors.

    There are three sizes available, S (62mm), M (82mm), and L (105mm) to cover lens filter thread size from 37mm to 82mm. Adaption plates and square filter systems (75mm, 100mm, and 130mm) are available for using the variable GND filters on different lenses.

    Availability and Pricing

    The Aurora PowerND family will be available through Kickstarter starting in January

    2018. Dealers and general availability will start in May 2018. List price starts from US$ 149 to $ 329, depending on filter sizes.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Shooting K?lauea Volcano, Part 4: From a helicopter

    In the first part of this series, I talked about shooting Kilauea’s lava surface-flows using a drone. In the second part, I talked about shooting the lava with a DSLR from the ground. In the third, I talked about shooting from a dedicated lava-viewing boat. I’d like to finish this series with a short article about shooting the lava from a helicopter.

    I will also try to sum up the lava shooting part of my Hawaii trip, and survey how it ended up being published.

    I was very excited for my lava helicopter flight. After my amazing hike to the surface flows, where I also used (and melted) my drone, and after the sail a few days before, I had already gotten many epic shots and had much less pressure to produce something exceptional. My friend and I decided to only take a (relatively) short 1-hour flight, to experience another way of shooting the lava.

    There are several helicopter providers available in Big Island, and they can easily be found online. Remember to schedule your flight several days (a week is recommended) in advance to make sure you get the time slot you want. We chose a sunrise shoot.

    Upon reaching the hangar, the helicopter was already stripped of its doors (nothing will come between me and the lava!) and our pilot was making his preparations. We took off quickly and were on our way to the Pu?u ???? Crater.

    If you intend to take an open-door helicopter flight in Hawaii, remember to dress well. Hawaii is generally not as hot as one would think (it even snowed on the Big Island recently!), and it can get very cold up in the air on the way to the lava. I’d suggest a serious warm jacket and thick pants to be comfortable. I was a bit under-dressed, so it was a bit chilly on the way there.

    Upon reaching the crater itself, I started shooting with a medium telephoto (24-70mm). This would prove the last time I used this lens in the shoot, as I quickly switched to my 70-300mm to get better details.

    A lava ‘bird’ in Pu?u ???? Crater.
    The wonderful details inside the crater.

    The crater was nice but I quickly got bored of it. I knew the real deal was the surface flows with all their beautiful diversity. I was adamant on getting some nice abstracts and natural patterns, so I asked the pilot to leave the crater and find the flows.

    Once you start shooting the surface flows, it’s endless. There is so much to choose from and you need to manage the time wisely, since the really good light is extremely short-lived. Try to get the shot and already think on what you want to get next. It’s not my ideal method of producing good shots, but in these conditions, time is a serious bottleneck and there’s just no choice.

    The lava surface flows look like painted brush-strokes on the dark earth.

    Technically, just like the boat shooting, remember that you’re on a moving, vibrating, flying vehicle: exposure speed should be on the high side.

    I was aiming for between 1/500 and 1/1000 of a second (with the 70-300mm) and managed to expose in that range most of the time. ISO settings depend on light, but since this was early morning, I had to use ISO 3200 or 6400 most of the time, unless I was shooting into the crater (where lava was brighter) or when the sun went up a bit. In these cases I went down to ISO 1600.

    Contrary to my usual shooting style, I tried to put a large emphasis on abstracts. The lava creates such wonderful patterns and colors, it made sense to concentrate on those alone.
    The hardening lava seemed like fabric.

    Another cool thing about shooting from the air is the visibility of skylights – underground lava flows that have been partly exposed and are visible from the air.

    To sum up, the helicopter shoot was a lot of fun. It’s all so easy: you don’t have to hike 8km, there are lots of opportunities, and you have total control and an infinite choice of subject matter (if the lava cooperates, of course).

    We paid about $ 1,700 plus a well-deserved tip to the excellent pilot, whose hovering abilities were off the charts. Not a particularly cheap experience, but worth it to me. Remember, Hawaii is extremely far for me to reach and I wanted to make sure I made every effort to go back home with a good portfolio.

    If you enjoy aerial photography and lava, I can highly recommend the heli flight in Big Island.

    Series Epilogue

    I was incredibly lucky in Hawaii. The surface flows outside the National Park, where I was allowed me to use the drone; the crazy eruptions before my eyes; the action and sunrise in the boat sail; every experience was fantastic. While the Big Island was just part of the trip and I took many more images in Kauai, the lava, and particularly the very first day of my trip, was definitely the main event, and for that I’m thankful.

    The trip was very expensive. I knew it would be so in advance, but in the end I spent even more than I thought I would. That’s OK, but bare in mind that a visit isn’t going to come cheap, especially if you want to do all the lava shooting from a boat and a heli. That said, it was more than worth it—it was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken, a truly exhilarating experience that I will cherish forever.

    The lava shots, and perhaps mainly the fact that I’d melted my drone, meant big publicity in all of the main photographic websites, which was very nice. In addition to lots of licensing deals, my images were on the front page of NatGeo.com (which more than paid for the drone repair) and also the Nat Geo international websites of about 10 countries. Stories about my shoot have been published in over 20 countries and surveyed in countless websites. I’ve been interviewed by Nat Geo and by several international photography and travel sites, as well as by Israeli news sites.

    The point is, I had no idea what would come of the Hawaii trip before taking it. It could just as well be bad, with no visible surface flows or (as it is now) no lava in the Ocean Entry. It was a stroke of luck, and happily I was ready to take advantage. I’d like to encourage you to take the risks and, hopefully, you’ll get similar rewards.

    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.

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

    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 locations such as southern Iceland, Northern Iceland, The Lofoten Islands, Patagonia, Greenland, Namibia and the Faroe Islands.

    More in The K?lauea Series:

    • Part 1: How to Melt a Drone
    • Part 2: Grounded
    • Part 3: At Sea

    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)

  • iPhone X sample gallery updated

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    Our iPhone X camera review is nearing completion, so naturally we’ve been doing plenty of shooting with it. With the full review on the horizon, here’s a healthy dose of new sample images in the meantime.

    We’ve also done plenty of Raw and Portrait mode shooting on the iPhone, so click through the gallery to see the side-by-side comparisons.

    See our updated Apple iPhone X
    sample gallery

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Film vs Digital: Fashion photography shootout

    Photographer Anita Sadowska likes to set up “challenges” on her YouTube channel, and when she sent us her most recent one, we knew we’d want to share it. Unlike most of her challenges, where you get to compare different photographers, in this one you’re comparing different mediums: Anita shot with her Canon 5D Mark IV, while her challengee Alex Hutchinson shot on either a Pentax 67 or Nikon N80.

    Anita shared the final shots with us (and you) for comparison, and you’ll be able to browse through them in the gallery below, but the most interesting part of the video for us was not actually the resulting images. The most interesting part was to see how differently Anita and Alex approached the shoot.

    Alex—because he was shooting 120 film that cost him about 8 Euro (~$ 9.75 USD) per roll— was taking several light measurements, fixing all of the minute styling issues he could see, and snapping only a couple of shots per pose. Anita, meanwhile, had as many frames as she could possibly want, and post-processing to fall back on for all the stray hairs and other minor tweaks that might need to be done.

    To mix things up, after the first round of photos, Anita covered up her LCD screen, limited herself to just 10 shots, and began shooting all manual focus as well—imposing the same challenges on her digital workflow that Alex was already dealing with shooting analog.

    Here’s a look at all of the poses they shot, first on film, and then on digital:

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    It really is a fascinating comparison, and one of the better shootouts we’ve seen. Check out the final video up top, scroll through the final images in the gallery above, and then let us know what you think in the comments.

    Do you take the same approach as Alex, shooting film to occasionally “slow yourself down,” or do you embrace the freedom of shooting all digital all the time?

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • What I’ve learned after sharing my photos for free on Unsplash for 4 years

    Stairs in Coimbra, Portugal?—?one of the 460 image I uploaded on Unsplash

    This editorial was originally published on Medium, and is being republished in full on DPReview with express permission from Samuel Zeller. The views and opinions in this article are solely those of its author.

    What is Unsplash?

    Unsplash is a website where photographers can share high resolution images, making them publicly available for everyone for free even for commercial use. It was created in May 2013 by Stephanie Liverani, Mikael Cho and Luke Chesser in Montreal, Canada.

    Four months after creation they hit one million total downloads, and a year after they had more than a million downloads per month. Now there are 400,000+ high resolution images hosted on Unsplash, which are shared by 65,000+ photographers from all around the world.

    Last month 2,400 photographers joined Unsplash and shared 25,000 new images (not just snapshots, some really good photography).

    Here are a few examples:

    Visitors in the last month viewed 4 billion photos and pressed the download button 17 million times. The average Unsplash photo is viewed over 600,000 times and downloaded over 4000 times. No other social network can give you those numbers.

    Unsplash is massive, and it’s (currently) one of the best place to get visibility for your work as a photographer. Some of my most appreciated images were viewed over twelve million times and downloaded a little bit more than 125’000 times.

    Here are the top nine below:

    I receive 21 million views per month (677’000 per day) and 93’000 downloads (3000 per day). As a result, every day there’s one or two person that credit me on Twitter for an image they’ve used. I also get emails regularly and new backlinks to my website every week.

    And it’s not just for old users who’ve been sharing for a long time, here’s the stats from someone who joined Unsplash just three days ago:

    In total I’ve uploaded 460 images, they’ve been viewed over 255 million times and downloaded over 1.7 million times. Of course these are just numbers, but they are much more meaningful (and larger) than the likes you can get on Instagram or Facebook.

    Designers all around the world have been making album covers, posters, article headers, blog posts, adverts and billboards with my images on Unsplash. Like many photographers I chose to turn what was idle on my hard-drive into a useful resource for other creatives.

    Here’s a few examples:

    That’s not all, one of my first client (when I started as a freelancer in 2016) found me on Unsplash. They’re the biggest bank in Switzerland and I did four projects for them.

    One included spending a night at 3,571 m (11,716 ft) at the highest observatory in Europe, the Jungfraujoch Sphinx observatory to document it (full project visible here); the second one was much lower at the Zürich airport photographing below aircraft like the Airbus A340.

    The reason why they reached out to me? They were already using a few of my Unsplash images in their global database and wanted more in the same style.

    Fast forward to a few months ago, I landed a new client (a design firm) and at one of the meeting they introduce me to one of their designer. The guy said after hearing my name “I know you already, I’ve been using some of your images on Unsplash, they’re great.”

    The problem with social networks

    People, especially the new generation, are becoming incredibly lazy. Our attention span is lower than ever, and we get stuck in nasty dopamine loops—we literally need to check our phones multiple times a day.

    Social networks make us think we need to post new work often to get good engagement and get noticed, but the truth is great photographers take a year or more to publish new projects (for example Nick White “Black Dots” or Gregor Sailer “Closed cities”). Good work will always take time, and it will always get noticed.

    We all fight for attention, for likes, for numbers that will not bring us anything good. We are in that aspect devaluing our own craft by over-sharing—being tricked into becoming marketing tools for brands.

    The rise and fall of Instagram

    What will you do once Instagram becomes old school? I don’t know if you noticed, but Facebook are ruining the whole Instagram experience by bloating the UI and releasing features for brands.

    Here’s the user interface in March 2016 vs today on an iPhone 5/SE screen:

    Seriously, what the heck? I can’t even see the user images anymore when I land on their profile.

    Before Facebook bought it, the app was a simple, chronological photo-sharing service. Now they’re rolling out “recommended posts” from users you don’t even follow right into your feed. The suggested content will be based on what people you follow have liked (and probably on how much brands are paying to shove their ads right into your smartphone screens).

    By sharing on Instagram daily as a photographer you are basically expending a ton of effort to grow a following on a network that’s taking a wrong turn. It’s like trying to build a sand castle on a moving elevator—sure, it works. but it’s not the most effective use of your time.

    Not only is real engagement dropping, soon your reach will crumble unless you pay to promote your posts. I’m running an account with a little bit over 50,000 followers, and for a post that reach 25,000 people, only 170 of them will visit the account—the rest will just merely glance at the image for a second (maybe drop a like) and keep scrolling.

    People create accounts on Instagram, then stop using it after some time. Truth is, many of your followers are inactive by now, and most of the ones that are active don’t care enough about your work to even comment on it.

    What’s even worse is that Instagram makes photographers literally copy each other’s styles because only a few type of images can get better engagement and please the masses—think outdoorsy explorers taking pictures of forests from a drone or hanging their feet off a cliff. They’re diluting their work and style by focusing on what will grow their account.

    Followers are still valuable now, but in two to three years they’ll be worthless. There’s a ton more 50k+ accounts than two years ago. Brands are now looking into accounts with 100–150k to do collaborations. Instagram is a big bubble that will blow one day, and I don’t want to have all my eggs in the same basket when it happens.

    Would you take someone seriously if he told you, “I’m working on my Myspace/Flickr account every day! I got soooo many followers, I’m famous!”

    I have 16,500 followers on my personal Instagram account and I could close it any day. The reason why? I also have a newsletter with over 25,000 subscribers. Guess which is more valuable and long-lasting?

    Too many photographers today are forgetting that a portfolio, experience, publications and exhibitions are far more important than building up their following on a social network.

    There’s still a lot of good sides to Instagram, the community aspect to start with and also the fact that there’s not yet a proper contender to replace it. It’s still (to me) the best place to discover emerging photographers and get your dose of inspiration. There’s also a great deal of photography magazines that are actively curating work on it.

    The culture of the new

    That’s the big problem with photography online as curator and photographer Andy Adams explains, “It’s always about the new, which inevitably means the not new drops off our radars way sooner that it should.”

    Social networks like Instagram and Facebook are flawed for photographers for this particular reason. They are great for brands who can afford to hire social media managers and post regularly or sponsor content.

    There are other social networks that don’t rely on a feed but rather on search, for example Behance or EyeEm. Those are way better for photographers in the long term. They have a higher rate of discoverability.

    The images I share on Unsplash don’t lose value, in fact there’s no difference at all between a year old shot and a week old shot. Their value are not based on time. I could stop uploading new images and still have a lot of visibility every day. Try not posting on Instagram for a month…

    Here’s a real example, those two images below were shared on Unsplash in October 2014. Notice how they still gather a ton of views/download per month even after four years?

    Leaving a mark

    Last year in February I lost my dad to cancer—he was diagnosed just a month before in January. I wrote before on the concept of memory and digital data (See: the data we leave behind) but his sudden death made me realize how short life can be.

    We always say “we need to enjoy every moment, life is fragile,” but it’s impossible to understand it fully until you have lost someone close. My father had bookmarked my website, my Instagram account and my Unsplash account on his laptop, he was checking them often, he was probably my biggest fan.

    What’s left of him are memories but also his files on his computer—photos of him and his art (he was doing digital art and uploaded a lot of pieces on DeviantArt). I’m grateful to have all of this to remember him.

    As a photographer and artist I feel like it’s a necessity for me to also leave something behind, because we never know what will happen tomorrow.

    Having some of my images on Unsplash is one way to ensure that even if I’m gone my work will keep on living. Another way is through prints and books. Speaking of which, I’m finishing my first book that will be published in April by Hoxton Mini Press.

    Photography isn’t about making money as a freelance photographer, it’s also a part of us, stories of where we traveled, visual tales of our singular experiences with life. I choose to share it as much as possible because I can.

    There’s one last reason why I share photographs for free and Josh summed it up very nicely in one of his Medium article, here’s what he wrote:

    “Beauty has always been free. It came in the box with sunlight and eyeballs. It was granted to us upon birth as we first laid eyes upon our beautiful mothers and then mother Earth. For those of us with extreme empathy and a wide-eyed approach to seeing the world, finding the beautiful all around us and capturing it is a deep and glorious honor. Yes, you can have that image at the top for free?—?perhaps not because it has no value, but because I simply want you to see what I can see. I want to share in the joy of this world’s beauty. The image, in that scenario, is only a document of our mutual appreciation for it. And maybe taking money off the table in that discussion is actually what helps it remain beautiful.”

    Josh S. Rose

    What’s next

    I feel like Unsplash is just the beginning of a new era of photography. It’s thrilling to be able to grow with it.

    I was born in 1990 just before the world wide web, and I’ve seen how technology evolved for the past twenty years. I’m afraid of how addicted we have become to it. How fast paced things have become. We need more generosity, community based efforts, human curation and less algorithms driven by the need of profit. We need to slow down.

    Some projects are trying to focus more rewarding artists instead of advertisers, and Ello is one of them. I’ve made the decision to stop using my personal Instagram account and switch to their social network.

    But that’s a topic for a different article.

    Samuel Zeller is a freelance photographer based in Switzerland, an ambassador for Fujifilm and the editor of Fujifeed magazine. You can contact him here and follow his recent work on his website and Ello.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)