It seems that Olympus might be planning to jump on the wearable camera bandwagon with a device that looks similar to Google’s ‘Glass’. A newly published Oly patent (JP2013/075623) describes a wearable device that comes with either one or two transparent screens in front of the wearer’s eye. Click through for more information on connect.dpreview.com.
Amazon has scheduled a product launch for later this month at its headquarters in Seattle, WA. We are not being told what type of device we should expect but Amazon has started to tease the new model with a picture of one of its corners and a video showing users looking down at a device and reacting with statements like “It moved with me”. The teaser seems to support rumors from late last year that Amazon could be planning a smartphone with a 3D eye-tracking user interface using multiple cameras. Click through for more information at connect.dpreview.com.
Offered in 160W ($ 70) or 300W ($ 100) power intensities, Adorama’s Budget Studio Monolights are geared toward studio photographers who are just starting out and are constrained by modest budgets. At a fraction of the price of professional heads, can the Flashpoint Budget Studio lights do the job? Find out in our review
We’re pleased to announce the creation of two new forums. ‘DIY and Photo Experiments’ is the place to show off your photography-related DIY projects, discuss homemade solutions to hardware problems and share photo experiments with other dpreview users. If it’s safe, legal, and you figured it out yourself, this is the place to show it off. Meanwhile, ‘Underwater Photography’ is the place to share and discuss – yes, you guessed it – all things related to taking pictures underwater. Click though for more information
The inside of a dishwasher isn’t the most likely place you’d think of putting a rugged action camera, but that’s exactly what one GoPro Hero 3 owner has done. The camera, along with a couple of light sources and an assortment of dishes, made the trip through a full wash cycle. The resulting video is surprisingly entertaining. See video
The Sony World Photography Awards are now accepting entries for 2015. The contest is open to professionals and amateurs alike, from anywhere in the world. Submissions will be accepted until early January 2015 for four different competitions: Open, Professional, Youth and Student Focus with a number of categories in each group. Winners receive cash prizes and Sony gear. Read more
If you like most things about HTC’s current flagship smartphone, the One M8, but are, like ourselves, a little disappointed with its 4MP camera, HTC might just have launched the right phone for you. The HTC One E8 takes most of the M8’s components, wraps them up in a polycarbonate unibody frame instead of the M8’s brushed metal hull and provides a more conventional camera module. The E8 replaces the flagship’s Duo Cam with a 13 megapixel, 1/3-inch BSI CMOS sensor and F2.2 maximum aperture lens. Read more
Upcoming fashion and sports photographer, Yannick Wolff has generously taken time to offer some of his tips for executing energetic action photos as seen in his Swimming story with German Olympic swimmer, Yannick Lebherz. Yannick kindly shares his best tips for those who want to be successful in sports fashion photography:
1) Be familiar with the models sporting background, he says “You really should inform yourself about your model and especially about the sport the model is doing.”
2) Get resourceful and creative to make your pictures stand out, “You have to add something special (for example smoke, water, great angle of view…) in your picture what makes the difference between your pictures and the work of other photographers, especially if you don´t have a mind blowing location.”
3) Engage with the model to capture his or her sporting spirit, “You have to capture the passion that your model/athlete is following.”
4) For photographers starting out who are interested in getting into sports fashion photography, Yannick recommends that you should inform yourself about different sports to work out what you like and to be able to relate to a range of potential clients in the sporting industry.
5) Yannick suggests that you visualize and have some framework around how you want the shoot to look like. Think about what could be interesting to take pictures of. How can you make that sport look interesting?
6) Networking plays a big part in booking shoots. According to Yannick, speaking the athlete’s managers or even the athletes themselves is achievable and doable. He says, “Athletes and their management are quite cool, so just give them a call and ask for an athlete to shoot a free/personal project with.”
7) Practice makes perfect. When asked how much time needs to be taken to become proficient in sports fashion photography, the photographer pondered on the question and said “That’s quite hard to say. I think it depends on how often you are able to shoot some athletes. Of course you have to try different things in lightning and other stuff. Some upcoming photographers need 8 years, some of them just 2-3”. So it’s a matter of persistence.
8) The skills that you gain from sports fashion photography can translate into other areas of photography regardless of experience in the field.
9) Get equipped and use short flashes to capture action shots. I asked Yannick what photographic equipment he used to create his “Swimming” story with German Olympic swimmer Yannick Lebherz he answered that “We had to use a flash with a very short flash duration. The Elinchrom Ranger was the perfect equipment for this shoot. The story was shot with my Nikon D700 right before I bought the D800.”
10) Find your voice & get inspired. Yannick’s last secret to share about sports fashion photography, he imparts these last words “Be different and get yourself some inspiration of other photographers work.”
To find out more information about Yannick Wolf’s “Swimming” story check out our interview with him in this article or look up his website (www.yannickwolff.com), there is a small behind the scenes video of this shoot as well(posted above) as well as his Facebook Page (www.fb.com/yannickwolffphotography). What do you think of Yannick’s tips? If you would like to comment or include one of your own please post it in the comments section below.
Credits “SWIMMING”
Photographer: Yannick Wolff (www.yannickwolff.com)
Athlete: Yannick Lebherz (German olympic team/London 2012)
Assistant: Kai-Philipp Nosper / Roman Paeske
Instagram is one of the most popular image filter and sharing apps for mobile devices but its feature set has remained almost unchanged since it was introduced, with a relatively small number of effects, and little control over them. The latest version 6 update to the Android and iOS versions of Instagram now offers control over filter strength and a range of new editing options, including brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation, highlights, shadows and vignette. Click through to read more at connect.dpreview.com
Adobe has made Camera Raw and DNG Converter 8.5 release candidates available for download. A short list of cameras are added for ACR support including the Canon Powershot G1 X Mark II, Olympus OM-D E-M10 and the Panasonic GH4 (with preliminary support). Camera Raw 8 users with Photoshop CS6 will get new camera support, lens profiles and bug fixes, but a few new features are added for Photoshop CC subscribers. Read more