Nikon has launched the Coolpix S01, a miniature compact camera built around tiny 10MP sensor. The S01 uses a 1/3″-type CCD sensor – a size more commonly found in smartphones to allow it to offer a 29-87mm equivalent zoom in a device just 77 x 51 x 17mm in size (3.1 x 2.1 x 0.7″). It features a 2.5″, 230k dot touchscreen and uses a built-in battery (rated at around 190 shots) and 7.3 GB of internal memory. It will cost around $ 179.99.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The Fair can provide some exciting photographic opportunities ranging from the crowds, multicolored lights, vendor and game booths, strange and exotic food, farm animals and of course, the rides! Taking pictures of people at the Fair can be rewarding, but often this is frowned upon by the subject (unless you know them) and even worse, Fair Security. Keeping your focus to the rides is a safe bet. Getting gear through the front gate has not been a problem for me (including a tripod and full backpack). It is a good idea to check restrictions before arriving loaded to the gills with equipment – you may be making an extra trip back to your car after being denied entry by security.
© Erik Kerstenbeck
Any camera with the capability of Manual Settings will allow you to experiment with capturing movement. Using slow shutter speeds allows the moving subject to blur which creates a sense of speed. Experimenting with different shutter speeds will be necessary depending on the velocity of the moving object and its motion with respect to the camera. Don’t worry too much about this – just try a few different settings, preview the results and make adjustments on the fly.
The twilight hour is often best for this type of photography. One can still capture a properly exposed sky and the multicolored lights as they sparkle to life. Having something other than a pitch black sky will add depth to your images as well as a pleasing background. This time is short, so plan ahead for your shot. After this period, the sky will be black, so no need to rush your other work, just compose, experiment and recompose. One of the challenges of shooting at the fair, aside from the camera adjustments, is getting a good shot of the rides, without the crowds. One way to do this is to find the rides Exit ramp and set up close to there. This is the least frequented area as crowds gather at the Entrance. If possible, find a low perspective and shoot up and with a wide-angle lens. This will also eliminate any distractions. Keep in mind, with slow shutter speeds, people can walk through your shot without much effect (provided they don’t stand in front). Sometimes having a “ghost” or two also makes for an interesting image enhancement.
This image was taken at the 2012 San Diego County Fair. Here the goal was to capture two types of motion; linear from The Sphinx and rotational from the s[pinning ride in the background. To capture this image, I mounted a Nikon D7000 on a Manfrotto tripod, equipped with Sigma 10-20mm wide-angle and cabled shutter release I carefully composed and experimented with shutter speed until I got what I wanted. To freeze the Sphinx, I used a single off camera Nikon SB600 Speedlight. There is no need to worry about White Balance, just set to Auto and correct in post (keeping in mind to always shoot in RAW).
–
Erik Kerstenbeck is a San Diego Landscape and Portrait Photographer
Olympus has released the SP-820UZ and SP720UZ – the latest in its long-running Ultrazoom series of superzoom cameras. Both are 14MP CMOS-based cameras featuring 1080p movie capture and 460k dot 3″ LCDs. The SP-820UZ features a 40x, 22.4-896mm equivalent lens and takes AA batteries. The SP-720UZ is built around a shorter, 26x, 26-676mm equivalent zoom lens. Both models feature sensor-shift image stabilization, can control Eye-Fi wireless SD cards and can automatically shoot pictures when a pet looks directly at them. Olympus US has only announced the SP-820UZ.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Als ich anfing, zu fotografieren, verbrachte ich oft die Zeit damit, mich in Zeitschriften oder Foren über Fotografie zu informieren. Um es gleich vorwegzunehmen: Heute weiß ich, dass ich bessere Zeitschriften hätte lesen sollen und dass es in Foren ungewöhnlich viele Experten gibt. Wortsammlungen wie „knackige Schärfe“, „super Autofokus“ oder „tolle Haptik“ schienen damals so etwas wie eine Art Elfmeter für gute Fotos zu sein.
Dem ist natürlich mitnichten so. Irgendwann ist mir klar geworden, dass ein guter Autofokus und eine hervorragende Schärfenabbildung für viele Fotos meines Geschmackes eher unbedeutend sind.
Hätte ich dieses Foto mit einer kürzeren Belichtungszeit aufgenommen, so dass alles scharf gewesen wäre, hätte das gleiche Objekt möglicherweise eine ganz andere Wirkung auf den Betrachter gehabt. Achtung, nun folgen Mutmaßungen: Vermutlich hätte es Leute gegeben, die darauf geachtet hätten, ob der Bart vernünftig geschnitten ist, die Augenbrauen gezupft wurden, wie die Haare liegen oder welche Form mein Kopf hat.
Da der Betrachter durch die Unschärfe jedoch weniger Informationen zur Verfügung hat, lässt er das Bild anders auf sich wirken. Man könnte auch sagen: Unschärfe betrachtet man im Ganzen, Schärfe im Detail.
Zweifellos braucht es auch Fotos, bei denen Schärfe zwingend notwendig ist, so kann man mit einem unscharfen Fliegen-Makro nur wenige Leute begeistern. Jedoch möchte ich hiermit so manchen Leser auch zum Nachdenken anregen. Muss immer alles perfekt sein? Ist es nicht manchmal viel wichtiger für ein Foto, was es transportieren kann?
Nur, weil die Werbung für eine Kamera oder ein Objektiv meint, dass es von höchster Güte sei und ganz besonders tolle Abbildungsleistungen aufbieten kann, müssen wir noch lange nicht solche scheinbar perfekten Fotos machen. Alles andere als perfekt ist das folgendes Foto. Licht fällt in den Rücken, Gesicht dunkel, die Heizung mag auch stören.
Es gefällt mir trotzdem. Geschmacksache? Ja, bestimmt! Aber was ist nun wieder Geschmack, kann jemand ohne Geschmack behaupten, dass es nicht sein Geschmack ist? Geschmack hin oder her, wichtig ist, was man selbst mag, ob mit oder ohne ich schreib das Wort jetzt nicht noch einmal ist dann am Ende egal.
Sicherlich ist es sinnvoll und auch wichtig, über Fotos zu sprechen, aber warum muss zusätzlich immer soviel über die Technik diskutiert werden? Die Frage nach der Ausrüstung ist an sich noch nicht zu verteufeln, die Gewichtung darauf jedoch schon. Bemerkenswert finde ich, wie oft Objektive empfohlen werden, obwohl man selbst noch kein anderes Objektiv der gleichen Brennweite in der Hand hatte. Getreu dem Motto: „Das habe ich auch und kann es daher nur empfehlen.“
Stattdessen sollten wir uns mehr über Bildaufbau, Perspektive und Lichteinsatz unterhalten. Das hilft gerade Anfängern oftmals viel mehr, als ihnen mit Tech-Talks Kopfschmerzen zu bereiten, weil sie nicht wissen, ob sie sich jetzt das Nikon 50mm 1.4. L Planar oder doch lieber die Canon D700 von ihrem Ersparten kaufen sollen.
Was ist richtig, was ist falsch?
Auf diese Frage kann es keine Antwort geben. Es wird Betrachter geben, die es stört, dass die Person auf dem Foto nicht scharf abgebildet ist und andere werden sagen, dass es dadurch erst interessant wird. Ein Dogma, das aussagt, dass ein unscharfes Foto in Tonne gehört, wird es bei mir jedenfalls nicht geben.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin
What role does patience play in your photography? Do you rush from one location to another? Do you contemplate and prepare, or do you count on chance?
In his new essay, Dynamic Patience – The Essential Photographic Skill, photographer Bors Vesterby shares with us some insights on these questions.
Sales always slow down in the summer. We wanted to do something to motivate you to spend a bit, here on your favourite web site.
So, we’re doing a give-away. Every order for one of our download videos – tutorials as well as Video Journals, entitles you to a chance to win a new Olympus O-MD E-M5 camera, one of the hottest cameras of the year.
This contest is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. All you need to do is purchase something. Come on. Don’t just sit there – make a purchase and become eligible to win!
…
The Luminous Landscape – What’s New
This article was written by Andrew S Gibson, the author of Understanding Lenses: Part I, and is the second in a series of lessons about camera lenses. You can read the first article link to first article here.
If you were to only ever use one lens a wide-angle would be an excellent choice. For many years, before I switched to digital, I used a 24mm lens almost exclusively with a simple film SLR. I loved that lens because it helped me take many beautiful and dramatic images.
The good news is that you can do the same with your wide-angle lenses, or the widest focal lengths on a kit lens. All that’s needed is an understanding of how to make the most out of that wonderful piece of glass attached to your camera.
A wide-angle lens provides a wider angle of view that what you can see with your own eyes. On a full-frame or film camera that’s any focal length wider than about 40mm. On an APS-C camera that’s focal lengths wider than around 25mm, or 20mm with the micro four-thirds format.
Wide-angle lenses have a couple of characteristics that you can exploit to take better photos:
Here are my tips for making the most out of your wide-angle lenses. If you’ve got any tips of your own, why not add them to the comments? I’m curious to see how readers use their wide-angles, and I’m expecting some links to some amazing images.
This applies primarily to landscape photography. It’s a good idea to make sure there is something interesting in the foreground for the viewer to look at. Otherwise there may be too much empty space and the image becomes boring. The photo above is a good example. Can you imagine how it would look without the people in the foreground? Without the human figures, there is no photo – just a monotonous expanse of white.
Wide-angle lenses let you take portraits and include the model’s surroundings at the same time. It’s a technique used by portrait, documentary and fashion photographers to tell a story. The setting is just as interesting as the person in the photo. It’s the opposite approach of using a telephoto lens and a wide aperture to blur the background.
It’s been done dozens of times before, but I couldn’t resist trying it for myself. To create this photo I attached my camera to a tripod, leant the whole thing against the passenger seat and wrapped the tripod and camera straps around the seat to hold it steady. I drove around our local area at dusk using a remote release to take photos.
Wide-angle lenses are idea for taking photos in any enclosed space, where it would be impossible to capture an image with a longer focal length.
Lines are a powerful compositional tool. The lines in this image take the viewer’s eye from the front of the image to the back and the mountains on the horizon. The wide-angle lens exaggerates the sense of scale and adds to the power of the lines. Training yourself to look for lines, and exploiting them in your photos with a wide-angle lens will help you create more dramatic images.
In a similar way to exploiting line, you can tip your camera backwards when taking photos of buildings to utilise the effect of converging verticals to add drama and interest to the image. You can tip the camera back a little, like I’ve done here, or a lot to get a snail’s eye view and really take advantage of the effect.
Wide-angle lenses help you place a human element in a landscape photo. Here, the people in this seascape are small in the frame, adding a sense of scale and mystery. I asked my model to remain still throughout the 30 second exposure, so the sea and the children playing on the rocks in the distance were rendered as a blur.
Finally, wide-angle lenses are also useful for documentary photography. I took this photo during a parade in a remote town in South America. The wide-angle lens helped me capture the scene by fitting lots into the frame. The lens was fairly small, so I was able to take photos without anybody taking any notice of me. I stopped down so accurate focusing wasn’t critical which gave me the freedom to concentrate on composition and capturing the moment.
If you liked this article then take a look at my latest eBook, Understanding Lenses: Part I – A guide to Canon wide-angle and kit lenses. If you hurry, you’ll get a discount – scroll down for details.
In the next lesson I’m going to look at lens aberrations – what they are and how to correct them in-camera or in Raw processing.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
7 Ways to Get More Out of a Wide-angle Lens
Is your laptop screen too bright, even though you have the settings turned all the way down? Here’s a general tip on how to dim your screen even more.
While many people have the opposite problem, not being able to read a laptop screen in the sunlight or a well-lit area, others may find their laptop screen way too bright. If you are in a coffee shop or other area and don’t want everyone from all the way across the room read what you are typing*, the following general tip may help for Windows 7 users.
Note that this tip provides general suggestions that may or may not work based on your laptop configuration. Some with the exact same laptop configuration as the author may find that this tip exactly points to where to adjust the brightness; others may need to look around their system settings some….
Read more at MalekTips.
New Computer and Technology Help and Tips – MalekTips.Com
Nikon has revealed the Coolpix 7700 a CMOS-based enthusiast compact camera with class-leading zoom lens. Its 28-200mm lens has a maximum aperture range of F2.0-4.0, making it a whole stop brighter than its predecessor, the P7100’s. The P7700 is built around a 1/1.7″-type 12MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor, enabling 1080p30 video and 8fps shooting. The bigger lens means there’s no room for an optical viewfinder but the P7700 gains a flip-out swivel LCD instead. We’ve had a chance to handle the P7700 and have prepared a preview looking at the changes.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The New Klout Dashboard
Klout. Most of my friends tell me that they never check Klout, but secretly I know they all do. The website so many love to hate. Why do people hate it? Mostly because people don’t like the idea of a company presenting their value to the world based on something as superficial as popularity, even worse, *online* popularity. We are individuals, damnit, not a score on a website.
People also hate the idea that they are being judged by a number from a company that gets an awful lot of things wrong about you. Stories pop up about people getting turned down for jobs because their Klout score wasn’t high enough and this makes our eyes bleed red.
Most of all though, people hate the idea of Klout because it means work. The way to get your Klout score higher is to do more work, work, work on your social media accounts. Ugh. We barely have time as it is. People complain that they can’t go on vacation because they worry about their Klout score going down if they don’t tweet enough. Lame.
In the same way that folks groan when yet another social network comes along that they feel compeled to maintain, they dislike the idea that now they are going to have to put even *more* work into their existing networks in order to keep on top of yet one more thing.
Especially if someone is in PR or evangelism or marketing or advertising or really promotion of any kind for a living, they worry that that Klout could affect their perceived value in the marketplace. If someone is really, really good at PR (maybe even *because* they are not wasting time on Twitter 24 hours a day) do they really deserve that low score of 32?
For all these reasons Klout has a lot of haters out there. I’m not really one of the Klout haters though (even if they did recently downgrade my score from 86 to 78). I think free stuff (as long as it’s disclosed) is sort of cool. You’ll never see me say no to that free sample from the Costco lady handing out those sea salt and vinegar chips. I got a free airline ticket and a free computer from Klout. Klout gave me a Klout tshirt when I showed up at their cool SOMA offices to pick up the computer.
Klout Analyzes My Most Influential Social Media Posts in the Last 90 Days
Michael Arrington blogged that earlier this year he wrote a post titled “My Detailed Thoughts On Klout” that contained a single word in the post itself: “Why?” — but now Michael Arrington has had a change of heart and has actually invested money into Klout.
I spent some time poking around the new Klout preview today and I think Arrington may be on to something.
Klout still gets a lot of things wrong. It says Verizon and Sprint influence me when they don’t. It thinks I’m influential about Friendfeed, even though Facebook bought them what feels like eons ago. It bases 60% of my score on Facebook, 14% of my score on Google+ and 0% of my score based on Flickr. My Google+ account is much more active than my Facebook account and I’m pretty active on Flickr too.
However.
Despite these flaws I think the new Klout may be the start of something much bigger than free moo cards. I think Klout could potentially become a powerful aggregator of the most engaged and popular media published across all networks by your friends. More than anything, to me the new Klout is starting to feel like a content discovery system in progress.
Kelli Seeger Kim’s Influential Moments From the Past 90 Days
Brad Sloan’s Influential Moments from the Last 90 Days
The new Klout has a new feature called “These are your influential moments from the past 90 days.” Here Klout tries to rank my content across various networks based on engagement. In my case they don’t do a very good job across all networks, it’s mostly all Facebook stuff when I’ve had more engagement on my G+ stuff, but it’s a start. They did cherry pick out some of my most highly engaged Facebook content.
Klout already knows who I follow on Twitter. They also already know who my Facebook friends are. I’ve also created a few lists on Klout which are likely some of my strongest relationships. So Klout knows a lot of the people who are important to me. They are also indexing the most engaging content by *these* folks as well on all platforms.
Now, how much harder would it be for Klout to mash up all of the most popular content by all of my Facebook Friends, Flickr Friends, folks I follow on G+, people I follow on Twitter, etc. and present me a feed of the most popular content by all of these folks across all platforms in a single feed?
What if… I then had a slider that I could use to set the time critera — the most engaged posts by my friends in the last 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, week, month, whatever. Klout could also analyze my cross platform relationships and my frequency interaction with various contacts to further refine and rank a Facebook type algorithm for what I might want to see.
There is no cross platform feed like this that exists today. Flickr has Explore where they aggregate popular content indiscriminately across all of Flickr, but it’s lame. It’s all stuff by people I don’t know and don’t care about and has tons of watermarks that I hate.
What if Klout gave me a personalized version of Flickr Explore, mashed up with my facebook feed, mashed up with a personalized “what’s hot” on G+ and the most popular tweets by my friends.
Klout’s new feed of my own popular content feels much more like a Facebook, G+ or Flickrstream feed than anything. Big, oversized versions of my photos and posts filtered by popularity.
Klout is suddenly starting to feel a little more interesting to me. How cool would it be if, in addition to claiming my perk box of Little Debbie honey bun snack cakes, I could also stay on top of all the best content by all my friends across all networks. That would be quite the pivot if they could pull it off.
Hey, Free Moo Cards!
In Arrington’s post about Klout he shares part of an email exchange he had with Klout CEO Joe Fernandaz, “In the end, my goal is to build a product that goes beyond the gimmicks and drives real value for everyone. I believe that every person who creates content online has influence to some group of people and on some topic. Everyone also wants to feel listened to and interesting and I think we can do this in a way that empowers people to become better, more effective, online citizens.”
A personalized, cross platform, engagement ranked and relationship weighted media feed sounds like it could fit right in with Fernandez’s description of the new Klout. Or maybe I should just lay off the crack pipe for a while.
Klout Knows Who My Facebook and Twitter Friends Are
Thomas Hawk Digital Connection
Websites that list where you can get even more free electronic e-mail Inboxes.
Looking for another free e-mail account? You may know about the most popular services such as Gmail from Google, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail.
However, if you need more addresses, desire variety, or are concerned about privacy practices, the following web sites contain lists of providers of free electronic mail. Some providers are web-based, others support POP3. Some allow large attachments, and a few even let you store seemingly unlimited amounts of e-mail on their servers for free. Remember that you get what you pay for – services can go up and down on a moment’s notice, but hey, it’s free e-mail!…
Read more at MalekTips.
New Computer and Technology Help and Tips – MalekTips.Com
You must be logged in to post a comment.