Korean lens manufacturer Samyang has announced two versions of a new 100mm macro lens. The 100mm F2.8 ED UMC Macro is designed for stills photographers, while the 100mm T3.1 VDSLR ED UMC Macro is aimed at those shooting video. The lenses are essentially the same internally, using 15 elements in 12 groups but the VDSLR version is fitted with an uncoupled aperture ring and gears around both aperture and focus controls. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
This image, titled “Star Gazers”, won Grand Prizes at the 2015 Shoot the Hills photo competition. Held in the Hocking Hills region near Logan, Ohio, this competition takes place the 3rd weekend every April. 160 photographers from several states participated this year.
I initially came up with the idea for this shot over a year earlier, but my first attempt at the image failed miserably. (see below)
If I had checked the histogram I would have noticed that the image was extremely under-exposed with all the data pushed up against the left side of the histogram.
Sometimes it takes some trial and error to achieve the results you are looking for in an image. Improvisation may be required when unforeseen issues change shooting conditions. Many factors need to fall together for it to be possible to create an image such as this one. After waiting until 2 a.m. for the clouds to clear, it was finally time to capture the image I had pre-visualized nearly a year earlier. Because the cloud cover remained near the horizon, it became necessary to change the angle of view to capture the higher, clearer sky. This adjustment also made it necessary to change the focal length from the 18mm I had planned to 50mm. One of the rules of the Shoot the Hills photo competition is that all images must be submitted straight out of the camera, so getting everything right in the camera is a must. Here are some additional factors required to capture such an image:
Histogram for the final winning shot. Notice how the histogram stretches back almost into the mid-tones, with a little info clear back into the highlights, which represent the stars and rim lighting.
I wanted to keep the shutter speed at 30 seconds for two reasons. First, that is the longest shutter speed most cameras allow without having to set them to bulb, and manually doing a timed exposure. Secondly, I didn’t want the stars to become extremely blurry. Using the histogram, I determined my exposure with my focal length at 50mm to be; aperture at f/5 and ISO set to 2000, which I had predetermined was the highest ISO I could use, and still be able to minimize the amount of digital noise. As mentioned earlier, do not rely on the camera’s LED screen to determine exposure. In fact, in the dark the LED screen will look really bright when the image is actually extremely underexposed. To remedy this problem, turn the brightness down on you LED screen, if this setting is available. But always use the histogram to get the best exposure setting. If the histogram is all pushed over to the left side, the image is going to be underexposed.
Since I was also one of the subjects in the images, I used one remote to begin the exposure, and another to trigger the flash.
After experimenting with several preset white balances I decided to set a custom white balance of 2560 Kelvin, to give the image a cool blue colored sky.
Focusing a camera in the dark is one of the most challenging parts of creating a night shot under the stars. Here are some tips to set focus for night images:
For this image I used back button focusing, and a flash light to set my focus.
The setup for this shot was at the top of a steep hill which came to a point. With the subjects at the very top, the camera was placed on a tripod below, and aimed upward at the subjects and the starry sky in the background. The off-camera flash was placed on a tripod on the other side of the hill and aimed upward at the subjects. The flash and tripod had to be placed low enough on other side of the hill, so that the actual flash did not show in the image.
Henry Ford once said that “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” When an image idea fails, take a look at what went wrong and then look for solutions to improve the image, return to the scenario and try it again. From my first unsuccessful attempt to capture star-gazers, the need to freeze the subjects and prevent the blurring, led me to try the off-camera flash technique. The back-lighting and a year’s experience made all the difference between a failed shot and a winner!
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The post Adding an Off-Camera Flash to Create a Winning Image by Bruce Wunderlich appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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Silhouette shots are one of those styles that seem super easy, but are honestly difficult to get “just right.”
The Phoblographer wrote about three things to keep in mind when shooting silhouette shots, and we think they’re spot-on excellent advice!
Check out the Phoblographer’s perfectly put article here!
Photo by Chris Gampat
© Erin for Photojojo, 2015. |
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We first became acquainted with Adam Woodworth when we featured his portfolio earlier this year. His photos capture the interplay between the earthly and the celestial, often framing the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in alignment with landscape formations. Recently, he’s been trying out Nikon’s D810A, the world’s first full frame camera dedicated to astrophotography. See some of his photos and find out his impressions on using it. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
We’ve just added some more images to our Canon EOS 5DS R sample gallery. While we’re working through our extensive Canon lens catalog, for this update we stuck to telephoto and portrait lenses. Check out the gallery for some additional portraits (including samples from the Zeiss Otus 85mm F1.4) and vintage race car shots. See gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]
File this dramatic cliff-hanging, swimming-pool-topped home called Casa Brutale under ‘fit for a villain in every possible way.’ Practically begging to be used as a base for unsavory characters in a film, this concrete residence set into the craggy hills overlooking the Aegean Sea is surprisingly modest and spare, free of flashy luxuries.
It doesn’t need to show off, really, when its very existence in this location packs such a powerful visual impact. You enter the home from a stairway on the ground level, descending into an interior that’s shielded from the sky only by the glass-bottomed swimming pool.
Anyone who swims in the pool is instantly turned into entertainment for the people watching from below, and the watery reflections cast over every surface are the main defining characteristic of the simple, open interior spaces. The entire cliff-facing facade is also made of glass further opens the home to the shimmer of water, this time from the sea.
OPA (Open Platform for Architecture) clearly heard the cries of ‘James Bond villain lair’ when their initial drawings were released, so they’ve worked a nod or two into the new renderings, including a requisite Ferrari.
“Case Brutale is a geometrical translation of the landscape,” say the architects. “It is an unclad statement on the simplicity and harmony of contemporary architecture. It is a chameleonic living space, created to serve its owner and respect the environment… in literal groundbreaking integration, Casa Brutal penetrates the landscape.”
Swim to the edge of an infinity pool that feels as if it’s going to pour right out into the sea, or stand on a glass-walled balcony hanging off a …
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Until recently, this indoor swimming pool on the vacant ground floor of a 1970s apartment building in Tokyo was just an empty space, dry and disused for years. …
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Only the uppermost portion of this ambitious five-level home is visible when approaching from land, preserving the views for others and making for one dramatic …
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]
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Ein Beitrag von: Oliver Koch
Einzigartigkeit. Freiheit. Danach streben viele mit mehr oder weniger Erfolg.? So auch ich. Für vier Jahre lebte und arbeitete ich in Düsseldorf. Eine Stadt, die mir mit ihrer konservativen Oberflächlichkeit vieles verwehrte. Ebenso wie die Branche, in der ich arbeitete.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
Photoshop can be extremely intimidating to learn, but once you start to get a grasp on some of the tools it has to offer, you’ll wonder how you ever processed photographs without it. If there’s one area of Photoshop that is both extremely confusing, and yet, extremely powerful when harnessed properly, it’s got to be the collection of blend modes. While this article won’t cover all of the options available within Photoshop, it should give you a good place to start your journey into using Photoshop blend modes.
To simplify the process of trying to learn all 27 blend modes at once below, let’s learn about the three most versatile blend modes Photoshop has to offer.
In all the example photographs below I’ll be using two layers to demonstrate the different effects of each of the three blend modes. The top layer is simply a white, gray, black layer and the bottom layer is the same image placed under those three colors.
White, gray, black layer.
This blend mode falls within the “Darken” group and therefore it is considering 100% white a neutral. The basic math behind how this blend mode works is that the dark pixels of the background layer are multiplied with those of the foreground layer and combined. Therefore the result you end up with is an overall darkening of the image, as the dark pixels within both layers become more significant while the light pixels are essentially removed.
As you can see in the 50% gray layer, the darker pixels from the gray foreground layer are helping to darken the layer below it.
This blend mode is great for creating shadows or removing bright pixels from an underlying layer. It can be used in conjunction with a curves adjustment layer to add additional darkness to a layer. By effecting the dark end of the curve this can become really handy when trying to emphasize shadows, or darken an image.
As mentioned above, the lighten group sets black as neutral and therefore when we use the screen blend mode the black layer has no effect, 100% white stays as white and the 50% gray is somewhere in the middle.
In a similar mathematical method to the Multiply blend mode the screen blend mode is multiplying the light pixels of both the foreground and background layers to achieve the final blend. As you can see in the above example, at 50% gray the light pixels are made even lighter as the bright pixels of the gray layer are multiplied with those of the layer below it.
The Screen blend mode is therefore great for removing darkness from an image or can even be used to create soft glow effects around a subject.
Here the formula used by Photoshop is essentially both that of the Multiply and Screen blend modes, then that effect is divided by two. What this means is that you’ll be darkening the dark pixels and lightening the light pixels, and then dividing the end result by two (or 50% of full strength). What ends up happening is an overall increase in contrast of the image
As a result, the Soft Light blend mode, is a great way to add a bit of contrast to an image. For an even stronger effect – use the Overlay blend mode.
One of the best techniques for using this technique is to duplicate your layer and apply the Soft Light blend mode to that layer. You’ll se an instant increase in contrast which can then be fine tuned with the opacity slider of your duplicated layer.
Original – (placed as Full Size 750 x 378)
The original image was a bit on the flat side, so by duplicating this layer, and changing it Soft Light blend mode, you’ll notice an increase in contrast. This higher contrast look works well with the rocks, and graffiti wall behind the model.
Duplicated with Soft Light blend mode
To take it a step further, a Curves Adjustment Layer was added above the duplicate layer and the blend mode was set to multiply. A layer mask was then applied to this Curves layer to reveal it only over the model’s upper body and face. By applying this small adjustment you’ll notice a bit more definition in the face and shadows.
Curves adjustment + Multiply blend mode added to model’s face and upper torso to add definition and shadow detail.
These three Photoshop Blend modes are just the beginning, but the key to learning a program the size and depth of Photoshop, is to take it in bite sized pieces or you’ll get frustrated and give up quickly. I hope that by focusing your attention to just these three blend modes you’ll be able to digest the program a bit easier.
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The post The First 3 Photoshop Blend Modes You Need to Understand by John Davenport appeared first on Digital Photography School.
[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]
Rejecting the idea that storage furniture needs to be hyper-functional above all, these innovative bookcases, credenzas, wardrobes, tables and shelves put the focus on unusual shapes and unexpected uses. These exceptionally well-designed storage solutions stand out, whether by hiding compartments in novel places, stacking modules in new ways or making a visual statement as sculpture.
Opening in Waves
Why should every item of storage furniture open via drawers and doors? ‘Wave’ by Sebastian Errazuriz turns the process of retrieving and replacing your stored items into a sort of artistic display with credenzas and armoires that open in entirely unexpected ways. “I don’t know where the line is between art and design,” he says. “It’s important to me that a project consist of just a little twist, because I ultimately want people to see the obvious, the everyday differently.”
Architecture As a Cabinet
OMA’s monumental CCTV headquarters building is recreated in furniture form by designer Nathan Li, turning it into a combination bench and storage case with cutouts in the wood mimicking the structure’s gridded glass facade.
Pin Press Storage
This pin press design by OOO My Design brings a childhood toy into full-scale as a functional item. Press the pins in any which way you want to create little pockets in custom sizes and shapes, perfectly fitting whatever objects you need to store.
Storage As a Perfectly Stacked Sculpture
Everyone who’s ever packed a moving truck as full as it can possibly get or jammed a bunch of stuff into a closet knows that the problem with this carefully Tetris’ed design lies in the fact that once you take something out, getting it back the way it was is near impossible. Still, it’s an impressive example of compressing a whole lot of stuff into the smallest possible space (and is actually a sculptural installation by Michael Johansson rather than a real storage cabinet.)
Table with Secret Storage
Virtually every compartment built into this wooden table by Naoki Hirakoso opens in a different way, so as you feel along the visible seams trying to open them, you’ll have to alternately push, pull, slide and lift. The seams produce abstract lines when the piece is fully closed.
Your cabinets, chests and dressers should be exciting and stylish ways to stow your belongings – and here are 15 examples that will make you do at least a …
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Using a system of large sliding doors and functional-filled drawers to transform a maid’s quarters into a whole home, this small-footprint apartment in …
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Slide out the kitchen or bedroom when you need it and file it away when you’re done with this clever transforming modular interior series.
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[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]
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GoPro has introduced the HERO4 Session, a cube-shaped waterproof camera that is half the size of and 40% lighter than its other HERO4 cameras. The HERO4 Session is waterproof to a depth of 33ft/10m without requiring a separate housing and features one-button operation. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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