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This free app finally lets you post to Instagram from your computer

12 Oct

Photographer and programmer Felix Sun has designed an app called Windowed that finally allows you to post images to your Instagram account straight from your computer—no tablet, smartphone, or strange loophole workaround required.

Instagram is a great way to build an audience and even earn yourself a commission or two, but the app’s mobile-only upload has been a thorn in every professional photographer’s side from the very beginning. Most of us don’t shoot our best photos on our phones, and many camera brands don’t have the best systems (read: some downright suck) in place for getting those photos off of your main camera and onto your smartphone.

Enter Windowed, a simple app that allows you to upload images straight to Instagram from your Mac or PC. And best of all, the application is open source and “100% free.”

The app is able to provide this functionality thanks to a semi-recent update to Instagram that allows you to post photos from a mobile browser. Under normal circumstances, you’re unable to access this functionality from your Mac or PC; Windowed pretends to be a mobile browser to get around this limitation.

There have been workarounds posted online for ages that make it possible to post to Instagram from your desktop, but this is the first implementation we’ve seen that’s truly easy. In fact, it’s no different than posting to IG using Chrome or Safari on your smartphone.

To learn more about Windowed, see the source code, or download it for yourself, head over to the app’s website by clicking here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The Control Room app lets you control Lightroom from your smartphone

10 Oct

Need to spice up your Lightroom editing experience on the desktop? No need to wait for whatever Adobe has waiting for us at AdobeMAX, you can try out the Control Room app instead. Available for both Android and iOS, the app lets you control all of your Lightroom sliders (and more) from your smartphone, allowing you to lean back and edit the photos on your desktop without touching a mouse or keyboard.

The app was created by software engineer and photographer Aaron Vizzini, who only recently decided to share his creation with the general public.

Using Control Room, you can both edit and manage (rate, flag, create rapid collections) your photos using your smartphone as the control pane. Any changes you make on your device will update in real time on the computer through a companion plugin. It’s exactly as seamless as it sounds:

Whether or not this will actually help speed up your Lightroom workflow is entirely dependent on you, but the idea, at least, is pretty neat. To learn more about Control Room or get the $ 4 app for yourself, head over to the iTunes App Store or Google Play, and then visit the Control Room website to download that plugin as well.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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From the sidelines to the driver’s seat: A photographer’s evolution

06 Oct

I have worked as a race photographer, a wedding photographer, landscape photographer; I photographed architecture, food, portraits and hot air balloons.

One of the most incredible things about a photography career is how it has this magical ability to open doors—how my camera has, time and again, taken me from a spectator on the sideline and put me right in the middle of the action.

In my own career, I’ve experienced this many times. Here are just three of those stories (and some shooting tips along the way).

A teenager at the race track

I was fortunate as a teenager when a race car driver threw me a rag and told me to get under his race car and clean it from the tire rubber that was stuck to the underside. I had gone to the racetrack after spending earlier years building models of these very race cars. I wanted to see the real deal.

From that relationship, I grew to become a professional photographer, since I was lucky enough to sell all of the images from my first roll of film to the drivers at that same racetrack. I always had a desire to drive one of those 200mph “funny cars.”

This wonderful eye-opening experience led me to create work for the NHRA, AP and many racing magazines creating story-telling images of these now 300mph plus vehicles across the country.

Shooting Tips

What is most important to me when capturing cars in the drag racing world is to isolate the car from the distractions near the racecar. Generally, I let the car move down the track, away from the starting line crowds, creating a soft, dimensional background in order to allow the car to stand out.

By using a telephoto lens like my EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x on my Canon 1DX Mark II, I can create a background made of the heat and exhaust, totally drawing the viewers attention to the razor sharp car. Compression is a wonderful tool to use in order to maintain a story-telling image, but first and foremost seeing every detail of the subject: the race car.

Another technique that I use commonly in my motorsports imagery is panning with the moving car as it goes by. Panning emphasizes speed by keeping the camera moving at the same speed as the race car. This then blurs the background, making the car look as if it is moving very quickly.

A slow shutter speed helps illustrate the movement. I may select shutter speeds of 1/30 – 1/500 sec depending upon the speed of the car that I am photographing. For this effect I am choosing to use the TV or shutter priority setting in order to allow me to maintain that certain amount of motion blur. I still try to include some of the race signage to continue that story-telling aspect of your imagery. This image was created with my workhorse EF 70-200mm 2.8L II IS lens.

While capturing the cars on the racetrack is a wonderful way to spend the day, I do look to see what I can do to add some personal element by visiting the drivers as they are strapped in to their cockpits or as they sit peacefully, contemplating their upcoming run.

One of the last tips that I would like to share with you about capturing image of powerful race cars is about the launch. I prefer to stand down track and create interesting edges to frame the main part of the composition. A drag race uses a “Christmas tree” of lights to indicate when to go. Many cars have perfected the weight transfer of the start of the race which lifts the front wheels high in the air.

The fun of flying and photography

Not too long after that amazing career-carving experience of photographing race cars, I drove to Norwalk, Connecticut in order to see and photograph a small hot air balloon festival. A few weeks later, I needed another balloon festival fix and drove north to Glens Falls, NY where I would buy my first hot air balloon ride.

All I can say is “Wow.” The hook was in. I would soon become a hot air balloon pilot.

Fast forward to today: I will soon head out to New Mexico for AIBF happening October 7th-15th, 2017. I will be there to both fly and photograph this magnificent spectacle.

5 a.m. comes early in the chilly desert air. My team and I need to be at the launch field for a 6:15 am pilot briefing in order for me and nearly 600 other pilots to take to the air filling the New Mexican blue skies with our colorful fabrics. I will be photographing right up until the time that I need to begin my inflation.

We are treated to “Dawn Patrol” when eight to twelve hot air balloons will go aloft into the dark sky about 1 hour before the rest of us do, showing what the winds are doing that day.

Shooting Tips

As most balloon events happen in the still of the early morning, we are treated to the rising sun illuminating the rich, colorful, flowing fabric that can be backlit showing leading lines and the abstract beauty that surrounds them. Wide angle lenses as well as longer telephotos are often used here to create diversely different dimensional images.

As a pilot, I so enjoy the ability to capture images from the air looking down to see so many unique compositions. This image of the “Mass Ascension” shows how you can create gorgeous landscape images as we fly over and into the river for a “splash and dash.” Pilots descend to gently float along in the rivers current.

I choose to fly with the EF 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 IS L lens so I can create images that are either wide angle or zoom in to make a tight composition while carrying only one camera body. My best tip to you when you go aloft in a balloon is to be ready to react with lightning reflexes: images come and disappear quickly as everything is moving in many different directions all at once.

I prefer to use TV or shutter priority in order to use a pre-determined shutter speed that should guarantee sharp images while moving along.

My final tip as you walk amongst the bags of fabric that will soon grow to be a balloon as tall as a 10 story building is to search out a very pretty, colorful foreground that could nicely balance a floating balloon slowly flying past, creating a multidimensional look like the above image captured through the EF 28-300mm IS L lens.

I can create images of hot air balloon events with hundreds of other balloons around me or I can fly in the desert at sunrise or sunset to have a unique perch in order to take some beautiful landscape images. It certainly puts a smile on my face whenever I get to fly, either in a balloon or even a small fixed-wing aircraft, all to enjoy being off the ground as well as seeing images from a different perspective.

Taking to the skies… again

My last story of coming from the sidelines into the driver’s seat (or in this case cockpit) would be when I furthered my flying abilities and accomplished my fixed-wing license that would carry me to locations that driving just would not allow in a relatively short time.

My first flight after successfully adding to my airmen’s license was to head to the beautiful island off the Massachusetts coast called Martha’s Vineyard. From my home on Long Island, it would take me 5-6 hours to reach the ferry that would bring you over to the island. I could fly the same route in 45 minutes.

I would do this a few times a year to go have lunch and shoot on the island before heading home for the day, very content. Photographing the beauty, flying and navigating and enjoying some remarkable culinary delights makes for a wonderful day!

Shooting Tips

Whether I’m in a fixed wing plane or a helicopter, I need to select the best lens that will be able to reach out beyond the boundaries of the aircraft to capture what I am looking for.

I will then make sure to remove my lens hood and anything else that could come off the camera while flying along at over 100 mph, and set my ISO high enough to give me a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 sec for the sharpest images.

Personally, I enjoy flying with the EF 100-400 mm f/4 IS L lens because it’s both compact and provides a great range of focal lengths. I find it important to crop my photographs in the camera, taking advantage of each and every mega-pixel my Canon gives me. Zoom lenses like this allow me to be exact in my cropping.

I always consider the lighting as a part of the planning of the flight time. I want to be able to fly in the most dimensional light possible. That lighting will provide shadows that will define the landscape below. What a great way to see and create images of iconic locations but from a different perspective.

Shape, shadow and color are very important tools that I make use of as often as possible. It may be the warm light of a sunset on the red rocks of the desert southwest or the cool morning flight over the lava fields of Hawaii. You can reserve any aircraft for the time that you would like to fly, so, select that right time for the image that you see in your mind’s eye.

In order to create the best images of any subject, you need to be intimately familiar with that subject. Throughout my photographic career, I have been able to succeed at photographing anything as long as I had some knowledge of what I was photographing.

Having knowledge of the race cars that I was learning about working on gave me the edge to be able to create story-telling imagery. I then took that and ran in order to be the best that I could be. The same followed when I chose to be a hot air and fixed wing pilot—photography opened the door to be more than a spectator, but then the experience provided me the knowledge and platform to succeed.

So much of being a successful photographer comes down to being knowledgeable of the subject and the relationships that you make along the way. From there, it’s up to you to continue to drive to be the best that you can—you are only as good as your most recent project.

I hope that, at least, will be an incentive for you to continue to grow and improve your skills. It certainly worked for me!

Ken Sklute is a multi-talented photographer and Canon Explorer of Light with over 42 years of professional photography experience. Over the course of his career, he’s photographed people, professional sports, architecture, weddings and landscapes (among other things).

To see more of his work, be sure to visit his website, or by following him on Facebook and Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level

05 Oct

You may be at a point with your photography where you are comfortable operating your camera and are capable of taking a good picture. You can work with exposure, you understand composition, and can even enhance your photos in post-processing. You should be pleased with this, as this puts you ahead of the vast majority of other photographers. But at the same time, perhaps you are not seeing the elevation in your results that you expect. You are beginning to wonder why you aren’t getting more stunning pictures. Are you doing something wrong? Is there some part of this you’re not getting?

From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level

We all go through a phase where we feel like we know what we’re doing but are frustrated by a lack of great results. In fact, for some of us, it always feels like this. You’ll never go through a time where you’re hitting magical shot after magical shot. It just doesn’t work like that. You are after something extraordinary, and by definition that is rare.

How do you maximize your chances of finding these great shots? The short version is, “through a lot of effort,” and – while true – that isn’t very helpful. So here are some areas where I focus my efforts and perhaps they will help you too.

1. It Starts with Location

We all seem to want to take our cameras down to the local park or take a stroll around a nearby lake and then come home with stunning pictures. For the most part, it just doesn’t work like that. You typically need a great location in order to end up with a great picture.

You have likely heard that “you can take a great picture anywhere” – and that is true. But just because it is possible doesn’t mean it is probable. Magical lighting or sheer genius may allow some to get great shots in ordinary places, but it is extremely unlikely. To put the odds in your favor, you need to start with an extraordinary location.

How to Scout Your Photography Locations

From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level

Everyone from tourists to photographers, to the producers of the Game of Thrones use this location as the background for their shots. Dark Hedges, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

How do you find such a location? There are lots of ways. If you are going to a well-traveled place such as a large city or a national park, some enterprising photographer has likely done the work for you. They will have written a book on how to photograph that particular place. These guides are invaluable and often all you will ever need. Beyond that, there are a plethora of online resources. I personally start with the 500px World Map and look at where great shots have been taken. I also like to check out the work of photographers who specialize in whatever I am going.

These resources will help you pick out good places to go. But they will also help you pinpoint specific spots to head to once you are in the area. None of this is to say you should slavishly copy any of these people, but rather that you should let their work inspire you and give you an idea of great locations that might serve as a backdrop for your upcoming stunning picture.

2. Getting that Magical Lighting

A great location alone will not result in a stunning picture. I’ve been to countless areas of great natural beauty or stunning urban environments only to walk away empty-handed. To create the stunning picture you are after, you are also going to need great lighting.

Some of you will create your own lighting through the use of flash. In that case, you’ll be able to create your own stunning lighting – and the whole thing is up to you. But that doesn’t work for me since I am always out and about photographing scenes, which aren’t as conducive to using flash.

Assuming you are like me and are relying on natural lighting, you just cannot guarantee great lighting. We all have to deal with bad weather and occasionally things don’t work out. That said, you can put the odds more in your favor.

Photograph at Sunrise and Sunset

When you are photographing the outdoors, the sky is often a big part of the picture. A great sunrise or sunset, therefore, goes a long way toward helping you create a great picture.

The first thing to do is make sure you are photographing around sunrise or sunset. I cannot tell you the number of times people have asked me how to elevate their photography and when I look at their pictures I find that they were all taken in the middle of the day. Usually, that’s just not going to work.

Photographing at sunrise or sunset has a myriad of advantages. The sky will often be very colorful. You will also not have to deal with the extreme contrast created by bright light and dark shadows. The diffuse rays of the sun are more pleasing as well. Think about it this way: there is a reason people sit outside and watch the sun come up or go down. Take advantage of that.

Don’t Overlook Bad Weather

Keep in mind that bad weather can often lead to the best shot. It is very much a risk/reward situation. Most of the time, cloudy hazy conditions result in failure. Sometimes, however, the sun might peek through or do something interesting such that you get magical rays in your photo. Typically, nice weather will result in nice pictures. Dramatic weather can result in dramatic pictures, and that is what you are going for.

Even an average marina can become a great shot when there is a storm approaching.

3. Creating the Composition

A great scene does not necessarily make a great photo. You’re probably familiar with rules of composition such as the rule of thirds. That is great, but this alone won’t result in the stunning photos you are after. To get there, you need something more. Here are some ideas to think about.

Start with a Center of Interest

The first thing you need is a subject or center of interest. Again, simply capturing a scene in front of you might create a nice picture, but not the shot that will cause people to say “wow” that you are after. You need something to hold the picture together. I cannot tell you exactly what that is since there are so many different things to use in this world, just be on the lookout for that.

Lead the Viewer’s Eye

Another thing that will help you is if you think about leading the viewer’s eye. You might immediately leap to the concept of leading lines, but it goes further than that. Think about where you want the viewer’s eye to start in your picture and then the route you want them to travel around it. Many times this is done in the post-processing phase. Remember that the eye is attracted to areas of brightness and sharpness. You might darken areas where you don’t want the viewer to concentrate while sharpening areas where you do want their eyes to go.

A nice view made more interesting by the path leading the viewer’s eye into the picture.

Concentrate on the Foreground

While you’re setting up your picture, be sure to think hard about the foreground. Think of your pictures as consisting of a background, subject, and foreground. The background is already largely set by your choice of location and lighting. The subject might be the thing that caused you to raise your camera to your eye in the first place (or in any event, you will already have thought about it). That leaves the foreground as the final variable. Don’t give it short shrift. Very often, getting low to the ground gives a sense that the viewer can walk into the picture and really enhances the image.

Add Mood and Emotion

Finally, be sure to think about the mood of your picture. A great picture stirs some emotion in your viewer. Therefore you’ll need to think about the emotion or mood as you are creating it. In the field, you might underexpose a bit to add some drama to your shot. Later, when you are on your computer, you will have time to consider this further and tweak your photo with an eye towards setting this mood.

4. Enhancing the Shot with Post Processing

There are photographers who shun the use of post-processing and devote all their time and energy to getting the shot right in the field. I’m not one of them. I have never taken a shot that I didn’t think could be improved with the use of post-processing.

From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level

Of course, there are a million things you can do to enhance your photos in post-processing. It is not my intent to walk through them all here. Rather, I just want to stress the importance of taking your time and thinking about what you want to accomplish with your picture when you sit down with it at your computer. When you are sitting down in front of your computer, you have time to think it through and work on it. In the field, you may have been rushed – dealing with a moving subject or fleeting light. Now you have as much time as you want.

Think about what your picture is about. If a part of your image does not support that idea, crop it out. Use some selective sharpening and brightening/darkening to lead the viewer’s eye. Set the mood of your picture using brightness values.

The point is not to take a mundane picture and try to post-process it into some masterpiece. Rather, selectively take a few shots and enhance them with an eye towards both (a) what you were trying to accomplish and (b) what you want the viewer to think/feel when they are looking at your photo.

From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level

5. Have Realistic Expectations

Finally, it is important to have realistic expectations. You aren’t going to go out and come home with a stunning picture every time. I fail all the time, and to avoid getting frustrated about it, I think about the words of Ansel Adams. He once said that he got about one great picture a month. Only one a month! If this master of photography was forced to settle for that kind of hit rate, then who am I to think I can do better? I ought to be happy with one shot a year.

From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level

Creating the Magic

This all takes time and effort. In a lot of ways, it is like waiting for the stars to come together. There is no magic formula for going out and getting a stunning picture every time. If there were, we would all do it. Again, the whole idea is that you are looking for the extraordinary – and that doesn’t happen all the time.

Of course, these factors all work together somewhat. You can have magical lighting at a mundane location and end up with a stunning picture. Or the right post-processing can take a B+ picture and turn it into a winner. The point is not to get you to wait around for perfect conditions. Rather just to keep moving forward with the mindset that it isn’t always going to work, but when it does it is magic.

These are the things I look for in trying to create a great photo. But that’s not to say there aren’t other – even better – ways to go about it. What do you look for in trying to elevate your photos from the mundane into something magical? Please let us know in the comments below.

The post From Mundane to Magical: Tips on Taking Your Photos to the Next Level by Jim Hamel appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – View From Above

30 Sep

If you’ve already looked at this article from earlier on tips for drone photography, you’ll already be in the mood for this challenge. But you don’t need a drone to participate – just a high vantage point, looking down. Are you “up” for it?

Photo by Jonathan Pendleton on Unsplash

Weekly Photography Challenge – View from Above

This week it’s your job to get up high and look down on the world – literally. Show us the view from above with your photos for this weekly challenge.

Share your images below:

Simply upload your shot into the comment 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 favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images on the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – View From Above by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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10 Lessons from a Guy Who Quit His Job to be a Full-Time Photographer

29 Sep

Every decision you’ve ever made, each image you’ve ever shot, and each chance you’ve taken, has brought you to where you are now as a photographer. Think about that for a second. Regardless of what your goals might be or where you want to go with your photography, it all comes down to a series of moves. So really, all of your success and all of your failures are a beautiful mix of causes and effects. One action yielding one outcome big or small. For most of us, our love for all things photography points to one end and that ever-burning question of “How can I be a full-time photographer?”

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it takes to quit your job and become a professional photographer or how it feels to turn your love of photography into sustainable income, then this is your lucky day. I’m about to share with you some lessons I’ve learned during my three-year journey to become “one of those people”; someone who managed to turn their passion for photography into a full-time job and kiss the rat race goodbye. A few of these lessons are ones you might expect and a few might not be so obvious. So, sit back and get ready to hear some real-world advice from someone who actually made their dream happen, and how you can follow if you choose.

#1 – You have to want it more than anything

It’s easy to say you want something. But have you ever truly desired to make something happen? I’m talking about the kind of want that consumes your very being. Well, maybe not that dramatic but it’s not far off. If you are going to “make it” at anything then you will have to want it more than anything else.