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Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras

20 May

If you have been considering getting a new camera or have been considering upgrading a camera, you have probably heard all about crop sensor cameras but what does it mean? How does crop factor affect lens selections? When you are considering systems, often it is not just the camera bodies you must consider, but the selection of lenses for that system as well.

Sensor Optics and Equivalences

Crop Sensor Optics

Most new photographers often start out with crop sensor cameras because they are usually less expensive. But as you become more advanced does it make sense to upgrade to a full frame system? If you are thinking about upgrading is there a reasonable upgrade path?

For example, should you buy full frame lenses to use with your crop sensor body? It seems so confusing and to be fair, it is a little complicated and the simple rules of thumb don’t tell the whole story. Rather than look at the differences in camera sensors themselves (they are all pretty good), let’s try to make sense of the lenses themselves.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - different lenses

Similar focal length lenses – the Olympus micro 4/3rds 40-150mm f/2.8 (80-300mm equivalent) and Canon’s 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 (for full frame).

Lens sizes

If you are looking at lenses you will see many different focal lengths and apertures. Even from the same manufacturer for the same camera body, there are often different aperture and focal length combinations. Since an important part of photography is optics, how can you begin to compare lenses for different size sensors? How do the lenses relate to the camera body you are looking at?

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - two lenses for comparison

Nifty 50mm (full frame on the left) and micro 4/3rds 25mm (50mm equivalent) on right.

Going further, how do different size crop sensors affect lens optics? Is an f/2.8 lens on a crop sensor camera actually f/2.8 lens or is it something else? What about bigger format cameras? Why do the smaller apertures (f-stops) seem so big but the images so gorgeous with great background separation and bokeh?

This all relates to lens optics and crop sensor equivalences, one of the great mysteries of photography that most photographers don’t really understand.

Lens Optics Basics

To understand lens optics you need to understand what a lens does to the light coming into it. The light coming through a lens actually inverts, flipping the image upside down. The light then projects onto the digital sensor after passing through the lens.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - diagram of lens focal length

Focal length and image flip onto the sensor.

Most lenses are defined by the focal length and maximum aperture. The higher the focal length, the closer distant objects seem. So, for example, sports and bird watchers typically want much larger focal lengths to get in close.

Lower numbers widen the field of view to make more things fit within the image (wide angle lenses) and are often the tools of the trade for landscape photographers. In 35mm equivalents, a 200mm lens is a long lens and a 20mm lens is a very wide lens.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - aperture diagram

Relative aperture size illustration.

The aperture f-stop number represents the size of the iris or hole in the lens. A lens will be rated based upon the largest aperture the iris can open. The more light you let in, the slower the shutter speed you will need. Because of this property, larger maximum aperture lenses are called faster lenses. For example, an f/2.8 lens is considered pretty fast and an f/5.6 lens (think kit lens) would be considered pretty slow.

Optical Math

Let’s keep the geeky math minimal, but it really helps understand lens optics.

Focal length is not a measurement of the actual length of a lens, but a calculation of an optical distance from the point where light converges to form a sharp image on the digital sensor at the focal plane in the camera. Aperture, on the other hand, is the size of the hole created by the iris in the lens. Aperture is geometrically related to the focal length of the lens. For example, an f/2.8 lens on a 100 mm focal length lens is 100 divided by 2.8 = 35.7 mm. As the lens focal length dictates the size of the aperture, it is independent of the size of the sensor but dependent on the focal length.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - similar lenses

Utility lenses covering a similar range – the Canon 24-105mm f/4, and the Olympus 12-40mm Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras f/2.8 (24-80mm equivalent).

Zoom lenses may have more than one aperture because the iris doesn’t get bigger as the lens gets longer. Since it is a math relationship, the longer focal length with the same iris opening makes the aperture smaller. More expensive zoom lenses have the same aperture for the entire range but that is a bit of an engineering feat as the iris must get larger as the lens zooms to a longer focal length.

Camera Sensor Format Refresher

In the golden age of film photography, there were multiple formats dictated by film stock. One of the more common sizes was 35mm film dictated by sprocket film stock that was 34.98 ±0.03mm (1.377 ±0.001 inches) wide. Back in the film days, there were multiple formats too, with larger and smaller film stock available that also affected lens sizes and performance.

When digital sensors were originally developed for still cameras, larger sensors were prohibitively expensive, so smaller sensors were used. There is a wide range of sensor sizes and this variety of sensor sizes affects the mechanics of how lenses on cameras operate.

When a sensor is close to the size of 35mm film stock, it is called full frame. Anything smaller is called a crop sensor. Anything bigger is generally called medium format although there is a lot of variability in sizes larger than full frame. Sensors not only vary in size but also geometry.

Crop sensor relative sizes

Sensor sizes

Generally speaking, a full frame sensor is in the shape of a rectangle that is roughly 36mm x 24mm which is a length to width ratio of 3:2 covering an area of 862mm sq. Conversely, a micro 4/3rds crop sensor is 17.3mm x 13mm (ratio of 4:3) covering an area of 224.9mm sq. A Nikon/Pentax APS-C crop sensor is 23.6mm x 15.7mm (ratio of 3:2) covering an area of 370mm sq, whereas a Canon APS-C sensor is 22.2mm x 14.8mm (ratio of 3:2) but only 328.5mm sq. Larger formats (bigger than full frame) tend to be square.

Many times the crop factors are calculated by the size of the diagonal distance from corner to corner of the sensor. For example, a full frame sensor is twice the diagonal as a micro 4/3rds sensor, therefore the crop ratio is 2x. For a Nikon APS-C crop sensor the ratio is 1.5x and for a Canon APS-C crop sensor, it is 1.6x.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - sensor footprints and sizes

Comparison of the sensor footprints

Square versus Round

Lenses are round whereas sensors are rectangular or square. So, all cameras cut off part of the image because the round lenses project a circular image on the sensor which is a rectangle. This means that the edges of the image circle are cut off.

Camera manufacturers design their lens/camera combinations so that the entire sensor gets great coverage from the image circle (this is called covering power). This can create problems when you have a mismatch between the sensor size and the size of the sensor for which the lens was made.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras -

Image circle with full frame and micro 4/3 frame overlaid

So, How Does Crop Factor Affect Images?

There are lots of factors that affect your images. The sensor size does affect images, but so does focal length and aperture size but those are physical properties of the lens and are not affected by the crop factor. At least not directly.

To illustrate the effect of crop sensors on light gathering and focal length, a series of test images were set up (these are not overly scientific but more illustrative). Using an Olympus EM1 Mark II (Micro 4/3rds sensor – 2 times crop factor) and a Canon 5D Mark IV (full frame).

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - Olympus camera

Olympus EM1 Mark II, micro 4/3rds camera

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - Canon camera

Canon 5D Mark IV full frame camera.

To illustrate the focal difference conversion and the light gathering conversion, the cameras were set up side by side using only the focal length conversion. The geometry of the sensors is not exactly the same so they have been cropped to match each other (8×10 ratio).

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - two cameras shooting the same scene

Camera size comparison (full frame on the left, micro 4/3 on the right)

Both cameras were targeted at the same vista.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - side by side cameras

Test setup side by side cameras.

Rules of Thumb Versus Reality

Focal lengths are commonly converted into equivalents for full frame sensors to give the same the field of view by multiplying the focal length by the sensor’s diagonal ratio. For example, a 25mm lens on a micro 4/3rd sensor is the equivalent of a 50mm lens on a full frame camera (crop factor is 2:1).

A Canon EFS (crop sensor) lens to match a 50mm lens is 31mm. This works in reverse too. If you put a full frame lens on a crop sensor camera body, the focal length is multiplied (the same 50mm lens becomes like a 75mm lens on a crop sensor). This rule of thumb works.

Editor’s note: The optics are not the same, but this is a generally accepted method of understanding crop sensors.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - two photos of a bridge

At 24mm equivalents – same shutter speed and ISO, full frame on left and Micro 4/3 on the right (both at f/4, ISO200, 1/160th).

Aperture and Depth of Field

Another rule of thumb that doesn’t work so great is to add a stop or two for the aperture (depending upon the crop). Why doesn’t it work? Well, there is more at play here.

The aperture affects the light gathering ability of a lens but with a crop sensor camera, the smaller sensor causes the depth of field (area in focus) to be larger. What that means is that an f/2.8 lens at 200 ISO sensitivity should have very close to the same shutter speed on any camera body (there are variations in light meters from one camera body to another). So an f/2.8 lens is always an f/2.8 for light gathering.

Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras - two bridge photos side by side

At 70mm equivalents – same shutter speed and ISO, full frame on the left and Micro 4/3 on the right (both at f/4, ISO200, 1/80th).

To make things more complex is the look of an image. The bokeh on a crop sensor will never be quite as good as a full-frame sensor because the extra area of a full frame sensor changes the depth of field (the amount of the image in focus) relative to a crop sensor. This is not a function of the lens as much as the sensor size. This can be pretty subtle but it is a factor, particularly for portraits.

At 200mm equivalents – same shutter speed and ISO, full frame on the left and Micro 4/3 on right (f/4, ISO 200, 1/30th).

At 200mm equivalents – same shutter speed and ISO, full frame on the left and Micro 4/3 on right (f/4, ISO 200, 1/40th).

Full Frame Lenses on Crop Sensor Cameras

Lenses tend to last much longer than cameras with good lenses lasting as long as two or three camera body iterations. So many people go by the adage of investing in glass. So if you are using a crop sensor body that will accept full frame lenses, why not buy full frame lenses until you are ready to buy the full frame body? The answer is not necessarily because it may not be as sharp as your crop lenses even if the lens seems nominally the same size.

Full frame lenses are more expensive than crop lenses but you are often paying for other features including weather sealing and better more durable construction. Because of large differences in sensor sizes, getting full frame lenses on a crop sensor means you are only using the very center portion of the lens but the detail is more concentrated on that area. This can challenge the optical quality of the full frame lenses.

They are often better quality but not enough better to account for the size differences between the sensors. So unless you know you are upgrading your camera imminently, you may not want to use the full frame lenses on crop bodies.

Another consideration is that you have to use the crop factor in reverse. On a Canon crop body (1.6 crop factor) a 24mm lens becomes a 38.4mm lens. This means that you can’t get as wide of an angle of view on a crop body with wide lenses.

A full frame lens on a crop body will increase the focal length by the crop factor

Conclusion

There are lots of misconceptions regarding lenses when comparing them across sensor sizes. Understanding the basic function, light gathering capabilities, and geometric relationships can help you compare lenses within camera systems and across sensor sizes.

There are great lenses available for all camera systems that can produce fantastic results. Lenses are as important at the camera body. So when choosing a system, make sure you have the lens selection you need for your particular style of photography.

The post Making Sense of Lens Optics for Crop Sensor Cameras appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

03 May

There are some common mistakes photographers make when starting to shoot food. Are you guilty of these five food photography mistakes?

There is a saying that if you can shoot food, you can shoot anything. Some would disagree with this, as every genre of photography has its own challenges. However, food can be very difficult to shoot purely for the reason that it dies in front of the camera so quickly.

One minute your towering stack of pancakes causes your salivary glands to go into overdrive, the next minute you wouldn’t feed the pancakes to the dog. Despite what many an Instagram account would have us believe, a lot of food is not really that good-looking. It’s up to the photographer and usually a food stylist and a whole team of people to create the drool-worthy images you see in cookbooks and magazines.

peach tarts - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

Great food photography is about planning and considering all the details up front. It is also a process of constant problem-solving. Thinking through the key aspects that make up a great food photograph before picking up your camera will go a long way towards helping you get the best results.

#1 – Bad Light

As with any form of photography, the most important principle is light. Without light, you’d have nothing. This is why photography is often referred to as “painting with light”. Whether you are using natural or artificial light, the approach you take with your lighting will make or break your photographs.

Often what separates the professional food photographers from hobbyists is their keen understanding of the physics of light and how to manipulate it to get the effect they want. If a client wants you to shoot their orange juice product to look like it was taken early in the morning on a sunny day and you live in rainy London, you will have to know how to recreate that light.

Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? - breakfast sandwich

Lighting is not just about getting enough light onto your subject. As long as you have some light, you can get a decent shot with a longer exposure. Good lighting is also a matter of correct light.

For example, a common issue is restaurant photography where the indoor lighting contaminates the scene, creating unwanted color casts, particularly in the highlights. This can be difficult to fix in post-processing but can be avoided by overpowering the ambient light with a flash system, such as a speedlite, or flagging (blocking) the top to keep the unwanted light from hitting your set.

#2 – Poor Composition

Image composition is an art form in itself. Apart from light, it’s one of the most difficult aspects of food photography to master. It can take years for composition to become second nature to you. Going in-depth on this is beyond the scope of this article, but there are some things to be aware of that can help you improve your compositions right away.

To start with, keep it minimal. Your main subject with a couple of supporting elements, like a prop and a square of linen is all you need. Use three to five elements in your composition. Using odd numbers while composing your scene will add more symmetry and balance than even numbers, which can create competition between the elements and divide the viewer’s attention.

Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? - cinnamon buns

Think about the textures in your scene. Adding texture in terms of your props or surfaces and backgrounds, or even supporting ingredients such as seasonings or garnishes can really elevate the simplest food image.

Another tip is to keep your surfaces and background neutral. Bright colors will detract from the food and even cast unwanted tones onto the food.

#3 – Incorrect Angle of View

Before beginning to shoot, it’s crucial to decide on the best angle to shoot your food scene. The right choice will depend on your subject.

Foods with several layers, like burgers or stacks of pancakes, look best when shot at eye level, so every element can be seen. On the other hand, flat foods like pizza and cookies look best shot from overhead or at 90 degrees, as this angle puts everything on an even plane and brings a graphic element to the subject.

This is a great angle for tablescapes or other scenes where there are numerous elements that might not otherwise fit into the frame.

Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? - pizza shot

Another popular angle is forty-five degrees or three-quarters view. This angle works in many situations with many types of food. It works with most focal lengths and the main subject’s shape, height and texture are displayed.

fettuccine with peas - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

One angle I would rarely recommend is a low camera viewpoint, where the camera is aimed slightly upwards. You sometimes see this in burger advertisements, but it rarely works for most types of food subjects.

#4 – Incorrect Focus

When approaching a shoot, you also need to be aware of where the sharpest focus should land. Typically this will be more toward the front of the food. In addition, think about how much of that area should be in focus. This will influence the f-stop (aperture) you choose.

I rarely shoot any lower (wider) than f/5.6 for my food compositions, as I find not enough of my subject will be in focus otherwise. When shooting food, the objective is to show off the food and make it look its best, which won’t happen if most of it is blurry.

Once you have taken your shot (preferably with your camera tethered to your laptop) check your focus at 100% magnification. Make sure focus is where you want it and the depth-of-field is not too shallow.

chia pudding_darina kopcok_DPS

Also, calibrating your lens to your camera will ensure that you are not missing focus due to technical issues.

#5 – Cropping Incorrectly

The beauty of digital photography is that you can sometimes address issues that you have encountered during your shoot in post-processing. One example of this is using the crop overlay tools in Lightroom or Photoshop to finesse your compositions. However, image crop is a point that needs to be addressed when shooting.

Common mistakes new food photographers make is shooting the main subject too close, to the point the viewer doesn’t understand what is being portrayed. Or the cropping is too tight to show the food in its best way.

In the image below, the Indian-spiced prawns look much better when the scene is shot wider and includes a couple of elements that they’d be eaten with, like naan bread and chutney. The closer shot lacks movement and flow and is overall less appealing.

indian prawns - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

When shooting, try a couple of different crops and see which looks best. Also, a good tip is to shoot your scene wider than you want it to look in the final image so you can use the crop guides in your post-processing program of choice to improve your composition.

croissants - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

Hopefully, these tips will help you plan for your next food shoot. Let me know in the comments some of the challenges you’ve faced with your own food photography and how you’ve overcome them. What food photography mistakes have you made?

The post Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Adobe is now making ‘Lightroom Coffee Break’ videos for Lightroom CC

01 May

For a while now, the official Adobe Photoshop Lightroom YouTube channel has produced a series titled ‘Lightroom Coffee Break.’ The collection of videos provides quick (~60 seconds) tips on how to make the most of Lightroom, and after 56 episodes, the creators have finally started to include tips specifically for Adobe’s cloud-centric Lightroom CC.

Until now, all of the videos have been based on Lightroom Classic CC. Now, the minute-long videos will include tips and tricks specifically created for Lightroom CC users—a welcomed change considering it’s becoming the go-to choice for many photographers, and there aren’t a lot of resources out there as of right now.

The first video, presented by Lightroom team members Michelle Wei and Josh Haftel, details how easy it is to salvage an underexposed Raw photograph using only four sliders: exposure, highlights, shadows, and contrast. It might seem a bit basic, but you can count on future episodes to dive into more complicated adjustments.

Even though Adobe is just now getting around to making tutorials specifically for Lightroom CC, many of the previous videos made for Lightroom Classic CC still apply, so take some time and look at the archive. At one minute each, you could get through all 57 episodes in an hour—less time than it takes to watch an episode of Game of Thrones.

And if you want to keep up with future videos, be sure to subscribe to the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom YouTube channel.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

19 Mar

Packing for any trip abroad can be a chore. Then add in the task of making sure you have all of the photography bits and pieces you need, and it’s enough to send your head spinning. Thankfully there is a cure for this craziness: The Travel Photography Packing List.

Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

The Packing List is my go-to resource for ensuring I have all the gear I need in order to bring back the best photos. No one wants to deal with dead batteries or a lack of memory cards while they are exploring the world at large. That’s why I use the list below to sooth my packing-frazzled mind and to get on with creating amazing photos.

Camera

I know it seems obvious but the camera is the first thing on my packing list. Why? Because I take time to check it and give it a good cleaning, inside and out, before packing it away. I often carry a spare camera these days, which doesn’t get a lot of action until it is desperately needed.

Packing time is a good opportunity to make sure all cameras are in working order. You might also want to adjust the clock (set it to the time zone you’ll be traveling to) on your camera(s) so you can hit the ground running.

Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips - camera in a tripod

Lenses

Lens choice is a dilemma for most of us. Bring them all and suffer the back strain of having to lug them around, or bring just a few and worry about missing the shot? As individual as this choice can be, I suggest thinking about what you will shoot the most if you want to limit the number of lenses you take along. Also, ask other photographers who have traveled where you are going or your tour operator for suggestions.

On my own tours, where our focus is on people, nature, and wildlife photography, I suggest a 24-105mm lens for walking around and city photos. These lenses are great for a variety of situations from close to medium distance.

Then for the landscape shots, a wide-angle or wide zoom, like a 16-35mm lens or 10-22mm on a crop sensor camera, can work wonders.

Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips - guy taking a photo on a safari

All-in-one lenses

My go-to lens for travel is the venerable Canon 28-300mm L-series Lens. It covers a huge range and with some panorama stitching, I can get mildly wide-angle shots without switching lenses. It’s a heavy lens indeed, but I’ve grown used to it. I will then bring a 10-22mm wide-angle for the monumental landscape shots I love to capture.

Optionally, a long lens may be needed in certain situations, but they can be cumbersome. For instance, I would not have gone to Panama and Costa Rica, lands rich in birds and wildlife, without a Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens. Yet, that same lens will not follow me to the Himalayas, where weight is certainly a factor and the chance for birds is lessened.

A Flash or Speedlight

For all my travels in the past decade, I have rarely found myself wanting to have a strobe along for the ride, especially due to the added weight involved. Yet I still tend to bring just one flash and I have been happy every time I did.

Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips - people shooting the Taj Mahal

What I have found valuable when bringing a strobe is to make sure it is one that I can use off-camera. A flash that can be remotely triggered either with a tether or a smaller unit on the camera (either the built-in flash or a unit that attaches to the hotshoe). This has allowed me the greatest flexibility to add well-directed light to my travel photos.

Tripod

A good travel tripod is a thing of beauty. These units, built for packability and lightweight, have been following me on more and more trips abroad.

My main issue with packing a full-size tripod, even if it is carbon fiber, is the need to take larger luggage. The legs of a super sturdy tripod are often longer, even when broken down, than the luggage I wish to take.

Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips - canyon in Utah

It’s a balancing act and it matters what you intend to shoot. If you have space, bring the monster tripod, especially if you are accustomed to hauling it around with you near home. If you have limited space, but still want stability in your landscape or astrophotography shots, consider something along the lines of the MeFOTO Globetrotter. It packs small, can double as a monopod and has a fully functional ball head.

Power Strip

Power strips are great for travel and there are a variety of options. I prefer a brand where the cord is easy to store and the strip comes with two USB ports. The two outlets in the power strip are meant for a variety of international plugs so it’s easy to share when you find the outlet at the airport overloaded. I’ve done this more than once and was able to get a charge when I couldn’t have without a power strip.

Girl in flowers taking a photo - Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

WARNING: See the next section about converters because it’s important to make sure the power strip is set up for universal power. I once had a strip with USB ports go, “Pop!” and puff smoke arose when I didn’t realize it was only set for US power and I was using it in India. Know before you go!

Chargers, Adapters, and Converters

Almost any charger from a major manufacturer these days will work on what’s known as “Universal Power”. They have an input range that straddles 110V-240V and 50Mhz-60Mhz. This fits almost any AC power around the world. If your charger is not set up for Universal Power (check the charger itself for those phrases above printed somewhere on its label), then you need a converter.

A converter will change the power coming out of the wall in your hotel to the power your charger needs. This stops things from literally catching fire.

Photographer and sunset - Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

Different than a converter is an adapter. All it does is makes the plug on your charger fit the wall socket in your hotel. There is a handy guide on the Internet that lists the types of plugs in use around the world, by country, so you can see if your plug will fit.

If not, I’d suggest picking up either a small adapter specific to your host country or a universal adapter that will serve you for almost any country around the world for decades to come.

Memory cards

How many memory cards should you bring? Oh boy, that’s the big question. I’m sure if we ran a poll we’d have a huge range of answers. To help in planning, I take a per diem method and figure out what my average has been on previous trips, per day. I then multiply that by the number of days I’ll be gone to get a total number of photos I estimate that I’ll take over the duration of the trip.

Next, take the total (let’s say 4000 photos) and multiply it by the average size of a photo from your camera. Mine is about 24MB, so for 4000 images, I’d need 96,000MB or roughly 96GB. I then throw in an extra card, just in case. In this example, I will bring four 36GB cards and call it good. Especially if I am going to a country where I know it will be easy to buy more.

If you shoot a lot of videos, you should do the same calculations for video and add the two together.

Snowy mountains - Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

Lens Cleaning Kit

You can’t get a clear shot with a dirty lens and a proper cleaning is vital. We cover the basics of a simple and portable kit in our article, How Should I Clean My DSLR’s Lens?, and I’d also include a sensor brush if you are comfortable with in-field sensor cleaning.

Filters

Most of us own and carry a circular polarizing filter and they certainly have earned a solid reputation. So throw one in your bag if you are familiar with them.

girl taking a photo of a lake - Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips

Next, include a graduated neutral density (GND) filter unless you are proficient at bracketing your shots and merging them artfully in your computer later. A GND helps in situations where there is a large difference between the lighting in a scene. They will slightly darken a sky so it won’t blow out when compared to a darker foreground.

Lastly, I’d suggest a quality neutral density filter, maybe a three or 6-stop.

Shot List

We’ve released shots lists on DPS before and they can be helpful to keep you on track when every single thing you see is new and photo-worthy. A shot list is by no means a dogmatic requirement, but I have found it helpful to bring back a nice variety of shots.

Otherwise, we all tend to slide back into what we like (landscape, food, astrophotography, etc.) and miss out on all the other subjects that make our trip so memorable.

Notebook

For me, a notebook is invaluable for remembering the little things that go with those photos. Maybe you have a mind like a steel trap, in which case you’re blessed, but for the rest of us, by the time day-three rolls around, we can’t really remember little things that happened on day one.

Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips - sunset

Sure, your photos will help you remember, but they don’t always capture the emotions and conversations you might have had. They are also great for sharing information with strangers, such as writing down the name of a restaurant or attraction you shouldn’t miss.

I fill a couple of pages before my trip with ideas of what I want to see or shoot. It’s then an easy reference later when I’m feeling rudderless and need some direction.

Your List

I hope this gives you a good start the next time you make a packing list for a trip. It’s not meant to be exhaustive so I would love to hear what else you have on your list. Leave a comment below so others can benefit from your experience with travel photography.

The post Tips for Making Your Travel Photography Packing List for International Trips by Peter West Carey appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Crypto-art ‘Forever Rose’ photo sells for $1M, making it the world’s most valuable virtual art

20 Feb

A blockchain crypto-art rose titled “Forever Rose” has been sold to a collective of investors for cryptocurrencies with a value equivalent to $ 1,000,000 USD. The collective is composed of 10 investors, each of whom contributed an equal amount toward the digital rose. The artwork is based on Kevin Abosch’s photograph of a rose and was created by Abosch and GIFTO, a decentralized universal gifting protocol.

Blockchain technology is behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and rights management platforms like KODAKOne. The tech can also be used for art, as demonstrated by Abosch with “Forever Rose.” Abosch previously sold an image of a potato titled “Potato #345” in 2016 for more than $ 1 million.

More than 150 buyers expressed interest in the Forever Rose, according to a press release detailing the sale. Ten collectors were ultimately chosen using a ballot—the buyers include ORCA Fund, Chinese crypto-investor Ms. Meng Zu, blockchain advisory firm TLDR Capital, and others. Payments were made in IAMA and GTO-by-GIFTO cryptocurrencies, with each buyer paying the crypto-equivalent of $ 100,000 to get 1/10 of the ROSE, an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain.

Forever Rose is believed to currently be the most valuable virtual artwork in the world. The buyers can choose to hold onto their rose tokens, sell them, or give them away. Abosch and GIFTO will donate the sale proceeds to The CoderDojo Foundation, which provides kids around the world with the opportunity to learn coding skills for free.

Press Release

World’s Most Valuable Crypto-Artwork Sells for US$ 1 million

HONG KONG, Wednesday, February 14, 2018 – IN CELEBRATION of Valentine’s Day, the Forever Rose, a crypto-art project produced by world-renowned visual conceptual artist Kevin Abosch and blockchain universal virtual gifting protocol project GIFTO, sold for US$ 1 million worth of cryptocurrency to a group of 10 collectors.

With the sale, the Forever Rose is now the world’s most valuable piece of virtual artwork ever sold, and marks the historical merging of blockchain technology, fine art, and charitable causes.

Due to an overwhelming response with over 150 potential buyers from around the world indicating their interest, the decision was made to allow 10 buyers to buy the Forever Rose, as a way to show how the crypto community can come together to do their part to benefit the underprivileged.

To select the buyers for the Forever Rose, a ballot was held to determine the 10 collectors who can purchase the Forever Rose on 14 February at 14:00 Hong Kong time. These 10 collectors are some of the leading projects and investors in the crypto community. They are:

ORCA Fund, the premier digital asset fund in Asia
Future Money and Ink, a leading blockchain investment fund and IP asset exchange
Node Capital and Jinse Finance, a leading crypto fund and financial media in Asia
TLDR Capital, a leading blockchain advisory firm
Project Boosto, power global influencers with their own dApps and tokens
Project DAC, a platform for decentralized interactive audio
Project Nebulas, a search framework for blockchains
Project Caring Chain, a decentralized charitable cause platform
Ms. Meng Zu, a leading crypto investor in China
1 collector who wishes to remain anonymous

Charles Thach, Managing Partner of ORCA Fund said: “ORCA is honored to support the Forever Rose project, our philosophy of bridging the best of west and east in blockchain industries fits nicely into the ethos of the Rose, and we will continue to contribute back to society via future charitable endeavors.”

Mori Wang, Founder of Project Caring Chain, said: “I believe blockchain technology has a huge potential to transform the entire charitable world, bringing transparency and accountability to projects worldwide. Project Caring Chain is proud to be a part of this historical milestone, the world’s first crypto charitable artwork.”

The cost of the Forever Rose was paid using two cryptocurrencies – GTO by GIFTO and IAMA by Kevin Abosch, with the 10 buyers splitting the cost of the crypto-artwork evenly, with each buyer paying US$ 100,000 in crypto currencies. The Forever Rose is an ERC20 token called ROSE on the Ethereum blockchain that is based on Mr Abosch’s photograph of a rose. The buyers each receives 1/10 of the ROSE token, as ERC20 tokens are divisible. They can then choose to hold their portion, sell it, or give it as a special gift for Valentine’s Day or any other special occasion.

The exact number of tokens required was determined according to their value on 14 February at 10:00 Hong Kong time. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to The CoderDojo Foundation, whose mission is to ensure that every child around the world should have the opportunity to learn code and to be creative with technology in a safe and social environment.

With the donation, Mr Abosch and the GIFTO team aim to inspire future generations to continuously push the boundaries and tap on technology to create a better world, and also to call on the crypto community to use more of the vast wealth created for charitable causes.

Ms Giustina Mizzoni, Executive Director of the CoderDojo Foundation, said: “A huge thank you to both Kevin and the GIFTO team for choosing the CoderDojo Foundation to benefit from this historic project. Technology is rapidly changing the world we live in. We have a duty to ensure that the next generation can not only seize the opportunities presented by this, but also influence and shape its future. Thousands of volunteers around the world are working to ensure this by creating opportunities for young people to code and create through the global CoderDojo movement.”

The Forever Rose project started as a personal collaboration between Mr. Abosch and Andy Tian, founder of GIFTO, as a way to stimulate a deeper discussion on the state of the crypto and blockchain industry, which has captured the world’s attention over the last few months. The project is symbolic of the current massive global popularity of cryptocurrency, and also aims to drive discussion regarding the entry of blockchain technology into the mainstream economy.

After it is sold, a dedicated website will be available to track the value of the artwork based on movements of GTO and IAMA and giving the public a visual representation of the movements and trends in the current cryptocurrency environment. Mr. Abosch and Mr. Tian hope that The Forever Rose will become a symbol of the blockchain and crypto world, and extend an invitation for everyone to participate in the project by recording and submitting their responses on video. Instructions are on the Forever Rose website.

Mr Abosch is most famous for creating and selling his iconic photographic portrait of a potato – “Potato #345” for more than US$ 1 million in 2016, and is much sought after for his portraits of top global celebrities from the entertainment and technology sectors. He has been pushing the limits of visual and conceptual art for most of his career.

He said: “I’m delighted that the crypto world has come together around The Forever Rose to further demonstrate the elegant power of the blockchain as a technology, but more importantly, as an instrument through which goodwill and humanity can be amplified.”

The GIFTO project, which completed the fastest-ever token sale in Asia in 1 min in Dec 2017, is the world’s first universal gifting protocol. GIFTO was created by the makers of Uplive (http://up.live/), one of the most popular live streaming mobile applications in the world with over 35 million users. IAMA Coin is a crypto-art project that Mr Abosch launched recently (http://www.iamacoin.com/), in which the artist himself explores the value of a crypto coin.

Mr Andy Tian, CEO and founder of GIFTO, said: “We are excited that the community has embraced the Forever Rose Project, and has come together for a great cause. We see a lot of parallels between blockchain technology and art, and hope that the Forever Rose can become a historical point marking blockchain moving from an esoteric technology, into the minds and hearts of every day people.”

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photos

07 Feb

Do you find it difficult to make photographs which stand out and truly resonate with the people who view them? Let me share with you three key ways you can practice that will change your photographic experience and will assist you in making more dynamic photos.

Two Kayan long neck women laughing - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Two Kayan friends share a joke in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Asia.

1. Know your subject – don’t just know about them

Research, understand and relate to your subject. Communicate with your subject – whether that be a person, pet or place, (or anything else,) you need to relate to and have rapport your subject.

The more knowledge and understanding you have of your subject the easier it will be for you to make compelling photographs of it or them. Sometimes, as is common with travel photography, having a fresh perspective on a subject will allow you to capture it in a way an expert may not see. But generally having some education about your subject will aid you in producing better, more dynamic photos.

Kayan girl having fun playing with soap bubbles.

Develop an intuitive sense

Knowing your subject well will give you more opportunity to get an intuitive sense of when it’s the right time to make a picture. Knowing and being passionate about your subject will help you develop your intuition.

Being comfortable with your subject, even if you do not know it so well, will also help you to create more interesting and unique photographs of that subject. Having the ability to really focus in on your subject, observing them carefully, the surroundings, the lighting and any activity associated with them, will help you to develop a meaningful connection.

This is something that can sometimes happen quite quickly and at other times will need to be developed over a longer duration.

Kayan girl with a front tooth missing.

2. Don’t Focus on your equipment

“The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don’t know what to do with it.” – Edward Weston

There’s a lot to be said for knowing your camera equipment well and being confident using it like you’ve mastered it. Being in control of your gear and being competent using it so that your focus can be immersed on your subject allows you to connect in a more meaningful way because you are not distracted. Achieving this ability takes nothing more than a little study and a whole lot of practice.

Porter at a fresh market in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Use camera settings you’re comfortable with

Using camera settings you are comfortable with releases you to give more attention to your subject. When you work with camera equipment you are not familiar with or maybe when you first start trying to understand and use manual mode, your focus will be on your camera, not on your subject.

Becoming familiar with a camera and how to work with it confidently takes concentrated practice. Just as a musician will not take the stage and play a brand new song they’ve written without practicing it well first. Neither should you expect stunning results from a camera or technique you are not familiar with and well practiced at doing. Sure, sometimes you can get lucky, but to be consistently good you need to practice a lot.

Buddhist nun standing at the temple window.

Balance the technical and creative aspects

Balancing the technical and creative aspects of photography is challenging for most people. You are generally either more technically oriented and love learning how to use your new equipment or you are more creatively oriented without much interest in learning to understand all the bells and whistles on your camera.

Be mindful that photography is a creative process which requires a complicated tool. Even if you are using the most basic of cameras you must command a certain amount of technical skill to produce pleasing results regularly. To grow as a photographer and develop your own style, you will need to find a happy balance of the technical and creative aspects of this art form.

close up of a man riding a tricycle taxi with a strong shadow in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Tricycle taxi abstract

Aim to capture mood and feeling

Aim to capture mood and feeling in your photographs by giving as much of your attention to the technical settings as to the feeling you have and how you want to portray your subject. If you set your camera so your exposure is good and you have as much depth of field as you want, you will be free to connect with your subject. This will give you more freedom to get a real feeling for what you are doing which will resonate in your photographs.

Reaching beyond the technical and concentrating your creative energy on the subject you will produce photographs which draw in your audience. They will be able to experience and feel the relationship you have with your subject.

portrait of a red head teenage boy - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

3. Follow your passion

“Your connection with the world is unique” – Martin Parr

This is why people who photograph subjects they are passionate about will typically produce more creative, interesting pictures than someone who photographs a subject they have no real interest in or connection with.

My wife takes far better photos of flowers than I do. She is passionate about flowers, she loves growing them. She has a lot of knowledge about flowers and flowering trees. Taking care of them and making sure they have the best conditions in which to flourish is important to her. She consistently makes far more beautiful and creative photographs of flowers than I do because she is passionate about them. They may not always be technically correct, but they are made with feeling and convey that feeling.

pink orchid flowers - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Photo by: Pansa Landwer-Johan

Have a deeper, more soulful relationship

When you have a deeper, more soulful relationship with your subject, you will naturally make more interesting, creative photographs as well. Your connection with the world is unique. No one else sees things and experiences life as you do. By applying your unique perspective and conveying this through your photographs they will resonate more strongly with people who view them.

You may even find you pay less attention to technical aspects as you genuinely begin to follow your feelings and become immersed in photographing your chosen subject. Enjoying photography in this manner can be deeply therapeutic. As you begin to concentrate totally and follow the flow of your feelings toward your subject everything else will become secondary, nothing else will matter.

At times like this, you must take extra care to be aware of your own safety. Many times I have stepped back onto a road, come close to stepping backward off a jetty and had wet shoes because I stepped in a puddle. I was so focused on what I was photographing and not paying much attention to anything else. So please take care!

Woman in the mist with a red scarf over her head an shoulders - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

A practical example

When I visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, I went looking for a quarter I’d read about where craftspeople still produce copper wares using traditional methods. I love photographing people engaged in creative activities and I had never photographed people making copper goods.

I eventually discovered the right location and found three men in a small workshop. Two of them were putting finishing touches to some beautifully crafted artworks.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

I politely approached and using gestures and showing them my camera, as we had no common language, I was welcomed in and made to feel comfortable. I showed an interest in what these men were doing and they were comfortable with my presence. The older man even gave me a glass of Turkish tea. I quickly became engrossed making photographs of the creative process I was witnessing.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Despite having no prior experience with this subject I was still able to connect with the men and easily relate to what they were doing. Eventually, a fourth man entered the workshop and he spoke some English so I was able to ask how many generations this family had been working with copper. After a considerable amount of discussion all three men, who were cousins and father/uncle, looked at me and shrugged their shoulders. Their tradition had been in their family longer than they could tell me.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Sadly, the fourth man who had joined us was a buyer. He told me he wanted to push the price the craftsmen were asking for their artworks down and was threatening to steal their designs and mass produce them in his factory (which now mass produces lamps, coffee pots, urns and other goods which were traditionally made in small, family-owned workshops.) As he told me this story I continued to photograph with the aim of capturing the mood of the conversation.

3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

In conclusion

Connecting with your subject in a meaningful manner will support and enhance your creative process. Knowing your subject in advance, or adapting quickly to relate to it in a short time, gives you a depth of connection that is not likely if you are distant and non-communicative.

Being technically competent enough to not spend most (or even some) of your attention on your equipment will release you to develop your connection with your subject.

portrait of a young Kayan girl in Chiang Mai, Thailand. - 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photographs

Young Kayan girl without her neck rings on.

Being passionate about your chosen subject will favor you to go that much deeper and further without distractions to create more interesting and more creative photographs.

The most effective way to learn these things is to choose a subject that you can photograph many times, preferably one that you enjoy. If your chosen subject is a person, one who enjoys being photographed. Make time to photograph your subject as often as you find enjoyment in the creative process and develop a feeling for the technical settings of your camera. Doing this will help you to learn more about your subject and hopefully, you’ll become more passionate in the process as well.

Watch the video below to see this in action.

The post 3 Key Tips for Making More Dynamic Photos by Kevin Landwer-Johan appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Tips for Making the Most of Morning Light for Portraits

12 Jan

There’s something about taking photos in the magical morning light that makes my heart so happy. Maybe it’s because of the extra effort it takes to be outside in the crisp morning air when your family is still in bed. It could also be because morning sessions are more uncommon, so they feel a little more special. Most likely it’s because that soft, beautiful light just glows, and looks just a little different from the light later in the day, or evening.

How to Make the Most of Magical Morning Light

If you’re a night owl, and can’t imagine getting out of a nice warm bed just to take some pictures, let me try and convince you to give it a try. You might become a morning person, just for that incredibly gorgeous morning light.

Time it Right

The best time to start a morning session is right around sunrise. I have an app on my phone that will tell me what time the sun rises in my area on any date. I like to start about 15 minutes after sunrise. The light level is usually fairly low right at sunrise, so I give a little bit of time for things to lighten up before starting.

The nice thing about using that morning golden hour versus the evening golden hour is that you can take as much time as you need. In the evening you have to decide when it’s the exact right time to start. You want to use the best light right near sunset, but you don’t want to start too late and not have enough time before it’s too dark. If you start too early, you could be done before the beautiful golden sunset light shows up.

Morning light at sunrise takes care of that problem. You start with that gorgeous glowy light and shoot until you’re done. No light is ever wasted.

How to Make the Most of Magical Morning Light - portrait

Morning Weather is Usually Good

Depending on where you live, you might have better luck with the weather in the morning. In my area, it’s usually less windy than it can get in the afternoon. Most mornings are calm and still. Oftentimes there’s a light hazy cloud cover that makes any shooting direction work, so you can use your backgrounds to their fullest extent.

More often the rain and storms come a little bit later in the day. It’s not always the case that you get beautiful weather in the morning, but more often than not, it’s perfect conditions for shooting.

The only negative would be during the colder times of the year when mornings are brisk, or even downright freezing. I just instruct my subject to dress warm, and I wear fingerless gloves and a coat with pockets, so I can try to keep my hands as warm as possible.

How to Make the Most of Magical Morning Light - golden portraits of two girls

Morning Light has a Special Quality

There’s a softness to morning light that you just don’t see most afternoons and evenings. It feels like it wraps around the subject a little more, and has a bit less intensity compared to light later in the day. It can be easier to work with because you won’t have as much glare in your lens when backlighting (facing your subject away from the sun).

You can face your subject toward the sun easier too, because the light isn’t quite as harsh, so they don’t squint as much. The shadows on faces aren’t as pronounced, and everything feels a bit softer. The light isn’t usually as warm as it is in the evening, so sometimes I warm the photos up a bit more in post-processing, but there are times when the cooler light is simply stunning.

Be Different, Learn Something New

Many times when I’ve shared photos from a morning session, people have told me that they love the photos, but they don’t quite know what makes them so special. Most photographers are out there during the evening golden hour, and that little bit of difference you’ll see in a morning photo will set you apart from everyone else.

Your photos will have a quality to them that other photographers might not be able to put their finger on. I don’t do every photo session in the morning, in fact, most of my sessions are later in the day, but doing something different, outside of the norm, sets you apart from other photographers, and it also opens you up to more inspiration and creativity.

Every time we do something a little different, we learn new things, and sometimes discover something new that takes our photography to the next level. Shooting in the morning is just one of those things you can do differently, but it’s a big one. It might even be a game changer for you.

How to Make the Most of Magical Morning Light

Wake Up

How do you convince your next photography subject to get up early in the morning and get ready for a photo session when they could be sleeping longer? How do you convince yourself to get out in the brisk morning air with your camera when you could be snuggled under the covers?

The best way to convince anyone is to look at the results. I’ve had clients get up at 4:00 am to be ready for a session because beautiful photos were more important than a little bit more sleep. They can always take a nap later. If you can convince one person to give it a try, you might convince a lot more to do it too, once they see those photos.

You will love the feeling of accomplishing something wonderful first thing in the morning, and then having the rest of the day to edit and play. So, set that alarm and give that morning light a try!

How to Make the Most of Magical Morning Light

Are you a lover of a beautiful sunrise and glowing morning light? Share your morning photos, people or nature, in the comments. I’d love to see what you’ve captured while your neighbors were still in their pajamas!

How to Make the Most of Magical Morning Light

The post Tips for Making the Most of Morning Light for Portraits by Melinda Smith appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Switching from Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

14 Dec

Let’s be honest – over the past couple of months, more than enough has been said about Adobe’s recent change in policy regarding how the latest versions (yes, all two of them) of Lightroom are to be purchased and used. Articles have been written, disappointment expressed in some volume, silver linings spotted where there seemed to be none.

There’s also a good chance that you have made up your mind regarding the change to do one of the following:

To stick with CC and Classic.
To start the fairly painful process of moving on to a different piece of software.
Or to put off the decision for as long as the already-purchased version of Lightroom supports RAW files from your camera.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

Thus, we are not here to discuss Adobe’s brilliant decisions or lack thereof. This article is meant for those who chose the second option. Specifically, for those, who have decided to switch from Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate. Hopefully, the last article I wrote on ACDSee Photo Studio has helped you make up your mind whether or not this software is suitable for your needs. If it is, I will try to help make the transition as painless as possible.

An important disclaimer: as before, the license for this copy of ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate has been provided by ACD Systems. Having said that, even though ACD Systems has asked me to write this article, it has not been dictated by the company in the slightest. My words are always my own, as are your reasons for switching or otherwise. More than that, ACD Systems never implied they expect anything but integrity.

Direct transfer from Lightroom

I am afraid I will have to start with some disappointment, so I will try to rip off the bandage as quickly as possible. As of today, there is absolutely no way to transfer editing data from Lightroom to any other post-processing software or vice versa. It’s the result of closed-standard tools and database format that each software developer uses – not even sharpening is equivalent, let alone tonal adjustments.

So, the progress you have made with Lightroom is bound to remain accessible via Lightroom only, at least as far as RAW files themselves are concerned. For all the convenience catalog systems provide, this is one of the downsides – switching to a new RAW converter can really be a hassle.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

It may not be possible to transfer edits from LR to ACDSee, but Photo Studio sure has a lot of tools to cover most post-processing tasks.

But if you are here, I am guessing you have decided to push through the process now rather than become even more tied-in with the system Adobe is sticking to, and have even more to deal with at a later date. One solution you are left with is exporting full-size JPEG images from your Lightroom Catalog for any future needs (uploads to social media or websites, for example). But should you ever need to tweak a setting or two, you will either have to go back to Lightroom, or start from zero using ACDSee or an alternative tool.

Mind you, this caveat is only really valid for two or three years at the most, since there is a good chance that after a couple of years your taste in post-processing – as well as your skill – will have changed noticeably. I know mine has. Still, it is something that you will need to accept as an unavoidable result of having been part of such a closed system.

It is my hope that, over time, software developers such as ACD Systems will work out a way to read Adobe’s (and other) databases and interpret adjustments in an equivalent manner so that none of the edits – at least not those most prominent – would be lost when switching.

Now that the bandage is off, let’s go through what can be achieved with Photo Studio Ultimate.

Importing Lightroom Catalog Data

As I have mentioned in the previous article, culling and adding metadata information is an enormous pain for me. I am sure I am not the only one who just wants to get on with post-processing. Having to assign ratings and keywords all over again for images that have been organized in Lightroom would be insufferable. It is an enormous relief that this is something ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate can greatly help you with.

Photo Studio has the functionality to import ratings, color labels, keywords, and collections from any Lightroom Catalog, thus preserving the major image organizing-structure of your portfolio. The process of importing this data is very easy to initiate and requires minimal effort.

1. Find the Adobe Lightroom Database Import tool

While in Manage Mode, select the Tools menu at the very top of the screen. There, navigate to Database > Import > Lightroom Database, which is located at the very bottom of the Import submenu. This will open the Lightroom Database Import Guide.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

2. Select Data and Catalog to Import

As soon as you launch the Lightroom Database Importer, a dialog with a short introduction to the tool’s functionality will pop up. Click Next, and you will be given options to specify which database entries you want to be imported, as well as the location of the Lightroom Catalog itself.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

2.1 Ratings

This is the star-based filter assigned with numeric keys (1 through 5) in Lightroom. ACDSee does not have stars as such, but it provides a numeric rating that is equivalent for all intents and purposes. If you check this option, ACDSee will interpret the ratings you have assigned with Lightroom and apply the same values.

2.2 Labels

This specifically refers to color labels that both Lightroom and ACDSee support. Again, by default, the labels that ACDSee provides are exactly the same as those found in Lightroom, so files marked with a Red label in a Lightroom Catalog will be marked with the same color in ACDSee after the data from the Catalog is imported.

2.3 Collections

These are a bit more complicated than Labels and Ratings and not something Photo Studio promotes as a means to managing your files, at least not by default. But if you were using Collections in Lightroom to sort your images, ACDSee will readily take over.

Simply select the Panes menu and enable Collections there and a new navigational tab will become available. Located right next to the Folders tab in Manage mode, it will list all the Collections that the imported Catalogs contained, along with the images assigned to those Collections.

It has been a couple of years since I last used Collections in Lightroom, preferring to stick with simple filters now, but it is nice to know this option is available and neatly integrated.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

2.4 Keywords

These are perhaps self-explanatory. Any keywords that you applied in Lightroom to any given RAW file will be seen by ACDSee too. This is useful for when you want to find images of specific locations, events, or people, provided you specified those keywords in Lightroom in the first place. Obviously, if you have not, ACDSee offers enough image management tools to have you covered.

2.5 Location

ACDSee will navigate to the default Lightroom Catalog in the Pictures folder on your computer, so keep in mind you may need to change the location. There is no way to select several Catalogs at once, so if you have more than one (which is very likely), the Catalog Import process will need to be repeated once for each one.

Make sure Lightroom is not running while attempting to Import a Catalog.

Depending on the size of the Catalog being imported and your computer hardware specifications, the process might take up to a few minutes to finish. In fact, it took ACDSee over 30 minutes to process my Catalog. More than enough time to take a break from work and have a cup of coffee (you will have to wait for the Import to finish before you can use Photo Studio for anything else).

Admittedly, the Catalog was quite large, with a year’s worth of RAW files, and stored on an external hard drive on top of that. And not the fastest sort either. Be that as it may, importing will certainly be quicker than having to apply the filters and ratings manually, and nowhere near as tedious.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

Once the process is finished, you will find (upon navigating to the corresponding folder) your RAW files to contain the same labels, ratings, and metadata entries as applied in Lightroom. Honestly, this is great. The only omission that I can think of is that ACDSee does not seem to take Flags into account, so any images you may have marked with Pick or Reject Flag in Lightroom will not have the filter imported.

Part of the reason is that ACDSee simply has no Reject Flag equivalent, even if marking a file with backslash key tags it in a similar fashion to how Pick Flag works in Lightroom. Something to improve upon perhaps.

The ratings and labels Lightroom is showing…

…are now transferred to ACDSee. And it gives you a good before-after glimpse too/

Plugins are added

Here is something that’s as unexpected as it is brilliant; ACDSee supports plugins designed for Adobe Photoshop. If you have been using Lightroom, this may be of relevance to you, too, as so many of these plugins are also meant for Adobe’s standalone RAW converter and image management software.

I have no idea how much work had to go into this little trick, but it is a massive attraction for anyone who is not fully satisfied with the extent of default ACDSee tools.

Long time no see, Silver Efex. Fancy finding you here.

While I have not done any extensive testing – I rarely, if ever, use plugins anymore – I was able to verify this with one of the most well-regarded plugin packs by Nik Software (now owned by DxO after being nearly killed-off by Google). Color Efex worked like a charm. I encountered an occasional error here and there, but often to no direct effect on the functionality of the software or the plugin, so while annoying, it was rarely terminal.

I also tried a couple of plugins by Topaz some time ago and they worked without issue. The full list of officially supported tools can be found here.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

It is necessary to path the location of the already-installed plugins. To make sure ACDSee can locate the plugins correctly, first go to Edit mode. Then, select Options from the Tools menu at the top of the screen, or simply hit Alt + O. Once the Options panel is displayed, choose Edit Mode from the list on the left. There, you will be able to select the GPU that ACDSee will use to speed up processing, among other things.

What we need is the bottom-most field called Adobe Photoshop Plugin Paths. A couple of directories will be listed by default, but in some cases (as with Nik), they won’t be enough. You need to specify where the plugins are located. Since I am interested in using Nik Software, I added (click the Add button) a new path that leads to C:\Program Files\Nik Collection. The destination of your plugins might be different, so make sure you set the path correctly. Once you’re done, click OK.

From Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy

If the plugins are supported and the path has been specified accurately, you will find the plugins listed in the Photoshop Plugins section of the Tools menu (still in Edit Mode).

I won’t claim there is no chance of errors happening – after all, those plugins were never really intended for anything but Adobe. Yet the fact that they work so well despite that is an impressive and convenient achievement no matter how you look at it.

Just keep in mind that not everything might work as expected every single time, or it may take time for some plugins to be properly supported.

Final Words

Breaking and rearranging an established workflow is not a pleasant experience. Especially if the previous routine worked well and it is the company’s decisions, rather than the quality of the tool, that has become an issue. With that in mind, it is good to know that less-dominant software developers are going out of their way to show how welcoming they can be.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate attempts to make the transition from Lightroom as simple and straightforward as possible, not only by offering a plethora of powerful (and often similar) post-processing tools but by also taking steps towards preserving any image organizing you may have already done with Lightroom.

It’s not perfect and there is certainly room for improvement (perhaps edit transfers are not as far-fetched as they might seem?), but what has been done is by no means a small feat and will save any new user hours of rating and filtering what has already been done before.

Whichever software you will find yourself choosing next (or sticking with), there is plenty for the giant developers to learn from such attention to detail.

Disclaimer: ACDsee is a paid partner of dPS

The post Switching from Lightroom to ACDSee Photo Studio: Making the Jump Easy by Romanas Naryškin appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Sony will start making CFast memory cards: 510MB/s cards coming in 2018

29 Nov

Sony has announced that it will introduce the CFast memory card format to its professional range in the first quarter of next year, and odd and exciting move when you consider that CFast 2.0 competes directly with the XQD card format Sony helped pioneer.

The series will launch with three memory cards that boast maximum read and write speeds of 530MB/s and 510MB/s, respectively. These G-series cards will be aimed at cinematographers and those shooting high bit-rate video, as well as stills photographers working with high frame rate cameras like the Canon 1DX Mark II.

As mentioned above, the cards boast a maximum write speed of 510MB/s, but more importantly they also guarantee a minimum sustained write speed of 130MB/s under the Video Performance Guarantee. This helps to ensure cards do not force cameras to stop recording during lengthy sequences.

And since pros need their cards to be sturdy as well as fast, Sony says the new CFast cards have been carefully tested for drop, vibration, shock resistance and rigidity, and states that they work in a wide range of temperatures and are highly resistant to static.

The cards will be available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities for $ 120, $ 200, and $ 350, respectively. For more information, read the full release below or visit the Sony website.

Press Release

Sony completes Pro memory card line-up with new CFast range

November 28, 2017 – Sony is launching a range of high performance CFast memory cards, which are designed to meet the needs of professional photographers and videographers. The G Series CFast 2.0 memory cards will be available in 32GB (CAT-G32), 64GB (CAT-G64) and 128GB (CAT-G128) capacities, responding to the ever increasing capabilities of high-end DSLR and 4K cinema-grade broadcast cameras. The cards offer lightning-fast write speeds of up to 510MB/s and read speeds of up to 530MB/s and join an established range of media that includes Professional internal SSDs, XQD and SxS cards, as well as the world’s fastest SD card, while strengthening Sony’s position as a leader in professional memory solutions.

Step up to industry-leading write speeds

Professional photographers demand faster speed for continuous burst shooting of higher resolution images including RAW. With up to 510MB/s write speed, far outperforming the capabilities of existing CFast cards, Sony’s G Series supports high-speed burst shooting of high resolution RAW, maximizing the capability of high-end DSLR cameras like the Canon 1DX Mark 2.

Super-fast read speed for ultra-effective workflow

Efficient workflow is essential for professional photographers and videographers working in challenging environments on tight deadlines. With a blazing fast read speed of 530MB/s, Sony’s G Series CFast dramatically reduces the time it takes to transfer RAW files, long 4K video footage and high-resolution images to a PC.

Reliable 4K video recording with VPG130 support

As well as ultra-fast read and write speeds, the new CFast cards support VPG130 for reliable recording of Cinema-grade or high-bitrate 4K video. A minimum sustained write speed of 130MB/s is guaranteed, making the new media ideal for stable recording of professional grade 4K video, such as Cinema RAW light mode with Canon C200 video cameras.

Designed for strength and reliability

The new CFast cards have passed a variety of stringent drop, vibration, shock and rigidity tests, making them perfect for shooting in many different locations. They work reliably across a wide range of temperatures and are highly resistant to static. With a hard case and Sony File Rescue software, which is available when used with a card reader in a Removable Disk configuration, the cards can recover accidentally deleted photos such as RAW images and videos, allowing professionals to shoot with confidence in the toughest conditions.

Pricing and Availability

Sony’s G Series CFast cards are planned to be available in early 2018 for a suggested retail price of $ 119.99 for 32GB, $ 199.99 for 64GB and $ 349.99 for 128GB.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Lexar responds to rumors: will continue making XQD memory cards

01 Nov

Almost 2 weeks ago, Nikon Rumors reported that B&H Photo had discontinued Lexar’s line of XQD cards. In light of Lexar’s recent acquisition by Chinese flash storage manufacturer Longsys, people assumed the worst—for once, they shouldn’t have.

Yesterday, Lexar responded directly to Nikon Rumors on Twitter, assuring the publication (and everyone else) that the it will continue producing XQD cards, which are currently used by some high-end Nikon DSLRs like the Nikon D5 and Nikon D850. Here’s the response in full:

Hi Nikon Rumors! We will continue producing XQD cards and will fulfill B&H’s inventory in a few weeks – hang tight! 🙂

— Lexar (@lexarmemory) October 30, 2017

Exactly what Lexar’s future looks like, we still can’t say. Longsys has been quiet except to say that “the innovative solutions and excellent support that they have experienced from Lexar will continue.” For now, that apparently extends to XQD cards.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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