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Opinion: The future of photography and the value of a free photo

05 Aug

Photo by Lionello DelPiccolo on Unsplash

Mikael Cho is the founder and CEO of Unsplash, a community where photographers can share their high-resolution photos for anyone to use for free—no credit or payment required. The platform has been criticized roundly by many professional photographers who claim the service devalues photography. In a recent blog post, Cho responded to this criticism, sharing his thoughts on the future of photography and the value of a photograph that is given away for free.

Mr. Cho has given DPReview permission to republish the article in full below.

We didn’t start Unsplash to reinvent an industry. We started Unsplash because we thought it might be useful.

Unsplash is a community where anyone can share high-resolution photos for anyone to use freely. It began as a Tumblr blog with ten photos we had leftover from a photoshoot. Instead of letting our photos sit dead in a hard drive somewhere, we thought it would be better if they were put to use to move other creative projects forward. A freelance designer could grab an image to pitch a mockup or demo. An entrepreneur strapped for cash could put a website up with a nice background photo to attract potential customers.

We believed the good from giving our images away would far outweigh what we could earn if we required payment or credit.

The power of photography

This proved true. By setting our images free, Unsplash turned into something much more meaningful than the hundreds of dollars we likely would have made selling them. Those first 10 photos photos have been seen 58 million times. Unsplash has become a community of over 20 million creators. People from all over the world have generously contributed over 250,000 photos, moving hundreds of millions of creative acts forward.

Unsplash photos mapping the world

Unsplash photos have not only helped designers and entrepreneurs create demos and websites but have been a source of inspiration for everyone from teachers to nonprofits to independent creators.

A few things made with Unsplash

Unsplash contributors share photography to make an impact so our aim has been to push the impact of their imagery like no other platform ever has. Today, a photo featured on Unsplash is seen more than a photo on any other platform. More than Instagram. More than the front page of the New York Times.

The @unsplash effect ? pic.twitter.com/R78ZGU1ABx

— Jeff Sheldon (@ugmonk) June 1, 2017

You don’t need to come with an audience or have an agent to be great on Unsplash. We bring an audience to you.

The Direct-to-Consumer Creator

As an independent designer myself, I understand you can’t do everything for exposure because exposure doesn’t pay the bills. But to completely dismiss the value of exposure doesn’t make sense either.

All artists need an audience to survive. Why do we spend time posting on Instagram if we don’t get paid for it? Because those posts build an audience over time.

In the last ten years, several platforms like YouTube, iPhone, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, and Medium have enabled more and more of us to express and connect. Sometimes, this expression and connection is done for fun. For nothing but the purpose of creating. Other times it’s done to create an audience for something else. Filmmakers distribute trailers for free on YouTube to sell a movie. Musicians release free songs or entire albums on SoundCloud to sell concert tickets. Authors give free chapters and pour thousands of unpaid hours into blogs to sell a book.

New platforms don’t kill industries. They change the distribution.

Online platforms have opened up an opportunity for so many people to share their craft with huge audiences instantly. New platforms create a distribution channel and community we otherwise wouldn’t have. In this sense, there’s never been a better time to be a creator.

When two-time #1 New York Times best-selling author Tim Ferriss was blocked from distributing his book in Barnes & Noble, he uploaded excerpts from his book for free on BitTorrent to get distribution. Writer Leo Babauta “Uncopyrighted” everything on his popular blog, Zen Habits, in service of spreading his work further than he ever could alone. Chance the Rapper became the first artist to win a Grammy without selling physical copies of his album and giving most of his music away for free.

These examples of creators sharing in extreme ways didn’t produce any immediate monetary gain. In fact, they probably lost some sales from it. But whatever the losses, they were more than made up for by the outsized benefits that came from openly sharing their work. As Chance the Rapper said,

“I realized my strength was being able to offer my best work to people without any limit on it.

I make money from touring and selling merchandise, and I honestly believe if you put effort into something and you execute properly, you don’t necessarily have to go through the traditional ways.”

Unsplash is different though…

Unsplash seems like a beneficial platform for hobbyist photographers because hobbyist photographers make money elsewhere. But what about commercial photographers?

I get how Unsplash could seem more devaluing to a commercial photographer than other photo-sharing platforms because you’re giving up your copyright ownership of your photo when you share it. To get behind this argument though, we need to understand what photo copyright ownership gets us. The purpose of holding on to copyright for a photo is typically so you can protect it from someone else taking that photo and selling it for profit.

Before the internet, holding on to copyright for photos was more beneficial because the value in licensing a photo was high. The issue today is a licensed photo is losing its value. The price photo buyers are willing to pay to license a photo is accelerating downward. If you post your photos on a stock photo site, you’ll earn ~$ 511/year on average on your collection, half what you would make two years ago.

Data from Shutterstock

While almost everyone needs images to do their jobs today, the jobs we do with imagery are different from when photos used to be licensed by media buyers or photo agencies for commercial use. For example, almost 70 percent of the people who download images on Unsplash have never downloaded a photo from a stock photo site before. And the most common uses for Unsplash photos are presentations, blogs, or personal projects.

At the same time, the cost to produce a photo is going down. The five most valuable companies in the world today are all competing on the camera. While professional photography gear is still expensive, mobile cameras are improving at a rate that will eventually put a professional-level camera in everyone’s pocket.

Every 2 minutes, people take more photos than ever existed 150 years ago. There’s no doubt creating a great photo requires artistry but photography has become more saturated which means many photographers today are not contacted by people wanting to pay to use their copyrighted photos.

There’s more demand. There’s more supply. But it’s also different demand and different supply. The photo licensing business model doesn’t fit.

Photos as Relationship Makers

Most photographers have transitioned to using photos as tools to create relationships. Professional photographers use photos they took for fun to connect with potential clients. Potential clients enjoy the photos on your portfolio or Instagram, so they hire you for a photoshoot. Hobbyist photographers use photos to build an audience they can direct toward where they make a living or simply to practice their craft.

The human brain is wired to connect with imagery so imagery will always be something people seek out. Since photos work so well as a form of connection, we saw Unsplash as a more impactful way to do that. Giving up your copyright to a photo seems extreme but it’s this extreme level of giving that produces the unprecedented level of connection.

Recently, a team of researchers found the most shared articles from the New York Times were ones that gave readers practical utility. Giving someone something useful tends to have the biggest impact on people. When you pair two powerful things like giving and photography, you reach a whole new level of impact.

Many of our members have said they’ve gained so much from sharing work on Unsplash compared to anywhere else. Many have booked client work after posting just a couple photos. Some have been flown around the world on photoshoots. Some have gotten enough work to leave their jobs and become full-time photographers. Some have been able to build audiences for new products. And every contributor we’ve spoken to has enjoyed the impact their photography has made toward moving creativity forward. Here’s a few of their stories.

Yes, there will be people who use Unsplash photos freely who may have hired a photographer if Unsplash didn’t exist. But by giving photos, Unsplash contributors create a new opportunity for millions of other people to find their work.

If someone needs a photo for a presentation that will only be seen by a few co-workers, they don’t have a budget for photography. If they can’t use a free photo for that, they are not hiring someone. And there is no relationship created. But by finding a photo on Unsplash, a relationship begins. When they need to hire a photographer for a shoot, they’re more likely to go back to the place that fulfills that need. We’re trying to make it so these relationships connect back to the Unsplash contributor that inspired them.

We’ve already begun to build things into Unsplash to strengthen this relationship between photo contributors and the creators they inspire. We’re building up a library of things made with Unsplash to connect back to contributors. Just last month, we launched a “Say Thanks” feature which creates a way for people to publicly recognize the Unsplash contributor who gave the photo they downloaded. And we’ve begun work on an Unsplash member search to help our members book creative work.

In a sense, every Unsplash photo turns into a billboard for our contributors. And the future business model of Unsplash is about creating relationships through the unique attention and use each photo creates.

The future value in photography

By our estimates, there are potentially 100 times more people looking for usable imagery today, than a decade ago. Image use has moved mainstream which is why there’s a new opportunity for a business model that works better for everyone.

There’s no doubt about the impact of photography. Photos are powerful. The question is not if photography will maintain its power but how to create meaningful value from it. We’ve already begun to think about what this looks like. It’s going to take time to figure out. While we don’t have all the answers today, we will always be transparent and upfront about where we’re headed.

Every industry evolves. Things will change. We can’t be resistant to change no matter how much today’s world benefits us. We face the same fact that every artist and business must face: what we offer today will eventually be obsolete. We can choose to be upset with this fact or understand it is inevitable and continue to adapt.

If you do it right, you’ll be the one to disrupt yourself. You’ll be out in front of the pack. You’ll help determine the new value. That’s what we’re looking to do for photography. That’s what we’re looking to do for the creative community. We’re all in the same boat. When the creative industry benefits, we all benefit.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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5 Tips for Better Concert Photography in Low Light Conditions

04 Aug

Concert photography is one of the hardest subjects to nail down for one main reason: the conditions almost always have low lighting and you aren’t allowed to use flash. With that said, there are some tips for optimizing your concert photography experience. Whether you’re equipped with a DSLR and a photo pass for a big arena show or simply shooting a local band in a pub or a school performance, use these tips to enhance your low lighting photography.

1. Choose a Low Lighting Lens

5 Tips for Better Concert Photography in Low Light Conditions - use a fast lens

One of my first concert photos snapped with an old Nikon D90 and a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.

Generally speaking, the gear you shoot with doesn’t really matter, except when it comes to low lighting photography. In this case, you’ll want to have a fast lens with the lowest f-stop possible. For most concert photographers, this equates to a 24-70mm f/2.8 and/or a 70-200mm f/2.8. These are two of the most popular concert and event photography lenses thanks to their low f-stops and vast focal length coverage.

However, fast lenses like these two can be very expensive. If you’re on a budget, consider an affordable prime lens such as the 50mm f/1.8 or 85mm f/1.8. While you sacrifice the ability to zoom, you gain an extra stop or two of light while also saving money.

2. Adjust Your Aperture to Shoot Wide Open

Now that you have a large aperture lens, switch your camera over to Aperture Priority or Manual mode and shoot “wide opened” at the lowest f-stop number your lens allows. This will let the most amount of light get to your camera’s sensor.

As a tradeoff, the lower f-stop number means a smaller depth of field, meaning your images may not be as sharp as if you were shooting at a higher f-stop. So if you happen to be shooting in ultra bright lighting conditions, consider bumping your f-stop up to get more of the scene in focus.

5 Tips for Better Concert Photography in Low Light Conditions

Sometimes you are blessed with ample venue lighting that gives you more flexibility with your camera settings. Shot at f/4 at 1/125 at ISO 640.

3. Watch Your Shutter Speed

If you shoot in Aperture Priority mode like I do, then you won’t have to worry about setting your shutter speed. However, you should always take note of it while shooting and understand how it may affect your image.

As a baseline, your shutter speed should be at least 1/250th to freeze motion while shooting concerts. But this is a luxury often reserved for shooting well-lit shows or outdoor concerts. In low lighting conditions, your shutter speed will probably be much lower than 1/250th. I can usually push my camera to go as low as 1/60th and still pull off decent concert photos, but it’s best to not go any slower than 1/100th.

5 Tips for Better Concert Photography in Low Light Conditions

4. Increase the ISO

Increase the ISO until you are able to shoot at your desired aperture and shutter speed. For most conditions, this means cranking the ISO up to 3200 or even as high as 6400. The exact ISO limitations will vary according to your camera. And just because your camera can shoot at ISO 10,000 doesn’t mean that you should. Experiment with your camera until you find the highest ISO that you are comfortable using (based on the noise level, etc.).

As a tradeoff, a higher ISO means you’ll have more noise or grain in your images. However, many digital cameras today produce very good quality images even at high ISOs. Also, there is noise reduction software available that will help you reduce noise in post-production. The bottom line is that more digital noise or grain in an image is better than having it be blurry due to a slow shutter speed. Don’t hesitate to increase the ISO.

Shot at f/2.8 at 1/100 at ISO 5000. Not the sharpest photo, but it captured a key moment in a venue with horrible lighting.

5. Shoot in RAW

If your camera allows for it, shoot your images in RAW format, rather than JPG. Concert photography is notorious for having inconsistent lighting with red or blue lights that can flicker or change throughout a concert, making it hard to adjust the in-camera white balance. If you shoot in RAW, you’ll have more flexibility to fix and edit those photos in post-production.

concert photography tips

Over to You

What are some of your best tips for photographing concerts in low lighting without flash? Please share them in the comments below.

The post 5 Tips for Better Concert Photography in Low Light Conditions by Suzi Pratt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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5 Tips for Better Travel Photography

04 Aug

In this article, I will share with you some tips about travel photography.

After spending a year doing travel photography in India, I discovered that it isn’t about traveling physically, it’s about making the viewer travel virtually to your images. Travel image need to have sense of place and time. You can achieve this by shooting in your own city, street, or neighborhood.

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Delhi - 5 Tips for Travel Photography

If I were from Delhi and shot some images of the Taj Mahal in Agra, or if I were from Agra itself and I shot images of the Taj Mahal, both of those will be considered travel images if they have sense of place or time. Just try to compose an photo so the viewer visually travels to your image. Make him feel that he already went to this place through your image or that he wants to go there in real life.

You don’t need to get an airline ticket to another country to make travel photography. You don’t need to take a train to another city to do, travel photography. But of course when you do travel to another country or city, your energy and passion increase because of the diverse culture and tradition and the fact that your eye is impressed by the new subjects.

#1 Avoiding cliché shots

Lake Pichola Udaipur Rajasthan - 5 Tips for Travel Photography

It’s important to avoid cliché shots in travel photography. Before buying my flight ticket to India, I decided to avoid all popular cliché images of India which are pictures of the Taj Mahal, a train window, Holi Festival, camels of Pushkar, Rajasthani portraits, and portraits of people with wrinkles. I wanted to shoot something different, I wanted to come back to my country with new frames that aren’t common to viewers eyes.

#2 Approaching people

Being a foreign travel photographer means that half of the people you will meet will welcome you and be kind because they appreciate and like foreigners. The other half won’t allow you to photograph them because they won’t be sure about how you will use their images.

Himalaya Nyingmapa Buddhist Temple Himachal Pradesh India - 5 Tips for Travel Photography

There are several ways to approach people abroad:

If you know the local language, it will be very easy for you to up go to your subject, introduce yourself, explain why you want to photograph them and how you will use the photos.

If you only speak English, you can have a guide or translator with you. I don’t recommend this because it will attract attention of people and some may feel that there is something serious in taking their image and they may refuse.

Jagdish Temple Udaipur Rajasthan - 5 Tips for Travel Photography

You can shoot candids and never make direct eye contact with your subject. Do not give an alert that you are photographing, and hide yourself behind the camera.

You can shoot without permission in a candid way with making direct eye contact, and smile to the subject and after taking the picture. Show them the image and tell them that they are beautiful and ask them to smile. Your eye contact and smile can be the permission. This is the best way!

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Delhi 2 - 5 Tips for Travel Photography

When you take portraits, make sure you have some of your images printed to show to your subject to help explain what are you doing and how they will look in your photographs.

Click one image and show them the pictures on your camera. They will be pleased because many people don’t know that their image can appear in camera.

#3 Enter the culture

Jagdish Temple Udaipur Rajasthan 2

Wear local clothes to seem local and attract less attention and to show appreciation for the culture of the country.
Learn the greeting gesture if they have one.
Learn basics words of the language like; hello, please and thank you. People will be happy that you appreciate their language.
If you will visit the place again, try to print their image and give it to them as souvenir, it will be a valuable gift.
Smaller cameras and lenses will be make you more invisible as a photographer and you will look more like an amateur.
Remember that when you photograph someone, you take part of his soul (many believe this), so you need to appreciate the people you photograph and be kind to them.

Old Town Udaipur Rajasthan - travel photography

#4 Researching

I believe that the step of research is as important as the shooting itself.

Research where are you going. For example, if you will travel to Delhi, you need to know everything about Delhi.

What are the most famous places for tourism in Delhi?
What are the most famous places for photography in Delhi?
Learn about the lesser known places for photography in Delhi by asking local photographers.

Vishwa Shanti Stupa Delhi - travel photography

This will help you explore new places because in every city you will discover places that have never been photographed before.

You need to know about the famous iconic places before visiting your destination. Then you need to research how photographers normally shoot them, so you are able to compose a shot in a different way and be creative.

Jal Mahal Jaipur Rajasthan

#5 Manage your time

Don’t waste any hour without shooting, even in the harsh sun, you can take good images using light and shadow!

Wake up early during your journey, there are many scenes you will never catch except in the early morning.

Old Town Udaipur Rajasthan 2

Visit places twice if you have time because when you visit new place for the first time, you will be shocked and impressed as a tourist. Then when you visit again, your eyes will be adjusted to the scene so you will be able to capture images using your vision not using tourists’ eyes.

Conclusion

Hopefully these 5 travel photography tips will help you come home with great images from you next trip. Please share any others you have and your travel images in the comments below.

The post 5 Tips for Better Travel Photography by Yasser Alaa Mobarak appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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MIT’s newest photography tech can retouch an image before it’s captured

04 Aug

MIT has developed a new machine learning technology that is able to retouch an image in real-time, presenting the photographer with the final product before they snap the photo. The system, which is being presented by both Google and MIT researchers at the digital graphics conference Siggraph in Los Angeles, was trained using thousands of both raw and retouched images that comprise a dataset created by MIT and Adobe, among others.

The automatic image retouching system is lightweight enough to be used on an ordinary smartphone, and it can be equipped with multiple different styles. While real-time image retouching isn’t a new idea, the ability to perform it on a smartphone is. Talking about this, researcher Jon Barron explains:

Using machine learning for computational photography is an exciting prospect but is limited by the severe computational and power constraints of mobile phones. This paper may provide us with a way to sidestep these issues and produce new, compelling, real-time photographic experiences without draining your battery or giving you a laggy viewfinder experience.

In order for the image retouching to work in real-time on low power devices like smartphones, the researchers developed a system that modifies a low-resolution version of the final image, then translates those edits to the full-resolution photo.

With this method arose a big problem, however. Namely, that the low-resolution image doesn’t contain enough data to adequately determine edits for the full-resolution version. Two different solutions were found to solve this problem, the first being that the system outputs ‘a set of simple formulae’ rather than the low-res image itself, and the second being a method for applying the formulae to the full-resolution photo. The team explains that technology in detail in the video below:

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

03 Aug

Have you ever come across beautiful cityscape photos captured at twilight and dusk (the so-called “blue hour”) with silky smooth water, like this Marina Bay (Singapore) photo below, and wonder how you could do that yourself? Assuming that you’ve already got your camera (a body and lens), let me go through some of the other gear that is required to do stunning long exposure photography at twilight and dusk.

Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

Marina Bay (Singapore), shot at 35mm, f/11, for 194 seconds (just over a 3-minute exposure).

Use a Tripod

A tripod is the single-most important piece of gear for photographers shooting at twilight and dusk. Photos shot at these hours require long exposures sometimes lasting for many seconds or even minutes. Therefore, a sturdy tripod is absolutely essential for keeping photos blur-free.

Unlike your camera body, a tripod isn’t something you will upgrade often. So, try to get the best possible tripod within your budget. A good tripod could last a lifetime! I own a Manfrotto MT190CXPRO3 Carbon Fibre Tripod (supports up to 7kg). If your tripod doesn’t come with a tripod head (like mine), get yourself a steady ball-head or 3-way style, whichever you prefer (I own Sirui K-20X Ballhead that supports 25kg).

Tripod - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

Mini-Tripods

Mini tripods come in handy at locations where a full-size tripod isn’t allowed inside (e.g. The observation deck of a tower). I own a Joby Gorillapod Focus for DSLRs which supports up to 5kg. It has a dedicated ball head (Joby GorillaPod Ballhead X for Focus) that you can buy as a bundle, but I’m using my own ball-head (aforementioned Sirui K-20X Ballhead) as I feel it’s redundant to have two.

Mini tripod - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

Clamp Tripod

A clamp tripod is another tool that comes in extremely handy when there is no appropriate space to set up a tripod. I own the Manfrotto 035 Super Clamp without Stud (supports up to 15kg). Into that, I plug the separately-sold Manfrotto 208HEX 3/8-Inch Camera Mounting Platform Adapter (or a cheaper alternative Manfrotto 037 Reversible Short Stud) into the socket in order to firmly mount a tripod head and camera on top of that. Then I clamp the whole setup onto handrails, etc. This setup is rock solid and is a game changer for us cityscape photographers aiming to take very sharp photos at twilight and dusk without using a full-sized tripod.

Clamp infographic - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

This graphic shows how to mount a DSLR on Manfrotto Super Clamp by using a camera mounting platform adapter.

Steps:

Plug a camera mounting platform adapter into a Super Clamp socket and secure it with the double lock system.
Mount a tripod head with DSLR on the mounting platform adapter, just like you do with your regular tripod.

Clamp - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

Neutral Density Filters

Neutral density (ND) filters help reduce the light that is coming through the lens, allowing your shutter speed to be extended much longer. This is a must have tool if you want to create the silky smooth water effect typically seen in long exposure photography.

ND filters come in different strengths such as; 3-stop, 6-stop or 10-stop. The bigger the number, the darker the filter and the less light that is let through. My favorite is 6-stop ND filter (I own a B+W 6-Stop ND Filter). With this attached to my lens, a base exposure of 2 seconds (i.e. when no filter is attached) can be extended to 128 seconds. Each “stop” of the ND filter doubles the required exposure time (2 seconds > 4 seconds [1 stop] > 8 seconds [2 stops] > 16 seconds [3 stops] > 32 seconds [4 stops] > 64 seconds [5 stops] > 128 seconds [6 stops]), which is long enough to create silky smooth water effects.

Filters come in two types, screw-on and square filters. If you’re getting screw-on filters, be careful with the size of filter you’re purchasing. It depends on the filter thread size of your lens (e.g. 77mm for Nikon 12-24mm, 67mm for Canon 10-18mm, etc. – look inside your lens cap for the filter size of that lens). If you have two or more lenses with different filter thread sizes that you’d like to use an ND filter on, get one that fits your largest lens (i.e. lens with the largest filter thread size). Then purchase a step-up adapter ring to make the single filter fit into other lenses with smaller thread sizes.

Filters - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

Left: Screw-on ND filter. Right: Drop-in square filter (image courtesy of Tiffen).

Or, you can get a square ND drop-in filter instead, along with a holder and adapters (check out at these options we’ve reviewed and featured here on dPS). The advantage of square filters is that you only need one filter to fit all of your lenses. That said, I still prefer screw-on filters because they take up less space in my camera bag and I only own one lens that takes front filters (my trusty Nikon 18-35mm with 77mm filter thread), anyway.

Wireless Remote or Cable Shutter Release

This is another essential tool, as it lets you take photos without touching the camera and helps keep your photos sharp. No need to get a pricey one, though. I’m still using a Phottix IR-Nikon (wireless remote) that I bought years ago for $ 20 (it is available for Canon as well).

Wireless remote - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

Long Exposure Calculator App

When you use a semi-manual mode (e.g. Aperture Priority), the shutter speed cannot exceed 30 seconds on most DSLRs. With a 6-stop ND filter used at twilight and dusk, much longer than a 30-second exposure is required. So this is where you’ll need to switch to Manual Mode and take the full control of the camera yourself.

But, how will you know the correct exposure time (shutter speed) to use when your camera no longer assists you? Well, there are a number of free phone apps that help you determine a correct shutter speed. I’m using Long Exposure Calculator app by Junel Corales (get it here for iOS devices or here for Android).

Long exposure calculator - Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk

By setting your filter density (e.g. 6-stop) and base shutter speed (e.g. 2-seconds), the Long Exposure Calculator app automatically calculates the required shutter speed you will need to use (2 minutes and 8 seconds [128 seconds] in this case).

Lenskirt

A lenskirt is a handy tool when shooting through the glass window of an observation deck, hotel room window, etc., as it helps eliminate reflections (such as yourself, room lights) off of the glass window. It might catch the unwanted attention of other visitors due to its odd shape but it has worked quite well for me and has found a permanent place in my camera bag when I’m traveling.

Lenskirt in use on the 100th-floor observation deck of the Shanghai World Financial Center. By attaching it to the lens and its pushing suction cups onto the window, it shades the front element of the lens and cuts reflections from the glass window, leaving no chance for any stray light to get into the camera.

Conclusion

That’s all about it. I hope this will get you started with long exposure photography at twilight and dusk. For me, dusk is the most beautiful moment of the day. It ends in the blink of an eye, and that’s what makes it even more special. Try to capture the beauty of long exposure photography at twilight and dusk with this gear.

If you have any other pieces of gear you use for long exposures that you find indispensable, please share them in the comments below.

The post Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk by Joey J appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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VAST photography collective creates ‘highest resolution fine art photographs ever made’

02 Aug

A group of photographers are working together to take gigapixel photography to the next level, and they’re doing it under a collective called VAST. Founded by photographer and software engineer Dan Piech, the VAST collective combines artistic skills with technical skills to produce high-quality, Fine Art gigapixel photographs.

Unlike typical gigapixel photography, these images feature scenes that are difficult to produce in massively high resolutions, such as photos taken around sunrise and sunset.

Talking about the collective and the work they do, founder Piech said, “We’ve developed a number of new techniques for doing some pretty amazing things that allow us to have the best of both worlds: resolution + aesthetics.”

Whereas common panoramas may involve only a few photos stitched together, these gigapixel photos require creators to assemble hundreds of images, the end result being an incredibly detailed, sharp photo for large printed pieces.

Huge amounts of time and work go into creating gigapixel shots, but the process doesn’t necessarily require expensive rigs.

As explained in a blog post by Ben Pitt, this 7 gigapixel photo of San Francisco was taken using “a normal tripod and an inexpensive ultra-zoom camera [the Panasonic FZ200].” That particular gigapixel photo is composed from 1,229 images captured across 16 rows, each with about 75 images. The shooting alone took more than an hour.

Stitching the images was, in the case of the San Francisco photograph, performed over the course of many hours using the automated and free Windows application ICE, though alternatives are available like GigaPan Stitch and PTgui. Photoshop was tapped for post-processing, used to patch in content from the original images when necessary, among other things. The resulting Photoshop files can be many gigabytes in size.

You can find out more about VAST’s own technique here.

VAST offers prints of these photographs, as well as others spanning categories like Abstract, Cityscapes and B&W. Price depends on the image and size—one example, the ‘Requiem for 2016’ image of New York City shown above, starts at $ 2,745 for a 60 x 21″ print of the 6,410 megapixel image. The full gallery of available prints can be viewed here.

Note: A previous version of this post mistakenly identified Ben Pitt as a VAST photographer. That is not the case.

All photographs courtesy of VAST, and used with permission.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Former Google SVP prefers iPhone over Android for mobile photography

01 Aug

Vic Gundotra was an SVP of engineering at Google for almost eight years before leaving the company in 2014, and heavily involved in running Google’s mobile initiatives. However, despite being one of the main drivers behind Android from 2007 to 2010, Gundotra appears to prefer Apple’s iPhones over Android devices, at least for photography.

In a Facebook post, Gundotra called the results of the background-blurring iPhone 7 Plus portrait mode “stunning” and “the end of the DSLR for most people”. When replying to comments on the post he went on the say that, in terms of imaging, Android phones were years behind the iPhone:

Here is the problem: It’s Android. Android is an open source (mostly) operating system that has to be neutral to all parties. This sounds good until you get into the details. Ever wonder why a Samsung phone has a confused and bewildering array of photo options? Should I use the Samsung Camera? Or the Android Camera? Samsung gallery or Google Photos?

It’s because when Samsung innovates with the underlying hardware (like a better camera) they have to convince Google to allow that innovation to be surfaced to other applications via the appropriate API. That can take YEARS.

Also the greatest innovation isn’t even happening at the hardware level – it’s happening at the computational photography level. (Google was crushing this 5 years ago – they had had “auto awesome” that used AI techniques to automatically remove wrinkles, whiten teeth, add vignetting, etc… but recently Google has fallen back).

Apple doesn’t have all these constraints. They innovate in the underlying hardware, and just simply update the software with their latest innovations (like portrait mode) and ship it.

Bottom line: If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don’t mind being a few years behind, buy an Android.

Apple’s portrait mode doesn’t come without its limitations, but it’s probably fair to say among all the various incarnations of depth or bokeh effects we have seen so far it is the best performing. On the other hand some Android smartphones, such as the Google Pixel or HTC U11, offer an advantage over the latest iPhone models in terms of detail resolution and textures.

So, like with so many things, the smartphone camera that is best for you depends a lot on your personal requirements. Vic Gundotra definitely seems to have made his mind up, though. In another post he says he “would NEVER buy an Android phone again if I cared about photography.” Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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EyeEm 2017 Photography Awards finalists revealed

29 Jul

EyeEm has revealed the finalists for its fourth annual photography contest, the largest competition of its kind. Chosen from more than 590,000 submissions, these photos are contending for the top spot in one of five different categories: ‘The Street Photographer,’ ‘The Great Outdoors,’ ‘The Portraitist,’ ‘The Architect,’ and ‘The Photojournalist.’ The 100 selected photos can be viewed on EyeEm’s awards website.

According to EyeEm, more than 88,000 photographers from around the globe submitted photos for consideration. The images chosen from the submissions will be judged by a panel of judges that include National Geographic Traveler’s Director of Photography Anne Farrar, Refinery29’s photography director Toby Kaufmann, BBC Picture Editor Emma Lynch, EyeEm’s 2016 winner Zacharie Rabehi, and others.

The contest’s winners will be revealed in Berlin at the 2017 EyeEm Photography Festival running from September 15 to 17, with the announcement itself happening on September 16. The awards ceremony will take place at the Radialsystem V; those who want to attend can still order tickets.

Via: EyeEm

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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6 Helpful Tips for Doing Interior Architecture Photography

28 Jul

Shooting interior architecture photography can be challenging to get just right. Here are six tips to help you have more success with this type of photography.

21mm focal length, f/11, ISO 100, 1/200th. One off-camera flash used.

1) Always use a tripod

There are two main reasons why you always want to use a tripod for architecture photography.

First, a tripod will perfectly stabilize your camera/lens setup, which fully mitigates any possibility of motion blur from hand-holding the camera. Additionally, if you’re on a tripod, it’s much easier to make sure your camera is level (I’ll discuss the importance of a level camera later in this article).

Secondly, there’s no good reason NOT to use a tripod (I follow the general rule that, unless there’s a good reason not to have a tripod, I always use one). If you were tracking subjects which required quick movement and recomposition, then a tripod would be a hindrance. But, for architecture photography, your composition will always sit nice and still for you, giving you all the time in the world to set the shot up right. The ideal situation for a tripod.

21mm focal length, f/11, ISO 100, 1/120th. One off-camera flash used.

2) Whenever possible, use a flash

If you shoot a room indoors without a flash, you will typically get shadows scattered around the room. Using a flash for interior architecture will help balance the exposure across the entire frame.

This is how I typically use a flash. Put the flash on a tripod or a stand, and place it a few feet away from the camera (on each side of the camera if you use two flashes for larger rooms), and a foot or so behind the camera. Aim the flashes so they are pointing up at the ceiling, but also slightly away from the room you’re shooting. At this angle, the light from the flashes will illuminate the room indirectly (i.e. bouncing off the ceiling and walls), creating a soft, even, fill-in light for the room you’re shooting. Set the flashes manually at half power (one stop below full power) and fire away!

This was a tricky shot because my flash was reflecting off the windows no matter where I positioned it. So I took two shots (one with flash and one without) and masked them together in Photoshop. The windows you see in this image are from the shot without a flash, while the rest of the room is from the shot with the flash.

3) When shooting whole rooms, don’t get too wide

When I first started taking practice photos of architectural photography, I used the widest angle lens I could get my hands on to shoot entire rooms. My thinking was that with an ultra-wide lens, I could get more of the room in the frame. But more isn’t always better. I quickly noticed the high level of distortion towards the edges of the frame, especially in smaller rooms where the edges of the frame were at wide angles to the camera.

So, I experimented with different focal lengths and came to the conclusion that between 21mm and 28mm gives you the most practical balance between limited distortion and a wide enough frame to capture the character and presence of the scene. Ultra-wide lenses (i.e. 14 or 15mm) will make the sides of the frame look oddly stretched and off the horizontal plane, even when corrected in post-production.

If you’re in a situation where 21mm won’t capture enough of the scene, a panorama is always an option – which segues nicely into the next tip:

This was an extremely dark room, even with all the lights on. So, like the previous image, I stacked two shots: one exposed for the room, and one exposed for the windows, and combined them in Photoshop.

4) Try panoramas for ultra-wide shots

Set up your camera vertically on the tripod (which creates a taller pano). Then, making sure you adequately overlap the scene in each shot, do your best to make the camera rotate on a perfectly level, horizontal plane, with the pivot point being roughly where the lens meets the camera.

If the pivot point is too far forward (i.e. somewhere on the lens), or too far backward (i.e. on the body of the camera), the panorama will appear distorted. For example, in the picture below, the pivot point was on the body of the camera (behind the ideal spot where the lens meets the camera). As a result, the panorama has a weird sort of convex distortion.

This is a seven image panorama. See how artificially “rounded” the walls are? This will happen when shooting a panorama if your camera/lens are not properly situated on the tripod.

5) Whenever possible, try to shoot only one or two walls

Two wall shots typically give the viewer the most geometrically pleasant image to view. When three (or more) walls are introduced, the photograph can have a tendency to appear somewhat awkward-looking if you aren’t careful with the composition.

21mm focal length, f/11, ISO 100, 1/120th. One off-camera flash used.

The above shot is a generic two-wall scene, with the walls meeting at a standard 90 degree angle. The image below is the same room, except I backed up several feet to purposely include the third wall on the left edge of the frame.

The “third wall” on the left side of this shot creates an unnatural and visually-displeasing scene.

I don’t know about you, but to me, the photo above looks compositionally awkward and disorienting because of the third wall on the left. All of that said, just like the Rule of Thirds can occasionally be broken to make a photo work, sometimes getting three walls in the shot is okay – provided everything is geometrically aligned.

A properly-aligned three-wall shot. 21mm focal length, f/11, ISO 100, 1/200th.

6) Make sure your camera is perfectly level

Last, but definitely not least, you will want to make sure your camera isn’t tilted up or down, or tilted to the left or right. Doing so, even slightly, will require post-production cleanup. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

In this shot, the camera/lens were not level on the tripod. They were slightly slanted down towards the ground, creating the artificially slanted walls.

See how slanted the windows are? Clearly, this is not an accurate depiction of the room, it’s the result of the camera being tilted ever-so-slightly down. Now, see what a difference makes if we get the camera nice and level.

Camera/lens properly level on the tripod. 21mm focal length, f/8, ISO 100, 1/120th. No flash (this room had plenty of sunlight to illuminate it without artificial help).

Being level makes a HUGE difference. There are several ways to help you get the camera perfectly level when you compose your shot. Most cameras these days have a built-in level, so when you look into the viewfinder, there are lines across the focusing screen that will tilt when the camera tilts. When these lines are level, you know the camera is level.

You can also use a bubble level that slides onto the camera’s hot shoe. When the little bubble is centered, the camera is level. You can buy a hot shoe bubble level at any photography store for just a few bucks. I use a bubble level because they tend to be more accurate than the lines inside the viewfinder.

In this shot, I used Photoshop to remove the camera, lens, and tripod, which were all reflected in the mirror. Sometimes shooting into a mirror is inevitable, and when you do, cloning in Photoshop is a requirement.

Conclusion

As is the case with any type of photography, the most important aspect of getting the shot right is to take your time, and make sure your composition and exposure are exactly what you want. One good thing about architectural photography is that the composition and subject will never move (unless you move it), so there’s no need to rush the photograph.

The post 6 Helpful Tips for Doing Interior Architecture Photography by Jeb Buchman appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography

28 Jul

Photography has become so popular, mainly because of the inclusion of cameras on mobile phones, so it’s more difficult for your photos to be noticed. But, if you learn a little more about photography your photos will be more likely to stand out from the crowd.

Your life is full of gadgets and equipment that can be challenging to learn to use really well. Learning to use your camera will make your photography so much more enjoyable. Photography is therapy. Picking up your camera, making time to take photos, can be a wonderful break from the busy pace of your daily life.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography - Thai ladies

Committing even a small amount of time regularly to learn more about photography will help you enjoy the creative process of image making. It will help overcome frustrations you may have because you don’t understand your camera well enough. As you study you will find that your creative ideas and expression will come more naturally. And, as you know and understand more and begin to relax when you have your camera in your hands, you will find a personal groove and means of expression that will be unique to you.

So here are three really good reasons for you to learn more about photography.

#1. Create outstanding photos

Most of us love to share our photos and see the response or family and friends have to them. Even more exciting is when strangers begin to show appreciation for our photographs. The desire to have your photos seen and enjoyed by others can be a real motivation for you to enjoy photography. But getting your photographs noticed is not so easy.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography - girl with elephant

This has become more of a challenge in recent years because pretty much everybody has a some form of a camera these days. Social media has made it extremely easy to share photos and have them seen by a potentially global audience. But how do you get your photos noticed when everyone else is sharing their photos in the same way?

Take some time to learn more. Learning about light, exposure, color, tone, composition and timing will help you produce more creative, more interesting, more noticeable photographs. And, if you think about it, you probably something about these things already, because you see them all the time, but are not necessarily thinking about them.

You can’t see anything if there’s no light. Light is the essence of photography. With no light, you can have no photo. Learning to appreciate different types of light and when some light is better for making photos than others, will help you create more outstanding photographs. You see light all the time and if you can begin to understand it and appreciate how to expose your photographs well, you will create more compelling images. Knowing something of the limitations of your camera and how it captures tone and color will also help greatly in the creative process.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography - flower

Compose and time your photos better

Learning composition rules and developing a real feel for them will also help your photographs be more impactful. Like with any creative expression, learning the rules will allow you to eventually implement them without really thinking about them. This is when I believe you will become most creative.

Certainly timing your photographs well takes research and practice. Learning to anticipate action and choose precisely the best time to make a photograph, the decisive moment, is a skill that will certainly enhance your photography and make it stand out.

2. Become intimate with your equipment

Learning how to use your camera well and becoming confident will result in a more enjoyable and more creative photography experience. I have met (and taught) many people who own very nice cameras but are not confident in using them. If you don’t have a good understanding of your camera you will most likely become somewhat frustrated when you pick it up to use it, or later when you are looking at disappointing photos.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography

Becoming familiar with your camera and how to use it well takes time and commitment to study. Because each camera model is different, with the controls in different places, it means you need to do some research and hands on practice to know how to use your cameras with confidence.

Essentially all cameras are the same. They function the same way, with light hitting the sensor (or film) to create photographs. Whether you use a camera in any of the automatic modes, or prefer to use it in Manual Mode, the process of creating photos is the same, but the amount of creative control differs greatly.

Setting your exposure manually gives you far more control over the end result. Learning to do this takes a bit more dedication but will ultimately result in you making more unique, creative photographs. If your camera is always set to one of the automatic modes then the camera is making some (or all) of the most creative choices. Cameras are smart, but they are not creative – you are.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography

Learning to take control of the camera will help you enjoy the creative process of photography far more than if you have to stop and think about the basics of what to do each time you pick up your camera.

3. Photography can be therapeutic

Having creative drive, wanting to make good photos and have others enjoy them, will hopefully lead you to want to learn more about using your camera well. Doing that will free you up to enjoy your whole photography experience and you can then experience photography as a therapy.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography

Expressing your creativity with a camera you understand and love is very therapeutic. Taking time out from your busy day, even just for 10 or 15 minutes, to take a few photographs can be enjoyable and relaxing. Indulging in longer photography sessions on weekends or during vacations can be terrifically therapeutic.

I find when I pick my camera up to shoot for pleasure, (it’s different shooting for work if I have a client to please,) I can easily become absorbed only in making photographs, and nothing else matters! Being able to really zone in on what I am doing helps me forget all the worries and stresses I may be experiencing in life and just enjoy the process of being creative.

Narrowing the attention of your thoughts to the creative processes of photography, meditating on photography, brings a whole other dimension to the experience. Being aware of and intentionally seeking opportunities where you can use your camera creatively can help you relax differently than other activities you may enjoy. Watching the news on TV, checking social media, or going to a movie are all things that add a change of pace to your daily life. But a lot of what you do to relax does not involve being creative. Being creative with your camera adds a whole new dimension to life and can be most therapeutic.

Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography

Conclusion

Having the desire and drive to want your photos to be noticed when you share them is a good reason to learn more about photography. Overcoming the frustration you may feel because you haven’t taken the time to learn how to use your camera is another good solid reason to invest some time, and maybe even some money, in learning how your camera functions and how you can control it better (preferably in manual mode.)

Once you are on the path to learn more about your camera and about photography, knowing that it can be wonderfully therapeutic, should be most encouraging for you to follow some course of study to make the most of your camera – even your phone camera! Here’s a video for you to watch more on this topic as well.

What other good reasons do you have for learning more about photography? Please share in the comments below.

The post Three Good Reasons To Learn More About Photography by Kevin Landwer-Johan appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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