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7 Surprising Photography Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

23 Jun

The post 7 Surprising Photography Facts You Probably Didn’t Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

Photography has a long and fascinating history full of interesting facts and stories. Here are 7 photography facts that may surprise you.

Fact #1 – All in the name

We use terms like photography and camera all the time, but where do these words actually come from? Photography fact number one hearkens back to the origins of many of the words we use today.

photography facts language — f/7.1 1/40 ISO 500

The phrase photography actually originates from the Greek words photos and graphé. Photos translates as “light” and graphé means “a representation by means of lines” or “drawing”. When used in conjunction, the two words come together to mean “drawing with light”. The coining of the word “photography” is generally attributed to Sir John Herschel in 1839.

The word camera, on the other hand, comes from the Latin term camera obscura, which means “dark chamber.” The term was originally used to describe a means of projecting an external scene onto a flat surface in a dark room. Sound familiar? The camera, as we know it today, evolved from the camera obscura configuration.

7 Surprising Photography Facts You Probably Didn't Know

Fact #2 The Kodak Moment

And speaking of words, did you know the term Kodak is simply made-up? Founder George Eastman favored the letter K because he believed it was a “strong, incisive sort of letter.”

Using an anagram set, Eastman and his mother came up with the Kodak name. They used three principals in devising the phrase. The word needed to be short, easy to say, and unlike any other name or association.

Kodak, or rather the term Kodak Moment, later entered the common lexicon to describe occurrences that seemed ideal for a photograph.

photography facts letter k — Eastman believed the letter K was a visually strong letter

Fact #3 – The first selfie

Self-portraits are commonplace today. But what you may not know is that the photographic selfie itself dates way back to 1839.

Robert Cornelius, a lamp manufacturer with a keen knowledge of chemistry and metallurgy, took on the task of perfecting the daguerreotype alongside chemist Paul Beck Goddard.

In 1839, Cornelius decided to turn the camera on himself, sitting for around a 10-15 minute exposure. The resulting daguerreotype depicted an off-center rendering of Cornelius – the oldest known intentionally-created photographic self-portrait.

Fact #4 – One small step

There are many earth-bound photography facts out there. But there are plenty of interesting factoids sourced from outside our planet too.

Taken in December 1972, Blue Marble was made by the crew of Apollo 17 on their way to the Moon. The first photograph that depicts the entirety of our planet from space, the picture was taken approximately 18,000 miles (29,000 kilometers) from the surface of the Earth. The photograph subsequently became one of the most reproduced images in history.

Another interesting space-related photography fact is to do with the fate of many of the cameras that have accompanied astronauts to the Moon.

Hasselblad cameras have captured some of the most iconic images in history – including our first steps on the lunar surface. However, due to weight restrictions, not all the cameras that have embarked on Moon missions have made it back. Up to 12 Hasselblad cameras remain on our planet’s only natural satellite to this day.

Fact #5 – The first photo book

Number five on our list of photography facts is based around photobooks.

Photobooks have a rich history in photography, but Anna Atkins seems to be the one that started it all. Atkins, a British botanist, learned early photographic processes from Henry Fox Talbot. She is also one of history’s first female photographers.

photography facts macro dandelion puff — Some of the first examples of botanic photography were made by Anna Atkins. f/6.3 1/80 ISO 200

Atkins made a visual documentation of botanical specimens using the Cyanotype process. She then compiled her cyanotypes into the 1843 publication of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. Atkins produced three volumes of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions between 1843 and 1853. Today, only 17 copies of the book are known to exist.

Fact #6 – The most viewed photograph

Photographed by former National Geographic photographer Charles O’Rear in 1996, Bliss is an image of rolling green hills and a semi-clouded blue sky in Sonoma County, California. Microsoft bought the rights to the image in 2000. The company then used the image as the default computer wallpaper for the Windows XP operating system.

The success of Windows XP and corresponding marketing material has led to a general consensus that Bliss is the most viewed photograph of all time. Even O’Rear himself conceded that he would probably be best known for the image saying, “anybody now from age 15 on for the rest of their life will remember this photograph.”

Fact #7 – Camera eye

The camera lens and the eye have a lot in common – leading us to the last of our photography facts.

Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes. A camera lens can either permit or restrict the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor with the aperture blades.

In our eyes, the iris does the same job, relaxing and constricting muscles to regulate the amount of light entering the eye. When you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eyes expands or shrinks to alter the size of the pupil.

Interestingly, the human pupil can expand to around 7 mm. This equates to our eyes operating from around f/8.3 in very bright light to around f/2.1 in the dark.

Conclusion

From the first selfie to the eye’s aperture equivalent, there is an abundance of fun photography facts to know. Do you have a favorite photography fact? Feel free to share in the comments below!

The post 7 Surprising Photography Facts You Probably Didn’t Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Boats

20 Jun

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Boats appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week’s weekly photography challenge – BOATS!

Boats on Merimbula Lake at sunset by Caz Nowaczyk

It can be boats, kayaks, or stand-up paddleboards. Capture them on lakes or out at sea, at sunrise or sunset or in the middle of the day. They can be close-ups of things on a boat, or the boats can be part of a large vista. They can be color or black and white. They can be taken with your good camera or your smartphone (as mine are).

Play with post-processing too, if you like.

The choice is yours! I look forward to seeing what you share

Weekly Photography Challenge – Boats — Boats on Merimbula Lake and Mitchies Jetty at sunset by Caz Nowaczyk

Boats by the Lake at Durras North at sunrise by Caz Nowaczyk

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.

Tips for photographing BOATS

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning

How to Find a Great Sunset Photography Location

8 Ways to Use Water in Photography to Add Impact

Tips for Photographing Reflections to Create Stunning Images

How To Photograph Reflections In Water

How to Photograph Long Exposures to Create Dreamy Images

How to Avoid Blurry Long Exposure Images with Proper Tripod Setup

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see. Or, if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSboats2020 to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Boats appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Creative Ways to Display Your Photography at Home

20 Jun

Photographs have always been intended to provide us with memories to last a lifetime. Of course, the technology has certainly evolved over the past 150 years. There are now countless ways to display our most precious images. Photo albums and high-definition emails are two common examples. However, what if you instead wish to place photos throughout the home? What options Continue Reading

The post Creative Ways to Display Your Photography at Home appeared first on Photodoto.

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Slideshow: Overall winners of Sony World Photography Awards 2020

18 Jun

Winners of Sony World Photography Awards 2020

We’ve covered quite a few Sony World Photography competitions in the past 5 months. From the Open Competition, to National Award Winners, and recent Finalist and Shortlisted photographs, creators from all over the world have been recognized for their takes on pertinent issues. The World Photography Organisation concluded these competitions with their announcement of the Overall Professional, Open, Student, and Youth winners for 2020.

‘This year’s winner comes from the Creative category and is a brilliant set of images which offers a powerful visual record of how deforestation goes hand in hand with the destruction of communities and peoples…Pablo is from Uruguay and this project is deeply personal to him as a photographer. The effort required to envisage, produce and shoot this series is laudable in every way,’ says Mike Trow, Chair of the Professional competition.

The Photographer of the Year title, and $ 25,000 cash prize, was awarded to Pablo Albarenga for his series titled Seeds of Resistance. It explores the bond between defenders and their land, along with the consequences of protecting it. Tod Oldham’s Open Photographer of the Year image of musician Black Francis was previously covered by DPReview. Ioanna Sakellaraki won Student Photographer of the Year for her series on environmental sustainability while Hsein-Pang Hseih was recognized as Youth Photographer of the Year for his capture of a harried street performer.

We’ve featured the winning images from each category in this slideshow. All of this year’s winning and shortlisted images can be viewed here. Professional, Open, Student, and Youth competitions for 2021 will be open for submissions on July 1st and are free to enter.

Photographer of the Year and Latin America Professional Award Winner: ‘Seeds of Resistance 3’ by Pablo Albarenga (Uruguay)

About this Photo: Nantu is an indigenous young man from the Achuar Nation of Ecuador who leads a project of solar-powered river boats for collective transport. By installing solar panels on a specially designed boat’s roof, he is working to end Achuar’s dependence on petrol. Left: On his land, Nantu lies dressed in traditional Achuar clothing. Right: the pristine rainforest from the Achuar territory. Sharamentsa, Pastaza, Ecuador.

About this Series: Seeds of Resistance is a body of work that pairs photographs of landscapes and territories in danger from mining and agribusinesses with portraits of the activists fighting to conserve them. Pablo explores the bond between the defenders and their lands – a sacred area in which hundreds of generations of their ancestors rest. In the photographs, the main characters in the stories are seen from above, as though they are laying down their lives for their territory. View the full series here.

Student Photographer of the Year: ‘Aeiforia’ by Ioanna Sakellaraki (Greece)

About this Series: Aeiforia presents night-time photographs of solar panels, wind turbines and battery farms used across the small island of Tilos in Greece which is the first in the Mediterranean to run almost entirely on renewable energy. View it, in its entirety, here.

In an era of climate change and challenges around sustainability, islands are particularly vulnerable. Insular by their very nature, these land masses usually depend on fossil fuels and imports for energy (despite the high transportation costs). Until a few years ago, the idea of an island being fully reliant on clean energy was almost unthinkable, and yet it is about to become a reality on Tilos in Greece.

This tiny island in the Dodecanese archipelago is the first in the Mediterranean to run almost entirely on renewable energy. Over the years it has received energy from a diesel power plant on the neighboring island of Kos, via an undersea cable, but during the tourist season this has proven unreliable, leading to frequent power cuts. Since 2015, however, the supply on Tilos has been reinforced with a hybrid system exclusively powered by renewable sources including solar and wind power.

These images were taken in the island’s capital, Megálo Chorió, which is home to just 70 people during the winter. At night the passageways, rooftops and yards are illuminated by moonlight, presenting plenty of opportunities for photography. The islanders use various solar panels and energy devices including some handmade versions. The aim is to keep these running for as long as possible to help sustain households throughout the winter.

My series looks at how these strangely-shaped devices and wires become an organic part of the scenery at night. As darkness falls, a harmonic symbiosis exists between this technology and the dry and mountainous landscape of Tilos. Aeiforia is a Greek word for defining progress based on the use of natural ecosystems and energy sources to ensure future resources.

Youth Photographer of the Year: ‘Hurry’ by Hsien-Pang Hsieh (Taiwan)

About this Photo: Hurry, features a street performer who is seemingly walking in a hurry but is in fact standing still. Inspired by his experience as a newly arrived student in Germany, Hsien-Pang sees the image as his comment on the intensive pace of life and a reminder others to slow down.

This image was taken shortly after I came to Germany to study. It was the first time I had travelled abroad alone, and I felt under enormous pressure. There were so many things to learn at school, and I was also trying to fit in with everyone else.

Although this man looks as though he’s in a rush to get to work, he’s actually standing still – and it’s this dichotomy that appealed to me. These days, with life moving at such a frantic pace, it’s important for people to slow down. When I’m facing challenges I look at this picture and it reminds me to take a moment and just breathe.

Category Winner, Professional, Architecture: ‘Ice Fishing Hut XV’ by Sandra Herber (Canada)

About this Photo/Series: Winters in Manitoba, Canada, are long and often bitterly cold. When the temperature drops, and thick ice forms, lakes and rivers in the province play host to some amazing folk architecture in the form of ice fishing huts.

These huts, shacks or permies (as they are called in Manitoba) must be transportable, protect their occupants from the elements and allow access to the ice below for fishing. Once these requirements have been met, the owners are free to express their personalities in the shape, structure and decoration of their huts – they are large or small, decorated or plain, luxurious or utilitarian and everything in between.

I captured these images on Lake Winnipeg in December 2019. My hope for this series, which is a continuation of work I started in 2018, is to showcase the quirky charm of these huts by presenting a select few in a typology. The typology – showing the huts framed in the same, minimalist style and in the same lighting – allows the viewer to notice similarities in function and uniqueness in form, as well as to display these utilitarian structures as beautiful works of art.

Category Winner, Professional, Discovery: ‘Motherhood’ by Maria Kokunova (Russian Federation)

About this Photo/Series: It has been four years since I voluntarily isolated myself in a cosy cave of maternity, living in a country house in Leningrad Oblast. I deliberately restrict social contact and limit media consumption – my whole life is bound up in my home, children and art practice.

Against all expectations, however, my life is far from calm and quiet. The notion of the cave has become, for me, the quintessence of what a personal experience is made up of. It has been linked to the Anima and the cult of the earth mother, the symbol of fertile soil that both gives life and takes it away. Francis Bacon, developing the idea of Plato, stated that the “Idols of the Cave” arise from education and custom – in short, the past of each individual determines how they perceive things.

For me, isolation in my own cave triggered a childhood trauma that had not been resolved emotionally – a stress disorder triggered by a series of four deaths and a suicide in the family over a very short period of time. In this project, I am constructing my own personal cave by combining photographs I have made in my parent’s house with pictures of the place I am living in now.

I pair these images with the experience of a physical presence in Sablinskiye Caves, near my home. In a cave your senses are deprived, encouraging hallucinations. Under similar conditions, my memory produces its own illusions. My work explores the idea that motherhood, and the awakening of primitive instincts such as unconditional love, aggression and fear of death, make life extremely meaningful.

Despite its challenges, ‘in-cave’ living boosts creativity: it becomes a personal myth, provides a plot for the project and initiates reflective processes.

Category Winner, Professional, Documentary: ‘Wounds of Hong Kong 7’ by Chung Ming Ko (Hong Kong)

About this Photo: Chu, a 17-year-old Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE) student, was hit by a police baton while taking part in a human chain at Tai Po Station, Hong Kong, on 7 September 2019. He was seen lying in his own blood on cable TV. Chu’s head needed stitches and the phalanx of the little finger on his right hand was broken, requiring six bone screws. He has decided to postpone his DSE for a year in order to tackle his PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

About the Series: Protests in Hong Kong show no signs of abating after months of unrest. What began as an objection to the extradition bill has evolved into a wider protest regarding the future of the city.

Reports suggest that since the demonstrations began cases of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have risen among the population. Author Milan Kundera said: ‘The struggle of men against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.’ Scars and bruises may fade, but we must remember what caused them.

Category Winner, Professional, Environment: ’85 Trader, a Local Policeman in Ughelli, Niger Delta, Nigeria’ by Robin Hinsch (Germany)

About this Photo/Series: Covering 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq miles) of wetlands, the Niger Delta was formed primarily by sediment deposition. The region is home to more than 30 million people and 40 different ethnic groups, making up 7.5% of Nigeria’s total land mass. It used to boast an incredibly rich ecosystem, containing one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet, before the oil industry moved in.

The Nigerian department of petroleum resources estimates that 1.89 million barrels were spilled in to the Niger Delta between 1976 and 1996. What’s more, a report from the United Nations suggests there have been a total of 6,817 spills between 1976 and 2001, amounting to some three million barrels of oil.

So far, the authorities and oil companies have done little to clean up and neutralize the Delta, and oil spills are still very common. Half of the spills are caused by pipeline and tanker accidents, while others are the result of sabotage (28%), oil production operations (21%), and inadequate production equipment (1%). Another issue in the Niger Delta is gas flaring, a byproduct of oil extraction.

As the gas burns it destroys crops, pollutes water and has a negative impact on human health. Wahala was shot in Nigeria in 2019 and draws attention to untamed economic growth and its negative impact on ecology.

Category Winner, Professional, Landscape: ‘Torii Einootsurugi’ by Ronny Behnert (Germany)

About this Photo: Einootsurugi was one of the torii which was totally hidden. It was difficult to find that amazing spot but after a few hours of searching and exploring I found the torii. The special feature here was the symmetrical arrangement through the two lamps in the foreground. I spent more than three hours at this spot because of the spiritual atmosphere at this place!

About this Series: Evidence of Shintoism and Buddhism – the most common religions in Japan – can be found in every corner of the country. Shrines and torii (traditional Japanese gates commonly found at the entrance to Shinto shrines, marking the transition from mundane to sacred spaces) can be seen in the remotest of locations, from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the highest mountains and the deepest forests.

Most of the time I use neutral density filters to force long exposures and keep my work minimalist in style. Some of my exposures last five minutes or more, which makes any distracting elements in the water or sky disappear – the longer the exposure, the clearer the photograph.

Category Winner, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife: ‘Pangolins in Crisis 1’ by Brent Stirton (South Africa)

About this Photo: A Temminck’s Pangolin learns to forage again after being rescued from traffickers on the Zimbabwe/South Africa border. Pangolin caregivers at this anonymous farm care for rescued, illegally trafficked pangolins, helping them to find ants and termites to eat and keeping them safe from predators and poachers.

This is one of only three true Pangolin rescue and rehabilitation sites in the world. Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million being trafficked to Asia in the last ten year. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and all trade or consumption is illegal.

The Tiki Hywood trust undertakes public awareness campaigns on Pangolins, trains law enforcement and judiciary personnel, conducts research, and rehabilitates pangolins that have been confiscated from the illegal trade. They are based in Zimbabwe but operate with partners across Africa and Asia.

About this Series: Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last ten years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law.

This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals. There are only three true Pangolin rescue and rehabilitation sites in the world, they are extremely fragile animals and the vast majority die quickly in captivity.

Category Winner, Professional, Portraiture: ‘Malick. Gambia. (1998)’ by Cesar Dezfuli (Spain)

About this Photo: LEFT: Malick portrayed on 1st August 2016 on board of a rescue vessel in the Mediterranean sea. RIGHT: Malick portrayed on 26th June 2019 in Italy, where he currently lives.

About this Series: On 1st August 2016, 118 people were rescued from a rubber boat drifting in the Mediterranean Sea. The boat had departed some hours prior from Libya. In an attempt to give a human face to this event, I photographed the passengers minutes after their rescue. Their faces, their looks, the marks on their bodies all reflected the mood and physical state they were in after a journey that had already marked their lives forever.

It was the beginning of a project that has been evolving ever since. It soon became clear that the people I photographed on that August day were not themselves. Their identities had become diluted somewhere along the way – hidden as a result of fear, or stolen through past abuses and humiliations.

Over the last three years I have worked to locate the 118 passengers of the boat, now scattered across Europe, in a bid to understand and document their true identities. I wanted to show that each individual had a latent identity that just needed a peaceful context in order to flourish again.

Category Winner, Professional, Sport: ‘Senegalese Wrestlers 3’ by Ángel López Soto (Spain)

About this Photo/Series: Wrestling has become the number one national sport in Senegal and parts of The Gambia. It belongs to a larger West African form of traditional wrestling (known as Lutte Traditionnelle) and is more popular than football. Senegalese wrestlers practice two forms of the sport: Lutte Traditionnelle avec frappe and Lutte Traditionnelle sans frappe (international version).

The sport has become a means of social ascendance, making some athletes millionaires. Fights have been known to attract audiences of around 50 thousand in a stadium. For many, it’s a slice of African life, tradition and culture, in which there is a mix of animist and Muslim beliefs. These pictures show wrestlers training on a beach in Dakar.

Category Winner, Professional, Still Life: ‘Immortality 10’ by Alessandro Gandolfi (Italy)

About this Photo: Tokyo (Japan), Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation: a close-up of Alter, a robot on display at the museum. Some believe that the in the future, it will be possible to completely ‘download’ our minds into humanoids similar to this one, and therefore, by overcoming the physical limits imposed by the human body, it will be possible to live forever.

About this Series: ‘In the 21st century,’ writes Yuval Noah Harari in Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, ‘humans are likely to make a serious bid for immortality […] A small but growing number of scientists and intellectuals have posited that the most important challenge facing modern science is to overcome death and achieve the promise of eternal youth.’

Can man really become immortal? Few truly believe it, and so research has focused on cryo-conservation, man-machine hybridization and mind downloads instead. The majority of scientists agree, however, that average life spans will extend up to 120 years of age and that our health will improve considerably, thanks in particular to the enormous progress being made in the sectors of bioengineering, nanomedicine, genetics and artificial intelligence. Research into longevity has already become a billion-dollar business.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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DPReview TV: Do you still need camera filters for digital photography?

13 Jun

Are camera filters obsolete in the age of digital photography? Can’t we just Photoshop images? Not so fast! We take a look at four filters you still need in your camera bag.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

Introduction
Polarizers
Neutral density (ND) filters
UV filters
Graduated neutral density filters
Wrap-up

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Birds

13 Jun

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Birds appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week’s weekly photography challenge – BIRDS!

With some lockdown restrictions being eased around the world at this time, I have chosen Birds as this week’s theme.

Capture them in flight, or sitting still. Do close ups or wider shots. Make them color or black and white! The choice is yours. I look forward to seeing your shots

bird photography camera settings — Photo by Prathap DK

Tips for photographing BIRDS

10 Must-Use Bird Photography Camera Settings for Beginners

5 Camera Settings Every Bird Photographer Should Know

A Quick Guide to Amazing Bird Photography Compositions

A Guide to Photographing Birds and Wildlife in a Wetland Area

5 Ways to Photograph Birds

How to Photograph Hummingbirds

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

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

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSbirds2020 to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Birds appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Computational photography part III: Computational lighting, 3D scene and augmented reality

09 Jun

Editor’s note: This is the third article in a three-part series by guest contributor Vasily Zubarev. The first two parts can be found here:

Part I: What is computational photography?
Part II: Computational sensors and optics

You can visit Vasily’s website where he also demystifies other complex subjects. If you find this article useful we encourage you to give him a small donation so that he can write about other interesting topics.

The article has been lightly edited for clarity and to reflect a handful of industry updates since it first appeared on the author’s own website.

Computational Lighting

Soon we’ll go so goddamn crazy that we’ll want to control the lighting after the photo was taken too. To change the cloudy weather to sunny, or to change the lights on a model’s face after shooting. Now it seems a bit wild, but let’s talk again in ten years.

We’ve already invented a dumb device to control the light — a flash. They have come a long way: from the large lamp boxes that helped avoid the technical limitations of early cameras, to the modern LED flashes that spoil our pictures, so we mainly use them as a flashlight.

Programmable Flash

It’s been a long time since all smartphones switched to Dual LED flashes — a combination of orange and blue LEDs with brightness being adjusted to the color temperature of the shot. In the iPhone, for example, it’s called True Tone and controlled by a small ambient light sensor and a piece of code with a hacky formula.

Link: Demystifying iPhone’s Amber Flashlight

Then we started to think about the problem of all flashes — the overexposed faces and foreground. Everyone did it in their own way. iPhone got Slow Sync Flash, which made the camera increase the shutter speed in the dark. Google Pixel and other Android smartphones started using their depth sensors to combine images with and without flash, quickly made one by one. The foreground was taken from the photo with the flash while the background remained lit by ambient illumination.

The further use of a programmable multi-flash is vague. The only interesting application was found in computer vision, where it was used once in assembly schemes (like for Ikea book shelves) to detect the borders of objects more accurately. See the article below.

Link: Non-photorealistic Camera: Depth Edge Detection and Stylized Rendering using Multi-Flash Imaging

Lightstage

Light is fast. It’s always made light coding an easy thing to do. We can change the lighting a hundred times per shot and still not get close to its speed. That’s how Lighstage was created back in 2005.

Video link: Lighstage demo video

The essence of the method is to highlight the object from all possible angles in each shot of a real 24 fps movie. To get this done, we use 150+ lamps and a high-speed camera that captures hundreds of shots with different lighting conditions per shot.

A similar approach is now used when shooting mixed CGI graphics in movies. It allows you to fully control the lighting of the object in post-production, placing it in scenes with absolutely random lighting. We just grab the shots illuminated from the required angle, tint them a little, done.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to do it on mobile devices, but probably someone will like the idea and execute it. I’ve seen an app from guys who shot a 3D face model, illuminating it with the phone flashlight from different sides.

Lidar and Time-of-Flight Camera

Lidar is a device that determines the distance to the object. Thanks to a recent hype of self-driving cars, now we can find a cheap lidar in any dumpster. You’ve probably seen these rotating thingys on the roof of some vehicles? These are lidars.

We still can’t fit a laser lidar into a smartphone, but we can go with its younger brother — time-of-flight camera. The idea is ridiculously simple — a special separate camera with an LED-flash above it. The camera measures how quickly the light reaches the objects and creates a depth map of the scene.

The accuracy of modern ToF cameras is about a centimeter. The latest Samsung and Huawei top models use them to create a bokeh map and for better autofocus in the dark. The latter, by the way, is quite good. I wish every device had one.

Knowing the exact depth of field will be useful in the coming era of augmented reality. It will be much more accurate and effortless to shoot at the surfaces with lidar to make the first mapping in 3D than analyzing camera images.

Projector Illumination

To finally get serious about computational lighting, we have to switch from regular LED flashes to projectors — devices that can project a 2D picture on a surface. Even a simple monochrome grid will be a good start for smartphones.

The first benefit of the projector is that it can illuminate only the part of the image that needs to be illuminated. No more burnt faces in the foreground. Objects can be recognized and ignored, just like laser headlights of some modern cars don’t blind the oncoming drivers but illuminate pedestrians. Even with the minimum resolution of the projector, such as 100×100 dots, the possibilities are exciting.

Today, you can’t surprise a kid with a car with a controllable light.

The second and more realistic use of the projector is to project an invisible grid on a scene to build a depth map. With a grid like this, you can safely throw away all your neural networks and lidars. All the distances to the objects in the image now can be calculated with the simplest computer vision algorithms. It was done in Microsoft Kinect times (rest in peace), and it was great.

Of course, it’s worth remembering here the Dot Projector for Face ID on iPhone X and above. That’s our first small step towards projector technology, but quite a noticeable one.

Dot Projector in iPhone X.

Vasily Zubarev is a Berlin-based Python developer and a hobbyist photographer and blogger. To see more of his work, visit his website or follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Computational photography part II: Computational sensors and optics

08 Jun

Editor’s note: This is the second article in a three-part series by guest contributor Vasily Zubarev. The first and third parts can be found here:

Part I: What is computational photography?
Part III: Computational lighting, 3D scene and augmented reality (coming soon)

Computational Sensor: Plenoptic and Light Fields

Well, our sensors are crap. We simply got used to it and trying to do our best with them. They haven’t changed much in their design from the beginning of time. Technical process was the only thing that improved — we reduced the distance between pixels, fought read noise, increased readout speeds and added specific pixels for phase-detection autofocus systems. But even if we take the most expensive camera to try to photograph a running cat in the indoor light, the cat will win.

Video link: The Science of Camera Sensors

We’ve been trying to invent a better sensor for a long time. You can google a lot of research in this field by “computational sensor” or “non-Bayer sensor” queries. Even the Pixel Shifting example can be referred to as an attempt to improve sensors with calculations.

The most promising stories of the last twenty years, though, come to us from plenoptic cameras.

To calm your sense of impending boring math, I’ll throw in the insider’s note — the last Google Pixel camera is a little bit plenoptic. With only two pixels in one, there’s still enough to calculate a fair optical depth of field map without having a second camera like everyone else.

Plenoptics is a powerful weapon that hasn’t fired yet.

Plenoptic Camera

Invented in 1994. For the first time assembled at Stanford in 2004. The first consumer product — Lytro, released in 2012. The VR industry is now actively experimenting with similar technologies.

Plenoptic camera differs from the normal one by only one modification. Its sensor is covered with a grid of lenses, each of which covers several real pixels. Something like this:

If we place the grid and sensor at the right distance, we’ll see sharp pixel clusters containing mini-versions of the original image on the final RAW image.

Video link: Muted video showing RAW editing process

Apparently, if you take only one central pixel from each cluster and build the image only from them, it won’t be any different from one taken with a standard camera. Yes, we lose a bit in resolution, but we’ll just ask Sony to stuff more megapixels in the next sensor.

That’s where the fun part begins. If you take another pixel from each cluster and build the image again, you again get a standard photo, only as if it was taken with a camera shifted by one pixel in space. Thus, with 10×10 pixel clusters, we get 100 images from “slightly” different angles.

The more the cluster size, the more images we have. Resolution is lower, though. In the world of smartphones with 41-megapixel sensors, everything has a limit, although we can neglect resolution a bit. We have to keep the balance.

Link: plenoptic.info – about plenoptics, with python code samples

Alright, we’ve got a plenoptic camera. What can we do with it?

Fair refocusing

The feature that everyone was buzzing about in the articles covering Lytro is the possibility to adjust focus after the shot was taken. “Fair” means we don’t use any deblurring algorithms, but rather only available pixels, picking or averaging in the right order.

A RAW photo taken with a plenoptic camera looks weird. To get the usual sharp JPEG out of it, you have to assemble it first. The result will vary depending on how we select the pixels from the RAW.

The farther the cluster is from the point of impact of the original ray, the more defocused the ray is. Because the optics. To get the image shifted in focus, we only need to choose the pixels at the desired distance from the original — either closer or farther.

The picture should be read from right to left as we are sort of restoring the image, knowing the pixels on the sensor. We get a sharp original image on top, and below we calculate what was behind it. That is, we shift the focus computationally.

The process of shifting the focus forward is a bit more complicated as we have fewer pixels in these parts of the clusters. In the beginning, Lytro developers didn’t even want to let the user focus manually because of that — the camera made a decision itself using the software. Users didn’t like that, so the feature was added in the late versions as “creative mode”, but with very limited refocus for exactly that reason.

Depth Map and 3D using a single lens

One of the simplest operations in plenoptics is to get a depth map. You just need to gather two different images and calculate how the objects are shifted between them. The more the shift — the farther away from the camera the object is.

Google recently bought and killed Lytro, but used their technology for its VR and… Pixel’s camera. Starting with the Pixel 2, the camera became “a little bit” plenoptic, though with only two pixels per cluster. As a result, Google doesn’t need to install a second camera like all the other cool kids. Instead, they can calculate a depth map from one photo.

Images which top and bottom subpixels of the Google Pixel camera see. The right one is animated for clarity (click to enlarge and see animation). Source: Google

The depth map is additionally processed with neural networks to make the background blur more even. Source: Google

Link: Portrait mode on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones

The depth map is built on two shots shifted by one sub-pixel. This is enough to calculate a rudimentary depth map and separate the foreground from the background to blur it out with some fashionable bokeh. The result of this stratification is still smoothed and “improved” by neural networks which are trained to improve depth maps (rather than to observe, as many people think).

The trick is that we got plenoptics in smartphones almost at no charge. We already put lenses on these tiny sensors to increase the luminous flux at least somehow. Some patents from Google suggest that future Pixel phones may go further and cover four photodiodes with a lens.

Slicing layers and objects

You don’t see your nose because your brain combines a final image from both of your eyes. Close one eye, and you will see a huge Egyptian pyramid at the edge.

The same effect can be achieved in a plenoptic camera. By assembling shifted images from pixels of different clusters, we can look at the object as if from several points. Same as our eyes do. It gives us two cool opportunities. First is we can estimate the approximate distance to the objects, which allows us easily separate the foreground from the background as in life. And second, if the object is small, we can completely remove it from the photo since we can effectively look around the object. Like a nose. Just clone it out. Optically, for real, with no photoshop.

Using this, we can cut out trees between the camera and the object or remove the falling confetti, as in the video below.

“Optical” stabilization with no optics

From a plenoptic RAW, you can make a hundred of photos with several pixels shift over the entire sensor area. Accordingly, we have a tube of lens diameter within which we can move the shooting point freely, thereby offsetting the shake of the image.

Technically, stabilization is still optical, because we don’t have to calculate anything — we just select pixels in the right places. On the other hand, any plenoptic camera sacrifices the number of megapixels in favor of plenoptic capabilities, and any digital stabilizer works the same way. It’s nice to have it as a bonus, but using it only for its sake is costly.

The larger the sensor and lens, the bigger window for movement. The more camera capabilities, the more ozone holes from supplying this circus with electricity and cooling. Yeah, technology!

Fighting with Bayer filter

Bayer filter is still necessary even with a plenoptic camera. We haven’t come up with any other way of getting a colorful digital image. And using a plenoptic RAW, we can average the color not only by the group of nearby pixels, as in classic demosaicing, but also using dozens of its copies in neighboring clusters.

It’s called “computable super-resolution” in some articles, but I would question it. In fact, we reduce the real resolution of the sensor in these some dozen times first in order to proudly restore it again. You have to try hard to sell it to someone.

But technically it’s still more interesting than shaking the sensor in a pixel shifting spasm.

Computational aperture (bokeh)

Those who like to shoot bokeh hearts will be thrilled. Since we know how to control the refocus, we can move on and take only a few pixels from the unfocused image and others from the normal one. Thus we can get an aperture of any shape. Yay! (No)

Many more tricks for video

So, not to move too far away from the photo topic, everyone who’s interested should check out the links above and below. They contain about half a dozen other interesting applications of a plenoptic camera.

Video link: Watch Lytro Change Cinematography Forever

Light Field: More than a photo, less than VR

Usually, the explanation of plenoptics starts with light fields. And yes, from the science perspective, the plenoptic camera captures the light field, not just the photo. Plenus comes from the Latin “full”, i.e., collecting all the information about the rays of light. Just like a Parliament plenary session.

Let’s get to the bottom of this to understand what a light field is and why we need it.

Traditional photos are two-dimensional. When a ray hits a sensor there will be a corresponding pixel in the photo that records simply its intensity. The camera doesn’t care where the ray came from, whether it accidentally fell from aside or was reflected off of another object. The photo captures only the point of intersection of the ray with the surface of the sensor. So it’s kinda 2D.

Light field images are similar, but with a new component — the origin and angle of each ray. The microlens array in front of the sensor is calibrated such that each lens samples a certain portion of the aperture of the main lens, and each pixel behind each lens samples a certain set of ray angles. And since light rays emanating from an object with different angles fall across different pixels on a light field camera’s sensor, you can build an understanding of all the different incoming angles of light rays from this object. This means the camera effectively captures the ray vectors in 3D space. Like calculating the lighting of a video game, but the other way around — we’re trying to catch the scene, not create it. The light field is the set of all the light rays in our scene — capturing both the intensity and angular information about each ray.

There are a lot of mathematical models of light fields. Here’s one of the most representative.

The light field is essentially a visual model of the space around it. We can easily compute any photo within this space mathematically. Point of view, depth of field, aperture — all these are also computable; however, one can only reposition the point of view so much, determined by the entrance pupil of the main lens. That is, the amount of freedom with which you can change the field of view depends upon the breadth of perspectives you’ve captured, which is necessarily limited.

I love to draw an analogy with a city here. Photography is like your favorite path from your home to the bar you always remember, while the light field is a map of the whole town. Using the map, you can calculate any route from point A to B. In the same way, knowing the light field, we can calculate any photo.

For an ordinary photo it’s overkill, I agree. But here comes VR, where light fields are one of the most promising areas of development.

Having a light field model of an object or a room allows you to see this object or a room from multiple perspectives, with motion parallax and other depth cues like realistic changes in textures and lighting as you move your head. You can even travel through a space, albeit to a limited degree. It feels like virtual reality, but it’s no longer necessary to build a 3D-model of the room. We can ‘simply’ capture all the rays inside it and calculate many different pictures from within that volume. Simply, yeah. That’s what we’re fighting over.

Link: Google AR and VR: Experimenting with Light Fields

Vasily Zubarev is a Berlin-based Python developer and a hobbyist photographer and blogger. To see more of his work, visit his website or follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Is the Sony ZV-1 the best vlogging camera, and what’s it like for photography?

07 Jun

For vlogging, and beyond?

The Sony DC-ZV-1 is an interesting camera. It re-arranges some familiar components into a camera explicitly designed with vloggers in mind.

However, while it’s not part of the RX100 series (or even part of the Cyber-shot lineup), enough of its technology comes from those cameras that we think some people will at least consider it as a stills camera.

We’re going to look at how the ZV-1 stacks up against the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 V (specifically the ‘M5A’ variant), first as tools for vlogging and then as compact stills cameras.

For vlogging vs. Canon G7 X III

We’ve already detailed the vlogging-specific features that the ZV-1 offers, and many of these give it a clear advantage over the Canon G7 X III, when it comes to shooting facing-the-camera video.

Underpinning most of the ZV-1’s benefits over the G7 X III is its autofocus system. Part of this is the inclusion of phase detection elements, meaning the camera can assess depth before refocusing the lens (which is critical for keeping video in focus, without too much hunting), but also Sony’s AF algorithms, which have got very, very good at both subject tracking and face / body recognition. There are other features that distinguish between the two cameras but dependable autofocus is perhaps the most compelling.

Beyond that, the ZV-1’s other key benefit is its vlogging-friendly microphone setup. The three-capsule mic is designed specifically to pick up the sounds of someone addressing the camera. The results are much better than the G7 X III.

For vlogging vs. Canon G7 X III

The ZV-1’s fully articulated screen is also likely to be preferable to the G7 X III’s flip-up screen for most vloggers. The ZV-1’s screen doesn’t extend totally to be totally in-line with the camera body (it’s angled 4 degrees back, even when fully pulled forward), but that’s not a difference likely to have any real-world impact.

Both cameras shoot 4K in both 30p or 24p (or 25p in PAL regions), should you decide your vlog would benefit from a more cinematic look.

In terms of endurance, Canon says it expects the G7 X III to record 4K footage for up to 10 minutes per clip, whereas the ZV-1 by default stops after 5. However, disengaging the overheat warnings on the Sony removes this restriction.

For vlogging vs. Canon G7 X III

The G7 X III can broadcast straight to YouTube if it’s connected to a wireless network (including your phone, if it can operate as a hotspot). However, the utility of this feature is a little questionable. For a start, how often will you be trying to vlog from a situation where you have Wi-Fi but can’t connect your camera to a computer and use either camera? But, more pressingly for most of us, YouTube only allows live streaming from mobile devices (including the G7 X III) if you have 1000+ people following you on your account.

This isn’t a big hurdle if you’re already established to any degree, but it reduces the value of the feature if you’re trying to choose a camera to start vlogging with. If you’re looking for a device to start an empire from, both can livestream if you connect them to a computer (though the ZV-1 is only promising Microsoft Windows support at the moment).

Both can directly Wi-Fi their video footage to a smartphone, for anything you’ve pre-recorded, in FullHD or 4K.

For vlogging vs. the iPhone

Another rival device for vlogging is a good smartphone, not least because there’s a chance that most of us already have one.

In their recent video, DPRTV’s Chris and Jordan used an older iPhone XR to shoot some footage alongside the Sony. Its lens offers a similarly wide angle-of-view to the Sony, while the iPhone 11 goes wider. The selfie camera on the iPhone 11 has focus fixed in a way that covers vlogging distances, but has no way to imitate Sony’s ‘Product Showcase’ AF mode if you want to focus on something nearer to the camera.

As Chris discovered when testing the two side-by-side, the iPhone appears to be rather better at stabilizing its footage than the ZV-1. And, for all Sony’s talk about improved skintones, the iPhone version looks pretty good, to our eyes.

Ultimately, while Sony appears to have more money than most camera companies to develop technologies such as machine-learning-derived AF systems, it seems to be some way behind Apple, which has been working hard to apply processing power and extreme cleverness to the output of its phones for several generations. The iPhone’s exposure and processing, while perhaps edging towards over-tone-mapped ‘bad HDR’ territory, generally looks really good. You’d have to shoot Log or HLG and color grade the ZV-1’s footage to get a comparable result.

The larger sensor of the ZV-1 should give it an edge when it comes to indoor video and, of course, it can provide a shallower depth-of-field look (which phones don’t yet even attempt to simulate in video mode) but is that enough to counteract the convenience offered by an internet-connected smartphone?

For stills vs. RX100 VA

The ZV-1 isn’t supposed to be a stills camera, in the sense that Sony isn’t particularly promoting it that way. But it shares enough with the RX100-series that we’d expect at least some people to see it as a means of getting something like a viewfinderless RX100 V without having to forego multiple generations of improvements by opting for the RX100 II.

Instead, in many respects the ZV-1 could be seen as an RX100 V without a viewfinder but with all the updates of the RX100 VII (including things like a touchscreen, that weren’t added in the M5A revision to the RX100 V). These updates include what Sony calls ‘Real-time Tracking’ and ‘Real-time AF,’ which refer the the camera’s ability to track a subject, switch to face or eye AF if that subject is a person, and continue to track them even if they face away from the camera.

The RX100 VA’s AF system is recognizably older: Tracking isn’t as sophisticated, eye AF requires you hold down a custom button to activate it and there’s a separate (and even less good) tracking system in video mode.

So what else do you gain or lose?

For stills vs. RX100 VA

As you’d expect, the ZV-1 omits a number of features that we’d expect from an RX100-series camera. There’s no EVF, no built-in flash and no control ring around the lens. There’s also no exposure mode dial (it’s replaced by a Mode button).

But in their place you get a more prominent grip to hold the camera with and a flash hotshoe if you want to attach an external flash or other accessories. And, as we say, you get another feature that the RX100 V was missing: a touchscreen.

The more prominent [REC] button on the top of the ZV-1 allows the removal of the tiny version set into the thumb rest of the RX100 V. Neither camera lets you re-purpose this button if you’re really not interested in video.

The control ring around the lens, the built-in flash and the EVF all mean the RX100 V is a better stills camera if you’re an experienced photographer, want flexibility and some direct control, but with its touchscreen and superior AF system, the ZV-1 might be the better point-and-shoot.

For stills vs. Canon G7 X III

We’ve already seen that the ZV-1’s autofocus and mics give it a clear benefit over the Canon G7 X III as a vlogging camera. But given they’re similarly priced and are both 1″ sensor compacts with short, bright lenses and no viewfinder, it’s probably fair to see how they stack up on the stills side of things.

The ZV-1’s autofocus benefits continue to shine in this situation, as does its lens, which is significantly sharper, particularly at the wide-angle end. However, the G7 X III’s 24-100mm range is appreciably longer than the 24-70-ish equiv reach of the Sony.

The Canon also has a dedicated exposure compensation dial, a clicking control ring around the lens and a built-in flash, which help make it a more engaging camera to use, if you wish to take control over your photography. We also found the grip – designed solely for holding the camera facing away from you – more comfortable than the one on the ZV-1.

Overall

The ZV-1 promises to be a more capable vlogging camera than any other we’ve seen. Its generally excellent (and, crucially, dependable) autofocus is a huge part of this, and features such as product showcase mode have clearly been carefully developed to make this capability as easy to exploit as possible.

But building the ZV-1 primarily from existing RX100 components does appear to have limited the camera, somewhat. The 24mm-equiv wide-angle capability (26mm equiv by the time the slight crop of the 4K video mode has been factored-in), isn’t as wide as some users prefer for to-the-camera presenting, especially if you then need to engage the camera’s digital stabilization, which crops-in still further.

Similarly, while the G7 X III doesn’t offer any audio monitoring, either, it does seem odd that Sony hasn’t gone to the effort of providing a means to do so, either via USB or Bluetooth. Instead it’s limited to capabilities we’ve seen in existing RX100 models.

But, for all that, the Sony ZV-1 is the most overtly vlogging-focused camera on the market. In addition, although it’s not intended, we think it might also be a better point-and-shoot camera than the RX100 V. The more prominent grip, the touchscreen and the removal of the control ring may also make it a better (and less expensive) family camera.

For vlogging though, we suspect that the ZV-1’s biggest rival will be high-end smartphones, which offer a lot of capability without the need to buy a separate device.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Helpful Tips for Creating Evergreen Content for your Photography Website

07 Jun

The post Helpful Tips for Creating Evergreen Content for your Photography Website appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

It’s always hard to know what to write on a photography blog, isn’t it? You start a blog on your photography website because you’ve been told it’s good for SEO, but then you get stuck on what content to create, and your blog gets neglected. So, I’m going to give you some ideas for creating evergreen content that you can put into practice right now to improve your website, help your readers, and start working on your SEO.

creating evergreen content — Writing blog posts is hard for many photographers because they don’t know where to start.

What is evergreen content?

In the same way that evergreen trees stay green all year round, evergreen blog posts stay relevant to readers for a long time. They should stay relevant to readers no matter the season, and, ideally, stay relevant for several years without any serious updating.

By creating evergreen content, you can create a website that pulls in visitors all year round and encourage search engines to rank you highly.

But what kind of evergreen content can photographers create? That really depends on the audience you’re looking to attract to your website! So once you’ve narrowed that down, you can start to come up with some ideas for evergreen content.

Articles to attract photographers

If you’re the kind of photographer who wants to attract other photographers to your website, then content about photography is the place to start. Just look around this site – Digital Photography Photography School is full of evergreen content that appeals to photographers all year round and for many years.

Helpful Tips for Creating Evergreen Content for your Photography Website — I write about photography techniques on my blog because I mostly want to attract photographers.

Every photographer knows something that they can teach others, even if they’re a beginner. So start by writing posts teaching other people what you know about taking photos.

You could also write reviews of all the photography equipment that you own. Most photographers love to spend hours researching what they’re buying and read lots of reviews before they spend their money.

By its very nature, evergreen content is often about the topics aimed at beginners to intermediates in the subject matter. It’s content that people will be searching for repeatedly, and that’s what makes beginner content a great place to start when you’re creating your first pieces of evergreen content.

And once you’ve created some engaging content that people are sharing, consider writing a second blog post on the same subject that your visitors might want to read next!

Articles to attract clients

Not everyone wants to attract photographers to their photography website. Some people want to attract more clients if they’re working as a photographer. By creating evergreen content, you can get potential clients to your website and looking at your portfolio.

Many photographers already blog about the shoots they do. It’s really common now for wedding photographers to blog about their client’s big day, or newborn photographers to blog about the cute baby they recently photographed. But those posts are not the ones most likely to get prospective new clients to your site.

When writing a blog the best place to start is almost always with a problem that someone has. So if you are a wedding photographer, think about what your clients might be looking for. They could be asking questions like:

What are the best clothes to wear for an engagement session and how do you pick a color scheme?
What do weddings at (your local venue) look like?
Are veils coming back in fashion for brides, and what unique photo opportunities do they present?

You can answer all of those questions in blogs on your website while filling them with pictures you’ve taken. And the best thing about these kinds of posts is they’ll be shared by more than just your clients, meaning that your images get in front of many new people.

Moreover, you can apply this to all kinds of photography. You can even go beyond photography, which I’ve seen work particularly well in the newborn and maternity niches.

If you photograph newborns and have children yourself, you might use your blog as a way to talk about your own experiences of being a parent, with helpful advice for your readers. And if you’re creating evergreen content that’s useful, you can bet it’ll end up being shared around social media.

What advantages does this bring?

Beyond the pure sharing of posts and getting them in front of new potential clients, evergreen content can bring benefits for the SEO of your website (that’s search engine optimization).

Google, and other search engines, love to see people linking to your content and talking about it. One of the strongest ways that Google determines if you’re a useful and interesting site (and therefore how high you appear in their search listings) is how many backlinks you have to your website.

By creating evergreen content that is interesting and useful, you’re giving people and businesses reasons to share it on their own social media, or include you in posts on their own blog.

A post about the best time to photograph a newborn baby, for example, is relevant content that lots of different people could share on their own page. It could be shared by other newborn photographers, by parenting websites, or even by small maternity clinics.

It doesn’t matter if these businesses aren’t in the same area as you either, because what’s important is the backlinks and the buzz around your content. But Google and other search engines don’t discriminate – if lots of people are sharing your site because it’s good content, then they’ll also show you higher in the search results when people look for your kind of photography locally.

Get started right now!

There’s no better time to start creating evergreen content for your blog than right now. Sit down and make a list of all the questions that people who you’d like to visit your blog might be asking. And then work out from that list the things that will stay relevant all year round, and that won’t go out of fashion.

Don’t forget, after you’ve spent time creating evergreen content for your blog, you should promote it on social media now and then again in the future. If you’ve created some great and long-lasting evergreen content, you’ll be able to promote it many times over. This means that you’ll always have something to say on social media during quieter times without having to constantly be writing new blog posts or shooting new work.

Do you have any other tips for creating evergreen content you’d like to share with our community? Please do so in the comments section!

The post Helpful Tips for Creating Evergreen Content for your Photography Website appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

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