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Posts Tagged ‘Photos’

You can now upload images directly to Google Photos with select Canon cameras

28 Aug

Google has teamed up with Canon to release a new integration for Google Photos that makes it possible to automatically back up your photos over Wi-Fi.

The integration works through Canon’s image.canon app for Android and iOS. Inside the app, you can connect your Google account and have images automatically upload to Google Photos when they’re transferred from your compatible Canon DSLR or mirrorless camera.

A full list of the cameras supported by image.canon

Unfortunately, this integration doesn’t come free. In order to wirelessly upload images to Google Photos, you must have a Google One subscription, which starts at $ 20/year ($ 2/month) for the 100GB plan and goes up to $ 100/year ($ 10/month) for the 2TB plan. Google is offering a free month to Canon users interested in testing out the new feature.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Is There a Right and a Wrong Way To Expose Your Photos?

27 Aug

The post Is There a Right and a Wrong Way To Expose Your Photos? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

I have never liked the term ‘correct exposure.’ I don’t believe there’s often a single right way to expose your photos. There’s always room for artistic interpretation depending on:

  • Light
  • Subject
  • Camera
  • Lens
  • Exposure setting choices
  • Composition choices
  • Intent

All these will have some influence on the way a photograph will appear. One of the most important aspects of achieving a pleasing exposure is your intent. This cannot be measured by an exposure meter.

Buddha statue for Expose your photos
© Kevin Landwer-Johan. Nikon D800 | 35mm | 1/8000 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 400.

Choose how you expose your photos

How you expose your photos is a key choice when working with your camera. Most photos you take will display variation in tone from the brightest point to the darkest. You won’t often photograph subjects that are the same tone throughout.

The quality of light and how it reflects off the surfaces in your composition will help determine the exposure value for each tone. Sometimes the range of tones in a composition means your camera will not be able to render them all with visible detail.

Young Chinese woman on a white background
© Kevin Landwer-Johan. Nikon D800 | 35mm | 1/200 sec | f/1.4 | ISO 100.

When the level of contrast is beyond what your camera’s sensor can capture in a single exposure, you have to choose how to expose your photos. What is the most important part of the composition you want to expose correctly? Often this will be the middle tones. Other times it will be either the highlights or the darkest parts of your composition.

Particularly with high contrast lighting, you must choose how you want to expose your photograph. This is where the intent you have for how the photo will look comes into play. Do you want a bright, energetic image, or a more somber and moody one? What look will best suit your subject?

With a more monotone subject, the tonal range will not be large, especially when what you are photographing is not highly reflective. It was very easy to make a nice, even exposure of this dusty little dog lying in the dirt. This was because of the limited tonal range, low-contrast light, and overall beige color.

looking down at a dog on the dirt for expose your photos
© Kevin Landwer-Johan. Nikon D800 | 50mm |1/1000 sec | f/4.5 | ISO 400.

Think like a film photographer

The dynamic range of film is far narrower than that of modern camera sensors. Our digital cameras are far more capable of recording a broader tonal range in a single image than any film. When you take photos with film, you need to be more precise about how you expose your photos. This is more vital in high contrast situations.

Because the tonal range of film is much narrower, you’re more likely to lose detail in the shadows and/or highlights than when you work with a digital camera. Imagining that you are using film can help you be more aware of what part of your composition you want to expose well.

Novice Buddhist monk in the dark
© Kevin Landwer-Johan. Nikon D800 | 35mm | 1/125 sec | f/3.2 | ISO 1000.

For example, when I photographed this novice monk (above), he was in a dark space with light coming through a window. The contrast was significant. I knew that if I let my camera decide the exposure, it would mean the light area of the boy’s face would be overexposed. This is because most of the composition was in shadow.

I used my spot meter to take an exposure reading from the light reflecting off the monk’s face and set my exposure accordingly. In my original file, there is some detail visible in the shadows. I have boosted the contrast during post-processing to eliminate it.

The bell-shaped histogram myth

The notion that a correctly exposed image will produce a bell-shaped histogram is nonsense. You can’t rely on a histogram to provide useful information about exposure.

Histograms are a graphical representation of the tones present in a photo. When the photo is mostly middle tones, you’ll see the histogram as a bell shape: high in the middle section and low toward the left and the right.

The tonal range of the scene you are photographing has an influence on what the histogram will look like. This is why you cannot gauge exposure by looking at the histogram. Some people may find it helpful, but it’s not good practice to rely on it to help you choose your exposure settings. Don’t aim to make your histogram a bell shape.

Old Karen woman against a black background for expose your photos
© Kevin Landwer-Johan. Nikon D800 | 85mm | 1/640 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 400.

For example, portraits made against a black background will never display a bell-shaped histogram. The graph will always spike on the left because there are more dark tones in the image than midtones or light tones. Depending on what a person is wearing, such a histogram may be very flat.

For the image above, the grandma’s face is where I wanted the correct exposure. It would not be possible, even if I wanted it, to set my exposure so that detail in both the background and the headscarf was visible.

Expose your photos with intent

Know what you want before you press the shutter release.

Often, you have chosen your subject. You’ve composed carefully. Then you take a photo with no real regard for the lighting or your exposure setting.

Letting the camera take care of the exposure using averaged metering and an automatic setting is the way many people take pictures. The results of such exposures are relatively predictable. This is because of how cameras are designed and calibrated. To obtain the best exposure each time you take a photograph, you must match it to your intent.

How do you want the light on your subject to look? What is the mood you want your photo to convey? Are you capable of achieving this with the current lighting? These things must be considered before you press the shutter release.

Be in control of your exposure settings. Read your meter as a guide. Rather than ensuring that your meter is reading zero for every photo, adjust your settings to where you can capture the photo that matches your intent.

Buddhist nun at a temple for expose your photos
© Kevin Landwer-Johan. Nikon D800 | 35mm | 1/100 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 400.

Conclusion

I do not believe there is a right or wrong exposure choice for any photo. You can take into account all the technical aspects, but while this approach may produce technically correct images, they will often lack expression and feeling of any kind.

Not being intentional when you expose your photos often produces bland results.

The post Is There a Right and a Wrong Way To Expose Your Photos? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.


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A New Adobe Lightroom Update Just Deleted Customers’ Photos and Presets

24 Aug

The post A New Adobe Lightroom Update Just Deleted Customers’ Photos and Presets appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

new lightroom update mobile

Last week, Adobe released Lightroom 5.4.0, a routine update meant for the iPad and iPhone Lightroom app.

But it soon became clear that the update was far more than users bargained for when customers who installed Lightroom 5.4.0 found that their photos and presets had disappeared.

Lightroom users immediately reported their situation on forums, explaining the data loss and asking Adobe for help.

One user wrote, “After the automatic update to Lightroom mobile 5.4…my whole library is lost.” Another wrote, “I can’t believe I lost 2+ years of edits due to the Lightroom mobile update.”

Note that presets were also affected; a Redditor explained how, upon launching Lightroom, “Not only were most of my photos gone, but also hundreds of my presets, some of which I worked on for the past couple of years.”

Adobe soon issued Lightroom 5.4.1, as well as an official response:

“Some customers who updated to Lightroom 5.4.0 on iPhone and iPad may be missing photos and/or presets. This affected customers using Lightroom mobile without a subscription to the Adobe cloud. It also affected Lightroom cloud customers with photos and presets that had not yet synced to the Adobe cloud.

A new version of Lightroom mobile (5.4.1) for iOS and iPadOS has now been released that prevents this issue from affecting additional customers. 

Installing version 5.4.1 will not restore missing photos or presets for customers affected by the problem introduced in 5.4.0.

We know that some customers have photos and presets that are not recoverable. We know how frustrating and upsetting this will be to people affected and we sincerely apologize.

Some customers affected by this issue might be able to use iPhone and iPad backups to recover photos and presets.“

Many users were understandably upset upon learning that their photos and presets were unrecoverable. It seems that much of the data is gone forever, though a few users did manage to regain some or all of their missing data via device backups.

While it’s deeply frustrating that Adobe would make such a mistake, this error hammers home the importance of having multiple backups of your photos at all times. I recommend having at least three, including at least one physical backup (e.g., an external hard drive), as well as a cloud-based backup. And, once you have the backups, you must update them regularly; it’s the only way to ensure that your precious images stay safe!

Now over to you:

Were any of you affected by this Lightroom update? If so, were you able to recover your images? And for those who weren’t affected, do you plan to change your image backup practices? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post A New Adobe Lightroom Update Just Deleted Customers’ Photos and Presets appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.


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Lightroom CC update for iOS, iPadOS permanently deletes photos and presets for some users

20 Aug

After updating to Lightroom version 5.4 on iOS and iPadOS, numerous users found that photos and editing presets that had not yet been synced to the cloud were missing. Worse yet, Adobe has confirmed that affected users and Adobe itself will be unable to retrieve the missing data.

After reports of lost photos spread around the web on places such as our own forums, Reddit and Adobe’s own forums, Adobe representative Rikk Flohr published a response on the afternoon of August 18. It reads:

‘We are aware that some customers who updated to Lightroom 5.4.0 on iPhone and iPad may be missing photos and presets that were not synced to the Lightroom cloud.

A new version of Lightroom mobile (5.4.1) for iOS and iPad OS has now been released that prevents this issue from affecting additional customers.

Installing version 5.4.1 will not restore missing photos or presets for customers affected by the problem introduced in 5.4.0.

We know that some customers have photos and presets that are not recoverable. We sincerely apologize to any customers who have been affected by this issue.

If you are affected by this issue, please refer to the information in this forum thread.’

Adobe has not issued any additional comments about the incident, nor has it disclosed an estimate of how many users were affected by the issue ahead of the release of Lightroom 5.4.1. When we contacted Adobe this morning, a representative said they have no further statements at this time.

In a thread originally started by Lightroom user Mohamad Alif Eqnur on Adobe’s forums, numerous users chimed in with their own experiences of lost photos, including multiple users who shared that they had lost purchased presets.

Affected customers are understandably very upset, especially given that Adobe’s fix only acts to prevent the issue from happening to additional customers, rather than offering users a solution to restore missing photos and presets.

When issues like this occur, and if it can happen to a giant in the industry like Adobe it can happen to any company, it stands as a reminder that it’s critical to have multiple backups of your images. Further, it’s a good idea to save edits of your photos as sidecar files, so even if a catalog becomes corrupted, you will retain your edit data. These sidecar files can even be read by Adobe Bridge.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Opinion: Businesses, especially corporations, should pay to use your photos

14 Aug
There are thousands of photos of this particular musician online, which is why I couldn’t command as much as I would have liked for this image. The publisher who purchased a similar photograph had plenty of options.

In spite of the fact that we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, I’ve managed to sell three photos recently without putting forth any effort. All were discovered from my uploads to Instagram or Flickr. Brands and companies are always looking for fresh content and will continue to seek out images that complement their messaging. This is why it’s important to know your worth. Or, in this case, the worth of the images you create.

Would you ever work for free? If the answer is a resounding ‘no’, and it should be, then it doesn’t make sense to allow those with financial means to display your images in exchange for ‘credit’. After talking with other photographers who receive similar requests, and negotiating on my own behalf, I’ve arrived at figures that I believe are fair for an organization to pay if they want to amplify their message with your unique talents.

The first time someone requested to purchase a photo of mine, I was pleasantly surprised. It came in the form of a comment from a well-known hotel rewards program. What I can only assume was a social media manager for the hotel chain’s official Instagram account reached out and asked for permission to repost a photo from my feed. After the initial afterglow wore off, I was a bit taken aback.

At minimum, you should charge $ 250 for your image if it’s going to be printed. $ 500 is more of a fair price.

The rewards program in question is tied to an international chain of hotels that holds a current net worth exceeding $ 20 billion dollars. While I don’t know the exact figure of their marketing budget, I imagine it has to be millions of dollars annually. As a photographer, I have invested tens of thousands of hours, over the years, into my craft. I expect to be compensated accordingly.

To give you a rough idea of my expenses, currently, as a professional drone photographer, I spend $ 2,000 a year, at the bare minimum, on a new drone and a few extra batteries. Insuring each drone costs at least $ 500 on an annual basis and I typically have three in my arsenal. I also invest in accessories including memory cards, additional propellers, and neutral density filters – which easily tack on several hundred more dollars each year. I should mention that these costs are on the lower end compared to most professional photographers.

Brands are more than willing to pay ‘influencers’ to promote their products and services. They shouldn’t hesitate to compensate you for your work. Source: Mediakix

Brands don’t have any qualms about paying influencers to promote their goods and services. So why should anyone expect photographers to give away their hard work and vision for free? It doesn’t make much sense but some people, especially those starting out, are so enticed by the concept of gaining exposure or credibility that they enthusiastically say yes.

My friend Dino Kuznik, who has been approached by the likes of Tesla and an another major auto manufacturer, not only demands top dollar for his work, he also makes it a point to contact brands and insist they remove his photos if they’ve posted them without his permission. He also recommends that creatives use this licensing calculator to arrive at an appropriate fee, especially if providing a high-resolution file is required. If you don’t negotiate properly, or have terms clearly laid out in a contract, you could lose out on compensation.

Brands don’t have any qualms about paying influencers to promote their goods and services. So why should anyone expect photographers to give away their hard work for free?

‘Imagine coming to Times Square and seeing your photo on a billboard screen and realizing a company has been using it for a big campaign. But you couldn’t do anything about it [because you didn’t bother with a written agreement]. Now, if there was a contract, you could probably get a considerable amount because of the breach of contract/damages/etc,’ Kuznik explains. Typically, the client or company will provide the terms including a schedule detailing how, where, and when the image will be used. If the terms seem ambiguous, ask for clarification. Otherwise you may not have any legal recourse.

If a brand wishes to license your image, they should provide a contract explicitly stating how it intends to use it for promotional purposes. Unless you are directly hired for a campaign or are paid a hefty amount for an image, you should retain the rights to use your work in any manner and at any time gong forward.

It’s wise, outside of calculating a fair price, to thoroughly research a brand before agreeing to an amount for the rights to use your image. Find out what type of advertising they’re running, if any, and what the company is worth – if that information is available. So, what should you charge if someone approaches you to request a photo of yours for their own marketing or branding purposes? Well, that depends on a variety of factors.

Kuznik was approached by an auto manufacturer (unnamed due to a non-disclosure agreement), to create a 3×3 grid of curated photos for Instagram. Because it’s a major automotive company, it compensates photographers on the higher end of the pay scale for their work. Kuznik had another engagement that prevented him from taking on the assignment but, had he made the trip, he would have been paid between $ 7,000 – $ 10,000.

Tesla offered photographer Dino Kuznik $ 400 per image for Instagram and Twitter use. He negotiated the use of one of their vehicles for a road trip instead.

Tesla offered him a rate of $ 400 per photo, strictly to be featured on its Instagram and Twitter accounts. Kuznik thought that was a bit low for a company of that magnitude. Instead, he negotiated a deal where he could borrow one of their cars for eight days. Between not needing to purchase gas or pay a car rental fee, it was worth his while to get free access to a Tesla for a road trip.

My last three sales have been for either strict Instagram use or for a small outdoor exhibition, the latter given that we’re in the midst of a major pandemic. Here is what I charged:

  • I sold a photo I took of artist Jamie XX at a music festival several years back to a major publishing house in New Zealand. The photographer that sent me in her place never signs contracts, so the copyright remained in my name instead of the organizer’s. I agreed to $ 100 for the following reasons: there are close to 7,000 other images of the artist on Flickr, the platform where my image was discovered, and the contract expressed the wish to use it one time only on the publisher’s Instagram account.
  • A small, local construction company purchased a drone photo of one of their buildings for $ 200. They will only use it on their website. I had taken the photo for fun and had allowed a friend to repost it to their account, otherwise I would have charged $ 250–$ 300.
  • An international exhibition asked for permission to display a photo of mine and include it in a brochure that would be distributed to 1,000+ visitors. I gave the organizers the option of $ 250 for the display photo and brochure or $ 100 for rights to only display it from June 18th – 27th. The exhibition chose the latter since COVID has impacted its business.

Research a brand before agreeing to an amount for the rights to use your image. Find out what type of advertising they’re running, if any, and what the company is worth.

Social media and photography platforms are wonderful tools for building your portfolio and generating leads. There are times where it makes sense to partner with certain accounts and share your content instead of selling it for profit. An example is an Instagram takeover I did for Awesome Mitten. Since I sell aerial photography prints of destinations around Michigan to people who live in the state, it made sense to promote some of my offerings to potential customers during the Holiday season. My efforts generated a dozen-plus sales.

There are times when it makes sense to use hashtags or share your images on relevant social accounts. This regional promotion made sense for my business.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is passive income for me. I charge significantly more to perform on-site aerial photography and videography work for clients. I also sell my images to stock photo services and as art prints. Speaking of print, any publication should pay you $ 250, minimum, to print an image. Depending on circulation, you could get up to $ 1,500 per photo. The purpose of writing this article is to remind creatives that they shouldn’t give away their work in exchange for credit when approached by a business, brand or individual.

On a final note, it’s imperative to develop your own signature style. Make it a point to actively look for new subjects, lesser known locales, and unique perspectives. While I enjoyed capturing musical artists performing live when starting out with photography, a lot of my images looked similar to those of my peers. I quickly hit my creative apex and found a new passion with drone photography. Consistently honing your craft and experimenting with new techniques and technology will help you attract the attention of those who have the means to support your endeavors, and allow you to command top dollar for your work.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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12 Tips to Help You Capture Stunning Landscape Photos

09 Aug

The post 12 Tips to Help You Capture Stunning Landscape Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kav Dadfar.

Whether you are an experienced photographer or just getting started, the amazing landscape photographs you see have all got a few things in common. The reality of landscape photography is that not only are you reliant on your own ability and skill of seeing and composing an image, but also on Mother Nature. But regardless of whatever weather you encounter, there are countless opportunities to be able to capture spectacular landscape photographs.

Here are 12 tips that you can follow if you want to capture stunning landscape photos.

KD-2016-DPS-Landscape Tips-7

1. Location, location, location

Landscape photography is as much about planning as it is about the actual process of photography. You should always have a clear idea of where you are planning to go, and at what time of the day you will be able to capture the best photograph. Learn how to read maps, and understand how you can utilize them to find the perfect location. By planning your exact location, you will be able to maximize your time there, and ensure not only that you get to your location safely and in plenty of time, but also that you find your way back (usually after sunset).

2. Be patient

It’s amazing the number of times that the elements conspire to ruin a perfectly composed photograph. Landscape photography requires patience, just in case that white cloudy sky disperses just long enough to allow the sun to break through for you to take your shot. The key is to always allow yourself enough time at a location so that you are able to wait if you need to. Forward planning can also help you hugely, so make sure to check weather forecasts before leaving, maximizing your opportunity for the weather you require.

KD-2016-DPS-Landscape Tips-4

3. Don’t be lazy

One of the reasons we are often stunned by impressive landscape photos is because it is a view taken in a way that we have never seen before. A photo taken from the top of a mountain which requires a huge amount of time and effort to get to is a view that most people won’t get to see for themselves. So don’t rely on easily accessible viewpoints that everyone else can just pull up to and see. Instead, look for those unique spots (provided they are safe to get to) that offer amazing scenes, even if they require determination to get there.

4. Use the best light

Light is one of the most important factors in any photograph, but even more so in landscape photography. It really doesn’t matter how great the location, is or how you compose your photo – if the light doesn’t do the scene justice, then the image will fail. The best light for landscape photography is early in the morning or late afternoon, with the midday sun offering the harshest light.

But part of the challenge of landscape photography is about being able to adapt and cope with different lighting conditions; for example, great landscape photos can be captured even on stormy or cloudy days. The key is to use the best light as much as possible, and be able to influence the look and feel of your photos with it.

KD-2016-DPS-Landscape Tips-3

5. Carry a tripod

Simply put, if you want to capture the best photographs, at the best time of the day, at the highest quality possible, then a tripod is an essential piece of equipment. Photography in low light conditions (e.g. early morning or early evening) without a tripod would require an increase in ISO to be able to avoid camera shake, which in turn means more noise in your images. If you want to capture a scene using a slow shutter speed or long exposure (for example, to capture the movement of clouds or water) then without a tripod you simply won’t be able to hold the camera steady enough to avoid blurred images from camera shake.

6. Maximize the depth of field

Choosing your depth of field is an important part of capturing stunning landscapes. Landscape photos usually require the vast majority of the photo to be sharp (the foreground and background) so you need a deeper depth of field than if you are taking a portrait of someone. But a shallower depth of field can also be a powerful creative tool if used correctly, as it can isolate the subject by keeping it sharp, while the rest of the image is blurred. As a starting point, if you are looking to keep the majority of the photo sharp, set your camera to Aperture Priority (A or Av) mode so you can take control of the aperture. Start at around f/8 and work up (f/11 or higher) until you get the desired effect.

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7. Think about the composition

As much as possible you should always aim to get your composition right when taking the photo, rather than relying on post-production. If the scene doesn’t look right when you look at it through your viewfinder, then it won’t look good in the final output. There are several techniques that you can use to help your composition (such as the rule of thirds), but ultimately you need to train yourself to be able to see a scene, and analyze it in your mind. With practice this will become second nature, but the important thing is to take your time.

8. Use neutral density and polarizing filters

Neutral Density filters and polarizers are an essential piece of kit for any landscape photographer. Often you will need to manipulate the available light, or even try to enhance the natural elements. For example, if you are taking photos which include water, you may find you get unwanted reflections from the sun, which is where a polarizing filter can help by minimizing the reflections and also enhancing the colors (greens and blues). But remember, polarizing filters often have little or no effect on a scene if you’re directly facing the sun, or it’s behind you. For best results position yourself between 45° and 90° to the sun.

One of the other big challenges of landscape photography is getting a balanced exposure between the foreground, which is usually darker, and a bright sky. Graduated ND filters help to compensate for this by darkening the sky, while keeping the foreground brighter. This can be replicated in post-production, but it is always best to try and capture the photo as perfectly as possible in-camera.

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9. Use the histogram

Histograms are an essential tool in photography, which you should aim to learn how to read and utilize the findings to improve your photos. A histogram is a simple graph that shows the different tonal distribution in your image. The left side of the graph is for dark tones and the right side of the graph represents bright tones.

For instance, if you find that the majority of the graph is shifted to one side, this is an indication that your photo is too light or dark (overexposed or underexposed). This isn’t always a bad thing, and some images work perfectly well either way. However, if you find that your graph extends beyond the left or right edge, this shows that you have parts of the photo with lost detail (pure black areas if the histogram extends beyond the left edge and pure white if it extends beyond the right edge). This is something you should avoid, so by seeing the evidence in the histogram, you are able to correct it by either recomposing the image or compensating for the exposure.

10. Never settle for a good photo

This is true of any photograph that you are taking. It doesn’t matter if it is a landscape or a portrait; if you can do it better, then you should. But often because of the time and effort that landscape photography requires, people settle for a good photo, rather than waiting or coming back to take a better one. You should always aim to photograph anything at the best possible time, in the best possible way, even if that means waiting or coming back later.

KD-2016-DPS-Landscape Tips-1

11. Shoot in RAW format

Simply put, if your camera is capable of capturing photos in RAW format, then I recommend that you always capture RAW files. They contain much more detail and information, and give far greater flexibility in post-production without losing quality. Remember, you can always save RAW files in whatever other formats you require, but you will not be able to save JPEGs as RAW files, so ultimately you are limited to the quality at which the JPEG was shot.

12. Experiment

For all the techniques and rules that exist to help aid composition and the process of taking the photo, there is always room to experiment. Digital photography means that taking a photo isn’t wasting a negative (and costing money), so there is ample opportunity to break the rules and your own style sometimes. Even if the majority of the time it doesn’t work and the image doesn’t look great, every now and again you might uncover a gem.

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Landscape photography is one of the most common genres that amateur and professional photographers get into. With practice, hard work, and patience you can capture stunning landscape photos that will look great in your portfolio.

So come on, show us your great landscape shots, and don’t forget to share your tips and experiences below.

The post 12 Tips to Help You Capture Stunning Landscape Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kav Dadfar.


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Unsplash releases massive open-source image dataset with 2M high-quality photos

07 Aug

Unsplash, a website that enables anyone to share high-quality images under a Creative Commons Zero license, has announced the release of what it says is the ‘most complete high-quality open image dataset ever.’ The dataset contains more than 2,000,000 images, according to Unsplash, which sourced the images from more than 200,000 photographers around the world.

An image dataset is a collection of images that can be downloaded as a full batch; they contain relevant details, such as EXIF data, location information and more. In this case, Unsplash says that its dataset includes data on AI- and community-generated keywords for the images, landmark details when relevant, image categories and subcategories, download stats, the number of image views, groupings of images, user-generated collections and ‘keyword-image conversions in search results.’

All data included with the dataset is anonymized and private, with the only exception being attribution to photographers. Unsplash says that it sourced the data from ‘hundreds of millions [of] searches across a nearly unlimited number of uses and contexts.’

The ‘complete’ nature of this dataset distinguishes it from other open-source image datasets, which Unsplash notes often have various issues, such as relying on mass image labeling from third-parties, the use of low-quality images, size limitations and other issues that may limit their usefulness.

In its present form, the dataset is 16GB in size, but Unsplash says that it will continue updating the dataset with additional images and fields as its online library grows.

The dataset is available to download from a dedicated portal on the Unsplash website, where two download options are available: the full high-quality 16GB dataset, which is offered only for non-commercial use, and a ‘Lite’ version that is only 550MB and available for both non-commercial and commercial use.

The full dataset contains more than 2,000,000 images, 5,000,000 keywords and 250,000,000 searches. The ‘Lite’ data is limited to 25,000 images and keywords, as well as 1,000,000 searches. Whereas the Lite dataset is available for anyone to download, the full dataset requires users to request permission to download.

The company requires certain details from the user as part of their request, including name, email and the intended use of the data. In addition to the dedicated download website, Unsplash has published the related documentation on Github.

Unsplash remains as controversial as it is popular. The website has been integrated into a number of services, including Adobe, Trello, Wix, Medium, Facebook and thousands of other platforms. The service is distinguished from other free photo platforms by the high-quality nature of the images available to the public under a CC0 license, making them available for non-commercial and commercial use.

Professional photographers have criticized the platform as undermining the profession and photographers who contribute images as devaluing their work, among other things. Back in 2017, Unsplash founder Mikael Cho attempted to address these concerns in a blog post, stating, ‘We didn’t start Unsplash to reinvent an industry. We started Unsplash because we thought it might be useful.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Slideshow: Shortlisted photos from the 2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest

20 Jul

2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Shortlist

The Royal Observatory (Greenwich) has announced the shortlisted photos for its Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 competition. This year marks the 12th year of the competition, which is sponsored by Insight Investment and is held in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine.

A record-breaking 5,200 photographs were submitted from nearly 70 countries across the world. The competition will ultimately result in one overall winner and winners within nine categories (Skyscapes; Aurorae; People and Space; Our Sun; Our Moon; Planets Comets and Asteroids; Stars and Nebulae; Galaxies; and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year), as well as two special prizes (The Sir Patrick Moor Prize for Best Newcomer Award and The Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation Award). The winning images will be announced on September 10, 2020.

We’ve rounded up a few of the shortlisted images and presented them in the accompanying gallery. You can find out more about the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition on the Royal Museums Greenwich website.

Geysir Aurora © Phil Halper (UK)

About the image: Close to the Spring and Autumn Equinox, the Earth’s magnetic field aligns with the incoming solar wind to create a better chance for aurora activity. The photographer had been waiting for signs of solar storm near the equinox date hoping that the ‘Russell-McPherron effect’ would kick in. During the last weekend in September it seemed there would be favourable terrestrial and space weather conditions, so the photographer travelled with a friend to Iceland. They were not disappointed. The northern lights danced all weekend, with clear skies every night. This shot shows the famous Geysir of Iceland preparing to blow with the aurora behind it.

Gear: Sony ILCE-7S camera, 24 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 2000, 2-second exposure

Northern Dragon’s Eye © Elena Pakhalyuk (Ukraine)

About the image: The photographer loves to travel, especially exploring the north and chasing the Northern Lights. Trying to capture how ordinary things can take magical forms under the lights, the photographer selected and lit this rocky outcrop and waited for the aurora to work its magic.

Gear: Canon EOS 6D camera, 14 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 1600, 30-second exposure

Hamnøy Lights © Andreas Ettl (Germany)

About the image: After two weeks of storm, clouds and snow in the Lofoten Islands, the sky finally cleared up, providing perfect conditions for hunting the northern lights. The photographer waited patiently in their car for the light show to begin and on the first sign of the aurora borealis in the sky, he set up his camera at this famous overlook of the idyllic fishing village Hamnøy. The image is a manual exposure blend consisting of one base image for the sky and foreground plus a total of seven bracketed images to balance the highlights and shadows in the fishing village and water.

Gear: Nikon Z7 camera, Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD 17 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 800, 10-second exposure

NGC 253 – Starbust Galaxy in Sculptor © Terry Robison (Canada)

About the image: This image depicts an object that many will recognise in the southern hemisphere skies – NGC 253, The Sculptor Galaxy. It is an intermediate galaxy located within the constellation Sculptor and is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible to us. It is also one of the dustiest and currently undergoing a period of intense star formation. The photographer’s goals were to present this large and bright galaxy in a way that retains its subtle colouring and intricate textures throughout its disk.

Gear: RCOS 10″ telescope at f/9.1, AstroPhysics AP-900 mount, SBIG STL-11000 camera, L-RGB-Ha composite, 34 hours total exposure

M16 © Alexios Theodorov (Russia)

About the image: This entry tries to catch the feel of stargazing through basic optical instrument – a kind of Galileo’s telescope. Special processing of the image includes converting to Lab, channel mixing, increasing contrast, and applying filters, with the aim of illustrating that images with limited colour range may be as stunning as full colour ones.

Some Moons are Close, and Some are Small and Far Away © Andy Casely (Australia)

About the image: On 12th August, our moon occulted Saturn and its moons. The shadowed limb of the waxing gibbous Moon gradually hid the planet over several minutes. Shadowed mountains are visible against the bright planet and rings as an irregular edge where the planet is hidden. To Saturn’s left are two of its own icy moons, Tethys (lower) and Dione (upper), tiny specks in the darkness.

This is an image the photographer has long wanted to catch; the contrast of a big far away planet against the sharp details of the nearby Moon.

Gear: Celestron C14 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope at f/11, Celestron GCX-L mount, ZWO ASI290MM camera, Saturn: 2 x 30-seconds, Tethys and Dione: 4 x 30-seconds, Moon 1 x 60-seconds exposures

39% Crescent Moon © Richard Addis (UK)

About the image: This image of the Moon at 39% illumination was captured through eleven videos of different areas, which were stacked and then stitched together. The saturation process revealed the mineral compositions in the Lunar Basalts on the surface. These vivid browns and blues are due to high concentrations of titanium and iron. The photographer loves the contrast along the terminator and the close-up detail and clarity of this image.

Gear: Celestron Nexstar 6SE telescope, Celestron Advanced GT mount, ZWO ASI120MC camera, 4,400 x 0.08-second exposures.

Eruption…. © Elena Pakhalyuk (Ukraine)

About the image: The photographer was inspired to imagine what the Crimean peninsula would look like in the distant past, when thousands of volcanoes erupted on Earth. She used lighting and long exposure to illustrate this. The resulting image sees everything combined into one large panorama image and processed in a photo editor.

Gear: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera, Sky: Canon 24 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 22 x 20-second exposures. Foreground: Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 1600, 23 x 20-second exposures

Stargazing Giant © Dai Jianfeng (China)

About the image: This image is the view of the Milky Way rising above the Moai at Ahu Akivi. Ahu Akivi is a particularly sacred place in Easter Island in the Valparaíso Region of Chile, looking out towards the South Pacific Ocean. The site has seven moai, all of equal shape and size, and is also known as a celestial observatory that was set up around the 16th century. The shot highlights the central bulge of the Milky Way, the constellation Scorpio, as well as the planets Jupiter and Saturn.

Gear: Canon EOS 6D Mark camera, Sigma art 14 mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 12800, 10 x 15-second exposures

Meeting © Nicolai Brügger (Germany)

About the image: After a long hike and a little bit of climbing to the top of the mountain, the photographer was able to see the Milky Way. He only had five minutes time to take the panorama shot before the clouds moved. The photographer and his friend are pictured standing on the edge, looking out at the sky and over the city of Füssen in Germany.

Gear: Nikon D810 camera, Sigma 14 mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 4000, 33 x 20-second exposures

The Red Lake of Stars © Bryony Richards (USA)

About the image: Years ago, before over-fishing, Little Redfish Lake was called as such due to the vast numbers of salmon turning the lake a red colour. The red colouration is no longer seen because of salmon, but the colour of sunsets and airglow during the night still turn the waters a vibrant red. It is these beautiful warm echoes of red, combined with the mirror-like reflections of the Sawtooth Mountains in the distance and the alignment of the Milky Way with the mountains that make Little Redfish Lake one of the most spectacular places the photographer has ever shot at night. The photographer recalls that ‘we were fortunate enough that night to have the lakeshore to ourselves, just three of us, and a rather excited dog who tried his best not to run into our tripods! We spent the sunset here, waiting for the stars to come out and the Milky Way core to rise, marvelling at the red colour of the water.’

Gear: Sony A7riii camera, Sky: 50 mm f/2 lens, ISO 1600, 121-second exposure, Foreground: 50 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 111-second exposure, Reflection: 50 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 6400, 30-second exposure

The Cave of the Wild Horses © Bryony Richards (USA)

About the image: Located in the heart of the desert in Southern Utah, the Cave of the Wild Horses, with its copious wildlife, petroglyphs, rock varnish, and framed view of the summer Milky Way in its entrance, makes for a fairy-tale place to take astrophotographs. This photograph is one of the most complicated that the photographer has taken to date due to the location of the cave and the number of foreground images taken. Getting to the cave involves a long hike through the desert, over sandstone plateaus, through brush and desert sand. Upon reaching the cave, the photographer decided that she wanted to take a large panorama in order to preserve the feeling of looking out of the cave to the sky beyond.

Gear: Sony A7riii camera, Sky: 50mm f/2.2 lens, ISO 1250, 90-second exposure, Foreground: 50 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 120-second exposure

Galactic Portal © Marcin Zajac (USA)

About the image: On the photographer’s trip to Australia, he travelled to the coastal town of Kiama, where he captured his first Milky Way image of the year – his first Milky Way image taken from the Southern Hemisphere. Once the sun set, the photographer made his way into the cave and waited for a few hours for the core of the Milky Way to appear. Being unfamiliar with the southern sky, the photographer was surprised to also see Jupiter appear soon after.

Nikon D600 camera, Sky: 24mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 6400, 15-second exposure, Foreground: 24mm f/8 lens, ISO 200, 30-second exposure

Thor’s Helmet © Ignacio Diaz Bobillo (Argentina)

About the image: One of the attractive things about astrophotography is that one can always improve on a previous image of an object, by going deeper with a longer integration, by trying new processing techniques, by changing the scale and framing, by using a better gear. This gives endless possibilities. In this particular case, the photographer went back to an image he did last year, and added 19 hours of data to complete a 25-hour integration. It is a bicolor narrowband image of a well-known nebula, which is sculpted by a central Wolf-Rayet star. With the added data, the structures are revealed in more detail and depth, and the surrounding nebulosity expands well towards the borders of the frame. The result, a ghostly helmet that seems to float in outer space.

Gear: Astro-Physics 167 FLZ telescope at f/7.2, Astrodon 3 nm filters, Astro-Physics 1100 mount, Apogee Alta U8300 camera, Ha-OIII composite, 75 x 20-minute exposures

Statue of Liberty Nebula © Martin Pugh (Australia)

About the image: Photographed using narrowband filters to accentuate the energy levels occurring in each emission line, sulphur was mapped to red, hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue. An additional 4 hours per RGB channel were acquired and substituted into the image, particularly for the stars. While aptly titled the Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576), the irony is that this is a southern hemisphere object.At lower left in the image is NGC 3603 containing the Starburst Cluster.NGC 3576 is located in the Carina arm of the Milky Way at approximately 20,000 light years distant.

Gear: Planewave CDK 17″ telescope at f/6.8, Bisque Paramount ME mount, SBIG STXL11002 camera, RGB-Ha-SII-OIII composite, Total exposure 35.5 hours

The Magnificent: Rho Ophiuchi Complex © Mario Cogo (Italy)

About the image: This image captures the photographer’s favourite astrophotography field and one of the most vibrant, colourful nebulas in space. It shows many interesting deep-sky objects as Rho Ophiuchi the triple star surrounded by the blue reflection nebula IC 4604 on top-left, the red supergiant star Antares and one of closest globular cluster to the Solar System M4 to the right. This two panel mosaic was taken under the dark Namibian sky over two nights in August 2019.

Gear: Takahashi FSQ106 ED APO refractor telescope at f/5, Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO mount, Canon EOS 6D Cooling CDS Mod camera, ISO 1600, 13 hours total exposure

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Tips for Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro

05 Jul

The post Tips for Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

Tips for organizing photos in Capture One Pro

No matter which RAW photo editor you use, organizing your photos is probably one of the least enjoyable tasks in your photography workflow. However, setting up your catalogs correctly, or making changes to its structure, can ultimately save you a lot of valuable time. In this article, I’ll give you some tips to get you started on organizing photos in Capture One.

Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro
Capture One Pro Worksapce

Setting up your Catalog for success

Capture One offers you the ability to work in Catalogs or Sessions. It’s recommended that you work with both.

A Catalog in Capture One functions like a Catalog in Lightroom in that it helps you organize large libraries of images; however, it offers more functionality. On the other hand, Sessions are great for on-set shooting and tethered shooting in studio and are an efficient way to organize the images from a specific shoot.

There are different importing strategies you can use when organizing photos in Capture One. However, before you get started, you should, decide where you’ll put your catalogs.

They don’t have to live in the same location as your photos, but your catalog should be kept in the fastest, most high-performing place you can put it – which is usually your computer’s internal hard drive.

In short, consider the performance limitations of any storage medium that you use when organizing your photos in Capture One.

Starting a new Catalog

If you’re new to Capture One, you’ll want to start a new Catalog. Creating a Catalog creates a new database; it tracks photos and adjustments, and stores metadata and keywords, and a small preview of your photos

You can have a single catalog for all of your images, which is further broken down into Sessions and Albums etc. depending on how you want to set up your workflow. You may choose to have more than one catalog; for example, a catalog for personal photos and another for client work.

I shoot food and still life photography for several stock agencies. I like to keep these images separate from my client work, as it helps me feel more organized. However, this is simply my preference. You may decide to organize your photos in Capture One differently.

How to start a new Catalog:

  • Navigate to File in the menu bar at the top of the Capture One workspace.
Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro - making a new catalog
  • Choose New Catalog. The dialog box will appear.
  • Type in the name of your new catalog. Notice the location of where your catalog will be stored. You can change this by clicking the three dots to the right.
  • Hit OK. Now you’re ready for the import process.
Organizing Photos_Capture One Pro

Importing from an external hard drive

The chances are that you shoot a lot. If you shoot RAW files, it doesn’t take long for your computer’s hard drive to fill up with thousands of image files. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep your image files on an external hard drive to keep your computer’s performance at an optimal level.

I keep my Capture One catalog on my iMac but have my files stored on two 4TB external hard drives – my main storage drive and a backup with duplicate files. 

I also shoot tethered to a laptop when I shoot for clients. In this case, I save a backup of my files on a 1TB external hard drive and upload the photos to my main external drive after my shoot.

Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro

Before you get started with importing images, make sure that your image preview size is at least as large as your monitor, to ensure that they render properly. You can set this in your Preferences.

Tips for Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro
Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro - Preview Size screenshot

How to import from an external hard drive:

  • Go to File and choose Import Images. A Dialog box will pop up. Choose your external drive from the dropdown under Source.
  • Make sure to check off Include Subfolder to see your photos in the Capture One workspace, otherwise it will appear blank.
  • Choose where you want to import them to under Destination. I have a file named after every calendar year on my main drive. I create folders named after the contents of the shoot. ie: Blood Oranges, Moody Whiskey, Carrot Cake, etc.
  • You can also create another backup and save the images to that location.
  • After you have chose your importing parameters, hit Import All.
  • Leave your photos in the current location to honor the file structure that already exists on the hard drive you are copying from.
organizing photos in capture one

Importing from a memory card

  • To import your photos from a memory card, you need a Destination folder to get them off the card. You may already have a folder in mind or you can create a new folder ie: My Photos
  • The dialog box will pop up once the card reader and memory card are connected to your computer. The process is the same as for importing photos from an external hard drive.
  • You can create Subfolders and further organize the images by date or other criteria. Capture One calls this Tokens. Tokens pull this data from the photo.
  • If you click on the three dots next to the Subfolder option, all of the various Tokens will come up. You can then click and drag them individually to the Format section, as well as drag them around to place them in a certain order.
  • Be sure to scroll down to see all the Tokens.
Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro - Location Sub Folder Tokens
  • I usually choose to organize further by date, or date and time. Often I also include “Rights Usage Terms” to help me track licensing stats of various photos.
  • Once you have chosen your tokens, hit OK and then Import All.

Moving files and folders to another location

If you want to move files between folders, you can just drag and drop them. The database understands that you’re doing this within Capture One. When you attempt to do this outside of Capture One, this is where you get into trouble.

Moving outside of Capture One is slower, and you’ll have to relocate the files.

You’ll get an Offline notice and will have to locate it by right-clicking on the image and choosing Locate and navigate to where your image is. Capture One will re-establish the connection.

If you move a whole folder, it’s the same process.

You can move folders the same way you move files, and move them from your internal drive or an external drive.

Organizing with User Collections

User Collections is the best way of organizing your photos within Capture One. If you use Lightroom, you’ll be familiar with the concept of Collections.

There are too many limitations when trying to organize by folders because you can’t bring certain images together for a specific purpose, such as printing your work, unless you move them. Therefore, User Collections is the perfect solution.

There are four powerful organizational tools in User Collections:

  • Album
  • Smart Album
  • Project
  • Group

Project is like a master container to put your Albums in. You can’t just drag images here; there has to be an album inside.

Tips for Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro

Much like a physical photo album, Album is a way to organize groups of photos that have a similar theme, such as vacation photos, or photos from a wedding shoot.

How to start a User Collection

  • To start a User Collection, click on the + arrow to the right of the User Collections dropdown.
  • Then give your Collection a name and hit OK.
Tips for Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro

Smart Albums

Smart Albums are a way to take this a step further, by giving you the ability to organize with star ratings and color tags. If you’re a Lightroom user, you’ll also be familiar with this concept.

Smart Albums populate themselves based on the criteria you pick. If you click off a star or rating, it will disappear from the collection, because this feature is dynamic.

Click + to add your search criteria, or use preset color and star ratings.

Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro - Star Ratings

Conclusion

Organizing your photos in Capture One takes some effort and experimentation using the various tools the software has to offer. It’s a powerful program that has a lot of intuitive tools to help you create the most efficient workflow for your photography.

If you have any other tips for organizing your photos in Capture One, let us know in the comments!

The post Tips for Organizing Photos in Capture One Pro appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.


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A decade of sun: NASA captured 425 million photos of the sun and made a time lapse

30 Jun

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has been very busy capturing images of the sun over the last decade. From June 2, 2010 through June 1, 2020, the SDO captured 425 million images of the sun. Per NASA, the team amassed about 20 million gigabytes of images of the sun in the past decade and with that data, NASA compiled 10 years’ worth of images into the amazing timelapse video above.

Using three primary instruments, the SDO captures an image of the sun every 0.75 seconds. One of these instruments, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), captures images every 12 seconds at 10 different wavelengths of light. In the timelapse video published by NASA, we see photos of the sun captured at the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 17.1 nanometers. This wavelength allows us to view the sun’s outermost layer, called the corona.

Generally, the hour-long timelapse video features a compiled image from each hour of every day for the past 10 years. Although, there are a few exceptions. There are dark frames caused by the Earth or moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the sun. There was also a week-long outage of the AIA instrument in 2016. Any off-center images of the sun are due to periodic instrument calibration.

As you can imagine, the SDO has witnessed many interesting events during its period of observation. In the video above, at 6:20, you can see a prominence eruption from the lower right area of the sun from June 7, 2011. At 12:24, you can see the transit of Venus across the face of the sun on June 5, 2012. This event won’t occur again until the year 2117. On July 19, 2012, a brilliant display of looping plasma showed a complex event in the sun’s magnetic field, this can be seen at 13:06. About six weeks later, on August 31, 2012, the ‘most iconic eruption of this solar cycle’ occurred, witnessed at 13:50 in the video.

Jumping ahead to 36:18, you can view Mercury as it transits across the face of the sun on May 9, 2016. It is more difficult to spot than Venus, but you can learn more about it here. Mercury appears again at 57:38, as it transited the sun again on November 11, 2019. This will Mercury’s last transit until 2032. A full list of interesting events you can witness in the video can be found in the description on YouTube.

‘An X8.2 class solar flare flashes in the edge of the Sun on Sept. 10, 2017. This image was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 304 angstrom wavelengths.’ Image and text credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Scott Wiessinger (USRA) was the lead producer on the video above. Tom Bridgman (GST) was the lead data visualizer. Leading scientific writing was Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems). The music, ‘Solar Observer,’ was written and produced by Lars Leonhard.

If you’d like to learn more about NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, you can find a wealth of fascinating information by clicking here.

Earlier this year, NASA published a shorter video that covered 10 of the most important things scientists have learned during SDO’s first decade in space. You can check that out below.

Image credit: Images via NASA/GSFC/SDO

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