Sony has released its Q2 2015 financial results, posting a 3% decline year-on-year in imaging product sales on a constant currency basis. However, demand for high-value added models, favorable exchange rates and internal cost reductions led to a bump in that group’s operating income – up to 25.9 billion yen compared to 20.1 billion this time last year. Read more
Tag: Results
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Canon’s Q3 financial results show increased profit, decline in ILC sales volume
Canon’s Imaging Systems business has reported its third quarter sales fell by ¥26.5bn ($ 220m), compared to the same time last year. The company blamed a decline in worldwide demand for its interchangeable lens cameras ‘due to market shrinkage,’ with unit sales down 17% year-on-year, despite sales increases in Japan and Europe. Read more
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2014 Readers’ Polls: The results are in!
Late last year we asked you to vote for your favorite products of the 2014 in four categories: best lens, best high-end compact camera, best enthusiast ILC and best high-end ILC. Voting ran through January 20th and the results are in! Click through to see the results of our 2014 readers’ polls, and for a chance to vote on the overall winner, which we’ll announce next month.
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GoPro points to increased costs as it reports deeper losses in financial results
Despite the ubiquity of GoPro’s diminutive ‘action cam’ video solutions, the company has reported a loss of $ 19.8 million for the second quarter following an additional loss of $ 5.1 million from the year prior. GoPro first went public in June of this year, and while shares have dropped a whopping 11-15% following the financial results, everything is not necessarily doom and gloom for the company. Read more
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The Most Valuable Photography Tips Ever – Results of a Social Media Survey
I recently asked the following question on social media: “What was the most valuable photography tip you ever received?” Needless to say, I received a plethora of really useful tips from the audience. Some were spot on, others were debatable. I thought it would be fun to post a few here and expand on them briefly. Let’s get started with the most valuable photography tips ever.
The best zoom lens is your own feet
That is often true but please don’t try it if you are photographing a polar bear and her cubs or a bulky football player running for touch down. Get the right tool for the job! On the other hand, I must say that on any given photography workshop, the day my students do their best work is when they use a fixed focal length lens. I really believe in the power of limitations.
Look for the light
The day I understood how to see the light and how to harness it, is the day my photography took a leap forward. There is no bad light, learn to assess the quality and quantity of light and work with. It’s all about learning to use it to your advantage.
See the light and use it to your advantage.
©Valerie JardinGet close. Then Get Closer
Okay, I had to smile because this one came from one of my former students. I could hear myself say that exact same sentence. Learn to see photographically and make stronger images. Photographers tend to leave too much ‘stuff’ around their subject. The viewer gets lost in the chaos and doesn’t know where to look. Less is often more. It’s important to learn to crop in camera and using a prime lens is a great way to learn to see photographically. Learning to remove distracting elements from your frame before your press the shutter is essential to improving your photography.
Get close. Then get closer!
©Valerie JardinStop thinking and shoot
Before you press that shutter you should know why you composed the way you did. Using the ‘spray and pray’ approach will certainly get you some lucky shots but not much satisfaction. You obviously stopped because you saw something that grabbed your attention, work the scene and follow your instinct. Don’t over analyze at the risk of making a technically perfect image with no story or feeling. Perfection is not always the goal.
Never stop practicing
There is no better way to improve your craft than by exercising those ‘visual push-ups’ daily. You don’t even need to leave the house. Experiment with anything, make an ordinary object look extraordinary. Go ahead and use your camera phone even. The tool doesn’t matter, your vision does.
Don’t use the flash
Okay, I have to use a ‘Sammonism‘* here and remind you to “Turn the darn flash off!” This tip applies to your camera or your phone.
After you’ve taken the shot, look behind you.
For sure! If you are photographing another sunset, the scene lit by the golden light behind you may be even more spectacular.
Look behind you! Everyone was looking at the sun setting over the river Seine in Paris, I looked back and was struck by the beautiful golden light hitting the bridge posts. – ©Valerie Jardin
Shoot in manual mode
That may not always be your best choice. If you are shooting landscape then I would say yes, by all means, shoot in manual and take full control. If you are shooting street photography for example, shutter priority or aperture priority may be better choices. There is no coming back to get the shot again, so let the camera do some of the thinking for you or you’ll miss the moment.
Lighten your load and expand you creativity
A comfortable photographer is a happier photographer. Take one camera, one lens and let those creative juices flow. It will save your back too.
Shoot for yourself. Don’t try to get approval of others.
So true, unless you need to please a client, of course. If photography is a hobby, why should you care what other people think of your pictures, as long as you like them? That said, having a critique of your work in order to improve on it is one thing, and I would highly recommend it. But, the need for gratification via ‘likes’ on social media is something you should try to learn to live without. If that is the goal then I would recommend posting a daily kitten picture to get your fix. Then just shoot what you love (if it’s kittens, then it’s a win-win). In all seriousness, not every genre of photography will get ‘Oohs and Aahs’ on social media. For example, street photography is not understood and appreciated by the general public like landscape photography. Is that a reason to shoot landscape if your heart is in street photography? I hope not or you’re a photographer for the wrong reasons. Follow your heart and your work will shine!
Stop reading and start clicking
It’s good to read about photography and get inspiration online and in books but that should not replace your time behind the camera. You are not going to get instantly better after reading an article or watching a tutorial. You are only going to get better if you shoot often. Period.
Slow Down
Having unlimited shutter clicks without a cost factor attached is both good and bad. Good for the learning curve. Bad because it tends to make us lazy. Start shooting as if you were shooting film, make every shot count and you will have more keepers at the end of the day. Slow down and know why you are about to press the shutter.
Practice, practice, practice. Any ordinary object can be a great learning subject to exercise those ‘visual push-ups’ ©Valerie Jardin
Never pack your camera away until you are back home
You never know what is going to cross your path. Keep that camera handy, and always on.
Take the lens cap off
Better yet: Leave it at home.
Happy shooting!
Please share some tips that made a difference in your photography in the comment section below.
*In reference to our friend and photographer extraordinaire Rick Sammon
The post The Most Valuable Photography Tips Ever – Results of a Social Media Survey by Valerie Jardin appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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Behind the scenes: Small lighting, big results with Joe McNally
Nikon’s latest in a series of behind the scenes videos features photographer Joe McNally. An off-camera lighting wizard, McNally shares some useful tips from three different flash scenarios. No diffusion panel? No worries, McNally explains you can get the same results by placing a bed sheet between the flash and the subject. And as natural light began flowing through his studio, like any good photographer, McNally moved his model to make some pictures — without flash, this time. See video
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Challenge of Challenges 2013: the results are in
After 4 weeks of voting the results of our annual Challenge of Challenges photo contest are in, and although it was a close contest there was a clear winner. Click here to jump straight to the results in full and to once again be impressed by the amazing photographic skills and vision of our Challenges community.
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Results of the post-processing poll
A few weeks ago I started a new poll on what post-production software you use most often. If you want to add your vote you still can here. We have run this poll twice in the past, every two years, so it will be interesting to see if the results have changed at all from 2009, to 2011 to 2013. Let’s look at the current results first.
Results – what post-processing software is used most often in December 2013
With over 27,000 votes at the time of this summary the overwhelming winner was Lightroom with a whopping 42% share. Now let’s see how these numbers compare to 2011 and 2009.
Survey results from 2011
Interesting! Lightroom has certainly catapulted to the top in a big way:
- Lightroom is up 10% from two years ago to 42% currently, that’s a huge chunk of users
- Photoshop and Photoshop Elements combined are down from 34 to 30% (-4%)
- Picasa is down 2%
- Aperture is down 2%
- Gimp down 1%
- PaintShop Pro held steady at 3% share
- iPhoto was down from 4% to 3% share
- Other was constant at 5%
These results are from 23414 votes in the 2011 poll.
Way different results from 2009!
According to Wikipedia Lightroom Version 1 was released in January 2007. Within two years (as seen below) it had taken almost 20% of the post-processing market share. Not bad! But compare those stats to the current one and Lightroom has become the clear front runner for photographers in the processing arena.
Quick comparison of the big two by Adobe
- 2009 Lightroom had 19%
- 2009 Photoshop (all versions of CS) had 36%
- 2009 Photoshop including Element had 49%
- 2013 Lightroom at 42%
- 2013 Photoshop down to 19% (pretty much reversed)
- 2013 Photoshop inc. Elements 30%
Most of the “also rans” stayed pretty steady in terms of their percentage, within a point or two. I’d say it’s fair to say that Lightroom has taken over in four short years and has become the “go to” software of choice for most photographers (amateur and professional).
Want to learn how to use Lightroom and get on board?
First, grab a copy of Lightroom 5 if you haven’t got it already, or upgrade if you’re still using version 4.
Next check out some of these tutorials:
Lightroom tips and tutorials
The post Results of the post-processing poll by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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Do you Shoot in the Rain? – Poll Results
A few weeks ago I posed the question:
Do you Shoot in the Rain or Pack up at the First Drop?
Over 7000 people voted and the survey results are in.
Looks like close to half of us (39%) are crazy enough to just go for it come hell, or in this case high water, while about a third are worried about their gear. If you have a non-sealed camera body and kit lenses you should take due care in protecting your gear in inclement weather for sure.
For those 18% of you what want to give it a go, here are a few articles on how to protect your gear:
- Tips to Protect your Gear in Harsh Weather Conditions
- How to Protect your Camera in Extreme Conditions
- How To Keep Camera Gear Safe While Traveling (another thing to consider)
- Embrace the Weather with Your Photography
Remember to take the current poll and tell us what software you use the MOST here.
The post Do you Shoot in the Rain? – Poll Results by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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Best Gear of 2013: The results are in!
The results are in! Before Christmas, we asked you to vote for your favorite gear in five categories. Best lens, best DSLR / SLT, best fixed-lens compact camera, best mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and best enthusiast zoom compact. Now, with almost 30,000 votes cast since December 18th the results are in! Click through to take a look at the category winners and runners-up.